True Nodes=Real Eclipse Points(JHora: Preferences→Planet Calculation→True Nodes); Dusthana Lord in Own Dusthana=Harm Neutralized(8L in 8H=Mysticism; 12L in 12H=No Loss); 3rd Lord in 10H=Career Breaks; TP Annual: Lagna in 7H from Natal=Marriage Year; 4H=Abroad Year; Hora Lord=Year Ruler

Mean Nodes vs. True Nodes

How it came up: In the engineer's D-10 the teacher has Ketu in Gemini, the 10th. A student's screen shows Ketu elsewhere. Same ayanāṁśa on both machines, so the difference is the node setting: the teacher uses true nodes, the student's copy is on mean nodes.

What the nodes are

• The Moon goes round the Earth in one plane. The Earth goes round the Sun in another. The two planes intersect. The points of intersection are Rāhu and Ketu.
• True nodes: take the Moon's position and direction of motion right now, and the Earth's position and direction of motion right now. Each gives a plane. Intersect them. That is the true definition.
• The true nodes are retrograde overall, in the long term. But moment to moment they wobble — forward, backward.
• Mean nodes: do not take the true points. Average them out over time and take the averaged points. This makes the nodes retrograde all the time.
• The same idea as the mean solar year: the Sun takes a slightly different time to cover 360° from one year to the next; average it and you get one fixed figure. Many calculations have a true version and a mean version.

Which to use

• The only reason tradition uses mean nodes is that they are always retrograde. Śāstra says Rāhu and Ketu are retrograde — but does it say they are retrograde every second, or retrograde overall? That is not 100% clear.

"The only motivation for mean nodes is, basically, the reason they are used in the tradition is they are always retrograde. But I am not 100% sure if that is really a requirement."

• The teacher calls it a research option: pick what you want. His preference at this time is true nodes.
• His reason: the nodes cause eclipses, and eclipses happen when the actual intersection points line up with the Sun and the Moon.

"It is the true nodes which help you find eclipses, not really the mean nodes."

• The difference matters in divisional charts. It can be half a degree, sometimes up to a degree.
• In Jagannatha Hora: Preferences → Related to calculations → Planet calculation options → the last combo box. The default is mean nodes. Choosing the recommended calculation options gives true nodes.

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Dusthāna Lords — Where They Sit Well and Where They Do Not

These rules come up while reading the engineer's D-10, counting from the lagna and from the 10th house taken as lagna.

• 6th lord in the 6th, 8th lord in the 8th, 12th lord in the 12th are good combinations.
• 12th lord in the 12th makes you relax and removes your worries. The same 12th lord in another house — in lagna, say — gives losses.
• A dusthāna lord occupying lagna is not a good combination. 6th lord in lagna shows obstructions, obstacles, fighting obstacles.
• 6th lord in the 12th is not a bad placement.
• 8th lord in the 3rd is a good placement for the 8th lord.
• Lagna lord in the 3rd shows taking a break.

"So 12th lord in 12th basically makes you relax, removes your worries. So 6th lord in 6th, 8th lord in 8th, 12th lord in 12th are good combinations."

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D-10 — Ketu Antardaśā: the Break

• From lagna, Ketu is the 3rd lord (Scorpio). The 3rd shows temporary breaks, vacations.
• With true nodes he sits in Gemini, the 10th house of work. 3rd lord in the 10th gives breaks in work.
• Take the 10th house itself as lagna — Gemini as lagna — to see how the work goes. Ketu is then the 6th lord in lagna. A dusthāna lord occupying lagna: obstructions, fighting obstacles.
• Had he been in the 12th from the 10th (which is where mean nodes put him), 6th lord in the 12th would not have been a bad placement.
• So for the person, Ketu gives a break from work. For the career, he gives struggle to find work.
• The site's live chart of this native is cast with mean nodes and shows Ketu in Taurus. The class reads him in Gemini.

Judging the Tithi Praveśa Year — Ruler and Lagna

• TP rāśi lagna: Libra. Exalted Saturn, the yogakāraka, is in lagna.
• Ruler of the year: Mercury. He is the 9th lord in the 10th house (Cancer), with the 11th lord Sun.
• Natal lagna is Cancer. The TP lagna Libra is the 4th from it — a kendra. If the natal lagna and the TP lagna are in dusthāna placement (6th, 8th, 12th) from one another, that year can show setbacks. Here they are in quadrants.
• The 10th house itself is strong. The 12th lord is also reasonably placed, in a quadrant.

"Without going into the Dasamsa, just looking at the Rasi and the ruler of the year, this should be a good year, a good year for career, some fortune in career for sure."