Beyond the Birth Chart

Beyond the Birth Chart

The most widely recognized Vedic tool for forecasting and analysis is called the "Vimshottari Dasa" system. It spans approximately 120 years of an individual’s life - considered a natural lifespan according to the ancient Vedic texts. This length of time is then divided into 9 different planetary periods, or dasas – each associated with a planetary ruler and its corresponding characteristics. There are nine planets, referred to as grahas, each ruling a specific dasa: the seven classical planets (Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn), plus the Moon’s nodes, Rahu, the north node, and, Ketu, the south node.

The potential effects of a dasa can be judged according to its ruling planet and its position in the natal chart.

Most of us are familiar with our Sun sign, indicating in which of the 12 signs of the zodiac we were born. Similarily, the Moon is also placed in any one of these 12 signs of the zodiac. Less well known is that the 12 signs are further subdivided into 27 segments of 13°20’, referred to as nakshatras. These segments, multiplied by 27, equal 360°, encompassing the entire zodiac belt. Each nakshatra also has a specific ruling planet that imparts a distinctive quality that “flavors” for example, how the Moon in our chart will be expressed in our personality. Although the sequence of planets in the Vimshottari Dasa system never changes (Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Ketu and Venus), the degree of our Moon will determine our nakshatra and the planet that begins the dasa cycle in our life.

Depending on the planet that is ruling, each dasa, or major period, can range from six to twenty years. For example, the dasa of Venus lasts twenty years and, according to the ancient sages, is said to bring wealth, good fortune and luxury to the person who has it well positioned in their horoscope.

The duration and possible effects – both positive and negative - for each major planetary period are as follows:

Sun 6 Years 
- Spiritual quest to connect with our heart;
- name, fame, honor and status, ego aggrandizement

Moon 10 Years
- happiness, home, creativity, sociability
- emotional turmoil

Mars 7 Years
- dynamic energy to accomplish, power, arguments
- enmity

Rahu (north node) 18 Years
- worldly success
- feelings of defeat

Jupiter 16 Years
- expansion, learning, spirituality
- lack of fortune

Saturn 19 Years
- responsibility, endurance, honor with patience
- detachment, delays, restriction

Mercury 17 Years
- communication, including writing, speaking
- problems with self-expression, including nervousness and anxiety

Ketu (south node) 7 Years
- knowledge, liberation, psychic or spiritual insight
- injury, enmity

Venus 20 Years
- beauty, charm, comfort, love
- upheavals in our relationships