How to Choose an Astrological Remedy

Question: “What methodology do you use for choosing remedial measures, Ryan?”

Response: “For a long time I would assess the house placements, their lords and strengths of the individual planets, and if one of the friendly

Gemstones, properly proscribed can alleviate astrological difficulty by strengthening the stressed planet, so you have more energy to take appropriate action.

planets to the ascendant was under a lot of stress, I would advise gemstones for that.  Of course I would also assess this from the moon sign, and the sun sign, and the navamsha lagna, before deciding.Mantras I would advise as well, for any planet that was causing difficulty, as well as service or charity, and I would also advise yagyas.

What I advised was based on what I could anticipate that the client would actually be able to do.  Some folks just can’t commit to sitting once a day for 40 days to do a mantra, but can easily arrange a yagya or purchase a gemstone.

Now my approach is a bit different.  Using dignities, and the ishta/kashta information, as well as considering dashas in effect, and the planetary placement in the appropriate varga, I do the same.  It’s just the method of assessment has become a bit more involved.”

Saturn, Karaka of Longevity or Illness?

According to Ernst Wilhelm:

“ALL planets represent necessary functions, only when they are bad to they indicate problems. Saturn’s job is to keep the body clean so that it does not get sick. If his ability to do this is weak, then the body gets a disease. So the stronger Saturn the less chance of disease and the longer the longevity. Then, if Saturn is joined a planet in cleaning the body the part that all the toxis get stuck in are the organ of the planet he is with. Of if he aspects a planet he is an enemy to he will dump toxins there too. But it is not that he is causing the disease, just that the toxins are too much and he has to put them somewhere and so then disease sets in.”

This is a very nice explanation of how Saturn can work in Vedic Astrology.

A Strong Saturn Can Keep the Body Clean and Long Lived.

Rahu in the 7th

Rahu and Ketu are the points where eclipses occur.

Question: “I would like to know what in my horoscope is Ketu which is located in the 1st house, and what of Rahu in the 7th house. I want to know what is their position in the individual houses and what impact their position is my life.”

Response: “Rahu in the 7th can give association with foreigners or people outside of your caste. It can attract addictive personalities, or people of a very sensual nature. Rahu represents fears and phobias, and so can create a lot of confusion in relationships. It can also make relationships start out well, and then fall through in an explosive crisis.

Ketu is good for intuition, and renunciation of the world. It can give an explosive personality, and being in scorpio can make one very interested in deeper psychology, and also teaching. One could make good income through teaching, research and psychological or spiritual pursuits. “

Question: “Does Rahu always create havoc AND make sure the relationships fall apart? or IF things go bad in a relationship he will make sure the relationship falls apart? “

Response: “Not always, but really, we need to assess the chart as a whole to see how Rahu is functioning.

Some positive benefits show good relationships with foreigners, or the partner may live or work far from home.  It can give out of the ordinary or non traditional relationships (of course in the past, non traditional was considered a bad thing) or taboo relationships.

Rahu breaks down boundaries, and can challenge social norms.  It can make a person deal with others in clever fashion.  Material prosperity can often improve after marriage because of this.  “

Houses and Signs Question

I was recently asked, via email: “If you know the 1st house is in the 4th house wouldnt that tell you which house each sign is in?  And with the planets could they be mutual relationship without being in the same sign or house?”

Response: “Basically,

Mars rules Aries and Scorpio
Venus rules Taurus and Libra
Mercury rules Gemini and Virgo
Moon rules Cancer
Sun rules Leo
Jupiter rules Sagittarius and Pisces
Saturn rules Capricorn and Aquarius

They always rule those signs, that never changes.  However, house rulership changes depending on the ascendant, because the ascendant determines how we count out the houses.  Houses always start with the ascend sign.

So if we have a Gemini Ascendant (the ascendant is the first house) then we know that Mercury rules the 1st house (Gemini) and the 4th house (Virgo), the moon rules the 2nd house (Cancer), the Sun rules the 3rd house, (Leo), Venus rules the 5th house (Libra) and the 12th house, (Taurus), and Mars rules the 6th house (Scorpio) and the 11th house (Aries), and Jupiter Rules the 7th house (Sagittarius) and the 10th (Pisces) and Saturn Rules the 8th (Capricorn) and the 9th (Aquarius).

See how that works…. So this changes with each ascendant, based on how we start counting the houses, and the houses always start with the ascendant.

For Scorpio Ascendant, we have the following house rulerships:

1st Mars  (scorp)
2nd Jupiter  (sag)
3rd Saturn (Capri)
4th Saturn (Aquarius)
5th Jupiter (Pisces)
6th Mars (Aries)
7th Venus (Libra)
8th Mercury (Gemini)
9th Moon (Cancer)
10th Sun (Leo)
11th Mercury (Virgo)
12th Venus (Libra)

This is always true for a Scorpio ascendant as the above mentioned for Gemini is always true.

It’s that way for all the ascendants.”