And here is another excellent homework assignment submitted by one of our Year 1 Astrology Apprenticeship Program students.
The birth chart of an individual is essentially the blueprint of how their unique life experience will unfold. These particular life experiences can be seen as one begins to look at the confluence of the houses, planets, and signs within a chart. It is important in astrology to be able to locate certain patterns or dominant influences based on the placement of planets in houses and the particular sign a house is in. It is within these placements where we can begin to see possible trends and karmic influences occurring within a particular area of a chart. This can show where there are dominant tendencies, ease and support, or hardships and lack of support within a person’s life, depending upon where the planets, signs, and houses are located relative to each other. To continue there will be a birth chart of Jerry Garcia provided, along with a brief explanation of the 3 most dominant houses that I chose within his chart and specific indications and examples to show if each house is supported or troubled. The houses that will be covered are 1, 10, and 7.
The 1st House
The first house is one of the most important houses within a chart as it is the dominant house that begins the foundation for how the rest of the chart will manifest. This house is associated with self-projection, ego, and can also relate to the body and head. It is through this initial self or ego that allows the influences of the other planets to relay their qualities through our consciousness. The way we see and work with the layout of the other planets in the chart is greatly dependent upon our first house and the ascendant as they act as our link to life experiences within the world.
The first house or ascendant in this chart is Libra. Although there are not any planets present within this house, it can still be shown by other means that the individual will be successful, famous, and have a leader like role. Using the prosperity and annihilation formulas from Brihat Parashara Hora Sashtra it was concluded that the first house had a 60% prosperity and 40% annihilation. The house lord Venus is in the 10th, with a benefic, rasi aspected by Mercury, is the winner of planetary war with Jupiter, and is with Jupiter. The first house lord is also in Vriddhavastha (old state), does not aspect the first house, and is with an evil house lord Jupiter, owning the 3rd and 6th.
This person is already setup for success, but the main thing that showed this persons success, fame, etc., was the set-up of the first house lord (Venus), in the 10th with Jupiter and the karaka for the first house, the sun, is in its Moolatrikona of Leo with Mercury. The 11th house of Leo which contains the Sun and Mercury is also rasi aspecting the first house. All of these factors are going to be mostly expressed through Libran qualities, the energy of trade, exchange, lyers (musical instruments), and caravansaries. This makes complete sense when looking at this person’s life, as they were the main leader for the Greatful Dead. Playing shows city to city, in different countries and providing this ultimate sacrifice to bring comfort to people through the beauty of music.
Although this person was very famous and successful on the outside which is backed up by a strong Sun, I believe that they were quite the opposite on the emotional level which can be shown by the Moon. The Moon is in an enemy dignity, adult state and is also unconscious giving it some hardships within this chart. The Moon also rules the 10 and is in the 7th. This can show that their status or success hurts their ability to connect with others outside of the career.
This was very true for this individual. Their fame and success was so great that they were not able to go out into public often and had to live a secret life. I believe that this is what turned this person to drug use, the lack of that emotional support left them with a void that needed to be filled. I brought the Moon into this because it is in the sign of Aries which is the first sign of the zodiac and represents the head. This can show that even though this person was very successful and happy with their main purpose in this life, that they didn’t have a complete sound happiness from within. I can now see why he turned to scuba diving in his later years. I believe it was to connect with the energies of the Moon, those watery emotional energies.
The 10th House
The next house I would like to bring attention to is the 10th house. This particular house is a very important and crucial piece to reading a chart because it represents how the first house personality takes action in worldly pursuits. Essentially the 10th shows the capacity for our activity to karmically impact the world which is dependent upon where the house lord is located as well as what planets are present in the 10th. Planets located here will strongly influence what kind of activity one will pursue in life, how people see us, and how much impact the actions we take make on the world around us. When looking at the prosperity and annihilation of the 10th it was found that there was a 50 – 50 even break.
The 10th has two benefics (Venus and Jupiter), and the Moon which is the house ruler is in an adult state. Although the moon is an adult it is in a sleepy state causing some difficulties in its performance, the 10th is also not being aspected by the Moon and the Moon is in an enemy dignity. I feel that this balanced prosperity and annihilation of the 10th allows for this individual to take full advantage of what the 10th has to offer, for the good or bad. This individual has a very supportive 10th house for success in career or action within the world, but also has a few negative highlights within. It is stated within Bhrigu Samhita for Venus in the 10th for a Libra ascendant, “gets the gains of old and serious things helping the life career, does mysterious deeds, likes comforts and pleasure very much, gets difficulty in the progress of honor and business”.
This person was very successful with the music they played and loved the all of the amenities that came with it. Such as honor, fame, attention as well as other comforts such as sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. Referring to the ASVA vol 2. Pg. 166, “ruler of the 1st in the 10th – great capacity for achievement and personal recognition in career or chosen life path. Strong personality and leader. Negative influence would be friction with bosses and authority figure or government.” I find this interesting in the fact that before Jerry was with the Grateful dead he served in the military from which he was discharged. One of the most fascinating things I found was when looking at the 3rd house lord in the 10th from ASVA vol. 2 pg. 195. “feels comfortable expressing one’s self in career and endeavors. Career is focused on and benefits by third house matters. Uses hands well in career and works in the communication field. Negatively the personal life and desires interfere with career advancement or ability to positively impact the world.” A lot of this is true. Jerry as the main leader of the band, and lead guitar player absolutely used his hands well in his career. Not only that but he communicated to millions upon millions of people through the music. As the fame grew more and more so did his personal desires for heroin and other drugs which ultimately interfered with him making an impact on the world and leading to his death. Another factor supporting the success of the 10th house is that all of the 10th house karakas: Mercury – (managing capacity to impact the world, Sun – (status or imminence), Jupiter – (dharmic aspect of our activity within the world), and Saturn – (ability to work hard and endure obstacles); are all functioning well within in the chart.
The 7th House
The last house I would like to focus on is the 7th. I chose this house because there are some interesting interactions between 7th and 10th houses. The lord of the 10th (Moon) is in the 7th, the karaka for the 7th (Venus) is in the 10th, and the 7th house is the 10th away from the 10th dealing with our public image and status. After going through the prosperity and annihilation for this house I found that there was about a 30% prosperity and 70% annihilation, which means there could be some difficulties within the things this house represents.
I found that the lord of the 7th (Mars) is in the house of loss and expenditures (12th house) and is with malefic (Rahu) which is another factor giving this house some difficulties. The seventh house can represent marriage, relationships, long term partners, and people within your life. I also find it interesting that the 7th has an affinity for Libra which is the persons ascendant and Venus which is the karaka for the 7th. With this interplay between the 7th and 10th, I believe that it shows this person having good strong relationships with the people in their life and especially the career. This person has strong deep feeling for the ones in their life but has to deal with lots of loss due to the house lord (Mars) being in the 12th with Rahu.
This person did experience lots of loss. He lost his mother at a young age and his father as a young man. He also lost some band members which he held closely throughout his career as a musician. I do believe that as a rock star he probably went through lots of encounters with females which is the reason why he had married a few different times. When referring the pf 248 of ASVA vol 2., it states, “Negative – Mate or partners die or are lost, likes to have secret relationships, many expenses or losses in trade or business, addiction”. This definitely shows that idea of loss and expenditure within relationships within his life.
Written by Marshall Gilbert, Year 1 Astrological Apprenticeship Program Student, AWC 600 – CYT 200
Categories: astrology apprenticeship, horoscope assessment
Asheville Vedic Astrology 
Hello. Revathi Nakshatra can only be in (Meena Rasi) Pisces, cannot in (Mesha Rasi) Aries. Typo?
Thanks,
Krish Santhanam
Krishvedas@yahoo.com