Jyotish -- Lunar...?
Hello Muchacho,
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I read your posting with great interest. You have provided a few indicators of jyotish (a term that is better descriptive than those used in English language even by Indians, such as, vedic astrology, Hindu astrology and a few more) in support of jyotish being lunar based. The importance of Moon is undeniable, particularly in the delineation of transits and a few progressions (dashas) which utilize natal moon as the "seed". That jyotish, unlike other forms of astrology, relies on asterisms or nakshatras is one of its unique features. Nakshatras, however, automatically do not imply their Association with the Moon alone! So calling jyotish nakshatra-based as opposed to lunar-based sounds more appropriate.
Sudarshan chakra uses both luminaries as well as lagna thereby giving all three an equal importance. When available, most jyotishis would prefer to use ascendant over the moon sign simply for precision [couple of hours versus couple of days!]
While vimshottari has been popularized primarily due to convenience of calculation, one cannot ignore the fact that many other dashas exist, a fair number of which are not seeded by the natal moon.
You have highlighted the importance of Moon sign in transits but despite anecdotal but unsubstantiated claims by a handful of proponents these are generally considered secondary in importance to even dashas [vimshottari and others]. Candidly put other than patchy accounts online and off-line their relative importance in the general scheme of delineation and prediction remains less than well demonstrated.
tithi (as opposed to nakshatra) a popular time measure in EPHEMERIS is a luni-solar derivative!
D9 is considered a useful divisional, though over-represented in selective articles etc. however in recent decades the consideration of other already existing [BPHS etc.] divisionals cannot be denied though simultaneous and comprehensive utilization of several divisionals poses problems for beginners who tend to shy away from those. Vimshopak lays out some useful pointers in this regard. The nakshatra quarters (charan or paya) do coincide with the D9 segments [in the 27-nakshatra scheme] astronomically however they are not automatically astrologically concordant.
Jyotish relies heavily on interplanetary relationships and combinations which are known as yogas and arishtas. The moon plays a part in these considerations but so do the rest of the planets.
Jyotish also relies significantly on ashtakavarg and much has been written about that. It is not related to moon alone.
The more I look at it, while Moon is a significant consideration in jyotish delineation in practice, calling jyotish as lunar astrology or for that matter calling tropical astrology (West) as solar or sun sign astrology do not seem appropriate. Both of these systems are way more than such labels would imply.
Regards,
Rohiniranjan
The importance of the Moon shows up in many ways in vedic astrology.
1) Nakshatras: They are considered the original signs and have priority over the Sun signs.
2) Lagnas: Chandra Lagna is the most important of the alternate Lagnas and the Chandra Lagna chart is basically equal to the Rasi chart.
3) House rulership: The actual ruler of a house is not the ruler of the sun sign the house is located in, the actual house ruler is the Nakshatra lord (or pada lord) where the mid point of a house is located.
4) Vargas: The most important and most universal of the Vargas is the Navamsa which Nakshatra (pada) related.
5) Dashas: The most widely used Dasha is the Vimshottari Dasha which is Nakshatra related.
6) Transists: Transists are usually analyzed from Chandra Lagna.
7) Moon phases: Depending on the Moon phases one would interpret transit charts differently and also calculate the Vimshottari Dasha differently.
