How Match-Making in Vedic Astrology is done
In traditional Vedic society one of the most important uses of astrology is to evaluate whether the charts of people who are planning to get married are in agreement to each other.
This is a subject about which a lot of confusion exists. Some traditional astrologers mainly look at the Kutas agreement. At first sight, this seems to be an extensive system, but in fact it is only based on how well the Nakshatra in which the Moon of one partner is placed fits with the Moon Nakshatra of the other partner. We will deal with this system later. However just looking at the Kutas agreement of the Moon is quite limited.
What sometimes happens is that some people have a hard time getting married because there are indications in their chart that marriage will be difficult. I do not think that making it diffficult for people from fullfilling what may be their heart desires is a good use of astrology.
Another approach is that if someone has afflictions in the chart you look for another person who has the same afflictions. The idea is that if two people who have the same affliction in their chart get married, the affliction will be neutralized and the karma that has to do with the affliction will have to be faced in a future lifetime.
I may have an unconventional opinion about this, but I rather face my karma during this lifetime than saving my (bad) karma and probably prolonging the number of times that I have to return to this earth .
I also have doubts whether this method of ‘cancelling the affliction’ really works.
KUJA DOSHA
One very well known affliction commonly ‘solved’ this way is the Kuja Dosha affliction.This affliction has to do with certain positions of Mars that are thought to be problematic for married life.
There is Kuja Dosha in the chart if:
Mars is placed in the first house, but not in Aries.
Mars is in the fourth house, but not in Scorpio.
Mars is in the seventh house, but not in Capricorn or Pisces
Mars is in the eighth house, but not in Cancer.
Mars is in the twelfth house, but not in Sagittarius.
The reasoning behind this is that Mars is a malefic and if positioned in the above houses it will damage the houses of marriage (seventh house), family life (the second house), the home environment (the fourth), the marital tie (eighth house) and/or sexual pleasure (twelfth house) either by being in these houses or aspecting them.
The logic behind the exceptions is not always clear. According to quite a number of astrologers, there is also Kuja Dosha in a chart if Mars is located in the 1,2,4,7,8 and 12 from the Moon and even if Mars is located in these houses from Venus.
Especially if we look for Kuja Dosha not only from the ascendant, but also from Mars and Venus we may well find this affliction in something like 80% of the charts.
I think it is useful to be aware that Mars in certain positions may damage relationships. However, this is just one factor among many. Probably Saturn in the above houses also causes damage. And for relationships we do not only have to look at the Rashi but also at the navamsa.
I do not think if we see Kuja Dosha in a chart, it is useful to ring the alarm. Especially since it occurs in most charts.
LONGEVITY
Another factor, which is looked upon, is the longvity of the partners. The reasoning is that if one of the partners will have a short life a marriage is not very useful. If an astrologer thinks one of the partners may have a short life he may very well think this person is not a person who should marry.
The subject of longevity is a complex subject in itself. I am not going to treat this extensively. There are a couple of methods to predict the longevity. However as Richard Houck as shown in his book ‘the astrology of death’ these methods do not work very well.
My advice would be to keep it simple. If the first house (the house itself and the lord) and the Moon in a chart are strong and there are not many planets in dushtana houses a person will probably live longer than if the first house and the Moon are weak and there are many planets in dushtana houses.
This is an easy ‘rule of thumb’ which may be more useful than some complicated quantitative methods that in practise do not work.
AN EASY VEDIC ASTROLOGICAL ANALYSIS
One method of Vedic astrological compatibility analysis, which I like, is the following:
Look for the ascendant of person A and person B, see in what signs they are and what the relationships of these signs are. If the ascendant is in a 2/12 or 6/8 relationship this is problematic, but if it is in a 5/9 relationship this is good. I also think that a 3/11 relationship can work very well. Also if both ascendants are in the same sign this is a good factor.
Apart from conjunctions Kendra relationships (4/10 and the opposition) may be difficult.
There are some expections to this rule. Like if both signs are rules by the same planet this is good. Example: Libra and Taurus are in 6/8 relationship, but since Venus rules both signs, they do have something in common. You can also compare the Moon, Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars in both charts.
Of course, they symbolize different aspects of the relationship (for example Mercury symbolizes the communication in the relationship).
I do not think comparing Jupiter and Saturn is very useful unless both people have a big age difference (let us say more than 5 years). This is because Jupiter and Saturn are slow moving.
To find explanations look for the elements the planets are in. An example: If the Moon of A is in Leo and the Moon of B is in Cancer we have a problem because fire and water do not go together well.
The relationship will be somewhat better for B then for A. The Moon of A is in the second house from the Moon of B. However, the Moon of B is in the twelfth house (sign Cancer) from the Moon of A (sign Leo). Therefore, it is possible that B will drain (twelfth house) A.
You also can analyze planetary pairs. If the Venus of one person is in opposition to the Mars of the other person that will mean strong sexual attraction. This is also the case if the Venus of A conjuncts the Mars of B.
A similar rule can be made of the relationship between the Sun and the Moon. If the Sun of one person is in opposition to the Moon of the other person this works well. This is also the case if the Sun of A conjuncts the Moon of B.
In cases like these will be a good exchange of female (Shakti: Moon and Venus) and male (Shiva: Sun and Mars) energies.
I do think this is a fruitful and not too difficult method. If you use this method, it is recommended to use the South Indian format (which I use in this course) because in this format the signs in different charts are in the same place.
SUDARSHAN CHAKRA
It is also possible to analyze the influence of planets in houses. A great tool for this is the so-called Sudarshan Chakra. This is a chart made up of two circles, like the circles used in Western Astrology. There is an inner chart, which can be the chart of partner A and there is an outer chart, which is the chart of partner B. The ascendant of both charts is at the same place (usually at the top of the circles).
You can see which houses of A are activated by partner B. For example if I have a partner who has a lot of planets that activate my eighth house it is very well possible that I experience her as confrontational.
If she activates my ninth house she may broaden my horizon and I may feel great because of her, especially if my ninth house is being activated by her benefics . If it is being activated by her malefics it could be that she somehow limits or frustrates the way I would like to broaden my horizon.
TAJIKA ANALYSIS
There is another type of analysis possible. Although Tajika analysis is seldom used when analyzing birthcharts, I do not see a principle reason why we should not do this.
What I would like to suggest now is not so much as to use the Tajika method for analyzing a birthchart but to make a comptability analysis using the Tajika method.
The principle is easy. Just look what kind of aspects the planets of A make with the planets of B. Let us say the Sun of A makes a trine to the Jupiter of B. A (the Sun person) will feel stimulated by B (the Jupiter person). He will note the stimulating Jupiterian energy of B. B (the Jupiter) person will feel energized or empowered by A (the Sun person). If it is a square instead of a trine the stimulation may be a bit too much.
If you make an analysis like that, you will encounter many aspects, some of them seem to be contradictory, but this merely reflects the nature of reality that sometimes is complex.For example:
It is also possible that in addition to the aspect I mentioned before the Moon of A makes a square to the Saturn of B. A (the Moon person) will feel restricted by B (the Saturn person). By the way, if the aspect would be a trine A (the Moon person) would merely feel ‘grounded’ by B (the Saturn person). That is not a bad experience.
To avoid an overload take the Tajika orbs and divide them by two. For example:
If we analyse the relationship between the Sun and Jupiter between charts we look for the maximum orb of the Sun which is 15 and the maximum orb of Jupiter which is 9.
(15+9):2=12, which is the regular Tajika orb for a Sun-Jupiter aspect.
To avoid an overload this maximum orb is divided by two. The outcome will be a maximum orb of 6 degrees.
What makes this analysis complicated is that for every planetary combination you have to calculate a maximum orb. This may very well be the reason that in
