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from the early centuries CE, continuously · the Indian subcontinent

Jyotiṣa

The only one of the five never to break its transmission. Reads from a sidereal zodiac and organises time by period rather than by transit alone, so a transit is always read against the period it falls inside.

Who wrote it down

The authors are long out of copyright. Almost every English text of them is not — a modern translation is a living work of scholarship owned by its translator. So Jade paraphrases and names the chapter, and quotes directly only where an English text is itself in the public domain. Two of the nineteen sources are.

  • Parāśara

    compiled over centuries; received form by c. 8th century

    Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra · Sanskrit

    The reference work of the dominant school — house lordship, the daśā system, and the yogas as most Jyotiṣīs learn them.

    paraphrase only

  • Varāhamihira

    c. 505 – 587

    Bṛhat Jātaka · Sanskrit

    Terse, early, and openly aware of the Greek material — the place where the two traditions can be seen touching.

    paraphrase only

  • Kalyāṇavarma

    c. 9th century

    Sārāvalī · Sanskrit

    The fullest classical treatment of planets in signs and houses, placement by placement.

    paraphrase only

What each planet meant

Three answers for each: what this tradition took the planet to be, what it takes the planet to do, and what it makes of somebody born with it strongly placed. The third is the one that differs most between traditions, and the one a reading is built from.

  • Sun

    is
    Sūrya — ātmakāraka, the significator of the self, of the father, of bone and of sovereignty.
    does
    Illuminates, and scorches what stands beside it.
    in a nativity
    Read for the self that cannot be delegated. Strong, somebody carries responsibility without being asked; weak, they carry it resentfully, which is the same weight held differently.

  • Moon

    is
    Candra — the mind itself, manas, and the significator of the mother and of everything that fills and empties.
    does
    Waxes and wanes, and the tradition reads its brightness rather than only its place.
    in a nativity
    Manaḥkāraka, the mind, and in practice the placement a Jyotiṣī reads first. Well placed, somebody is at home in their own company; strained, the chart’s other strengths are harder for them to reach.

  • Saturn

    is
    Śani — slow, the significator of labour, of servants, of the poor, of longevity, and the one graha the tradition treats as a judge.
    does
    Delays, and settles accounts.
    in a nativity
    Śani is servant and judge. The doctrine is that it delays and then confirms: what it governs arrives late and does not leave, and a strong Śani is regarded as one of the better things to have.

  • Jupiter

    is
    Guru or Bṛhaspati — the teacher, the counsellor, and the greatest benefic; significator of children, of wealth, and of dharma.
    does
    Blesses and expands, and its aspect is read as protective in a way no Western tradition quite matches.
    in a nativity
    Guru, and the tradition means teacher literally — a strong Jupiter usually means somebody was taught early and it took. Weak, they have had to construct their own principles, later and at more cost.

  • Mars

    is
    Maṅgala or Kuja — a kṛra graha, commander of the army, significator of siblings, land, and courage.
    does
    Asserts, and holds ground.
    in a nativity
    Bhrātṛkāraka — courage, siblings, land, and the willingness to hold a position. Maṅgala is read for whether somebody will defend what is theirs, which is admired where it is warranted and named doṣa where it is not.

  • Venus

    is
    Śukra — the teacher of the asuras, significator of the spouse, of vehicles, of comfort and of art.
    does
    Refines, and attaches.
    in a nativity
    Śukra is what somebody finds beautiful and will arrange a life to be near. It is also read for the capacity to enjoy what has already been obtained, which is a separate skill from obtaining it.

  • Mercury

    is
    Budha — intelligence and discrimination, and the most changeable of the grahas because it takes on the character of whatever it sits with.
    does
    Distinguishes. It tells apart what had been lumped together.
    in a nativity
    Budha is discrimination: telling two similar things apart. Strong, somebody judges detail well; compromised, they are quick and wrong in a way that is hard to catch, because the speed is convincing.

  • Rahu

    is
    Rāhu — the severed head, a chāyā graha with no body, insatiable because it can swallow and not digest.
    does
    Amplifies and obsesses, and confers worldly result without satisfaction.
    in a nativity
    Unbounded appetite, and foreign ground — the part of a life that does not come from the family and is not explained by it. It gives worldly results and withholds satisfaction, which is the oldest observation about it.

  • Ketu

    is
    Ketu — the body without the head, the other chāyā graha; significator of detachment, of what is already finished, and of insight without ambition.
    does
    Cuts away, and leaves what cannot be removed.
    in a nativity
    Mokṣakāraka, read for where somebody is already finished, often without having noticed. It removes attachment to what it touches, which is loss or freedom depending on what was being held.