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Astrology of the Seers

A Guide to Vedic / Hindu Astrology

David Frawley

A modern introduction to Jyotiṣa (Vedic astrology) by David Frawley. It contains essentially no Vāstu architecture; it is included as background substrate (grahas, rāśis, nakṣatras, bhāvas, doshas, remedies). Capture it faithfully as an astrology primer in its own right — do not bend it toward Vāstu.

  1. 1Towards a New Vision of AstrologyFrawley's opening manifesto: astrology as the original science and the science of time, the planets as Gods and karmic Lords of time, astrology as a spiritual science of self-knowledge, Vedic Science and Jyotiṣa, and the four aims of life crowned by liberation.→
  2. 2Astrology East and WestThe two zodiacs — Tropical (fixed to the equinox) vs Sidereal (fixed to the stars) — the precession that has pulled them ~23–24° apart, the controversy between them, Frawley's orientation of the sidereal zodiac to the galactic center, the ayanamsha (its competing values), and how to turn a Western chart into a Vedic one by subtracting it.→
  3. 3The World-Ages: The Cycles of the YugasThe doctrine of the four yugas (Satya, Treta, Dvapara, Kali) on two scales — Frawley's precessional 'lesser cycle' of 24,000 years (with the 4000/3000/2000/1000-year ratio and ascending/descending arcs tied to a galactic Sun and a dark solar companion) versus the classical 432,000-year 'greater cycle' — plus harmonization with the galactic center and the pole-star Vega.→
  4. 4The PlanetsThe nine grahas as the great cosmic significators — their sequence, numerology, gunas, elements, attributes and significations, benefic/malefic status and dispositorship — then full descriptions of the seven visible planets, the lunar nodes Rahu and Ketu, and Frawley's treatment of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.→
  5. 5The SignsThe twelve rāśis as the two halves of each planet's orbit: rulership, odd/even polarity, the three qualities (movable/fixed/dual) and four elements, full personality portraits of all twelve signs, the exaltation and debility degrees, mūlatrikoṇa, why Vedic astrology rejects 'detriment', permanent/temporary/composite planetary friendships, the seven kāraka significators, and the 27 nakṣatras with their rulers and extents.→
  6. 6The HousesThe twelve bhāvas as the domains of planetary action: how houses differ from signs, the systems of house determination, houses grouped by quality (angles/trines/etc.) and element, the meaning of each of the twelve houses, house correlation (bhāvat bhāvam) and significators (kārakas), the laws of house rulership that make a planet a functional benefic or malefic by Ascendant, and the yoga-kārakas of power, wealth, knowledge, and disease.→
  7. 7Planetary Aspects and CombinationsHow planets project influence (dṛṣṭi) — aspects by sign vs. by degree, the special Vedic aspects of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, sambandha, conjunction, combust, planetary war, hemming-in, separative planets, retrograde, the planetary yogas (Mahāpuruṣa, lunar, Kuja Doṣa), and the six-fold strength of Shadbala.→
  8. 8Harmonic ChartsThe divisional (varga) charts of Vedic astrology — Hora, Drekkana, Navamsha, and the rest of the sixteen — how each is calculated by sub-dividing every sign, and what each reveals when laid over the birth chart.→
  9. 9Planetary PeriodsThe daśā system (Vimśottarī, the 120-year cycle): the nine period lengths, how to compute the operating major/minor/sub periods from the Moon's nakṣatra, how to read period lords, background transits and planetary returns, how to find favorable periods and elect favorable times, planetary hours, and horary astrology.→
  10. 10Medical AstrologyĀyurveda and astrology as twin Vedic sciences: the three biological humors (Vāta/air, Pitta/fire, Kapha/water), their location, function and sites of derangement; the air-, fire-, and water-type body and temperament; the classification of planets and signs by humor (and the conflicting sign schemes); how to read constitution from the chart; the disease-causing planets and their malefic houses; the sign/house correspondences to parts of the body; and the special importance of the sixth house and the sixth sign Virgo for health.→
  11. 11Astrology and PsychologyFrawley's spiritual psychology of the chart: Vedic psychology as impersonal and ego-negating, the birth chart as the picture of our ignorance, and a yoga of reorienting each planetary faculty around the inner Sun of truth — closing with a one-paragraph statement of the higher psychological meaning of each of the nine grahas (Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rāhu, Ketu).→
  12. 12Yogic AstrologyAstrology turned inward as a map of yoga: the seven planets correspond to the six chakras of the subtle body, prāṇa rising and falling through the spine follows the lunar and solar halves of the zodiac, this chakra–sign scheme explains why each planet is exalted in its particular sign, and the same correspondence is read through the houses — with the outer Sun mirroring the inner Sun (the breath) and the seventh, head center transcending the whole system.→
  13. 13Treatment Methods in AstrologyRemedial measures for balancing planetary influences — the astrological technology of gems, colors, herbs and oils, mantras, deities, yoga, and life-style — given planet by planet (Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rāhu, Ketu), each with the signs of a weak planet, the astrological conditions, the specific gemstone and its substitutes, when NOT to wear it, and the colors, herbs, name and seed mantras, presiding deity, yoga, and way of life that strengthen it.→
  14. 14Worship and Meditation on the PlanetsThe devotional side of remedial astrology: the nine planetary deities with their ruling deities and overrulers, vehicles, colors, arms, implements and crest-jewels (with the full dhyāna verses); the planets' grains and legumes, inexpensive worship-gems, abstract symbols, and directions; and the yantras — the geometric Surya yantra, the nine numerical magic-square yantras (one per graha), the bīja-mantra yantra, the deity yantras (Sri Yantra, Gayatri, Ganesh, etc.), and the practical use of copper yantras.→
  15. 15Example ChartsThirty-two worked horoscopes read step by step — spiritual teachers, political leaders, scientists, artists, and dark figures — each with its South-Indian Rāśi and Navāṁśa diagrams, demonstrating the whole Vedic method (Ascendant, house lords, yogas, planetary wars, debility-cancellation, self-indicator, and Major periods) on real lives; closes with the Ketu deity plate.→