When someone says “Jupiter aspects the 7th house”, they mean one thing, and when they say “Jupiter aspects Venus”, they mean another. Both statements can describe the same look. A planet’s aspect falls on a sign, and a sign is at once a house (a department of life) and a place that may hold planets. Understanding that double target clears up much of the confusion in aspect readings.
The aspect falls on the sign
Take Jupiter in the 1st house in Gemini. Its 7th look falls on Sagittarius, which is the 7th house. Suppose Venus sits in Sagittarius. Then the same look reaches the house and the planet. It is correct to say Jupiter aspects the 7th house, and also that Jupiter aspects Venus. The first is a statement about which area of life is under Jupiter’s eye. The second is about which energy is touched.
The look is counted by sign, in the way set out in the 7th aspect of every planet, and for Mars, Jupiter and Saturn with their extra looks: Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
Reading an aspect on a house
An aspect on a house is read as an influence on that department of life and on its lord. For the 7th house, which governs partnership, a look from Jupiter is read as supportive of partnership matters. A look from Saturn is read as seriousness or delay. Teachers then check the lord of the house, because the house’s results are carried by that planet. A house with a strong, well-placed lord and a benefic look is read as well supported, and a house whose lord sits in a difficult place and receives malefic looks as asking for patience. See house lords in houses for what the lord’s placement shows.
Some teachers also name the natural significator (karaka) of a house: Jupiter for the 5th and 9th, Venus for the 7th, the Sun for the 9th and 10th and so on. An aspect on a house is read alongside the condition of its karaka. The lists of karakas vary between books, so check which your teacher uses.
An aspect on an empty house
A house with no planet in it is not blank. It still receives the looks that fall on its sign, still has a lord and still has a karaka. In many charts most of the twelve houses are empty, and their results are read from these three things. An aspect on an empty house is one of the three. A well-aspected empty house by Jupiter, for instance, is read as supported even without a resident planet.
Reading an aspect on a planet
An aspect on a planet changes its tone. A planet receiving a benefic look is said to be supported, and one receiving a malefic look to be pressed or tested. A planet that receives a look from a friend reads more comfortably than the same planet looked at by an enemy, according to the friendship table. Teachers also notice a planet that receives no aspect at all, which is read as acting on its own terms.
An example: the Moon in the 4th house with Saturn in the 10th. Saturn’s 7th look reaches the Moon. A reader notes a serious tone to feeling and to home life, then notes how Saturn rules and where, and how the Moon stands in the chart. Compare Moon and Saturn in one sign.
Sign aspects and degree orbs
The Parashari method treats the aspect as a sign relationship. Every planet in a sign has the look of a planet in that sign, however many degrees apart the planets are. The closeness of the degree then adds or removes strength, as the fractions in full and partial aspects show.
Some other approaches, among them Western-influenced teaching and some modern Vedic practice, require the planets to be within an orb of a few degrees before the aspect counts at all. A third group uses the house cusps in the system called bhava chalit, and asks which house a planet falls in when houses are measured from cusp midpoints instead of whole signs. These can give different results for a planet near a sign edge. The page on how to read aspects in a chart suggests a working order that avoids contradictions: start from the sign look, and treat degree as a measure of strength.
Putting the two together
The tidy method is a two-step reading:
- House first. Which house does the look fall on, and who is its lord and karaka?
- Planet second. Which planets sit there, and how does the look change their tone?
Then note the nature of the planet that is looking, its dignity and the houses it rules. A Jupiter ruling the 3rd and 6th for the Libra ascendant, for example, looks differently from one ruling the 1st and 4th for Sagittarius.
Tools
The planet position calculator shows each planet’s sign and house, and the Shadbala calculator scores aspects received in the drik bala component, using the angle table described in full and partial aspects. For the effect of each planet by house, use the house library for Jupiter and the equivalent pages for the other planets.
Frequently asked questions
↳ Is an aspect on a house different from an aspect on a planet?
They are the same look with two targets. The look falls on the sign, so it reaches the house and any planet inside it. The house shows which area of life, and the planet shows which energy.
↳ Does an empty house receive aspects?
Yes. A look falls on the sign whether or not a planet sits there, and the house also has a lord and a karaka. Its results are read from those three.
↳ Do aspects need to be within a certain number of degrees?
Not in the Parashari method, which works by sign and then uses closeness as a measure of strength. Some modern schools require an orb of a few degrees.
↳ What if a planet is near the edge of a sign?
A planet near a sign edge can fall in a different house under a bhava chalit chart, so its aspects may differ. A birth-time error can also move it, so note the uncertainty.