Welcome to the new Jyotish Tutorial series by Patti Foy

Introduction to Financial Jyotish

Introduction

Welcome to the first lesson of this tutorial series on Financial Jyotish.

We will cover a lot of specific topics as we look at the financial indicators in a Vedic birth chart.

But there are also a lot of topics that are not specific to finances but that you still need to keep in mind as you look at finances (or anything, really).

So even though I won't cover these in detail, I want to mention them here to remind you that they can be important to consider. And in real-life analysis when you need to pull it all together for someone who's applying your judgement to their life, it's your responsibility as a jyotishi to include them in your analysis.

Means of Income

Lots of people, when they think about finances, immediately think about their careers. How are they going to "make money"? But keep in mind this is a limited view.

Sometimes, very little is made from a vocation or even a serious career. It might be inherited instead, be provided just because they're in a wealthy family, or come from a spouse. It may even come through a child.

Sometimes it comes through career but mainly thanks to a partner who has much better financial indicators in their chart. (For shorthand in this series, I'll say "financial karma".)

Or maybe this person makes great investments and can live easily off the interest.

Determining where this "unearned" money comes from can be obvious or you may have to be a detective. It might involve examination of the varga charts or maybe even birth charts of family members, etc.

But the point here is to stay open to the idea that wealth does not always equal earning.

Multiple Lagnas

The Ascendant or rising sign (the Udaya Lagna in the Rasi Chart) and sign the Moon is in (Chandra Lagna) are always very important lagnas to use. They can confirm each other -- or not.

Also, to some degree, the Ascendant often shows the hard core reality of a situation, and the Moon lagna shows the person's perception of it or attitude about it. Maybe they don't have much money (from the Ascendant) but they feel wealthy (from the Moon). For a real person whose chart you're looking at, this can make all the difference.

But with any area we look at, finances included, it's also good to check indications from planets or houses that represent that that area.

So as we go through all the financial indicators, it's good to look for confirmation or more detail by using that indicator as a lagna. This can be done a few ways. Let's say the 11th house is a money house. (It is ... we'll get there.) You can look from the 11th and from the lord of the 11th. Or let's say a source of wealth is the spouse. You can look from the 7th and from the lord of the 7th. And/or perhaps even the indicator or karaka of the 7th (Venus for a male and Jupiter for a female).

So throughout this series, when I say "Ascendant" without qualifying it, it's primarily the Udara Lagna but you can additionally take it to mean the use of any or all of the relevant indicators as the first house.

I won't repeat all of this as we go so keep in mind that if you get confluence (agreement and confirmation) this way, what you are suspecting is much more likely to unfold than if you see nothing or if you see contradictions.

Timing

It's one thing to look at the "static" birth chart to see general financial karma, but what does that tell us, really? We need to know when certain karmas are going to unfold.

Except in rare cases, you can't just look at a chart and say someone is rich. It's more about when they're going to be rich. To everything there is a season and that holds true here as well.

This is where the extraordinary power of the dasa system -- along with transits -- comes into play and brings the chart to life. You must use these timing tools along with whatever indicators we discuss in this tutorial even though I won't be discussing timing itself.

Upayas (or Remedies)

Part of the beauty of jyotish is that it's not fatalistic. It provides built-in means to enhance opportunities and alleviate difficulties. These means are known as the upayas or remedials.

I won't cover them because they are not specific to finances but remember that they are an integral part of jyotish and can actually sway results, sometimes significantly. So use them as an important part of your toolkit and be sure to extend the benefit they offer to the person for whom you're doing the analysis.

Muhurthas

Performing a certain activity at an auspicious time (muhurtha) is sort of a cross between timing and an upaya. Remember that good muhurthas can be a great help. (And you're on the website of an expert in that area.)

So, for example, choosing a good time to open a bank account, begin a new job, get married, or any other activity -- finance-specific or not -- can be done with financial indicators in mind to increase the probablility of a good financial outcome.

Get Creative!

Jyotish has so many indications of any given planet, sign, house, nakshatra, etc. that it can make your head spin. If you let it, it can overwhelm you completely. If you tried to put them all together for a thorough and purely intellectual analysis you would have to become a computer, it would take forever, and it would be painfully grueling besides. (Believe me, I've tried.)

The real magic of jyotish happens like with any other skill, when you've got the main ideas, you practice a lot, you get some experience under your belt, and it begins to become second nature. It's still analytical but another element enters the picture. It involves automatic free association with all the various symbols and meanings and is akin to -- or maybe precisely -- intuition. And this faculty is at its best when it's given some space.

So I encourage you right up front: Play with this. Get creative and stretch your imagination. Not only is it much more fun this way but I swear, you get better results.

See you next time! And remember, if you have questions or comments, we can interact directly on this comment and question page on my site.

Namasté.