Aries

The first sign — fiery, pioneering, and bold. Rules the head and new beginnings. Western: Mar 21 – Apr 19 · Vedic: Apr 14 – May 14.

Taurus

Earthy and steadfast — values, patience, and the senses. Rules the throat and resources. Western: Apr 20 – May 20 · Vedic: May 15 – Jun 14.

Gemini

Airy and curious — communication, duality, and learning. Rules the hands and mind. Western: May 21 – Jun 20 · Vedic: Jun 15 – Jul 16.

Cancer

Watery and nurturing — home, memory, and emotion. Rules the chest and mother. Western: Jun 21 – Jul 22 · Vedic: Jul 17 – Aug 16.

Leo

Fiery and radiant — creativity, pride, and leadership. Rules the heart and father. Western: Jul 23 – Aug 22 · Vedic: Aug 17 – Sep 16.

Virgo

Earthy and discerning — service, analysis, and craft. Rules the intestines and daily routine. Western: Aug 23 – Sep 22 · Vedic: Sep 17 – Oct 17.

Libra

Airy and harmonious — partnership, balance, and beauty. Rules the kidneys and relationships. Western: Sep 23 – Oct 22 · Vedic: Oct 18 – Nov 16.

Scorpio

Watery and intense — transformation, secrets, and depth. Rules the reproductive organs. Western: Oct 23 – Nov 21 · Vedic: Nov 17 – Dec 15.

Sagittarius

Fiery and seeking — truth, travel, and meaning. Rules the hips and beliefs. Western: Nov 22 – Dec 21 · Vedic: Dec 16 – Jan 13.

Capricorn

Earthy and ambitious — structure, discipline, and legacy. Rules the knees and career. Western: Dec 22 – Jan 19 · Vedic: Jan 14 – Feb 12.

Aquarius

Airy and visionary — community, ideals, and innovation. Rules the ankles and the collective. Western: Jan 20 – Feb 18 · Vedic: Feb 13 – Mar 14.

Pisces

Watery and mystical — compassion, dreams, and dissolution. Rules the feet and the unseen. Western: Feb 19 – Mar 20 · Vedic: Mar 15 – Apr 13.

Sun

The core self — identity, vitality, and conscious purpose.

Moon

The inner world — emotions, instincts, and needs.

Mercury

The messenger — thought, speech, and how we learn.

Venus

The beloved — love, beauty, pleasure, and what we value.

Mars

The warrior — drive, desire, courage, and conflict.

Jupiter

The teacher — growth, faith, opportunity, and wisdom.

Saturn

The taskmaster — limits, responsibility, time, and structure.

Uranus

The awakener — change, rebellion, and sudden insight.

Neptune

The mystic — dreams, illusion, compassion, and the dissolving of boundaries.

Pluto

The transformer — power, death and rebirth, and the deepest truths.

Surya (Sun)

The soul (Atma) — vitality, ego, authority, and the father.

Chandra (Moon)

The most important graha in Jyotish — the mind (Manas), emotions, and the Nakshatra of birth.

Budha (Mercury)

Intellect, speech, commerce, and adaptability.

Shukra (Venus)

Pleasure, romance, art, and the flow of desire.

Mangala (Mars)

Energy, courage, siblings, and the will to act.

Guru / Brihaspati (Jupiter)

Wisdom, dharma, children, fortune, and the teacher.

Shani (Saturn)

Karma, discipline, delay, endurance, and the fruits of effort over time.

Rahu

The North Node — obsession, ambition, and worldly hunger; always retrograde. A shadow graha of desire.

Ketu

The South Node — detachment, past-life mastery, and spirituality; always retrograde, exactly opposite Rahu.

1st House

The self — body, personality, and how others first see you (the Ascendant rules here).

2nd House

Resources — money, possessions, speech, and what you value.

3rd House

Communication — siblings, short journeys, courage, and skill of hand.

4th House

Roots — home, mother, land, and emotional foundation.

5th House

Creation — children, romance, intellect, and creative play.

6th House

Service — health, daily work, enemies, and the effort of routine.

7th House

Partnership — marriage, contracts, and the mirror of the self.

8th House

Transformation — intimacy, loss, secrets, and the cycles of death and rebirth.

9th House

Meaning — higher learning, religion, the father, and long journeys.

10th House

Calling — career, reputation, authority, and public standing.

11th House

Community — friends, hopes, gains, and the collective dream.

12th House

The unseen — solitude, loss, dreams, liberation, and the subconscious.

Ashwini

The first lunar mansion — swift healing, initiation, and the horse-headed twins.

Bharani

The bearer — creation, restraint, and the capacity to hold.

Krittika

The cutter — purification, sharp will, and the flame of transformation.

Rohini

The reddening — fertility, growth, and the cow of plenty.

Mrigashira

The deer — searching, gentle wandering, and the seeking of the lost.

Ardra

The moist one — storms, tears, and renewal through disruption.

Punarvasu

Return of light — renewal, repetition, and the homecoming.

Pushya

The most auspicious — nourishment, devotion, and the blooming of the soul.

Ashlesha

The coiled serpent — insight, entanglement, and hidden power.

Magha

The throne — ancestry, honor, and the weight of lineage.

Purva Phalguni

The former reddish one — pleasure, play, and the fruits of the past.

Uttara Phalguni

The latter reddish one — partnership, generosity, and lasting union.

Hasta

The hand — skill, craft, and the dexterity of touch.

Chitra

The bright one — artistry, brilliance, and the architect of form.

Swati

The sword — independence, balance in wind, and the solitary self.

Vishakha

The branched — purpose, ambition, and the drive toward a single goal.

Anuradha

The follower of Radha — friendship, devotion, and balanced power.

Jyeshtha

The eldest — seniority, responsibility, and the weight of leadership.

Mula

The root — the deepest causes, uprooting, and the search for origins.

Purva Ashadha

The former invincible — victory, purification, and the flow of water.

Uttara Ashadha

The latter invincible — final victory, truth, and lasting achievement.

Shravana

The listening ear — learning, attention, and the sacred word.

Dhanishta

The drum — rhythm, wealth, and the music of the spheres.

Shatabhisha

The hundred physicians — healing, secrecy, and the void that holds.

Purva Bhadrapada

The former blessed feet — intensity, the fire of transformation, and the edge of the abyss.

Uttara Bhadrapada

The latter blessed feet — wisdom, the deep waters, and the calm after the storm.

Revati

The wealthy — completion, the journey home, and the shepherd of souls.

Natal Chart

A snapshot of the sky at the exact moment and place of your birth — the map of your life.

Ascendant (Rising Sign)

The sign rising on the eastern horizon at birth — your body, persona, and the lens through which you meet the world.

Sun Sign

The sign the Sun occupied at birth — your core identity and vitality.

Moon Sign

The sign the Moon occupied at birth — your emotional nature and inner landscape.

Tropical Zodiac

The Western system — measured from the seasons, with Aries at the spring equinox.

Sidereal Zodiac

The Vedic system — measured from the fixed stars, using the Lahiri ayanamsa as the offset from the tropical zodiac.

Ayanamsa

The precession-based offset between the tropical (Western) and sidereal (Vedic) zodiacs. Because Earth’s axis slowly wobbles over a 26,000-year cycle, the fixed stars drift backward about 1° every 72 years. The Lahiri ayanamsa — the standard used in Vedic astrology — is about 24° today, which is why your Vedic Sun sign sits roughly one sign behind your Western one. This single offset is what separates the two systems.

Lagna

The Vedic term for the Ascendant — the rising sign and the anchor of the whole chart.

Rasi

A Vedic zodiac sign — the sidereal sign a planet occupies.

Graha

A Vedic "seizer" — one of the nine planetary influences (including Rahu and Ketu) that shape karma.

Gochar

Current transits — the present movement of the grahas against your natal chart.

Dasha

A Vedic planetary period system — the unique timeline of life, ruled in turn by each graha.

Sade Sati

The seven-and-a-half-year transit of Saturn (Shani) over the Moon sign and its neighbors — a period of testing and maturation.

Aspect

The angular relationship between two planets — the way they speak to each other across the wheel.

Conjunction

Two or more planets in the same sign — energies fused and intensified.

Trine

A 120° aspect — harmony, ease, and flowing talent.

Square

A 90° aspect — tension, friction, and the drive to grow.

Opposition

A 180° aspect — polarity, awareness, and the balancing of two forces.

Sextile

A 60° aspect — gentle opportunity that asks for effort to be realized.

Retrograde

When a planet appears to move backward from Earth — a time to review, revise, and turn inward.

Transit

A planet moving through the sky right now, passing over the positions in your natal chart and activating them. Transits are the primary way astrologers read current influences — when Saturn crosses your Moon, or Jupiter returns to its birth position, those movements shape the themes and timing of your present experience. Western astrology calls these transits; Vedic astrology calls them gochar.

Karma

Action and its consequences — the web of cause and effect that the birth chart describes. In Vedic thought, karma is not punishment or reward but the natural fruit of past actions, across this life and prior ones. The grahas (planets) are said to deliver these fruits: Saturn brings the karma of discipline and endurance, Jupiter the karma of wisdom earned, Rahu the karma of unfulfilled desire. Your chart is a map of the karma you are working through.

Atma

The soul — represented by the Sun (Surya) in Vedic thought.

New Moon

The dark Moon — beginnings, planting seeds, and setting intention in silence.

Waxing Crescent

First light returns — early growth, commitment, and the spark of the new cycle.

First Quarter

Half-lit and rising — action, decision, and the push past resistance.

Waxing Gibbous

Almost full — refinement, adjustment, and the honing of plans.

Full Moon

Illumination and culmination — emotion peaks, and what was hidden is revealed.

Waning Gibbous

Light recedes — gratitude, sharing, and the distilling of meaning.

Last Quarter

Half-lit and fading — release, revision, and the letting go of what no longer serves.

Waning Crescent

The final sliver — rest, surrender, and the close of the cycle before the dark returns.