The 12 houses and what tradition links to each
House 1 is the self, body and temperament. House 2 is family, speech and savings. House 3 is courage, effort and siblings. House 4 is home, mother and comfort. House 5 is children, learning and creativity. House 6 is work routine, health and service.
House 7 is marriage and partnerships. House 8 is sudden change, research and long life. House 9 is fortune, teachers and dharma. House 10 is career and public standing. House 11 is gains and networks. House 12 is expenses, rest, foreign living and endings.
Kendra, trikona and dusthana
Houses 1, 4, 7 and 10 are the kendras, the pillars of the chart. Houses 1, 5 and 9 are the trikonas, the houses of fortune. Houses 6, 8 and 12 are the dusthanas, the difficult houses that tradition associates with struggle, change and loss.
Planets in kendras and trikonas are read as supported. Planets in dusthanas are read with more care. This is a starting point, never a verdict: a planet is judged by its sign, its house, who aspects it and its dasha together.
The planets as characters
The Sun stands for authority and the self. The Moon is mind and emotion. Mars is energy and drive. Mercury is speech and intellect. Jupiter is wisdom and growth. Venus is relationships and comfort. Saturn is discipline and delay. Rahu and Ketu are the lunar nodes, read as worldly hunger and detachment.
A planet in its own sign or its sign of exaltation is called strong. A planet in its sign of debilitation is called weak. Retrograde planets are read as turned inward. The AnkShakti planet table marks all of these for you.
A simple order for your first reading
Start with the Lagna sign and its ruling planet. Note where the Moon sits, by sign and house, since the Moon sign is what most Indian readings use for daily life. Then look at the 10th house for career and the 7th for partnership, and see which planets sit in them.
Finish with the dasha. The planet whose period is running colours how the whole chart is expressed at your current age, which is why the dasha timeline is the most useful part for deciding what to read first.
Try it on your own name
Common questions
- Which house is most important in a Kundali?
- The first house, because it is the Lagna and the anchor for every other house. Practitioners also give extra weight to the Moon's house and the house the dasha lord occupies.
- What does it mean if a house is empty?
- Nothing bad. An empty house is read through its ruling planet, wherever that planet sits.
- Is Rahu in the 12th house bad?
- Tradition reads the nodes in the 12th as linked with foreign connections, expenses and withdrawal. It is a theme to be aware of, not a fixed outcome.
- What is the difference between a sign and a house?
- A sign is a 30 degree slice of the zodiac. A house is a department of life. The Lagna sign decides which sign falls in which house.