Reply To: Tara Bala Homework – Post Analysis Here

[Dina]

Tara Bala Part 2 – Homework

Analysis of a chart of someone I have known since early childhood. Moon is in Dhanishta, Libra rising.

Tara 2: Sampat
Rahu and Venus (1st and 8th lord) in Shatabishak

The Sampat tara bala of Venus, the ruling planet, gives this person a strong sense of self, focussed on self-expression through creativity. Venus is the planet of beauty, artistic pursuits and it is in the 5th house of creativity with Rahu, which pulls a lot of energy towards the 5th house affairs. Unsurprisingly, this person is a published poet and a journalist. Sampat gives Venus a solid grounded expression related to wealth and stability, and appropriately her main source of income has been through creative work. Creativity also tethered her otherwise “head in the clouds” personality to the real world.

Venus also rules the 8th house, related to vulnerability and fear we experience in relationships. Interestingly, she often used the heartbreak of her early relationships to fuel her inspiration. Themes of death and mysticism (all related to the 8th house) also feature heavily in her poetry and writing. She is great at counselling others when it comes to difficult experiences, especially relationships (Venus being the karaka of relationships and a guru planet).

Rahu and Venus are in the Rahu-ruled nakshatra of Shatabishak, known as the Hundred Healers. This person worked as a medical journalist for over a decade and has a life-long interest in medicine, bordering on typical Rahu obsession. She is vigilant, to the point of being hypochondriac when it comes to health issues. Rahu is associated with fear and with the 8th lord in Shatabishak, these (often imagined) fears about health become greatly magnified.

However, as this happens in a sampat nakshatra, the energy of this conjunction was chanelled into providing stability and income rather than a disruptive and chaotic influence we might expect with the 8th lord and Rahu combination.

Tara 3: Vipat
Mars (2nd and 7th lord) in Vishaka
Vipat tara bala is associated with competition, self-will and ego. Mars is the karaka of siblings and peers and it rules the 2nd house of values, family, as well as the 7th house of partners, marriage and negotiated relationships.

This person has a lot of hostility toward her younger sister. The hostility is one-sided and irrational. She felt jealous and competitive of her sister when they were children, and the aggressive sibling rivalry persisted well into adulthood.

She often acts in a self-centred manner both in her marriage (7th house) and in her relationship with family (2nd house). She demands to be the centre of attention and can blow up if this does not happen. With Mars in the 1st, this person has a forceful personality and she struggles to compromise in her relationships. Interestingly, she was much more pleasant and adaptable during the romantic “honeymoon” stage of her relationship: this is where we see how Sampat Venus and Rahu influenced her 5th house of romance. However, the relationship dynamic changed completely after marriage, with this lady’s treatment of her husband taking on the combative and forceful Martian / Vipat overtones. She is often very critical of her husband (2nd house relates to speech) and does not hold back even in front of other people.

Tara 4: Kshema
Sun (11th lord) is in Uttara Bhadrapada.

Kshema tara is related to security and peace. Sun is the karaka of self. This person has a strong sense of identity and they exude confidence. They seek self-affirmation through their network and through public recognition of their creative work (11th house things), which gives them a sense of security related to Kshema tara.

Tara 5: Pratyak
Mercury (9th and 12th) and Jupiter (3rd and 6th) in Revati

A lot of layered influences comes through the Mercury-ruled pratyak nakshatra of Revati. Pratyak is a difficult tara, giving an unfulfilled, averted and missed influence.

In her Mercury dasha, which activated both Mercury and Jupiter in Pisces, this person developed serious health issues (6th house) related to her nervous system and mental state (Mercury is related to the mind and the nervous system). Mercury is of course debilitated in Pisces; however with its ruler Jupiter, it operates under a neecha banga yoga (cancellation of debility).

Mercury is a dharma planet for Libra and it is naturally friendly with Venus-ruled signs. Mercury is related to speech so we can see the Mercurian potential expressed in this person’s superb command of language. She has a degree in linguistics and worked as a teacher early in life (Mercury rules the 9th house related to teachings and it is with Jupiter, the natural guru). Her writing and poetry is incredibly witty and features beautiful play on words, and she delights in expressing her skill with words even in her everyday conversations with people.

And yet, activated through the sign of the functional malefic Jupiter and through Pratyak nakshatra, we can see how this enormous creative/linguistic skill became unfulfilled. The illness brought on by the Mercury dasha was severe. The mind was affected so much that it got in the way of her writing, which she sees as her life’s purpose (9th house). This is a real-life equivalent of the Flowers of Algernon kind of tragedy. So the wealth of inspirational potential became averted and unfulfilled in pratyak nakshatra.

In a similar vein, Mercury as the 9th and 12th lord joined Jupiter in Pisces and aspecting Saturn in the 12th house could have produced a strong capacity for meditation and spirituality. However this potential when expressed through Pratyak nakshatra again becomes “missed”. Although this person expresses superficial interest in spirituality and mysticism and has immensely powerful intuition, she never developed a spiritual practice. The 12th house can show power through solitude, but she also suffers from a deep fear of being alone and avoids silence and solitude at all costs.

Tara 6: Sadhaka
Ketu in 11th in Magha nakshatra
Sadhaka tara shows where we persevere through hard work and effort. The 11th house is related to public recognition and Ketu shows where we have strong innate skills but where we also no longer want to devote our energy. This person struggled with getting recognition for her writing for many years early in her career. We would expect that with Ketu pointing to an area of aversion in the 11th, she would have given up and been drawn to creative expression for creativity’s sake (Rahu in the 5th). Yet Ketu expresses itself through its own nakshatra, Magha, the Sadhaka nakshatra of persevering. So this person persisted in trying to get published, achieving literary recognition later in her life and winning many honours and awards for her work.

Tara 9:
Parama Maitra Nakshatra. Saturn in Hasta, rules 4th and 5th , and is in the 12th

This is an interesting placement, which shows a dichotomy between the 12th house themes of loss and separation, and how the experience of loss turns to their benefit with the energy of Parama Maitra (Great Friend) nakshatra Hasta. Hasta, of course, is associated with manifesting.

This person was forced to immigrate due to violent political unrest in her homeland, losing her home in the process (4th ruler of home in the 12th house of loss). Effectively, she lived in forced exile since. However, this loss triggered the public recognition of her creative work (Saturn rules the 5th house) while living abroad (12th house), a recognition, which she struggled to get in her homeland.

She exerted extremely over-the top control over her childrens’ lives (Saturn is related to control and rules the 5th house of children). As a result, the children moved out as soon as they came of age, and lived far away ever since (5th lord of children in the 12th house of loss and separation). Despite the controlling nature of the relationship, the children’s attitude towards her is benevolent: the relationship continues on good terms, albeit at a distance. Moreover, the children support her financially.

So we see how these Saturn lessons, overlaid with themes of loss, control and surrender – while challenging on the surface, nevertheless proved beneficial for her in the long run. Saturn is acting as a great friend in Parama Maitra nakshatra and, of course, it is also a natural benefic yoga karaka planet for Libra.