Role of planets in astrology and horoscope

We have now finished a common description about the rashis from the previous lessons. Now the second major term that you have to be familier with is Planets. In the usual sense the planets are heavenly bodies that revolve around the sun or such stars. But here, in astrology the term planet has a different meaning. In astrology the planets are bodies which affect the life of a man or an event.

In vedic astrology it is beleived that the planets standing in various positions (as we are know advancing in astrology we can say Rashis) influences the life of the people. At the time of birth of a baby we can calculate the positions of the planets in the space and its effects on the new born baby can be studied. Thus by studying the influences of the planets, we can easily predict the events of the life of the child in future. Thus the chart which shows the positions if the planets in the space along with predictions is called a horoscope .

From the positions of the planets in the time of birth we can predict about the appearance, nature, luck and all the things concerning the life of an individual. From the horoscope we can predict which education will he receive, what will be his profession, about the family and much more. If done in an accurate manner, with the help of horoscpe we can even predict the daily happenings in the life of a person. But it requires a thorough knowledge of the subject and complex calculations.

When we studied aboutThe Rashis it was explained that the rashis are taken with respect to the earth, or the earth is considered as origin. Similarly the planets are studied in this way. We are living on this planet earth and the effect of other planets on us are calculated. Thus in astrology mainly 9 planets are considered for the prediction of future. They are 1) Sun (Ravi) 2) Moon (Chandra) 3) Mars(Mangal) 4) Mercury (Budha) 5)Jupiter(Guru)6)Venus(Shukra) 7) Saturn(Shani) 8) Rahu 9)Ketu

After reading this the first thing you may think will be that the sun, moon, Rahu and ketu are not planets. But as I have already told you here we take the term planets for the bodies which affects the life of a person. Rahu and Ketu are not even heavenly bodies and they are two points in the space and in the western astrology they are popularly known as node and anti- node.

You may have also heard stories about the Rahu as a demon having only head and no body swallowing the sun. It is just a story with some truth hidden it. But such stories have created many misconceptions in peoples mind that astrology is a fake science based on mere stories. It is not so. As our study progresses I will give the scientific explaination of Rahu and ketu . In Kerala astrology another planet called Gulika is also considered for accurate predictions.