Your Jyotish chart is a unique karmic map that shares the wisdom of life-past, present and future.

Your chart holds the key to understanding who you are on a mental, emotional, physical and spiritual body level, while also sharing intimate secrets about your healing and transformation process.

Though jyotish is a Vedic science that takes hours, years and even life times to fully explore and understand, there are some very basic steps for starting to peel back the layers of your own jyotish chart.

I share more elaborate and specific details in my weekly Jyotish Basics Classes, but here are five simple steps to get you started right now.

1) Identify Your Rising Sign.

Using the North Indian Style diagram above, notice where the first house is in your own chart. This is also where your rising sign is located. The small number in the first house indicates your rising sign. What is your rising sign?

Aries is a number 1.
Taurus is a number 2.
Gemini is a number 3.
Cancer is a number 4.
Leo is a number 5.
Virgo is a number 6.
Libra is a number 7.
Scorpio is a number 8.
Sagittarius is a number 9.
Capricorn is a number 10.
Aquarius is a number 11.
Pisces is a number 12.

2) Finding Your Sun and Moon.

Now count counter-clockwise around the chart, locating the first through the 12th houses. What houses are your Sun and Moon in?

SU is the abbreviation used for Sun. The Sanskrit abbreviation is SY for Surya.
MO is the abbreviation for the Moon. The Sanskrit abbreviation is CH for Chandra.

3) What Are Your Sun and Moon Signs?

Now that you have identified the houses that your Sun and Moon are in, identify what signs they are in. Remember the numbers in each house indicate the signs. What is your Sun sign? What is your Moon sign?

4) Identify All Nine Planets in Your Chart.

Use the common abbreviations below to identify the nine planets. What houses are they in?

Common Abbreviations:
AS = ascendent, your 1st house. MO = Moon. SU = Sun. SA = Saturn. ME = Mercury. MA = Mars. VE = Venus. JP = Jupiter. Ra = Rahu. Ke = Ketu.

5) What Are Your Planetary Signs?

Once you identify the planets and what houses they sit in, the next step is to determine what signs each of the nine planet is placed in. Where do your Saturn, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Rahu and Ketu sit in your own chart?

Remember that this process takes time- so go slow and remember to breathe! At first, just stick to the identification process. Meaning-making comes next!

Truth be told, understanding the basic principles of reading a jyotish chart is very different than being able to find meaning in the many elaborate pieces. Being able to integrate the many layers of the jyotish chart and knit them together with your own understanding is quite a different skill! This is where time, study, meditation and contemplation are essential. Practice is essential for honing this craft! For those who want to practice and increase their jyotish skills, you will need to be diligent in your studies. Reading books, taking classes and spending time studying charts is essential.

Perhaps the most important part of learning and growing through jyotish wisdom, however, is studying your own chart. Your own karmic map is your reference point for all other understanding- even understanding other charts. Your jyotish chart is the core of your own awareness and will help you unlock your own inner knowing. First and foremost, study your own chart and use it as a reference for understanding yourself, in relation to world.

As the Vedic texts state, Aham Brahmasmi, I am the totality.

Ready to learn more? Join me for my August Jyotish Basics Classes!

Don’t have a copy of your chart? Get one here.

* This Article is relevant for reading a North Indian Style chart only.

Author: Saraswati J. 

Editor: Renée Picard

Image: via the author