This is an advanced article and caution should be observed by those starting out their Jyotish learning journey as this article will confuse, even petrify you! It is a call out to all the astrologers who visit this webpage to conduct their own observations and report here for a fruitful discussion/ analysis into this thought which, in my opinion, requires a thorough testing
A few years back, I read a book by the students of a somewhat unknown astrologer, who supposedly had incredible prediction abilities. He was trained as an engineer and even retired at the time when some astrologer enthusiasts discovered his predictive abilities. I have, indeed, forgotten the name of the astrologer who resided somewhere near Delhi. He wanted nothing to do with neither money, nor fame, and supposedly consulted by very few as he did not advertise his services anywhere nor tried to monetarily gain from them. He, however, was a self taught astrological genius who learnt through brute force method of case studies and in the process made some of his own rules. There were 2 books I had read by, from what I hear, a couple of his students and much has been lost in translation or interpretation by these students themselves. Unfortunately the said astrologer has long passed and thus there is no way to have his original thoughts or elaboration and nothing apart from these couple of books, written quite shabbily (I fear I have to admit). I am confident that not many have read these books due to the above factors or if publishers even published them beyond the first year or 2. When I am able to find these books in my archives, I will give the details here.
However, the purpose of this article, as mentioned above is for me to give you a summary of the main take-aways that I recall from these books. At first pass, I had admittedly discarded them as just some astrologer’s personal opinion and not having much meat to the bone. However, over the years some of these things did linger on in mind and I silently, sometimes sub consciously I kept testing these rules on the thousands of charts that I analyzed since then. As of 2021, I can claim that it has shaken me quite a bit as I think there is something remarkable about these. I will only share the exaltation/ debilitation rules here as they are the only ones I vividly remember, although there were some more haphazard rules, without much cohesion.
So, again, be cautious as this will force you to unlearn some of the things you have learnt over the years and thus if it is too much for you to digest, discard the article and move on your journey as usual. If you are still curious, please apply these to as many charts as you can and report back your observations.
Rule 1 – Planets are not exalted just in the signs we know, but rather in that entire trine. Same for debilitation. Example sun is exalted in Aries, Leo and Saggi. Sun is debilitated in Gemini, Libra and Aquarius
Note – Over the years, in the above example I used Sun as exalted in Aries and ‘Exalted like’ in Leo and Saggi, just so that I dont revolt much with myself
Rule 2 – Moon hence becomes debilitated in Cancer! Mars becomes debilitated in Scorpio as well! Venus is debilitated in Taurus! however in all these cases, where a planet is debilitated in its own sign, especially with moon, see what kind of conjunctions, aspects and trinalities moon has. If with jupiter or venus, moon becomes very good (like neechabhang) but if with saturn, rahu or ketu and if dark (close to sun), Moon becomes very negative – like debilitated and can give serious mental and emotional issues
Rule 3 – Mercury is exalted in Aquarius and hence gemini and Libra (not in virgo)
Mercury is debilitated in Leo and hence also Aries and Saggi
Note – I do not find this true. I still keep mercury exalted in Virgo and the trine of taurus and capricorn, however I do observe that mercury does give good results in aquarius, gemini and libra (exalted like)
So yes, that is it. Here is what I can add from my observations-
- When you find contradictory situations like venus exalted in Cancer, I have noticed that indeed venus will then give great results of the houses it rules, but it will damage the significations of the house it sits in. Example Angelina jolie has venus in cancer in ascendant. Venus will give exalted results of the 4th and 11th rashi of assets, fame and income etc but spoil health as it is in the first bhaav. Likewise mars in virgo as exalted but in an inmical sign, say for cancer ascendant is in the 3rd bhaav. It will increase parakaram, give good results for the 5th and 10th rashi but give bad health to the younger sibling if any or completely prevent a younger sibling in the native’s life. etc.
- Be careful in applying the Neecha bhang principles as they are more important now than ever as each planet is now debilitated in 3 signs instead of 1 and Rahu ketu will be debilitated in 6 signs each (considering rahu exalted in taurus and trines and gemini and trines and debilitated in scorpio and trines and saggi and trines)
- When a planet is debilitated in its own sign in a kendra, it automatically gets neecha bhang as long as it is not aspected strongly by malefics (mars in scorpio, venus in taurus, moon in cancer)
- When a planet is debilitated in its own sign, as mentioned above the final results are from bhaav and aspects. if a kendra or kona position with good aspects, the planet will give neecha bhang raj yoga effects. When aspected by negative planets, it will give effects due to excess of that trait. i.e. excessive emotions/ imagination leading to paranoia, depression etc in case of moon in cancer, excess of controlling behavior/ addictions/ gambling/ getting involved in crime or hidden illegal activity etc with mars in scorpio etc.
- Any planet which is debilitated as per the above rules but sitting with the rashi lord gets neecha bhang even if not in kendra. example capricorn ascendant, jupiter in capricorn with saturn or in virgo with mercury is neecha bhang in both cases
- The functional malefics are good to have in a neecha bhang scenario as per either point 5 above or by being neecha bhang by being in kendra from lagna and moon
- On the other hand, functional benefics are good to have exalted or exalted like or own house. For example taurus ascendant. Good to have saturn and mercury as exalted and jupiter and mars as neecha bhang for best results. Exalted mars and exalted jupiter will enhance their houses but being functional malefics, will become troublesome planets as well
- Treat 3, 6 and 11 as the most evil houses in ascending order. if a planet is debilitated per sign and in any of the above bhaavs, it will give worst kind of results. Venus in taurus in the 6th house for saggitarius as an example will give thouroughly bad results as it is a functional malefic, debilitated and in an evil house. now if this is also aspected or trinal to rahu or saturn or ketu, it will cause havoc in its periods on many fronts, especially health and relationships
- Any neecha planet whose depositor is exalted or MK and in a kendra or kona also gets neecha bhang
- Any neecha bhang planet will give good results usually after initial setbacks, struggles and failures
- regardless of neecha or uccha, basic rules of jyotish are all the same. example if scoprio ascendant and mars and moon in lagna. By the above rules both mars and moon are debiliated, however as both in kendra and depositor mars sits in own sign, both get neecha bhang and the 1st and 9th lords combine in 1st giving rise to a very powerful raj yoga. This yoga however will in some manner first give its neecha effects (earlier in life or dasas) and then give its potent raj yoga effects
So yes please try these principles, as revolting as they might sound and report back here if you wish. After all experimentation and case studies is the best way to learn and apply any knowledge in real life!