Editor – This is Part 1 of a many part article by Bijesh. It has been broken down mainly due to the length of the original article along with my incapacity to go through it at once.

Author – Bijesh Menon

I have been practicing astrology for more than a decade now. Based on the interactions with my clients, I have come to a conclusion that a people are more concerned about their profession than other aspects of life. Most of my clients come to me questions like “When will I have stability in my job”, “Will I be transferred this year”,  “What if I leave my job and take up a business” or “Am I into the right line of profession, if not what is best for me” etc.  People take such failures very seriously and are less tolerant about them when it comes to career.

When I thought of writing an article about profession and vocation, I found myself confused on where to start. There are many books dedicated on this vast subject. I could not figure out how to express my views in a small article. I therefore decided to dedicate this article on the astrological combinations that cause downfall in profession, as it is the most worrisome area for a lot of us. I am trying to draw the attention of readers towards some of the planetary combinations which causes troubles and down falls to ones profession. These are based on my own experiences.

The Rahu-Ketu Axis and Unstable Career

The axis of Rahu and Ketu occurring in the fourth and tenth houses in a horoscope is one of the worst situations as far as profession is concerned. Irrespective of which planet (Rahu/Ketu) being posited in the tenth, the professional life of the native will suffer.

Rahu’s position in tenth house causes one to have frequent changes in his career. Such natives are much aggressive in their professional life. They seldom listen to others opinion and have strained relation with the co workers. They can be very impulsive which may lead them to making many a hasty decisions in career.

Rahu’s position in a fiery sign (Aries, Leo and Sagittarius) in the tenth house: Rahu is an aggressor and when he gets posited in a fiery sign, his flares burn high. This will lead to native always getting in to adverse situations in the work place. He will have frequent arguments with his co workers and superiors. He will never care others word. He will quickly get bored with his work. He will work hard but most of his hard work would go unnoticed. Such natives may not change the line of profession frequently but change in the job is certain. Business men with this combination will seldom find success since they will never maintain good relation in their business circle. Their success in life will be only in patches.

Rahu position in a watery sign (Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces): Rahu is less malefic than being located in a watery sign being posited in a fiery sign. The reason behind it is that Rahu will never attains much power in a watery sign like a fiery sign.  But still Rahu will cause damage as much as possible because Rahu is uncomfortable in watery signs. In Pisces, Rahu is less harmful because Jupiter has a calming influence over Rahu as the depositor lord.

The natives with Rahu in the 10th house in a watery sign will have fewer changes in career but they tend to suffer more in their jobs. Such natives have a sense of frustration in their career and do not see many opportunities for change.

Rahu’s position in the tenth house in an earth sign (Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn): Earth signs signify patience and practical approach. This influence on Rahu provides stability in career. Also, Rahu maintains a good relation with only a few planets and Venus and Mercury are among them. That’s the reason why Rahu is a less of a trouble in Taurus and Virgo. Such natives also may face some problems in their professional life and have the tendency to change jobs but will always hold their nerves with practical approach to the situation. Also they will have an attitude of seeing things from an angle of enjoyment and cooperation which will always help them stand strong even at the odd periods.

Rahu’s position in the tenth house in an airy sign (Gemini, Libra and Aquarius): In airy signs Rahu is most comfortable and causes least trouble. Once again two of the three airy signs Gemini and Libra are owned by Mercury and Venus who are friendly to Rahu. In Aquarius Rahu does not behave properly since the sign is owned by Saturn and the combination of Rahu-Saturn is always bad influence. Moreover most of the schools of astrology are of the opinion that for Rahu, Gemini and Virgo are like own houses. Taurus is considered Rahu’s exaltation sign. In practice, this has indeed been found to be true.

If Ketu is located in the tenth, then the native tends to suffer humiliation and hardship in their work life. The native will always find it difficult to enjoy their work because most likely he/she will be caught in a line of profession which is not the line of interest. But what makes Ketu’s case different is that such people will keep their frustrations and uneasiness unexpressed for long and then end it with a disastrous move. Unlike Rahu in the tenth, these people will not try to bring in a change in their career, but will ruin it by keep continuing at the same place and the performance going down each day, one day at a time. If Rahu forces one to have changes in the professional front even for no apparent reason, Ketu holds one from even reacting to adverse situations. And at last when they take a decision it will be pretty bad.

The transits of Rahu and Ketu are also adverse for career. Whenever the transit of either Rahu or Ketu has reference to the meridian point, there is tension in profession. A close examination however reveals that the transit of Ketu over the 10th house creates more trouble than than of Rahu. A transit of Rahu or Ketu over the natal 10th, either from Lagna or Moon, along with an influence of transit Saturn by the means of yoga or aspect, the situation gets worsened.

This New York Times article reveals how animals use their relationship with children to improve their social standing. This isn’t very different from humans where we too derive pleasure from our children. We feel happy seeing them play. We put big burden our expectations on their small shoulders and really, like the male Barbary macaques mentioned in the article, we “strengthen our social clout” through our children. Coincidently, I was reminded that it is father’s day today. After playing with my son with some time, I was tempted to dust off my notes on astrology on how to judge children through horoscopes.

Ideally, this article should have written itself as part II of Progeny in Vedic Astrology and Dattak Putra Yoga. However, life is such that when children come along, they take up majority of the time and energy of their parents. Most importantly, they divert the focus away from all other activities. Even now, when I am trying to concentrate on this article, I am not able to get the tunes of Itsy Bitsy Spider and Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun out of my head.

A relationship between a parent and child is a complex one. Responsibility and expectation does not always balance each other out. Both the parties grow together and as everyone gets older, maintaining the relationship is not necessarily a piece of cake.

To judge such a relationship, we need to look at 5th house in parent’s chart and 9th house in the child’s chart. Due to Bhavat Bhavam, both 5th and 9th become important as 9th is 5th from 5th and 5th is 9th from 9th. In general, we should look at influences on 5th house and its lord to determine how the relationship and association would be in future.

Happiness through children is indicated if there is a positive influence through Moon, Venus and Jupiter. Similarly, unhappiness would be caused by Saturn and Rahu. Afflicted Mercury causes worries, Mars causes danger and Rahu can be the cause of scandals. Adverse navamsha and saptamsha positions of well placed planets in rashi chart cause misunderstanding.

Placement of 5th lord in various houses is important. A good yoga/combination between 1st and 5th house lords predicts a good relationship. A good combination between 5th and 7th or 9th house lord predicts that the parent would benefit from foreign travels of the child. If there are negative influences, the relationship would be estranged by distance. Similarly, if the 2nd house is involved and there are a lot of negative influences, a parent might not be able to support the child financially.

The rules explained above are from the perspective of a parent, but can be turned around and looked from the perspective of the child as well. Take an example of 10th house – an unfavourable combination between 5th and 10th house would mean that a person would neglect his/her children for career. A similar combination involving 9th and 10th house would mean that a child will not get enough support from parent because of the parent’s career aspirations.

This was an interesting cartoon in DNA, Bangalore. Funny in some sense, after the current furor by Supreme Court on pre-marital sex and live-in relationships.

Marriage is defined based on a ceremony, whether it is a ceremony in front of Agni dev, Nikaah in front of a kazi, a church wedding in front of a priest or a court wedding in front of a registrar. The importance of a ceremony is such that in 2002 when I applied for a dependent US visa for my wife, the US consulate insisted on seeing wedding photographs along with the marriage certificate.

A relationship can exist without a ceremony as well – in fact one of the types of wedding defined in Indian culture called Gandharva Vivah, is nothing but a man and woman accepting each other as husband and wife and then going ahead with life.

Without sounding judgmental, I have a very honest and personal advice for folks here: if you are in a committed relationship, please do not look for an astrologer’s approval. If you must, please try to get the approval/blessings of your loved ones, which is what a ceremony is anyway.

Even in Satyuga, there was a washerman (dhobi) who doubted Rama and Sita and Sita had to prove herself through agnipariksha…

This Kaliyuga has mere mortals like me who doubted the God (of cricket) and had written him off. I had the temerity to ask him to just be a coach and motivator of India team. He silenced us all and showed that he can coach/motivate/lead from the front just by doing what he does best - batting. Anil Kumble rightly says – “If the youngsters in the team can take even 10 per cent of what he does, they’ll be better cricketers for it”.

If there are any astrologers out there who would be interested in contributing articles to this website, please do get in touch : vedic dot astrology @ gmail.com.

I will be very happy to publish your work on this website. It would be very helpful to spread good word about Vedic Astrology throughout the world.