When I faced database problems on my website, I must have missed a lot of comments. This was an important one, made by Basab Roy on the post on foreign travels and journeys. While going through comments today, I figured that somehow this comment got deleted.

Basab, with apologies, here is the comment in its entirety. Please let me know if I missed anything.

1) Dual signs signifies foreign travel.

2)12th house is a house of foreign residence. I guess the logic behind it is the 12th house is the 4th house(residence) from the 9th house(foreign travel). It is also 9th from 4th.

3) Ketu and Jupiter are also the significators of foreign travel. I guess the logic behind Jupiter being a significator of foreign travel is Jupiter is the lord of 9th (Sagittarius) and 12th (Pisces) signs of the Kalpurush zodiac.

4) Malefic influences on the 2nd house of family can result in either of the following:

• Foreign travel: If malefic influences on the 2nd house are supported by other strong connections for foreign travel in the birth chart then the native will leave his/her family and travel abroad.
• Short journey: If malefic influences on the 2nd house are supported by other strong connections for short journeys but not foreign travel then the native will leave his/her family and make short journeys.
• No travels but conflicts with family: If malefic influences on the 2nd house are not supported by other strong connections for foreign travel or short journeys in the birth chart then the native will have conflicts with his/her family but won’t leave them for foreign travel.

5) Malefic influences on the 4th house of home can result in either of the following:

• Foreign travel: If malefic influences on the 4th house are supported by other strong connections for foreign travel in the birth chart then the native will leave his/her family and travel abroad.
• Short journey: If malefic influences on the 4th house are supported by other strong connections for short journeys but not foreign travel then the native will leave his/her home and make short journeys.
• No travels but conflicts with family: If malefic influences on the 4th house are not supported by other strong connections for foreign travel or short journeys in the birth chart then the native will have an unhappy domestic life but won’t leave his/her for foreign travel or short journeys.

6) The dasha of the 7th lord or planets in the 7th house can give foreign travel.

7) If the lagna makes connection with 7th house, 9th house or 12th house but these connections happen in fixed signs then the person will make short journeys within the country and not to a foreign land.

This post, although being posted late, should be read before any other posts under Yoga category. In a Vedic horoscope, planets are said to be in combination if:

1. They exchange location and occupy each other’s rashi. E.g. Venus in Leo and Sun in Taurus.
2. They affect each other through full aspect or drishti,
3. A planet located in a rashi under full drishti of the lord of the house in a horoscope
4. The planets occupy the same rashi in a horoscope.

These rules are numbered because the strength of effectiveness of the yoga reduces as we move from (1) to (4).

Further, location in houses 4th and 10th from each other are also considered as a combination from any of the planets. This is most evident in case of various Panch Mahapurusha yogas.

The combination of the planets should be seen in both rashi and chalit chart. If a planet moves in position between rashi and chalit chart, the combination would be rendered ineffective.

Full Aspect - Drishti

To explain (3), let us take an example of Venus in Pisces and Jupiter in Scorpio. In this case, Jupiter influences Venus through its 5th sign aspect, which means that we do not always need to look at 7th full drishti for this combination to be effective. The special full aspect of planets other than the usual 7th sign aspect are as follows:

• Mars: 4th and 8th sign
• Jupiter: 5th and 9th sign
• Saturn: 3rd and 10th sign
• Raku and Ketu: 5th and 9th sign

Sun, Moon, Mercury and Venus do not have any other special aspect.

My primary motivation behind writing this article is to reason out and derive the principles for predicting foreign travel by way of Vedic Astrology and try to fit the description for the cases that I know of. Over the years, I have rummaged through various books and magazines, but have not been entirely satisfied with the content. My analysis may not be entirely correct and I am even ready for nasty comments for the content of this article Please help me in this exercise of my own learning. I will be more than happy to look at your comments and incorporate appropriate changes in the main article for benefit of all.

Traveling to new places, meeting new people either for purpose of business or just for pleasure helps gains knowledge and broaden our horizons and perspective. It makes us wiser. For a long time now, Indians have chosen to go abroad for the same of employment - to avail of opportunities for professional satisfaction and to make more money. Arguably this trend is reversing in the last few years as the economy revives in India but visiting other countries is still considered as desirable and a source of excitement for a lot of people.

There are various reasons why people move from one place to another:

• Journeys within a geographical region due to nature of work - what we colloquially call “traveling job”.
• Business travel to a foreign land.
• Tourism or pilgrimage.
• Change is residence due to profession or after marriage if the spouse is settled in a different place.

Astrologically, the rules to be considered for predicting travel are:

• 12th House: In a horoscope, 12th house shows separation. Malefic influences on 12th house make a person wander from place to place.
• 3rd and 9th House: While 4th house represents comfort of a house, 3rd and 9th being 12th (causing separation) and 6th (alien-ness) from 4th denote journeys. 3rd house should be considered for short journeys and 9th for long journeys. I think this is due to the fact that from 9th house we also look at religion and hence pilgrimages, which usually were very long in olden times. Moreover, malefic influences on 4th house, by way of occupation will make one leave his/her birth place, i.e. travel to a foreign location.
• 7th House: A lot of sages have mentioned in their works that residence in foreign countries should be looked at from seventh house.
• Movable and Watery signs: Position of lords of above mentioned houses in these signs indicates travel.
• Rahu and Saturn: These planets influence travel in their dasha and antardasha. Rahu signifies the foreign element in the chart, something that is unconventional and out of ordinary.
• Sun: While positioned in any of the houses - 3rd, 7th, 9th and 12th, Sun influences journeys.

To understand the conditions that lead to foreign travel, combinations between these planets and houses are important. Ascendant lord in moveable or watery sign along with 9th and/or 12th house lord would indicate foreign travel. Combinations with 3rd house lord would indicate short travels instead of long, overseas travel.

Influence of 7th house lord is necessary for settling in a foreign country. Influence of Rahu or other malefic planets on 4th would give the same result by causing estrangement and would show a person leaving the comforts of residence. These combinations along with other combination of journeys would mean a one way ticket to a foreign country. Correspondingly, beneficial influences on 4th house in combination with 9th house would indicate increased attachment with the original place of residence and the person would come back home.

The timing of journey is always governed by 9th or 12th house lords and planets influencing these houses either though aspect or occupation of the house. Influence of lord of difficult houses - 6th house and in particular 8th house would indicate problems with travel, e.g. an unfavourable Mars in a chart in this scenario would indicate possible accidents while traveling.

All comments are most welcome.

Apologies for not being able to write any new posts for a long time. A combination of personal and professional issues did not allow me to work on the site other than performing routine maintenance. I have been going through all the comments though and this one caught my attention where the person is concerned if Mercury would affect married life in a negative way.

This is a fairly generic statement and should be understood as such. The simple answer is unless Mercury is itself afflicted (because is it most mutable planet and assumes nature of planets associated with it) and is afflicting 7th house as a cruel, malefic planet, there should not be any problems with respect to marriage.

I have also read in one of the astrology books that Mercury has absolutely no effect whatsoever, either positive or negative, on capacity to have children. Mercury governs creativity of thought. What gets created with this ability is books, literature and other forms of communication that can transcend time and affect people for generations to come. Hence this planet should not be seen in a bad light.

Please let me know if this argument makes sense.

To Ishan I would like to say that strengthening mercury would help definitely help you in your problems. Please have faith. The results may not be visible immediately but situation will improve in a longer run.

Prediction about any event in an astrology chart is done by looking at either transits of planets (gochara) or by referring to a dasha period. Dasha period system is the more important of prediction systems in use. There are various dasha periods used within Indian Astrology - Vimshottari, Sodashottari, Dwadashattari, Ashtottari etc. Within these dasha systems also, Vimshottari dasha system is marked as the most important one in the ancient texts. The birth chart application in this site displays the Vimshottari dasha.

Vimshottari means 120. The dasha is called as such because of the period of effect of various planets adds up to 120. Dasha periods are always calculated according to the position of Moon in the chart. Janma Nakshatra therefore plays an important part in calculating the starting dasha period in the chart, which is determined by the lord of the nakshatra that the Moon falls in at the time of birth.

The main dasha period is called the mahadasha. This period is further divided into sub periods - antardasha and further sub periods - pratyantar dasha, sukshama dasha and finally the prana dasha. Without going into details of how these periods are calculated, if the span of the main period is of order of years, the duration of prana dasha is of the order of days or even hours. Errors in recording the time of birth are magnified quite a lot while calculating these innermost dasha periods. It is a pretty good reason for astrologers not to use sukshama dasha and prana dasha while making predictions.

Results from various planets are arrived at by looking at their natural or acquired traits in the chart. In their own or friendly house or navamsha, planets give good results. Similar results should be expected from planets that are have shadbala, vargottama or in a square or a trine position from lagna or Janma rashi. Planets involved in various yogas give results as described in the yoga. Debilitated planets, planets in enemy signs, naturally cruel planets give bad results during their dasha periods. Generally speaking, all planets do not give good results towards the end of their dasha periods.

Effects of various planetary combinations (yogas), whether good or bad, rajyogas or dhana yogas or nirdhana yoga etc. and corresponding predictions should be looked at from dasha periods of the associated planets. Essentially, the laws of :

• characteristics of planets in the chart,
• friendship between planets,
• yogas,
• strength of planets and
• retrogression

are the classical ones, some of which we have discussed earlier in this site and read in the books. Please refer to them while trying to make predictions for a particular period in a person’s life.

For ascertaining results related to affairs of a particular house or bhava, the lord of the house, planets situated in the house and those influencing the house by a drishti are considered important. This is required to predict an event in a person’s life - e.g. job, change of place, marriage and birth of children. Let us take an example of child birth. Fifth house (and also the 9th house, by principles of bhavat-bhavam) either from Lagna or Moon is important for children and childbirth. In the period of 5th house lord, putrakaraka, and a benefic planet affecting 5th house, one can expect childbirth in a family. In the period of malefic planets, e.g. Saturn or Rahu or a lord of a malefic house affecting fifth house, it will be difficult for a couple to have children, even if all other putrakaraka elements in the chart are really strong.

When antardasha and other sub-periods are looked at, combination and relationships between various period lords also come into picture. If the mahadasha lord and sub-period lord are friends either naturally or temporally in a chart, we should see good results. A 5/9 relationship, i.e. when two planets are situated in 5th and 9th position from each other, is considered auspicious. Similarly, a 2/12 or 6/8 relationship between the planets is not considered good when the dasha period operates.

All the planets that may influence a house will give their effect as main dasha period rulers or one of antardasha rulers. Per Dr. Raman, antardasha rulers are more important in giving result. When both rulers affect a house, the results should be considered complete. When main dasha ruler does not affect the house in any way but inner dasha ruler does, the results are less and limited. When only the outer dasha ruler is concerned with the house and antardasha ruler is not, the results will be extremely limited.