How to Judge a Horoscope (Volume I and II)

This book is a classic from Dr. B. V. Raman and is a must for both students and veterans in astrology. It is published in two volumes and the author covers description of twelve houses of a horoscope in these volumes.

At the first step, the reader gets a refresher course on the basics where Dr. Raman emphasizes on careful judgment of the strength of chart and each bhava. Determination of longevity is discussed in a short chapter following which each house is explained in details with a lot of example horoscopes.

I do not want sound arrogant by trying to review the work of Dr. Raman, but this is just to share my experience of this book with someone who has not read Dr. Raman before. On going through the description of each house, you will find that the author is not only thorough but extremely organized as well. There is a pattern in his teaching and it is adhered to throughout the books. To begin with there is a discourse on the result of the lord of the house being situated in different houses of the horoscope result of combination of the lord with other planets and situation of various planets in the house. Specific traits of the house are discussed, e.g. for second house the discussion is on money, riches and poverty etc.

This is followed by a section detailing time of fructification of results of the particular house, which concerns the lord, planet(s) aspecting the house and/or the lord and in association with the lord. Dr. Raman tells us that we also need to look at the lord of the house as counted from the Moon as well.

All in all, this is a pretty good text book. Due to its editing, organization and simple language, it would appeal to folks who are not from India as well, which is not generally the case with most English language books on astrology.