Powers of the Red Planet - A consideration of Mars’ special aspects in the tradition of Jyotish

by Lars Panaro

Part 1: Overview and the Path of Spirit

Shri Yantra with Om (ௐ) at its center, Sri Mariamman Temple, Singapore;
yantras are frequently used as aids in Hindu meditation
Source: Tomoaki INABA from Ibaraki, Japan, CC BY-SA 2.0

The setting: India. The time: probably the Middle Ages. The occurrence: a rather obscure and not so obvious aspect doctrine whispered from the ethers, probably to some astrologer eccentric enough to lend an ear!

Actually, the aspect doctrine we’ll be discussing here appears to have been a further development of the earlier aspect doctrine given in the very ancient Jyotish text called Yavanajataka (1):

• All planets influence the sign (2) they are in at 100%.
• All planets aspect the 7th sign from their placement at 100%.
• All planets aspect the 8th and 4th sign from their placement at 75%. (3)
• All planets aspect the 5th and 9th sign from their placement at 50%.
• All planets aspect the 3rd and 10th sign from their placement at 25%.

In later Jyotish texts, the aspect doctrine was modified in this manner:

• Mars was made to exert a 100% influence via the 8th and 4th aspect;
• Jupiter does the same via the 5th and 9th aspects, and 
• Saturn does the same via the 3rd and 10th aspects.

Before we delve into any of this technically, let’s understand some things about the essence of astrology in contrast to its technical doctrines alone. Classical Jyotish includes a metaphysical doctrine that there is a Spirit, or consciousness, of astrology. This Spirit of astrology is called the Jyotir Vidya (“the light of wisdom”; Jyotish itself is often translated “science of light”). I would say that this Spirit of astrology is relevant for all systems of the art, ancient or modern.

There is some form of Spirit behind all things in life — be it a tree, a wind, a system of knowledge, a civilization, etc. The Jyotir Vidya is the Sanskrit name for this astrological Spirit, and out of the totality of the Jyotir Vidya emerge the threads we know of as the different lineages and modalities of astrology. Just as different musical instruments exist upon which a single tune can played, so, too, different astrologies can be employed to understand the fundamental tune of life.

As Westerners in the modern world, we can be tempted to regard the aspect doctrine of mainstream Jyotish as the result of a clerical error, (4) and the same is being said about the use of the sidereal zodiac by many Westerners now coming to traditional Jyotish. In stark contrast to this trend of thought, I suggest here that we take the opposite approach: that we remain quiet in order to listen to the wisdom of a living tradition, rather than scorning it in the light of Mercurial logic masquerading as historical analysis, alone.

From a lunar perspective, these ancient doctrines were received as whispers from the ethers by those with an ear to hear; hence there is a tradition in India that Lord Brahma himself taught astrology to the sages (similar to the mythos of Hermes teaching astrology to humanity). Whether taught by Brahma or Hermes, the ancient wisdom traditions all seem to tell us that the essence of astrological doctrine was transmitted from the ethers, rather than arrived at via some intellectual process. This is the same manner in which The Vedas, Kabbalah, The Mahabharata, The Quran, and more were composed. It is not merely a “myth” (a fiction), as many would like to believe.

And so, what may appear to the modern mind as an error in doctrinal transmission may well have been the Jyotir Vidya itself guiding the pen of some compiler so that a more profound set of techniques could emerge outside the dour constraints of logic. Many wondrous inventions are discovered by accident, and many a great piece of music began as a mistake (missed-take) during practice. The mind that depends solely on logic becomes incapable of forming new ideas or making new discoveries, except by accident or by apparent error. The mind not so rigidly confined by a set of definitions, like those of many ancient astrologers, can receive new information via intuition.

Intuition, or noetic certainty, occurs when the whole is grasped instantaneously through a momentary unitive experience (Uranus), rather than one that is sequentially defined (Mercury). A fundamental Truth of Being proclaims the whole to be greater than the sum of its component parts, and thus a mere assembling of said parts does not, and cannot, equal the whole. The Jyotir Vidya guides astrologers to be increasingly intuitive in their practice — but only if they remain humble and open.

Ketu Dev: Tail of Demon Snake
When Moon moves from North to South in its orbit and crosses Sun's path – the incision point is called Ketu
Source: E. A. Rodrigues, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

This is very important to understand because many, many techniques in Jyotish classics do not conform to modern logical moulds, possess obscure and often unknown origins, and yet work well in the hands of a competent practitioner who doesn’t demand that a Saturnian/Mercurial rationality dominate their astrological practice at all times. Instead, they admit the influence of the Moon and Venus, thus treating astrology as a living art form rather than a dry science. Perhaps this is why in the Jaimini Sutras (a Jyotish classic), Ketu (5) (the South Node), the most mystical of all the grahas, (6) is considered the significator of astrology and astronomy.

If we choose to accept, as a starting point in our investigations, that there is an inherent validity to the many techniques found in Jyotish classics, then a world of profundity beckons us forward. We don’t need to validate these techniques through circular logic, (7) as is often done by practitioners of Jyotish East and West, today.

Instead, we can accept Jyotish as a curious mix of perspectives and techniques that appear, at times, to contradict one another. The aspect doctrine is a prime example. At first glance, it seems alien to the typical aspect doctrine that so many are familiar with in the West (sextile, square, trine, opposition), but in fact, all of these aspects are present if one knows where to look. As one studies planetary combinations in Jyotish (called yogas), one finds a system in which planets are delineated based upon the mathematical relationships of the zodiacal signs they occupy (which translate to being sextile, square, trine, opposition, and even semi-sextile and quincunx). When a yoga describes a planet situated in an angle from another planet, it describes something synonymous to the square, opposition (and conjunction). For example, take the illustrious gaja-kesari yoga, which promises power and good fortune. It occurs when Jupiter is in an angle from the Moon or Ascendant (houses 1, 4, 7, or 10 and thus a square, opposition, or conjunction — by sign) and aspected by a benefic or exceedingly strong, and simultaneously not afflicted.

One needs to be aware that in Jyotish, where the planetary aspects are discussed outside the context of yogas, the type of aspect is not important, like it is in most of Western astrology. (8) As an example, any aspect from Jupiter functions to carry Jupiter’s influence and nothing more, and the same for every other planet. Thus the opposition is no harsher or gentler than the trine or sextile. (9) If both planets are working toward the same agenda, their significations are multiplied, whereas if they hold opposite agendas, then conflict ensues.

Part II: Understanding Mars’s Aspects

Mars influences by aspect the 4th, 7th, and 8th sign from the sign it sits in. Of these three aspects, it is the 4th and 8th that give Mars a unique flavor in the realm of Jyotish, and it is my own approach to see how the unique qualities of any component in astrology can inform how I delineate said component. We’ll begin with some of the myths associated with Mars, and then we’ll dive into the technical components behind the aspect doctrine.

Myth, the Portal to Mystery

Mars, the red planet
Source: ESA & MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA, CC BY-SA IGO 3.0

Mars is called Mangala, meaning “auspicious,” and he is also Kuja, meaning “born of the earth” (like a tree or plant). He is commonly related to the deity Skanda/Kartikeya, who is born of Lord Siva’s tantric union with Divine Mother Parvati (who was cursed to be unable to bear children). Just as Siva was about to climax, their union was interrupted such that his seed was made to spill. The god Agni (“cosmic fire”) attempted to receive the seed but, being unable to bear its power, deposited it into the river Ganges, who also could not hold it. This makes Mangala “born of the earth,” a mixture of fire (Agni) and water (river Ganges) and nourished/raised by the six Kṛttikās, (10) thus giving him six faces. Skanda emerged destined to liberate the daivic realm from the grasp of the being called Tarakasura, who had seized it unjustly. Skanda is often depicted as being eternally youthful. (11)

This reveals that, astrologically, Mangala’s true task is to liberate us from the inertia created by the downward spiral of impotency that accompanies the disruption of the natural order of life when selfishness supplants the virtues of Soul. We see this reflected in the aspect of the myth wherein Tarakasura had falsely seized the throne of the daivic realm. This is akin to the ahmkara (“I-ness”) proclaiming itself as Atman (“the Soul”). We also see the themes of orphanhood, birth from conflict (fire + water), and the noble service of restoring order to the cosmos.

4th Aspect

Mangala aspects the 4th place from where he resides. The 4th house is the home and the mother in Jyotish, the foundations, roots, and the qualities of mind (manas — the sensory input aspect of mind). The 4th place from any house thus represents all of these things relative to the factors under consideration. In the case of Mangala, we find that he cannot help but destroy his home; that, as the myth tells us, he cannot be contained by just one abode, nourished by one mother, rooted to one place. Thus, wherever Mangala resides, that house topic and those planetary topics will be instilled with a fiery, unsettled nature that inclines to instability, a wide variety of experiences (the six mothers), and powerful individualism wherein the person becomes untethered to the world.

8th Aspect

Planets placed 6 and 8 signs from one another are considered to be in a highly inimical relationship, as the 6th house is naturally enemies and accidents, while the 8th is death and destruction. Both of these houses together constitute the topic of war and battle, as one seeks to destroy (8th) one’s enemies (6th) and vice versa — a very martial set of topics, especially seeing as Skanda was birthed to engage in battle. By this 8th aspect, Mangala becomes hostile to the planets and topics of the 8th sign from his own place (as he sits 6 signs away from the 8th sign he is so aspecting), and since he is the one creating the connection, he willingly goes into battle by activating this sign (the 8th). The 8th house is also considered to denote longevity and resistance, and thus Mangala, by his house position, can be said to make things short lived. The 8th is also a house representing occult powers and domains, anything taboo, and the notion of adharma (“lawlessness”). This aspect therefore carries an influence not so easily seen or understood. Thus, wherever we find Mangala casting an 8th aspect, we ought to be aware that it is probably an influence the native feels but does not easily see or understand, and seems to disrupt things from the shadows or urge the native into rebellious thoughts and habits with regard to the planets and house receiving that 8th aspect. Furthermore, just like the mythos, Mangala in the chart is waging war against adharma!

Obviously, Mangala is not always going to be placed in the 1st house, so we need to apply these 4th- and 8th-house themes relative to his placement. If he resides in the 2nd house of finances, family, and speech, then he’ll disrupt the foundations of the family relations — aspecting the 5th (4th from the 2nd) — and perhaps cause the person to make impulsive decisions when it comes to money, as the mind in relationship to money is easily stressed or agitated, and so on. The 8th from the 2nd is the 9th, which is normally a very auspicious house, but in some contexts it could be seen as the adharma of the family life. We see this especially in examples of chang or Zen Buddhist stories wherein a family man leaves his family and monetary sources in pursuit of Zen! The call of God (9th) can indeed be very disruptive to family. There are additional layers to this, such as when the 9th is afflicted, a person is likely to be adharmic, especially if the 8th is emphasized (adharmic does not mean immoral or bad, as we might understand it from a Judeo-Christian perspective!).

In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s chart, for example (not shown), we find Mars sitting in the 2nd and aspecting the 9th house via its 8th aspect, which could be understood as a subtle but powerful urge to disrupt the status quo (the dharma of the predominant social order) and the oppressive environment it created for him and other Black Americans. Saturn, lord of adharma, sits in the 9th and thereby also receives Mars’s 8th aspect, a powerful symbol of fighting against the oppression and injustices perpetrated on Black Americans.

The Aspects Together

The special aspects of Mangala catalyze the already existent pathway between the two bhavas so aspected. (12) From a general astrological perspective common in the West, Mangala is casting two tense aspects, a square (4th aspect) and a quincunx (8th aspect), yet paradoxically those bhavas so aspected are in a harmonic relationship to one another (the trine). Table 1 illustrates these relationships and includes the four-fold bhava classification of life used in Jyotish — dharma (“duty”), artha (“material life”), kama (“desires”), and moksha (“liberation”).

Mangala initiates movement within the bhava where it resides, and this centrifugal force then ripples outward, igniting the activity of the bhavas it aspects. Table 2 illustrates this conceptually by combining Mangala’s effects with the bhava type it resides in.

A good astrologer acquires tools to resolve such issues and bring balance. Mangala aspects only two of the bhavas of a given life theme, but it is unable to aspect the remaining bhava of that life theme because said bhava is the 12th from Mars’s position. Therefore, the 12th house from Mangala is the key to finding a resolution, and the 12th naturally deals with the end of anything. (See Table 3.)

As we follow this line of symbolic thought, we find that the crisis produced by Mangala leads to a connection emerging, as order is produced from chaos. On a practical level, this makes the 12th house from Mangala’s position important, because it is of the same nature as the 4th and 8th houses relative to Mangala, but it does not receive his aspect. Classical Jyotish is heavy on suggesting remedies (called upaya) for a person’s challenging karmas, and indeed this is perhaps the noblest purpose of astrology. Remember that according to the mythos, we can say that Mangala is essentially about disrupting the ego’s grasp on a given area of life so as to restore order. Thus everything nonessential is burned away, which can often be a painful experience. If the two aspects discussed can be said to burn away the falsehoods associated with one of the four classifications of life, then how and from where does one rebuild this facet of life? The answer may well lie in the 12th bhava from Mangala’s position.

Take, for example, Mangala in the 3rd bhava, wherein impatience and frustration concerning the fulfillment of desires may lead to problems experienced with health, debts, and enemies (6th) and career, publicity, and responsibilities (10th). The 12th from the 3rd is the 2nd bhava of family, oration/speech, money, daily responsibilities, food. One possibility is that the person is constantly fighting enemies and making war upon authority or conventional jobs, or attempting to be too independent in their professional life when they would actually benefit via cooperation/collaboration. Out of context, we can say that the person may rebuild what they lose in the 6th and 10th bhavas through dietary measures, reconnecting with family, saving money, focusing on sources of income, taking care of basic bodily needs and day-to-day responsibilities like home maintenance and managing their resources, singing, speaking clearly, learning a new language, etc.

Conclusion

Despite all of this complex theory, it is often simpler and effective enough to just note a martial influence upon the three other houses Mars aspects, besides the one in which it sits. We need to remember that a planet is always determined toward the matters of the house it resides in, which also means that it manifests things of that house even if it is not the lord. Mars in the 1st means that the native will have a martial disposition, mind, personality, profession, character, and so on, but these things may cause disruptions to their:

• home, mother, privacy, rest, and mental calm (4th);
• spouse, opponents, business partners or anyone who opposes them, and the public in general (7th); (13)
• longevity, emotional traumas, chronic illness, and taboo matters (8th).

I cannot stress enough that astrology needs to be practiced relative to the needs of the moment, like good jazz improvisation, and cannot be applied formulaically, if accuracy and potency as a reader are to be attained. So, please, whatever you do, contemplate the ideas presented here, but do not attempt to apply them rigidly or formulaically. They are presented as a starting point only, not as a complete how-to when it comes to their application in a live reading.

Simple or complex, the special aspects of the planets in Jyotish offer rich channels for interpretation and remedies. In future articles, I hope to explore the special aspects of Jupiter and Saturn in the same manner.

— Thanks For Reading —
Om Tat Sat

Notes and References:
I dedicate this article to my first astrology teacher, Susan Allen, who lovingly opened the doors to pathways planetary and all things occult.
(All URLs accessed in January 2021)
1. The Yavanajataka of Sphujidhvaja, Volume I, edited, translated, and commented on by David Pingree, Harvard University Press, 1978.
2. “Sign” includes the planets therein, regardless of degree. For those interested, in the text Brihat Parasara Hora Shastra, a system of determining aspectual potency via a mathematical calculation was developed, though this is a later development.
3. These percentages are used to convey gradations of influence in planetary aspects. At percentages lower than 100, their influence is reduced or made partial. This is one of several tools that allows Jyotishis to find gradations in planetary influence when multiple planets aspect the same house, sign, or planet.
4. I myself did this in an article published in Celestial Vibes eMagazine entitled “The Aspect That Never Was…?” (Jan./Feb. 2019). Likewise, a colleague of mine has also expressed skepticism concerning this aspect doctrine, but in this article, I have completely reversed my former stance in light of approaching astrology and its doctrines in a different light.
5. Significator of moksha (final liberation from the wheel of birth and death).
6. The Jyotish term for planets, which means something like “grasper” or “seizing,” as in seizing our mind.
7. “Circular reasoning is a logical fallacy in which the reasoner begins with what they are trying to end with.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_reasoning). An example might be: “Mars aspects the 8th because he rules the 8th sign from Aries, his moolatrikona sign (or ‘root-sign)’ ...”
8. In this sense, modern Uranian astrology is more akin to something like Jyotish than to other modern systems, because this system does not give qualities to the aspects but sees in them the function of connecting threads forming the tapestry of the whole.
9. The conjunction and opposition are regarded as very powerful because there is a mutual influence between the planets so related.
10. The wives of the rishis (“sages”) and the constellation called Pleiades.
11. See https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/karttikeya#shaivism and https://www.exoticindiaart.com/article/parvati/
12. The Sanskrit term for “house.”
13. We did not forget about this aspect, but seeing that all planets cast this aspect at full capacity, we have chosen not to include it in our analysis here.

First published in: The Mountain Astrologer, Apr/May 2021.

Author:
Lars Panaro is an astrologer, tarot reader, guitarist, and more. At 20 when life began to suddenly appear very different, his first astrology teacher informed him of Uranus’s transit conjunction with his Sun, and he became an astrologer that very day. He’s been studying and practicing it intensely ever since. His approach draws from a wide range of schools of astrology — from Rudhyar to Medieval Persian, Hellenistic, Jyotish, Uranian, and more. His goal as a reader is to assist people to see life with increased clarity and wonder. Contact him here: liberastronomiae@gmail.com and via https://www.heavenlybranches.com/

© 2021/22 - Lars Panaro

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