Astrology and Mental Health Part 3: Using the ‘taaras’ for a quick scan

Hari Om Namo Narayana!

The previous part of this series was all about leveraging the power of planetary placements for a quick analysis. This time we go deeper into the ‘taara‘ concept. Why ‘taara‘ before ‘nakshatras‘? Well these are quick techniques. So moving in order of speed. In the order in which I personally analyze a chart as soon as I start a session.

The ‘taaras‘ can be absolutely amazing when being used to help understand what a particular planet is really capable of doing.

I know, the ‘avasthas‘ and the degrees, placements etc. all get a lot of attention and focus from astrologers around the world. However, the single thing that gives me the best idea with just a quick scan about what a planet is really capable of doing or not, is looking at the ‘taara‘ that it sits in.

What is the ‘taara‘ now?

So the ‘taara‘ is a natural progression of co relation between the planets and the natural ‘vimshottari dasha‘ system.

Let me explain how this works.

See, in the ‘vimshottari‘ system, the order of the ‘mahadashas‘ is fixed. Which ‘dashas‘ a native goes through or doesn’t in this lifetime depends completely on which ‘nakshatra‘ they are born in.

This is why not everyone will long enough to go through let’s say, ‘rahu mahadasha‘. This is also why some people will undergo a particular ‘mahadasha‘ early in life and learn important lessons related to that planet and some people will have tough lessons to learn towards the end of their life.

So the order is as follows:

1. ‘Surya mahadasha’
2. ‘Chandra mahadasha’
3. ‘Kuja mahadasha’
4. ‘Rahu mahadasha’
5. ‘Guru mahadasha’
6. ‘Shani mahadasha’
7. ‘Buddha mahadasha’
8. ‘Ketu mahadasha’
9. ‘Shukra mahadasha’

Now, if let’s say you are born in the ‘nakshatra‘ of Sun i.e. any of the 3 that it rules which is ‘Krittika‘, ‘Uttaraphalguni‘, ‘Uttarashadha‘.

This means that the first ‘mahadasha’ the native will undergo in life will be Sun’s ‘mahadasha‘. After that, following the natural progression, the native will go through ‘Chandra‘ period, ‘Kuja‘ period and so on.

Let’s say the native is born in the ‘nakshatra‘ of Saturn i.e. any out of the three ‘nakshatras‘ Saturn rules which are ‘Pushya‘, ‘Anuradha‘ or ‘Uttarabhadrapada‘.

This means that the native will first undergo ‘Shani‘ period and after that following the natural progression, the native will go through ‘Buddha‘ period, ‘Ketu‘ period, ‘Shukra‘ period and then, since there are only 9 planets, the cycle continues from the top i.e. ‘Sun’ period, ‘Chandra‘ period and so on.

So the ‘taara‘ system and how it works is this:

The ‘nakshatras‘ ruled by the same planet as the one ruling your Moon’s ‘nakshatra‘ will be for you, the first ‘taara‘ i.e. the ‘janma taara‘.

For example, let’s say you were born when Moon was in ‘Ashlesha nakshatra‘ and you have your Venus in ‘Revati‘.

Then we will say that Venus is in your ‘janma taara‘. Why is that?

Because ‘Revati‘ and ‘Ashlesha‘ are both ruled by Mercury.

In the same way, as we progress, we view the planetary placements wrt the ‘vimshottari mahadasha’ progression as I showed above in points.

So let’s say you have Moon in ‘Ashlesha‘ and Mars in ‘Rohini‘.

Then which ‘taara‘ is Mars in?

Well, since ‘Ashlesha‘ is ruled by Mercury and ‘Rohini‘ is ruled by Moon, you count from Mercury to Moon following the ‘vimshottari mahadasha’ progression.

Which means that Mars is in the 5th ‘taara‘.

Now, every ‘taara‘ has a different meaning and I will go into that when I do a separate series on the ‘taaras‘. For the purpose of this article, I shall cover only the most important and relevant concepts that can quickly help you understand the chart better by looking at the ‘taaras‘.

So out of the 9 ‘taaras‘, the 7th ‘taara‘ is the one most prone to giving health issues and even causing death sometimes but mostly I have seen mental health issues.

In fact, it comes as little surprise since the 7th ‘taara‘ is called the ‘naidhana taara‘, ‘naidhana‘ meaning ‘death’.

In major periods of the planet placed in the 7th or the ‘naidhana taara‘ and let’s say if the ascendant itself is placed in this ‘taara‘, then the native can experience a lot of anxiety, depression and mental health related issues.

This is like, I have seen this with 100% strike rate till now. I’m not joking. I’m dead serious. I am yet to come across a chart where a key planet is placed in the ‘naidhana taara‘ and the native doesn’t seem like they’re carrying a burden they can’t speak about.

So if you’re ever looking at chart and the client has issues with mental health, by all means refer to a trained psychologist yes, but also know that it is the planet sitting in the ‘naidhana taara‘ that is causing the problem and that’s the one you need to find the remedy for.

If it’s the ascendant then most probably this is a general theme in the native’s life and the native possible has encountered all sorts of mental health issues, obstacles, health problems and/or accidents and conflicts that have given them mental health problems in some way or another.

So that’s that.

Now, the second part of this article is about understanding a very important aspect of the ‘taara‘ concept that actually you know, revolutionized my way of looking at chart once I read it.

So, two planets in the same ‘taara‘ may be considered as conjunct.

You know how when there is a ‘parivartana yoga‘ and we consider those planets in a tighter conjunction than even a proper conjunction?

I hope you knew that. If you didn’t, now you do.

When two planets are in ‘parivartana yoga‘, you can consider them more tightly conjunct than even an actual conjunction in a single house if it occurred between them.

In the same way, two planets in the same ‘taara‘ actually behave like a conjunction to a huge degree.

And watching out for this, when you’re reading a chart, can give you such amazing clues within like, 5 seconds!

Hari Om Namo Narayana!