Vedic astrology glossary
Planets & points
How planets gain or lose strength, and the special points.
Rahunorth node, Dragon's HeadRahu is the Moon's north node — a shadow planet, not a physical body. It signifies desire, ambition, foreign and unconventional matters, and sudden gains or obsessions.Ketusouth node, Dragon's TailKetu is the Moon's south node — the shadow planet opposite Rahu. It signifies detachment, spirituality, past-life karma, moksha and sudden losses or liberation.Uccha and Neechaexaltation and debilitation, debilitated planetUccha (exaltation) is the sign where a planet is strongest and gives its best results; Neecha (debilitation) is the opposite sign, where it is weakest. A 'debilitated' planet is one placed in its Neecha sign.AstacombustionA planet is combust (asta) when it sits too close to the Sun and is 'burnt' by its rays, weakening its ability to give results. Each planet has its own combustion distance.VakriretrogradeA vakri or retrograde planet appears to move backward from Earth's viewpoint. In Vedic astrology retrograde planets are considered especially strong and give intensified, internalised results.Graha Drishtiplanetary aspectDrishti is the 'gaze' or aspect a planet casts on other houses and planets. Every planet aspects the 7th house from itself; Mars, Jupiter and Saturn have additional special aspects.AtmakarakaAK, soul significatorIn Jaimini astrology the Atmakaraka is the planet at the highest degree in any sign — the 'soul significator' representing the self's deepest desires and karmic path.KarakasignificatorA karaka is a planet that signifies a particular person, thing or area of life — for example Jupiter is the karaka for children and Venus for the spouse.Shadbalasix-fold strengthShadbala measures a planet's total strength from six sources — positional, directional, temporal, motional, natural and aspectual — expressed in units called Rupas.AshtakavargaAshtakavarga is a points-based system that scores each sign and house from the perspective of all planets, producing a bindu (point) map used to judge strength and time transits.