House Significators in Vedic astrology
By Hank Friedman
[I honor my Vedic Guru Hart de Fouw for enabling me to learn and practice Jyotish. Without his profound teachings, I could not have done so.]
In the practice of Vedic astrology, each of the houses represents a huge number of themes, and there are specific planets that embody one or more of the themes for each house.
The significator of a life theme is called a karaka, and when associated with a house it's called a bhava karaka.
There are two types of bhava karakas:
Ones representing people and ones representing non-living themes.
The Karako Bhava Nashya principle states that if the significator of a person resides in the house representing that person, then there is a disruption concerning that person.
These are as follows:
Mars in the Third House: Younger Sibling
Moon in the Fourth House: Mother
Jupiter in the Fifth House: Children
Venus (or Jupiter) in the Seventh House: Wife (or husband)
Sun in the Ninth House: Father
Jupiter in the Eleventh House: Elder Sibling
Note: many astrologers use Venus as the significator of the spouse regardless of their gender, including myself.
What kind of disruptions might occur with Karako Bhava Nashya?
This depends on the condition of the planet involved (e.g. strong or weak, aspected by benefics or malefics, ruling good or bad houses, etc.).
Ironically, if the significator of a person is in its own sign while occupying the house that represents the person, the disruption is greater than if it was weak!
For example: One of my clients has Venus in Taurus in the Seventh House and has never been married and only spend a couple of years of his life in relationships, even though he wanted to be partnered.
However, seldom are such disruptions so profound, and a planet in the same house or aspecting that house tends to lessen the disruption.
The opposite is true for house significators that don't represent people, e.g. a person with a strong Venus in the Fourth House is likely to own great cars. Also see the Trump example below.
The general rule is -- in declining order of impact -- the planet most representing a house theme are:
The Ruler of the house -- 40%
Planets in a house or aspecting it -- 40%
The planet signifying a house theme, i.e. the house karaka -- 20%
Example: If a person has a strong Venus, but it has no contact with the Seventh House or its Ruler, then Venus doesn't have much influence on the quality of ones marriage or marriage partner.
But if a planet meets two of these criteria in a chart, then it becomes the primary significator of a theme.
For example, for ones mother:
The Ruler of the 4th house in or aspecting the 4th house
The Moon in or aspecting the 4th house
A planet in or aspecting the 4th house also aspecting the Moon or the 4th house Ruler
When a person has the Sun in the Tenth House, the Sun becomes strong because of Directional Strength (Dig Bala).
Whether you approve of Donald Trump or not, there is no question that he as powerful leadership skills and embodies authority for millions of people.
A Second Example: Simone Biles
Without knowing her family history, when I saw Simone Bile's Exalted Moon in the 4th house (with Directional Strength too!), I knew that there had to be a major issue with her mother.
Sadly, her mother was a victim of drug addiction and had to give her daughter up to be raised by others.
This is a clear example of both Karako Bhava Nashya and when a significator gains domain over a life theme because it is in the house it represents.