EYE ON ASTROLOGY: UNDERSTANDING THE QUALITIES OF PLANETARY ASPECTS
There are two types of planetary aspects or glances and light that planets throw around the sky.  The one that people understand most are called Graha  Drishtri or aspects from planets to other planets or planets to signs and houses.  This article is intended to discuss the qualities of planetary aspects to help us be more specific in our understanding.
Aspects represent karma that wants to deliver and the nature of the planet aspect delivers the karma.
BENEFIC ASPECTS: JUPITER, VENUS AND MERCURY
Benefic aspects from Jupiter, Venus and a benefic Mercury  (ie Mercury connected to benefic planets OR signs)  create positive experience and malefic aspects create unhappy experiences.  Wherever the planet is located, what house and sign and nakshatra , holds the place where the karma is kept and shows the nature of desire.  So Venus in the 3rd house, a house of kama and passions in Virgo  would have a strong stored up energy for sexual desire and its aspects on the 9th house and possibly on Jupiter there could indicate a sexual relationship with ones teacher or Guru if Venus has additional malefic energy besides the highly charged sexual energy of Virgo.
The benefics create good desires:
Venus aspects show what we love or desire and that wish we love to possess.  Venus aspecting the 2nd house may show what we love to eat or its aspects on the 12th house show that we love foreign travel or ashrams  or even our love of sleep.  Venus usually shows love of material possessions such as cars and houses and dresses so Venus in the 4th house will create love of beautiful and luxurious homes.  Venus always aspects the 7th house from itself so it always creates a desire to find a partner and love in our life. Venus aspecting the 9th will show a great love of father and Guru.
Mercury aspects provide informational reconnaissance to provide information and learning about something. Â Mercury is the student ready to learn and wherever his aspects land is where he desires knowledge. Â It creates a place for our favorite subject of learning. Â So Mercury aspecting the 12th house will create a desire to study spirituality, meditation. Â A Mercury aspect or association with the Moon will create a desire to study psychology and the nature of the human mind. Â A person with Mercury aspecting Rahu might desire to study viruses or specific diseases. Rahu in the 8th house may have a strong desire to study astrology if it is connected to a Mercury ruled house like Gemini or Virgo. Â (you get the idea.)
Jupiter aspects show all good karma that we have done and remind us that when we continue to do charity and service and philanthropy in this life, we create new karma for the future.  Jupiter’s aspects show that which we value in life and that which we respect and Jupiter can purify any area that his aspects touch.  One will value whatever houses Jupiter touches so Jupiter in the 1st aspect the 7th is a wonderful placement for relationships and valuing and honoring and treasuring ones spouse.   Whatever planets Jupiter aspects he will honor and value. Jupiter aspecting Saturn will lead one to honor and respect his employees and Jupiter aspecting Mars will mean that he will honor soldiers and policeman  and treat his enemies with dignity.  Jupiter aspecting Venus means he will honor his spouse and have great value for her.
Here is a quick summary of the types of desires involved:
Sun: Desires related to soul, career, good fortune, father and that which we consider worth living for. Sun aspects are not malefic but creates burning, cruelty and selfishness and egotistical acts.
Moon: Desires for mind, family, home, mother, obsessions of the mind.
Mars: Desires for conflict, power, ambition, property, siblings – that which is worth fighting for.  Mars aspects cause fighting, debts, fires and accidents when Mars is afflicted but when Mars is strong, it may bring out the highest aspect of the fighter to serve and protect society and country.
Mercury: Desires for speech, communication, learning, profession, wealth, friends and relatives. Mercury aspects show what one wants to learn and understand.
Jupiter aspects indicate desires for knowledge, good fortune, spirituality, values , children and teachers or gurus. They show that what we desire to value and respect.
Venus aspects show desires for love, enjoyment, sex and comforts and relationships to wife and sisters.
Saturn aspects indicate desires related to one’s weaknesses, blocks, suffering and hard work.  Saturn aspects cause weakness and suffering and poverty and illness.
Rahu or the North Node aspects indicate desires for enjoyment, manipulation, ambition. Rahu aspects  causes shocks, cheating and losses. Most people do not know that Rahu has a sneaky 30 degree or 2nd house aspect on planets from itself aside from its trinal aspects
Ketu or the South Node : Does not have desires so he has no  aspects.  Many think the trinal aspects are important within 2-3 degrees and they are because that would create a conjunction in the D-9 or navamsha chart and have an important impact in creating deep past life regrets, past life karma or create a black hole with the planet that is being affect.
Note: Â Most of know that Jupiter aspects the 1st, 5th and 9th house from itself and Mars the 4th, 7th and 8th house from itself and Saturn the 3, 7 and 10th house from itself and other planets the 7th house from itself but most of us do not think about the qualities that the planets create through their glances or that the energy that they throw is really dependent most on being 3-5 degrees in conjunction or in aspect to have a major impact.
In Part 2, we will look more closely at malefic aspects. Â All gratitude to my spiritual Guru and to Jyotish Gurus, Komilla Sutton, Sanjay Rath and to his student in particular Zoran Radosavljevic for helping to clarify this knowledge.
************************************************************************************
EARLY REGISTRATION FOR SUMMER CLASSES
If you like the depth of this knowledge, consider my classes. My goal is do intermediate teaching and bring out more depth of  basic things that we know or that we thought that we knew and help people translate them into richer knowledge of the Self for personal discovery or to guide others.  Much of this material is from my new course on the Schools of Karma current going on.
We are running and early bird special through Tuesday for our 8 session class, July 17th-Sept 10th class on Multiple Levels of Existence for 199.00.
REGISTRATION OPEN FOR NEW JULY CLASS STARING JULY 16TH:
MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS of EXISTENCE : PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL, MENTAL, REPUTATION: INTEGRATING ALL DIMENSIONS OF OUR LIFE. Â
Read my article on this course published in the Astrological  e-magazine in March 2017  edited by B. Niranjan Babu.
Here is a copy of the article on my blog:Â https://www.appliedvedicastrology.com/multiple-levels-existence-birth-chart/
EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION 199.00Â Â for 8 weeks.Â
I will be speaking at the Sedona Vedic Astrology Conference Nov. 30-Dec. 3rd.  Register at www.sedonavedicastrology.com.Â
I will also be speaking in Chicago at UAC 2018 in late May on whether you can be successful in investing based on your chart karma. More details to follow.