ASCENDANT is the foundation of a horoscope and its lord is the most important of all planets in a birth chart. When a horoscope reveals a strong ascendant and its lord also is strong, this implies that the owner has a capability both physical and mental much above the average. Such a man attains success in life through sustained personal effort. In astrology there is a saying that a man cannot take full advantage of his good luck if he is saddled with a weak ascendant and a weak ascendant lord.
An astrologer considers an ascendant to be strong if (i) it is occupied by its own lord (ii) aspected by its own lord or powerful benefic preferably by Jupiter or (iii) habited by a strong natural benefic or (iv) hemmed in between natural benefics. There is, however, another school of though which says that any planet – a natural benefic or a natural malefic when posited in the rising signs becomes powerful and imparts strength to the ascendant though trine and angle lords are always preferred. This is because an ascendant has qualities both of an angle and a trine and any planet happening to fall therein gains natural strength. Even the 6th lord or 8th lord in the ascendant is not deprecated provided they are strong because the 1st house represents the 8th house from the 6th and 6th house from the 8th. As a result bad effects of evil lordships of these planets may get cancelled and their locational effects only come to stay. In fact results of empirical studies indicate that a powerful natural malefic in the ascendant undeniably provides the native with plenty of stamina for doing sustained physical and mental work despite high probabilities of sudden break down of health or exposure to risks of accident or physical injury. Such events may happen when the relevant natural malefic in transit connects itself in the radix for an appreciable length of time by virtue of overstay in a particular sign.
For instance in late Prime Minister Mrs Gandhi's horoscope Saturn, the 7th and 8th lord was on her rising sign Cancer. From July '75 to Sept '77 when Saturn transited through Cancer, the period proved extremely turbulent for her. Again at the fag end of 1984 when transiting Saturn squared her radical Saturn from Libra, she was assassinated. Barring these, her capabilities were far above average.
In fact a man with a powerful Mars in his ascendant often proves himself to be a veritable human dynamo with exhaustless energy in store. Though his efforts are seldom crowned with success, setbacks cannot desist him from making renewed efforts. Just imagine a man with Rahu in his ascendant sign Taurus or Libra. The man will eat a lot, can work a lot and will seldom get tired. He will scarcely lose interest in life. A man with strong Saturn in the ascendant will be invariably a man with strong nerves and a man with his Sun, elegantly placed in lagna, is blessed with boney structure. Real trouble, however, starts when ascendant is occupied by more than one malefic which are mutually antagonistic viz. Mars and Rahu, Mars and Saturn, Rahu and Sun etc.
An ascendant may be weak but its lord is strong in a horoscope to compensate for deficiencies. Between a strong ascendant and a powerful ascendant lord, the choice obviously falls on the latter because weaknesses of a Bhava are more than compensated through gain of strength of its lord, or course a Bhava and its lord both strong are undeniably the best to be desired.
An ascendant lord becomes strong when it occupies an angle or a trine and also covered by the benefic aspect of a planet preferably Jupiter. This is the general rule.
There are, however several exceptions to it which are detailed below. Firstly, a natural malefic as the ascendant lord when strongly placed in the 3rd, 6th and 11th houses also gives very good result. For instance when Aries is the ascendant and Mars in Virgo in the 6th house wherefrom it can connect its own house through 8th aspect or Scorpio is the ascendant and Mars in the 3rd house in Capricorn. Secondly even natural benefics as the ascendant lords may be productive of good results in the 3rd, 6th and 11th houses provided they are found placed in specific houses where their sensitivities are assumed to be maximum. For instance the Moon in Taurus under the rising sign Cancer or Venus in Libra under the rising Taurus or in Pisces under the rising sign Libra. Thirdly though the ascendant lord's placement in the 8th and 12th house are usually not favoured upon there are also exceptions to this generally valid proposition. These are when the ascendant lord itself is the owner of the 8th or 12th house as the 8th/12th house is the house of exaltation of the ascendant lord. Examples are Mars in Scorpio when Aries is the lagna or Jupiter in Cancer when Sagittarius is rising. An Aquarian person with Saturn in the 12th house Capricorn in his birth chart may also possess a good health but with the Tanukaraka Sun debilitated in Libra, his good health may suddenly break down. Fourthly there is a view point having considerable empirical support. For common sign ascendants, whose lords are natural benefics and also owners of two angles, including the ascendant, their positional weakness in the chart is interpreted as a sign of sound health, long life and freedom from chronic illness.
Example-1. DB 29.2.1896 at 12-58 p.m. Gemini – Ascendant; Cancer – Jupiter (R); Leo – Moon & Ketu; Libra – Saturn; Capricorn – Mars, Mercury and Venus; Aquarius – Sun & Rahu. Here the ascendant lord Mercury is located in the 8th house impinged with Mars and Venus – the latter being Pseudo Saturn because of its interchange of houses with the Saturn. Mercury further is within the falling arc and not far short of its sign of debilitation. So using conventional yardstick, Mercury can in no way be considered as a strong ascendant lord but the whole life of ex Prime Minister of India Mr Morarji Desai to whom the horoscope belongs tells a different story. He is not only blessed with a long and ailment-free life but reputed for his grim determination and rare strength of mind.
Thus while there is no denial of the need for realistic assessment of the strength of ascendant lord in view of its supreme importance ion the context of horoscope reading, such assessment must proceed on a rational basis and should not confine itself merely to the use of conventional yardsticks for measuring their strength. Some horoscopes show that the ascendant lord is placed comfortably in a quadrant or a trine covered by aspects from natural benefics and the ascendant is also habited by a strong natural benefic or aspected by a natural benefic or its own lord. (e.g. Shri V P Singh's horoscope). These horoscopes do not present any problem regarding interpretation and analysis. But there are also horoscopes where the ascendant may look apparently weak but really strong. The ascendant lord's apparent positional weakness may be interpreted as its real strength. There are horoscopes where the ascendant lord by virtue of its unique plan cement in a chart can connect itself with several other planets. In Mr Morarji Desai's horoscope, the ascendant lord Mercury has been observed to establish relationship with as many as four planets. There are also horoscopes where mixed type of influence operates on both the ascendant and its lord. So each horoscope is a type by itself and guide points given in text books on astrology and briefly referred are of general type. They may require reorientation to suit specific needs of the situation. Say Scorpio is the ascendant and its lord Mars is debilitated, situated in the 9th house cancer. If that Mars is fortified with an exalted Jupiter, it will tell one story, if that Mars is aspected by Saturn from Capricorn it will tell another story. If that Mars interchanges houses with the Moon in addition to receiving aspects from Saturn it will definitely tell us a third story. In this way examples may multiply but they land us nowhere.
In the concluding paragraphs horoscopes of three eminent personalities have been discussed for enabling readers have an inkling of the enormity and complexity of the problem.
In the concluding paragraphs horoscopes of three eminent personalities have been discussed for enabling readers have an inkling of the enormity and complexity of the problem.
Horoscope no.2. Aries – Ascendant; Taurus – Saturn; Gemini – Mars; Cancer –Venus; Virgo – Sun' Mercury & Ketu; Sagittarius – Jupiter; Pisces – Moon and Rahu.
In this horoscope both the ascendant and its lord Mars – a natural malefic in the 3rd house Gemini – is powerfully aspected by Jupiter from its own house Sagittarius. The strength of the ascendant and its lord is too obvious to warrant elaboration.
Horoscope No.3. Aquarius – Ascendant; Pisces – Rahu; Taurus – Saturn & Moon; Leo – Mars, Venus and Mercury; Cancer – Sun; Virgo – Ketu; Scorpio – Jupiter.
Here also the ascendant lord is powerfully placed in a quadrant conjoined, however, with the 6th lord but aspected by Jupiter. As regards the ascendant, it is aspected by two natural benefics – Mercury and Venus, its own lord and also by Mars. Thus as many as 5 planets are connected with the ascendant lord either through conjunction, opposition or square relationship and as 4 planets, including the lord of lagna are aspecting the ascendant.
Horoscope 4. Ascendant – Libra with Saturn; Capricorn – Jupiter (R); Gemini – Rahu; Cancer – Venus & Moon; Leo – Sun & Mercury; Aries – Mars & Sagittarius – Ketu.
The horoscope shows that the Saturn the lord of 4th and 5th house is exalted in the ascendant. Since it is aspecting the ascendant lord Venus, it has definitely inherited some of the qualities of Venus. The ascendant, in addition to accommodating Saturn has been receiving aspects from Rahu and Mars. The ascendant lord is placed in a quadrant, conjunct Moon and opposite of Jupiter. While the natives of first two horoscopes have been blessed by God with long lives, the third one succumbed to massive heart attack in his mid 50s. Otherwise all of them proved themselves outstanding in their own fields of specialties.
Any discussion on ascendant and its lord becomes incomplete without at least a passing reference to the Sun because the Sun – to borrow language from Alan Leo – is the centre of all life force or energy and represents the positive and primal fount of all existence. "The Sun being a Tanukaraka and strongly posited in a birth chart can at least partially remove deficiencies of the ascendant and its lord. The Sun is considered powerful in 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th. It is also strong in Aries, Leo, Scorpio, Sagittarius and Pisces and to some extent in Cancer. So if the Sun in any one of these six signs happens to occupy any one of these cadent houses as mentioned above, it will definitely impart strength to the horoscope. The Sun when conjoined with Mercury gains strength. When aspected by Mars or interchanges houses with Mars, it is energized and when related to Jupiter it gets elevated. The Sun conjoined with Mercury and aspected by the Moon especially from Sagittarius, Pisces and Taurus can endow the native with tremendous concentration of mind. The Sun-Mars nexus in a horoscope makes a man warrior. A man blessed with this combination can stand like a rock against heavy opposition and eventually secures victory in his favour. Jupiter's aspect on the Sun or its exchange of houses with the Sun may earn royal favour for the native and give him prominence in public life or in any field of learning.
(Condensed from Om-The Baba Ji, August, 1990)
