Article by Marc Boney, M.A.

Dedicated to Shri K.N. Rao
Who ignited in me the light of Jyotiṣa

“Jyotiṣa is the art of seeing light, of guiding, of counseling based on the truth called the horoscope. Jyotiṣa is the pathway to God through the mazes of intuitions and the brilliance of an organized science, like any other science. Jyotiṣa is the fusion of the divine with the mundane, the metaphysical with the scientific methodology, a divine chorus of the music of the heavens and the dance of the stars. It is that divine ballet, Jyotiṣa, which is at once both a divinity and science that we are presenting.”

Introduction

The chart below is that of a man who died on New Year’s Day 2014 at 7:00 a.m. and then lived to write a book about it. It was his Mercury-Saturn-Saturn-Venus period.

Since his is rather a dramatic story, I will let him tell it in his own words.

“I died the way most people wish to die: asleep, in my bed, my spouse beside me.

My son slept nearby, in an upstairs bedroom, lost in the adventures of an 11-year-old’s dreams.

My parents, visiting for the holiday, were also sleeping in an upstairs bedroom, grateful for the chance to spend more time with their grandson.

So, while my death came out of the blue, family surrounded me at the moment of my demise. I experienced no pain, no fear, no frantic last accounting of my life’s plusses and minuses.

I simply… expired.

One minute, I was a happy, healthy, 40-year-old urologist with a beautiful family, a collection of grown-up toys – house, cars, cameras I toted along on our many far-flung vacations – and the kind of immigrant backstory that made me grateful for it all. The next minute, I was dead. My heart just stopped – blew an anatomical fuse, as it were, and closed up shop. The cause?
Cardiac arrest.

Cardiac arrest is synonymous with death. Electrical brain function ceases roughly 10 seconds after the heart quits beating, and with no blood coursing through it, the brain might as well be a kidney: It can’t quarterback operations anymore, can’t make the rest of the body do what it needs to do to stay alive. The loss of brain activity is the medical community’s most consistent definition of death. Yet for me – and I know this from first-hand experience – the term “sudden cardiac arrest” is misleading. I prefer something more to the point: sudden cardiac death.

But even when the heart stops pumping and the brain runs out of its electrical juices, even – to put it another way – when the battery dies, we’re not utterly, irrevocably dead. Yet. There remains a longshot’s chance of coming back to life. There’s still a fraction of time for the body to be restored, to snap out of it, to make a physiological U-turn on its march toward whatever afterlife might await us.

In emergency medicine, doctors speak of the “Golden Hour.” This is the time following a traumatic, life-threatening injury (a car crash, gunshot wound, stabbing) during which there is the highest likelihood, if only the slimmest chance, that swift and skillful action can stave off irreversible death. In the case of cardiac arrest – cardiac death – that time frame collapses. The “Golden Hour” dwindles to a precious few “Golden Minutes.”

That’s the state I was in: dead, but with enough residual current left to make a comeback possible. How possible? No one knew, especially given the bureaucratic obstacles, technological glitches, and overall resistance to the best practices that impede so many emergency responses to cardiac arrest, mine included.”

Remarkably, his story has a happy and near miraculous ending. Thanks to the quick actions of his wife, also a doctor, who was awakened when his body starting convulsing, and to paramedics who arrived just barely in time, his normal heart beat was able to be restored. He returned from the dead. But not before he suffered some brain damage.

Only 1% of individuals who experience cardiac arrest at home survive. For those who do survive the percentage of individuals who recover complete and normal functioning is also quite low. He badly failed a battery of cognitive tests administered some weeks after this brush with death and it initially appeared that his career as a urologist and surgeon was over. However, due toenormous efforts on his part which he recounts in his book, he was able to heal the damage andsix months later passed all these tests with flying colors. Today he lives life as he did prior to the incident.

Consider now the astrological periods coincidental with his experience of cardiac arrest:

• It happened in the major period of Mercury in its debilitation sign in the 6th house.
• The sub-period and sub-sub-period were that of Saturn (ruling the 5th house of the heart!) placed in the 8th house with the 1st and 8th lord Venus and the māraka 2nd and 7thlord Mars.

• The sub-sub-sub period was Venus, the 1st and 8th lord in the 8th house afflicted by two malefics.

His was the agony that the 8th house can give.

This is the chart of an Indian woman, a well-off business owner who loves to travel the world in her leisure time. Just after entering her Saturn-Saturn period in 2015 she took a trip to Iceland, little suspecting the ordeal she was about to undergo.

She contracted a virus that attacked her lungs and she ended up in the hospital on a ventilator. She developed sepsis, a very serious condition resulting from the presence of harmful microorganisms in the blood or other tissues and the body’s response to their presence, potentially leading to the malfunctioning of various organs, shock, and death. She survived, but it was quite a harrowing, life-threatening experience.

Her Saturn is in the 8th house in an exchange with the 8th lord and with the affliction of the RāhuKetu axis very close in degrees. It is another example of the agony that the 8th house can give.

But now see the rāśi and navāṃśa of a man who ran the major period of his 8th lord Mars from age 24 to 31. Mars is considered the worst planet for a Virgo ascendant since it rules two dussthāna houses, making it both a natural and wholly functional malefic.

Yet in Mars-Venus-Jupiter he had this experience as reported by his wife, a student of mine.

“Awakening in 5th body (savikalpa samadhi: knowing self as consciousness that was not sleeping even when physical body was sleeping at nights, feeling of ananda (bliss) all the time) – June or July, 2004. It lasted only 4 days and then everything slowly returned to a normal state. When this experience happened, on the first day his physical body was doing asanas by itself even though he didn’t know them in this life. Then he sat down in full lotus and his soul went out through Sahasrara (crown chakra) and experienced Maha Shunya (The Great Void).”

For those readers who may be unfamiliar with the term savikalpa samādhi it is one of several levels or stages of samādhi, which is a state of bliss or complete concentration obtained when the yogi has realized the nature of the true or higher Self. Savikalpa samādhi is sometimes described as the state in which the yogi’s consciousness temporarily dissolves into Brahman (God).Depending on the yogic tradition, savikalpa is either the second or third highest level of samādhi.

The ultimate goal of Yoga is union of the individual with the higher Self and, thereby, the universe. It is a state associated with samādhi in general – the eighth and final limb of Aṣṭāṅga (Eight Limb) Yoga as described in Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras.

Early on in my association with K.N. Rao, he shared with me that the first eight houses of the horoscope each pertained respectively to the classical eight limbs of Yoga as follows:

1st House = Yama (Observances)
2nd House = Niyama (Restraints)
3rd House = Āsana (Postures)
4th House = Prāṇāyāma (Control of the Life-Force)
5th House = Pratyāhāra (Withdrawal of the Senses)
6th House = Dhāraṇā (One-Pointed Concentration)
7th House = Dhyāna (Meditative Absorption)
8th House = Samādhi (Spiritual Ecstasy)

The experience of higher states of consciousness like the different levels of samādhi come about when the kuṇḍalinī śakti in the mūlādhāra cakra or root energy center located near the base of the spine in the subtle body awakens and flows up the suṣumṇā nāḍī or central channel. K.N. Rao in his book, Yogis, Destiny and the Wheel of Time, illustrates how this is also an 8th house phenomenon. When kuṇḍalinī awakens, one result can be that the body spontaneously goes into yoga āsanas as happened in this case.

It is a rare spiritual experience and the astrological conditions that give rise to such experiences has been a special research of mine. Planets related to the 8th house/8th lord almost always come into play, though kuṇḍalinī experiences can also occur in the periods of planets in sarpa drekkāṇas.

(Note: These are 10-degree segments in water signs, the last two in Cancer, the first two in Scorpio and the last 10 degrees of Pisces.)

What has interested me in particular are the specific conditions of an 8th house/8th lord that give rise to such rare spiritual experiences. In the chart shown above, the 8th house is not occupied or aspected by any grahas, so the focus needs to be exclusively on the 8th lord Mars, the major period that brought the experience. It is noteworthy that it falls in the 12th house of mokṣa, with the lagna lord Mercury and a svakṣetra 12th lord, Sun. These three grahas in the 12th all receive the aspect of a strong Jupiter in Aquarius.

Then see this configuration in Leo from Candra lagna.

Mars now becomes the 5th lord of pūrva puṇya in the 9th house with a svakṣetra 9th lord. Consult the navāṃśa shown above and you will find that Mars is the 9th lord in the 9th house.

It is only as a result of these additional conditions that his 8th lord Mars gives such an exalted spiritual experience.

Then there is the importance of sub-periods. Venus was the antardaśā and it is the 9th lord from the birth lagna in a sarpa drekkāṇa, while falling in the 8th house from the Moon. The pratyantar daśā was that of his strong Jupiter.

After seeing his chart and the astrological factors that gave rise to this event, I was struck by how closely they resemble those that brought about my own experience of kuṇḍalinī awakening and spiritual ecstasy. It occurred in my Mars-Moon-Jupiter period. Before reading further can you identify the similarities?

• Both experiences took place in the major period of the 8th lord Mars for Virgo lagna.
• In both charts, Mars is conjunct the lagna lord Mercury and the 12th lord Sun, the later very well dignified.
• The combination falls in mokṣa houses in both charts, the 12th in his case, the 8th in mine.
• His Mars gets the influence of a strong Jupiter, while mine gets hemmed by Jupiter and Venus svakṣetra.
• His Mars is in the Sun’s nakṣatra, the 12th lord in the 12th house, while mine is in Ketu’s nakṣatra in the 12th.
• From the Moon, his Mars is the 5th lord in the 9th, while Mars is the 9th lord in the 9thfrom my Moon.
• In D-9, his Mars is the 9th lord in the 9th, while mine is also the 9th lord in a 5-9 exchange with the 5th lord Moon.
• In both cases the event happened in the pratyantar daśā of a strong Jupiter.

I present these four cases to highlight the rather extreme paradox of the 8th house which can bring some of the most agonizing experiences humankind can suffer, yet also the most ecstatic.

From my own experience, I am additionally aware that the 8th lord can bring both. In the earlier sub-period of Mars-Mercury, I tore ligaments and cartilage in by left knee playing basketball, necessitating an operation and eight weeks in a full leg cast, one of the most painful experiences of my life.

See the chart again of the Indian woman who fell gravely ill after entering her Saturn period situated in the 8th house.

Ever the rosy astrologer and knowing her penchant for travel, I predicted that she would enjoy many wonderful trips to foreign places in her Saturn-Mercury period based on the fact that from daśā lagna, Gemini, the exchange between these two grahas becomes 1-9. She would attest to the fact that the prediction proved quite correct. Saturn-Saturn nearly killed her. Saturn-Mercury brought her many enjoyable long-distance trips to remote locations to photograph animals in the wild, wildernesses being among the indications of the 8th house.

Indications of the 8th house

Like all the houses of the horoscope, the 8th house has many indications. What follows are those given in some of the primary Sanskrit classics of Jyotiṣa.

Parāśara Horā

The first reference to the houses in this text comes in verses 37 and 38 in the chapter on divisional considerations in which each is identified by a single word. These are as follows:

1st house: Tanu (“body”)
2nd house: Dhana (“wealth”)
3rd house: Sahaja (“brethren”)
4th house: Bandhu (“relations,” “kinship”)
5th house: Putra (“son/children”)
6th house: Ari (“enemy”)
7th house: Yuvati (“spouse”)
8th house: Randhra (“opening, fissure, chasm, hole; cavity; aperture of the body”)
9th house: Dharma (“universal laws/religion”)
10th house: Karma (“action in the world /profession/livelihood”)
11th house: Lābha (“gains’)
12th house: Vyaya (“expenses”)

It seemed odd to me upon first seeing this that the author(s) of the BPHS should choose to first designate the 8th house as randhra which essentially means “a hole” versus using a word like ayus, meaning “longevity.” But I came to understand that the 8th house indicates underground and hidden places. I once encountered the chart of a person whose career involved drilling for oil and other natural resources underground. This fact of his life was reflected by a very prominent 8th house that included the 10th lord.

Later in the chapter on judgment of the houses, we find this verse:

“The 8th house is to be consulted to know about longevity, battle, enemies, forts, wealth of the dead, and the details or knowledge of past and future lives.”

Phaladīpikā

In this Sanskrit classic, the house meanings are given in the very first chapter using various descriptive terms. Those designating the 8th house are

• maṅgalya refers to the auspiciousness of married life
• randhre darkness
• malina dirt
• adhi mental pain
• parāhava defeat/insult/humiliation
• ayus longevity
• kleśa annoying situations
• apavāda scandal
• maraṇa death
• aśuci impurity
• vighna obstacles
• dās attendants/slaves

Uttara Kālāmṛta

Among the ancient texts, this one by Kalidasa gives the most indications for each bhāva. Twenty eight are given for the 8th house, some of which are quite unique to this work.

1. longevity
2. happiness
3. disgrace or defeat
4. money coming from the death of someone
5. afflicted face
6. worry about or arising from death
7. absence of quarrels
8. sorrow from an ailment of meha (urine)
9. worry arising from brother, enemy or spouse
10. the fortress of the enemy
11. misery or worry
12. idleness
13. fear of punishment from the government
14. loss of money
15. debts
16. receiving the money of others out of ignorance
17. long awaited money
18. the arrival of a wicked person
19. sin
20. killing a live being
21. loss of a limb
22. capital punishment
23. terrifying sorrows
24. a story that disturbs mental peace
25. series of afflictions
26. attempting to do highly cruel acts
27. battle
28. utmost metal anguish

Other Sources

The 8th house indications that I have come across from various other sources and which are valid in my experience include

• external sex organs
• excretory organs including the colon
• deep and wild forests
• isolated/uncivilized/remote places
• mountainous regions
• taxes
• sudden, unexpected monetary gain (such as through lotteries)
• chronic and incurable diseases
• other people’s money
• bankruptcy
• accidents
• executions/assassinations
• mysteries and their detection/uncovering
• research
• the occult sciences
• depth psychology and depth psychotherapy
• inheritances
• secret plots and intrigues
• surgical operations
• maṅgala sūtra (marriage thread)

Agony

Looking through these indications it is apparent that they are much more about agony than ecstasy, which is why the 8th house has the reputation as the worst among the dussthāna/trik houses, and there is no question that under the worst conditions terrible things can happen. For example, you can get murdered.

In August of 1969 the nation was shocked by a series of grisly murders committed by members of a cult group known as the Mason Family at the orders of their deranged leader, Charles Manson. Among the victims was actress Sharon Tate who was many months pregnant at the time. She was stabbed to death.

Her chart features a primary ariṣṭa yoga with the lagna lord Mercury combust and retrograde in the 8th house, while the lagna is aspected by the 6th lord Mars. Jupiter in the lagna does not protect as it is retrograde. It is also a primary māraka as the 7th lord.

She was murdered in the major period of the Moon, afflicted by Rāhu. The Moon’s sign lord (Sun) and nakṣatra lord (Venus) are both in the 8th house. The sub-period lord was that of the Sun in the 8th. Notice that the 8th lord Saturn is retrograde in the 12th house, but according to principle that K.N. Rao taught, being retrograde, its aspects should also be seen from the sign previous, Aries. In which case, Saturn would be aspecting all the planets in the 8th house as the 8th lord. The sub-sub-period was Jupiter, an afflicted māraka 7th lord.

Below is the birth chart of an unfortunate soul who was murdered in her Rāhu-Rāhu-Saturn period when she was 25 and about to marry. Consider the results that Rāhu gives in this chart. It is placed in the 6th house and involved in a primary ariṣṭa yoga since it is a natural malefic afflicting the lagna lord Mercury who is placed in the 12th house with a very dark Moon.

Rāhu gives the results of the 8th house in two ways since its sign lord Saturn is debilitated in the 8th house and Rāhu also receives the aspect of a debilitated and combust 8th lord Mars.

Sanskrit classics of Jyotiṣa state that a poor condition of the 8th lord can be a factor for a short span of life.

We saw that Uttara Kālāmṛta gives “the killing of a living being” as one of the indications of the 8th house. The karma of being murdered is certainly a terrible one, but what terrible karma then accrues to the murderer?

Jeffrey Dahmer, also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster, was a convicted American serial killer and sex offender who committed the murder and dismemberment of 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. Many of his later murders involved necrophilia and cannibalism and the permanent preservation of body parts—typically all or part of the skeleton.

All of these horrific acts took place in the major period of Venus starting in Venus-Rāhu. Venus is situated in the 8th house hemmed by malefics. I would also note the very close trikoṇa sambandha relationship between Venus and Rāhu. If you take the 9th house aspect of Rāhu, as so many do in the world of Jyotiṣa, Venus would also have the aspect of this graha of aberration.

He was sentenced to 16 consecutive terms of life imprisonment in the period of the 12th lord Sun, but was soon beaten to death by a fellow inmate in Sun-Saturn.

Lords of the 8th house are capable of giving very good, favorable results when they also rule trine houses, especially if they are natural benefics. Whether they actually do or whether they turn sinister depends on their placement, conditon and associations. Such is the case of Jupiter for a Leo ascendant who rules the 5th and the 8th houses.

In the birth chart of convicted murderer, Leslie Van Houten, her 8th lord Jupiter becomes quite malignant based on its disposition. She was among the members of the Manson Family who committed the violent, senseless murders in August of 1969. She stabbed a victim to death in her Venus-Jupiter period.

Both these grahas are debilitated and afflicted by Mars.

As the sub-period lord when she murdered, Jupiter rules the 8th, is placed in the 6th, is debilitated and retrograde, and besides the affliction from violent Mars, it also has the influence of a very malignant Moon.

I have used her Moon as an example of the worst kind of Pāpa Durudhara Yoga, in which the Moon is

• completely dark,
• gaṇḍānta,
• exclusively hemmed by malefics, and
• lord of a trik house.

The Kesarī Yoga that the Moon and Jupiter form made her infamous rather than famous in a Jupiter sub-period. It also put her in prison since the Moon is an afflicted 12th lord.

Patricia Krenwinkle was another member of the Mason Family who committed murder that evening. It was also her Venus-Jupiter period, with Venus as the 8th lord and Jupiter as the 6th lord. Why her Venus as a 1st and 8th lord is giving such a terrible result is not obvious, since it is without overt affliction. However, both its sign lord (Jupiter) and its nakṣatra lord (Ketu), are in sarpa drekkāṇas afflicted and aspected by violent Mars. The 6th lord Jupiter is particularly bad as it is combust.

Notice that she also has an afflicted gaṇḍānta Moon in Cancer.

Besides killing or being killed yourself, I have learned from experience that the 8th house/8th lord can bring death into your life in other ways.

The birth chart below belongs to a best friend of mine growing up who, at the age of 16, suffered the agonizing experience of the death of a beloved father due to a heart attack.. It was in the major period of a debilitated 8th lord Mars afflicting the Sun, natural significator of father. It happened in the sub-period of Venus, the 9th lord of father in the 12th house with the affliction of the Rāhu-Ketu axis.

Do you see how Mars in this chart becomes a primary māraka for the father? From the 9th house Taurus, it becomes the 7th lord.

In D-12 Mars is afflicted by both Rāhu and Saturn while its dispositor Sun goes to the 8th house with Venus, the sub-period lord when his father died.

In my own Mars period, the lord of the 8th in the 8th house, I attended the funerals of two uncles, older brothers of my father, both of whom died in their mid-forties of heart attacks. Can you see how this Mars becomes a māraka for father’s older brothers?

Pisces is the 11th house of older siblings from the 9th house of my father. From Pisces, Mars is a primary māraka as the 2nd lord in the 2nd house.

Chronic, incurable and deadly diseases are among other agonizing manifestations of the 8th house as can be seen from the birth charts of two former U.S Presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy.

At age 39, Roosevelt was stricken with the polio virus and it left him paralyzed and without the use of his lower limbs for the remainder of his life. It was his Saturn-Rāhu period.

For his Virgo lagna, Saturn is a debilitated 6th lord in the 8th house while the 8th lord Mars afflicts the lagna. Rāhu as the sub-period lord gives the results of the 8th lord Mars and falls in the 8th from the major period lord.

Kennedy’s birth chart also has Virgo as the ascendant, and features a particularly malignant ariṣṭa yoga consisting of the 1st lord Mercury in the 8th with the 8th lord Mars and aspected by the 6th lord Saturn, who also aspects the lagna.

He had terrible health problems throughout his life which include the incurable Addison’s disease, an uncommon disorder that occurs when your body doesn’t produce enough of certain hormones. In Addison’s disease, the adrenal glands, located just above the kidneys, produce too little cortisol and, often, too little aldosterone. The resulting symptoms are weakness, fatigue, gastrointestinal distress and hypertension.

It was in his Mars period when he suffered back injuries playing sports in college and then while serving in the Navy in World War II when his torpedo boat was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. These injuries eventually led to two operations on his back and gave him chronic pain throughout the remainder of his life.

Senator John McCain is another prominent U.S. politician who suffered a serious health crisis in the major period of the 8th lord in the 8th house. He was diagnosed with and eventually died of brain cancer in his Mercury-Rāhu period. Note the close kendra sambandha relationship between these do grahas.

The chart above is an acquaintance of mine who suffered a stroke in his Mercury-Venus period. Mercury is a māraka 7th lord, afflicted by the 12th lord Saturn and the 6th lord Sun. Venus is an afflicted 8th lord, hemmed by malefics, and a primary māraka since it occupies the 2nd house.

The organs of excretion, including the colon, are given as one of the indications of the 8th house in Uttara Kālāmṛta. This came to mind when I chanced across the case of a woman who was diagnosed and successfully treated for colon cancer in her Venus major period.

Her Venus is the 8th lord in a sarpa drekkāṇa afflicted by the Rāhu-Ketu axis and aspected by the 12th lord Saturn.

The 8th lord Moon in the chart below of a woman friend of mine is forming Gaja Kesarī Yoga with a 1st and 4th lord Jupiter in its own sign, giving also Haṃsa Yoga. But can you see the problems with this combination?

This 8th lord Moon is

• waning and very dark, almost amāvāsya,
• hemmed by malefics, giving a Pāpa Durudhara Yoga, and
• aspected by a retrograde, māraka 2nd lord Saturn.

Throughout her Venus and Sun major periods she was the picture of health, but subsequent to the birth of her second child in Moon-Jupiter she has had major health problems since then, beginning with chronic fatigue syndrome in Moon-Saturn.

The birth chart below is one of the sadder cases I have encountered pertaining to the 8th house and the agony that it can bring. It is that of a teenage girl who suffered severe head trauma whileinvolved in a motorcycle accident that put her in a coma from which she has yet to awaken.

It happened in her Jupiter-Mercury-Saturn period, with all these grahas in the 8th house.

The static potential for bodily injury resulting for a vehicular accident is all too clear. Saturn as the 4th lord of vehicles goes to the 8th house with Jupiter, the 6th lord of accidents.

This combination is connected to the primary ariṣṭa yoga in which the 1st lord and 8th lord Venus is in the 6th house in an exchange with the 6th lord Jupiter and aspected by retrograde Mars, a primary māraka twice over for her Libra ascendant.

Both Phaladīpikā and Uttara Kālāmṛta mention scandal, humiliation, disgrace and mental anguish as being indications of the 8th house, which is something former U.S. President, Bill Clinton, can attest to during his Jupiter-Moon period.

This period coincided with the height of the sex scandal that erupted when it came out that he had been receiving oral sex from a 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, and subsequently lied about it. The result was that he got impeached by the House of Representatives and put on trial in the Senate. Though he survived politically, his Presidency was forever tarnished by this humiliating scandal that dominated news headlines for years and nearly cost him his position. And one can only imagine the considerable mental anguish he experienced throughout.

His Moon, the sub-period lord when all this was going on, is in the 8th house aspected by the 6th lord Saturn. At this time, he was also going through sāḍe-sātī, Saturn’s transit over the Moon.

This is rather enough of the dark side of the 8th house. Now I will illustrate the brighter side.

The Ecstasy of the 8th House

You can imagine the ecstatic state of mind of individuals upon first learning that they have just won millions in a lottery. It must have been the case for a husband and wife from Rhode Island who won $20 million in the state’s lottery.

Earlier I mentioned that Jupiter for Leo lagna can give very good results as the lord of the 5th and 8th houses, but that it depends on its placement, condition and associations. In the Leo lagna chart of Leslie Van Houten, she committed murder in the sub-period of a Jupiter debilitated in the 6th house and afflicted.

See a very different 5th and 8th lord Jupiter in the chart of the lottery-winning wife.

Her Jupiter is configured in a combination given in Parāśara Horā for giving exceptional wealth, consisting of the 5th lord in the 5th house in a mutual aspect with the 11th lord in its own house. Jupiter here is exceptionally strong because it is not only in its mūlatrikoṇa sign but continues to be in that sign in many vargas, giving it exceptional viṁśopaka bala.

The event happened in her Jupiter-Ketu period, with Ketu in the 7th house of the spouse giving the results of the 7th lord Saturn who is with Jupiter. But then see the nakṣatra exchange between Jupiter and Ketu.

The husband’s chart also shows him winning in a major period connected to the 8th house. It was Rāhu conjunct the 8th lord Saturn in the 9th house giving the results also of Jupiter configured in a dhana yoga as the 9th lord in the 2nd. He won in Rāhu-Jupiter.

To further understand this result and timing, his navāṃśa must be seen as well.

Here Rāhu is in its own sign giving the result of the exceptional dhana yoga of the 5th lord in the 5th house in a mutual aspect with the 11th lord in the 11th house. The sub-period lord, Jupiter, has a source of strength here because of the exchange with its sign lord Mars.

When researching the charts of million-dollar lottery winners, I discovered that the basic formula is exceptional dhana yogas connected to the 8th house/8th lord and their activation in the daśā sequence. Many more examples can be seen in my article about lottery winners, “It Could Happen to You”.

Another way in which individuals can become wealthy via the 8th house is through inheritance.

George Gordon who later became Lord Byron, the famous English poet, was born into an aristocratic family, but his father was a wastrel who, after gambling away his wife’s fortune, abandoned mother and child. His early years were spent in relative poverty.

However, when his great uncle, a peer of the realm, died without an heir, the 10-year-old boy became the sixth Baron Byron of Rochdale and inherited the ancestral home, Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire.

It happened in the major period of Saturn, the 8th and 9th lord in the 9th house with the 5th lord Venus, forming very good dhana and trikoṇa rāja yogas. The sub-period was that of his perfectly full Moon, the 2nd lord in the 2nd house and in Saturn’s nakṣatra.

Doris Duke is a more contemporary figure widely known as a prominent heiress. She was the only child of tobacco-tycoon James Buchanan Duke. After the death of her father in 1925 she inherited a huge fortune while in her early twenties equivalent to around $1 billion today.

Potent dhana yogas form in her 1st house with the 2nd and 5th lord Jupiter and the 8th and 11th lord Mercury together, with both getting directional strength. Note how all these planets in Scorpio fall in the 8th house from the Moon, including Mars as the 8th lord in the 8th house with two trines lords from this perspective. The bulk of her inheritance came in the Sun-Mercury period.

Besides making you wealthy through lottery winnings or inheritances, the 8th house/8th lord can also give you position and status by virtue of viparīta rāja yogas. The most powerful and complete viparīta rāja yoga happens when all three Trik house lords occupy the same Trik house and without any other house lord.

Such a combination put U.S. politician Philip Gramm in Congress for 23 years, first in the House of Representatives and then in the Senate.

The 6th lord Mercury, the 8th lord Sun and the 12th lord Jupiter occupy the 6th house of his chart without any other house lords. He was first elected to Congress in his Rāhu period, giving the results of the 8th lord Sun, followed by the 16 years of Jupiter.

Any one of the Trik house lords falling in another Trik house can also give rāja yoga effects. They become even more capable of elevating an individual if additionally involved in other status-giving yogas. Such is the case with the 8th lord Mercury in the chart of mega-celebrity, Kim Kardashian.

It goes to the 12th house giving Sarala Yoga, as this variety of “reverse” rāja yogas is termed in Phaladīpikā, but Mercury also participates in a very good Candra Adhi Yoga with all the benefics falling in the 6th, 7th and 8th house from the Moon. It was in the Mercury major period that she became a reality TV star and became “famous for being famous.”

TV journalist Rachel Maddow has a viparīta rāja yoga manifesting in the 8th house to thank, in part, for her great success and status in her Mercury major period. Starting in 2008, coinciding with Mercury-Mars, she has been the host of her own very successful nightly news program on MSNBC. As the 12th lord in the 8th house, Mercury gives Vimala Yoga, the term used in Phaladīpikā for this variety of viparīta rāja yoga.

The major fame and fortune-giving combination in her chart is the conjunction of her 9th lord nīca bhaṅga Jupiter with the yogakāraka 10th lord Mars exalted. See Mercury’s nakṣatra and its lord to understand how the Mercury major period also activated this combination.

But besides the ecstasy of fame and fortune, Mercury has also brought the agony of major depressive episodes that she has publicly acknowledged. Mercury is with the lagna lord Moon in the 8th, and these two mental planets are in Saturn’s sign aspected by the 8th lord Saturn

A configuration in the 8th house also brought great fame and fortune to basketball All-Star Stephen Curry and for somewhat similar reasons. It was his Rāhu major period. Can you see why before reading further?

The combination in his chart that stands out as one capable of giving great status is the excellent Gaja Kesarī Yoga (GKY) involving the lagna lord Moon as the 1st lord in the 7th and Jupiter at the 9th lord in the 10th with the 4th and 11th lord Venus. Besides GKY, these planets form rāja/dhana yogas as well. Jupiter is particularly strong due to its exchange with its sign lord Mars.

He is now running his Jupiter major period, but it was in Rāhu that he first achieved the status as one of the best basketball players in the world, twice being named MVP of the professional league in the U.S. despite his rather small physical stature. Can you see how Rāhu in his 8thhouse can give such a result?

The answer is what was seen in the chart of Rachel Maddow. Rāhu is giving the result of Mercury, the 12th lord in the 8th house giving Vimala Yoga. But just like in her chart, Rāhu is in Jupiter’s nakṣatra and in its period is also activating the rāja, dhana and GKY yoga effects that
this planet gives.

The difference is that his Rāhu does not show the potential for giving debilitating depressions like her Mercury does.

One of the more intriguing, non-agonizing indications of the 8th house given in Parāśara Horā is “the details or knowledge of past and future lives.” What exactly this means is open to question. I do recall K.N. Rao commenting once that the 8th house gives a clue as to profession in the previous life. In ancient Vedic times this was determined by the caste into which one was born. Brahmins were priests, Kṣatriyas were rulers/warriors, etc.

Texts like Phaladīpikā categorized these caste roles according to the grahas as follows:

• Jupiter and Venus: Brahmins (priests)
• Sun and Mars: Kṣatriyas (rulers/warriors)
• Moon and Mercury: Vaiśyas (merchants and farmers)
• Saturn: Śūdras (servants/laborers)
• Rāhu and Ketu: Mlecchas (foreigners)

After seeing these designations, it brought to mind the birth chart of a friend, a white male from a middle-class family in the U.S., who has had the very unusual destiny of being formerly made a Brahmin priest, something that normally only happens if you are born in India to a family of Brahmin priests.

It began when he started hanging around the priests at the South Indian temple near Santa Monica, California, attending the rituals there and befriending one priest in particular. Eventually, this led to him assisting the priests during the performance of rituals. Later he started a website to assist individuals who wanted rituals done for them with some intention (saṅkalpa).Proceeds from this activity began supporting a number of priests in India and even funded the building of a temple. As a result of all this he was formerly initiated as a Brahmin.

See his birth chart with the two Brahmins, Jupiter and Venus, together in his 8th house. Could it be that he was a Brahmin priest in a previous lifetime and this is a “carry-over” result? His activities as priest began in the Jupiter-Venus period.

When I first visited K.N. Rao in India in the fall of 1996, he took me to a Bhṛgu reader in a small village in Rajasthan. During the reading, I was told that in a previous lifetime I was a Kṣatriya from that area of India. In my 8th house I have the Sun and Mars. In my early teens I aspired to go to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and become an officer in the Armed Forces. Fortunately, I grew out of that aspiration before I could act upon it.

When I was first getting into Jyotiṣa and browsing Parāśara Horā, I wasn’t sure that I liked this form of astrology given what is written there about the 1st lord in the 8th house, a feature of my chart.

“Should the ascendant lord occupy the 8th house, the person will be siddha vidya visharada, sickly, thievish, extremely wrathful, a gambler, and given to traversing others wives.”

The only positive indication here is the Sanskrit phrase “siddha vidyā viśārada,” a designation that really caught my eye since its literal meaning is “a learned expert (viśārada) in the knowledge (vidyā) of occult powers (siddhis).”

I came to understand that in a broader sense the 8th house, just like in Western astrology, pertains to the esoteric/occult sciences. I have seen repeatedly that the activation in the daśā sequence of planets connected to the 8th house/8th lord brought astrology into a person’s life and how a good 8th house/8th lord can give a talent for astrology and the other occult sciences.

The birth chart shown above is that of an Indian man now living and working in Australia. He has been running his Venus major period, the 8th lord in the 8th house since 2013. I am not sure when exactly he began studying Jyotiṣa, but in recent history he has become my student and I have been impressed with how much he has absorbed in a short period of time. He is a business owner, not doing astrology professionally, but has some very good predictions to his credit in Venus-Rāhu, with Venus in Rāhu’s nakṣatra.

This is the chart of another excellent student who seems to have a photographic memory for yogas after absorbing my books on that subject. This has happened in his Moon major period posited in the 8th house and configured in a Kesarī Yoga with a strong Jupiter in Aquarius. Note that the Moon’s dispositor, the 8th lord Sun, goes to the 5th house of vidyā and is the focus of good Śubha Ubhayacarī Yoga.

The chart below is that of a woman who, in recent history, has been devoting a good portion of her day in studying Jyotiṣa and has displayed a real talent for it in tutoring sessions.

This is happening in the major period of her 8th lord Mercury, aspecting its own 8th house and in Jupiter’s sign aspected by the 2nd and 5th lord Jupiter. Her journey into Jyotiṣa started in her Mercury-Jupiter period and now continues in Mercury-Saturn.

With such a strong influence of Jupiter on the 2nd house, it being the 2nd lord aspecting its own2nd house, she is becoming a very good predictor. Note the source of strength due to the exchange with its sign lord Mars. Then see that Jupiter goes to the 5th house Aries with Ketu from the kārakāṃśa lagna, Sagittarius. What a lovely promise and in Cara daśā she is running her Aries period.

Conclusion

All the houses of the birth chart are capable of giving ecstatic or agonizing experiences. People are overjoyed when they get their dream home but are devastated when a hurricane or some other natural disaster destroys it. Both are 4th house experiences.

Yet, I have always been struck in particular by the extreme paradox of the 8th house this way, how it can put you in the hell of being stabbed to death, but also in heaven, supping on the bliss of samādhi.

Consequently, I always slow down and evaluate very carefully when a person is about to run the period of the 8th lord and is seeking my input about this. Such was the case recently of an Indian man living and working in the U.S. whose chart is shown below.

Back in 2015 when he was about to enter his Jupiter-Venus period, he sought me out for a consultation. Some other astrologer(s) had told him that it would not be a good time for him at all. My assessment was quite the opposite. I predicted that it would be a very good period for giving him increased professional success and financial gains in the foreign country in which he had settled.

See that his 4th house gets the influence of two malefics while the 4th lord goes to the 12th and the 12th lord aspects the 4th house. It is a combination for settlement abroad. This had already happened in his Rāhu period.

My prediction was based on simply seeing that Jupiter and Venus form both rāja and dhana yoga, along with an excellent Śubha Veśi Yoga.

Jupiter has a good source of strength being in Aquarius in D-9 and Venus is in a Great Friend’s sign in both the rāśi and navāṃśa.

My prediction proved correct and now he was seeking input about his upcoming Saturn mahādaśā, the 8th lord of his birth chart, beginning in early 2024 at age 45.

Examine his Saturn in both the birth chart and D-9. What would you say? Will it bring experiences more of agony or ecstasy? Or will it bring both…Agony and Ecstasy.

All Praise to the Ṛṣis and their Divine Science of Jyotiṣa

Marc Boney
Anno Domini
June 2021
Cardiff by the Sea, California

About the Author

Marc Boney, M.A. is an internationally renowned astrological teacher, writer and consultant. He has been involved since 1974 with the integration of the ancient wisdom of astrology with the counseling arts. He received his training in Jyotiṣa primarily from K.N. Rao, one of the world’s foremost Vedic astrologers. His focus is on using the Vedic system to help guide people in their lives, as well as training others.

Marc has been a featured speaker at international conferences, is a faculty member of the American College of Vedic Astrology, and was the main presenter on Jyotiṣa at the Chopra Center for Well-Being from 2000 to 2002. He is the author of over 70 articles on this topic, and 21 books.

The Institute of Astrology, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, of New Delhi, India honored Marc with a Distinguished Service Award for his contributions to the advancement of Vedic Astrology in the West.

Marc founded the Pacific Institute of Vedic Science, which will be offering quality educational programs in Yoga, Ayurveda, and Jyotiṣa online and in the San Diego area where he lives.

Prior to his current full-time involvement with these Vedic sciences, Marc held positions in the corporate world as a Director of Human Resources, Outplacement Consultant, and Leadership Consultant.

Marc holds an MA in Counseling Psychology and a BA in English Literature from Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois.

He is a practitioner of Transcendental Meditation since 1971 and later trained as a teacher and taught TM in the late 70s.

Visit his web-site at www.marcboney.com or contact him at marc@marcboney.com