A Trik Bhav Gifts and Griefs of the 6th House by Marc Boney

Article by Marc Boney

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.”

A Study in Contrast

Those of you who follow the world of sports know that Novak Djokovic is having quite a year. He is currently the top-ranked player in men’s professional tennis. In 2021 he has won three “Grand Slam” events, the Australia Open, the French Open, and most recently, Wimbledon. If he wins the upcoming U.S. Open, he will be the only man in the history of the sport to win all four of these events in one year. He is now tied with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for the most “Grand Slam” victories overall at 20.

His chart is a stellar example of some of the favorable gifts that the otherwise much-maligned 6th house can give.

In my article Hearts of Champions on the birth charts of world-class athletes I showed how raja yogas in the 6th house, which rules competitions, can show the potential for great success in such activities under the right conditions. If the 3rd house/3rd lord is involved, then this success can come in competitive athletics. This is the exact combination present in Djokovic’s horoscope. The best rāja yoga for anyone with a Sagittarius ascendant is a combination of the 9th lord Sun with the 10th lord Mercury, provided the Sun is not combusting Mercury. This is what we see in his chart, but notice also that these grahas are in a mutual aspect with Saturn, his 3rd lord of sports who has a good source of strength based on its mūlatrikoṇa placement in Aquarius in D-9. He started playing tennis at age four in his Saturn major period.

From Wikipedia:

“As a young child, Djokovic was given a mini-racket and a soft foam ball, by his parents, which his father claimed, became “the most beloved toy in his life”.

Djokovic began playing tennis at the age of four when his parents sent him to a tennis camp in Novi Sad as his parents had not played any tennis in the past. In the summer of 1993, before attending primary school, the six-year-old was sent to a tennis camp organized by the Teniski Klub Partizan and overseen by Yugoslav tennis player Jelena Gencic at Mount Kapaonik at where Djokovic’s parents ran a fast-food parlor and a sports equipment business. Upon seeing the child Djokovic playing tennis, she stated: “This is the greatest talent I have seen since Monica Seles.”

At age six Djokovic moved into his Mercury period and over the next 17 years of this mahādaśā, activating the 9-10 rāja yoga in the 6th house, he rose to the very top of men’s tennis, achieving a ranking of #2 in 2010. This happened in the last sub-period, Mercury-Saturn.

See his D-10 where Mercury is in its exaltation sign and remains in a mutual aspect with Saturn, who is in Jupiter sign aspect by an exalted Jupiter. Both Mercury-Jupiter and Mercury-Saturn were spectacular for him. But the best was yet to come in his Ketu major period. Before reading further can you see why based on Ketu in his birth chart?

Of course, part of the answer is that Ketu will give the results of its sign lord, Mercury, again activating the powerful 9-10 rāja yoga in the 6th house of competition. But why then did it give him an even better level of rāja yoga since it was in this period that he achieved the #1 ranking and had arguably one of the best years ever in men’s professional tennis in 2011?

From Wikipedia:

“Djokovic won ten tournaments in 2011, including three Grand Slam tournament victories at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Djokovic also captured a record-breaking five ATP Master titles and set a record for the most prize money won in a single season on the ATP Tour ($12 million) He held a 41-match winning streak from the start of the season to the French Open semi-finals, when he was defeated by Roger Federer. His level dropped toward the season’s end, beginning with a back injury sustained during the US Open which caused him to retire from the Davis Cup, and ending with a poor showing at the ATP Finals. Djokovic concluded the season with a 70–6 record and a year-end ranking of No. 1.

Pete Sampras declared Djokovic’s 2011 season as the best he had seen in his lifetime, calling it “one of the best achievements in all of the sports.” Boris Becker called Djokovic’s season “one of the very best years in tennis of all time”, noting that it “may not be the best statistically, but he’s beaten Federer, he’s beaten Nadal, he’s beaten everybody that came around to challenge him in the biggest tournaments in the world.” Rafael Nadal, who lost to Djokovic in six finals on three different surfaces, described Djokovic’s performances as “probably the highest level of tennis that I ever saw.”

The first four months of 2011 coincided with Ketu-Ketu and the remainder was Ketu-Venus.

Part of the answer to the question that I have posed is that Ketu not only gives Mercury’s results but forms a good nodal rāja yoga in its own right since it is in angle and gets the aspect of two trine lords, Jupiter as the 1st lord and Mars as the 5th lord. In addition, it gives the results of the Gaja Kesarī Yoga forming in Pisces involving a svakṣetra lagna lord Jupiter, who is also giving a Hamsa Mahāpurusha Yoga. Then notice that Ketu falls in the Moon’s nakṣatra, Hasta. Do you see why then Ketu gave even better results than Mercury?

Ketu-Venus was the sub-period throughout most of 2011, as well as when he achieved the top ranking, and his most recent spectacular success has come in Venus-Venus. Which brings me now to why I wanted to discuss this birth chart.

When he was rising up to the heights of men’s professional tennis it was his Mercury major period placed in the 6th house. Ketu gave partially the results of Mercury. Venus, the current period, is the 6th lord. Do you see the point? This dussthāna house and its lord, who, by the way, is classified in Pārāśara Horā as the worst functional malefic for Sagittarius, has placed him at the very top of his profession, given him millions (12 million in one year alone), and may see him achieve what no other men’s tennis player ever has this year.

This theme of how dussthāna bhavas, the so-called “difficult houses” and their lords, can give highly favorable results is what I have been very purposely writing about lately in order to impress upon students that every house, even these Trik houses, have some desirable gifts to give, though only under certain conditions.

His current mahādaśā lord, Venus, is a well-placed and unafflicted 6th lord of competition and 11th lord of victory and awards. As the 11th lord in the 5th house glancing back on its own 11th house it gives dhana yoga results very obviously. What is not at all obvious just based on the rāśi is how Venus continues to give him such rāja yoga-like success and status. This highlights the importance of divisional charts for seeing the fuller implications of what a major period can bring. See Venus in the navāṁśa and daśāmśa What do you notice about it?

You, no doubt, saw that it is involved in a powerful 1-10 exchange with the Moon in D-9. But did you see that Venus is the focal point of a Candra Ādhi Yoga that includes being hemmed by exalted benefics? And here he is “first” among his peers. If you take house lordships, Venus is also with the yogakāraka Mars.

I have stated many times in my articles and books and will reiterate it here that all the graha yogas given in the Sanskrit classics can and should be applied to varga charts. Without seeing Venus involved in these yogas in D-9 and D-10, how else is such continued great success predictable in this major period? Mercury and Ketu giving this result is predictable based just on the birth chart. It is not so with Venus.

However, it can be seen at a glance in the Jaimini system using Cara daśā. The current major period is Gemini from where the 10th house becomes so strong, with Jupiter as the 10th lord in the 10th house from there, and as the AmK forming Jaimini rāja yogas with the PK Moon and DK Mars. The Moon in the 10th from this daśā lagna is also giving the special Jaimini rāja yoga that comes about when the Moon has the association/aspect of four or more grahas.

Now consider this chart of a 32-year-old American man who is currently running his Sun-Saturn period. He worked at a premier investment banking firm on Wall Street out of college and is currently with a prestigious venture capital firm earning exceptionally well. His Venus major period was mostly a sweet song and in the current period of the Sun, the 2nd lord in the 9th house giving a dhana yoga, it is easy to see how this period would be good financially.

The period has also been very good for his career and status generally since the Sun is disposited by Jupiter, the 9th lord in the 10th house, closely kendra sambandha with an exalted yogakāraka 10th lord Mars.

However, his current reality in Sun-Saturn is that he is in a health crisis. He recently underwent spinal fusion surgery. For those unfamiliar, spinal fusion is surgery to permanently connect two or more vertebrae in your spine, eliminating motion between them. It involves techniques designed to mimic the normal healing process of broken bones. During spinal fusion, a surgeon places bone or a bonelike material within the space between two spinal vertebrae. Metal plates, screws and rods may be used to hold the vertebrae together, so they can heal into one solid unit.

It is a very delicate operation and there can be nerve damage, which has happened to him, such that he is now in chronic pain, including sciatica, and he has back spasms. This has also been emotionally painful for me to witness since he is my godchild, the eldest son of my best friend from college with whom I have remained very close.

I have been giving predictions to his parents based on his chart since he was a child, and must candidly confess that I did not see such a significant health crisis coming in the Sun major period. I did see some negative implications of the current sub-period of Saturn, the 7th lord in the 6th house. I thought it spelled trouble for his relationship life and this proved true when a long-standing girlfriend broke things off and moved to California.

What I should have noted is that Saturn is also the 8th lord and a māraka 7th lord that goes to the 6th and is kendra sambandha to the Sun, who is also a primary māraka as the 2nd lord and is with 12th lord. The chapter on daśā phal in the Laghu Pārāśarī talks about the danger of such periods.

Then see his navāṁśa. The placement and condition of Sun-and Saturn in D-9 solidified my thoughts that this would not be a good period relationship-wise, but in retrospect I should have seen the health implications as well. Both are again primary mārakas, with the Sun in Saturn’s sign in the 8th house and Saturn in the 12th afflicted by both Rahu and Mars.

He remains in Sun-Saturn until early December 2021 and then goes to Sun-Mercury. Does it indicate an improvement? He has been told by a physical therapist that it could take up to two years for damaged nerves to heal.

I have chosen to recount these two cases because they show a real contrast as to what planets in or ruling the 6th house can give. For Novak Djokovic Mercury in the 6th and Venus ruling the 6th has given him spectacular success in sports competition, though with some injuries that are inevitable for an athlete. For my godson, a malignant 7th and 8th lord Saturn in the 6th house has given him an operation on his spine that has left him in chronic pain.

Indications of the 6th House

What follows are the indications of the 6th house as given in three Sanskrit classics:

Pārāśara Horā

• maternal uncle
• doubts about death
• enemies
• ulcers
• step mother

Phaladīpika

• debt
• weapons
• thief
• wound
• disease
• enemy
• paternal relations that may have ill will
• battle
• wickedness
• sin
• fear
• humiliation

Uttarā Kalamrita

• diseases
• obstacles
• fighting in war
• maternal uncle
• phlegm
• tumor
• cruel or fierce activities
• madness
• small pox
• foes and enemies
• miserliness
• ill-health
• venereal boils
• boiled rice
• heavy breathing
• debts
• slanders
• delight of the foes
• tuberculosis
• healed constitution
• wounds
• mental agony and worry
• many intense worries
• hated by many
• frequent diseases of the eyes
• receiving alms
• untimely food
• fall or loss or destruction brought about by foes who are collaterals
• profits
• wearisomeness
• poison
• peptic or duodenal ulcer
• fetters
• protecting one’s own fame
• urinary ailment
• dysentery
• six flavors (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, astringent, pungent)
• reproach
• sorrows from servants and theft
• imprisonment
• quarrels from brothers and others

Miscellaneous other sources:

• accidents
• lawsuits
• service (especially routine)
• middle abdomen and the organs therein including the small intestine

As can be seen, these indications are almost exclusively and overwhelming negative. New students looking at this could easily get the impression that nothing good can come from the 6th house/6th lord. Yet it is just not so as the following case studies show.

The Bright Side

I don’t know if that I have ever seen a planet in the 6th house give a better result than Saturn in the 6th house of the great spiritual luminary, Ramana Maharishi. He merely obtained full God Realization at age 16 during this mahādaśā.

Saturn is his 5th lord of pūrva punya, activating the spiritual merit from previous life times, and is in Pisces, the sign of mokṣa. It could not be more under the influence of a strong vargottama Jupiter since they exchange signs both in the rāśi and navāṁśa.

For a detailed discussion of why this Saturn in the 6th house gave him this ultimate experience I refer the reader to my article, Ketu and Kaivalya: The Astrology of Enlightenment.

But an interesting side note about this yogakāraka in the 6th house very connected to a strong 3rd and 6th lord Jupiter is that, like the rāja yoga in the 6th house of Novak Djokovic’s chart, it gave him success in sports competition. While reading biographies of him I discovered that as a young boy and teenager growing up, first in his Jupiter major period and then in Saturn, he was very passionately into playing sports and that his teams always won!

Now look below at the birth chart of basketball legend Jerry West, again with a Libra ascendant and again with yogakāraka Saturn in the 6th house in an exchange with the 3rd and 6th lord Jupiter, with both planets again having sources of strength in his navāṁśa.

His stellar playing career took place in his Mars and Rahu periods but then in Jupiter and Saturn he went on to be one of the most successful general managers in the history of professional basketball.

“After his coaching stint, he worked as a scout for three years before becoming general manager of the Lakers before the 1982-1983 seasons. NBA.com credits West in creating the great 1980s Lakers dynasty, which brought five championship rings (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988) to Los Angeles. After a slump in the early 1990s, West rebuilt the team by trading Vlade Divac for the draft rights to Kobe Bryant, signing free agent center Shaquille O’Neal, and signing six-time NBA champion Phil Jackson as a coach. West laid down the foundation of the Lakers three-peat which saw L.A. win three NBA titles from 2000 to 2002.”

The placement and condition of Jupiter and Saturn in D-10 are also a part of that story of great success and achievement in those periods.

Jupiter here is well-placed in the 11th in the sign of a Great Friend and getting the aspect of two benefics while Saturn is in the lagna. He first became general manager of the Lakers in Jupiter Mercury, the latter being the lagna lord of this division configured in a Maharāja Yoga. Saturn Venus is when the Lakers began their “three-peat.”

You would have never been able to convince Sonny Bono that the 6th house was such a “bad place” since it was in his Venus major period with this graha in the 6th house that he and his wife, Cher, became pop music icons beginning with their signature song “I’ve Got You Babe.” In August 1965, this hit record spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States where it sold more than 1 million copies and was certified Gold. It also reached number one in the United Kingdom and Canada.

The couple went on to record many more hits and this led to their having their own TV show, the Sonny &Cher Comedy Hour, which ran from August of 1971 to May of 1974, also in his Venus major period. After he and Cher divorced and his music career tanked, he went into politics, first as the mayor of Palm Springs, California and then as a U.S. Congressman.

His chart is a perfect example of how both rāja and dhana yogas can form in Trik houses and still give their good results strongly under the right conditions. The conjunction of Mercury, Venus and Saturn in the 6th house is a combination of all three trine lords giving multiple dhana yogas. As the 9th and 10th lords, Venus and Mercury form the best rāja yoga for a Virgo ascendant, and they are joined by the 5th lord Saturn, giving both a 1-5, 5-10 rāja yoga, but also a trikoṇa rāja yoga formed when the 5th and 9th lords combine. All these yogas get the additional influence of the natural benefic, Jupiter.

It is an illustration of a śloka from the Laghu Pārāśarī which states that when the strong lord of an angle (10th and 7th) combines with the strongest lord of a trine (the 9th) it is a very good raja yoga, but then how much better if these planets are joined by another trine lord? In keeping with this his most successful periods in the entertainment industry were Venus-Saturn followed by Venus-Mercury. The nearly three-year period of Venus-Mercury coincided almost exactly to the time of The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.

When planets give such a dramatic result it is almost invariably because they have good sources of strength in key divisional charts and it was true in the case of his Sonny Bono’s Venus. It obtains a Vimśopakābala (20-point strength) of over 15 as a result of its placement in the three Vargas that contribute the most points to this score, which are D-3, D-9, and D-60.

It can be seen that in all of these divisional charts Venus is svakṣetra. Venus-Jupiter is when “I Got You Babe” was released in July 1965. See these planets in D-10 where Venus is in its mūlatrikoṇa sign and Jupiter is exalted and falling in the 10th from Venus.

With respect to the 6th house, it must also be kept in mind that it is both an artha and upacaya house. As a member of the artha triangle, along with houses 2 and 10 pertaining to the material aspect of life, the 6th house can give good results monetarily, especially if dhana yogas form there, as was seen in the Sonny Bono’s chart. As an upacaya house, planets in the 6th can “grow” and give better results over time.

The legendary American financier J.P. Morgan was the among the richest men in the world in his day and in his birth chart the 2nd and 11th lord Jupiter is exalted in the 6th house from where it aspects its own 2nd house and is the sign lord of an exalted 9th lord Venus in the 2nd, who also receives its aspect. Beginning in his Jupiter period starting at age 45 he became “as rich as Croesus.”

I recently saw a headline stating that Frenchman Bernard Arnault just passed Amazon’s Jeff Bezos as the richest man in the world with a net worth of an astonishing $198.9 billion. He is the chairperson and chief executive of the French luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. He oversees an empire of 70 brands including Givenchy, Guerlain, Marc Jacobs, Sephora, Tiffany & Co, Emilio Pucci, Fendi, Loro Piana, Nicholas Kirkwood, Thomas Pink, RM Williams, EDUN, Moynat, and Donna Karen. It also includes TAG Heuer, De Beers and Bulgari. Arnault owns a 96.5 per cent stake in Christian Dior, which controls 41 per cent of LVMH

Seeing this brought to mind his birth chart which features a dhana yoga combination of the 5th lord Jupiter with the 2nd and 11th lord Mercury in the 6th house, with Jupiter in its debilitation sign but vargottama. I have used his chart as an example of how such vargottama debilitated planets actually give their results very strongly.

He is now in his Saturn major period, lord of his 6th house, but was a multi-billionaire throughout the earlier 16 years of Jupiter.

To better understand how the Saturn mahādaśā is giving such wealth see it from the Candra lagna, Aries. The exchange between the Sun and Saturn becomes a 5-11 exchange that also involves the 1st and 2nd lords. This exchange is exactly the type of combination detailed in Pārāśara Horā for giving exceptional wealth.

I was just recently asked by a student about planets who fall in the sign of an enemy but exchange, and whether this will negatively affect the kind of results they can give. The Sun and Saturn are natural enemies and since they fall 7th from each other in this chart they become temporary enemies as well. Seeing how strongly his Saturn is giving its results should answer her question.

As I have stated in previous articles the best place for the Trik house lords are their own houses, especially if they are natural benefics. In the chart below of a woman friend of mine Venus is the 6th lord in the 6th house without affliction, and is also a well-dignified 11th lord.

She ran the Venus mahādaśā from age 8 to 28 and it brought all kinds of blessings into life. She grew up in a very affluent family, did well academically obtaining a college degree, met and married the man she is still happily married to 50 years later, met her spiritual guru, a major benign figure in her life, was initiated into Krīya Yoga by him, gave birth to her eldest son and I could go on. Some of these good results can be seen based on Venus’ nakṣatra lord, Mars, and placement of Venus in key divisional charts, but they start with Venus as a natural benefic well dignified as the 6th and 11th lord in the 6th house without affliction.

In this chart we again see a natural benefic as a 6th lord in the 6th house, in this case Mercury in its exaltation sign. It is unafflicted and receives the aspect of a bright Moon.

Hers is a rather similar story. She ran the period from ages 17 to 34 and during this time she did extremely well educationally, obtaining her medical degree in India before coming to the U.S.for her residency. Subsequently she did very well professionally and became affluent. She also got married, acquired property and had children during this time.

A benefic as the 6th lord in the 6th house can give some of its very best results when joined with the two other Trik house lords and no others, forming a rare, complete Vipaīta Rāja Yoga. If you doubt it just ask Oscar-winning actor, Tommy Lee Jones

Venus is his 1st and 6th lord in the 6th house with the 8th lord Jupiter and the 12th lord Mars and without the influence of any other house lords. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a U.S. Marshall chasing Harrison Ford’s character in The Fugitive in his Jupiter-Venus period.

In addition to the activation of the Vipaīta Rāja Yoga in the birth chart, see these planets in his daśāmśa. Jupiter is the lagna lord in the 9th and Venus is exalted in the lagna and in Jupiter’s sign and with the aspect of Jupiter. This type of very strong sambandha in which a planet is in the sign of a planet and then also aspected by that planet is often overlooked by students. Grahasform yogas in this way and when they operate as a period and sub-period it is something to pay attention to in any chart.

We have already seen an example of the normal angle-trine rāja yogas giving good results in the 6th house in the birth chart of Sonny Bono. See another.

Like in his chart, the 1st, 5th, 9th, and 10th lords all combine giving multiple rāja and dhana yogas in the 6th house and putting yogakāraka Saturn in its exaltation sign. These combinations all repeat from the Moon, who is also in Libra. The four planets there are in kendra sambandha with an extremely exalted Jupiter, with the ones in dignity becoming “mutual co-workers”

This is not the chart of some famous person but someone who has enjoyed a very good level of affluence throughout their life given the daśā sequence that activated these combinations in her 6th house. She began the Saturn mahādaśā starting at age 19 followed by Mercury, followed by Ketu giving the results of Mercury and now Venus while in her sixties. What the placement of these planets and the rāja yogas that they form there have meant in her life is a successful career as a therapist specializing in grief work, given the Moon-Saturn conjunction.

Just a strong benefic in the 6th house can give good results in my experience regardless of whether it is the 6th lord. See a vargottama Jupiter in the 6th house in this chart. As the 12th lord in the 6th with some additional malefic influence does it give the Vimala variety Vipaīta Rāja Yoga from Phaladīpika?

The chart is that of a retired professor of astrophysics who has also been a life-long God devotee in the spiritual tradition of India. He now spends a good portion of every day doing sādhana and performing Vedic rituals like ārati, pūja and yajna and chanting Vedic stotras like Vishnusahasranāma and the Hanuman Chalīsa. See that this spiritual combination of Jupiter and Ketu has Mercury as its sign lord who is configured in a Śri Nātha Yoga as the 9th lord with Venus in an angle getting directional strength. Also, the Jupiter-Ketu combination is in the 1sthouse of the karākāmsha lagna. Besides being vargottama Jupiter is in its own nakṣatra.

Thus far I shown examples of good results coming from natural benefics as the 6th lord in the 6thhouse, or in the last case, just a strong natural benefic. Ironically, natural malefics in the 6th house can give good rāja yoga-like results. See this verse from the chapter on Mahārāja Yogas in Phaladīpika:

“Malefics occupying the 3rd, 6th and 11th houses reckoned from the one occupied by the lord of the ascendant, where the Moon is posited or from the ascendant (give rāja yoga.)”

Chapter 7, verse 24

The validity of this statement was brought home to me when I first studied the birth chart of movie star and director Mel Gibson

Three natural malefics collect in the 6th house from the ascendant, including the 6th lord Mars, and they additionally fall in the 3rd house from the Moon. It was in his Rahu major period that he first became a big international star.

As alluded to earlier, natural benefics or malefics can give a Vipaīta rāja yoga when they are the 8th or 12th lords falling in the 6th house, or when the 6th lord goes to the 8th or 12th. This can be particularly so when there is an exchange of these house lords, since they both then have sources of strength and two Trik houses/lords are involved.

This is why the following chart of a student of mine, who is a practicing professional astrologer, has always interested me.

Notice the 6-8 exchange here between Mercury and Mars, with the 6th lord Mercury getting the additional influence of the natural malefic, Saturn. Such a combination is said in Phaladīpika to give Harsha Yoga, a variety of the Vipaīta Rāja Yogas.

He is a highly intelligent and very well-educated man with a PhD in one of the engineering disciplines, but someone who developed a fascination for the occult sciences with his 10th lord Saturn in the 8th house in Scorpio. I have known him since he has been in his Mercury major period beginning in May of 2019. He is rather a brilliant student of Jyotiṣa with a particularly good knowledge of the nakṣatras and has been having good success in his professional practice since entering the Mercury mahādaśā.

Discussion

I have now shown ten examples of planets in or ruling the 6th house giving very favorable, desirable results in their major period. This is not to say that they didn’t also give some of the unsavory indications of the 6th house.

• It was the sudden death of his father that shocked Ramana Maharishi and completely changed his outlook on life, sending him on a spiritual quest. His Saturn in the 6th house aspects the Sun, karāka of father, who also rules the 9th house from its position in Sagittarius.
• Though he was putting together legendary teams that were winning championships in his Saturn period in the 6th, Jerry West was also suffering from chronic depression. See Saturn’s aspect on this Moon and Sun in the 8th house.
• Sonny Bono was having great success in the music industry in his Venus period in the 6thbut also having contract disputes, and in the following period of the Sun, also in the 6th house, he was in divorce court fighting over financial assets when his marriage to Cher dissolved.
• JP Morgan’s 2nd and 11th lord Jupiter exalted in the 6th brought him stupendous wealth but also health problems as it is a māraka 2nd lord and is afflicted by Mars.
• Some of the business investments of Bernard Arnault during his Jupiter period in the 6thhouse that were a part of the “.com era” became “.bombs” as I once heard it referred to.
• My woman friend with Venus as the 6th lord in the 6th house for her Sagittarius lagna barely escaped being date raped in this period.
• Anyone who has survived a medical residency at a hospital knows how hard, even brutal, it can be, with long hours of being on call and suffering sleep deprivation. I am sure it was true for the Indian woman doctor who went through this in her Mercury period as the 6th lord in the 6th.
• The therapist currently running the Venus period, her lagna lord and 6th lord in the 6thwith malefic influence has recently been diagnosed with muscular sclerosis.
• The retired professor suffered the agony of losing a beloved daughter to cancer during a period of a planet in the 6th house.
• Although the 6-8 exchange in the birth chart of the professional astrologer appears to be giving good success as a Vipaīta Rāja Yoga, Mars as the 1st lord in 6th in an exchange with the 6th lord could hold some aristha potentials later on in the Mercury-Mars period.

There is some modification/cancellation since Mars also gets the influence of 2 benefics.

Of course, any major period is going to bring some favorable and some unfavorable experiences. No one’s life in any period is a continuous unbroken stream of good experiences. But my point in showing these 10 examples is that under the right conditions planets in the 6th house or ruling the 6th can give very good, desirable results.

The Darker Side

However, the 6th bhāva is the house of disease (roga), as all three of the Sanskrit classics quoted earlier intimate, and when a person runs the period or sub-period of planets in or ruling this house, they can fall ill, especially if other factors point in that direction. Earlier this year, movie star Jeff Bridges announced that he had been diagnosed with lymphoma, a form of cancer. This coincides with his Mercury-Venus period. Can you see why he would have a life-threatening disease in this period and sub-period before reading further?

• You should have seen that the major period lord, Mercury, is a primary māraka as the 2nd lord and is afflicted by the aspect of Mars and is also in very close kendra sambandhawith Saturn as the 6th and māraka 7th lord.
• Venus is with the 8th lord of deadly diseases.
• Venus and Jupiter in the 6th house are afflicted by the aspect of Gulīka and Mandī.
• Venus and Jupiter are disposited by the 6th lord Saturn in the 1st with a malefic.

Former U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney has survived five heart attacks starting in his late thirties and these were successfully treated until his heart condition got so bad that a full heart transplant was the only way in which he was going to be able to continue to live.

The Sun is the natural significator of the heart and in his birth chart, it is the lagna lord in the 6th house aspected by the 6th lord Saturn. The “saving grace” here is the benefic hemming that his 6th house gets. Remarkably, it was in Sun-Saturn that he had a successful heart transplant operation.

Note some similarity but also great dissimilarity in the birth chart of champion swimmer, Mark Spitz, who won seven gold medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics, a record at that time.

The similarity is that for his Leo ascendant the 1st lord Sun again goes to the 6th house with a strong connection with the 6th lord Saturn, in his case due to their 1-6 exchange.

The big difference is that his Sun is with all three benefics forming multiple rāja and dhana yogas in the 6th house of competition, while these four grahas in Capricorn fall in the 3rd house of sports from the Moon. His incredible success in athletic competition in the summer of 1972 occurred in his Ketu-Rahu period, with these Nodes of the Moon giving the results of their sign lords, Mercury and Jupiter respectively, but also of yogakāraka Mars.

Ketu and Rahu giving the results of rāja yoga-forming grahas repeats in his D-10. The MarsJupiter combination in particular is a superior rāja yoga for the vargottama D-10 lagna.

But the dark side of the 1-6 exchange is that he has struggled with life-long digestive problems and this was going on even as he was winning seven gold medals. From Wikipedia:

After retirement, Spitz was diagnosed with acid reflux disease, a condition from which his physician thinks he suffered throughout his career “During my Olympic training, I attributed the symptoms [of acid reflux] to an overexposure to chlorine and eating too soon before and after swimming,” says Spitz. “It wasn’t until the symptoms began to get in the way of my 1976 Olympic broadcasting career in Montreal, which was four years after retirement that I suspected something more serious must be happening.”

He has also reported having high cholesterol and other chronic health issues. “People don’t believe that I have high cholesterol, but it’s a fact,” said Spitz. “I take medication every day because my doctor told me that diet and exercise are not enough to keep my cholesterol down.”

In addition to illness/disease, other unfavorable indications of the 6th house include accidents and injuries. In the following chart I foresaw the potential for injury due to a vehicular accident in this man’s Venus-Jupiter period. Can you see why before reading further?

Venus as a major period lord is a well-placed, vargottama 6th and 11th lord in the 11th house, which has given him good financial prosperity with multiple income streams But I did not like the look of the Jupiter sub-period since Jupiter is the 1st lord of the body and the 4th lord of vehicles in the 6th house of accidents, while there is the additional influence of natural malefics on both the 1st and 4th houses. Unfortunately, this potential for injury due to vehicular accident that I was foreseeing came true when he had a significant biking accident resulting in a broken arm and injuries to his spine.

When asked about it, I also did not like some of the potentials evident in the Saturn-Venus period as it pertains to the birth chart shown below. Saturn as the 12th lord in the 6th house with malefic influence gives Vimala Yoga, and the Saturn-Rahu combination is two malefics in a trishadaya houses. There are positive, rāja yoga potentials as a result and these have manifested to a degree. But there are also two malefics in the 6th house of accidents and Venus as a sub-period lord is the 8th lord in the 8th house afflicted by Saturn. Note also that Saturn is in Venus’ nakṣatra. Saturn Venus has to give something unpleasant.

Twice now in this period/sub-period he has suffered injuries while surfing, first to a foot and then to his hand, that have put him in the emergency room at the hospital. Note that Saturn as the 12th lord.

The Sanskrit texts quoted earlier state that the 6th house/6th lord are the indicators of “weapons,” “wounds,” “battle,” and “fighting in a war.” I can think of no better birth chart to illustrate this than that of Audie Murphy, the most decorated American war hero of World War II who was wounded multiple times. His combat record is astonishing and worth reading about completely, but here is just a sampling from Wikipedia:

“The Germans scored a direct hit on an M10 tank destroyer, setting it alight, forcing the crew to abandon it. Murphy ordered his men to retreat to positions in the woods, remaining alone at his post, shooting his M1 carbine and directing artillery fire via his field radio while the Germans aimed fire directly at his position. Murphy mounted the abandoned, burning tank destroyer and began firing its .50 caliber machine gun at the advancing Germans, killing a squad crawling through a ditch towards him. For an hour, Murphy stood on the flaming tank destroyer returning German fire from foot soldiers and advancing tanks, killing or wounding 50 Germans. He sustained a leg wound during his stand, and stopped only after he ran out of ammunition. Murphy rejoined his men, disregarding his own injury, and led them back to repel the Germans. He insisted on remaining with his men while his wounds were treated. For his actions that day, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.”

Murphy was in combat between January of 1944 to February of 1945 which coincided with his Rahu-Moon period. We interpret the period of a lunar node by first seeing the influence of any planet conjunct or aspecting it. In this case Rahu is giving the results of Mars, who is the 6th lord of his birth chart as well as the natural significator of war, weapons and wounds. Secondarily, Rahu will give the results of its sign lord, in this case the Sun, who goes to the 8th house, another bhāva associated with battle. Thirdly, it will give the results of its nakṣatra lord, who is Ketu, closely conjunct the 6th lord Mars.

The Moon as the sub-period when this was happening is interesting to consider. It falls in the 6thhouse from Rahu’s position in Leo as a daśā lagna, but then see its degrees. Though in a different sign, his Moon at 29 Capricorn is rather closely conjunct both Ketu and Mars. Moreover, it is in the nakṣatra of Mars. In a variety of ways Rahu-Moon was activating and giving the result of his 6th lord Mars.

Aside from his multiple physical wounds, Murphy suffered the psychological trauma typical of combat veterans, what would today be described as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Murphy had recurrent combat nightmares and slept with a loaded 45 by his bed. He became addicted to sleeping pills as result. He died of massive injuries resulting from a plane crash in Saturn-Venus, Saturn being an unqualified māraka in the 12th and Venus a māraka 7th lord in the 8th.

Actor and movie icon Jimmy Stewart entered the Army as a private and at the end of WWII was a colonel in the Army Air Corps, fully decorated as the result of the 20 combat missions he flew over Germany as leader of a squadron of B-24’s. In one of these missions his aircraft was badly damaged but he was able to return the plane and its crew safely. Among the medals, he was awarded were two Distinguished Flying Crosses and the Croix de Guerre.

His chart features a combination of Rahu, Mars and Venus in the 1st house, with Mars as a strong 6th lord given its svakṣetra condition in D-9. It was in his Rahu major period, giving the results of this 6th lord Mars, that he was flying dangerous aerial combat missions and being shot at by anti-aircraft guns. Note also that the Rahu-Mars-Venus conjunction falls in the 6th house from the Moon.

Stewart also suffered badly for post-traumatic stress disorder upon returning from the war.

Just recently I received the chart below of an individual who also fought in a war. He was an officer in the Croatian War of Independence fought in the years 1991 to 1995 and had a few hundred men under his command. The worst war operations were taking place during his Sun – Moon daśā from Sept 1991 to summer 1992. He was almost killed and had a nervous breakdown.

His lagna lord Moon is involved in a significant Kesari Yoga since the Moon is in Jupiter’s sign and Jupiter is svakṣetra as the 6th lord in the 6th house. This is the configuration that made him a military commander.

He was fighting the war in the Sun period, in the 8th house also pertaining to battle, but see that the Sun is in Jupiter’s nakṣatra. Here the Sun is also a māraka 2nd lord getting the aspect of Mars while the sign lord Saturn is the 8th lord in the 1st with a malefic. No wonder that his life was in danger and he was severely traumatized during this time.

It is very rare that a house gives exclusively good results. Usually there is a mixed condition of the house and its lord that then gives rise to mixed results when activated in the daśā system.

In the chart below of an outstanding student of mine, you will see a very prominent six house containing the four grahas, Sun, Mercury, Saturn, and Venus as the 6th lord in the 6th house. They are all in a mutual aspect with Jupiter. None of these planets are combusted by the Sun and all the natural benefics come into play, but then see that all these benefics and the Sun are in the grip of Saturn, strong in its mūlatrikoṇa sign in D-9. Saturn also aspects the Moon.

He ran his Saturn period from age 29 to 48, which has encompassed a good portion of his adult life. I asked his permission to share his chart along with his answer to my question about the good and bad of the Saturn major period.

Here was his rather detailed response:

1. Saturn – Saturn: I worked very hard at my job. I was a star performer with a very manipulative boss. I was promoted in October 2001. The sub-sub period was Mercury. In April 2002, i became a permanent resident of the USA. I considered it my biggest achievement at that point in life. The sub-sub period was Venus. The Saturn AD was a great period in my life.

2, Saturn – Mercury: I purchased my first home and entered it in the first week of July 2004. The sub-sub-period was Mercury. On January 5th 2005, i bought my first luxury vehicle. The sub sub period was Venus. In July 2005, i was promoted again, the sub-sub period was Mars. In July 2006, I brought home my first pet, a golden retriever named Duke, whom I loved more than people love their children. Duke was 7 years old when we got him. He was the light of my life. The sub-sub period was Saturn. The Mercury AD continued the material prosperity of the Saturn AD.

3. Saturn – Ketu: I was transferred unwillingly to a different division of the company. It was a time of adjusting to new circumstances

4. Saturn-Venus. I bought another luxury vehicle in August 2008. The sub-sub period was Moon. In June 2009, we discovered Duke had liver cancer. I spent all the money I could on surgeries and therapies but he passed away on August 1 2009. The sub-sub period was Jupiter. I was never more shattered in my life. My first close experience with death. From August to November 2009, I witnessed and experienced many supernatural phenomena, which i will not describe here. In November 2009, these phenomena stopped and I adopted another Golden Retriever named Nugget on December 6 2009. On Feb 4, 2011, I lost my job due to a merger. However, this was very short-lived. The sub-sub period was Ketu. The Venus AD was mixed but the second half established a downward trend.

5. Saturn-Sun: I got another job in early March 2011. The sub-sub period was Sun. Then in August 2011, I suddenly got a better job, which involved a hour long train commute to downtown Chicago. On one such train journey, i discovered a PDF copy of “The Hare Krsna Explosion” by Hayagriva Dasa. It described the growth of Prabhupada’s movement in USA between 1966 and 1969. It was the turning point of my life. At this stage i was doing Vishnu Sahasranaam on a daily basis and my mind was turning away in a small way from material pursuits. In November 2011, Nugget who was 85lbs stopped walking. He could only crawl. We pulled out all stops, made big personal sacrifices and successfully cured him when all hope was lost and everybody had shut the door on us. I experienced miracles during this period, events that were so fantastic that they can only be compared with those in Yogananda’s autobiography. Nugget’s sickness and recovery along with the miracles happened in the Ketu and Venus sub-sub period. The Sun AD was mixed and significant because it changed the direction of my life.

6. Saturn-Moon: I was fed up with the Chicago cold and wanted to move to San Diego but could not find any jobs. At the end of Saturn-Moon in August 2013, I made a decision to leave my current job and Chicago. The job I had was good and my performance was great but i was saddled with a manipulative boss again. I was convinced I could not survive another Chicago winter. I wanted out.

7. Saturn-Mars: I interviewed in the last week of September and had a job offer in Houston. I started my new job in Houston on 10/16/13. The sub-sub period was Rahu. Initially i commuted between Houston and Chicago weekly. I was able to sell my Chicago home and buy a new home in the exurbs of Houston which included land and waterfront in December 2013. The sub-sub period was Jupiter. I continue to live in this home till date. Note, the southerly move in Mars AD along with the landed property. Mars AD brought movement, which the classics describe. It was an OK period but overall, I was mentally unsettled. The trend that started in Venus AD continued

8. Saturn-Rahu: My mother passed away on July 13, 2016. The sub-sub period was Ketu. This is a loss I have never gotten over. Nugget passed away on September 4, 2016 completely crushing my soul. The sub-sub period was Venus. I quit my job on 3rd Feb 2017. I did not wish to pursue a traditional career. I was looking for mental respite. This was a time of misfortune, perhaps rock bottom in every sense.

9. Saturn-Jupiter: I started tutoring high school and undergraduate students in physics, mathematics, statistics, economics. This was during the Jupiter and Saturn sub-sub-periods. In July 2018, I took up a position as a high school math teacher, a job that I have thoroughly enjoyed and continue to do so. The sub-sub period was Mercury. The Jupiter AD was the handoff to the Mercury MD. In some ways, the misfortune that started with the Ketu/Venus AD started to reverse in this last sub period. A new trend was established, which has slowly begun to solidify in my Mercury MD.

Overall, the Saturn period was a period of trial, tribulations, and inner transformations. Barring the first 2 AD’s, none of the remaining AD’s could be classified as completely positive. At the age of 40 (in the sub-period of Sun), I turned towards God. It was a prediction given by an astrologer in India to my mother that had come true.

What has the 6th house meant to me: Since the day I have opened my eyes, competition has been all around me. Academic competition was so fierce in my K-12 years that i cannot believe that i not only survived it but also came out on top. My class was the most competitive to graduate in the school’s history where every point and rank was contested as if it was a fight to the finish in the most literal sense. A strong 6th house allowed me to vanquish and defeat my enemies. It also brought debt into my life due to circumstances out of my control. A strong 6th house gave me love for pets and animals. A strong 6th house has given me relatively good health. A strong 6th house with Saturn has meant that my life has been service oriented. In balance the 6th house has shown both its nasty and redeeming aspects.

The best thing the 6th house has given me is failure in material pursuits and making me realize that the biggest prize available to a soul awaits me if I follow the right path. Some days, I sit back and reflect on how lucky I am to have a Sagittarius lagna with a loaded 6th house and planets in dussthānas. They have taught me the lesson i needed to learn and put me on the right track back to Godhead. Now let us see if my 6th house can help me win the biggest prize available to a soul in a human birth.

One thing that this narrative brings out that has not yet been mentioned in connection with the 6thhouse is that it pertains to pets. I have seen the verification of this many times, including when Iwas finally in a position to get a dog myself in the Saturn major period, with Saturn ruling my 6thhouse.

Among the many different types of yogas forming in his 6th house, there is a Dur Yoga defined by when the 10th lord goes to the 6th house with additional malefic influence on the 10th house or 10th lord. It is modified in his case by the participation of the benefics but this still led to instability in his career life and changes in career in the Saturn major period, a component of the Dur Yoga.

It might be surprising to some that this period brought spirituality into his life in such a major way, but note that these four planets in a house including the 10th lord form a Pravrājya Yoga and that from daśā lagna, Saturn is the 9th lord with the 1st and 5th lords.

Mostly what this narrative shows is the different “gifts and griefs” that a 6th house/6th lord can give when very prominent and in a mixed condtion.

Predictions Based on the 6th house/6th lord

I have had the occasion in the past few years of making predictions based on planets in and ruling the 6th house. See Rahu and Venus in this chart of teenage girl who just had her 18th birthday and has been running Rahu-Venus since she was 16. What would you predict before reading further?

Given her age and the fact that Rahu is giving the results of Venus and that Venus is in the 7th house, you might have predicted that it would give teenage romances, especially since some might recognize this period and sub-period as “That Yogaj Combination” that so often brings a love affair into a person’s life.

(For more about this I refer readers to an article of that title I wrote years ago giving many illustrations of famous couples who met their lovers and sometime soul mates in such periods.)

This has happened to her in a big way, though in her case “never did the course of true love run smooth” given the influence of Saturn upon Venus, which has also meant that she gets a lot of attention from older men, much to her mother’s concern.

Though I predicted this result to her mother back when she was still a child, I made other predictions about this period that have also proved correct. I have had her chart since she was born as I am her godfather, being a close friend of her mother. Both her parents are very accomplished classical musicians and are on the faculty of a prestigious music school. Her and her younger brother have been musical prodigies starting at a very young age and she now plays the harp like an angel.

These are two more predictions about her Rahu-Venus period I made when she was a child:

1. She could be very successful in musical competitions in Rahu-Venus, winning honors and prize money.
2. Since the timing coincides with when she would be applying for college, she would get a very prestigious placement and would win scholarships.

My astrological reasoning was as follows:

• The major period lord Rahu is an exalted malefic in the 6th house of competitions giving rāja yoga effects.
• Venus, whose results Rahu gives, is the karāka of music and the arts in general and in this chart is both the 6th lord of competition and the 11th lord of honors, awards and gains.
• Venus is configured in some very high-quality dhana yogas since it is the 11th lord with the 2nd lord Saturn and the 9th lord Sun.
• All the planets involved in these yogas have good sources of strength. Venus is exalted in D-9, Saturn is svakṣetra and the Sun is vargottama.
• Rahu is in the Sun’s nakṣatra such that it also activates these dhana yogas.

As a junior in high school, she entered a nation-wide competition for the harp and took third place which included prize money. She also received a $6000 scholarship to attend a premier summer music camp.

This year she applied to all the top music schools, her #1 choice being the prestigious Manhattan School of Music. She was accepted and was the only recipient of the President’s Scholarship which is worth $60,000, the cost of a year’s tuition.

Now see the rāśi and navāṁśa of her younger brother

In a remarkable synchronicity he ran his Venus-Rahu period in recent history, and these planets are again related to the 6th and 11th houses and again are involved in high-quality rāja and dhana yogas.

The major period lord, Venus, gives rāja yoga as the 5th lord with the 1st lord, Mercury, and both give dhana yoga since they are two trine lords with the 11th lord Mars, all in the 6th house of competition.

Then see the strength of these planets. Venus is svakṣetra in D-9, Mercury is vargottama and Mars is in its own sign in the rāśi. Though it goes to its debilitation sign in his navāṁśa, it gets effective cancellation being with an exalted Jupiter and its exaltation lord, Saturn.

The sub-period lord, Rahu, is in the 11th house giving the results not only of Mars, its sign lord, but also the Moon, who is a bright, vargottama 2nd lord in the 11th, giving yet another high-quality dhana yoga.

His instrument is the piano, both classical and jazz, and I told his mother that his Venus-Rahu period would also be very good for winning musical competitions and scholarships. The period coincided with when he graduated from grade school. He wanted to attend an expensive private high school renowned for its music department. Each year the school holds a competition for incoming freshman worth $30,000, the cost of a year’s tuition. He won. Like his sister, he also got a $6000 scholarship to attend the prestigious summer music camp.

As can be seen, both have been recipients of the better side of what the 6th house/6th lord can give.

Now look at your horoscope. Have you run the period of a planet in or ruling this Trik(y) Bhava? And what did it bring more…the gifts or griefs of the 6th house?

All Praise to the Ṛṣis and their Divine Science of Jyotiṣa

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 22 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