The sky is a map
See how a birth chart freezes the sky, and why it has 12 signs.
- 5-minute lesson
- Basic course: Jyotish Shishya
- Vedic astrology
- A chart is a map of the sky
- The sky is cut into 12 slices
- Measured against the stars
A first look at the lesson
A birth chart (kundali) is a map of where the Sun, the Moon and the planets stood in the sky at the moment you were born, seen from the place you were born.
Picture the band of sky that the Sun and planets travel along as a circle of 360°. Jyotish cuts it into 12 equal signs (rashis) of 30° each, starting from Aries.
Words in this lesson
More lessons on this subject
- The parts of JyotishJyotish has three branches, and every chart is built from grahas, rashis, nakshatras and bhavas.
- The 12 rashis in orderLearn the 12 signs in order, with their numbers, Sanskrit names and what each name pictures.
- Counting from a signCount the 4th, 7th or 12th sign from any sign, and find the sign opposite it.
- The four elementsFire, earth, air and water: every sign belongs to one, in a pattern that repeats every four signs.
Your first lesson takes about five minutes
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