All 52 chapters
  1. Part 1 · The sky and the chart
  2. The sky above us
  3. Time and place of birth
  4. Two zodiacs
  5. How a chart is drawn
  6. Part 2 · The building blocks
  7. The 9 planets
  8. The 12 signs
  9. The 27 nakshatras
  10. The 12 houses
  11. The lagnas
  12. Part 3 · How planets work together
  13. How planets interact
  14. Friends, dispositors, exchanges
  15. House lords
  16. Reading one placement
  17. Part 4 · Strength and condition
  18. Dignity in depth
  19. A planet's mood
  20. Planetary strength
  21. Ashtakavarga in depth
  22. Part 5 · Patterns: yogas and doshas
  23. Yogas
  24. Doshas
  25. Part 6 · The nakshatras up close
  26. Reading a nakshatra
  27. Tara Bala
  28. Part 7 · Divisional charts
  29. Divisional charts
  30. Navamsa in depth
  31. Part 8 · Timing
  32. Dashas
  33. Transits
  34. The annual chart (Tajika)
  35. Part 9 · Relationships
  36. Compatibility
  37. Marriage in depth
  38. Part 10 · Advanced systems
  39. Special points
  40. Jaimini astrology
  41. Arudha padas
  42. KP astrology
  43. Nadi astrology
  44. Part 11 · Choosing the moment
  45. Panchanga
  46. Muhurta
  47. Prashna (horary)
  48. Part 12 · Life areas
  49. Career, money and business
  50. Travel, abroad, spirituality
  51. Health and longevity
  52. Karma and past lives
  53. Remedies
  54. Rectifying a birth time
  55. Part 13 · Western astrology
  56. Western astrology basics
  57. Aspects and chart shapes
  58. Western prediction
  59. Synastry
  60. Horary and electional
  61. Part 14 · The wider world
  62. Mundane astrology and eclipses
  63. Astrocartography and branches
  64. Part 15 · Putting it all together
  65. How it all fits
  66. How AstroMatch4u scores a chart
  67. Using astrology well
Part 3How planets work together
CHAPTER 11

Friends, dispositors and exchanges

Who is helping whom in my chart?

Three layers of friendship

The natural friendships are fixed for everyone. Parashara adds a second layer that depends on your chart, then combines the two.

  • Natural (naisargika): the permanent list. The Sun's friends are the Moon, Mars and Jupiter; its enemies Venus and Saturn; Mercury is neutral. And so on for each planet.
  • Temporary (tatkalika): planets in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th or 12th sign from a planet are its temporary friends (they sit "near" and support it). Planets in the same sign, or in the 5th to 9th, are temporary enemies.
  • Compound (panchadha): add the two together.
Natural+ Temporary= Compound
FriendFriendGreat friend (adhi mitra)
FriendEnemyNeutral
NeutralFriendFriend
NeutralEnemyEnemy
EnemyFriendNeutral
EnemyEnemyGreat enemy (adhi shatru)

The compound relationship decides how comfortable a planet is in another planet's sign, and feeds the strength scores.

Dispositors

The dispositor of a planet is the lord of the sign it sits in: it is the planet's "landlord". Venus in Cancer is disposed by the Moon. A planet can only give what its landlord allows, so a planet in a weak dispositor's sign is like a guest in a struggling household.

Follow the landlords and you get a dispositor chain:

Venus is inCancerlandlord: Moon
Moon is inArieslandlord: Mars
Mars is inScorpioits own sign
Chain endsMarsthe final dispositor

When every chain in a chart ends at one planet in its own sign, that planet is the final dispositor: the boss of the whole chart, whose condition colours everything.

Exchanges (parivartana)

When two planets sit in each other's signs (Mars in Taurus and Venus in Aries), they have swapped houses: a parivartana yoga or mutual reception. Each acts as if it were at home, and the two houses they rule become tightly linked. An exchange between two good houses (kendras and trikonas) is a strong yoga; one involving the 6th, 8th or 12th mixes struggle into the other house.

Conjunctions

Planets in the same sign are conjunct, and they blend like colours of paint. The closer their degrees, the stronger the blend.

  • Two planets: read both natures together. Moon + Jupiter (Gaja Kesari) is wise and kind; Moon + Saturn is serious and dutiful.
  • Three or more (a stellium): that house becomes the centre of the life, and the strongest planet in the group leads.
  • Benefic with malefic: the benefic softens, the malefic toughens. Who wins depends on strength and dignity.
  • Functional benefic with functional malefic: the lord of a good house joined to the lord of a hard house mixes their results.
  • With the Sun: a planet very close to the Sun is combust (the dignity chapter gives the distances).
  • With Rahu or Ketu: the node amplifies (Rahu) or detaches (Ketu) the planet. With the Sun or Moon this forms Grahan Yoga (the doshas chapter).
  • Within 1° of each other (two of Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn): a planetary war.

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