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 8Timing
CHAPTER 26

The annual chart: Tajika and Varshaphala

What will this particular year bring?

Varshaphala ("fruit of the year") is a chart cast for the exact moment each year when the Sun returns to the precise sidereal degree it held at your birth. That moment falls on or within a day of your birthday. The method comes from the Tajika school, which mixed Indian astrology with Persian and Arabic techniques around the 13th century, so it uses Western-style degree aspects.

a yearly report card. The birth chart is your whole school record; the annual chart is this year's results.

The main parts

Varsha LagnaThe rising sign at the moment of the solar return: the tone of the year.
MunthaA point that starts at your birth lagna and moves one sign per year of age. In the 9th, 10th or 11th of the annual chart it is helpful; in the 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th or 12th, less so.
MuntheshThe lord of the Muntha's sign: its strength shows how the year's focus turns out.
VarsheshwaraThe "lord of the year", chosen as the strongest of five candidates: the birth lagna lord, the annual lagna lord, the Munthesh, the triplicity lord and the Sun- or Moon-sign lord.
SahamsSensitive points, like the Arabic "lots": Punya (fortune), Vivaha (marriage), Karma (work), and dozens more, each found by adding and subtracting two planets from the lagna.
Mudda DashaThe Vimshottari order squeezed into one year, so each planet gets a few weeks.

Tajika aspects and yogas

Tajika aspects work by degree, with an orb (deeptamsha) for each planet: Sun 15°, Moon 12°, Mars 8°, Mercury 7°, Jupiter 9°, Venus 7°, Saturn 9°. The 3rd/11th and 5th/9th are friendly; the 1st/7th and 4th/10th are tense. Sixteen named yogas describe how two planets meet:

IthasalaA faster planet applying to a slower one: the matter is coming together. "Yes".
EasaraphaThe faster planet has just separated: the moment has passed.
NaktaTwo planets not in aspect, linked by a third, faster one carrying light between them.
YamayaThe same, linked by a slower planet that collects their light.
KamboolaThe Moon joins an Ithasala: the promise is strengthened.
RaddaThe planet is retrograde, combust or debilitated: the promise breaks.
ManauA malefic aspects the pair with enmity: obstruction.
Ikkavala · InduvaraAll planets in kendras and good houses (a good year) or all in the falling houses (a slow year).

The other yogas (Duphali-kuttha, Dutthottha-davira, Tambira, Kuttha, Durupha, Khallasara, Gairi-kamboola) describe finer variations of the same idea: who applies to whom, and whether it is helped or spoiled.

All chapters