Cast and read a birth chart from first principles. The alphabet, grammar and vocabulary of the science of light.
What Jyotish is and the frame it lives in: a Vedanga (limb of the Veda), karma-based and contemplative, not deterministic fortune-telling.
Sidereal = Tropical − Ayanamsa (~24° now, +50.3″/yr). Install Jagannatha Hora; set Ayanamsa = Lahiri. Learn to read all three chart styles.
Set up your software; enter your own birth data and confirm Tula (Libra) Lagna in all three chart styles.
The signs as the living archetypes that 'clothe' the planets.
Rulers: Ar/Sc=Mars, Ta/Li=Venus, Ge/Vi=Mercury, Cn=Moon, Le=Sun, Sg/Pi=Jupiter, Cp/Aq=Saturn. Modality by index%? movable=Ar,Cn,Li,Cp; fixed=Ta,Le,Sc,Aq; dual=Ge,Vi,Sg,Pi.
Reproduce the 12 signs from memory with element, modality and ruler; then label every sign in your chart.
The planets and lunar nodes, and what each naturally signifies.
Karakas: Sun=soul/father; Moon=mind/mother; Mars=energy/siblings; Mercury=intellect/speech; Jupiter=wisdom/children/(husband for a woman); Venus=love/(wife for a man); Saturn=discipline/longevity; Rahu=amplify/foreign; Ketu=detach/moksha.
List each graha in your chart with its one-line signification — the vocabulary the whole reading rests on.
The houses: the arenas of life where planets perform.
House of a planet (whole-sign) = ((planet_sign_index − lagna_sign_index) mod 12) + 1. Kendras 1/4/7/10; trikonas 1/5/9; dusthanas 6/8/12; upachayas 3/6/10/11.
Compute the house of all 9 grahas in your chart by hand; verify in software.
Finding and understanding the Ascendant, the chart's keystone.
Ascendant is derived from LST, latitude and obliquity (let software compute, then subtract ayanamsa). It shifts ~1° per 4 minutes — note the sensitivity.
Record your exact Lagna (Libra ~8°33′ Swati); shift birth time ±15 min and observe the Lagna move.
Getting every planet's longitude and placing it.
Sign = floor(longitude/30); degree-in-sign = longitude mod 30. Sidereal = tropical − ayanamsa.
Take the Moon's tropical longitude for your birth date, convert to sidereal, confirm Cancer; repeat for the Sun (Gemini).
The lunar mansions — the older, finer layer beneath the signs.
Nakshatra = floor(long/13.3333). Pada = floor((long mod 13.3333)/3.3333)+1. Lord cycle (repeats every 9): Ashwini=Ketu, Bharani=Venus, Krittika=Sun, Rohini=Moon, Mrigashira=Mars, Ardra=Rahu, Punarvasu=Jupiter, Pushya=Saturn, Ashlesha=Mercury.
Find your Moon nakshatra & pada (Pushya p4); write its deity, symbol and meaning.
How the same planet becomes strong or weak by placement.
Exalt: Sun Ar10°, Moon Ta3°, Mars Cp28°, Mer Vi15°, Jup Cn5°, Ven Pi27°, Sat Li20°; debilitation = opposite. Combustion orbs ~ Mer12°/Ven9°/Mars17°/Jup11°/Sat15° from Sun.
Grade every planet in your chart by dignity; flag retrograde/combust ones (note own-sign Venus & Jupiter).
How planets befriend, oppose and 'see' one another.
All planets aspect the 7th from themselves; Mars also 4th & 8th; Jupiter also 5th & 9th; Saturn also 3rd & 10th. Use the natural-friendship table (appendix).
State whether each planet sits in a friend/neutral/enemy sign; find what aspects your 7th house.
First synthesis — making a chart speak at a basic level.
Order of first read: Lagna sign & lord → Moon sign/nakshatra → most dignified & most afflicted planet → overall theme.
Write a one-page first-impression reading of your own chart using only Associate-level tools.
Cast three complete natal charts by hand (your own and two others), placing every planet by sign, house, nakshatra, dignity and state, and write a basic delineation of each. Reconcile all three against software to the degree.
Bachelor of Predictive Jyotish — divisional charts, dashas, yogas and your first compatibility work.