Astrological Notes on Professions

By Michael Laughrin, Michael@jyotish.ws

Delineating one's career has always been, at least in modern times, one of the most important jobs of astrology. "What should I do? What am I good at? Where do my talents lie? How can I make a lot of money and yet love my work?" Questions like these are commonly heard by all practicing astrologers.

The astrological indicators of career have been a strong interest of mine for at least 15 years. I discovered many of these combinations a decade ago, in preparation for a beginner's course in Jyotish that I was teaching in Miami, Florida. I have recently discovered several groupings, like cooking and managers. Others, like the sex industry, I put together about 8 years ago. So, this article represents at least 15 years of on-again, off-again research.

These combinations should be taken as probable and useful indicators of career leanings and not as the last word in career delineations.

1. Doctor - Jupiter (the planet of professionals) should be strong. There should be a strong connection between the 5th house of healing and the 10th house of career. The 12th house should be strong. I believe this information comes from Mr. K.N. Rao of India.
2. Lawyer - Jupiter, the planet of Law, and the 9th house of Law must be strong. Also it would be good if the 6th house of combativeness is well represented in the chart.
3. Teacher - Jupiter, the planet that rules children and higher education, ought to have good strength in the kundali (chart). Also, the 5th house, ruling intelligence and children, should not be afflicted. The 4th house of education should be attractive.
4. Sex industry (including exotic dancing, "adult" media, etc.) - Venus and Mars should be very strong and aspecting each other, conjunct or in each other's signs. It is helpful if the Moon (the planet of happiness) is weak or afflicted. The 1st house of self- approval should be weak in some way as well.
5. Music - obviously, Venus - the artistic planet must have strength, preferably either in its own sign, exalted, vargottama, retrograde or with dig bala (in the 4th house.) The 3rd house of performing arts and self efforts should be strong. The 5th house of creativity should be attractive.
   a. Classical music - Jupiter (the planet of tradition) should be strong.
   b. Rock, modern or jazz music - Rahu, the planet of modernity and anti-tradition should be affecting Venus and/or the 5th house.
   c. Instrumental music - add Mercury.
   d. Vocal music - add the Moon.
6. Architect - the 4th house (of houses and land), Mars (the planet of construction and building skills) and Saturn (the planet of the Earth) must all be well represented in the chart. Also Jupiter, the planet of professionals must be strong, otherwise the chart indicates a builder or one with construction skills but not an intellectual like an architect.
7. Successful entrepreneur or captain of industry - first, the chart should have many Dhana Yogas (money combinations) and Raja Yogas (leadership combinations). A Dhana Yoga is defined as a connection between the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 9th and 11th houses or their lords (rulers). A Raja Yoga is defined as a connection between the 1st, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th and 10th houses.
   Next, the 11th house of gains and Saturn, the planet of big projects, must be well represented in the native's chart.
   The dasha sequence should indicate success after success.
   The Sun, planet of self-confidence and leadership, is usually strong.
   It would be helpful if the native has at least 1 Mahapurusha Yoga in his/her chart. That is seen when Mars, Mercury, Saturn, Venus or Jupiter is exalted or in its own sign in an angle (house 1, 4, 7 or 10) from the Ascendant or the Moon. I have noted that individuals with 2, 3, or 4 Mahapurusha Yogas become either rich or famous.
   Much of this comes from Hart de Fouw.
8. Celibate or renunciate yogi - the following house should have afflictions: the 1st House of self-confidence, the 2nd house of money and family life, the 4th house of happiness and home, the 5th house of children and the 7th house of marriage. This comes from Nandan Chirmulay.
9. Modeling (or the beauty industry) - Venus, and the 1st and 2nd houses are strong.
10. Technical careers - the natural malefics (Mars, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu) are strong. Also Mercury should have some relationship with at least 1 of the malefics in a prominent way.
11. Writing - Mercury, Jupiter, and the 3rd house and 5th house are well indicated in the chart.
12. Skill at foreign languages - Mercury, Ketu, the 2nd house and Jupiter should all be strong.
13. Manager and/or leadership abilities - strong 1st, 5th, 10th houses; the Sun (the planet of kings) and Mars (the macho planet) should also be strong.
14. Automobile business - Venus (planet of luxuries - including large vehicles), Mars (the mechanical planet) and the 4th house of cars should all be unusually strong.
15. Success in foreign countries - the 9th and 12th house must be strong. Rahu and Ketu are often prominent as well as they are the planets of "foreignness." There should be some afflictions to the 4th house of home.
16. Astrology - Jupiter (the planet of tradition and divinity), Mercury (the planet of talking and calculations) and Ketu (the Enlightener) should be strong. The following houses should be attractive - the 5th (intelligence and past life credit), the 9th (Divine Science) and the 8th (research into hidden things).
17. Cooking - the 2nd house, the Moon and Mars should be strong.
18. Sports - Mars (the planet of courage), the 3rd house of courage, the 5th house of games and the 6th house of competitiveness should be strong. Also, it would be nice if the planet of play and fun (Mercury) is well represented. Sagittarius is the sign of sports. Ideally, it should not be in the 8th or 10th houses (Taurus or Capricorn rising) for an athlete.

Please note that the more separate indicators of a skill (like sports) are connected to each other, the stronger the skill would be. If, for example, the 3rd, 5th and 6th houses (or their rulers) and Mars all are conjunct, aspect each other or are in each other's signs (or nakshatras), then we would truly see a 1st class athlete, possibly a professional. Also, it would be best if the dasha or bhukti of one of the indicators is running at the appropriate age in the person's life (perhaps age 15 to 30 for an athlete).

Hopefully, this is somewhat useful. You can see that astrology is filled with "astrological common sense," that is, it is mostly just putting together the meanings of each planet, sign and house in novel and interesting ways.

(c) copyright 2006 Michael Laughrin.

From the August / September 2006 issue of Michael Laughrin's North American Jyotish Newsletter. Click to subscribe to this free Jyotish newsletter.

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