Sign and Symbol: Vedic Numerology and the Zodiac Signs

​In Vedic numerology what we are really talking about are the symbols of number with their equivalencies in graha (the Sun, Moon, nodes of the Moon, and planets) and symbols of space as relevant segments of the zodiacal belt.

Just as there is a language to numbers, namely mathematics, there is a corresponding language of space-time through the moving graha, namely Jyotish.
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The Vedic assignations of number and graha are as follows:
1 is the Sun & the sign of Aries,
2 is the Moon & the sign of Taurus,
3 is Jupiter & the sign of Gemini,
4 is Rahu & the sign of Cancer,
5 is Mercury & the sign of Leo,
6 is Venus & the sign of Virgo,
7 is Ketu & the sign of Libra,
8 is Saturn & the sign of Scorpio,
9 is Mars & the sign of Sagittarius.
The reasonings for the associations that I have come up with are below.
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1 is the Sun & the sign of Aries

​This association is an easy at-bat. The Sun is exalted in Aries. This makes sense as the Sun is the king (among other significations, but this article will try to keep things simple), and Aries is the battlefield (same). The king’s highest moment is on the battlefield. Besides exaltation, it also makes sense to look at the lordship of the Sun. That is Leo, here in the fifth house.

For the Sun’s own sign to be in the fifth house is especially proper as that house indicates the beating heart, the liver, and other physical indications of the Sun.
So, the nomenclature for this article is to name the exaltation house and lordship house(s) in the following way: E1:L5. The utility of this will hopefully be clearer as time goes on, and a summation will be in the final paragraph.

2 is the Moon & the sign of Taurus

​This is a similar situation but for the Moon, the second regal luminary. The Moon is the queen, and Taurus is the kitchen. In this ancient form of astrology, the queen’s highest moment is in the kitchen.

Here, the lordship becomes interesting. The rulership of the Moon is the third house of Cancer. The third house typically means siblings, courage, writing. The interpretations of the Moon as left-hand path and mirror may suggest a reflection though. This is often done in Jaimini-level Jyotish astrology, so that the third house becomes like the eleventh house.

Thus, E1:L11.

3 is Jupiter & the sign of Gemini

As Gemini is the natural third house of kaala purusha and the eighth from the eighth, perhaps this association speaks to the mystical goodness of the eighth house.

Here, Jupiter (the priest) is exalted in the second house and lords the seventh and tenth houses. The relationship between student (Mercury) and teacher (Jupiter) is tight in the dual signs in the kendra here. These mutual aspects likely are not just a nod to, but an actual depiction of, the mechanism of capillary action that is the parampara (lineage).

Thus: E2:L7&10

4 is Rahu & the sign of Cancer

The reaching and yearning of Rahu toward Cancerian impulses of self-contained emotional multitudes makes some sense. Here, there is exaltation in the sixth house and lordship of the eighth. Both of these are sinful papa spaces, perhaps speaking to the pain of Rahu expression.

Thus, E6:L8.

Vasant Lad recently spoke of the year 2020 as summing to four, Rahu. The collective pain of 2020 thus, he goes on to say, should conclude now that we are in 2021, which sums to 5, the next number.

5 is Mercury & the sign of Leo

​Here, Mercury is very friendly to the lagna lord. Moreover, Leo as the natural fifth house of kaala purusha supports the indications of that house as the site of great learning from past lives and hence preternatural knowledge that Mercury can act on. (Consider Shri Krishna’s fifth house, for example.)

Mercury is exalted in the second house and lords the second and the eleventh.

​E2:L2&11.

6 is Venus & the sign of Virgo

​One may interpret this association as speaking to the negation of Venus as leader, teacher, and guru of the raskshashas (demons), since Venus is debilitated in Virgo.
Venus is exalted in the seventh house and lords the second and righteous ninth.

E7:L2&9.

7 is Ketu & the sign of Libra

​This association is exciting to me as it harkens to the first line of the Atharva Veda, that magical book of incantations that forms the support for mystical Ayurveda and Jyotish. The line speaks of repeating seven three times as an encapsulation of the extensive trove of sacred secrets in the book. Seven is Ketu and three is Jupiter (see above). Thus, the incantation is evoking the highly spiritual Vishnu yoga of the conjunction of Jupiter and Ketu. Moreover seven-cubed is 343 which further reduces by addition to 3+4+3 = 7 (Ketu again) + 3 (Jupiter again) = 10 = 1+0 = 1, connecting it to the Sun (see above) as soul. By multiplication, 343 becomes 3 * 4 * 3 = 12 * 3 = 36 = 3 * 6 (the two gurus of Venus and Jupiter) = 1 + 0 + 8 (or 3 + 6) = 9. Every step in this multiplicative analysis is a holy number and the basis for 108, the ultimate holy number.
Ketu is exalted in the righteous ninth house and lords the second house. E9:L2.

8 is Saturn & the sign of Scorpio

​This association may indicate the imposition on and suppression of Scorpionic impulses. This would be sort of like Venus and Virgo above, except instead of the sign constraining the planet, here the planet is constraining the sign. The end effect is the same: nullification. It is not lost that these cancellations align with the two most difficult papa houses of the sixth and the eighth in kaala purusha.

Here, Saturn is exalted in the twelfth house and lords the third and the fourth. E12:L3&4.

9 is Mars & the sign of Sagittarius

​Here, Mars is exalted in the second house and lords the fifth and twelfth houses. E2:L5&12

I would further project that:

10 is Pluto & the sign of Capricorn.
11 is Uranus & the sign of Aquarius.
12 is Neptune & the sign of Pisces.

These planetary assignations are not Vedic, at least not in the public knowledge. Although there is some support to the idea that these upagraha may have been mentioned in the Mahabharata, I am going out on a bit of a limb here. Nonetheless, I think they make a certain amount of sense as follows.

10 is Pluto & the sign of Capricorn

​Here, if Pluto is indeed the correspondence, then its own sign is the 11th house of Scorpio. There is no classical understanding of its exaltation, so E0:L11.

11 is Uranus & the sign of Aquarius

​Similarly, Uranus has its own sign in the first house and has no exaltation. So E0:L1.

12 is Neptune & the sign of Pisces

​Similarly, Neptune has its own sign in the first house of Pisces and has no exaltation. So, E0:L1.

Certain loose conclusions may be drawn from all of these correspondences.

(Sun) 1 = E1:L5
(Moon) 2 = E1:L11
(Jupiter) 3 = E2:L7&10
(Rahu) 4 = E6:L8
(Mercury) 5 = E2:L2&11
(Venus) 6 = E7:L2&9
(Ketu) 7 = E9:L2
(Saturn) 8 = E12:L3&4
(Mars) 9 = E2:L5&12
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(Pluto?) 10 = E0:L11
(Uranus?) 11 = E0:L1
(Neptune?) 12 = E0:L1

​Just considering the classic nine graha and not Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto (valid since they are secondary and not primary graha), the following summary chart can be built.

​No planets are in Marana Karaka Sthana or death-dealing houses.

Visually, you can see that the very personal graha of Sun and Moon in the first are balanced by the great teachers Jupiter and Venus in the seventh house of Other.

Therefore, relate to teachers to balance your personality out.

Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Ketu, and Mars in the second house are balanced by Saturn and Mars in the twelfth. Therefore, to allow the powerful emissaries of second house gains, lose the malefic energies of Saturn and Mars.

The two qualities of mind, Mercury (thoughts) and Moon (feelings) balance the imposition of will by Saturn in the third.

The rise of Jupiter overhead in the tenth house of public life is negated by Saturn in the fourth house of home, hearth, heart chakra.

Ketu and Venus righteous in the ninth house are negated by Saturn and Mars malefics in the fifth of pre-knowledge.

Finally, Rahu balances and negates itself rather well in the two dur houses of the sixth and eighth. Perhaps only death (Rahu in the eighth) can counter the pursuits of enemies, sins, and other sixth house placements.

Some other observations on this arrangement as a whole include the idea that perhaps these are how things are rightly in the ideal versus how they actually are, organism by organism.

Certainly, these assignments are not the order of appearance as one extends out through the solar system. They are also not in keeping with the order of initial appearance in the solar system, the way that correspondences to dhatus are.

If this analysis holds as a whole, then there is unlikely to be another major planet in the solar system unless more signs are discovered.

Thank you for allowing your attention to be directed to these rumblings. I think that the thesis in this article that symbol and space are intimately related was worth a closer look and helps to support astrology as a whole.

​At the very least, perhaps this information can serve as a helpful mnemonic to the incredibly useful knowledge of Vedic numerology. As numbers permeate and enrich our understanding of the world, their astrological correspondences can strongly light up and help create our world-understanding too.