Vedic Astrology in Plain Words
The ancient Indian way of reading the sky, set beside the Western reading you may already know.
What Vedic astrology is
Vedic astrology, the ancient Indian system also called Jyotish, reads the same planets that Western astrology reads. It uses its own zodiac, and it asks how comfortable each planet is in the sign it sits in. Neither system is the wrong one. They are two ways of reading the same sky, and this site shows both, Western first.
Why your Vedic sign may be different
Western astrology measures from the seasons. Vedic astrology measures from the fixed stars. Over the centuries the two starting points have drifted apart, so Vedic astrology places each planet about 24 degrees behind its Western position. A sign is 30 degrees wide, so most people find their Sun, Moon and rising sign one sign earlier in Vedic astrology. A Western Aries Sun, for example, is often a Meena (Pisces) Sun in the Vedic zodiac. People born in the last few degrees of a Western sign may keep the same sign.
What a Vedic chart looks at
Moon sign and rising sign first. Vedic astrology puts your Moon sign (Chandra Rashi) and your rising sign (Lagna, the sign rising on the eastern horizon when you were born) first. Western astrology usually starts with the Sun sign.
Nakshatras. A Nakshatra is one of the Moon’s 27 lunar constellations, slices of the sky that read the Moon more finely than twelve signs can.
Dashas. A Dasha is a planetary time period. Vedic astrology uses Dashas to describe which planet’s themes lead during each stretch of a life. Western astrology uses transits, the planets’ current positions, for timing instead.
Where to find Vedic astrology here
Birth Chart: choose Vedic · Sidereal, then enter your birth date, time and city. Free, and nothing is saved.
Horoscope: all twelve signs, in both the Western and Vedic zodiacs.
Today’s Sky: where every planet stands today, with the Vedic reading one tap below the Western one.
Reference Charts: Western and Vedic side by side, your sign in both, the 27 Nakshatras and the Dasha order.
Retrogrades: how Vedic astrology reads a planet that turns back, which it calls vakri.
Two Skies: a Vedic Moon sign for each person.
Vedic vs. Western Astrology: the longer story of why the two differ.