The Vedic Astrology of a Love Story

The Vedic Astrology of a Love Story

[00:00:00] Welcome and Introduction

[00:00:00] Fiona Marques: Hello everyone. Welcome to the Vedic Astrology Podcast. My name is Fiona Marques, and today I have a case study for you. It is the Vedic Astrology of a "Love Story", asking whether astrology can help us understand those mysteries of who we're attracted to and who we commit to. This podcast is an opportunity for me to combine two, my two loves.

One of which is of course, that by day I'm a Vedic Astrologer, and by night I'm still a Vedic Astrologer, especially as I live here in Europe and many of you guys are in the U.S., often I'm doing Vedic Astrology late into the night. But in summer, my life as a Celebrant explodes. And this summer was massive, as you can imagine, because we're catching up on a lot of ceremonies from 2020, from 2021 and from this year as well.

I spent a lot of time thinking about astrology and love stories because one of the things I really enjoy doing is meeting the couples and hearing their stories. And usually I get the opportunity to write the "Love Story" that then gets included in the ceremony on the day. And as I'm writing these love stories, I'm always wondering what would be in the peoples' charts?

Would we see in their charts the kind of ways that they met and the connections that let them know that this person was the one for them. And that's exactly what we're going to do today because we have a couple who are brave and courageous enough to share something about their charts and their "Love Story". So with an enormous thank you and a lot of gratitude, let's move forward and have a look at this case study. 

Why don't we use the "Love Story" itself as the backbone, the structure that's gonna help us have a look at this case study. So as we look at that "Love Story", what clues can we see in the chart that match with that story?

And then, as this is the Vedic Astrology Podcast, why don't we have a look at the compatibility of the Moons. You know that this is a technique that's used to help in choosing life partners traditionally in Vedic Astrology. So why don't we do that? And then, Let's have a look at some timing. Why don't we have a look at the Varshaphal and the transits for the year they met, the year they got engaged, and the year that they married.

And for those who haven't had a look at Varshaphal before, that's like Solar Returns in some ways from Western Astrology. I believe it's a Persian influence that's integrated into Vedic Astrology, and we're gonna use it to see whether it gave any indications for these powerful years, the year they met, the year they got engaged, and the year they got married.

[00:02:52] Privacy Parameters

[00:02:52] Fiona Marques: Now I wanted to put some parameters around this podcast because these are obviously real people, so I want to respect their privacy and their identities. And for that reason, I'm not actually going to describe to you the whole chart. I'm not gonna give you all the placements and all the planets. I've prioritized what I think is essential for us to understand something about this "Love Story".

But I'm gonna keep some of the planets separate and private, just so that these guys don't end up getting themselves analyzed online without their permission. So we have, obviously, we're gonna share the Ascendants and that's gonna reveal to us all of the Houses (in the whole House, whole sign system, as soon as you know the Ascendant, you know the layout of all the Houses.) 

We're going to look at the 7th House and the 7th Lord as a place to see indications for partner. And we're gonna look at the 9th House and the 9th Lord, for information about marriage. 

Because the Moons are so important, we will be talking about the sign and the House placement of the Moons.

And it just happens that in both of these charts, Saturn is in Moolatrikona, so it's a very important planet. So I'm going to reveal where that is in both charts. And it's got this really positive yoga score. It's 10.8 for the Groom, 7.6 for the Bride. So not only in Moolatrikona, but also with this potential to produce good results.

And we will be looking at where is Jupiter as a generic Karaka for husband, and where is Venus as a generic Karaka for wife? So those are the parameters. 

[00:04:33] Groom's chart

[00:04:33] Fiona Marques: And then without further ado, let's begin by looking at the layout of the Groom's chart. And this chart is a Virgo Ascendant. So if you're listening along, clear your mind, close your eyes.

Imagine your chart, "Virgo Ascendant". And Virgo is ruled by Mercury. So we can say that Mercury is the Ascendant Lord. And Mercury in this particular chart is in the 11th House in Cancer . So Virgo is a really interesting Ascendant because as we have benefic planets ruling the angles. We've got Mercury ruling the 1st House and the 10th House. We've got Jupiter ruling the 4th House and the 7th House. And so that brings for us the 7th House is going to be Pisces in this chart. And the Lord of Pisces is Jupiter. As we already mentioned. Jupiter happens to be in the 12th House. 

So when a Virgo Ascendant is looking for a partner, one of the things we're always gonna notice is that something about the partner has to do with Jupiter, that jovial, large, kind, generous, optimistic kind of energy of Jupiter. And it happens that in this chart, Jupiter is the strongest in Shadbala. And the Bride's Ascendant is actually the lowest in Shadbala. We'll have a look at that in a moment. 

Now, the 9th House is another important House that we wanna look at in this chart as we have a Virgo. Ascendant Taurus is going to be the 9th House. It's Lord is Venus. And Venus is in the 12th House. As we've already mentioned, Jupiter's in the 12th House, and I'm just gonna let you know that Mars is also in the 12th House, and that's because, in the Bride's chart, Mars is the Ascendant. So we know Virgo Ascendant, Mercury, 7th House, Pisces, the 7th Lord is Jupiter. The 9th House is Taurus, and the 9th House Lord is Venus. I also wanted to let you know that the Moon is in the 5th House in Capricorn with Rahu and Saturn is in Moolatrikona in the 6th House in Aquarius. So these are our placements for the Groom's chart.

[00:07:08] Bride's Chart

[00:07:08] Fiona Marques: Now, relaxing our minds, clearing your mind's eye, and visualizing now, the Bride's chart we know is a Scorpio Ascendant. And this means that Mars is the Ascendant Lord. And Mars in this particular chart is actually in the 7th House of Taurus. So Mars, the Ascendant Lord, is in the 7th House. Taurus is ruled by Venus. So Venus becomes the Lord of the 7th House and it is in the 9th House of Cancer. So we are already beginning to see some strong indicators here that for this particular chart, the 1st House Lord is in the 7th House. That means in this person's life, partners are going to be important. And that the House Lord of the 7th House is in the 9th House. So we also see that there's a strong link here to wanting that committed partner and looking towards marriage. There's a really nice, underlying architecture 1st Lord in the 7th House, 7th Lord in the 9th House. 

Now, Venus, that 9th Lord is the weakest in Shadbala. But Mercury, which is the Groom's we already know in Mercury, is the Groom's Ascendant planet it is the lowest in percentage in Shadbala. So we do see in these two charts already, if you want to talk about like the alchemy of attraction, we can see that there's something around these weakest Shadbala that naturally finding a partner who has that strength, they have that strong Shadbala, makes a really nice click moment.

Now, returning to the 9th House, it's in Cancer. The Lord is the Moon and the Moon is in the 5th House in Pisces. So just like the Groom's chart, Moon is in the 5th House, and in this case, that means it's in Pisces. That's a very beautiful combination. 9th Lord in the 5th House, two trinal Houses, very auspicious energy, very righteous kind of energy, very beautiful placement. It's got some really strong placements here, supporting that love commitment that the emotions are gonna be auspicious in this chart. The 9th Lord, the Moon in the 5th House. 

And I just wanna also let you know that Saturn, this strong planet for both charts, it is in the 4th House of happiness. In Aquarius, just like the Groom's chart. So Saturn is in Aquarius in both charts. 

And Jupiter, the generic Karaka of husbands, is in the 11th House in Virgo, which if you remember, Virgo is the Ascendant of the Groom's chart. So again, at that sort of subconscious alchemy level, we have this very beautiful placement. Jupiter is in Virgo, which is the Ascendant lord of the Groom.

[00:10:26] Combined Chart

[00:10:26] Fiona Marques: Now let's put both of these together so we can try to hold them in our minds. And in both charts, just a quick thing to pull out. We have the Moon in the 5th House of both charts. It's in the Groom's 5th House of Capricorn. It's in the Bride's 5th House of Pisces. Saturn is in Moolatrikona in both charts, and we already know that it has a very strong positive yoga score. 

And the Nodes are also in the same signs. I'm not actually gonna talk about the Nodes really very much at all today, but I wonder whether you notice that attraction when Nodes are in the same signs for people. 

Now we just have some really nice number kind of yogas when we put these two charts together. The Bride's 7th House is the Groom's 9th House.

So just like in the Bride's chart we had this resonant energy around 7 and 9 because her 7th, Lord Venus was in the 9th House of Cancer. But here in the composite chart, we also have just naturally the Bride's 7th House is the Groom's 9th House. So this sense of committed relationship is one of the musical themes underneath the chart.

And the Bride's, we mentioned this when we went through the Bride's Jupiter, which is a generic Karaka for husbands and children that's on the Groom's Ascendant. And then we have a couple of "Raja Yoga", if you wanna call it like that. We've got the 5th and the 7th Houses. The Groom's 7th House is Pisces and the Bride's 5th House is Pisces. So we've got that 5 and 7 connection. 

And then with Taurus, we've got the Groom's 9th House and the Bride's 7th House. So at that underlying melody or some of the main chord structures of the music of these charts, we're seeing some lovely combination of numbers. 

This allows us to have a foundation for understanding these charts and why don't we now hear the "Love Story" and see what you guys can hear as we listen to that "Love Story". 

[00:12:55] The Love Story

[00:12:55] Fiona Marques: "Bride and Groom were just kids When they met at a friend's birthday party just before they started University. Groom made a joke and Bride instantly felt a connection to him with a strong presentiment that he would be in her life for a long time.

After that, Groom would try to meet Bride after work in Chelsea so he could walk her to the bus stop where they would sit on a random doorstep and talk and laugh ridiculously for hours. Later, Groom would give her lifts and they would travel to and from university together. There were countless times when Groom dropped Bride home after a night out and they would sit in his car until sunrise chatting and laughing.

At their first meeting, Groom was struck by Bride's beauty, and he loved her cool and quirky attitude. She was bursting with positive energy and he could see that she would brighten up any room. Bride felt safe, joyous, and at peace in his presence. When his eyes sparkle that little bit brighter and his smile is that little bit wider, she completely lets go of thinking about what is going on around her and it just becomes about the present moment. And it hasn't changed for them in 10 years.

Bride is her best and authentic self with Groom. Her chats with him are the best and realest of her life. Groom describes the love he receives from Bride as honestly the best feeling in the world.

Although they might be from different cultures, Bride and Groom share the same humble beginnings. They are hustlers who know what they want in life and are willing to put in the hard work to get it. They inspire and motivate each other to go after their dreams and provide the loving support and space to allow that growth to appear. 

They dream of a big family of little Bride's and Groom's playing in the garden at home and of hosting big family Christmases. They are excited to raise courageous and open-minded children in a fun-filled environment, providing for them all the opportunities they can. Groom, aspires to be the father he never had. And Bride knows that if she can even be half the impact and imprint of the incredible women who raised her, she will have succeeded. She is already looking forward to being a fun, cool and modern grandma. 

These two are partners in crime with a bulletproof friendship. 

When they retire, they will travel the world together. Groom on the safe side and Bride always encouraging him to throw himself into new experiences headfirst".

Okay, so that was the beautiful "Love Story" of this couple that was shared at the ceremony. And what is it that we can see in the Astrology of this couple that matches up with this "Love Story"? So let's just break down, go through a little bit sentence-by-sentence or paragraph-by-paragraph. 

"Bride and Groom were kids when they met at a friend's birthday party just before they started university".

Now, what are the indications for us that these people would meet young? We already know that some of the fundamentals of the chart are that the Bride's chart has the first Lord in the 7th House. That 7th Lord is in the 9th House. So we know alchemy is there for a long-term relationship in the bones of the chart.

But by timing, Jupiter Dasha for the Groom started when he was 18 years old. In fact, it turns out they met when he was 19. So at the very beginning of the Jupiter Dasha. And Jupiter, we know from the husband chart it is the 7th Lord. So that's right on track that this person is gonna meet their partner early because their Jupiter Dasha starts at 18. 

On the Bride side we have the Venus Dasha is running until this person is at 22 years of age. So that is also the Dasha of the 7th Lord. In the Bride's chart, remember is Venus. So both of them met when they were in the Dashas of their 7th Lord. So when we have this Bride and Groom met when they were at university, when they're quite young, we can see that is represented in the charts. 

Now, the next sentence, "Groom made a joke and Bride instantly felt a connection to him with a strong presentiment that he would be in her life for a long time".

So I think there's two things we wanna look for in the chart here. One is, "Groom made a joke". Now, for me that is a beautiful expression of a Mercury Ascendant. I think Mercury Ascendants are so witty and they're so good with words and they use that to break the ice. It's a way of creating friendships. Mercury's got that really friendly kind of energy. "Groom made a joke", I think a beautiful indicator of a Mercury Ascendant. 

And then this second part, "Bride instantly felt a connection to him with a strong feeling that he would be in her life for a long time". So this Bride, what are the indications in her chart of this sense of a psychicness, of knowing in the future?

So in her chart, the Moon is in its own Navamsha. And this can give, it can be an indicator that someone will know the past, present, and future. So Moon is very well placed in the Navamsha of the Bride's chart. Saturn here is in the 4th House of the Bride's chart, and that can also bring success in occult and esoteric sciences. And then here in the birth chart, we know that the Moon is the 9th Lord. So it's got that link to all that kind of 9th House energy. And it's being rashi aspected by Jupiter and on an angle from Jupiter. A yoga, for giving knowledge of metaphysics. And we have Jupiter and Moon with very positive yoga scores in the chart.

So, it's a throwaway line that she "had a feeling that he was gonna be in her life for a long time", but actually this is this person's experience. It's right here in the chart. That's someone who has a really natural sense of intuition. And in fact, this is our podcast that we've, that we are recording today, is something that we have had in mind to do since, since we met even before the ceremony.

I think we had that connection straight away that we wanted to look at the Astrology of this event. And she happened to WhatsApp me on the exact day when I was obsessed with starting this podcast. The chart is really supporting that this person has that sense of sense, of the future, a sense of meaning in the future.

Now, the next part of the story, "After that, the Groom would try to meet the Bride", remember? And "he would give her lifts. He would wait for her at the bus stop and they would sit in his car". And I just thought this was such a lovely representation of Venus because we know that Venus is all about vehicles and transportation. It's also all about love. So to me, that just screams Venus. We know that Venus is the Dasha Lord for the Bride. And what you can't see here, because I'm only giving certain data, is that Venus is winning in planetary war over Mars in the Groom's chart. So I also think that, Venus being so important in this facilitation of the romance, the driving, the buses, the bus stops the transportation that was involved in the early connection of this couple, I'm attributing to Venus. Which we know is in the 9th House also, and is the 7th Lord of the Bride's chart.

"At their first meeting, Groom was struck by Bride's beauty, and he loved her cool and quirky attitude. She was bursting with positive energy and he could see that she would brighten up any room". So we know that for any Virgo Ascendant, their partner, something about their partners gonna be based on Pisces.

And we talked about how that's going to make Virgo Ascendants look for someone spiritual, positive, optimistic. So that kind of matches with this statements that "she could brighten up any room she was bursting with positive energy". So we're getting that Jupiter feel, which is what he's gonna naturally be looking for.

And then we also know that Mars is the Ascendant of the Bride. So her 2nd House of her appearance, like her face, her eyes, her smile, that's all gonna be taking place in a Jupiter sign, right? That's of Sagittarius. So we also have that connection too with Jupiter, so that he was struck by "Bride's beauty and positivity" seems to match with those Jupiter kind of connections.

And the Bride in the story "felt safe, joyous, and at peace in his presence. And his eyes sparkle a little bit brighter and his smile a little bit wider. She completely lets go of thinking and she's just present in the moment".

And a couple of things came to mind for me here. If we notice in both charts, Saturn is in Moolatrikona. So it's a very, it's very high dignity. However, in the Bride's chart, it is in an angle. And when we have this, it's a Sasa yoga and it can lead the person to have a very activated awareness of threats.

And it doesn't necessarily mean that the person is fearful, but they're just ... Sasa yoga is a rabbit or a hare. They're just really alert to life and how fragile it is and the need to be responsive to that. And so that she's met a partner that has Saturn in the same placement but is not in Sasa yoga because for that person, for the Groom, it's in the 6th House ,so this Sasa yoga's not being activated, makes me wonder about that "Bride felt safe" thing, whether that instantly provided that balance. 

And then the Bride has her Ascendant in the 7th House so partners are always gonna be important. The husband, that 7th Lord in her chart, is in the 9th. So she's gonna feel that sense of strong commitment almost straight away with the right partner so that she "felt safe, joyous, and at peace, that she could just really be in his presence". And in the Husband's chart, the 9th Lord is also Venus, which in his chart is conjunct Mars, her Ascendant, right?

So his, 9th Lord is there with her Ascendant in his chart. And we know that Venus is defeating Mars. Love winning out there maybe perhaps. 

 If we go the same way and look at the Husband's 1st House, his body is gonna be Virgo, Mercury, but his face with this smile and the eyes is gonna be the 2nd House. Which is Libra ruled by Venus. Once again emphasizing this Venus connection that when he smiles and when his eyes sparkle, that's happening through the second House of Venus in his chart. And we know that Venus for this Bride is her 7th Lord and it's in the 9th House. So all of those things, when we talk about like the alchemy of attraction, all of those things are going on unconsciously, but they're all matching, right? They're all saying "Yes!" All having that match "click" moment.

And now moving on for the next sentence. "So this has not changed for them in 10 years". So they're talking about how when they first met, they felt this real attraction connection to each other. Just an ease and a sense of presence. And this has not changed for them in 10 years. And I just thought that this is there's so many things here.

We've got Jupiter, the Karaka for husband in the Bride chart that's on the Ascendant. Of the Groom's chart. We've also got Mercury in the husband's chart is in the wife's 9th House. There's just so many things that, that make this long term. And we are going to also look at the Moon compatibility, and you'll see some things there as well.

Another statement from the "Love Story" ... "Bride is her best and authentic self with Groom. Her chats with him are the best and the realest of her life". I just think that this speaks something about Saturn. They've both got this really strong Saturn. Saturn's all about being authentic and having a connection that is real.

Groom describes "The love he receives from Bride as honestly the best feeling in the world". And while we've got the Bride and her Ascendant is on the 7th House, the Groom's 7th Lord Jupiter, and the Bride's Jupiter, it's on the Groom's Ascendant. So he feels that the partner is right there on the Ascendant. From her Jupiter being naturally placed in his 1st House. 

"Although they might be from different cultures, Bride and Groom share the same humble beginnings. They are hustlers. They're willing to put in the hard work. They inspire and motivate each other".

This speaks to Saturn, how they value Saturn. They value the hard work, they value their humble beginnings, and they're happy to work hard to get what it is that they want in their life. And that is what makes Saturn the planet of greatness. 

Now, the "Love Story" then moves to talking about their dreams for having a big family.

"They imagine little Bride's and Groom's playing in the garden and they wanna host big family Christmases". So can we see why children are a really important part of the dreams that this couple has for the future? And first of all, the Bride's 5th cusp of actual children is in the 4th House of happiness, and it's with Saturn in Moolatrikona. So for the Bride, children are in that House of happiness. It's something that she's gonna find to be a source of happiness with a well dignified planet. And the Groom's 5th cusp is in the Saturn sign of Capricorn, where he has the Moon and Rahu. So this is also a very energized space. Rahu takes us towards those things that we haven't experienced yet. It gives us a fascination for those. This is all happening in the 5th House where we also know that Saturn who owns this 5th House, is also really well placed in the chart. 

"They are excited to raise courageous and open-minded children in a fun-filled environment, providing them all the opportunities they can. Groom aspires to be the father that he never had".

It's Rahu that's pulling the Groom there into the unknown. And we've gotta remember that the Moon is a Karaka for mothering. So it's in the 5th House drawing him towards children. It's the Moon with Rahu, that maternal energy and interest in, in nurturing, in cultivating in this 5th House their legacy that's gonna grow. And also in the Groom's chart, Moon is the Lord of the 11th House of our aspirations. So lot of energy in the Groom's chart making the fascination with with children. 

And Moon is in the 5th House for both charts. So I think that's a really interesting connection. And Jupiter, the Karaka for children. The Bride's, Jupiter, is on the Groom's Ascendant. So we just have lots of support for that 5th House energy of children.

"And Bride knows that if she can have even half the impact and imprint of the incredible women who raised her, she will have succeeded".

If we look at that, we've got the Moon, the Karaka for mother is in the 5th House of the Bride's chart. The 5th House, it's a Dharmic House, it's leading us towards that legacy that we want to create. The 4th cusp of the physical mother is with Rahu in Capricorn, in Saturn's Sign. We've spoken about how strong Saturn is in the chart.

 The D12, because that tells us about our heritage. And once again, I have not given you the whole D12, but I'm gonna tell you a little bit about the D12 for the Bride. And the 1st House, the Ascendant of the Bride's D12 is in Aquarius. So you already know that 's got Saturn in the main chart. So Aquarius a really important space in the D1. But here in the D12, it's the 1st House and it's got the 1st cusp and the 6th cusp in that 1st House.

And then we have the 6th House is Cancer. It has the Moon and Ketu and Mars in that 6th House. Then coming all the way around, we have the 5th cusp in Scorpio in the 10th House of the chart. And in the 11th House we have Jupiter. So this is the D12. And I wanted to highlight the 6th House because it's the work that we continue of our family lineage, and that 6th House is really packed in this D12.

We've got the Moon, Ketu, Mars. Moon is a Karaka for mother. It's in own home dignity. We brought that up before that. It's in good dignity. It was in the 9th, the D9, sorry. And now here it is in the D12. Ketu is a Karaka for the mother's mother, according to Laura Barad. If you wanna go, Laura's got an excellent video about the D12. And about halfway through, 14 something minutes, she talks about how to use Rahu and Ketu to see the maternal and paternal grandparents. Ketu for mother's mother. And Mars we know is the Ascendant from the D1. So if we look at this 6th House of the work, we wanna continue for our family lineage, we've got ... The Moon for mothers, it's in own home dignity. We've got Ketu representing the maternal grandmother and we've got the Ascendant from the D1. So all really important planets. And what is the sign that it's taking place in? Cancer! Which has that mothering kind of feminine energy. A lot of interesting information for us that's really promoting this what we recorded in the "Love Story", which was "If she can have even half the impact and imprint of the incredible women who raised her, she will have succeeded". You can hear how the D12 with the 6th House placement is really leading this person to wanna carry on that work, that legacy, the heritage that she's inherited there.

And the 11th House, what we have gained from the family lineage. I just wanted to point out that Jupiter's in own home dignity there and it is a generic Karaka for children and it is the 5th Lord from the D1. What we've gained from this family lineage is children, is this want to create children. And the 5th cusp is in Scorpio, which if you remember is the Ascendant from the Bride's D1 chart. So I feel that this, one sentence that's in the "Love Story", acknowledging the maternal line is actually really energetically resonating with her D12.

And if we go back also to her D1, just to bring in, we can look at grandparents in a person's second House and in the D1 that would be Sagittarius for the Bride. This is ruled by Jupiter. It's on the 11th. So it's a wealth yoga. Or even the grandparents, the energy of grandparents feels for this person as a gain. Remember the 11th House is that House that gets better and better over time. It's always investing, always giving a return. So naturally the link with the grandmother is something that is bringing wealth.

And the story goes ... "She's already looking forward to being a fun, cool and modern grandma. When they retire, they will travel the world together, Groom on the safe side and Bride always encouraging him to throw himself into new experiences head first". All I wanted to say there was, can you hear Mars the Bride's Ascendant Lord always wanting to throw the Groom into things head first? 

And returning to the story, "They are partners in crime with a bulletproof friendship". 

[00:34:18] Lunar Compatibility

[00:34:18] Fiona Marques: The "Bulletproof friendship", I think is a really lovely segue into looking through the lens of Moon compatibility. So in Vedic Astrology, we know that there's this heritage of using Vedic Astrology to choose a suitable marriage partner. And this is often based on the Moon.

And in Kala software, it gives us just a few bullet points about why the Moon is so important. And there's a quote, first of all, from Sri Yukteswar, which says, "Manas, the mind in which lives the Jiva, the self, with Ahamkara, the ego, the idea of separate existence". Therefore, the Moon indicates the compatibility of these two selves. It's already got that kind of energy. It's being the reflection of the true self already. And Moon is a social planet that allows people's energies to flow. So it's really indicative of how the energies are gonna flow between these two people. And Moon is the conditioned consciousness, what we are most comfortable and familiar with. And that can go a long way to making for an easy compatibility. And this is the thing to keep in mind. The purpose of analyzing compatibility is perhaps traditionally finding two individuals who are gonna find it easy to successfully live together and create a family. Now, another way to do that is to fall in love. And love, that power of love, is gonna help you overcome some of the bumps along the road that make living together difficult. Because you love that person so much, you don't mind about all of those rough edges or friction points. But if you are looking for a way to match people with the highest percentage or highest probability that they're going to easily be successful in a marriage, why not choose people who are already comfortable? And this is why we look at the Moon, because it shows what we're already conditioned to.

And what do we find in these charts. In the Groom's chart, the Moon we know is in Capricorn, that's a Female Earth sign and it's in Danishta Nakshatra. And I'm using Sidereal Nakshatras here. For the timing, I tend to use Tropical Nakshatras. But this is a very traditional system. I'm happy to go with Sidereal here. Danishta is linked with the Head as a body part. It is Nakshatra number 23 out of 27. And its humor is Middle or Fiery. And the Bride's Moon is in Pisces, which is also a Female sign. This time it's a Water sign. This is in Purva Bhadrapada Nakshatra. It relates to the Naval. It's Nakshatra number 25 and its Humor is Left or Windy. So we are gonna use these, what we know about these two placements, to look at some of the compatibility comparisons that you can do. 

And the first one is Veda. There are some Nakshatras that are considered to be mutually repellent to each other. You're gonna find it a bit more difficult if you're choosing someone who's got this repellent Nakshatra. So for Dhanishta, those repellent ones are Mrigashira and Chitra. And for Purva Bhadrapada, we wanna look out for Uttara Phalguni. In this case, we don't have this combination. So actually the Nakshatras are not repellent to each other. So we can breathe a sigh of relief. And this means that they can make the relationship what they want to be. They're not gonna be dealing with that magnetic repulsion. They would be forcing the relationship just by the drive of these two Nakshatras, trying to get away from each other.

So I put them much more in a place where they can make the relationship, set their own rules, and design it how they want it to be. 

The next compatibility to look at is Rope. This is about the body parts being in different parts of the body. We, we said at the beginning, which body parts they were. So if you both have feet as the body parts, then you'll always be wandering. If you both have hips, there'll be poverty. You both have navels, there's lots of children. If you both have neck, the wife will die. If you both have head, the husband will die. And in this case, we once again, we are lucky, we have two different body parts. We've got head for the Groom, naval for the Bride. So we are doing okay there. And this allows the couple to be able to learn together and they're gonna have a healthy degree of mutual dependence on each other because they've got these two different body parts.

And now a third area that we can look at is how far away these Nakshatras are from each other. And the idea is that the man's Nakshatra should be further away. The woman therefore would be closer. And that the energy flow should be shortest from the man to the woman. And Kala has some just wonderful things to say about that. So I really recommend you go have a look at the software about why the energy should flow shorter from the man to the woman. It's quite cute. But in this case we have the shortest distance is from the Groom to the Bride. It's just two from 23 to 25. Whereas she's got from 25 to 23. 

And then we can link that also with the Rasis because of the placements are close together. And for both this compatibility and the Rashi compatibility, we can say that if the Woman's Rasi is 3rd from the Man's, there will be happiness. And it supports having mutual interests and a tendency to look at things the same way, reducing potential conflicts. And that talks about what we were saying about making things easy.

And for me, this a little bit comes back to in their "Love Story", how easily they talk to each other, how they would talk for hours and hours, and how they were the realest talks of each other's lives. And you can see what a happy placement this is the distance between the Nakshatras.

And then we have Nadi, which is about the Nakshatras falling in different Humors, which means that the couple is able to balance out any extremes.

So if they're both Fiery, we could imagine that they might be too much anger. If they're both Windy, it can be hard to stay grounded and focused. And if they're too Watery, it might just get too emotional or too co-dependent. But in this case, we know we had one was Windy and one was Fiery, so they're able to balance each other out.

And here we have the idea that the Moon should be in 1-7, 4-10. So those are angles or 3-11. And this allows the couple to build things together. And in this case we do have 3-11. They work quite well this couple.

But if they're in 6-8, that can call trouble. We've got obstacles 6 with 8, all of that unexpected change. If it's in 2-12, that might require sacrifice. That House of Responsibilities, 2, with the House of Sacrifice, 12. And in 5-9 can cause competitiveness. 

So as we went on a tangent to look at the "Bulletproof friendship", let's just summarize... They don't have repellent Nakshatras, meaning that they can make this relationship what they want it to be. They've got these different body parts so they can learn together and have a healthy degree of mutual dependence. They're far enough apart to support mutual interests and a tendency to look at things the same way, reducing potential complex. And their Humors are different, allowing for balance and strength. They're not gonna get stuck in one particular emotional, like over-emphasis of one emotion. And we have the Moon in 3-11, which promotes mutual goals and constructiveness. 

And so when we look at all of these compatibilities and there are others, but I'm just pulling out these as great examples from these people's charts of what is it that attracts us to someone and makes it stick. These people met and have stayed together the whole time and have a great connection with each other. How much of that is down to this beautiful placement of their Moons and the relationship between their Moons together? So I really enjoyed looking at their Lunar compatibility. 

[00:43:01] Venue

[00:43:01] Fiona Marques: Now, a couple of other things to talk about. Venue was a really important part of this ceremony. The Bride felt a real connection to the venue. The 7th Lord of the partner in both charts is located with several other different planets. So we know that this is going to indicate that, that there's lots of different influencers on that 7th Lord, meaning there might be different cultural backgrounds, different countries involved.

So how do you find a venue that suits all the family members on both sides? And this particular venue really reminded the Bride of her grandmother, which we know from examining the chart, the D12, how important the female, the maternal heritage is. And we also see in the Bride's chart that we have Saturn in the 4th House of place representing in some ways old things, right? And they chose this amazing venue a manor House on a working vineyard. And it dates from the 15th century. So it certainly fits that Saturn requirement of being old.

And it's also at the end of this winding dirt track, like descending down this winding dirt track, meaning that only the most intrepid travelers are gonna pay a visit. This is not a Manor that's set on the top of a hill, majestically overlooking everything. It's a hidden gem. You wouldn't know that it was there. But it is authentically grand. It is such a beautiful venue. It's not trying to be anything that it's not, it's grandeur comes from its bones, it's just so powerfully true to itself, and I thought it was a great fit for Saturn in the 4th, and a lovely way to honor this person's Portuguese heritage.

[00:44:54] Timing

[00:44:54] Fiona Marques: And finally, why don't we have a look at timing. It's always fun to look at timing. I don't think we've quite got everything lined up yet, but let's have some fun with seeing what we can see.

So we've got three important dates to examine the date of their first meeting, the date of the engagement, and the date of their symbolic wedding ceremony.

So if we take the first one first this is when they met and we already know from examining the "Love Story" these guys were young. We know that the Vimshottari Dasha, using Tropical Nakshatras, was JU/JU for the Groom. And Jupiter is the 7th Lord. So absolutely right on track for the Groom. For the Bride, it was VE/SA, and we know that Venus is the 7th Lord for the Bride, and Saturn is that very strong Moolatrikona planet with the high yoga score and ruling the 4th House of happiness. So VE/SA. Both of them were in their 7th Lord Dashas. 

If we look at the Groom's chart Jupiter, the 7th Lord is transiting Pisces, the 7th House of the birth chart. So Jupiter, it's ruling the timing. It's the 7th Lord ruling the Dasha, and it's also transiting the 7th House, which is the 7th House in the birth chart. So it's just "Boom!". And I just wanted to point out, I'm not gonna make a big deal about it, but it was a Nodal return as well. 

On the Bride side, Venus and Mars are in Scorpio, which is the Ascendant planet. So Mars has returned to its Ascendant House. But it's there with Venus. We know that Venus and Mars are a passionate combination. We also know that Venus is the 7th Lord in the chart, and it's the Dasha Lord. That was all happening in Scorpio. This person was also having a Nodal return. And the transiting Moon was in the 5th House of romance at this time. The Moon obviously Moons quite fast, so we're just catching the Moon. Just happened to be in the 5th House at that time. 

Now why don't we also have a look at Varshaphal? So this is where you take a snapshot of the chart, the transiting chart, at the time when the Sun is at the same degrees that it was at the moment of the birth. So each birthday year, you get an update and can help you have a look at what might be happening with the year ahead.

So in this birthday year for the Groom, Taurus is the Ascendant of that Varshaphal chart. Meaning that Venus is the Ascendant Lord. And we know that Venus is all about love, romance, vehicles and students. And that just goes beautifully with what we said about how they met. And then there was all this driving around and being university students. So Venus was the Ascendant Lord in the Varshaphal. Moon was the year Lord, and in the Varshaphal, Moon was in the 9th House of marriage. And Mars was the Muntha Lord. And it was in the 5th House of romance. So there definitely were some things in the Varshaphal chart that really seemed to support the meeting of a significant partner.

And on the Bride side, Taurus was the sign that was being profected. That is the Muntha. And it is the 7th House of the birth chart. That means that Venus is the Muntha Lord, love romance vehicle students. So that's a match with what's going on in the Groom's Varshaphal as well. And remember that Venus is not only the 7th Lord from the birth chart, but it is the Dasha Lord of the D1 as well.

And if you want to look at the Dasha timing system of Varshaphal file, you can use the Mudda Dasha system. And this meeting occurred during the Moon Dasha of the Mudda Dasha system. And Moon is the 5th Lord of romance in the 9th House of the chart. That perhaps, is saying something about the actual date and timing of their meeting.

So some lovely matches, some lovely support for their meeting. 

Now we have the time when they decided to get engaged. If we look at the Groom in Vimshottari Dasha, it was still Jupiter Dasha and JU/VE. So 7th Lord and 9th Lord, which just lovely, right? And the Vimshottari Dasha for the Bride was SU/KE. Sun is the 10th Lord in the 9th House of the D1. And Ketu is also in the 9th House of the D1. So when we thinking about marriage, we are thinking about the 9th House. And we find here on the Bride side that we've got two indications of the 9th House in their Dasha timing and in the Groom side we also have one indication of the 9th Lord of marriage there.

 In terms of transit for the Groom, Jupiter, the 7th Lord was transiting Capricorn, the 5th House of romance. And this was a half Nodal return. So isn't it interesting? And in the Bride's chart, Venus, which is the 7th Lord, was transiting the 4th House of emotional contentment. And Moon, the 9th Lord was also transiting that 4th House. And of course there was also a half Nodal return. 

And in Varshaphal for the Groom, it was all about Capricorn. Capricorn was the Rashi that was being profected. It was in the 5th House of romance. It's the 5th House of romance from the birth chart, which is Capricorn. It's also the year Lord and the Solar Return Lord. So a lot of Saturn energy. Saturns doing very well in the birth chart. And both the Love and the Marriage Shahams were both in Capricorn for this particular Varshaphal year.

One of the things that we look for with timing is repeated indicators because we want to build up that there are lots of different factors that are making this moment in time happen. Because that's the best way for us to be reliable is when there's lots and lots of resonating factors.

And when you look at the Varshaphal for the Groom, Capricorn is the Muntha, Saturn is the Muntha Lord, Saturn is in Capricorn, in that Varshaphal chart. He's also the year Lord the strongest Lord in the chart. And the Shamams around Love and Marriage are all in Capricorn. So I think we can see why the timing was very supportive for the Groom to make this a commitment.

And we know that by transit when this proposal took place, the 7th Lord Jupiter was transiting Capricorn. So just lots and lots of support for Saturn and Capricorn with the support also of Jupiter making that timing take place.

Meanwhile, over in the Bride's chart, Aquarius, with the sign that was being profected. It's the 4th House in the birth chart. Venus is the Ascendant lord of this Varshaphal, and it is the 7th Lord of the birth chart. The Love and Marriage shahams for this Varshaphal chart are both in Libra, which is owned by Venus.

So remember, Venus is the Ascendant lord of this Varshaphal chart, and it owns the sign in which both of those Marriage Shahams are happening. And at the time of the Varshaphal, we had four planets in Cancer, which is the 9th House of the birth chart. So a lot of emphasis in that House of commitment, the House of what we devote ourselves to. We had four planets there. We are seeing this support around the 9th Lord, the 9th House, and Venus in the Bride's side. 

Okay, that was the proposal. Now what about the day of the ceremony for the Groom? We are still in Jupiter Dasha. So JU/MA and Jupiter is the 7th Lord. Mars is the Bride's Ascendant.

So we see the Vimshottari Dasha is matching up well. On the Bride side we have MO/RA. Moon is the 9th Lord and Rahu is in the 3rd House. So certainly we can see that connection with Moon being the 9th Lord, on the day that you do your wedding ceremony, that's a very nice timing to have.

By transit, if we look Venus and Moon, were transiting the Groom's 11th House of Gains. And Jupiter, the 7th Lord was transiting the 8th House of Aries. Those are what was going on for the Groom side. On the transits for the Bride side, Saturn is in Aquarius, only 3 degrees from the natal placement. Moon and Venus are conjunct as they were also in the proposal chart. And don't forget, those are the 7th and the 9th Lord for the, for the Bride. And Rahu, the Sub Dasha Lord was transiting the 7th House of the birth chart. So we have, we do have some support from the transits. Maybe not as strong as the other charts, but we have to remember that sometimes these dates for the symbolic ceremonies are picked be when a venues available, not necessarily the date that the person might have chosen. 

Now, in terms of Varshaphal for the husband, Aries was the was the Rasi that was being perfected. And Jupiter is in Aries in the Varshaphal charts. Remember Jupiter is the 7th Lord for the Groom, and it's also the Vimshottari Dasha, the main Lord. So it is in the sign that is being profected by the Varshaphal. And Mars, the Sub Dasha Lord from Vimshottari and the Bride's Ascendant. So Mars, is also in Aries. So the fact that Aries as being the focus of this particular Solar year does seem to match up with the Vimshottari Dasha timing as well. And Mercury is the Year Lord, the strongest Lord in the Varshaphal chart. Remember that is the Ascendant from the birth chart. It's in the 5th House of romance for this chart. It's with Venus the 9th Lord. So they're together. And that's all taking place in Gemini. Where the Marriage Shaham is for this Varshaphal year. While the transits were maybe a little bit harder to understand, in some ways they weren't. But when you put it together with the Varshaphal, you can see that actually Aries becomes very important. That's where Jupiter was by transit. And that Gemini becomes important because Mercury is the Year Lord of the Varshaphal. It's the Ascendant from the birth chart. It's with Venus and the Marriage Shaham is there. And it happened that the ceremony did take place during Venus Mudda Dasha, which is the 9th Lord of the Varshaphal chart. So I think the Varshaphal was quite strong for indicating this particular day.

On the wife's chart, Varshaphal, Taurus was the sign that was being profected. That's the 7th House from the birth chart. So Venus becomes the Muntha Lord. It also happens to be the Year Lord as well. The Marriage Shaham is taking place in Gemini, just like in the husband's Varshaphal. And that means that Gemini's owned by Mercury. Mercury is right there in Gemini in this Varshaphal chart, and it is the Ascendant of the Groom. So there's support in her Varshaphal as well. 

You can see how perhaps using the Varshaphal and the transits can help us with timing a little bit there. 

And I just wanted to sneak in here that the ceremony included a candle ceremony where we got both mothers to come to the front with their candles and light the candles of their children, that the children then joined together as a kind of symbolic acknowledgement of this, these families passing their heritage down to a new generation.

And because we are looking at transits of this particular day, I just wanted to point out that there were three planets in Fire signs on that day. We had Jupiter in Aries and Venus and Moon in Leo. Just pointing out, we did have Jupiter and Mars together in the Varshaphal chart, but by the time we got to the ceremony day, it was only Jupiter was left in Aries. So Jupiter was in a Fire sign and Venus and Moon were also in Leo, perhaps giving us that support for including fire in the ceremony. 

[00:57:30] Summary and Conclusion

[00:57:30] Fiona Marques: So, what has that told us about this alchemy of attraction? How can Vedic Astrology help us understand the joy of meeting this other person and finding that match? I think I was delighted to find that the "Love Story" so closely matches with the Vedic Astrology of their birth charts.

Also, the placement of the Moons is very favorable. There's a strong connection for them over Saturn and the ability to protect each other's weaknesses and balance each other's out. We've got the Bride's planet with the least percentage of Shadbala is the Groom's Ascendant lord, the Groom's planet with the least Shadbala is the Bride's Ascendant lord. Is that what magnetically attracts us to each other, that we know that person can cover our weaknesses? We've got shared Nodal placements, which we did not explore at all in this podcast, but I'm interested in your thoughts.

Then we've got some lovely Raj yoga kind of combinations when we combine their charts. Those energy of the number 5 and 7 mixed together, and the number 7 and 9 mixed together, the 5th of romance and children, the 7th of partners, and the 7 and 9, the 7th of partners with the 9 of commitment and devotion. So those numbers providing beautiful undercurrents for the whole combined chart. 

They both met during Dashas of their 7th Lord, and they both met when Taurus, a Venus sign was prominent in both of their Varshaphal charts. So all of these things are providing the ingredients that make this attraction so instant and long lasting.

And finally then I wanna finish with the poem that the couple chose for their reading, because it sums up beautifully Venus Delighting Saturn, which is present in both birth charts. And we know that Venus and Saturn have been so important in this case study. Saturn is strong in both charts. Venus is the 7th Lord in the Bride's chart. It's the 9th Lord in the Groom's chart, and it's played such a key role in so many of the Varshaphal. So here we have a beautiful poem.

It's called "Learning to Live". At the Ceremony I read it in Portuguese. Very beautiful. I'm gonna read it for you in English and as you listen to this, I want you to think about Venus delighting Saturn as it does by Lajjitaadi Avastha, which is helping Saturn to know that no matter what you've gone through, it's all been worth it for that love that you've received. That Venus helps Saturn be resilient and get through everything by seeing the value that all of this hard work has brought. So here is "Learning to Live". It's written by Cora Colina.

I don't know if life is short or too long for us, but I know that nothing we endure makes sense if we don't touch people's hearts.

Most times it's enough to be the receptive shoulder, enveloping arm, comforting word, respectful silence, infectious joy, flowing, tears, caressing look, gratifying wish, encouraging love. And this is not something from another world. It's what gives meaning to life. It's what makes life neither short nor too long, but intense, true, pure, while it lasts.

And there we have the Vedic Astrology of a "Love Story". I hope you've enjoyed this chance to explore a bit of my double life as an Astrologer and a Wedding Celebrant. If you would like to explore more of this, have more couples on, look more at that Nakshatra matching. I hope that we'll have another chance to look at a case study here on The Vedic Astrology Podcast.

And now I just thank you for being here with me, and I look forward to seeing you next time. We are together on The Vedic Astrology Podcast. Bye for now.