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In short: Shakata yoga — 'cart' yoga — forms when the Moon is in the 6th, 8th or 12th sign from Jupiter. It is traditionally linked with fluctuating fortune, like the turning of a cart wheel, and it is cancelled in several common conditions.

The rule

Shakata yoga forms when the Moon is in the 6th, 8th or 12th sign counted from Jupiter (Phaladeepika ch. 6).

What it means

Classical texts describe fortune that rises and falls. In modern terms it describes a Moon that does not easily receive Jupiter's support, so emotional and material security may need to be built rather than assumed.

How often it forms

The Moon is in the 6th, 8th or 12th sign from Jupiter in three of every twelve positions, so Shakata yoga forms in about a quarter of charts before cancellation. Because the Moon is in a kendra from the ascendant in roughly a third of charts, a large share of these are cancelled.

Shakata and Gajakesari

The two yogas are opposites. Gajakesari forms when Jupiter is in an angle from the Moon — the 1st, 4th, 7th or 10th — and is read as the mind supported by wisdom. Shakata forms when the Moon is in the 6th, 8th or 12th from Jupiter — equivalently, Jupiter in the 8th, 6th or 2nd from the Moon — and is read as that support being harder to receive. A chart cannot have both from the same Jupiter and Moon.

Living with it

The cart-wheel image describes cycles: periods of ease and of effort. Astrologers often find the yoga most noticeable in the Moon and Jupiter dashas. Building stable routines, savings and relationships — things that keep the cart moving through the low turns of the wheel — is the practical counsel.

What weakens or cancels it

Cancelled (in most texts) when the Moon is in an angle from the ascendant; also weakened when Jupiter is strong and aspects the ascendant.

Background

The cart image fits: wheels turn, and what is low rises. The yoga is the mirror of Gajakesari — Jupiter in an angle from the Moon supports the mind; Jupiter in the 6th, 8th or 12th from it (the Moon in the 6th, 8th or 12th from Jupiter) does not.

When it gives results

A yoga gives its results mainly in the dashas of the planets that form it. Here that means the mahadashas and antardashas of Moon, Jupiter (Vimshottari mahadasha lengths: Moon 10 years; Jupiter 16 years). Within those periods, transits of Jupiter and Saturn over the planets or houses involved often mark the moments when the yoga becomes visible.

Checking it in a chart

To judge this yoga in a real chart, Sunyra checks, in order: that the formation rule is met exactly (by sign, using whole-sign houses); the dignity of Moon, Jupiter by sign and in the navamsa; combustion, retrogression and planetary war; aspects from natural benefics and malefics; the houses the planets rule for the ascendant; Shadbala strength; and the running and coming dashas. A yoga that passes these checks is described with confidence; one that does not is described as weak or partial.

How to read it honestly

Like every yoga, this one describes a potential. Whether and when it shows depends on the strength of the planets involved, the houses they rule, aspects from benefics and malefics, the divisional charts, and the dashas of the planets that form it. Classical texts list hundreds of yogas, and most charts contain several; no single yoga decides a life.

These yogas are often read alongside this one:

  • Gajakesari Yoga — Gajakesari yoga — 'elephant and lion' — forms when Jupiter is in an angle (1st, 4th, 7th or 10th) from the Moon.
  • Kemadruma Yoga — Kemadruma yoga forms when there are no planets in the signs on either side of the Moon (the 2nd and 12th from it).
  • Sunapha, Anapha and Durudhara Yogas — Sunapha, Anapha and Durudhara are the three lunar yogas formed by planets beside the Moon.
  • Adhi Yoga — Adhi yoga forms when the natural benefics — Mercury, Jupiter and Venus — occupy the 6th, 7th and 8th signs from the Moon.
  • Chandra-Mangala Yoga — Chandra-Mangala yoga forms when the Moon and Mars are together in one sign (and, in some texts, in mutual aspect).

FAQ

Is Shakata yoga bad? It is traditionally a mild, fluctuating influence and is often cancelled.

What cancels Shakata yoga? Most commonly, the Moon in an angle from the ascendant.

Sources

  1. Phaladeepika of Mantreswara, ch. 6 (yogas)

Written by Sunyra Editorial. Astrology is a tradition of interpretation; read this as guidance, not a forecast. Disclaimer.

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