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In short: Kartari means 'scissors'. A house, planet or the ascendant is in shubha kartari when benefics occupy the signs on both sides of it, and in papa kartari when malefics do. Benefics on both sides protect; malefics on both sides squeeze.

The rule

Shubha kartari: natural benefics occupy both the 2nd and 12th from a house (or planet). Papa kartari: natural malefics occupy both the 2nd and 12th from it. The rule is most often applied to the ascendant and to the Moon.

What it means

Shubha kartari around the ascendant is classically a picture of protection and comfort; papa kartari a picture of pressure and obstacles, especially to health or peace of mind when applied to the lagna or Moon.

Kartari around the ascendant

The most important application is to the ascendant itself. With benefics in both the 12th and 2nd houses, the lagna is in shubha kartari: classically a picture of protection, good health and support. With malefics in both, it is in papa kartari: pressure on the body and on one's freedom of action. Because the 12th and 2nd are the houses either side of the self, the image of scissors — opening or closing — is apt.

Kartari around the Moon and other houses

Applied to the Moon, papa kartari is read as pressure on the mind and shubha kartari as emotional support; the lunar yogas Sunapha, Anapha and Durudhara describe the same positions with attention to which planets are involved. Any house can be judged this way: the 7th hemmed by benefics, for example, is classically good for partnership; hemmed by malefics, it asks for more care.

Which planets count

Natural benefics are Jupiter, Venus, a bright Moon and an unafflicted Mercury; natural malefics are Saturn, Mars, the Sun, Rahu, Ketu and an afflicted Mercury. Authors differ on the Sun (most count it as a malefic here) and on whether aspects to the neighbouring houses also form kartari. When a benefic sits in the hemmed house itself, or Jupiter aspects it, papa kartari is softened.

What weakens or cancels it

A benefic in the hemmed house itself, or Jupiter's aspect on it, softens papa kartari.

When it gives results

A lordship yoga gives its results in the dashas of the planets that form it in the individual chart — the house lords named in the rule. Their Vimshottari mahadashas range from 6 years (the Sun) to 20 (Venus); a yoga whose planets' dashas fall in childhood or very late in life is felt less than one whose dashas run in the active years. Transits of Jupiter and Saturn over the planets or houses involved often mark the moments when it 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 the planets that form it 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:

  • Amala Yoga — Amala ('spotless') yoga forms when a natural benefic — Jupiter, Venus, Mercury or a bright Moon — occupies the 10th house from the ascendant or from the Moon.
  • Parvata Yoga — Parvata ('mountain') yoga is traditionally linked with prosperity, generosity and fame.
  • Chamara Yoga — Chamara yoga — named for the royal fly-whisk — is traditionally linked with honour, learning and eloquence.
  • Vasumati Yoga — Vasumati yoga — 'possessing wealth' — forms when natural benefics occupy the upachaya (growth) houses, the 3rd, 6th, 10th and 11th, counted from the ascendant or the Moon.
  • Saraswati Yoga — Saraswati yoga, named after the goddess of learning and the arts, forms when the three benefics — Jupiter, Venus and Mercury — occupy angles, trines or the 2nd house, with Jupiter well dignified.

FAQ

What is papa kartari on the Moon? Malefics in the 2nd and 12th from the Moon, read as pressure on the mind.

Does the Sun count as a malefic here? In most authors' practice, yes.

Sources

  1. Phaladeepika of Mantreswara, ch. 6 (yogas)
  2. Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, ch. 36 (Santhanam)

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

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