The Big Article from Author @ Lunarium Web Site .

1. I am a dedicatedstudent of astrologysince the
end of the 1980s-- that’s a good amount of time.
I have learned and tried most of the approaches
and techniques of the contemporaryWestern
astrology, and there is hardlya feature in both
modern and traditional Western astrology
which I wouldn’t be at least superficially
familiar with. Still, all those years I couldn’t find
an answer to one simple question: why Mercury
is so overwhelminglyprominent in my life? All
major moves, changesand achievementsin my
life can be attributed to my Mercury. I could fill
several pages with illustrationsto this statement,
here are only a few:
 The knowledgeof foreign language proved
to be extremelyimportant in my life, it
opened for me many doors.
 Programmingof all kinds alwaysthrilled
me, and still does.

2.  I love writing, and I’ve written in my life a
large number of articles and several books --
still more are coming.
 I am an eternal student. I will be 55 this
year, and I am still studying towardsan MA
-- that’s alreadyhavingan MSc with
Distinction. And even when not studying at
a university, I am still learningsomething:
Reiki, Jyotish, Reconnection, homeopathy,
new programminglanguagesand
technologies…
Yet, all Western astrologycould say about my
Mercury is that it is both in fall and in detriment,
which means it isn’t a good quality Mercury,
and it isn’t particularlystrong in any sense.
Which is strange, some important bit of
knowledgeseems to be missing. It was only
when I decided to learn some of Jyotish (Vedic
astrology), I discovered that Mercury is my
Atmakaraka,and that answered all my
questions.
My first familiaritywith Jyotish is dated by the
beginningof the 1990s, but the sources of
information werescarce then, and I didn’t

3. progress far. A few years ago I decided to learn
more of Jyotish, and so I subscribed for a
correspondencecourse with the Dirah
Academy. Don’t be confused by the outdated
look of their website, their courses are brilliant.I
eventuallytook them all, and I can
wholeheartedlyrecommend them to anyone
interested in learningJyotish. You will not
learn all of Jyotish, that’s for sure, as it is
enormous, it has many very different astrologies
as its parts. But you will become comfortable
with a number of fascinatingideas, and you will
have a chance to explore them well on the
example of your own chart.
The Advanced Techniquesmodule of the Dirah
course taught me that
. In the
consequent years, as a result of communication
with different people teachingor practicing
Jyotish, I came to understandthat Atmakaraka
is the best kept secret of Vedic Astrology. If you
want to comprehend someone’sabilities, desires
and problems, find out his or her Atmakaraka,
and you will learn a lot. But how do you exactly

4. find it, and what precisely is this all-important
factor?
How to Find Your Atmakaraka
The easiest way to discover your Atmakarakais
to use the AtmakarakaCalculator.However, if
you know some astrologyand want to learn
how the calculationis performed,you can do it
yourself in a few easy steps.
Technically, Atmakarakais a planet that is in the
highest degree, no matter what sign, in the
sidereal zodiac. Only one of these eight can be
the Atmakaraka: the Sun, the Moon, Mercury,
Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn or Rahu (aka the
North, or Ascending, Moon’sNode in Western
astrology). With Rahu, however, the rule works
slightly differently. But let me start from the
basics.
First of all, we need to find out the planets’
positions in the zodiac. This is easy to do using
the tropical zodiacof Western astrology. Here
is a free chart calculator on one of my websites.
Calculateyour chart, then list the positions of
the mentionedeight planets.

5. I will cheat here and use a chart that was already
calculated,from a wonderful source of
astrologicalinformation,Astro Databank. This is
a chart of Emily Bronte. The positions of her
planets are:
 The Sun: 6.46 Leo
 The Moon: 8.01 Cancer
 Mercury: 20.36 Leo
 Venus: 12.15 Virgo
 Mars: 11.56 Virgo
 Jupiter: 4.37 Capricorn
 Saturn: 17.28 Pisces
 Rahu: 3.58 Taurus
Now we need to translatethese positions to the
sidereal zodiacused in Jyotish. For that, we
need to subtract the differencebetween the
sidereal and the tropical zodiacs, aka
Ayanamsha (you can also see this word spelled
as Ayanamsa, or ayanamsa). Here we have a
little problem: Ayanamsha isn’t a constant, it
keeps slowly increasingover time (by 1 degree
in 72 years). Here is, however, an online
Ayanamsha calculator for you, just enter your
date of birth and press the Calculatebutton.

6. Which of the Ayanamshasto use, I hear you
asking? Just take the first one, Lahiri, it is the
most widelyused.
Emily’s dateof birth is the 30th of July 1818, and
so her Ayanamsha is 21:19:25or, rounded, 21:19.
Now let’s subtract this value from the positions
of Emily’s planets.
(There is a convenient online calculatorfor
subtractingdegrees and minutes, if you need it.)
Here is the result:
 The Sun: 15.27 Cancer
 The Moon: 16.42 Gemini
 Mercury: 29.17 Cancer
 Venus: 20.56 Leo
 Mars: 20.37 Leo
 Jupiter: 13.18 Sagittarius
 Saturn: 26.09 Aquarius
 Rahu: 12.39 Aries
Now, with Rahu there is a nuance. Since its
normal direction in the zodiacis opposite to that
of planets, when calculatingthe Atmakarakawe
need to subtract Rahu’s position from 30, and
use the result in the comparison. So here:

7. Rahu’s calculated degree: 17.21
Finally, we find the planet whose degreeis the
highest. In Emily’s exampleit’s Mercury. So
Mercury is her Atmakaraka.
But why Atmakaraka is so important?In the
next section I will offer you a collection of
opinions from different authoritativesources of
information about Jyotish.
Why Atmakaraka is So
Important?
Roeland de Looff, the author of the Dirah
AcademyJyotish courses, wrote that
He also
recommended to pay attention to the house of
the horoscopewhere Atmakarakais located.
‘This is the main house in which karmic
experiences workout, and are worked out. This
house will certainlybe a very important house
for you, but it may not alwaysgive the easiest
experiences’.

8. Hart de Fouw and Robert Svoboda explained in
their book Light on Life. An Introductionto the
Astrology of India that the important factor is
how far the planet has advancedin the sign it is
in. So Atmakarakais the most advanced of all
planets, it shows whereon our path through
numerous incarnationswe’ve accumulatedthe
most experience.
Visti Larsen wrotein his book Jyotisa.
Fundamentals. My Master’s Words that
Atmakaraka ‘showsone’s soul’s purpose and
that which is important in one’s life’. He also
explained that the true goal of all souls is
liberation from the repeated births.
However, before one can attain this goal, one has
to undergo a series of events to unlearn some of
the negative traits that cause repeated bondage
in this world.
The bondage of the soul is indicated by the
planet becoming the Chara Atmakaraka. How

9. one faces these lessons is indicated by the house
placement of the Chara Atmakaraka.
Freedom Tobias Cole wrote in the first volume
of his fundamental
amongthe planets.

10. The Atmakarakaplanetshows the personalized
nature of the individual’ssoul. It shows the soul color
or soul flavour of that particular person. It is the
planetthat we have the most karma to work with in
this life. When we speak about the nature of a
person’ssoul we utilize the Atmakarakaplanet.
Both Visti Larsen and Freedom Cole gave
recommendationsto those who have a
particular planet for the Atmakaraka. These
recommendationswill be listed in the next
section, marked with the authors’ initials.
Advice for Different Planets as
Atmakaraka
The Sun Atmakaraka
{FC}: When the Sun becomes AK it indicatesthe
individual will hold a deep value for power,
position, and respect. This indicatesthe person
has to learn humility to overcometheir karma
associated with ego.
{VL}: Ego, self-importance, ideals, name,
reputation become the pivotal issues in the
native’s life, and he should learn to subdue his
own ego.

11. The Moon Atmakaraka
{FC}: Indicatesthat the individualshould be
very caringand compassionate, and family and
social life are important. The person needs to
overcomesmall family attachment and realize
the wholeworld is one’s family.
{VL}: Emotionsand compassion towardsothers
becomes a big issue. Due to excessive emotional
dependence,the native may alwaysbe looking
for relationships, or relationshipswill be looking
for them.
Mars Atmakaraka
{FC}: Indicatesthat the individualmay be
competitiveor aggressive. They need to learn to
have playful competition and refrain from all
forms of violencefollowingthe path of non-
violence (ahimsa).
{VL}: Short temper, or excessive anger/violence
may be expressed or experienced by the native,
and the nativeshould make a conscious step to

12. throw away any weapons and grudges and
learn the path of non-violenceor ahimsa.
Mercury Atmakaraka
{FC}: Indicatesthe individualis very interested
in communication (such as mail) and
information (such as books). The person needs
to control their speech, debateless, and be
truthful at all times.
{VL}: When to speak and when not to speak
becomes a major issue either for the native or
his/her social circle. Such people should be
particularlycareful of what they say, and to
whom they say it.
Jupiter Atmakaraka
{FC}: Indicatesthat the individualhas an affinity
for expansiveness and wisdom. The person
needs to be open to others’ opinions, and should
always respect the Guru, husband and care for
children.
{VL}: The most important issue for such people
is whom they consider as a teacher/guideand
whom they do not consider. Such people should

13. learn to respect their teachers and elders. There
is a risk of the person neglectingtheir spouse, or
suffering separation from their spouse. They
should care well for their children.
Venus Atmakaraka
{FC}: Indicatesthat the individualis concerned
about aesthetics, music and creativity. The
person needs to control their sexual energy, and
refrain from lust and illegitimatesex.
{VL}: Relationshipsand sex becomes a major
issue for such people. The person should always
try to maintainpurity in relations, and not to
overindulge.
Saturn Atmakaraka
{FC}: Indicatesthat the person will see sorrow in
their life and understandthe suffering of others.
They need to practice not giving others sorrow
but instead share the sorrow of others.
{VL}: Either the nativesees a lot of sorrow in life,
or gives a lot of sorrow to others. The native
should learn to take away the sorrow of others,
but not give sorrow to others.

14. Rahu Atmakaraka
{FC}: Indicatesthat the individualmaybe
cheated often or not conscious of situations that
they becameentangled within. They need to
practice good discernment and refrainingfrom
deception.
{VL}: The person trusts others too easily, and as
a result often finds himself cheated or deceived,
and a risk is there that the same person may
cheat others in return in a never-endingcycle of
cheating. The person should learn to accept
deceit and move on. Foreign people/places also
have a vital role to say with this graha.
This Is What Your Soul Desires
The brief adviceof the previous section might be
helpful as a startingpoint in your quest of
discoveringyour Atmakaraka, but I would like
to warn you against an attitudelike you need to
suppress the manifestationsof the Atmakaraka
planet, or to act against it. I remember speaking
to Sarbani Rath, the wife of a well known Jyotish
Guru Sanjay Rath, and a Jyotishi herself. I
mentionedthat I am trying to do so many things

15. at once, and I would probablyachieved more if I
was able to concentrateon a single thing at the
expense of everythingelse. She answered:but
this is the desire of your soul, to do many
different things! Those who have Mercury
Atmakaraka do need to have many gods! Since
then, it became so much easier for me to fully
enjoy the limitless world of knowledge.
Please understandthat the Atmakarakais the
focal point of your life’s experience. This is
where you fulfil you destiny, where you work
out your karma most efficiently. This is a
blessing and a curse at the same time, as your
Atmakaraka brings you the most important
lessons, and you can’t avoid failing those lessons
from time to time as that’s an inseparablepart of
learning. Do not blame yourself for those
failures, but do learn your lessons well.
What I would suggest you is to learn everything
you can find about the planet which is your
Atmakaraka.Each planet has a multitude of
meaningsand attributionsin astrology. Next,
think of the most importantevents in your life,
both positive and negative. Can you see those

16. events as lessons of your Atmakaraka?Can you
understandwhat you were taught then? If you
didn’t learn the lesson the first time, maybe you
can see its essence now?
Learn what are the most important powers
given to you by your Atmakaraka, and from
now on try to live in such a way that you rely on
those powers and use them more and more.
Again, you won’t be guaranteedfrom mistakes,
and since the lessons are important,the price
you might have to pay for your mistakes can be
substantial. But this is how you burn your
karma most efficiently, and let the flame be
bright! Try to raise the vibrationsof everything
related to your Atmakaraka, workon this
consistently.
I would be delightedto hear about your
experience, and your findings. I suggest the best
way to keep in touch is for you to subscribe to
the Lunarium Newsletter. This way you will
always know what I am workingon, and you’ll
be able to easily ask a question or provide a
feedbackby replying to one of the emails.

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