Graha Strength & Dignity

Graha Friendships

Whose house a graha is standing in matters as much as which house.

A sign belongs to somebody

Every sign has a lord — so whenever a graha isn't in its own sign, it is a guest in someone else's. Whether the host is friendly matters.

A graha in a friend's sign is welcomed and supported. In an enemy's sign it is working against the household. In a neutral's sign, neither.

This is naisargika maitri — natural friendship. It is fixed and doesn't change from chart to chart.

The friendship table

Read a row as "this graha regards…":

| | Friends | Enemies | Neutral |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | Moon, Mars, Jupiter | Venus, Saturn | Mercury |
| Moon | Sun, Mercury | — | Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn |
| Mars | Sun, Moon, Jupiter | Mercury | Venus, Saturn |
| Mercury | Sun, Venus | Moon | Mars, Jupiter, Saturn |
| Jupiter | Sun, Moon, Mars | Mercury, Venus | Saturn |
| Venus | Mercury, Saturn | Sun, Moon | Mars, Jupiter |
| Saturn | Mercury, Venus | Sun, Moon, Mars | Jupiter |

The Moon has no enemies — the only graha of which that's true.

Friendship is not always mutual

Look carefully at Mercury and the Moon. Mercury regards the Moon as an enemy, but the Moon regards Mercury as a friend. It runs one way.

So always read the table in the right direction: you want how the visiting graha regards its host, not the reverse. Ask "whose sign is this, and what does my graha think of them?"

The luminaries-vs-Saturn/Venus split

There's a shape hiding in the table. The Sun and Moon (light, visibility, the personal) sit on one side; Saturn and Venus (structure, pleasure, the impersonal) on the other — and those two camps are mutually hostile.

Meanwhile Jupiter befriends the luminaries and Mars but is cool toward Mercury and Venus; Mercury leans toward the Sun and Venus. Seeing the camps makes the table far easier to hold than 21 separate pairs.

The nodes are left out

Rahu and Ketu don't appear in the friendship table. Their relationships vary substantially between traditions, and this app follows a school that treats the nodes separately rather than forcing them into Parashara's grid.

When you see a node in someone's sign, judge it by the node's own nature and the house involved — not by a friendship rating.

Remember it

Sun & Moon on one side; Saturn & Venus on the other; the Moon hates nobody; Mercury and the Moon disagree about each other. Four facts, most of the table.

Terms introduced here

Natural friendship

Grahas are natural friends, neutrals or enemies. Sitting in a friend's sign helps; an enemy's sign hinders.