How to read Navamsa divisional chart (Part: 1)

Navamsa is, perhaps, the most well-known divisional chart and for a good reason, as it deals with love relationships, marriage and all things related, which is understandably important for many people. In a nutshell, navamsa (or ninth divisional chart, d-9) reflects our belief system, our inner system of coordinates, which acts as an individual’s moral compass in life. With that in mind, it is easy to understand why we need it to see information about spouse and marriage in general. You can only be with a person who fits into your belief system one way or another. Technically it is done the same way as with the rashi chart, we must examine 7^th house, planets that occupy it\aspect it and its lord, its position, strength, conjunctions and aspects.

But navamsa is so much more. After all, not all people marry or have romantic relationships, but everyone is affected by their d-9 chart. I would say that everyone is defined by their d-9 chart to a large degree, because it shows what we aspire to and believe in, which largely defines our life and personality. Ability to understand ourselves better is a great gift of astrology and navamsa divisional chart in particular. One great and quite simple technique to do that is to look at trikona houses in navamsa.

Carefully examine the navamsa lagna and its lord, to get an idea of what you are focusing on in this life and what kind of personality you naturally gravitate to. Then look at the 5^th and the 9^th houses and their lords. The 9^th house specifically shows your life philosophy and direction you want to walk in, the life path. The 5^th house shows where you seek power in your life to achieve what you want and how you utilize that power. It also shows your intellectual capacity to follow the righteous path, the path of dharma. The importance of these houses is hard to overstate. Other houses in navamsa are too, of course, very important, but examining that triangle is absolutely required if you expect to get revelations about the destiny of a person in question.

Examining signs of planets in navamsa is of utmost importance (like in any other divisional chart) because they reveal the strength and potential of planets in navamsa to do what is right and follow dharma. Grahas that are placed in detrimental signs, such as natural enemy sign, or sign of debilitation tend to deviate from dharma or righteous path and thus create problems. Strong planets sign-wise tend to be much more reliable in the long run. In practice, of course, almost in any chart there will be mixed situations when planets are, for example, in a good sign, but at the same time in inauspicious or difficult houses or vice versa. As a rule of thumb, such positions usually give mixed results and other factors become important to better pinpoint the results, such as whether a planet in question is a functional benefic or malefic for a given ascendant, what planets it is conjunct with or receives aspects from and its overall strength in a horoscope.

The best point of reference in navamsa (karakamsa is a topic for another day), as always, is ascendant, but the birth time has to be quite accurate. Sun and Moon can be taken as secondary points of reference too, which is true for any divisional chart and a rashi chart itself. There are several schools of thought regarding navamsa calculations, but I, personally, use classic navamsa, as defined by maharishi Parashara in his Hora Shastra. 

Part 2: https://arcaneglow.wordpress.com/2023/11/16/how-to-read-navamsa-divisional-chart-part-2/

Part 3: https://arcaneglow.wordpress.com/2023/11/18/how-to-read-navamsa-divisional-chart-part-3/