Mars in Pisces: a friend's sign in water, and the Rajayoga case for a Cancer Lagna

Mars in Pisces puts Mars in the mutable water sign of Jupiter, the last sign of the zodiac and the one just before Aries, Mars's own. Jupiter is a natural friend of Mars in the classical tables, so Pisces is a friend's sign for Mars by nature, the same grade as Sagittarius, Jupiter's other sign.

The texts pull in different directions here. Saravali's sign line is hard; Bhrigu Sutras' commentary singles out Mars in Pisces for a Cancer Lagna as a powerful Rajayoga. The difference is method: one describes the sign, the other the houses Mars rules.

This page covers only the combination. For Mars as a graha - its significations, aspects, strength and dashas - see Mars in Vedic astrology. For the sign itself - its element, its nakshatras and what a rising Pisces means - see Pisces, Meena Rashi. This page is a map of rules, not a forecast about anyone.

Mars in Pisces: dignity, and how this app decides it

Pisces holds none of Mars's special dignities. BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 49-50 sets its exaltation in Capricorn and its debilitation in Cancer; Sl. 51-54 gives its Moolatrikona as Aries 0-12, the sign right after Pisces; its own signs are Aries and Scorpio. Pisces is Venus's exaltation sign, which matters for Venus, not for Mars. See Mars in Aries, Mars in Capricorn and Mars in Cancer.

Bhrigu Sutras' Mars chapter lists the Sun, the Moon and Jupiter as Mars's friends, and this app's table agrees. With no chart the engine marks every degree of Pisces a Friendly sign - a quarter of the good effects on BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 59-60's scale. The scale is under dignity.

How the engine decides

The function that labels every planet in your chart, dignityOf, runs its tests in a fixed order: exaltation first, then Moolatrikona, then debilitation, then own sign, and only then the relation between the planet and the sign's lord. Pisces is not Mars's exaltation, Moolatrikona, debilitation or own sign, so every degree of it falls through to the last test: the relation between Mars and Jupiter, the lord of Pisces. Jupiter is a natural friend of Mars, so with no chart every degree of Pisces reads Friendly sign, with no boundary inside the sign.

Why the label can differ from chart to chart

The table above is the natural relation alone, which is what the engine uses when it has no chart. In a real chart it uses the fivefold relation of BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 57-58: the natural relation (naisargika maitri) combined with a temporary one (tatkalika maitri). BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 56 makes two grahas temporary friends when one sits in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th or 12th sign from the other, and temporary enemies otherwise. So the question for Mars in Pisces is simply where Jupiter sits, counted from Pisces.

Friend by nature and friend by position give Great Friend, shown as Friendly sign; friend by nature and enemy by position cancel into Neutral. So in a real chart Mars in Pisces reads Friendly sign when Jupiter is in Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Sagittarius, Capricorn or Aquarius (the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th or 12th from Pisces), and Neutral when Jupiter is in Pisces itself or in Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra or Scorpio. It is never Enemy sign in this engine.

The nakshatras Mars moves through in Pisces

Pisces holds the last pada of Purva Bhadrapada and all four padas of Uttara Bhadrapada and of Revati. The label is the same in each. The nakshatra pages go further: Purva Bhadrapada, Uttara Bhadrapada and Revati.

What the classical texts say about Mars in Pisces

Saravali Ch. 25 Sl. 23-24

Saravali's line for Mars in Pisces is hard. In paraphrase: life in foreign lands, insult from one's own relatives, loss of wealth through cunning dealings, low spirits and much unhappiness, unkindness and disrespect towards elders, and a liking for praise - though the line ends by calling the person famous. It also mentions illness; that is the text's statement, not medical advice.

It follows the bleak Aquarius line of Sl. 21-22 and leads into the generous Aries line of Sl. 1-2, so the last three signs of Saravali's sequence run from poor to poor to excellent. See Mars in Aquarius for the sign before.

Saravali Ch. 25 Sl. 55-60: the aspect lines

Saravali reads Mars in either Jupiter sign, Sagittarius or Pisces, under each aspect, so Pisces shares these lines with Sagittarius. In brief:

• Sun: wide honour and good fortune, at home in forests, hills and forts, and cruel in the text's word.
• Moon: belligerent and learned, at odds with authority.
• Mercury: a scholar, skilful, learned in the fine arts.
• Jupiter: wealth, a love of exercise and safety from enemies, but little domestic happiness in the text's words.
• Venus: popularity with women, love of adornment, generosity and good fortune.
• Saturn: a wandering and unhappy life, with interest in other faiths.

For a placement whose sign line is hard, the Mercury, Venus and Sun lines are the text's main qualifiers. Jupiter, the lord, can aspect Pisces only from the 5th, 7th or 9th sign before it - Cancer, Virgo or Scorpio - all temporary-enemy positions, so whenever Saravali's Jupiter line applies, this engine labels the same Mars Neutral.

BPHS and Bhrigu Sutras

BPHS has no character line for Mars in Pisces. Its rules make the label, and its ratio (Ch. 3 Sl. 59-60) gives a quarter of the good effects in a friend's sign, an eighth in an equal's.

Bhrigu Sutras gives the placement its strongest reading. In its commentary on Mars in the 9th house, it lists a Cancer Lagna with Mars in the 9th as lord of the 5th and 10th - which places Mars in Pisces - among the cases where its adverse reading of Mars in the 9th does not apply, and says that disposition gives "a powerful Rajayoga". This app's yoga-karaka table, from BPHS Ch. 34, also names Mars the yoga karaka for a Cancer Lagna.

Where the texts agree, and where they part

• Agreed: Jupiter is a natural friend of Mars, so Pisces is a friend's sign (Bhrigu Sutras, Mars chapter; this engine's table).
• Apart: Saravali's sign line is hard; Bhrigu Sutras reads Mars in Pisces as a Rajayoga for a Cancer Lagna because of lordship.
• Different questions: Saravali's Jupiter-aspect line and this engine's Friendly label never meet on the same chart.
• Silent: BPHS has no sign-by-sign character line for Mars.

How Pisces changes the houses Mars rules and sits in

The Lagna decides which house Pisces is and which two houses Mars rules. Whole-sign houses make the mapping exact:

For a Cancer Lagna, Pisces is the 9th - the Bhrigu Sutras Rajayoga case. For a Pisces Lagna, Mars sits in the 1st as lord of the 2nd and 9th, and this app's table names it a yoga karaka for Pisces too. For a Taurus Lagna, as in the example below, Mars sits in the 11th as lord of the 7th and 12th. The house pages, such as Mars in the 11th house and Mars in the 1st house, go further.

Worked example: 28 January 1985, 13:51 IST, New Delhi

An illustrative birth, not a real person, computed in this app's engine. Taurus rises at 20.77 degrees. Mars is at 2.3 degrees of Pisces, in Purva Bhadrapada pada 4, in the 11th house, neither retrograde nor combust. The engine labels it a Friendly sign.

Dignity. Jupiter, the lord of Pisces, is at 4.22 degrees of Capricorn. Counted from Pisces, Capricorn is the 11th sign, a temporary-friend position under BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 56. Friend by nature plus friend by position gives Great Friend under Sl. 57-58, shown as Friendly sign.

Company. Venus shares Pisces with Mars, at 1.62 degrees, under a degree away, and is labelled Exalted - Pisces is Venus's exaltation sign. Saravali's Sl. 55-60 lines are for aspects, so the Venus line does not apply to a Venus in the same sign.

Lordship. For a Taurus Lagna, Mars rules the 7th (Scorpio) and the 12th (Aries) and sits in the 11th, a house of gains.

Aspects. Using this engine's aspect rule, none of the seven grahas reaches the 11th: the Sun, Mercury and Jupiter in the 9th aspect the 3rd (Jupiter also the 1st and 5th); the Moon in the 12th aspects the 6th; Saturn in the 7th aspects the 1st, 9th and 4th. So only the bare sign line of Sl. 23-24 applies.

How often Mars is in Pisces

Across 3,000 sampled birth moments 1985-2060, Mars was in Pisces in 214 of them, 7.1 per cent. That is a property of the sky in the sample, not a count of people. The share differs from sign to sign because Mars moves unevenly - a retrograde loop can hold it in one sign for months - and the sample years decide where those loops fall.

Checking Mars in Pisces in your own chart

1. 1.Cast your chart with the Birth Chart calculator. Confirm Mars is in Pisces and read the dignity label in its row.
2. 2.Note where Jupiter sits, counted from Pisces. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th or 12th sign gives Friendly sign; any other gives Neutral.
3. 3.Note the houses Aries and Scorpio occupy; for a Cancer Lagna, Mars in Pisces is the Bhrigu Sutras Rajayoga case.
4. 4.List any planet in Virgo (the 7th from Pisces), Jupiter in Scorpio or Cancer, and Saturn in Capricorn or Sagittarius. Only those bring a Saravali Ch. 25 Sl. 55-60 line into play.
5. 5.Look at strength with the Shad Bala calculator, and timing with the Vimshottari Dasha calculator and the Mars Mahadasha page.

Is Mars strong in Pisces?

By dignity it is mid-to-good: a friend's sign, a quarter of the good effects in BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 59-60. It is not exalted (Capricorn) or in its own sign (Aries, Scorpio).

Why does my chart show Mars in Pisces as Neutral?

Because Jupiter sits in a temporary-enemy position from Pisces (the 1st, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th or 9th), and friend by nature plus enemy by position gives Neutral (BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 57-58).

Is Mars in Pisces a Rajayoga?

Bhrigu Sutras' commentary reads it so for a Cancer Lagna, where Mars in Pisces is in the 9th as lord of the 5th and 10th. For other Lagnas it gives no such reading.

What does Saravali say about Mars in Pisces?

Ch. 25 Sl. 23-24 gives a hard line - foreign residence, quarrels with relatives, loss of wealth, low spirits - ending with fame. Sl. 55-60 reads a Mercury, Venus or Sun aspect more favourably.

How common is Mars in Pisces?

In this app's sample Mars was in Pisces in 214 of 3,000 sampled birth moments 1985-2060, 7.1 per cent.