Moon in the 7th house: the Moon opposite the Ascendant, in the house of partnership

A Moon in the 7th house sits directly opposite the Ascendant, and its one aspect falls back on the Lagna. That makes this the placement in which a natural benefic, by BPHS's own count, looks straight at the house of the body. BPHS Ch. 12 Sl. 4 reads a Lagna aspected by a benefic as bodily comfort. Whether the Moon is that benefic depends, as it always does, on its phase.

The verses on the Moon in the 7th turn on the same hinge. Saravali gives an amiable, happy, well-built native and a pitiable, weak one for a weak Moon. The Bhrigu Sutras give soft speech, a late marriage and royal favour, then one wife or the loss of a wife by the Moon's strength, and their commentary says a benefic Moon gives good results for the 7th and a malefic Moon bad. And BPHS has one marriage verse that names the Moon in the 7th, with two other conditions attached. This page sets them out with the lordship layer and the app's reading. For the planet see the Moon in Vedic astrology; for the house, the 7th house, Yuvati Bhava.

The house of partnership, travel and trade

BPHS Ch. 11 Sl. 8: "Wife, travel, trade, loss of sight, death etc. be known from Yuvati Bhava." Five items, of which marriage is one; death is the Maraka role, explained in Ch. 44. Saravali names the house Stri and Kama, the wife and desire. The Bhrigu Sutras edition's significations list (p. 15) widens it to a partner of either sex, a business partner, legal bonds, influence in foreign countries, and "danger to life". BPHS Ch. 32 Sl. 31-34 make Venus the house's fixed significator, and Ch. 7 assigns the spouse to the Navamsa.

The 7th is a Kendra, the descendant. BPHS Ch. 34 Sl. 2-7 add that "Yuvati and Karm Bhava are specially for happiness", and that benefics owning Kendras do not give benefic effects while malefics owning them do not remain inauspicious. Ch. 34 Sl. 8-10 rank the Moon as the least affected of the four benefics by that Kendra rule. It applies to the Moon as owner of an angle: for Aries rising (4th), Cancer rising (1st), Libra rising (10th) and Capricorn rising (7th).

What the verses say

Saravali Ch. 30 Sloka 20

The verse (pp. 101-102): the native "will be amiable, happy, will possess a good physique and be sensuously disposed. If the weak Moon is in 7th, the native will be pitiable and weak." The Moon sits with Mercury and Jupiter among the planets Saravali reads well in the 7th, against the Sun, Mars and Saturn (Sl. 8, 32, 80), which it reads harshly with no condition. The Moon's verse is the only one of the benefics' to carry its own reversal clause.

The Bhrigu Sutras, Sutras 41-46

The sutras (p. 39): the native will be soft-spoken and marry in his 32nd year; he will have some defect in his eyes and be fond of women, and the text names surgery arising from contact with women; he will receive favours from the government. If the 7th lord is powerful, two wives; if the Moon is weak (waning), "there will be loss of wife"; if the Moon is full, powerful or in its own sign, "only one wife" and all comforts. These are the text's statements, not forecasts or medical advice.

The commentator (p. 39) holds that a benefic Moon gives good effects in the 7th and that the delay and other ill effects arise only under malefic influence, and his closing Note (p. 40) puts it in one line: a benefic Moon gives good results for the 7th, a malefic Moon bad. In the language of these texts a malefic Moon means a waning one (BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 11; Saravali Ch. 4 Sl. 9). So the sutras, the commentary and Saravali all turn on the same condition.

BPHS Ch. 18 Sloka 18

The one BPHS marriage verse that names the Moon in the 7th: lack of marital happiness when the Moon is in the 7th, the 7th lord is in the 12th, and Venus, the karaka, is "bereft of strength". All three conditions are required. With the Moon in the 7th, the 7th lord is the lord of the Moon's sign, so the verse also asks where that planet has gone and how strong Venus is.

Phase, in numbers

Since the readings turn on whether the Moon is weak or malefic, the measure matters. A note by the BPHS translator after Ch. 3 Sl. 11, attributed to the Yavanas, grades the Moon by its distance ahead of the Sun: medium up to 120 degrees, very auspicious from 120 to 240, without strength from 240 back to 0. Saravali Ch. 5 Sl. 16-17 states the same in lunar days, ten tithis to a band.

Two consequences follow for this house. The first five days of the dark fortnight are "waning" by paksha but inside the strongest band, so a Moon just past full is not the weak Moon of Saravali's reversal by that measure. And the translator's note adds that a waning Moon joined or aspected by a benefic turns benefic, which gives the commentary's "malefic Moon" an exit. A Moon opposite the Sun, the full Moon, sits in the middle of the strongest band, and in the 7th house it means the Sun is in the 1st.

The Moon phase calculator gives the elongation for your birth moment. This app does not use it for the house line: the engine counts the Moon a benefic whatever its phase.

The Moon's aspect on the Lagna

Every planet aspects the 7th sign from itself, and the Moon has no other full aspect (BPHS Ch. 26). From the 7th, aspectedHouses('moon', 7) returns [1]: the Moon aspects the Ascendant. BPHS Ch. 12 speaks to aspects on the Lagna. Sl. 3: bodily health suffers if the Lagna or the Moon is aspected by or joined with a malefic while having no benefic aspect. Sl. 4: the body is comfortable if the Lagna is aspected by or joined with a benefic.

A waxing Moon in the 7th is therefore the benefic aspect Sl. 4 asks for, and the benefic aspect that offsets a malefic one under Sl. 3. A waning Moon, counted a malefic, would fall on the other side of Sl. 3. The engine counts the Moon as a benefic, so its aspect raises the Shad Bala of any planet in your 1st. See the 1st house and the Moon in the 1st, where the same Moon sits in the Lagna instead.

The Moon in a Maraka house

BPHS Ch. 44 makes the 7th and 2nd the Marak Bhavas, the 12th from the two houses of longevity, and Sl. 3 names as Marakas the lords of the 2nd and 7th, malefics placed in those houses, and malefics joined to those lords. A waxing Moon in the 7th is a benefic and does not fall under the "malefics placed" clause; a waning one would. For Capricorn rising the Moon is also the 7th lord, which is a Maraka by lordship in any phase.

Two points keep this in proportion: the same chapter makes a Maraka period bring an end only "depending on whether he is a long life, medium life, or short life person", and every chart has a 7th lord and passes through several Maraka periods. This app computes no longevity and labels no period dangerous to life.

Rising signs: dignity and lordship

Houses are whole signs from the Ascendant, so the Moon is in your 7th when it occupies the sign opposite your rising sign; the Lagna calculator finds yours. The Moon rules Cancer only, so it rules one house in every chart, and BPHS Ch. 24 gives a verse for each house lord placed in the 7th.

Read down, the column shows the 5th, 9th and 10th lords bringing unmixed happiness into the 7th and the 6th, 8th and 12th lords disturbing the marriage. Cancer rising is the one row where the verse splits on benefic or malefic: Sl. 7 gives a benefic Lagna lord in the 7th aimless wandering and dejection, or kingship if the planet is strong. The Moon is the benefic of that verse when waxing, so strength is the deciding word, and for Cancer rising the Moon sits in Saturn's Capricorn, never better than Friendly in this engine.

Capricorn rising and Scorpio rising

• Capricorn rising: the Moon is the 7th lord in its own sign in the 7th. BPHS Ch. 18 Sl. 1 promises "full happiness" through the spouse when the 7th lord is in its own sign or exalted, and Ch. 24 Sl. 79 gives happiness through the spouse. Ch. 18 Sl. 18 cannot be met, because the 7th lord is in the 7th, not the 12th. BPHS Ch. 34 Sl. 39-40 call the Moon a malefic for Capricorn rising.
• Scorpio rising: the Moon is exalted in Taurus and rules the 9th. Ch. 34 calls it auspicious and a Yoga Karaka for Scorpio rising, and Ch. 24 Sl. 103 gives happiness after marriage.
• Taurus rising is the reverse: a debilitated Moon in Scorpio, as 3rd lord, which Ch. 34 lists as a malefic for that Ascendant.

The 7th lord and Venus decide more

BPHS Ch. 18 judges the house through its lord first, and the method comes down to four checks: the 7th lord's dignity, its house, what joins or aspects it and the house, and the strength of Venus. With the Moon in your 7th, the 7th lord is the lord of the Moon's sign, so the 7th-lord table is the second one to read.

The 12th-house row is the one Ch. 18 Sl. 18 builds on. Venus, the karaka, counts the Moon neutral by natural relation, and it stays close to the Sun, so with a full Moon in the 7th, Venus is usually near the 1st. Saravali Ch. 34 Sl. 45-46 adds that the 7th may be judged from the Moon as well as from the Ascendant, and with the Moon in the 7th the 7th from the Moon is your Lagna. See Venus in the 7th house for the karaka, and the Navamsa calculator for the chart BPHS Ch. 7 assigns to the spouse.

The rest of Ch. 18's method

• Sl. 1-2: a 7th lord in its own sign or exaltation gives "full happiness"; a 7th lord in the 6th, 8th or 12th a sickly spouse, with the verse's own exception for own sign and exaltation.
• Sl. 4-5: a strong 7th lord joined or aspected by a benefic makes the native "wealthy, honourable, happy and fortunate"; the reverse (fall, combust, enemy sign) is read as trouble through the spouse.
• Sl. 14-15: a spouse "endowed with virtues" when the 7th lord is exalted and the 7th holds a strong Lagna lord and a benefic.
• Sl. 16: difficulty for the spouse if the 7th or its lord is joined by a malefic, "especially" if house or lord lacks strength. A waxing Moon in the 7th is not that malefic; a waning one would be.
• Sl. 17: the severe reading needs a 7th lord "devoid of strength" in the 6th, 8th or 12th, or a 7th lord in fall.

BPHS also reads the house beyond the birth chart. Ch. 29 sets Dar Pad, the Arudha of the 7th, against the Arudha of the Ascendant; Ch. 30 Sl. 1-6 give "full happiness from progeny and spouse" when the Upa Pad is joined or aspected by a benefic; Ch. 31 gives "abundant wealth and marital happiness" to an unobstructed Argala, from a malefic or a benefic, on the 7th. The Bhava Padas calculator and Argala calculator compute them; a Moon in the 7th is one input to the house they describe, not a change to their arithmetic.

How this app grades it

The Kundali reading prints the favourable line when the Moon's dignity is Exalted, Moolatrikona, Own sign or Friendly sign and the house is not the 6th, 8th or 12th. The 7th is an angle, so dignity alone decides. Phase, the Maraka role and Ch. 18 Sl. 18 are not part of that one line.

Outside Taurus, Cancer and Scorpio the Moon's dignity is the fivefold relation of BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 55-58: the Sun and Mercury are natural friends, every other lord neutral, and the temporary half comes from the chart (the lord 2, 3, 4, 10, 11 or 12 signs from the Moon is a temporary friend). In the code read for this page dignityOf() is given the chart, so:

• Always favourable: Scorpio rising (Moon exalted) and Capricorn rising (Moon in Cancer).
• Never favourable: Taurus rising (Moon debilitated).
• For the other nine: favourable when the 7th lord, the lord of the Moon's sign, sits in a temporary-friend position from the Moon; otherwise Neutral (Sagittarius, Aquarius, Pisces rising) or Enemy sign (the other six).

dashaQuality() is stricter: good for exalted, Moolatrikona or own sign; challenging for debilitated, enemy sign or a dusthana; neutral otherwise. The Moon Mahadasha page sets that out.

Strength and lunar yogas

BPHS Ch. 27 Sl. 7 gives the Moon full directional strength in the 4th and none in the 10th. The 7th is three houses from each, and this engine's even interpolation gives it half the maximum. As an angle, the 7th gives full Kendradi Bal. The Shad Bala calculator shows both.

For the yogas counted from the Moon (BPHS Ch. 37), the 2nd and 12th from a Moon in the 7th are your 8th and 6th houses; Adhi Yoga looks at benefics in your 12th, 1st and 2nd; Gaj Kesari, as coded here, at Jupiter in any angle of the chart, since angles from a Moon in an angle are the chart's angles, with a benefic joining or aspecting it and Jupiter not debilitated, combust or in an enemy sign. The yogas calculator reports them. BPHS Ch. 37 Sl. 1 also grades the Moon by its house from the Sun; a full Moon in the 7th is the 7th from the Sun, a kendra, which that verse reads as little wealth, intelligence and skill.

Timing

The Moon's Mahadasha lasts ten years. BPHS Ch. 47 Sl. 16-22 count a Moon in a kendra among the conditions for a prosperous Moon dasha, alongside exaltation, own sign, benefic company and full strength; Sl. 23-26 give the other side. Ch. 48 Sl. 18-20 list as unfavourable the periods of planets joined with the 2nd or 7th lord in those houses, the Maraka rule as a dasha rule; a Moon in the 7th falls under it when the 7th lord shares its sign. The Vimshottari Dasha calculator gives the dates.

For Capricorn rising the Moon is the 7th lord, and Ch. 48 Sl. 5-8 give that dasha "distress to wife and the possibility of the death of the native", reported as the text's statement; this app keeps the direction and drops the death clause: "strain in partnership and marriage - historically a house needing extra care in this Dasha". BPHS does not name the 7th lord's or Venus's dasha as the time of marriage. Sub-periods are explained in Antardasha and Pratyantar. For transits, the Gochar calculator counts from the natal Moon; with the Moon in the 7th, "the 7th from your Moon" is your Lagna.

A worked chart

This app's engine output for 09:00 IST on 1 January 2002 in New Delhi, chosen because it is the Capricorn-rising case. It is an illustration, not a reading of any person.

The Moon is in its own sign, so the favourable line and a "good" dasha grade follow. It is 203 degrees ahead of the Sun: waning by paksha, inside Saravali's strongest band. Ch. 18 Sl. 1's full-happiness condition, a 7th lord in its own sign, is met. Ch. 18 Sl. 18 is not: Venus is weak (combust and in an enemy sign in the 12th), but the 7th lord is in the 7th, not the 12th, and the verse needs all three.

The other layers. Ch. 24 Sl. 79 applies. The Moon's aspect falls on the Lagna, where Mercury sits; Mercury is in the 7th from the Moon and forms Chandradhi, and Jupiter in the 12th from the Moon forms Anapha. As 7th lord and 7th-house occupant, the Moon is a Maraka by lordship; whether it is also a "malefic placed" there depends on which measure of phase is applied. The Moon at 9.34 degrees is in the first third of Cancer, which by BPHS Ch. 47 Sl. 3-4 brings its dasha results at the start of the period. The page lists these and does not net them.

One more rule can be checked by hand on the same figures. BPHS Ch. 37 Sl. 2-4 give wealth and happiness for a day birth when the Moon is in its own or a friendly navamsa and receives Jupiter's aspect, and for a night birth when Venus aspects it instead. This is a morning birth, so Jupiter is the planet to check. Jupiter in Gemini aspects the 5th, 7th and 9th signs from itself, Libra, Sagittarius and Aquarius, so it does not aspect the Moon in Cancer, and the rule is not met here. The engine does not test it in any chart.

Your own chart

1. 1.Confirm the Moon is in the sign opposite your Ascendant in the birth chart calculator.
2. 2.Find the phase: the weak Moon of Saravali's reversal is the last band of the cycle.
3. 3.Find the 7th lord (the lord of the Moon's sign): is it in the 12th? Then check Venus for Ch. 18 Sl. 18's third condition.
4. 4.Read the house the Moon rules from the Ch. 24 table.
5. 5.Note what the Moon's aspect falls on in your Lagna.
6. 6.Read the 7th from the Moon as well, as Saravali Ch. 34 allows: for this placement it is your Lagna.

Method and limits are on the methodology page; the books are on the sources page.

Readings that go further than the texts

• "A Moon in the 7th means an emotional marriage." No verse says so; Saravali's line is about the native's temperament and physique, and the Bhrigu Sutras' about speech, timing and the number of wives by the Moon's strength.
• "The Moon in the 7th denies marital happiness." Ch. 18 Sl. 18 needs the 7th lord in the 12th and a weak Venus as well.
• "A Krishna Paksha Moon is the weak Moon of the verse." By Saravali Ch. 5 the first five days of the dark fortnight are the strongest band.
• "Maraka means danger." This app computes no longevity, and one line should not be lifted out of a longevity method.
• "The 7th from my Moon in transit is my 7th house." Transits count from the Moon; natal houses from the Ascendant.

Questions about the Moon in the 7th

Is the Moon in the 7th house good?

Saravali Ch. 30 Sl. 20 gives an amiable, happy, well-built native and a pitiable, weak one for a weak Moon; the Bhrigu Sutras give one wife for a strong Moon and the loss of a wife for a waning one, as the text's statements, and their commentary gives good results for a benefic Moon and bad for a malefic one. Both turn on the Moon's phase and strength.

What does the Moon aspect from the 7th?

The 1st house, the Ascendant. BPHS Ch. 12 Sl. 4 reads a benefic aspect on the Lagna as bodily comfort; the engine counts the Moon's aspect as benefic.

Does the Moon in the 7th affect marriage?

BPHS Ch. 18 Sl. 18 names it as one of three conditions for lack of marital happiness, with the 7th lord in the 12th and a weak Venus. BPHS judges marriage mainly through the 7th lord and Venus.

Which rising signs give the best Moon in the 7th?

Capricorn rising (7th lord in its own sign; Ch. 18 Sl. 1) and Scorpio rising (exalted Moon as 9th lord; Ch. 24 Sl. 103 and Ch. 34's Yoga Karaka).

Is a Moon in the 7th a Maraka?

By lordship for Capricorn rising; by placement only if it counts as a malefic, which in the texts means waning. This app applies no Maraka rule.

Why does the app show the testing line for my Moon in the 7th?

Its dignity is not Exalted, Own or Friendly. Outside Taurus, Cancer and Scorpio, that depends on where the lord of the Moon's sign sits from the Moon.

Does it say anything about business partnerships or travel?

BPHS lists travel and trade among the 7th's indications, but the Moon verses do not mention them; the Bhrigu Sutras only add favours from the government.