Hi Ernst,
I'm now listening to your Outer planets audio course, and still did't quite understand which "houses" you use there, when describing placements.
Is it the closest bhava cusps? Or the even rasi houses?
Can we use Western astrology houses approach concerning outer planets?
For example, Uranus is at 0°30 of Capricorn, it's 7th rasi from ascendent. According to Western it's in 6th house (6th starts at 25° Scorpio, and 7th house starts at 10°30 Capricorn). So that means Uranus is closest to 7th cusp, yet Western astrology still puts it in 6th and gives the interpretation of Uranus in 6th.
I don't have Kala yet, so for outer planets I use some Western astrology calculation program.
I suppose Uranus in this case will influence both 6th and 7th, but the key things you describe for development of outer planet in these two houses differs a lot. So it could be great if it's possible to narrow down somehow.
Maybe the fact of them moving very slow/being retrograde also plays the role in concidering where exactly they are in the chart?
Vedic is different than Western in the sense that it uses a full house system as you probably know. So the sign your ascendant/1st cusp falls into is considered the first house, regardless of the degree, the next sign the second house, etc... a house cannot be in 2 signs at the same time as with Western astrology. I assume this is because Vedic astrology uses yogas extensively with the lord of x house in x house, that's not really possible if a house is in 2 signs. That being said, Ernst also uses cusps (Campanus) as well when looking at concrete predictions. When it comes to outer planets, I'm just beginning to use them systematically and, when it comes to the inner meaning of the house, I'm focusing on full house/rasi for those. But, I also look at the cusps to see what type of external event(s) will trigger a Uranus/Pluto/Neptune crisis. I think the narrowing down will certainly come from what the client is experiencing and want clarity on. I found that it's always a hit with the outer planets (though I have to say I have not done any chart with cusps not aligned with full house so far but, if you follow the same rules as with Rahu/Ketu, I would say look at the cusp that is closest to the outer planet, it will likely be the one with most influence)
Thank you for your input, Mona! Yes, I will use both houses and cusps with outer planets as well as with Rahu and Ketu. As I thought, this audio course is pretty early, and maybe Ernst still used only vedic that time, means only rasis, because I didn't hear that he mentioned cusps in it. Though I'm still on this course, 1 lecture left, maybe he'll mention it.
But I noticed that with outer planets, the western houses in my case worked better, descriptions felt more corresponding to my life. Thats why I though maybe use only western with them. With vedic interpretations of course. And for relationships of outer planets with others - rasi houses as vedic do.
The thing that in my chart almost all rasi houses are not aligning with cusps. For example, in 3rd rasi house I have 4th and 5th cusps. Ketu is there, and turns out Ketu&Rahu influence 6 houses of my chart, which is fun (doesn't make life's easier though). 4 houses have no cusps at all.. So thats why sometimes it's a mess in my head of how to better interpret the positions and what to apply first. But I will observe further anyways, astrology is complex and takes time to get. Not so obvious, have to use intuition as well 
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@beatamanelle oh yes indeed, I understand! Am spoiled with each cup matching each sign in my chart ????. What I noticed with the outer planets is that their “story” tend to support the Rahu / Ketu paradigm so that should help you figure out which technique works best and narrow it down. In your chart, it might be tricky with Rahu/Ketu influencing so many things. Have you noticed something standing out by looking at the cusps Rahu and Ketu are the closest to? Ernst mentioned these should be the most relevant if I remember correctly.
@mona Yes, exactly, I remember Ernst told in the course, that Rahu and Ketu are working through the outer planets. If I'm not mistaking. Definitely will rewatch this course, I'm amazed by it's depth!
Before I met Ernst teachings I studied only with vedic system, so when I knew about cusps, it was extreeeemly helpful, felt like breakthrough for me. I thought it's only 3/9 axis in my chart, and missed a lot. Ketu is almost in between 4 and 5 cusps (Rahu 10/11 respectively). So all three axises are totally relevant for me. 4th/10th felt majorly influencial (no surprise cause it's alngles). The 5/11 felt least applicable - 11 (influenced by Rahu) is upachaya, and get better in time, so probably by now I managed to make this axis less problematic.
Anyways, luckily we have signs for sure ????. By knowing signs imbalance and by working on improving it, I believe we can make all these areas of life where Rahu and Ketu are acting, better.
But still, it's good to know the houses in order to hunt down the imbalanced behaviours of signs.
@beatamanelle The outer planets class was a big favorite of mine, a lot of depth indeed! Thanks for sharing your cusps experience. I find them more and more relevant as well;)
