I have to thank Mona, Mathias, and Dr. Rahjan all for helping to elucidates a CLEAR understanding of how these all work together. I've got most of the pieces and agree that Shad Bala totals have a lot of meaning but it's the understanding behind each of the numbers that reveals a ton of meaning about the person individually.
I'm honestly not understanding how to fit all of this material together in a manner that won't take a literal day to explain! I took the time with my ever-patient client/ friend to go through each Shad Bala value as I learned them and we spent about 30 hours (I would guesstimate) to cover each and every one of the values for her chart! Do I just trust that intuition will guide me to the right areas to cover?
Thank you in advance for any responses! =)
,~Kris
@onegranted you have no choice Lol but also, what I’ve experimented with lately is to find the underlying theme. The Lajjitaadi Avasthas is one way to do that, then I would only focus on the ShadBala for those planets that have particularly good and bad Avasthas. Also, as a Rahu/Ketu fan, I tend to focus on the lord of those troublemakers and/or planets they join. The yogas of characters also help understand who the person is and steer you in the right direction. Finally, since I am mostly doing friends and now friends of friends, I realize people are curious about astrology but they don’t ask specific questions. And I’ve done a poor job insisting on at least a theme they want me to focus on. This helps a ton I think. Like I said, am experimenting and those are my early conclusions, this may change over time.
Mona
@onegranted it's untenable to go through the information systematically with a client, it's just too much and people stop assimilating information after a fairly short time. Astrology students are signing up for this but clients have other agendas. Rahu and Ketu, avasthas of their lords and planets conjunct will always be applicable.
Then focus on what Ernst calls "Self Factors" = Lagna, Lagna Lord, dispositor of Lg Ld, Sun, dispositor of Sun, Atmakaraka, dispositor of AK, Pada(fine to leave this out if you have not taken Jaimani course).
Then look at what is happening at the time of the reading from the point of view of Vimshottari dasa and any planets transiting sensitive rasis, bhavas and planets. This should give you a lot to work on and all of it should be relevant to present experience.
@quasar259 Thank you! That is a most concise roadmap and one that I needed to hear at this time. You are quite correct in that that's a lot to talk about and are the 'highlights' that a person needs to know. I'll try that out as a 'recipe' to work into the readings.
I agree that doing a Shad Bala reading would be too much however I do find myself having certain 'hotspots' that I check on habit for my own knowledge. For example I find the Ayana Bala of the Sun to be most insightful!