Graha drishti: planetary aspects
Drishti (aspect) is the influence one graha exerts on the house or planet it faces. In the Parashari scheme every graha aspects the seventh house from its own position.
What it is
In addition to the seventh-house aspect, Mars aspects the 4th and 8th, Jupiter the 5th and 9th, and Saturn the 3rd and 10th from its own position. The house counted is the house number, starting from one at the graha's own house.
How it is worked out or read
Count the aspected house by adding the aspect number minus one to the graha's house. For example, Jupiter in house 1 aspects house 5 (1 + 4) and house 9 (1 + 8).
Where it appears on this site
This site does not yet compute aspects in the charts. The house of each graha is shown in the birth chart, which is needed to count aspects.
The seventh-house aspect
In Parashari Jyotish, every graha aspects the sign and house directly opposite it, the seventh from its own position. A planet in the first house aspects the seventh, a planet in Mesha aspects Tula, and so on. Any planets in the aspected sign receive the aspect. This full aspect is the basis of the system, and it applies to all seven visible grahas.
Special aspects
Three grahas have additional full aspects. Mars also aspects the fourth and eighth houses from itself. Jupiter also aspects the fifth and ninth. Saturn also aspects the third and tenth. So Mars in the first house aspects the fourth, seventh and eighth; Jupiter in the first aspects the fifth, seventh and ninth; Saturn in the first aspects the third, seventh and tenth. Many practitioners also give Rahu and Ketu the fifth and ninth aspects, like Jupiter, though this is not universal.
Partial aspects
The texts also describe partial aspects of one quarter, one half and three quarters strength to certain other houses: the third and tenth, the fourth and eighth, and the fifth and ninth, for all planets. In practice most readers use only the full aspects, the seventh for all and the special aspects for Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, and treat partial aspects as a refinement for detailed strength calculations.
Aspects are counted inclusively and one way
Counting is inclusive: the sign a planet occupies is the first, the next sign the second, and so on. An aspect is also directional. Jupiter in Mesha aspects Simha, the fifth from Mesha, but a planet in Simha does not thereby aspect Mesha unless it has an aspect that reaches it; Simha to Mesha is the ninth, which only Jupiter or, for some, the nodes can cast. So mutual aspects must be checked from both sides.
Reading aspects
An aspect is read as the aspecting graha's influence reaching the aspected house or planet. A benefic aspect, especially Jupiter's, is traditionally protective; a malefic aspect, especially Saturn's or Mars's, is traditionally testing. As always, the functional role of the aspecting planet for the Lagna, and its strength, modify the reading. Jaimini's sign aspects follow different rules and should not be mixed with these.