Planetary aspects in the chart
Planetary aspects (drishti) are the influences that grahas exert on other houses. The seventh-house aspect is shared by all grahas, and Mars, Jupiter and Saturn have extra aspects.
What it is
Mars aspects the 4th and 8th, Jupiter the 5th and 9th, and Saturn the 3rd and 10th from its own house. The count is the house number from the graha's house, with one counted as the graha's own house.
How it is worked out or read
The aspect article gives the counting method in detail. The site does not compute aspects in its charts yet.
Where it appears on this site
The house of each graha is in the birth chart, which is enough to count aspects by hand. See graha drishti.
What an aspect is in this method
An aspect, drishti in Sanskrit, is the influence a graha exerts on the houses it looks at. In the Parashari scheme every graha aspects the seventh house from its own house, and the three outer grahas have additional aspects. Mars aspects the fourth and eighth, Jupiter the fifth and ninth, and Saturn the third and tenth. These aspects are counted from the graha's own house, with the graha's house counted as one.
Aspects are read as channels of influence, through which one graha affects the themes of another house. A reader can use them to see how the grahas in a chart are linked.
Counting an aspect by hand
To count an aspect, take the graha's house as one, then add the aspect number minus one. Jupiter in the first house aspects the fifth (one plus four) and the ninth (one plus eight). Jupiter in the sixth aspects the tenth and the fourteenth, which is the second house, since the count wraps around the twelve houses. The reader should wrap the count after twelve.
Once the aspected houses are found, the reader looks at which grahas occupy them and what the lords of those houses are doing. This gives the full chain of influence.
Aspects in the classical literature
The classical texts differ on some aspects. Some give Rahu and Ketu special aspects, and some give none. Some add conditions based on the sign, such as a graha's aspect being stronger in a certain sign. The reader should state the rule used, since the lists differ between schools.
Using aspects in a reading
Aspects should be used as one part of the reading, alongside the sign, the house, the lords and the dignities. A reader who finds a strong aspect should note how the aspected house is occupied and whether the aspecting graha is itself well placed. The site does not compute aspects in its charts yet, so the reader must count them from the house table in the birth chart.
Mutual aspects
Two grahas may aspect each other, when each lies in a house the other aspects. A mutual aspect is read as a closer link between the two, so that the themes of each house are linked more directly than in a one-way aspect. The reader notes mutual aspects as a sign of connection between parts of the chart.