What is moon sign (rashi) in Vedic astrology?

The zodiac is a 360-degree belt around the sky. Vedic astrology divides it into twelve equal parts of 30 degrees each, and each part is a rashi, from Aries (Mesha) to Pisces (Meena).

The moon sign is the rashi the Moon occupies at the moment of birth. In everyday Indian use, when someone asks for 'your rashi' (janma rashi), they usually mean the moon sign.

Skybond uses the sidereal zodiac, so the boundaries of each rashi are fixed against the stars, not shifted with the seasons.

Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (BPHS, a classical Sanskrit text, in R. Santhanam's translation) says in chapter 3: 'Candr is the mind', where Candr is the Moon.

P.V.R. Narasimha Rao (PVR), author of Vedic Astrology: An Integrated Approach, puts it the same way: 'Moon governs mind.'

PVR's table of natural significations lists what the Moon stands for: the mind, the mother, peace of mind, and friends.

PVR adds: 'Mind is a very important part of our existence and Moon governs it.'

The Moon's position also sets the starting point of some timing systems. A dasha is a planetary period, a stretch of years during which one planet's themes lead.

The nakshatra dashas are computed from the nakshatra (lunar mansion, one of 27 star divisions of the zodiac) the Moon occupies. Vimshottari dasha, which PVR calls the most popular, is reckoned from the Moon's nakshatra.

A graha is a moving celestial body used in Vedic astrology: the Sun, Moon, planets and the two lunar nodes. The Moon is the fastest of them.

B.V. Raman, author of Hindu Predictive Astrology, gives about 1 hour 48 minutes per degree, which works out to about two and a quarter days per sign. PVR gives about 2.5 days per sign.

Because the Moon rarely changes sign within a single day, the moon sign can usually be found from the birth date alone. On a day when the Moon does change sign, the birth time decides which side you fall on.

The bar chart shows the contrast. The lagna changes about every two hours and needs a birth time, the Moon every two to three days, and the Sun about once a month.

A nakshatra (lunar mansion) is a 13-degree-20-minute slice of the zodiac. Each sign holds two and a quarter of them, or nine quarters called padas.

For example, Leo holds all of Magha and Purva Phalguni and the first quarter of Uttara Phalguni.

The table shows how this works in Skybond's teaching chart, a sample chart used for teaching rather than a real person's. The Moon sits at about 17 degrees Leo, which falls inside Purva Phalguni's range of 13 degrees 20 minutes to 26 degrees 40 minutes.

So the Moon's sign is Leo and its nakshatra is Purva Phalguni. In this chart Leo is also the 2nd house counted from the Cancer lagna.

Houses can be counted not only from the ascendant (lagna) but from the Moon's sign, a starting point called Chandra lagna, or Moon lagna. PVR says these houses show matters 'from the perspective of mind', such as how happy or ambitious one is and how one views one's career, and that 'Chandra lagna should not be ignored.'

Transits, the movements of planets through the sky after birth, are often read from the Moon too. B.V. Raman's chapter on transit results counts houses from the Moon at birth.

The Moon's dignity, its strength by sign placement, follows the usual scheme: it is exalted (at its strongest) in Taurus, deepest at 3 degrees, debilitated (at its weakest) in Scorpio, and Cancer is its own sign.

One caution belongs to every reading. B.V. Raman warns that such descriptions 'are only general in nature and should not be applied hastily'.