Nine Planets in Vedic Astrology

In astrology, Planets are the celestial bodies, whose movements are tracked by keeping earth as the central point. These heavenly objects cast their influence on earth, nature and its inhabitants to a great degree. Although, technically Sun and Moon are not planets, and Rahu and Ketu are just lunar nodes, still they are essentially referred as planets in Hindu astrology.

The Nine planets in Vedic astrology are:

Sun

Sun bestows willpower, energy and fortune to each and every individual, enabling them to live life to its grandest. Right from the looks of a being, to his personality, wisdom and achievements, Sun has the dominant role to play. Sun provides with the physical, as well as psychological makeup of a person. Its benevolence is received by kings, leaders, politicians, artists, jewelers, gemologists, actors etc.

Moon

Moon is responsible for our fertility, growth, long distance travel, mental peace, memory, relation with our mother and childbirth. A good and powerful moon provides us with good emotional strength and harmonious life. A weak moon can cause mental anxiety, emotional disturbance, and tough relations with our mother and people around us.

Jupiter

Known as the planet of luck, Jupiter is responsible for all the success, fortune, intellect and religious aspects of our lives. Jupiter signifies high ambitions, knowledge and accomplishments. Consequently, it is a prominent planet in charts of successful priests, religious leaders, politicians, and people pursuing deep knowledge.

Mercury

A person ruled by this planet has sharp thinking, diverse interests, inherent anxiety and versatile, changing temperament. The subject ruled by the planet also has good grasp for logic and analysis, and colorful imagination with natural flair in linguistics.

Mars

Mars provides a person with independent individuality and idealism. This planet rules the signs of Aries and Scorpio. While mars is known to give open aggressiveness to Arians, the aggressiveness is much secretive in Scorpio. Martians are also known for strong passionate and sexual affiliations.

Venus

Venus is considered to be a benefic, feminine and gentle planet. The quality it attributes are romance, love for fine things in life, luxuries, wealth, food, costumes, jewellery, sensual pleasures, inclination towards arts, music, beauty and tasteful living.

Saturn

o the common man in India, the very name of Shani (Saturn) brings a deep sense of fear and apprehension. But wisdom consists in learning through all the difficulties in life, and rising above it as a more enlightened human being. This is the basic philosophy that Saturn conveys.

Rahu

Rahu is not an actual planet. In reality, it is an intelligent concept unique to Indian astrology. The two nodes where Earth`s trajectory round the Sun, and Moon`s trajectory around the earth intersects are named as Rahu and Ketu. Consideration of these two Lunar nodes /imaginary planets lends more precision to analysis in astrology.

Ketu

Ketu, like Rahu, is a shadow planet. It is not a physical or celestial entity, but the south node of the two nodes formed when earth`s trajectory around Sun intersects moon`s trajectory around earth. It is a malefic planet, and is always 180 degrees apart from that of Rahu.

Each planet imparts a distinct property to human beings. For example, Moon affects our emotional and thinking patterns, Mercury rules our communication skills and so on. The zodiac in which the planet is placed highly affects the basic qualities it imparts.