A reading is not a wrestling match or a game of minds, and it certainly has no room for

showmanship. It is a serious opportunity where much spiritual sharing can take place
with lessons learned by both the client and the astrologer on many planes. The best
attitude that the astrologer and client can be in is one of complete openness and surrender,
not to each other, but to the supreme intelligence that is overseeing the beautiful sharing
that a Jyotish reading is!
- From Introduction to Know about Remedies by Shanker Adawal

The weak malefic is a blessing in disguise and the strong benefic is a blessing that is
already manifest. The weak benefic and the strong malefic are the planets that require
remedial assistance.

Effort is what its all about! It is the karma of most jyotishis to work hard in sifting the
large body of information that is available through the horoscopes in order to synthesize
meaningful patterns out of these!

If we don't look beyond our surface frustrations to the depths of our life lessons
we're missing the greatest gift - spiritual transformation. It takes us to our edge
where transformation and rebirth are just on the other side of despair and death. It’s
a house of transition from one state to the next. Its role is not just to create
upheaval that leaves us in a sobbing heap on the floor, but to liberate us. Eg. The
8th house is not only a most malefic house, but a house of liberation. Isn't it
interesting that the most malefic house is also a house of liberation? The destructive
principle paves the way for new creation, just as compost provides fertile soil for new
seeds to grow.

The planets therefore and merely continuing what we have set in motion in the past
and our astrology chart is an overall map of our karma. We are the cause not the
planets. The planets are just acting as agents to deliver us the results of our past
actions for better or worse. In addition we have the ability to modify the results of
our karma to varying degrees by our free will, agama or kriyamana karma which
represent the current actions we choose to take.

Planets do not determine the outcome of a situation – its our karma that does. It’s a
lot more convenient to blame everything on the planets.

For the 7 planets beginning with the sun, their exaltation, are in the order 10, 3, 28,
15, 5, 27, 20 in respective exaltation signs.

So you can call sun highly exalted if he is in 10th degree of mesha. If he is in 20th
degree, then he can be said to be in the exaltation sign but not highly exalted.

Notice the relationship between sun and Saturn, mars and Jupiter, mercury and
venus, - exaltation of one is the debilitation of the other and vice versa.