Module 9 · Lesson 9-2 · 16 min
Right now Saturn sits in Pisces for everyone alive. Count it from Arjun's Taurus Moon and it lands in his 11th — a house of gains where the tradition calls Saturn's transit favorable. Count the same Saturn from Dev's Virgo Moon and it lands in his 7th, one of Saturn's hard houses. One planet, one sign, opposite verdicts — decided entirely by where each person's Moon sits.
The classical tradition compiled these verdicts into a results table: which houses from the Moon each planet transits well in. For centuries astrologers memorized it cold. You do not have to. Beneath the table is a single pattern that regenerates most of it — the hard planets thrive where struggle and gain belong, the gentle planets where fortune and stability belong — plus the famous 3-6-11 key.
This lesson gives you both the pattern for understanding and the key houses for speed, and it is honest about the flip side: the unfavorable houses are simply whatever a given planet's favorable list leaves out, so they differ planet by planet.
By the end: Compute where any transiting planet lands from a person's natal Moon and call the result favorable or unfavorable by the classical table, apply the governing pattern — malefics thrive in the 3rd, 6th, and 11th while benefics favor kendras and trikonas — and read the unfavorable set honestly as each planet's own complement, not one fixed list.
The single most useful rule: Saturn, Mars, and the nodes transit FAVORABLY in the 3rd, 6th, and 11th from the Moon — the upachaya and effort houses (n15). Hard planets do their best work where struggle, competition, and gain already live. This one line covers most malefic-transit reading.
Saturn transiting the 11th from the Moon is a classically productive, gains-oriented window.
The benefics transit well in the houses of fortune and stability. Jupiter is favorable in the 2nd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 11th from the Moon; Venus is favorable almost everywhere — the 1st through 5th, plus the 8th, 9th, 11th, 12th — the gentlest transiter of all. Grace planets bless the seats of grace.
Jupiter transiting the 5th or 9th from the Moon is a hallmark fortunate window.
The Sun transits favorably in the 3rd, 6th, 10th, and 11th from the Moon — an authority-and-effort planet, its 10th added to the malefic set. The Moon itself favors the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 10th, 11th. Mercury, taking colour from context (n13), favors a wide businesslike spread: the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 11th.
The Sun transiting the 10th from the Moon supports visibility and action; Mercury the 10th aids negotiation.
There is no single fixed 'bad-house' list for all planets. A planet's unfavorable houses are simply the ones its favorable list leaves out — so they vary by planet. For the pure malefics (favorable 3, 6, 11), that leaves 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12 unfavorable; the classically most-stressed of these are the 1st, 4th, 7th, 8th, 12th — pressure on body, home, partnership, and peace.
Saturn's 4th (home) and 8th (the Dhaiya windows) weigh; but its 5th and 10th are also outside its favorable 3-6-11.
The whole table is nature (n13) meeting house-class (n15): hard planets suit hard-work houses (3, 6, 11), gentle planets suit fortune houses (kendras, trikonas). When you forget a table entry, derive it — ask what this planet wants and whether this house offers it, rather than reciting.
Mars in the 3rd (courage, effort) from the Moon fits; Mars in the 4th (peace, home) grates.
Because nature decides the verdict, a benefic and a malefic in the SAME house from the Moon read oppositely. A malefic in the 4th pressures home and peace; a benefic in the 4th softens and supports them. This is why 'favorable house' is always planet-specific — the house alone never decides.
Saturn in the 4th from the Moon is heavy; Venus in the 4th is comforting.
The one idea to keep
The gochara table reduces to a pattern: hard planets transit well in the 3rd, 6th, 11th from the Moon, gentle ones in the kendras and trikonas — and each planet's unfavorable houses are just its own complement. Read the planet's nature against the house's class, then refine with the obstruction rules to come.
Nine planets down, twelve houses-from-the-Moon across; the filled cells are each planet's favorable transit houses (imported from the engine). Read across a row to see one planet's spread — the malefics clustering on 3, 6, 11, the benefics on the kendras and trikonas — and read down a column to see how differently the same house treats different planets.
Dial a transiting graha into any sign and read it from the chart's Moon: the house it falls in, and whether that house is favorable for this planet. Notice the malefics light up favorable only in the 3rd, 6th, and 11th; then switch charts and watch the same transit flip verdict, because the Moon moved.
Saturn transiting Cancer sits in the 1st from Priya’s Moon (Cancer) — unfavorable by the base table.
Saturn transits well in the 3rd, 6th, 11th from the Moon. Sade Sati — peak phase (1st from the Moon) — read it calmly, as pressure and maturation, never doom.
Arjun's Moon is in Taurus, so transiting Saturn (in Pisces) sits in his 11th. Is this transit favorable or not, by the base table?
Which houses are the malefic key houses?
Dev's Moon is in Virgo, so transiting Saturn (in Pisces) sits in his 7th. The base-table verdict?
Is the 7th one of Saturn's favorable 3-6-11 houses?
Open the lab, put Meera's chart up (Moon in Scorpio), and dial Saturn to Pisces. Read the house and the verdict the lab reports.
Count Scorpio 1 to Pisces, then check it against Saturn's favorable list.
You want Jupiter's UNFAVORABLE transit houses from the Moon. How are they defined?
There is no universal bad-house list — think complement.
6 cards added to your recall deck. First review: tomorrow.
Five fresh transit-house verdicts — count from the Moon, apply the key, take the complement.
5 minutes · 5 questions · pass at 4/5.