How to calculate a planet's Navamsa position in your head
Another good mental exercise to eventually learn is to calculate the navamsa location for any planet in any sign at any degree without looking it up in a software program or a table. But first, we will check out how to find the navamsa position by using the tables below.
The Navamsa is set up by dividing 30 degrees into 9 parts. These numbers can be easily memorized with a little practice. You can see how the degrees are portioned out below on your right.
The next step is to always take note of the element that the planet occupies and know that:
If the planet is in a FIRE sign, then always start at ARIES and count forward from there.
If the planet is in an EARTH sign, then always start at CAPRICORN and count forward from there.
If the planet is in an AIR sign, then always start at LIBRA and count forward from there.
If the planet is in a WATER sign, then always start at CANCER and count forward from there.
Also notice that ARIES, CANCER, LIBRA and CAPRICORN are the signs of the 1-4-7 and 10 houses for the natural Aries chart. They are the natural sign placements for each one of the major angles of the chart. Each house controls all 3 of its own sign groupings (as shown in the Northern chart above) and acts as a 'starter' house for the others in their group.
As an example, let's take a planet in 24 SCORPIO 15 to see how this works. We want to find out what Navamsa it's in. First, we notice that SCORPIO is a water sign, so we have to put it into the Water sign starter house of CANCER. This is the house we will count forward from.
Next we have to figure out how many houses are needed to count forward in order to arrive at our Navamsa placement, so we check the chart at the above right. We can see that 24 SCORPIO 15 lies between 23 degrees 20 min and 26 degrees and 40 min, so it gets 8 navamsas.
This means we start from CANCER and count forward 8 houses (4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11). This brings us to the 11th house of AQUARIUS, which is the Navamsa house for 24 SCORPIO 15.
An easier way is to simply look it up in the Navamsa table below. You can see by the highlighted house below that 24 SCORPIO 15 lies in the navamsa of AQUARIUS. It's an easy process to look up any planet's position by cross matching its degree/min placement with the sign that it's in and then looking up its Navamsa position.
Another way is to mentally calculate the degrees like this:
Look back at the degree table next to the Northern chart at the top. You will see the 10d, 20d and the 30d highlighted in RED. In your mind, think:
10 degrees = 3 navamsas
20 degrees = 6 navamsas
30 degrees = 9 navamsas
Use this as the framework to judge where the degree placement of the planet should go. We already know that anything up to 3 degrees 20 min = 1 navamsa. Therefore, by doubling it to 6 degrees 40 min, we now have 2 navamsas. Now let's figure out once again where the 26 SCORPIO 15 planet would fit according to our new way of mentally calculating it.
First we know that it's in the 26th degree. That means it has to at least be in the 6th navamsa because the first 20 of those degrees would be equal to 6.
26 degrees and 15 minutes minus 20 degrees (for 6 navamsas) leaves 6 degrees and 15 minutes to consider. We know that 6 degrees and 40 minutes equals the length of 2 more navamsas, so 6 degrees and 15 minutes falls well within that range. Now we can mentally calculate in our head 6+2=8 navamsas that we need to count from the CANCER location (4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11). This brings us to the 11th house of AQUARIUS which becomes the navamsa for 26 SCORPIO 15.
Let's do one more example. 15 CAP 02. We mentally think in our head that we can subtract 10 from it which means that at least 3 navamsas have gone by. 15 degrees 02 minutes minus 10 (for our 3 navamsas) leaves us with 5 degrees and 2 minutes. We know that 5 degrees and 2 minutes is already past 1 navamsa but not past the second one, which would be 6 degrees 40 min., so we mentally calculate 3 + 2 = 5 navamsas starting from the 10th house of CAPRICORN. (10-11-12-1-2). This brings us to the 2nd house of TAURUS which is the navamsa for 15 CAP 02.
Another point that you can easily remember is if any of the major starting houses, ARIES, CAPRICORN, LIBRA or CANCER are in their early degrees from 0 to 3 degrees 20 minutes, they will automatically be in their own navamsa. For example Aries in 3 degrees 19 will be starting out in its own house under its own sign name and will not progress past the first navamsa which ends at 3 degrees 20 minutes. Therefore it will be in the same navamsa as its starting sign, ARIES.
Still another simple thing to keep in mind is that you will always start off your count with the sign number of 1, 4, 7 or 10, depending on which element the planet falls in. Then count forward on your fingers the number of navamas you need to go in order to reach the final sign number, which automatically converts into its navamsa equivalent. For example you know that 1=Aries, 2=Taurus, 3=Gemini, 4=Cancer, 5=Leo, 6=Virgo, 7=Libra, 8=Scorpio, 9=Sagittarius, 10=Capricorn, 11=Aquarius and 12=Pisces. So if you land on sign # 9, you know your navamsa is Sagittarius. If you land on sign #12, you know your navamsa is Pisces, etc.
This may seem a little confusing at first, but with a little practice, it can become second nature. And for those of you who just don't like to calculate anything in your head, there's always the nakshatra table or your favorite software program to do it for you.
Look back at the degree table next to the Northern chart at the top. You will see the 10d, 20d and the 30d highlighted in RED. In your mind, think:
10 degrees = 3 navamsas
20 degrees = 6 navamsas
30 degrees = 9 navamsas
Use this as the framework to judge where the degree placement of the planet should go. We already know that anything up to 3 degrees 20 min = 1 navamsa. Therefore, by doubling it to 6 degrees 40 min, we now have 2 navamsas. Now let's figure out once again where the 26 SCORPIO 15 planet would fit according to our new way of mentally calculating it.
First we know that it's in the 26th degree. That means it has to at least be in the 6th navamsa because the first 20 of those degrees would be equal to 6.
26 degrees and 15 minutes minus 20 degrees (for 6 navamsas) leaves 6 degrees and 15 minutes to consider. We know that 6 degrees and 40 minutes equals the length of 2 more navamsas, so 6 degrees and 15 minutes falls well within that range. Now we can mentally calculate in our head 6+2=8 navamsas that we need to count from the CANCER location (4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11). This brings us to the 11th house of AQUARIUS which becomes the navamsa for 26 SCORPIO 15.
Let's do one more example. 15 CAP 02. We mentally think in our head that we can subtract 10 from it which means that at least 3 navamsas have gone by. 15 degrees 02 minutes minus 10 (for our 3 navamsas) leaves us with 5 degrees and 2 minutes. We know that 5 degrees and 2 minutes is already past 1 navamsa but not past the second one, which would be 6 degrees 40 min., so we mentally calculate 3 + 2 = 5 navamsas starting from the 10th house of CAPRICORN. (10-11-12-1-2). This brings us to the 2nd house of TAURUS which is the navamsa for 15 CAP 02.
Another point that you can easily remember is if any of the major starting houses, ARIES, CAPRICORN, LIBRA or CANCER are in their early degrees from 0 to 3 degrees 20 minutes, they will automatically be in their own navamsa. For example Aries in 3 degrees 19 will be starting out in its own house under its own sign name and will not progress past the first navamsa which ends at 3 degrees 20 minutes. Therefore it will be in the same navamsa as its starting sign, ARIES.
Still another simple thing to keep in mind is that you will always start off your count with the sign number of 1, 4, 7 or 10, depending on which element the planet falls in. Then count forward on your fingers the number of navamas you need to go in order to reach the final sign number, which automatically converts into its navamsa equivalent. For example you know that 1=Aries, 2=Taurus, 3=Gemini, 4=Cancer, 5=Leo, 6=Virgo, 7=Libra, 8=Scorpio, 9=Sagittarius, 10=Capricorn, 11=Aquarius and 12=Pisces. So if you land on sign # 9, you know your navamsa is Sagittarius. If you land on sign #12, you know your navamsa is Pisces, etc.
This may seem a little confusing at first, but with a little practice, it can become second nature. And for those of you who just don't like to calculate anything in your head, there's always the nakshatra table or your favorite software program to do it for you.