Continuing with the series of misconceptions which prevail when it comes to recommend gemstones to different natives, we will deal with the concept of recommending gemstones on the basis of exalted planets in this chapter. Before moving on with the discussion, let’s first get to know what exalted planets are according to Vedic astrology and when a planet is called exalted in a horoscope.
There are 12 zodiac signs ranging from Aries to Pisces and each planet among navagraha is in a state of transit in one or the other of these 12 signs at any given point in time. Depending on its speed of motion, each planet among navagraha stays in any particular sign for a specific time period; it then moves to the next sign and this process keeps going on in a cyclic way. It means once a planet completes its transit through the twelfth sign Pisces, it enters the first sign Aries once again. Each planet among navagraha behaves differently when placed in different signs and the strength of each planet is different in different signs.
Each planet among navagraha is strong or very strong in some particular signs and the same planet is weak or very weak in some particular signs. The sign in which a planet among navagraha is the strongest compared to its presence in all other signs, is called the sign of exaltation of such planet and the planet so placed in such sign is called an exalted planet. For example, Sun gains maximum strength when it is placed in the sign of Aries and accordingly, Aries is called the sign of exaltation of Sun and Sun is called exalted when it is placed in the sign of Aries in a horoscope. Similarly all other planets among navagraha are exalted in different signs and Vedic astrology mentions the signs of exaltation of all planets among navagraha.
Moving on, some astrologers believe that when a planet is exalted in a horoscope, it automatically becomes positive in nature, it gives benefic results to the native and hence wearing gemstone for such planet can prove beneficial for the native. Hence these astrologers recommend wearing gemstones which belong to exalted planets in a horoscope as they think that wearing gemstones for exalted planets is always suitable for a native.
These astrologers state that putting on gemstones for exalted planets can never cause harm as such exalted planets are called Uchcha Grahas in Hindi, which translates into a positive term. Accordingly, such planets are always positive or benefic for the native and hence every native can safely wear gemstones for exalted planets. However, in actual practice, exaltation is merely a measure of physical strength of a planet and the attribute of exaltation should not be used for deciding the working nature of a planet. This is because doing so can cause serious problems for the native having some exalted planets in his horoscope, if he is recommended to wear gemstones for such exalted planets. We will discuss this fact with the help of an example now.
Saturn gets exalted when it is placed in the sign of Libra. According to the above mentioned theory of recommending gemstones on the basis of exalted planets, Saturn should be benefic for all the natives born during the period of time when Saturn was placed in Libra and all the natives born during the transit of Saturn in Libra should witness benefits by wearing the gemstone for Saturn. Saturn stays in a sign for 2 years and 6 months on average and it completes its journey through 12 signs in about 30 years.
It means that all the natives born during this period of 2 years and 6 months will have exalted Saturn in their horoscopes and accordingly all of them can wear gemstone for Saturn as Saturn is benefic in their horoscopes by virtue of being exalted. Looking at the average birth rate at this time, about 300 million people are born during a period of 2 years and 6 months.
Hence these hundreds of millions of people born during these 2.5 years will be blessed by benefic Saturn. This fact also means that a planet (Saturn in this case) can continuously remain benefic for a period as long as 2 years and 6 months. This is logically and practically not possible as each planet among navagraha keeps changing its working nature continuously and it can change its nature completely from benefic to malefic or from malefic to benefic in a matter of 30 minutes or so. Hence a planet can’t remain benefic for a continuous period of 2.5 years.
The benefic or malefic nature of a planet is not decided by its sign of placement and it is decided by a number of important factors in a horoscope. Though there are no doubts that the sign of placement of a planet carries weight in deciding the working nature of a planet, this factor alone can never be capable of doing so; and all important factors should be considered. Therefore, exalted Saturn placed in the sign of Libra can be positive as well as negative for a native, depending on his overall horoscope.
Another interesting observation is related to the concept of Sade Sati of Saturn. It is believed that in the birth chart of a native, if Saturn is placed with Moon in the same sign, Sade Sati is formed, which can trouble the native with serious problems in many spheres of his life. It means when Saturn and Moon are placed in the sign of Libra, we have two contradicting theories. One theory says Saturn is positive in Libra as it is exalted, whereas the other theory says it is malefic when placed with Moon and it can trouble the native through Sade Sati.
There is an obvious conflict between these two theories in this case and though you may wonder which one of them holds ground, the truth is interesting. One of these theories may hold ground in one condition whereas the other one may hold ground in another set of conditions. For instance, if Saturn placed in Libra is positive, the theory of Sade Sati may not hold in this case as Saturn being benefic in nature may not cast any type of malefic influence on Moon.
On the other hand, if such exalted Saturn is malefic, the theory of recommending gemstone for such exalted Saturn won’t hold as such malefic Saturn may cause serious damages to the significances of Moon; and wearing the gemstone for Saturn may only increase the intensity of those problems. Therefore, it all depends on the working nature of a planet placed in its sign of exaltation and the gemstone for this planet should only be worn if it is positive in the horoscope.
Considering the case of some other planets among navagraha, there are the planets like Jupiter, Rahu and Ketu which remain present in a sign for a period of 1 year or more on average. Subjecting these planets to the above mentioned theory once again means that these planets will continue to be benefic for all the natives born during their presence in their signs of exaltation. Accordingly, all the natives having such exalted planets in their horoscopes should benefit by wearing gemstones for such planets. This is once again far away from the truth and hence this theory that exalted planets are always benefic and gemstones should be worn for exalted planets is nothing but another misconception among various misconceptions found in Vedic astrology.
It is interesting and important to note that the gemstones for Saturn, Rahu and Ketu are suitable only for a limited number of people and most people may witness problems after wearing them. This is due to the reason that the energies of these planets are very difficult to handle type of energies and most people may not be able to channelize the extra energy of these planets, which may be introduced to their bodies after wearing the gemstones for these planets.
Another fact in support of this statement is that unlike the other six planets among navagraha; Saturn, Rahu and Ketu are capable of causing problems of high intensity, even when they are partly negative in a horoscope. For example, if Jupiter or Sun is 80% positive and 20% negative in a horoscope, the gemstones for these planets can be worn after assessing the overall horoscope. Though the negative parts of their energies may also gain strength, they may only cause some side effects with significant benefits.
On the other hand, even if Saturn, Rahu or Ketu is 90% positive and 10% negative in a horoscope, the gemstones for these planets should not be worn in many such cases. This is because Saturn, Rahu or Ketu can cause much more damage with 10% negativity compared to the damage caused by other six planets among navagraha, even with 20% negativity. Just to have an idea, 10% negative Saturn can cause damage equal to 40% negative Jupiter, Venus or Moon. The same goes in case of Rahu and Ketu also; and this is why these planets require special attention.
This is due to the reason that whereas the other six planets have a tendency to bring out the expressions of their energies in a balanced way; Saturn, Rahu and Ketu are an exception to this trend. It means that Jupiter or Moon may cause positive as well as negative effects in a balanced way, based on the percentages of positive and negative energies in them. On the other hand; Saturn, Rahu and Ketu have a tendency to give expression to their negative energies much before their positive energies. Hence these planets may wish to burn out their negative energies first and they may only wish to explore their positive energies later on.
Therefore, if you wear gemstones for these planets even when they are mildly negative; their negative energies may also increase along with their positive energies. As these planets have a tendency to express their negative energies first, such increased negative energy may become a cause of concern for the native who chooses to wear these gemstones. There are no doubts that once this negative energy is burned out, the increased positive energy may do wonderful things for you. However, this negative energy may take many years to burn out completely and by that time, you may have already faced disastrous results due to such increased negative energy. Therefore, these three planets are a special case in Vedic astrology and they should not be treated like the other planets when it comes to recommending gemstones.
In my practice of Vedic astrology, I have found that the gemstones belonging to Saturn, Rahu and Ketu are suitable only for 5 to 10 natives per hundred natives. On the other hand, gemstones for the other six planets among navagraha on average are suitable for about 30 to 40 natives per hundred natives. Hence extra care should be practiced while recommending gemstones for Saturn, Rahu and Ketu. The gemstones for these planets should be recommended only when they are almost absolutely positive; or when the overall tone of the horoscope demands so.
Coming to the main topic, the practice of recommending gemstones for exalted planets should be avoided. An exalted planet can be benefic as well as malefic in a horoscope. In case an exalted planet becomes malefic in a horoscope, it already becomes one of the most problematic planets in the horoscope due to the fact that it is malefic and at the same time, it is very strong. If such is the case, the last thing a native should do is to wear its gemstone and provide extra strength to such already very strong and malefic planet in his horoscope as such exalted but negative planet may start troubling this native with even more strength.
Gemstones should only be worn for benefic planets and they should not be worn for malefic planets as gemstones are only capable of providing strength to their corresponding planets among navagraha and they can’t change the working nature of planets. It means that wearing gemstones for malefic planets may increase the strength of such malefic planets and these planets may cause even more problems and troubles for the native.
Therefore, gemstones should only be worn for positive planets so that such positive planets may gain extra strength and the native may witness more benefits from such positive planets. Vedic astrology provides various guidelines to decide the benefic or malefic nature of various planets among navagraha. Hence a good astrologer should carefully analyze a horoscope in order to find benefic planets from such horoscope and only then he should recommend gemstones for such benefic planets.
Himanshu Shangari