In the course of discussions with clients and other interested people, I am often asked how astrology can be used to make money. This is not a simple question because there is no clear counterfactual situation.. The money you make is ultimately part of your life karma in any event, so all attempts to “improve” one’s fortune using astrology are essentially hypothetical. You see, it may be the case that you were destined to consult an astrologer and thereby use his or her advice as a means to making money through investment, speculation, or betting. This is the way one can “use” astrology to make money. Of course, if your chart does not support the notion of unearned gains, then it is unlikely that you will earn much money through investment or gambling, whether using astrology or not. People with poor charts for speculation may seek out astrologers to help them in this goal, but will find an astrologer who is unhelpful or who gives poor advice so they lose money in the end.
In most cases, an astrologer is able to isolate time periods when you are more likely to increase earnings through your employment or the times when you are more likely to make gains through income streams that fall outside of your regular salary or wages. However, since astrology is not a simple mechanistic science (if A, then B), few astrologers will be able to guarantee particular outcomes at specific times. The very best astrologer can only suggest probabilities. The difficulty here is that there are a number of layers of analysis involved in any particular case. For example, if a person wonders about buying a certain stock at a certain time, an astrologer may attempt to analyze the relevant horoscopes of the company involved, including its incorporation date and the date of its first trade on the stock exchange. Using whatever tools at hand, the astrologer can ascertain where the stock is in its “life” cycle. If it is moving into an upward phase, then it is deemed to be a favourable time to buy. No matter how detailed and accurate this analysis might be, it is still essential to check the horoscope of the potential investor: is it an auspicious time for them to undertake an investment? The astrologer also needs to know how long the investor wishes to hold onto the investment for. If it is only a short term investment of a matter or days or weeks, then it is vitally important that the dasha and transit situation at the time of the sale of the stock is favourable for gains. If not, the investor will invariably lose money on the trade.
I have found astrology to be perhaps most reliable and effective when used in frequent low-risk situations such as day trading and frequent sports betting where the person concerned is assessing their gain or loss status on a regular basis. Depending on the level of the stakes, a time of favourable transits of benefic planets such as Venus, Jupiter, Rahu, and Uranus to key natal points greatly enhance the likelihood that gains will accrue. Conversely, it is fairly straightforward to see time windows where there is greater stress in the horoscope and the native is more likely to lose money in monetary ventures. The amount of money to be won or lost depends on the strength of the planets involved and the underlying influence of the dashas, or planetary periods. Going to the racetrack when Mars or Sun is squaring one’s Saturn is almost certain to end losses, no matter how many hours one pores over the Racing Form. Venus is the planet of love, but it is also the planet most closely associated with money. Ideally, a trip to the casino will be made while Venus is in harmonious aspect to one’s Moon, Ascendant, Sun, Jupiter, or Uranus.
Lottery Winner – Natal Chart
Let’s take a look at an extreme case of a lottery winner, in which the native won several million dollars (Apr 24 1950 4.45 am EST Methuen, MA). Please note that all houses and rulerships below refer to sidereal whole sign houses using equal house cusps. In the situation of lottery or casino gambling, we can eliminate one layer of analysis — that is, the horoscope of the object or source of revenue. (N.B. it is possible to discover the horoscope of particular casinos and government lotteries, but this is uncommon). So the first thing to do is to look at the natal chart and see if the native is likely to experience winnings from unearned income such as gambling or speculation. Normally, a native should have connections between the the 11th house is the house of gains and income, the 8th house of unearned income, and the 5th house of games and investment. The 2nd house of wealth may also figure into the mix. Connections usually entail rulerships (e.g. 8th lord in the 11th house) or dispositorships (e.g. Jupiter’s dispositor in the 11th house) and are more likely to yield income if they are associated with the benefic planets (Venus, Jupiter), the nodes (Rahu, Ketu), in good aspect to any of the outer planets Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
In this example lottery winner’s chart we see an excellent placement right off the bat: benefic Jupiter in the 11th house of gains. Incredibly, Jupiter is almost exactly trined by Uranus, representing sudden or exciting developments. Jupiter and the 11th house karma is further aided by the co-presence of 2nd lord Venus. This makes the 11th house incredibly favourable and all the more likely to generate its positive indications such as income. The lord of the 11th is Saturn and it is well-placed in the 5th house of speculation — another supporting factor for gains from speculation. The influence of this Saturn in Leo is enhanced by virtue of Saturn’s dispositor Sun being placed in the 1st house just one degree past the Sun’s highest degree of exaltation. The 8th lord Mars also gets into the act by virtue of its placement in the 5th house of speculation, which of course aspects the 11th house and both of Jupiter and Venus. So this chart definitely has some of the classic signatures for gains from speculation and unearned sources — associations between the 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 11th houses and benefic strength therein.
Lottery Win – Transits 10/26/96
So then the next question we have to ask is why did the native win the lottery on October 26, 1996? Looking at the dashas, the native was running Ketu-Jupiter. First off, it is very important not to be fooled by the simple symbolisms of these planets. Typically Ketu is linked to spiritual and non-material pursuits such as spirituality and meditation. While this is true, this doesn’t mean that all Ketu dashas will also involve encounters with the divine at the expense of more mundane concerns. It all depends on the condition of the Ketu in each horoscope. In this chart, Ketu is placed in the 6th house in a wide conjunction with Neptune. It is otherwise unaspected. At this point, this is largely a neutral placement. However, one of the most important influences on a node is its dispositor. Ketu is here disposited by Mercury, which is placed in the 2nd house of wealth. It is, in turn, disposited by Venus which is in the 11th with Jupiter, an excellent placement. Moreover, this Mercury is aspected widely by 11th lord Saturn. Ketu is also the nakshatra lord of Sun, which as we have seen is perhaps the most powerful planet in the chart since it is rising and near its highest degree of exaltation. Sun is 5th lord of speculation and games. So here we have established the possibility of Ketu dashas yielding results that might involve wealth from speculation.
The bhukti lord is usually a more immediately telling source of event outcomes. In this case, Jupiter bhukti was running. As we have seen, Jupiter is perfectly positioned in the 11th house, very close to the powerful 11th equal house cusp. And at the time of the win, transiting bhukti lord Jupiter was applying to a close trine to the 11th lord Saturn. Transiting Rahu was also conjoining natal Ketu suggesting a sudden and boundary-breaking event. Transiting 8th lord Mars was in the 5th house, while Pluto closely squared bhukti lord Jupiter.
The fact that few people will have such a great chart for speculative gains shouldn’t prevent us for investing, speculating, or gambling as long as we have a reasonable expectations. And we would do well to remember that some charts will tend to show losses from these activities in which case a good astrologer can issue a warning to the perspective investor by scaling back expectations or suggesting safer avenues of income. The most common occurrence is that people have fair to middling charts for speculative ventures so this means they will win some and lose some. Perhaps astrology’s purpose in those cases is to focus on the relatively infrequent good periods while discouraging speculation during times of difficult planetary configurations. Of course, even with the favourable transits there are no guarantees of winning. A good Venus transit may induce the gambler to visit the casino one night only to have him end up chatting up the beautiful waitress in the adjoining bar and taking her out to dinner. In that case, the pleasant Venus karma may be all used up by the romantic encounter leaving no Venus left for the actual poker table. Ah well — you can’t have your cake and eat it, too!