Vedic Astrology has many different techniques of predicting the future. From the analysis of the static picture of the Natal Chart we get the nature of one’s life and the potentials that one is born with. But we need a way to determine when those potentials will be realized. The Ancients came up with many different methods, different formulas, for determining how and when the events promised by the birth chart would occur. Some of these methods of prediction look at long-term trends, other methods focus in on short periods of time. Just as there are many planets and their attributes to consider, so there are many factors to be considered. The various meanings then have to be layered on top of each other in order to derive a complete picture of what will actually happen. Although there are many many techniques for predicting the future in Vedic Astrology, in this article I will describe the basics of the method that is generally used.

We can think of the Method of Prediction as being like a Layer Cake. The base layer is like a foundation, which is solid and broad, and extends into time several to many years. The technique in Vedic Astrology that performs this function is designated as The Major Planetary Period. Technically it is called the Mahadasa of the Vimshottari Dasha. But for our purposes we can just designate it as the Current Major Period. Each of the major periods is named for the planet that directs its function, and each has a specific number of years of duration. These major periods proceed in a particular order and continue from one lifetime to the next. The entire cycle is 120 years long, with each planet taking a portion of that 120 years. The portions are not equal; the shortest is the 6 years-long Sun Major Period; the longest is the 20 years-long Venus Major Period.

Where you are on the sequence of major periods is determined by the exact placement of the Moon in your natal chart plus the number of years that have elapsed since your birth. During any particular major period, the natural qualities of the planetary ruler are emphasized in your life, as well as the events related to the houses (sectors of your life) that planet controls by way of where its signs ended up in your chart, as well as the actual location in your chart of that major period ruler. The major period extends for many years and determines what is going on in your life during that particular episode of the unfoldment of your destiny.

But a major period is too long a span of time to enable us to be specific about when an event will occur. So we have to move up to the next level of the layer cake, called the Sub-period, which deals with smaller chunks of time. As with the major periods, the original nine Vedic Astrology significators (i.e., Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are not included) again each take a turn at “ruling your life,” but now compressed into the length of the time of the Major Period. The sub-periods last from a few months to a few years at most (again, the exact calculation is determined by the ancient formula). We can think of the sub-period as the foreground of the painting: closer to you, and more obvious, with the major period forming the backdrop. As with the major period, the natural qualities of the planet governing the current sub-period become more dominant themes in your life, as do the karmas associated with the parts of your chart (houses) that the planet rules by way of its signs, as also the position of the planet in your natal chart.

But even the sub-periods, short as they are, do not pin-point actual events. In order to zero in on the timing more precisely, we have to move up to the next layer, or actually layers, of our layer cake. These are designated as The Transits. Here we leave the Planetary Period System to access a new technique. The idea is to determine the positions of the various planets in the zodiac, now and in the future, and then by juxtaposing them against the static picture of your natal chart, we get a bunch of influences, which can be tracked forward into the future. Thankfully the software written for the personal computer takes care of the actual calculations. By taking note of what parts of your chart each planet impacts at any specific date we care to examine, along with using various formulas that evaluate the strengths of the influences, the astrologer figures out what events are likely to occur in your life.

At this level of the Method of Prediction we usually go first to the layer called The Saturn Transit. Saturn is sometimes called The Planet of Karma. It has a no-nonsense quality about it; it’s hard to negotiate with Saturn; the Karma Will Be Delivered. So if what we are looking for is some level of certainty in predictive analysis, then Saturn should definitely be checked out. Exactly how Saturn’s transit affects your natal chart and your life is too big a topic to cover in a short article. But again we have a slow-moving factor: Saturn can take up to three years to move through a sign. Saturn by itself will not nail down the timing of an event, although it does give a strong indication of what part of life there will be a focus on.

There are 12 planetary significators to look at in the Transit System: 8 planets plus the Sun and the Moon, plus the Nodes (the eclipse points, given nearly the status of solid planets in Vedic Astrology). The faster-moving planets, vz. the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, give us more specifics for timing of an event. These layers of the layer cake are getting smaller and smaller; by now the whole thing is starting to get too complicated and appears unwieldy. So we need a method to determine which factors are primary, i.e., have more power to create events. There are many tools in the astrologer’s toolkit for helping in this regard.

One of the main techniques is simply to observe where the transits are impacting sectors of the chart that already have been “turned on” by other layers of the layer cake of prediction. Going back to the Major Period Planet, and the Sub-period planet, and noting which houses they have activated, as well as the actual placements of those two planets, helps to narrow down the choices for making a prediction. Similarly, multiple influences will build upon each other: if two or more planets are coming together in the zodiac, and simultaneously land on a significant planet’s position in your natal chart, then we can more confidently predict for an event. In this way we see how the various layers of the Method of Prediction augment and reinforce each other, which is what we are looking for when trying to forecast the future.