Certainly one of the most frequently asked questions of the Astrologer is ‘When will my Finances improve?’ or its corollary, ‘How can I improve my Finances?’

To answer the question of How to improve finances the Astrologer looks for connections between various parts of your natal chart and the ‘money houses’: the 2nd and 11th houses.

To answer the question of When the financial picture will improve, the Astrologer looks for timing factors which will activate the areas of the chart which show financial promise.

The 2nd house of a chart is most directly concerned with Income. The analysis of this sector tells us what manner of material resources the soul has at its disposal during this particular sojourn on Earth. Each of the houses has a Lord: the planet that owns the zodiacal sign in the house, and thus represents that house in the chart. If the lord of a finance house ends up in a troublesome house, such as the 6th house of Struggle or the 12th house of Loss, or vice versa, finances will be problematical in general, and especially when activated by astrological timing factors. Where can your money be coming from? Any planet placed in a finance house will be the lord of some other house in the chart. That house, i.e., the area of life, that the planet is representing is a potential source of income. Likewise, the placement of the lord of the 2nd itself gives clues to sources of earning. For instance, if you have the lord of your 2nd house in the 4th, or the lord of the 4th in your 2nd, you can derive income from 4th house affairs such as real estate. In millionaire J. P. Morgan’s chart we find the lord of the 4th in his 2nd house.

Planets also have special meanings inherent in their nature: Venus, the planet of Art and Luxury, if connected to your 2nd house, gives potential income from artistic endeavors and art related fields. Such is the case in the chart of Lord Tennyson, the poet, with Venus in his 2nd house. The planet that most generally represents difficulties, Saturn, placed in the 2nd, will make attainment of riches a slow and arduous process, as in the case of Mahatma Gandhi. Jupiter, the planet that signifies wealth in general, is most welcome in the 2nd house. We find Jupiter in the 2nd house in the birthcharts of Henry Ford and Bill Gates.

The 11th house of a chart is the house of Profit and Gain. In finances, it represents ‘chunks’ of money, whereas the 2nd represents the weekly paycheck. Thus the 11th can be looked to especially in the case of entrepreneurs, businessmen, consultants, and others who don’t work a regular ‘9 to 5’. Again, the house’s ‘health’ is determined by analyzing the house itself, as well as its lord, for the influence on it of benefic vs. challenging planets. If Jupiter, which in general represents Opportunity and Prosperity, is occupying the 11th house, or associated with its lord, then the chart is well on its way to proving to be a materially successful chart. Similarly, the involvement of Saturn or Ketu (the spiritual, non-material significator) gives the 11th less potential for benefits. Connections between the lord of your 11th and other houses, or vice versa, give indications of where ‘profits’ can come from. For instance, the lord of the 5th house, which amongst its many meanings is the house of speculation, when placed favorably in the 11th, gives money from investments. A connection between the 2nd house and the 11th house has a special name: Dhana Yoga, meaning Wealth Combination. Nelson Rockefeller’s chart has the lord of the 11th in the 2nd house.

But even in a chart that shows financial problems, there are possibilities for relief. The 8th house of a chart, amongst its many meanings, is the house of ‘Other People’s Money’, or Unearned Wealth. This simply translates into support from outside of one’s own efforts. A strong and well-disposed 8th house will put the resources of others’ at the person’s fingertips. Paramahansa Yogananda, the famous Yogi, has the lard of his 5th house (Past Life Dividend) in the 8th house of his chart. The lord of the 7th house, the house of partnership, if placed in the 9th house of luck, brings Good Fortune through marriage. The 2nd house ruler, placed in the 7th, puts the planet representing income in the house of Partnership, thus: income from the partner (could also be from Business partners). As always, any combination of factors in a chart must be evaluated carefully using the formulas of Vedic Astrology to see if the result will be strong and benefic before predicting positive results.

The patterns shown in the natal chart are always regarded as being latent, i.e., they await activation. Vedic Astrologers look to two main activating systems: the Dashas (planetary period and sub-period) and the Transits (juxtaposing of planets in the Heavens alongside the Birth chart). The dasha system in Vedic Astrology tells you during which years of your life a certain potential shown in the chart will come into play for you. For finances, we are particularly looking for dashas that involve the 2nd and 11th houses of the natal chart. But dashas activating other houses can as well bring material improvement, for example: a dasha which activates a good connection between the 5th house of Investments and the 4th house of Property brings prosperity through real estate.
The Transits are the easiest technique to use for determining when something happens, although it can get complicated when contradictory transits occur simultaneously. For a positive effect on finances, we first look to Jupiter, the planet of Increase and Prosperity. Thus, if Jupiter is transiting in the 2nd house, it generally represents an uptick in wages. When Jupiter transits your 3rd house, benefits can come from 3rd house people: siblings, close relatives, and neighbors. The 3rd house is also the house of Initiative and Self-promotion, so now would be the time to realize benefits through advertisement. Jupiter transiting your 8th house of ‘Unearned Wealth’ can indicate a loan from a bank, support from the partner, or even a Windfall such as an inheritance. When Jupiter is moving through your 10th house prosperity comes through an increase in Professional Activities. But, since nothing in the Heavens operates in isolation, the Astrologer always has to watch for possible countervailing factors (mainly other transits) that may limit Jupiter’s effects.

Yet another technique for increasing one’s prosperity is to utilize activation that comes through contact with another person. There is a highly developed system within Vedic Astrology for evaluating this, too complicated to go into here, but basically the idea is that prosperity factors inherent in your natal chart can be ‘turned on’ (or off!) by someone else’s karma interacting with your own. Most commonly this is the marriage partner, but it can just as easily be an employer or employee, a teacher, a relative, etc. The analysis requires a birth chart from each of the people involved, and doesn’t necessarily result in positive results going both ways, i.e., it may be that only one party benefits, or that one is actually impoverished by the other! This is why in traditional India prospective marriage partners, business partners, and even parents of a new-born would run to their astrologer and get an analysis of inter-chart connections to see if the person coming into their life would bring benefit them or not.