The D6 Chart in Jyotish

Uncovering the Secrets of Karma

by Katya Faris, MA, MA

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Welcome to my series on the divisional charts of Jyotish. These articles provide an accessible overview for my clients, explaining how each chart adds unique depth to your astrological profile.

Today, we explore the D6 or Shashtamsha, or Shatruprashtamsa chart—a specialized map dedicated to health, disease, daily work, and the ability to overcome adversaries and obstacles. It provides a detailed diagnostic view of your physical and mental resilience.

A Quick Note: An accurate birth time is essential for this and any divisional chart beyond the D1.

What is the D6 Chart?

The D6 chart is created by dividing each 30-degree zodiac sign into 6 equal parts of 5 degrees each.

• Core Purpose: To analyze matters of the 6th house: health, disease, service, routine, debts, and enemies. It reveals the specific nature of challenges you face and your inherent capacity to heal, serve, and triumph.

The Lord of the 6th House in the D6 Chart: Your Strategy for Mastery

While planets in the 6th house of the D6 show the nature of your challenges, the lord of the 6th house is arguably even more important. This planet represents your inherent strategy, inherent capacity, and karmic tool for managing health, service, and adversity. Where this lord is placed and how it is configured reveals how you are designed to overcome.

The 6th House Lord Through the Houses in the D6

The house placement of your D6 6th lord shows the life arena where you apply your problem-solving energy and where you can find resources for healing and victory.

1. In the 1st House: Your identity is intertwined with overcoming challenges. You are a natural problem-solver, and your health/struggles significantly shape your personality. You tackle obstacles head-on through sheer will and self-focus.

2. In the 2nd House: You overcome challenges through your resources, values, and speech. Financial management, family support, or skilled communication (e.g., negotiation, therapy) are key to resolving health or conflict issues.

3. In the 3rd House: Your strategy involves courage, communication, and initiative. You fight your battles through writing, networking, technology, or sheer mental agility. Siblings or close peers may be instrumental in your support system.

4. In the 4th House: Your healing and stability come from your home, inner emotional foundation, and private life. You may overcome issues through rest, real estate, family care, or addressing deep-seated emotional patterns.

5. In the 5th House: You apply creativity, speculation, and a joyful heart to your challenges. Healing may come through creative expression, children, or a playful, optimistic attitude. You transform problems into projects.

6. In the 6th House (Swagati): The lord is in its own sign. This indicates a strong, focused, and direct capacity to deal with 6th house matters. You have innate discipline and organizational skills for health and service, but may also find your life consistently centered around these themes.

7. In the 7th House: Your strategy involves partnerships, diplomacy, or public confrontation. You may overcome health issues or adversaries through marriage, business partners, therapy, or legal means. Relationships are both a potential source of challenge and your greatest aid.

8. In the 8th House: Your mastery comes through transformation, research, and resilience. You tackle deep, hidden, or chronic issues. Healing may involve psychology, alternative therapies, surgery, or managing shared resources/inheritance.

9. In the 9th House: You overcome through faith, philosophy, higher learning, and expansion. Long journeys, higher education, spiritual guidance, or adopting an optimistic, philosophical outlook are your medicines and shields.

10. In the 10th House: You confront challenges through career, public status, and authority. Your professional life is deeply linked to your struggles; you may achieve mastery by becoming an expert, healer, or manager in your field. Public recognition can come from overcoming adversity.

11. In the 11th House: Your support and solutions come from friends, groups, networks, and aspirations. You overcome through teamwork, humanitarian goals, technology, or by aligning your struggles with a larger hope for the future.

12. In the 12th House: Your path to mastery involves solitude, spirituality, surrender, and working behind the scenes. Healing may occur in hospitals, ashrams, or through subconscious work. Your victory lies in release, forgiveness, and spiritual transcendence of the problem.

Key Synthesis

• A strong, well-placed 6th lord (e.g., in an angle [1,4,7,10] or trine [1,5,9], in its own or exaltation sign) indicates a powerful innate ability to manage crises, heal, and succeed through discipline.

• A 6th lord conjunct or aspected by benefics (Jupiter, Venus) receives grace and support in its mission.

• A 6th lord afflicted by malefics or in a difficult house suggests the strategy itself may be a source of struggle, requiring more conscious effort to wield effectively.

Understanding your D6 6th house lord completes the picture: it shows not just the nature of the battle (planets in the 6th), but the weapon and battle plan (the 6th lord) you were given to win it.

The Diagnostic Lens: Planets in the 6th House of the D6

The 6th house in the D6 chart is the primary focus. Planets residing here act as key indicators of your health tendencies and the nature of your struggles.

1. Sun: Indicates strong willpower and vitality to overcome obstacles. Potential for health issues related to the heart, eyes, or vitality. Leadership in confronting adversaries.

2. Moon: Suggests emotional resilience but potential for fluctuating health tied to emotions. Strong nurturing instincts that aid recovery. Susceptibility to digestive or fluid-related issues.

3. Mars: Implies high energy and a fighting spirit against illness and opponents. Potential for inflammatory conditions, injuries, or surgeries. An assertive, competitive approach to challenges.

4. Mercury: Indicates an analytical mind applied to problem-solving and health management. Potential for nervous system, respiratory, or communication-related disorders. Success through strategy and adaptability.

5. Jupiter: Brings optimism, wisdom, and a holistic approach to healing. Potential for issues related to liver, digestion, or overindulgence. Protection through faith, ethics, and growth-oriented solutions.

6. Venus: Suggests a harmonious, diplomatic approach to resolving conflicts. Potential for kidney, reproductive system, or sugar-related imbalances. Healing through beauty, relationship balance, and comfort.

7. Saturn: Denotes discipline, endurance, and long-term management of chronic conditions. Potential for structural issues, chronic pain, or limitations. Strength through patience, routine, and accepting responsibility.

8. Rahu: Indicates unconventional, sudden, or mysterious health challenges. Potential for addictions, unusual diagnoses, or nervous disorders. Overcoming through innovation, technology, or unorthodox methods.

9. Ketu: Suggests intuitive insight into the root cause of ailments but also potential neglect. Psychosomatic issues, mysterious pains, or past-life health karma. Healing requires spiritual understanding and detachment.

Key Principles for D6 Analysis

1. Affliction vs. Strength: Malefic planets (Saturn, Mars, Sun, Rahu, Ketu) in the 6th house can indicate specific areas of vulnerability or the nature of adversaries. Benefic planets (Jupiter, Venus, a strong Mercury) here provide powerful tools for recovery and overcoming obstacles.

2. The 6th House Lord: The planet ruling your D6 6th house and its placement shows how and where you find strength to deal with challenges. A strong lord in a beneficial house signifies robust recovery potential.

3. Connection to D1: The condition of the 6th house lord from your D1 chart and its placement in the D6 is crucial. A weak D1 lord strengthened in the D6 suggests the ability to overcome initial weaknesses through effort and healing.

Applications of the D6 Chart

• Medical Astrology: Acts as a diagnostic tool to identify constitutional strengths, vulnerabilities, and the likely nature of ailments. It can point to preventative care and supportive healing modalities.

• Service & Daily Work: Reveals your innate attitude toward service, routine, and detailed work. It can indicate suitable healing or service-oriented professions.

• Conflict Resolution: Illuminates the nature of your “enemies” or obstacles—whether they are health issues, legal disputes, or competitive rivals—and your karmic approach to resolving them.

Synthesis: The Bigger Picture

The D6 chart does not operate in isolation. A challenging D6 can be supported by a strong D1 or beneficial Dasha periods. Conversely, a good D6 can provide resilience during difficult transits or planetary periods affecting health.

The chart ultimately reveals your karmic toolkit for facing difficulty. It shows whether your path involves courageous battle (Mars), wise management (Jupiter/Saturn), diplomatic resolution (Venus), or spiritual transcendence (Ketu).

Conclusion

The D6 Shatruprashtamsa Chart is your spiritual and physical “immune system” blueprint. It moves beyond general health indicators to reveal the specific karmic lessons embedded in your challenges and your soul’s innate capacity to heal, serve, and emerge stronger. Understanding this chart empowers you to approach health and obstacles not just as problems, but as areas for profound personal mastery and growth.

All research and writing are done by me. My primary sources are my class notes, traditional teachings, and the foundational text, the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra.

To see what your D6 chart says about you, book a reading with me:

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