Loka Planets

This is a tool I have been using now for a year or more, because every birth chart has them. Sometimes there is only one, but most often there are two since they are indicated by the positions of the Sun and Moon.

This is a term from traditional astrology in India which gains most of its inheritance from Persian (Zoroastrian) astrology. Loka may have its root in the same root word as the English term “location.”

A loka planet is the consciousness sphere from which the soul took flight when entering the Earth sphere this lifetime; or the planetary consciousness sphere that the soul has frequently visited over many lifetimes, thus retaining a resonance or emphasis even if there is another loka planet that takes precedence this time around in the birth chart.

Loka planets are determined by the Sun and Moon positions in the nirayana (sidereal Indian) zodiac, specifcially their decan position which correlates to a specific planet. Sun in nirayana 1° Aries is in the decan 1, therefore the Aries decan which belongs to Mars.

If the Moon is in the same decan (or another also indicating Mars), then we have Mars as the single loka planet. That tells me to look for Mars aligned with the Asc, Midheaven, or in some cases the IC (undersky) by major aspect (conjunction, parallel, square, opposition, contra-parallel, or quincunx) or by key minor aspect (typically 15-degree variants).

That will validate the general accuracy of the chart as presented. If there is no such alignment, the chart’s accuracy is questionable and will likely not be accurate enough to allow accurate interpretation of the aspects to those points, or even the house placements of some bodies, or to allow for prediction timing (transits or progressions) based on those house alignments.

Of course, I always convert back to the western tropical zodiac once I have determined the loka planet(s).

Here is Ed Snowden’s AA-rated western tropical birth chart.

Zodiac switched to nirayana (with Hindu/Lahiri ayanamsa):

We can clearly see that the Sun is in decan 1 belonging to Mercury and that planet is near the Ascendant (and would be no matter what zodiac is used). Moon is in decan 2, Aquarius, belonging to Saturn traditionally, but Uranus according to modern rulerships. We can clearly see Uranus near the Descendant of the chart.

This indicates that Snowden’s chart is probably at least roughly accurate as depicted.

There are also peculiar ways in which loka planets can align with other planets by aspect rather than by alignment to the main calculated points. In my own birth chart for example, Sun in the middle degrees of nirayana Aries (decan 2, Leo=Sun) indicates the Sun as loka, and very strong overall, but it is conjunct and parallel Saturn, limiting its strength this lifetime in favor of Saturn’s influence, which is the weakest planet overall.

Thus a very strong Sun (suggesting ego) meets Saturn’s limiting, substantive influence to learn humility and more constructive use of the solar energies. However, the prime loka planet in my chart is Mars (because Moon is in nirayana Sagittarius, decan 2, Aries=Mars), which is not conjunct any main calculated point as mentioned above, but is parallel the Midheaven, suggesting the relative accuracy of the chart as cast according to recorded birth time since I am also very much a Virgoan personality.

Mars is middle of the pack in planetary strength among the seven traditional planets, thus gaining much strength only because of its prime position aligned with the Midheaven, the area of the sky for Mars’s greatest strength. Mars as loka planet indicates the soul’s desire to learn to incorporate and better handle more self-initiated action, passion, impulses, anger, channeling them more productively.

This is a very important calibration tool that keys into what the soul’s own experience is over lifetimes and how those themes are carried over and will show in the current birth chart. The birth chart in this way is more an historical record, a document mostly recording territory already covered by the soul, tendencies already well in place with some information about the soul’s intentions for development in recent lifetimes and the current one. All this means little to the person whose mind cannot at least remain open for the possibility of reincarnation, but this is the astrology that I practice.

Loka planets used alongside planetary strengths as given in the traditional Indian composite rating called Shadbala give a deeper and more soul-oriented process view into the factors of the astrological birth chart. Not only is this tool great for helping to calibrate the chart for accuracy (along with other more direct methods), but it gives deeper insights into soul development for continued growth.