The Differences Between Western and Vedic Astrology

The Differences Between Western and Vedic Astrology
Component	Western	Vedic
Fundamental differences
Zodiac	Tropical (Seasonal)	Sidereal (Constellational)
House System	Ascendant on First House cusp, one of many house systems selected	Whole Signs (Ascendant in the 1st) two major house systems used
Planets	Visible plus Uranus, Neptune, Pluto	Visible only
Planets in signs	Central to chart interpretation	Used differently, especially to assess planetary strength
Sign ruler ships	Aquarius to Uranus, Pisces to Neptune, Scorpio to Pluto	Traditional (Aquarius to Saturn, Pisces to Jupiter, Scorpio to Mars)
Aspects	conjunction, sextile, square, trine & opposition with <10 degree orbs; aspects only to planets & angles	conjunction & opposition by whole sign, with Mars, Jupiter & Saturn having special whole sign aspects
Differences in Approaches and Methodology
Assessing Strength and Weakness
Retrogradation	weakness	strength
planet in sign opposite to ruled	weak, called debilitated	not used
Combust	rarely used	important weakness
strong-weak Moon by phase	unused	Dark Moon/ waning is weak,  Bright Moon strong/waxing strong
planetary war	unused	major weakness
vargottama	unused	significant strength
dig bala	unused	major strength
dispositorship	sometimes used	of major importance
mutual reception	used by some astrologers	a major yoga used in delineation
exalted by sign	strong	strong unless sign ruler weak
fallen by sign	weak	weak unless sign ruler strong +
benefic/malefic planets	not used per se (although Saturn is seen as highly impactful)	Sun, Mars, Saturn & Nodes malefic Venus, Jupiter benefic & usually Moon and Mercury too
House Meanings and Ruler ship
good/bad houses	largely ignored	crucial to chart interpretation
house classifications	angular, succedent, cadent fire, air, water, earth	Western types + maraka, Upachaya, good/bad, Kendra / Trikona & more
rulership of houses	used occasionally by some Western astrologers	deeply central to chart analysis, e.g. the formation of planetary yogas
Additional Methods of Analysis
Aspect Patterns	Grand Trine, T-Square, Grand Cross, Yod, and others used	not used
Chart shape	Marc Edmund Jones patterns	an extensive set of yogas
Lunar phases	8 lunar phases	16 Tithis
methods of prediction	Transits (especially by outer planets), progressions, directions	Vimshottari dashas, secondarily transits by Jupiter & Saturn
lunar mansions aka Nakshatras	Rarely used	central to dasha calculation & elections, of major importance
Harmonic / Varga Charts	Seldom used	used extensively in both natal and predictive work
assessing compatibility	Inter aspects between charts, cross-house placement, composite charts	Kuta analysis & Navamsha assessment
Added chart points	the comet Chiron, the four major asteroids, and possibly others.	usually no extra points, but some add Upagrahas and Sahams.