The Wish-Fulfilling Tree of Auspicious Timing

( Lords of the Vedas )

Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and Mercury are the lords of the four Vedas The Rig, Yajur, Sama, and Atharva Vedas respectively in their traditional order. ||4||

( Lords of the Social Classes )

Venus and Jupiter are the lords of the Priestly class Brahmins; the Sun and Mars are the masters of the Warrior class Kshatriyas; the Moon is the lord of the Merchant class Vaishyas; Mercury is the lord of the Laboring class Shudras; and Saturn is the lord of those outside the class system Antyajas. 5

( Exaltations and Debilitations )

Aries, Taurus, Capricorn, Virgo, Cancer, Pisces, and Libra are, in order, the signs of exaltation The signs where a planet reaches its maximum strength for the Sun and the other planets. The seventh sign from each of these is the sign of debilitation The sign where a planet is at its weakest. 6

( The Commencement of the Day )

The change of the weekday occurs at the moment of this calculated constant, starting from midday. However, all ritual activities should begin from sunrise, while the planetary hours Horas: planetary hours used to determine auspicious timing follow the change of the weekday. 8

( Lords of the Horas )

The lords of the hours Horas follow this sequence starting from the Lord of the Day: Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars.

( Duration of a Hora )

The duration of a single Hora is established here as two and a half ghatikas Exactly 60 minutes, as 1 ghatika is 24 minutes of the day's length. 9

( Degrees of Arc )

For the Sun, the degrees to be subtracted are 14, 8, and 7. For the Moon: 13, 11, and 12. For Mars: 10, 3, and 4. For Mercury: 2, 9, and 8. For Jupiter: 16 and 6. 10
For Venus: 15, 5, and 1. For Saturn: 6, 4, and 5. These are the measures for the day; I shall now speak of the values to be subtracted for the night, starting from the Sun. 11