I was never very interested in reading the horoscopes from magazines that would tel the fortunes about my sign. It just didn't seem relevant to me, or rather it was so general and abstract that any of the 12-signs made sense to me.
Years later when I try to recall how I became interested in Jyotish I find it hard to even remember though my recollections do tell me that reading Aghora: The Left Hand of God must have had something to do with it.
The same way that Yogi Bhajan brought Kundalini and Sikhism to the West today many of the best Jyoti do not reside in India. People using Jyotish today are not consulting Jyoti to find them the right gemstones to wear as much as they are using Jyotish as a tool to reach their highest self.
Now I see astrology according the maxim, as above, so below. The universe is the great mystery; the masterpiece watch that has no watch maker. The moment we were born is a snap-shot of all the intricate workings of planets, signs, and houses. It is a reference or marking place, but the world, and the universe keeps turning.
The fascinating thing about Jyotish is all the different charts; including the lagna or birth-chart there are many divisional charts used for specific purposes such as compatibility (D9) work (D10) and children (D7).
The houses sit inside the Nakshatras. These are zodiac signs that correspond to the transits of the moon and are much older than the 12 zodiac signs corresponding to the sun.
The Houses 1-12:
1 House: Body, over all self
2 House: Wealth, liquid assets,
3 House: Cousins, Media
4 House: The mother, the home
5 House: Children, higher education
6 House: Enemies, small animals
7 House: Spouse, Society
8 House: Sex, death, life anything uncovered, the occult
9 House: Religion, Politics
10 House: Dharma, Dedication in Life
11 House: Gains
12 House: Liberation (Loses)
Each house is assigned a zodiac sign according to what sign is on the horizon. This is always the first house. The signs correspond to the 12 houses of the zodiac, where the qualities of the houses also mirror the qualities of the signs
1. Aries
2. Taurus
3. Gemini
4. Cancer
5. Leo
6. Virgo
7. Libra
8. Scorpio
9. Sagittarius
10. Capricorn
11. Aquarius
12. Pisces
So, there are 24 different combinations because Aries could be in the 1st house or in the 12th house, and so on through the signs.
Then on top of this movement we places the Grahas. In Sanskrit this is a force that pulls and in Jyotish these are the visible planets, plus the sun and moon, and the north and south nodes of the moon's transit. These are invisible points that are related to in Vedic mythology as Rahu (the north node) and Ketu (the south node). They are always 180-degrees from each other. The mythology goes that Vishnu was having a Soma party and only the Rishis were allowed. Rahu snuck in without permission and when Vishnu found out he chopped off Rahu's head. So Rahu is a head without a body, whereas Ketu is the disembodied half of Rahu. These two forces represent the polarities in human psychology and in nature. The yin and yang, male and female, left and right, positive and negative. Rahu represents what we obsess about and can never get satiated with. Ketu represents something that is an absence, namely because we experienced it already in past-lives and it doesn't interest us (or at least we don't obsess over it). Depending on where these planets will place will say a lot about what type of person you are.
Similarly the other planets exert forces and represent archetypes
Sun - self-esteem, the father, politics
Moon- emotions, the mother
Mercury- communication, technology
Venus- love, passion, art (the wife in a man's chart)
Mars- drive, zeal, war, fire
Jupiter- Gurus, teachers, higher education (the husband in a woman's chart)
Saturn- Discipline, time, setbacks
When you combine the position of the houses with the signs and the planets then you start to get a picture of Jyotish. We can look at specific charts and see where planets are placed and then look at transits to see when these influences might exert a particular force.
Another fascinating predictive tool in Jyotish are the Dasha periods. The Dahshas are derived from the Nakshtra, and each period is ruled by a particular planet, lasting anywhere from 7 - 18 years. It is during this time when the planet will exert the most force on your life. Or when it will teach you the lesson that is most relevant in terms of where its placed in your chart.
Do you want to know your birthchart? There are many tools and vast information to study Jyotish. It's a science that is at least 3000 years old so this is not even the tip of the iceberg, just a little something to get you excited and searching further!