There are nine planets in Vedic astrology, including Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Rahu, and Ketu. However, not everyone is a friend to everyone.
When studying Vedic astrology charts or horoscopes, it is important to note planetary relationships, or how the planets view one another.
If two enemy planets are placed together, it can create considerable negative impacts on the person’s life, while two friendly planets placed together could help a person achieve new heights of success. Then again, two neutral planets produce moderate or mixed results.
So, let’s look at the planetary relationships in Vedic astrology.
| Planets | Friends | Enemies | Neutral |
| Sun** | Moon, Mars, Jupiter | Venus, Saturn, Rahu, Ketu | Mercury |
| Moon | Sun, Mercury | Rahu, Ketu | Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn |
| Mercury | Sun, Moon, Jupiter, Venus | None | Rahu, Ketu, Mars, Saturn |
| Venus | Saturn, Rahu, Ketu, Mercury | Sun, Moon | Mars, Jupiter |
| Mars | Sun, Moon, Jupiter | Rahu, Ketu | Venus, Mercury |
| Jupiter | Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury | Rahu, Ketu | Venus, Saturn |
| Saturn | Mercury, Venus, Rahu, Ketu | Sun, Moon, Mars | Jupiter |
| Rahu | Saturn, Venus, Mercury, Ketu | Sun, Moon, Mars, Jupiter | None |
| Ketu | Rahu, Venus, Saturn | Sun, Moon | Mercury, Jupiter |
Whenever two friendly planets come together (conjunction) in a horoscope chart, a benefic combination, also referred to as a ‘yog’ is formed. For example, when Jupiter and Moon are placed together in the same house or zodiac sign together, they may form a yoga referred to as the Gajkesari Yoga, which is considered to be one of the most benefic placements or combinations in Vedic astrology.
Similarly, when two opposing or enemy planets come together in a horoscope, they can cause problems for the person. For example, Jupiter and Rahu are sworn enemies; so when they are together in a horoscope chart, Guru Chandal Dosh is formed, which causes Jupiter’s benefic effects to be affected by Rahu. The same can be said for Moon and Saturn; Moon does not consider Saturn an enemy, but Saturn is a natural malefic planet and thus ends up harming Moon through a combination referred to as the Vish Dosh, which basically Saturn and Moon placed together.
*The Trans-Saturnian planets including Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are indifferent to the rest of the planets in the Vedic astrology. They are extremely good friends in between them and operate on another level. In other words, they do not get involved in planetary politics.
**The Sun is considered by some astrologers to be a malefic planet since it causes any planet coming too close to it to combust (a combusted planet loses at least half of its strength usually), but its nature is Sattvic, meaning that when positioned individually, the Sun usually gives benefic results to the native of the astrological chart.