Combustion

When a planet comes too close to the Sun, it gets combusted and loses some of its strength. I have mentioned the degree placements for each planet below.

• Moon – 12 degrees in direct motion, no retrograde motion
• Mars – 17 degrees in direct motion, 8 degrees in retrograde motion
• Mercury – 14 degrees in direct motion, 12 degrees in retrograde motion
• Jupiter – 11 degrees in direct motion and retrograde motion, too
• Venus – 10 degrees in direct motion and 8 degrees in retrograde motion
• Saturn – 16 degrees in direct motion and in retrograde motion, too

*Note that Mars will remain combusted up to 17 degrees of the Sun, meaning that Mars 17 degrees 00 arc minutes 00 arc seconds will remain combusted. However, the moment the placement is 17 degrees 00 arc minutes 01 arc second, it is no longer combusted.

What does this mean, now? It means that if the degree difference between the Sun and any planet mentioned above is less than the degrees mentioned above, then the planet will get combusted.

Here’s an example below –

The person is a male, born on 12^th December, 2001 at 4:33 PM afternoon in New Delhi, India.

Look at the conditions of Mercury and Venus in the chart; both have a ^ sign next to them. Let’s look at the degree placements of Sun, Venus, and Mercury in the chart; I have mentioned them below for the ease of reference:

• Sun –26°37’02’’ – 26 degrees 37 arc minutes 02 arc seconds
• Venus – 18°42’16’’ – 18 degrees 42 arc minutes 16 arc seconds
• Mercury – 00°49’21’’ – 00 degrees 49 arc minutes 21 arc seconds

Now, take the difference between Sun and Venus; to simplify the calculations, ignore arc minutes and arc seconds.

• Sun – Venus = 26 degrees – 18 degrees = 8 degrees, we know that Venus remains combusted up to 10 degrees in direction motion and up to 8 degrees in retrograde motion

Now, the computation for combustion of Mercury is more interesting. Mercury is 00 degrees 49 arc minutes 21 arc seconds. How far is this from the Sun? Let’s consider this example.

We know that one zodiac sign is 30 degrees; so, in this case, we can consider the placement of Mercury to be 30 degrees 49 arc minutes 21 arc seconds. Technically, the maximum a planet can be is 30 degrees, but this way, we can compute easily.

So, now take the difference of the Sun and Mercury:

• Mercury – Sun = 30 degrees – 26 degrees = 4 degrees

Of course, this distance is way less than the combustion range of Mercury which is 14 degrees in direct motion and 12 degrees in retrograde motion.

Now, I know that those are not exact calculations, but they help you get an idea of the concept, and if you are trying to learn the basics, that should be enough – actually, that will be enough.