Karka lagna · vimshottari
The Moon Mahadasha for Cancer Ascendant
10 years · Moon rules the 1st
The Parashari way to read a mahadasha for a given ascendant starts with the houses its lord holds. For Cancer ascendant the Moon rules only the 1st (Cancer), a kendra and a trikona house, so for Cancer the 10-year Moon mahadasha carries a single lordship.
Counted from Cancer, the Moon is exalted in the 11th (Taurus) and debilitated in the 5th (Scorpio). The Moon is also Cancer’s lagna lord, so for this ascendant the Moon mahadasha is the lagna lord’s own period. The Moon’s own nakshatras fall in Rohini (the 11th), Hasta (the 3rd) and Shravana (the 7th) for Cancer ascendant, which is where a birth that opens in the Moon mahadasha has its Moon.
The Nine Sub-Periods, by Lordship for Cancer
| # | Antardasha | Length (classical) | Its lord rules, for Cancer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moon–Moon | 10 months | the 1st |
| 2 | Moon–Mars | 7 months | the 5th and the 10th |
| 3 | Moon–Rahu | 1 year 6 months | no house |
| 4 | Moon–Jupiter | 1 year 4 months | the 6th and the 9th |
| 5 | Moon–Saturn | 1 year 7 months | the 7th and the 8th |
| 6 | Moon–Mercury | 1 year 5 months | the 3rd and the 12th |
| 7 | Moon–Ketu | 7 months | no house |
| 8 | Moon–Venus | 1 year 8 months | the 4th and the 11th |
| 9 | Moon–Sun | 6 months | the 2nd |
For Cancer ascendant, three of the Moon mahadasha’s sub-periods belong to lords of a dusthana (the 6th, 8th or 12th): Moon–Jupiter, Moon–Saturn and Moon–Mercury, and two to lords of a trikona other than the 1st: Moon–Mars and Moon–Jupiter. The sub-period of the Moon, Cancer’s lagna lord, is Moon–Moon, the first of nine, 10 months long. Counted in time, sub-periods whose lords hold a dusthana for Cancer take 4 years 4 months (43%) of the Moon mahadasha’s 10 years, and those whose lords hold a trikona other than the 1st take 1 year 11 months (19%); a lord holding both is counted in both. In the Moon mahadasha for Cancer, the Rahu and Ketu sub-periods are read through their dispositors in the chart, since neither node rules a house.
For a Cancer-rising chart this is the frame of the Moon mahadasha, not a forecast: where the Moon and each sub-period lord actually sit, and their dignity there, decide what it comes to, and this page cannot know either.
Related
For Cancer or any other ascendant, the Moon mahadasha’s sub-period arithmetic, with the nine pratyantars of each, is on the Moon mahadasha table; the Cancer chart house by house on the Cancer ascendant page. How the Moon mahadasha is read in general is in our Moon mahadasha article, and the system in Vimshottari dasha explained.