Malefic Dushtana Houses

Dushtana Houses are the 6th, 8th and 12th Houses in everyone’s Birth Chart. These are strongly malefic in nature, as these Houses show us the areas where obstacles, enemies of all kinds, instability, danger and losses lie. Benefic planets (Moon, Mercury, Jupiter Venus) do very poorly in Dushtana Houses. Their “receptive”, abundance giving and pleasure seeking soft nature is ill equipped to provide us with the grit, the fighting ability and the raw brute strength and resilience we need to fight off enemies, overcome obstacles and survive instability.

Malefic planets (Sun, Mars, Saturn, Rahu, Ketu) on the other hand are very well placed in Dushtana Houses. They give protection from and even more importantly the ability to fight off enemies, illnesses and obstacles. The aggressive nature of these planetary energies is exactly what is needed in Dushtana Houses. 

People with Malefics in their Dushtana Houses usually show resilience, grit and good determination. They also tend to be very lucky in “avoiding” major problems and overcoming great difficulties.

The rulership of the Dushtana Houses is also very important. While Planets are Natural Benefics or Malefics, in everyone’s Birth Chart each Planet will become a Functional (as opposed to natural) Benefic or Malefic.

For example, for Libra people Venus (even though it is a Natural Benefic) becomes a Functional Malefic, because for Libra Venus rules both the 1st and the 8th Houses. For Capricorn, Mercury becomes a Functional Malefic because it rules the 6th and the 9th Houses. Even though in both of these examples Venus and Mercury rule BOTH a Dushtana and a Trikona House, they will be considered Functional Malefics for these 2 Ascendant respectively.

As all finer points of Astrology are based on the Ascendant (what makes someone a “Scorpio” a “Virgo”, etc.) it is impossible and futile to even attempt to draw conclusions and give guidance and advice without the exact time, date and place of birth. Without knowing the Ascendant, there is no way of finding out which planets are Functional Benefics or Functional Malefics.