When people talk about exaltations and fall of planets, there is often talk of how exaltations give natural benefits and fall gives difficulties related to these planets. This is absolutely the truth, but the nature of the benefits and fall is often misunderstood.
In my understanding exaltations relate to a refinement of a planet and it’s meaning, while fall relates to ignorance of the planet and its goals. I’ve seen a trend of many astrologers talking about how, because of ease, exaltations make a planet lazy, and how, because of difficulty, fall makes the native work harder, and more readily face challenges.
This, however, is a misunderstanding of the nature of these planets. When it comes to accumulation of good or bad karma, something important to remember we all live in the same world, and we all have to deal with the world as it exists. Good karma does not come from lack of refinement, it comes from hard work.
When it comes to fallen planets, they are at a natural disadvantage. What gives them that disadvantage? Contrary to popular belief, the disadvantage is not that they are materially deprived of the benefits, but rather, the disadvantage comes from the excess of material benefits. Excess of material benefits often means that the natives do not learn to regulate the planet for themselves.
This misunderstanding exists, because the world that we live in tends to teach us that hard work and material benefits naturally go together. So when we see people doing well materially, we assume that they are naturally blessed, or that they are very hard workers.
For example, when it comes to Scorpio Moon, you will often find that the natives grow up in households that are fairly stable and regimented, so the natives do not learn to self regulate with their emotions. They are strictly controlled by their parents, and often given many rules of conduct. These rules of conduct can make them extremely harsh towards themselves and towards others. However, these same rules have a lot of benefits in the sense of being respected, and having more control over themselves. This is often very useful in the world, and especially useful when doing hard work to work towards certain goals.
In comparison, Taurus Moons are brought up in more unstable households, where they are made to be responsible for their own self regulation. Many Taurus Moons will talk of being emotionally neglected, however, they also tend to have a lot of freedom, and have parents who work very hard to fulfil their material needs. The freedom given to Taurus Moons relates to being able to have the time and place to self regulate, without worrying as much about their conduct. However, as they grow older, they are not able to have as much self control, due to their impulsivity. This impulsivity is good for regulation of emotions and makes them very compassionate and comforting towards other people, but it is not as good for their goals.
You can see something similar with Cancer Jupiter and Capricorn Jupiter. Capricorn Jupiter is often brought up in a household where they get formal education on religion and religious practices. This formal education gives them more luck in many ways, because they know that religion is an effective tactic to magnify luck. However, this knowledge of religion can make them scared of stepping out of the fold, and afraid especially of the social and the spiritual consequences of deviating from the path they know.
Cancer Jupiter, on the other hand, is often not given as much of a formal religious education, and instead, given lessons on morality and ethics that sticks with them. They are less afraid of deviating from the path, and much less afraid of the consequences, because they have a deep inner belief of their own morality. While this visibly makes their life harder, what it also does is give them a deep desire for new experiences, and what these experiences can teach them. They are not lucky in the traditional sense, but rather, they cultivate deep wisdom about the world, how it works, and are more easily able to navigate difficulties.
What exalted planets give is not material benefits, but rather, happiness and contentment, which is a much more difficult benefit to achieve. When it comes to fallen planets, they can achieve this same happiness and contentment, but their disadvantage is that they have to learn to be more vulnerable to being materially destroyed. And, with the material benefits that they have, they are less likely to risk all of that.
Fallen planets give a complacency. The idea that you would rather cry in a Ferrari. It gives you just enough to be afraid of losing it all. While astrology doesn’t speak of doom and gloom, people with fallen planets often need to be open to sacrificing their significant material benefits for spiritual benefits. It is mentally an extremely difficult place to be.
Meanwhile, exalted planets give the nature of sacrifice and non hoarding for the sake of spiritual fulfilment. This is of course, not to say that there are no material benefits to exalted planets, rather, there is an ease with which the material is handled, because exalted planets give a sense of comfort with the idea of having nothing, of prioritizing peace of mind. There is always an altruistic nature to exalted planets that people seem to overlook.
At the end of the day, many people turn towards astrology for gaining material benefit, because of its occult nature. However, the subject itself does not only define the material, but rather, gives us deep keys to spirituality. I’d encourage everyone to pursue a more spiritual astrology for the long term
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