Astroyana research · dignities
How often is each planet strong or weak?
Chart readings often use terms such as “exalted,” “debilitated” and “combust” without saying how common each state is. We measured every planet’s dignity and condition across 50,000 charts so the terms can be read against their actual base rates.
43.7%
are born with a combust Mercury
7.8%
have a debilitated Saturn
≈ 1 in 12, like any planet
8.8%
have an exalted Jupiter
1 in 12
odds any given planet is debilitated
Combustion: why Mercury is “burnt” so often
A planet is combust when it sits too close to the Sun. Mercury and Venus orbit close to the Sun and can never appear far from it, so they are combust far more often than the outer planets — which is why a “combust Mercury” result is routine.
Exalted and debilitated are roughly one-in-twelve
Each planet has exactly one exaltation sign and one debilitation sign, so across many charts each shows up around 8% of the time — close to the one-in-twelve you’d expect. Small differences come from the uneven speeds of the planets.
How often planets occupy their own signs
Most planets rule two signs and so are “at home” about one chart in six; the Sun and Moon rule only one each, so they reach their own sign half as often. It is a quiet reason some planets feel settled more readily than others.
Slower planets are retrograde more often
A planet is retrograde when, from Earth, it appears to drift backwards. The Sun and Moon never do; the further and slower a planet, the more of its cycle it spends retrograde — which is why Saturn is retrograde in 36.2% of charts and Jupiter in 30%, while fast inner Mercury and Venus stall far less.
What this means
Dignity is one input, not a verdict. A combust Mercury is common, a debilitated planet may meet classical cancellation rules, and an exalted planet still depends on its house, aspects and dasha.
Methodology
Synthetic study — no real user data. Birth moments are sampled uniformly across the date range and clock; birthplaces are sampled across major Indian cities weighted by population. Percentages are the mathematical base rate per birth moment, not a population census. Reproducible from the committed script with the fixed seed. Exalted / own-sign / debilitated use the classical sign tables; combust uses standard per-planet orbs from the Sun (Moon 12°, Mars 17°, Mercury 14°, Jupiter 11°, Venus 10°, Saturn 15°); retrograde is the engine's apparent-motion flag (the Sun and Moon are never retrograde, the mean nodes always are, so only the five star-planets are reported).
- Sample size
- 50,000 charts
- Birth date range
- 1950-01-01 to 2009-12-31
- Timezone
- IST (UTC+5:30)
- Birth hour
- uniform
- Locations
- population-weighted across 25 major Indian cities
- Ayanamsa
- lahiri
- Nodes
- mean
- House system
- whole_sign
- Seed
- 20260603
FAQ
Why is Mercury combust in so many charts?
Mercury never moves more than about 28° from the Sun, so it often falls within the combustion orb. This occurred in 43.7% of the 50,000 charts studied, making it a common astronomical condition.
How common is a debilitated planet?
Each planet has exactly one debilitation sign, so any given planet is debilitated in roughly one chart in twelve (about 8%). Debilitated Saturn, for instance, came out at 7.8%.
Is a debilitated planet bad?
Not by itself. Classical astrology includes Neechabhanga, or debilitation-cancellation, rules. A planet’s house, aspects and dasha also matter beyond dignity alone.
How often is Saturn retrograde at birth?
Saturn is retrograde in 36.2% of charts, the highest rate among the classical planets. Slower outer planets spend a larger share of each cycle in apparent backward motion. The Sun and Moon are never retrograde.
Free to cite with attribution to Astroyana. Figures are the mathematical base rate per birth moment from a synthetic sample, computed with our Swiss-Ephemeris (Lahiri) engine — not a survey of real people, and not a claim about anyone’s life.