Graha 6 of 9 · Lahiri sidereal
Shukra — Venus
Shukra (Venus) rules Vrishabha and Tula, is exalted in Meena and debilitated in Kanya, and runs a 20-year Vimshottari dasha.
At a glance
- Graha
- Shukra · Venus
- Exalted in
- Meena (deepest at 27°)
- Debilitated in
- Kanya
- Vimshottari dasha
- 20 years
- Nakshatras it rules
- Bharani, Purva Phalguni, Purva Ashadha
- Weekday
- Friday
- Aspects (drishti)
- 7th house from itself
- Time in one sign
- about a month (it varies)
- Where it is now
- Tula since 1 Jan 1970
Who Shukra is
The Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra (chapter 3) names Shukra a minister of the court, alongside Guru, and links it with desire and creative vigour. It is graceful, sensual, artistic and diplomatic, and counted as a natural benefic. Shukra stands for love and marriage, beauty, music, dance, film, fashion, vehicles, comforts, refined taste, and for negotiation and partnership. It aspects the 7th house. It stays about a month in a sign, though this varies, and turns retrograde about every 19 months for around six weeks. So Shukra sets the mood of a month, and its retrograde spell is a rarer, longer chapter.
What Shukra signifies
- Love, marriage and partnership
- The wife in a man’s chart
- Beauty, art, music and dance
- Comforts, luxury and vehicles
- Film, fashion, design and entertainment
- Charm, diplomacy and negotiation
- Desire and creative vigour
- Hospitality, jewellery and fine cloth
When Shukra is strong
A well-placed Shukra — in Vrishabha or Tula (its own signs), in Meena where it is exalted, in a friend’s sign, or in the 4th house where the texts give it directional strength — tends to show as warmth and taste. In everyday life: a gentle, attractive manner, a home that feels comfortable, pleasure in music, food, clothes or design, a loving and loyal approach to partnership, and the ability to smooth over a quarrel. Many people with a strong Shukra work in the arts, hospitality or design.
When Shukra is under strain
A strained Shukra — in Kanya (debilitated), in the sign of an enemy such as Surya or Chandra, combust near the Sun, or in the 6th or 8th — is read as pleasure and closeness that are worked at rather than assumed. What it asks of a person is care in relationships: saying what you feel, keeping spending within means, and not mistaking comfort for happiness. The 12th house is a classical exception, being the house of rest and bed comforts that Shukra suits, and many texts speak kindly of Shukra there. The texts list cancellations, and the whole chart decides.
Shukra’s mahadasha
Shukra’s mahadasha lasts 20 years, the longest of all, and often spans a whole stage of life. It tends to emphasise relationships and marriage, comfort and home, vehicles and possessions, art and entertainment, and earning through charm, design or negotiation. Many describe it as a long period of settling into a way of living. Because it is so long, the antardashas inside it matter a great deal, and the dasha feels different through the house Shukra sits in, the houses it rules (the 1st and 6th for Vrishabha lagna, the 5th and 10th for Makara lagna) and its dignity.
Shukra’s transit (gochar)
Phaladeepika (chapter 26) gives Shukra the widest list of favourable houses from the natal Moon: the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th, 11th and 12th, with the 6th, 7th and 10th the less easy ones. Because Shukra stays about a month in each sign, its transit sets the tone of a month: social life, spending, relationships and enjoyment. From the lagna it shows which area is warmed — home in the 4th, partnership in the 7th. Its retrograde spell, about every 19 months, is traditionally a time to revisit relationships and purchases rather than begin new ones.
Shukra’s sign changes, 2026–2027
| Date (IST) | Enters | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Nov 2026 | Kanya | moving backwards |
| 22 Nov 2026 | Tula | |
| 1 Jan 2027 | Vrishchika | |
| 29 Jan 2027 | Dhanu | |
| 24 Feb 2027 | Makara | |
| 21 Mar 2027 | Kumbha | |
| 15 Apr 2027 | Meena | |
| 10 May 2027 | Mesha | |
| 4 Jun 2027 | Vrishabha | |
| 28 Jun 2027 | Mithuna | |
| 23 Jul 2027 | Karka | |
| 16 Aug 2027 | Simha | |
| 9 Sep 2027 | Kanya | |
| 3 Oct 2027 | Tula | |
| 27 Oct 2027 | Vrishchika | |
| 21 Nov 2027 | Dhanu |
What this does not mean
- Shukra debilitated in Kanya does not mean a loveless life; it often points to a practical, service-minded and discerning approach to love, and the cancellation rules are well known.
- Shukra in the 7th does not mean unfaithfulness or a life of indulgence; tradition reads it as a strong wish for partnership, and the sign and aspects show how that wish is expressed.
- A combust Shukra does not mean love or money will be missing; it means Shukra is overshadowed by the Sun, so affection and comfort may take a back seat to work and ego, which is a habit that can change.
- A Shukra mahadasha does not mean twenty years of luxury, or of heartbreak; it means twenty years in which relationships, comforts and money get more attention, and how they go depends on the house and lordship it carries.
What you can actually do
- See Shukra’s sign, house and distance from the Sun in the free kundali on JYOTISH.info before reading anything general about love or marriage.
- In a Shukra period, talk openly with a partner about money and expectations, and fix a monthly figure for non-essential spending.
- Cultivate a Shukra skill — music, cooking, design, gardening or any craft — for its own sake and not for results.
- Treat the long dasha as a chance to build a settled way of living: a home you like, work you enjoy and relationships you tend every week.
Questions people ask
In which sign is Shukra exalted and in which debilitated?
Shukra is exalted in Meena, deepest around the 27th degree, and debilitated in Kanya. Its own signs are Vrishabha and Tula. An exalted Shukra shows ease with love and beauty, while a debilitated one asks for practical effort. The texts list cancellations.
How many years is the Shukra mahadasha?
Shukra’s mahadasha lasts 20 years, the longest in the Vimshottari system. It follows Ketu’s 7 years in the fixed order and is followed by Surya’s 6. For many people it covers one whole stage of adult life.
Is Shukra the karaka of marriage?
Shukra is the classical significator of the wife in a man’s chart and of partnership in general; in a woman’s chart Guru is the significator of the husband. Marriage itself is read from the 7th house, its lord and its aspects, with Shukra as one factor. No single graha decides it.
What does a combust Shukra mean?
Shukra is called combust (asta) when it is close to the Sun, within roughly ten degrees (the orb varies a little by text). The texts say it is overshadowed in its own matters: love, comfort and art. It is read by degrees of closeness together with its sign and house, and is not a verdict on relationships.
Sources
- Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, ch. 3 (Shukra: nature, significations, friends and enemies)
- Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, ch. 18 (effects of the 7th house) and ch. 46–47 (dashas)
- Phaladeepika, ch. 2 (the grahas) and ch. 26 (gochar)
- Uttara Kalamrita (lists of significations)
Every position on this page is calculated sidereal with the Lahiri ayanamsa from the astronomy-engine library (MIT licence). The classical texts describe tendencies; this page is for guidance and reflection, not a verdict, and no outcome is promised. How we calculate. This is the English page and the legal reference. The same page is available in Hindi. Checked October 2026.