10th House in Vedic Astrology
Bhava 10, Karma, is the house of action at the meridian: career, authority and honor, with attributions that vary.
Karma, meaning deed in Sanskrit, gave its name to bhava 10: here you read what you accomplish. It is the southern angle, at the meridian. Another name for it is Mana, esteem.
Here you place career, the way you earn your living, power, honor and life abroad. The father may be found here too, or in bhava 9, or even in both places at once. Debts follow a similar uncertainty: they are read here or in bhava 6.
Budha is the significator of honor in this house. You also read the tenth sign from Surya. Surya and Mangala draw their directional strength here. The house is also one of the upachayas, the houses that grow, and it is said that a bhava lord sitting in the 10th makes the house it rules prosper.
For the lord of the 10th, two rules clash. Together with the lord of the 9th, it is regarded as the most favorable of lords. But a natural benefic ruling the 10th sees its goodness reduced to a minimum, since it governs an angle.
To feel the 10th, think of what your colleagues say about your work once you have left the room.
The axis of the 10th house
Well known and intrepid: that is how Rahu is summed up when it occupies the tenth house, bhava 10. On top of this comes a strong involvement in what concerns others.
For Ketu, which faces it in the fourth house, bhava 4, two portraits circulate with nothing in common. In the first, a person leaves their native land to settle abroad, helped by someone else's generosity. In the second, a flaw of speech: speaking ill and spreading gossip. Nothing lets you choose between the two.
When you read each lunar node separately, remember that a house receives the full effect of a graha placed in its middle.