Vedic astrologers do not take the trans-Saturnian planets into account. Thus, only Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are reckoned, along with the Sun and Moon. These add up to seven. The other two planets are called “shadow planets” and refer to two mathematical points in the ecliptic, specifically the Ascending and Descending Nodes of the Moon. They are the points where the orbit of the Moon around the Earth intersects the apparent orbit of the Sun around the Earth.