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Astrology / Vedic Jyotish
How
Astrology Works
Life is simple for those who
can comfortably dismiss astrology as bunk, superstition and a global
mental aberration – a globally-shared delusion that plagues some ‘modern’
minds. Having said thus, the skeptics can then return to their lives with
all the random inherent chaos as they continue to make their way through
the foggy minefields that represent life and its uncertain realities for
them. For the rest of us, presumably the majority – the strength of faith
varies across the sample and in any given individual from one time to
another as well; we must continue to seek the answer, the solution.
Unfortunately, we are at an early stage of re-exploration during which we
have seen the veracity of many of the astrological principles and for the
most part have a certain degree of confidence in astrology possessing some
validity as well as utility but cannot really explain to ourselves and to
others how all of this comes about and works as it seemingly does.
Many attempts have been made towards explaining astrology, postulations
ranging from the esoteric to the mundane. Sadly, some of the attempts have
been overly reductionistic or too down to earth having been created to
satisfy the physical framework, and not necessarily by those who are
knowledgeable in either astrology or the scientific discipline they were
borrowing from. This makes for some rather unconvincing and at times
erroneous explanations making the exercise somewhat futile. I am sure that
their hearts were in the right place, though.
Most of us are more comfortable with the physical realm and prefer to view
the world as one with rather concrete dimensions where known (physical)
matter and energies constitute the fence around the courtyard of personal
reality. Thus we witness attempts towards explaining astrology as being
based on gravitational effects or some sort of electro-magnetism. The
simpler explanations utilize these energies as being directly responsible
for astrological “effects”, while the more subtle and sophisticated
frameworks depend on influences being switched or triggered by some form
of physical force acting by itself or through resonance or some other
subtle derivative. These make for some rather interesting theories, such
as the one elaborated by Percy Seymore.
At the other end of the spectrum lie theological explanations, such as the
concept of ‘devas’ or godly beings which are represented in the physical
plane as the planets and other astrological indicators. The spiritual
beings and energies that are linked, yoked, coupled to the planets are
then believed to be capable of influencing our lives and our earthly
being. Some of us (mostly jyotishis or Indian astrologers) strongly
believe that these ‘beings’ are influencing us directly and actively while
others believe that these influences indicate trends and time periods that
surround us but might not necessarily be influencing us directly. We
therefore have the oft-repeated adage: “Stars impel, but do not compel”.
While the concept of a glowingly radiant supernatural being holding our
reins might be a bit difficult for the modern pragmatic householder to
absorb in his belief framework, this could be a somewhat interesting way
of describing the existence of a subtle force or phenomenon that links the
wandering planets and us – some subtle, yet unidentified and certainly
undefined form of influence that is awaiting identification by science in
due course of time.
The construct of astrology is based on the following theoretical
infrastructure. Based on ones time, date and place of birth, one captures
a snapshot of the heavens as viewed from the earthly vantage of the epoch
for such a birth. There is thus a personal orienting point, the ascendant
which essentially is the point of intersection of the horizon at ones
birthplace and the zodiac, the stellar path through which the rest of the
solar system apparently moves along, as viewed from the earth. The
movement therefore takes into account the actual motion of the planets
around the sun (and in the case of moon – around the earth), as well as
the modified view of same due to the earthly perspective. We therefore run
into phenomena like retrograde motion of the planets, combustion and
eclipses which are products of our geocentric view of the neighboring
universe. Within this framework, the different elements (planets, signs,
etc) hold certain relationships and associations and these
association-patterns are then vested with specific attributes and
represent effects and influences that form the symbolic logic and rules
within astrology and are utilized to produce a reading.
The inescapable phenomenon then underlying astrology is that the different
elements are related to each other and to our lives. This can be a simple
construct where our being born in certain months creates sub-populations
that would share certain similarities. These are the sun-sign based
groupings or the 12 clans of the zodiac. Similar sub-groupings can result
from our utilizing other factors, such as, lunar groups (utilized by
jyotish), groups of ascendants or other planetary groups. These groups
will contain larger or fewer number of people based on whether the
astrological body is a slow-moving one or rapidly-moving. The ascendant
being one of the rapidly moving indicators (on an average 2 hrs per sign)
would result in all births taking place on a given day classifiable into a
maximum of 12 groups (for equatorial births) and somewhat fewer groups as
we move the birthplace towards the poles. Due to the tilted axis of the
earth, some signs may not rise at all in extreme latitudes. The moon is
the fastest moving ‘body’, so lunar groupings will produce cohorts that
group all people born during a 2-2.5 day period into the same sign.
Similarly, each sun-sign birth group lasts approximately 30 days because
from the earth we view the sun as traversing through a constellational
sign in nearly 30 days. Saturn is the slowest moving planet in the jyotish
framework (nearly 2.5 years per sign), so all those born during a given
2.5 year period would share the Saturn in the same sign in their natal
horoscopes and we can thus group human society into 12 Saturn-related
subgroups. Unlike Indian astrologers, their tropical brethren include even
more distant and slower-moving planets like Uranus, Neptune and Pluto and
can work those into the classification as well with increasing
periodicities.
It would be simplistic to use these groups as the sole basis for
classifying humanity because at all points during consideration of
astrological factors we must remind ourselves that while it is convenient
to view the horoscopic factors one at a time, they probably work
simultaneously and the sum-total or more precisely the resultant of all
the influences and factors ultimately determines our individual
astrological picture and our specific traits and responses in life.
Whether astrological factors influence our lives or indicate
possibilities, one would need to incorporate the multiple factors that
underlie our being into what we term the “human experience” or the ‘life
experience’. Even seasoned astrologers often forget this and focus on one
factor or a few factors overly and the cart of astrological reasoning
risks getting derailed, as a consequence. This is why serious astrologers
shrink away from what is somewhat derogatorily referred to as “sun-sign
astrology”.
I once had the privilege of communicating with an astrologer from the
‘humanist’ school (a tropical school of astrological thought). He
explained astrology as being based on the analogy of a clock at noontime.
We all know that the clock striking the noon-hour is associated with a lot
of individuals feeling hungry and proceeding to address their natural need
for seeking nourishment. It is important to note that the clock was not
‘making’ them hungry, and yet by looking at the clock with the sun
overhead, one could safely assume that a lot of people were hungry at that
moment and seeking nourishment. Astrology could be working along similar
lines and a given planetary pattern somehow became yoked with our
behaviors, fate and destiny, etc. and the correlation between a specific
astrological pattern or cycle and a human event, though not connected
causally, could be responsible for the utility of astrology as a
predictor/descriptor of human beings and their activities. The Jungian
concepts are very attractive within this framework as well, in which all
elements of the universe are connected; synchronicity results as a
consequence of the inherent connectivities and may be utilized for
describing and utilizing cycles or patterns and translating those into
human endeavor and experiences.
To a certain extent it does not make much difference whether the
astrologer tells someone: “During such and such period, you will have an
accident due to there being a difficult transit to your natal mars, so be
careful!” or ‘During such and such period, there is a difficult transit to
your natal mars and there is a likelihood of your getting involved in an
accident, so be careful!’ In either case, though the tone remains very
different, an event that is negative and probably avoidable to some
extent, is being forecast. If the implication is that the negative event
is unavoidable, then astrological advice will really not serve any
pragmatic utility and promote fatalism and defeatism. This raises a debate
on its own as to ones fate being cast in stone and unchangeable or of ones
experience being entirely fated while others may allow some degree of
prevention or modification as being likely. The latter form the basis for
remedial astrology that is a big part of jyotish, sometimes a bit
overplayed, for that matter. This also takes into consideration the law of
action and consequence, that is exemplified by the theory of Karma in
Hindu thought or “As you sow so shall you reap” in Biblical thinking or
similar adages that exist in other religions. Astrology cannot really
cleanly divorce itself from this difficult and somewhat esoteric
philosophy and sooner or latter, each conscientious astrologer would be
forced to think along these lines and would have to incorporate this
concept somehow into his or her framework of astrological belief.
Those of a theological and more accepting bent of mind will immediately
see the consonance and relationship of this with the connectedness between
the esoteric elements of our universe that are represented by concepts
such as the akashic records and the circle of time or events in the future
essentially being already in place and capable of being accessed in a
non-linear manner (through divination) and other thoughts that can make
the entire construct and concept of reality extremely complex because it
would have to extend into realms beyond the physical and those currently
known to science. The important point, though, is that if all of this is
indeed true then there would have to be some intelligence that underlies
this superficially chaotically-random universe that we inhabit. And, if
this is true, then obviously the randomness and chaos is really a result
of our lack of comprehension of the true and complete essence of this
intelligence and its product – the creation. A somewhat circular logic but
we know from direct physical experience that both the chicken and egg are
real, and also connected in a cause and effect related manner! Astrology
too is, for those who care to devote sufficient time and attention to its
study and practice!
After accepting the law of karma and that the life experience unfolds over
a large number of sequential appearances of the individual, one also needs
to accept that there must be a very good reason for such a series of
reappearances. The scholastic model, namely, that we revisit the earthly
plane to learn more and often the same thing again and again does make
sense. What does not make sense is the fact that nearly all of us have no
memory of our past experiences and would it not have been more efficient
if we knew our problems and deficiencies from earlier times? The wise ones
remind us that it is not the mind but the soul that is learning and that
most of us are aware of our selves only up to the mental plane and not any
higher. It is almost as if the senior manager is more aware of the big
picture ‘reality’ than the lowly worker who only handles a piece of
information at a time for processing it for upward transmission. But,
while it is nice to feel being a part of a mammoth organization, the
individual cannot be blamed for not experiencing any satisfaction or for
not being able to make any sense of or ‘real’ contribution to this
“process” or ‘System’. With a sufficient degree of assumptions, astrology
does provide some structure and sense to this schematic but does not
really add to our experiential insight of the life and path of the soul
that we are a part of. Perhaps intellectually, but definitely there is no
real sense of understanding of all of this.
If astrological insight is combined with meditative insight, sometimes the
picture becomes a bit clearer as one acquires deeper though still
fragmented insight and understanding into ones personal quest and how it
relates to the rest of the existence generally. This is not easy and takes
time to develop and often does not leave us with any greater degree of
satisfaction, in the end. Anyway, it serves as an effective tool for
personal comprehension and does not represent a good or effective aid for
making others understand this reality. Language, though adequately able to
convey sequential concepts shows its limitations when attempting to
explain something so complex as human experience and the mechanisms
underlying the same – as attempted to decipher through astrology or
similar constructs. Let us not lose sight of the fact, though, that
language is evolving in parallel with our increasing comprehension and yet
may be the best way to define and describe it ALL in the long run.
I am convinced over the decades of my direct experience with it, simply
through the veracity of the descriptive and predictive ability of
astrology, that there is a significant synchronicity in the geocentric
astronomical movement and positioning of the astrological indicators and
the “human experience.” The synchronicity had been in my face long enough
and frequently enough to not be noticeable without ignoring it entirely
dishonestly. Why and what connects human life with the rules of astrology
that are based on the movement of astro-indicators as viewed from the
earth is not directly known. But so were not the distant celestial objects
before radio-astronomy. The absence of evidence is not necessarily any
evidence of absence! The fact that for the most part the geocentric
vantage (as opposed to true astronomical positioning from a heliocentric
or galactocentric vantage) has a better concordance with the astrological
synchronicity is probably a hint and not a deterrent towards the veracity
of astrology. The why is not known, yet, but the if is not in question for
anyone who has sincerely, honestly and consistently studied and
experimented with astrology, even for a few years.
Despite those astrologers who are engaged in camp wars and waste their
energies in arguing for the supremacy of their school or zodiac, others
are beholden in awe at the marvel of very different vantage and
rule-structures that still make it possible for different schools to come
to similar astrological conclusions through using different conceptual
frameworks and rules. On the one hand this highlights the enormous width
and scope of human reasoning, and on the other makes one aware of how much
the horizon of knowing really extends beyond ones horizon of cognition and
current knowledge. To me, personally, the redundancy of the knowledge
systems that different astrologies represent – despite their very large
differences – indicates that this is a message that is important and the
universal intelligence makes sure that we get it one way or another,
through portals of cognition and comprehension that we know little of in
our infantile state of cognitive evolution. If we can only put aside our
territorial scythes for a moment we shall realize (paraphrasing a very
wise astrologer friend and guide of mine) that the bird of divination
(knowing) has two wings: logic and intuition; remove one and all the bird
can do is go round and round in circles, as it pivots around its shadow –
its ego, never even taking off the ground, while the blazing sun of true
knowledge shines directly overhead.
–
Rohini Ranjan
September 16, 2002
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Astrology / Vedic Jyotish
By arrangement with
Crystal
Pages, Ottawa
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