Divisions of the Zodiac

Question

What are the main divisions of the Vedic Zodiac?

Answer

The entire zodiac is a 360º circle ("360" because, in fact, it counts a solar year) - the zodiac tells us our karma via astrology - but it has to be divided into conceptual sections so that the meanings can be more easily understood. The largest of the sections occurs when you divide the zodiac into 3 equal parts - for creation (rajas), destruction (tamas), and maintenance (sattva). Divide 360 / 3 = 120. Thus each one of these three divisions is 120º in size.

The borders between the divisions are at Zodiac 0º, 120º and 240º - each of which is a "gandanta" border.

Dividing into three is not enough to make easy sense out of the karmic code of the zodiac. Therefore we have further divided it into 12 rashis / signs / constellations and concomitant houses. Each sign and house is 30º in size. This number is harmonic to 360 and 120 - because 12 slices of 30º fit perfectly in a 360º circle (12x30=360) and 4 slices of 30º fir perfectly in a 120º division of the circle. Thus each section of the zodiac contains 4 houses/signs, the qualities of which I explained previously.

For further divination of the Zodiac, we divided into still smaller and smaller slices. The next natural division is the Lunar Zodiac - in which each division holds enough space for the moon to traverse in the course of one solar day. Thus unfortunately does not *perfectly* harmonize with the 360º circle - so we decided to approximate and as a result Abhijit nakshatra became something of a "leap year" amid the mansions of the moon. But in so doing we are able to harmonize the Zodiac fully, fixing each Nakshatra at 13º20' - which is a harmonic of 360, 120. In that 27 nakshatra divisions fit perfectly in the 360º zodiac (3.333x27=360), and 9 nakshatra divisions fit perfectly in each 120º major zone of the Zodiac (3.333x9=120).

Then the Zodiac is divided into harmonic pieces that are almost all (except hora) smaller than the nakshatra. BY FAR the most important division is the Navamsha because it is mystically perfect due to mathematic harmony with the frequency waves of the universe itself. We divide each 30º sign/house into 9 pieces and thus come up with 108 (9x12) divisions of 3º20' each - an extremely perfect harmonic of the zodiac, being harmonious with 360º (the entire zodiac), 120º (each major section), 30º (each house/sign), and 13º20' (each lunar mansion, or "nakshatra").

• There are 4 navamsha in each nakshatra (3º20' x 4 = 13º20').
• There are 9 navamsha in each sign/house (3º20' x 9 = 30º).
• There are 36 navamsha in each zone (3º20' x 36 = 120º).
• There are 108 navamsha in the entire zodiac (3º20' x 108º).

(Also note that the multiplier of the navamsha is a Fibonacci sequence number. AND note that 36 navamsha slices in a zone represent a repition of the navamsha from aries to pisces 3 times - while there are also 3 zones. The navamsha harmonic is utterly perfect and flawless)

Characteristics of the 3 main sections

Understanding the building blocks of the signs should be clear before getting a full grasp on this.

• Sec. 1: Starts and ends with Chara/Motion signs.
• Sec. 2: Starts and ends with Sthira/Fixed signs
• Sec. 3: Starts and ends with Dvi / Dual signs

Thus each section has it's own special flavor and intrinsic character.

• Sec 1: Rajo-guna - the mode of passion.
• Sec 2: Tamo-guna - the mode of darkness.
• Sec 3: Sattva-guna - the mode of clarity.

Now to put it in magical phrases of meaning: The 1st four houses (and signs too), being passionate, are the ROOT signs - where the inspiration begins. The 2nd four houses/signs, being tamasic, are the DEVELOPMENT or "hard work" signs - where we get into the toil and practical efforts that arise to work on what arose from our root. And the 3rd four houses/signs, being sattik, are the FULFILLMENT signs/houses - where the development of our roots bears fruit.

• Sec 1: ROOT
• 1 - root of purpose
• 2 - root of economic development
• 3 - root of desire
• 4 - root of emotion / enlightenment
• Sec 2: DEVELOPMENT
• 5 - development of purpose (which requires creativity and intelligence)
• 6 - development of economic development (requires hard daily work)
• 7 - development of desire (requires partnerships)
• 8 - development of emotion / enlightenment (requires mystic insight)
• Sec 3: FRUITION / FULFILLMENT
• 9 - Fruition of purpose
• 10 - Fruition of economic development
• 11 - Fruition of desire
• 12 - Fruition of emotion / enlightenment.