Vedic Astrology

Hailing from ancient India and being the oldest Astrological System still understood and widely practiced today, Vedic Astrology holds a natural fascination for Easterners and Westerners alike. It is prized for it’s precise accuracy as both a psychological tool and as a system of practical and exacting divination and prediction. However, there are a few significant obstacles facing Westerners who would like to benefit from this divine system of Astrology.

“What Are They Talking About!?!?”

Until fairly recently the only Vedic Astrologers were East Indians, whose native language was not English and whose cultural backgrounds were startlingly different from ours. To this day it remains difficult for Westerners to find a Vedic Astrologer who deeply understands the Vedic system and who can also relate to our non-Indian (or just “non-traditional”) cultural situations and express concepts to us in clear English.

There is not much that can be said about this, except that gradually the situation is improving. I myself hope to be one of the Astrologers who helps make a difference on this front.

“They Got My Signs Wrong!”

The next major obstacle: It will initially seem to a Westerner that your Vedic astrologer miscalculated your signs! And unless you are highly proficient with Western Astrology, this will strike you as being a very significant factor.

Why the Signs are Different

A long time ago astrologers noticed that the Sun was exactly at 0º Aries (the beginning of the Zodiac) on the Vernal Equinox, March 21st. Those Astrologers, who happened to be Europeans, thought they could use this fact to simplify the task of calculating horoscopes, which in those days before the advent of telescopes and microchips was quite mathematically intensive and time consuming.

This system became known as the “Tropical Zodiac,” because the seasons relating to the tropical latitudes formed the base of its calculations.

Unfortunately the inventors and practitioners of this system did not realize that the celestial north pole (the axis the Earth rotates around), does not stay perfectly still - it very slowly drifts in a cycle. As a result, the position of the Sun on March 21st also slowly but surely drifts away from where it is “supposed” to be at 0º Aries. Today, about 1,500 or 2,000 years later, the discrepancy has become huge - about 23º off, which is more than 2/3s of an entire sign! For example, a Tropical Zodiac says that the Sun should still be at the beginning of Aries on March 21st of 2008, but the undeniable astronomical fact is that the Sun is really at 7º Pisces on that day.

Thankfully not everyone calculated their Zodiac based on March 21st and the tropics. In India particularly - the home of Vedic Astrology - astrologers continued to carefully calculate planetary positions in reference to the actual stars of the galaxy. And thus Vedic Astrology remained true to the real positions of the planets even over the progression of dozens and dozens of centuries.

The result though - can be very confusing for Western people, since there appears to be two different opinions on what your signs are. For example, my birthday is July 27th which makes me “a Leo.” This actually means that the Sun is supposed to have been in Leo when I was born. However, when I had my first Vedic chart drawn it told me that my Sun was in Cancer!

At this point you should understand why the two systems have different opinions about where the Sun was when I was born. But you are probably still quite confused about what it means and how to deal with it. Read on...

Why It's Not Quite As Important As You Might Think

We Westerners find ourselves especially perplexed by this situation because our understanding of astrology puts an awful lot of importance on what we have come to call “the signs.” Why do we consider signs so important?

The short answer is: “Because it’s convenient.”

In our modern world, mass media has taken over - and the whole purpose of mass media is to deliver information to large audiences. Astrology should never have been forced into this mold, because it is necessarily the most individualized and specific of subjects. Like it or not, however, it was.

First, though, astrology had to be altered significantly to fit into a mass communication media. The infinite combinations of houses, constellations and planets had to be done away with, replaced by just 12 “signs.”

To make it even worse, only the Sun “sign” would fit into this mass media format, because the Moon sign and the Rising Sign - although far, far more important than the Sun sign - were just too complicated for people to calculate while reading a newspaper and would cause too much variety to fit into the space alloted for the Astrology section.

So what we have grown up with is a system of astrology centered on a single factor of questionable significance: our Tropical Sun Sign.

This type of “tabloid astrology” is strictly “hit or miss:” Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Maybe you are someone for whom it “missed.” In your case, you are quite happy to hear that Vedic Astrology has “different signs” awaiting you. But if you - like me - are someone for whom your tabloid sign description coincidentally sort of fits pretty darn well you are understandably hesitant to deal with Vedic Astrology and its different sign calculations.

To both groups, I offer two ideas:

• You will find far more accuracy, consistent accuracy, in Vedic Astrology.
• But you first need to accept the idea that “Astrological Signs” are a modern invention of mass media, and are not nearly as essential as you have been brought up to think.

What role do the “signs” play?

The “Signs” are the 12 Constellations of the Zodiac; they are the “zones” that the planets move through in the sky as they orbit. These constellations are the building blocks - the lumber, nails, and concrete - which construct the “12 Houses” of an astrological chart. The planets are the “people” who own and occupy those houses. It is really your neighbors, not their houses, who create the positives and negatives of the neighborhood you life in. Similarly it is the planets who are astrologically significant - not directly the signs nor the houses.

To put it another way - the Planets are the shining lights. The signs are lenses which color the light. And the houses are the places on which the light shines. Take Jupiter for example, whose light is expansive and beneficial. Let’s say Jupiter is in Sagittarius; this means that Jupiter’s expansive and beneficial light shines through and gets colorized by the lens of Sagittarius. The lens of Sagittarius is a bold and philosophical color, so this lens compliments and intensifies the light of Jupiter.

Finally, let’s say Sagittarius happened to be the 5th zone or “House” from the Eastern Horizon. This would mean that the expansive, beneficial light of Jupiter would shine through the complimentary lens of Sagittarius, becoming bold and philosophical in it’s aims and intentions; and this light would then illuminate the all the areas of life governed by the 5th House - such as intelligence, creativity and education.

What I’ve just described represents the true foundation of Astrology (Eastern or Western). You can see that the signs themselves are of little importance on their own - what is important is how the planets interact with the signs and the houses they create.

With that in mind, I hope you can set aside the importance you have come to place on your “signs,” and approach your Vedic reading with an eye to understanding how the planets interact with the signs and the houses. If you are willing to do that, you stand to gain the tremendous blessings and benefits that Vedic Astrology promises.

Vedic “Negativity”

A lot of Western Astrology has becomes somewhat of a “feel good hit of the summer,” speaking rarely of any negativity, or trying to tip toe around it. A quick look at the real world which Astrology is supposed to describe would indicate that such flowery astrology is probably not particularly accurate.

Vedic astrology may strike some westerners as a bit “negative” or pessimistic. In truth all astrology is only trying to help you maximize the good and minimize the bad in your experience of life. The difference is a cultural one, determined by what the different cultures consider “good” and “bad.”

In modern culture something is "good" when it makes us feel happy immediately. In Vedic culture something is "good" when it makes us feel happy permanently or, at least, in the long term. From a Vedic point of view the only truly "bad" thing is ignorance itself.

Therefore a Vedic astrology reading usually pulls no punches. A Vedic Astrologer worth listening to will tell you both the "good" and the "bad" indications in your horoscope - because only by clearly understanding both can you truly make a positive change in your life over the long term. A good Vedic Astrologer will present both “good” and “bad” to you in the context of what you need to learn from and utilize to maximize your opportunities for growth and happiness.

For the Astrologer...

For most people, what we’ve just described will be all that is needed to make a smooth bridge between Western and Vedic astrology. But if you are are looking for deeper resolutions and comparisons, read on...

Planetary Aspects

A few hundred years ago, Western astrologers began noticing the negative effects resulting from their mistaken Tropical Zodiac calculations. Unable (or maybe unwilling) to determine and correct the cause of the calculation errors, they instead started developing new ways to retain a good degree of accuracy in their system. In some ways they developed amazing techniques to compensate. For example, the Western system of planetary aspects is fascinating and genius. It allowed Western Astrology to leverage what they still had accurate (the positions of the planets relative to one another) while minimizing the effect of what they had inaccurate (the positions of the planets relative to the zodiac).

These complex Western aspects strike me, at least, as being quite compatible with Vedic Astrology, but because our zodiac remained accurate we never needed to recourse to them. We still stick to the fundamental principles: the interplay between houses, constellations and planets. So when you get your Vedic reading, don’t expect discussions of “Squares, Sextiles, Semisextiles, Rhombuses,” etc.

Planetary aspects are certainly an important part of Vedic Astrology, but not as important as in Western astrology (where they are absolutely crucial). Vedic Astrology additionally focuses on “Lordships” and “Yogas.”

Lordships

“Lordship” is the principle of which planet owns which house. Remember that the Signs are the building blocks that create the Houses of your chart. Every sign is also a colored lens that planets shine their light through. Why the coloration? Well, mainly because of the planet who naturally “owns” and “empowers” that sign.

For example, Venus owns Taurus. If Taurus is the 10th zone away from the Eastern Horizon, that means it creates the 10th House of an astrological chart. Thus the owner of Taurus, Venus, is now the “Lord” or owner of that 10th House. Venus therefore comes to represent for that individual chart all the things represented by the 10th House.

This methodology was also used in ancient Western systems, but has been given up for many centuries due to the lack of zodiac reliability impacting the accuracy of the houses. The Vedic system, which has an accurate zodiac intact, can still avail iteself of this exceedingly rich source of information.

Yogas

Yoga literally means “combination” or “union.” In metaphysics, yoga refers to a union between the individual and the divine. In astrology, yoga refers to a union between planets. Over the thousands of years during which it has been painstakingly practiced, Vedic Astrology has accumulated an enormous record of specific planetary combinations and the results each is likely to manifest. Vedic Astrologers often look first for important or powerful Yogas before anything else. This may feel foreign to a Westerner at first.

Modern Planets

There are some Vedic Astrologers today who attempt to make use of the recently discovered planets - but for the most part we pay no mind to these modern planets. Western Astrology, searching for new possibilities to remain relevant and accurate, latched on to these new discoveries. But Vedic Astrology, having no such need, did not. And wisely, for it is my personal opinion that these modern planets do more to confuse astrology than they do to help it.

So don’t expect to hear about Uranus, Neptune, etc. from a Vedic Astrologer.

Multiple Zodiacs

Vedic Astrology is a composite of at two real zodiacs and a half dozen or so “harmonically” derived zodiacs. The two “real” zodiacs are the 12 signs of the Solar Zodiac (where the Sun moves through one sign per month), and the 27 signs of the Lunar Zodiac (where the Moon moves through one of these signs per day).

Luckily the signs of the solar zodiac is basically identical to the western solar zodiac signs.

“Nakshatra” is the original term for the 27 signs of the Vedic Lunar Zodiac. These lunar divisions are extremely important to Vedic Astrology and impart tremendous meaning and accuracy to interpretations - as well as form the groundwork for the major chronological predictive techniques of the system. You will probably find them fascinating and attractive from the start.

The harmonic zodiacs are amazing, but many of them become useless without an extremely accurate birth time. By far, the most important harmonic zodiac is the “Occult Zodiac” which divides each of the 12 signs into 9 slices, to obtain 108 repeating mini zodiacs. “Navamsha” is the original term for this harmonic. Vedic Astrologers draw an entirely separate chart representing the position of the planets in this Occult zodiac, which we read in conjunction with the main chart.

Planetary Periods

The Vedic system makes use of “Planetary Periods” and various sub-periods to be able to tell you not just what is coming into play in your life, but also when it will occur. In addition Vedic Astrology makes use of yearly charts, transits, and planetary maturation schedules - which should be familiar to a Western astrologer.

Proactive Therapies

The Vedic system includes astrological gemology, mantra therapy, color therapy and many other systems for adjusting the modifying that the results bestowed from the planets.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article will help you approach Vedic Astrology with the understanding needed to avoid pitfalls of misunderstanding and obtain the amazing benefits it can easily and abundantly supply to you.