Metaphysical Astrological Therapies

The aim of astrology is to achieve the maximum benefit from your karmic strengths and to turn your karmic “weaknesses” into areas of positive growth and personal evolution. To help achieve this, Vedic Astrology employs metaphysical astrological therapies ("upaye"): primarily involving gemstones & mantra, and also make use of many other elements like color, aroma, numerology, location, diet, etc.

Cheating Karma?

If you think that wearing a gem, chanting a mantra or making other efforts to modify your karma are a form of "cheating destiny." Perhaps you should rethink the way you understand both the methods involved and the nature of karma itself.

Karma itself is a tool integrated into the fabric of the universe which allows us to eventually move out of this place and return to our more fitting abode outside the control and limitation of time and decay. It is not concerned with making sure that a mosquito bites you on a certain part of your body at a certain time of day, etc. etc. Rather. Karma is concerned with you learning key lessons to facilitate your spiritual evolution and eventual emancipation from the domain of time.

People think of Karma as being associated with events. For example, "oh i got into a car crash - it was my karma." Or, "oh i won the lottery, what great karma i have!!!" But the truth is that the events are not important. The lessons that the events teach us are important and are the main purpose of karma itself.

When you perform a Vedic therapy technique, such as chanting a mantra, wearing a specific color, reading particular mythologies, etc. etc. wearing a sacred gemstone, etc. - - - by all these processes you are opening yourself up to the agents of karma (the 9 planets) and inviting them to teach your the lessons they hold for you in a direct and less punishing method.

The is the opposite of "cheating."

Gemstones

Every planet has a numerological root, and each number in turn has a crystalline structure. Therefore every planet has a crystalline form as a gemstone. In other words certain stones are small pieces of certain planets – not that they come from those planets, but that they are made from the same crystalline root as those planets. Perhaps it's clearer to say that the atomic harmonic structure of certain crystals on earth corresponds the main atomic harmonic structure of certain planets.

A good gemstone kept directly on the skin will magnify the effects that a planet promises in your horoscope. Therefore you want to wear gems to amplify well-placed planets, and you do not want to wear gems that would amplify poorly placed planets in your horoscope.

When considering a stone, it is best to do “trial runs” before you commit to buying it. Wear the stone for a few days (you can tape it to your skin with a first-aid tape if need be) or weeks. If the effects are desirable, buy it with confidence.

Mantras

Chanting planetary mantras improves the mutual understanding between yourself and that planet. A mantra invokes before you the presence of the planetary deity – and you thus gradually soak up that energy and become attuned to it. This helps you intuitively and deeply understand the nature of a planet and what he or she is trying to teach you, and will help the planet understand that you are a sincere soul who desires to make improvement and learn their lessons deeply.

When you chant the mantras sit comfortably but not lazily. Sitting in a simple “Indian style” yoga style pose is usually good, but its not overly important how you sit or stand so long as you are attentive and in an open state of mind when you recite Mantra.

The planets are associated with different directions and times of day, but it’s safe to always face East, and do your chanting in the early morning when the day is still calm and quiet. Again, this is not essential, but can be helpful.

Chant the mantra at a barely audible volume. Listen to the sound of your voice and feel the vibrations of the sound in your body. You need not dwell excessively on the meaning of the mantra, it is the sound itself which will do its work when you are attentive to it. But you shouldn’t be completely ignorant of the meaning of the mantra and the nature of the planet.

Usually people like to keep track of how many times they recite a mantra. In fact the mantras bear fruit fully after a certain number of repetitions. If you want to keep track of how much you are chanting, you can use a mala (strand of beads) to count off your mantras. It is particularly nice to use a mala made of a stone that is related to the planet whose mantra you are chanting. If you don’t know where to get them, try www.krishnaculture.com (click on “Prayer Beads”).

The technique for counting on beads is simple. Start on the bead next to the one outstandingly large one in the strand. Hold the bead between your thumb and middle finger and chant a mantra. Then move to the next bead and repeat. When you get around to the other side of the starting bead, you’ve done one “mala.” Usually a mala contains 108 beads, so when you complete one mala you know you’ve chanted 108 mantras. Sometimes malas come in smaller divisions of 108, like 54 (half of 108) or 27 (a quarter of 108).

Which Mantras, What Gems, etc???

These processes are "karmic medicines". Persons who expect to utilize them without an educated and experienced "doctor" are fooling themselves at best. You require an experienced Vedic Astrologer to prescribe the correct gems, mantras, colors, scents, diets, etc for your unique and individual situation.

Size and Quality of Gems

A question is frequently asked... "Does the size of the stone matter". Well like most things in life - it's a combination of size and quality.

In a perfect world you would get the largest stone of the highest quality. But in a perfect world maybe these sorts of things would be free. So since it's not a perfect world we have to compromise.

"Quality" means that the stone is not cracked - and is clear, having few if any spots and clouds in it. The higher the quality the more beneficial the stone. Therefore the higher the quality, the less the need for size.

You should favor quality over size. A smaller gem that is flawless is far, far more astrologically desirable than a huge gem with a crack or serious imperfection. In fact, gems with serious imperfections should be avoided diligently.

On this topic: Astrological gems should really not be pierced - so sometimes it's hard to find good pearls, for example. But this may not be a hard and fast rule. I have clients wearing pearl necklaces and getting nice results. Also gems should not be artificially created and shouldn't be heat-treated. Truly natural pearls are enormously expensive. Tissue nucleated ones are acceptable. But what I'm saying is that lab grown gems are not so great. A gem gets a lot of it's power by having absorbed the universal energy compressed in the earth.

So as to what size stone you need to get: You need to get what you can afford. The highest quality stone in the biggest size that you can afford.