Ayurvedic Astrology and Me

[rfmcdonald]

Last night, a friend cast me an astrological chart according to Ayurvedic principles. The result was interesting.



The not-necessarily-good news first:

• I entered a period dominated by Shukra (Venus), around February of 1997. I'll remain in it until around February 2017, when I shift to Surya (the sun).


• Shukra is in your house of transformations (the 8th). The lord of the 8th house is Shani (Saturn). Shukra is a benefic, it has to do with sociability, charisma, love, beauty, et cetera. The 8th house is a negative location in a lot of ways, having as it does to do with changes and transitions, which are necessary but always challenging, and Shani, the lord of the 8th house, is a malific. My transformations thus involve suffering; since Shani is very close to the self, this suffering tends to be internal. Shani has a number of positive qualities and has spiritual implications, but generally it is consdiered to bring hard times on the alance hence being called a malific.


• As well, Ketu (the south lunar node; a calculated point in the sky, not an actual planet) is in my house.


• My goals in this 20-year period (6 behind me, 14 left to go) are related to Shukra; my challenges are being set up by Shani and Ketu. My basic theme will be around self-growth and my self-transformation. Shukra is particularly concerned with social relationships: dating and sex, charisma, love, acceptance, charm, beauty, and that sort of thing.

The good news:

• My ascendant is Kark (Cancer); this is good, since it's ruled by Chandra (the Moon), which is a benific having to do with emotional energy, public life, and benevolence, and which is related to my mother.


• Chandra is in your fifth house, the house of children, which is also related to public life and officialdom; this should be a good sign for academics. The only problem is that the fifth house is ruled for you by Mangal (Mars), which means that you will tend to have to fight and struggle to gain these benefits, and that any children I have are likely to be saucy.


• Budh (Mercury) is in the house of enemies; Mercury is a planet of quickness, wit, and intelligence, and the house is ruled by Guru (Jupiter). [Guru is the teacher. a benific--anything a teahcer calls to mind (wisdom, for example) can be represented by guru. This suggests to me that my greatest struggles will be intellectual in nature and my enemies may be your teachers in both of the senses of that word. The struggles in your life are around the intellect and academic subjects.


• Surya (the Sun) is in the 7th house, the house of marriage and relationships, meaning that relationships of this nature are very important to you, as the Sun is something close ot the centre of our being. My problem is that Shani (Saturn) rules the 7th house, and he has a debilitating effect so I will have difficulty mating. This will be personally problematic for me, although if/when I do find someone the relationship might be stable and lasting because Shani brings longevity.


• Shani is sitting in your third house, the house of siblings and writing, which is also the house of courage. Tis tends ot be debilitating to courage, although since the house is ruled by Budh this is auspicious for intellectual courage. Still, the effect of shani in the third house is likely to cause grievances of a non-explosive but lasting nature with your sibs and to delay the onset of real courage in your life. Shani is retrograde so its influence is thankfully weak.


• There is a lot going on in my second house, the house of wealth and speaking. It is ruled by Surya, the sun, so it is close to you in its effects, and somehow connected through Surya to your 7th house (relationships). There, I have have Rahu, a malific (the north lunar node, like Ketu another calculated point in the sky); Rahu is "the head of the demon." While ketu is a stifling influence, Rahu causes upheavals, so I can expect some upheavals in your material situation. I also have Mangal in this house, so I will need to struggle with money and to need to work hard to get any real wealth. I do also have Guru, a powerful benific, in this house; this would tend to make me prudent with money and make my investments wise but he is retrograde and so his influence is weakened.


• Guru, in the meanwhile, rules my ninth house, the house of Dharma, which has something to do with my place in the universe. Perhaps I'll be a teacher (probably a good one?)....


• My tenth house, the house of karma (and action) is ruled by Mangal (Mars), so I will need to work hard and struggle in what I do.


• One good thing: My 11th house, the house of gain, is ruled by Shukra (Venus), meaning that I will gain what I am looking for in life if I keep seaching and working at it.


• The lord of your 12th house is Budh, mercury, meaning that the losses in your life, those times when you let go of things and move on or suffer losses (loss can be good or bad although this is generally not considered a "good" house) will involve wit, intellect, speed, possibly academics


• My fourth house, the house of pleasures and fortune, is ruled by Shukra (Venus), which may imply good luck for worldly pleasures that I will derive genuine satisfaction from; the things I derive real satisfaction from are Venus-like, social and emotional, not the academics that dominate large sectors of this chart, so that tension is a theme of your life. Generally, over time this will should be a positive area for me.


• Last summer between Jun 1 and Aug 26, you were in a period of Venus/Moon/Mercury; this coincided with my trip. The positive influence of benific Chandra and underneath that Budh are involved in ventures like this. (Shukra dominates Chandra.)


• Right now I am in SK/MA/RA (Venus/Mars/Rahu), suggesting a period of upheaval in my material circumstances as the dominant theme within the overall theme of Venus-tinged transformation. Rahu and Mangal are both in my house of wealth which relates also to communication and is ruled by Surya, the Sun, making events in this house very close to my centre. With the communication/material circumstances thing thrown in it looks like a time of making decisions and arrangements about a new phase in my material life. In this period, upheaval will be more often of external than internal origin; this represents a fairly important shift.

Briefly put:

• I can count on some kind of success in academia (less so monetarily) after a fair amount of struggle.


• Sex and romance will be difficult, but I'll get there eventually.


• I've got the potential to feel fulfilled not by work but by social activities.


• My real struggles, the ones close to your heart, have to do with things like love and charisma and beauty.


• I have the potential for a career as a teacher of some form and to be good at it.


• i don't think you can expect an easy ride, basically, you will need to work for things and run into some conflicts, but you have the potential for success


• My life will be mild in a lot of ways, though, not a lot of overt, melodramatic conflict, although certainly the occasional bit will seep in.


• A major theme is the need to fight a stifling influence in the area of transformation and Venus-like areas, to stagnate and become a sort of a celibate sexless Oxford don.

Now, do I believe in astrology? It depends on what definition of "believe" you use. I don't believe that Mars or any other celestial body literally affects me; there isn't any known physical force emitted by any of these entities that can wreak such a physical effect on me.

I do believe, however, that astrology and like folk traditions can often inadvertantly happen onto patterns, and that the proferred explanations of how these patterns are discovered are ad hoc, introduced more to explain the seemingly inexplicable than because of what they actually do. Mars in the 12th house is, simply put, a metaphor.

And I don't believe that this chart fixes my future. Detecting a pattern is the first step towards dealing with it, and in this era of self-reinvention why can't it be eradicated with suitably determined work?