Monthly Archives: July 2016

Saturn in Sagittarius – “A fall from a height”

In the Jaimini techniques, having the Atmakaraka fall in Sagitarrius in the navamsa chart gives one a lifelong theme of Sagittarian qualities.  Jaimini describes this swamsha in a few short words, “In Sagittarius, while proceeding, a fall from a height”.  This conveys the idea that Sag is not just a sign of aiming for the goal, but also the sign of missing the goal too!  How can it be both?  Well, it simply depends on what is happening to the Sagittarius rasi, whether the person hits the mark they were shooting for, or whether they miss the mark.  If cruel planets (Saturn, Mars, Rahu, or Sun particularly) aspect or are in the rasi, then Sagittarius leans towards the falls from heights as described above.  But only then is it a sign of falling from heights.  If no cruel planets aspect or are in Sag, then the person is more likely to attain the goal they pursue.  The worse the dignity of the cruel planet, the worse the fall from the height is.  Gentle planets in Sagittarius help the person reach their goals in better ways and more easily. (Often both gentle and cruel planets are aspecting, and the situation is more mixed.)

We can see how true this is by observing the mundane current events and seeing how many “falls from heights” have occurred since the onset of Saturn’s transit through Sagittarius.  It’s an especially challenging transit because Rahu and Ketu are also rasi aspecting Sag, and have been since around last November (2015).  Of course, falls from heights will occur all the time in a world as big as ours, but there has been a noticeable increase of events that seem symptomatic of an afflicted and overconfident Sagittarius rasi.  With Saturn currently transiting this place, it is a time to be cautious and have humility and patience with approaching our goals and with our ideals (the things Sag represents) rather than rashly or impulsively think our ideals and beliefs are correct about a certain matter…only to charge into it and fail miserably, hence the fall from the height.

Sagittarius is the sign of one’s higher ideals and beliefs, even one’s religion or sense of dharma.  We can see how currently in mundane affairs, there is quite a lot of strife about how the world should be working, how the law should work (Sag is the sign of Law as well), how kshatriyas should conduct themselves (Sag is a fire sign, fire signs are signs of kshatriyas aka the warrior/leader caste…think about police and government and all the corruption that has come up in that caste/career field.).  Everyone seems to know and be so confident that their philosophy is the right one for everyone and for the world.  This naturally sets one up for a fall or an accident of some kind when one’s inner ideals meet with the harsh reality of the real world, which is Saturn’s domain.  So with this transit, it is not a time to be too pushy with one’s ideals, religious  beliefs, or simply with one’s expectations of how the world should be.  It is much better to have a sense of detachment from one’s beliefs and ideals at this time.  To be cautious and patient with approaching our goals is much wiser.

Here are some examples of “falls from heights” that I have observed since the onset of this  2.5-year transit.  I have compiled them on my Eye of the Veda facebook page as well which can be seen here.

NOTE: These are upsetting situations, and I do not mean to make light of them.  I only share this information here for the wellbeing of all people, that we may learn from these examples and potentially be able to better guide clients that come to us with this information.

Hot Yoga founder ordered to pay out millions  – Many people already knew about this in the yoga community, but it seems that the founder of the Hot Yoga studios, Bikram Chowdury, was ordered to pay millions in compensatory damage over sexual assault/rape cases.  It is interesting that allegations had come up about this for a while but the fall didn’t occur until this period.

Tony Robbins hot coal walk injures dozens. – As we know, Sag is also the sign of Gurus and teachers, and as a well-known self-help guru, Tony Robbins would fall under this category.  It seems he may have been a bit overoptimistic about the outcome of his students walking on hot coals to overcome their fears.

Woman falls to death while hiking in Grand Canyon –  This is a tragic story.  This transit can also speak to actual dangerous falls that one has. Sagittarius is a big sign of accidents when cruel planets are in or rasi aspecting. It seems just shortly after posting a beautiful photo to instagram, while hiking down the Grand Canyon, A woman fell and died.  This may not have had anything to do with one’s beliefs or being overconfident, but it is rare that this happens for people so I included it here.  This was on July 12th.

Man falls to death at Machu Picchu – Another tragic story of a man who recently fell off an edge of Machu Picchu and died.  Again, it is rare that anyone ever falls to their death at a park or monument, and so two in the last month is quite a “coincidence”.  This was on July 1st.  Within 12 days of the aforementioned fall.

China Confirms Its Space Station is Falling Back to Earth – This is something that has been suspected for some time apparently but is official now. The space station is expected to fall somewhere on Earth sometime late in 2017. This is interesting from a mundane astrology perspective, as Saturn in Sagittarius has been having the rasi-aspect of Rahu in Virgo. Rahu represents new and innovative technology, and rasi aspects show things being concretely tied together. So Rahu’s rasi aspect does support the possibility of falls from heights being concretely connected to new and innovative sciences or technologies.  This is why this space station falling to Earth seems to fit so nicely from an astrological point of view.  In a general sense, I have noticed a trend of many articles coming out in the last year talking about how some scientific ideas may be flawed and may need to be revisited in a new way, and this would also speak to Saturn in Sagittarius.  People seem to be more aware of the limits of seeing things from just one viewpoint.

These are just a few examples, hopefully, there won’t be any more to share during this transit, but if I see some more I may add them to this list.

In the meantime, if you are out hiking on a cliff, please be extra careful.

The Atmakaraka and the Navamsa Part 2

 

The Jaimini system is a solar, and rasi based system, emphasizing rasi aspects over planetary aspects, and rasi dasas over planetary dasas.  As such it is useful for more objective data such as the career a person will have.  The Parashara system works beautifully together with it, but is more Lunar and Nakshatra based and is therefore more subjective.  We could then see how one feels about their career and how happy one is with it, from this system.
The Jaimini system is a solar, and rasi based system, emphasizing rasi aspects over planetary aspects, and rasi dasas over planetary dasas. As such it is useful for more objective data such as the career a person will have. The Parashara system works beautifully alongside it, but is for different things. It is more Lunar and Nakshatra based and is therefore more subjective. We could then see how one feels about their career and how satisfied they are from this system.

We now begin where we left off in describing the different effects of the Atmakaraka falling in each of the twelve signs of the navamsa chart.  This is called the “Swamsha” and has a large bearing on the nature and dharma of a person as described in part 1.

Libra:  With a Libra Swamsha, the native has a life marked by trade and relationships.  Libra is the sign of trade, it is symbolized as a balancing scale, which implies balancing as well as decision making and “weighing the options”.  Libras can make some of the best businessmen if that is what the rest of the chart is pointing towards.  Libra is also the sign of relationships, (which involve a lot of trading) as well as the public.  Libra has a keen understanding of society and the social side of life.  A strong and healthy Libra swamsha is able to relate to the world in such a way that it may not have much itself, but it trades what it does have so wisely and appropriately that it ends up with much more than most.  Afflicted Libra swamshas may have to work harder at this, and diplomacy in general.  They may have to work on making better decisions and seeing what others have to offer.  Prince, the musician, has Saturn as the Atmakaraka and falling in Libra in the navamsa chart, and is a great example of a strong Libra swamsha.  He ended up with a very fulfilled life.  (His chart is really strong overall though as well, to be fair, and this is not the only reason for his success.)

Scorpio:  Scorpio swamsha is a very fascinating one.  They can be very extreme individuals, with whatever they do in life.  Scorpio is a fixed rasi after all, so it can be very devoted and fixed on what it focuses on as being worthwhile.  Scorpio swamsha is a person who is working on their vulnerabilities essentially. They are without a doubt going to face more emotional issues that bring up their vulnerable places because they are meant to battle through those issues.  They often have difficult issues come up in the early family life, or a separation from the mother of some sort is also common.  Or the Mother of the native may be there but less comforting than the average mother, etc.  They have to learn to fight so much harder for everything that they get than the average individual, and this can lead to both positive and negative extremes.  Paramahansa Yogananda is a very positive example of taking this energy and the death of his Mother in his early life to galvanize him to seek the Divine Mother with great ardor.  Adolf Hitler is another example of a swamsha in scorpio, on the other more negative end of the spectrum.  He suffered in a household where his Father abused his Mother and there was nothing he was able to do about it, likely leading him to have a hateful approach towards life in general.  If the rest of the chart also supports it, these swamshas can make great spiritual progress in life, or can have a life that involves the occult or hidden side of life somehow.  I have noted that two of the greatest Astrologers I have found in my life are Scorpio Swamshas.  They seem to have learned to better deal with the troubles of life from their understanding of the somewhat hidden forces in life, such as the planets.

Sagittarius:  Sagittarius swamsha, when aspected by malefics, is actually a sign of accidents and falls from heights.  This was surprising to me, when I learned this.  Most people paint Sag as this really lucky and joyful sign, and if not blemished than that often is the case. Sagittarius is the sign of the bowman, the archer.  It symbolizes seeing the goal and pursuing it.  But if there are malefics aspecting (rasi aspecting, we are talking about here) then the Bowman misses his mark, essentially.  If all benefic planets are associated with Sagittarius then the person is likely to find grace from accidents and such, but this is rarely the case.  In that case, the person may even work around accidents but still end up being okay for the most part, such as being a fireman or something of that sort.  If cruel planets are aspecting, these people need to be cautioned to be more realistic with their goals and not expect things to work out easily on the first try.  This can often be the case too, because Sagittarius is a sign of being overly optimistic; overconfident.

Capricorn:  Capricorn is a very fascinating swamsha.  It can make one involved in aquatic animals, particularly crocodiles and alligators.  Capricorn itself is the sign of crocodiles and all aquatic beasts.  Capricorn swamsha also makes “villages”, as Jaimini puts it, an important karmic factor. Sometimes these people always feel like they have to leave the home town or village that they grew up in to make it in the world and be successful.  Often they are right as well.  This is because Capricorn is about as far away as it gets from the signs of royalty and success, the prime real estate of the zodiac.  That would be Cancer and Leo, the signs of the King and Queen; the summertime when all is plentiful.  Capricorn is opposite of those signs and rasi drishtis them (dhristi is the word for aspect in Jyotish, literally meaning “sight” or “glance”.  This means that Capricorn literally “sees” the Leo rasi), wishing it could have what they seem to have.  This is also part of why Capricorn is a very driven and ambitious sign.  They often dont feel very supported in their home towns and therefore move away.  Capricorn is also a sign of tumors, and cancer is more likely to be the thing to take out this person, so they need to get themselves checked out more regularly for that sort of thing as they age.  Capricorn is also a sign of Kapha, and stagnation, like the swamps and alligators and crocs that it also rules.  Jaimini also states for capricorn swamsha, “Things flying in the air”, which is very mysterious and intriguing.  One interesting thing is I have noticed people who are pilots or involved in flying to often be having planets in the 10th house of their chart, like the 10th sign Capricorn.  I also find Gemini coming up a lot for pilots, but havent done enough research on this to be sure.  We may speculate and say that Capricorn would be the sign of flying in planes, and perhaps even UFOs would fall under this sign.

Aquarius:  Aquarius is the swamsha of the “maker of tanks and ponds” according to Jaimini.  Which is to say that one is involved in providing resources that make life more bearable for everyone.  Everyone needs water and to help provide a source of water is to be a real humanitarian, which is what Aquarius is, essentially.  This water is also symbolic of psychological wholeness, which is the true goal of Aquarius, to become whole in oneself, and accept and make peace with all of one’s weaknesses and shortcomings, and just be okay with them and love oneself anyway.  This is why Aquarius may seem so odd or weird. It is because they are learning to stop doing things to compensate for their inner lack, and instead to just be there with the lack…..and eventually it goes away, but it might seem weird to other people passing by in the meantime.  This probably has to do with why they get stereotyped in western astrology as being without charm and aloof.  Sometimes Aquarius people will be social workers or people who do a lot of service of some kind, other times they may do more of a pyschological service for people, and sometimes they may actually work around water and provide it in a literal way as well.

Pisces:  Pisces swamsha, as the last sign of the zodiac, is the most spiritual sign and the sign of “Kaivalya” or liberation of consciousness, according to Jaimini.  He also says of it, “perpetual dharma”, and seems to convey that Pisces is a sign of steady spiritual progress throughout the life of the native.  As long as the rest of the chart points mostly in that direction I do find this to be true, but you will also find many cases of Pisces swamshas that live a very negative life and are most definitely not progressing spiritually as well so that is not always the case.  Edgar Cayce is an interesting example of a Pisces swamsha, and I hope to do an article on his chart soon.  Robin Williams is another example, someone who is most definitely a sensitive soul with spiritual inclinations, but the rest of his chart had many difficult karmas indicated, and so he often could not bear the pain of life on earth and needed to escape or find liberation through more immediate means such as drugs.  That is a more mixed example, which is often the case.  We could say that this placement makes the person more sattvic and naturally inspired, within the context of the rest of the chart.  Roy Eugene Davis, the last living direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, is another example of a positive pisces swamsha.  He has written many books and lectured on Self Realization for over 50 years and in countless countries, and is noticeably more realized than the average spiritual author/public figure.

These twelve swamshas are very important signs for the individual, and one will also note that the sign the atmakaraka goes to in the rashi chart will also have some of these significations as well, but not as much as the navamsa chart.  For example, Robin Williams is a pisces swamsha, but has scorpio as a rising sign, so this reinforces more of the difficult emotional struggles and battles that he would face on his path in life.  Say it was a cancer rising, and no tough aspects from Sun, Saturn, or Rahu, then he may not have had such a painful life and perhaps could have enjoyed more of the positive Pisces qualities in life.

The planet that is falling in the swamsha determines a great more of it, but this is one important part of the puzzle of what ones dharma will involve in this life. With some careful study and application on charts, one should begin to see some clear correlations of the charts examined and the associations described above.