Tag Archives: jaimini

Pandemics And Predictions With Corey Dowds: An Interview With The Vedic Astrology Podcast

Shukra (Venus). Guru of the Asuras.

Back in January of 2022, during the Venus retrograde in Capricorn, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Fiona Marques on The Vedic Astrology Podcast. We talked about pandemics and what it is like to be an astrologer that gives predictions. While both Jupiter and Venus are Brahmin planets that can make one an astrologer, it is Venus that is the planet that makes one a predictive astrologer, at least in Vedic Astrology. The Rishi Jaimini highlights Venus as the planet of “knowing prophecy” in his Upadesa Sutras. I found it interesting that I was invited to speak on this topic of predictions while Venus was retrograding over my own natal Venus in Capricorn.

I will link to the interview on Spotify below. Fiona wrote a lovely little intro about it here:

“Cast your mind back to the Solar Eclipse on 26 December 2019 – What goes on inside an Astrologer when they are making a prediction? And how can we get better at it?? It’s not often that you find an Astrologer who is public with their predictions AND one who is open and willing to share their self-reflection and learnings from the process. And this is what we have in today’s special guest, Predictive Astrologer and Teacher, Corey Dowds. In this episode, he selflessly shares his approach, tips, techniques, and understandings of predicting in Vedic Astrology. We examine a case study that you can follow along with us and consult the transcript for even more links and deeper research. We cover rashi aspects, financial astrology, pandemics, nakshatras, the bhava lagna and more. You can also learn from Corey at https://eye-of-the-veda-university.teachable.com/

Click here for the interview:

https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/1lS6J8p3aXxluXXm5QC1bQ?utm_source=generator

Aquarius – The Maker Of Tanks, Ponds, And Things Related To Shores

The Sun is now in Aquarius, and it got me thinking. Aquarius is the sign of being involved in making “tanks, ponds, and things related to shores” according to the Rishi Jaimini’s Upadesa sutras. Aquarius rules Islands, this is one way we can see it. It also rules people that live and work around Islands or “shores” in some way. People that live or work on boats, or near the water often do have prominent placements in this sign. Even the pro-surfer Kelly Slater has his sun in Aquarius, and he has made his living from the shore. I am a surfer, and I have noticed a lot of the people that hang around my funky beach town in Charleston, South Carolina have more placements here than average.

What does this concept of “things related to shores” symbolize? I think one aspect of it is that Jaimini is hinting at how Aquarius rules fringe groups and underground cultures, especially ones that promote new ideas or new things. In the old days, new and far away things came from the shore, like a ship bringing spices from a distant, exotic land. Aquarius is a dreamer, sitting or standing in the shore, dreaming about what the sea might bring them.

Aquarius rules progressive or underground movements, like being a Yogi in Los Angeles in the 40s, or being a surfer in the 70s, or an environmentalist in the 80s, or a skateboarder in the 90s and 2000s. Why is that? It rules these fringe groups because that’s what the shore is, the shore is the “fringe” or outermost edge of the world. That’s what the water bearer is really about, being away from the center of the world (which is symbolized by the opposite sign, Leo). Aquarius is at the very edge of the world, not at all at the center. If there was any further part that could get Aquarius further from the world, Aquarius would probably be involved with that thing too. The water bearer is the sign of enjoying the world, working to make it more bearable, but eventually detaching from and moving beyond it. Aquarius is done with the world. Aquarius is starting to turn away from the world and beginning to look out to the vast infinite sea. This is why it rules the shores and things related to them, because they are the outermost edge that one can stand on before being fully immersed in the sea, symbolizing spiritual enlightenment, and the next sign of Pisces.

So Aquarius is the last stage, just before one is fully enlightened or “in the sea” of Pisces. Pisces is like heaven, the work is mostly already done at this point, but Aquarius is that last bit of psychological work we all must do to turn ourselves away from the maya of the world, and towards the “sea” of truth. The water bearer is ruled by Saturn, a planet that has a ring around it, again hinting at this separated, detached, fringe-like quality that Saturn is comfortable with. Saturn is also the furthest light we can see with the naked eye, again symbolizing being at the fringe of reality, being “out there” as Aquarians are often described. (How the ancients knew that Saturn was the furthest of the planets is another mystery!)

I also talk a little bit about this theme of “things related to shores” in this video on Aquarius as the sign of skateboarders and surfers:

To learn more fundamentals of Astrology, check out the ongoing Jyotish and Yogic philosophy course at my new online school: https://eye-of-the-veda-university.teachable.com/

Example of Childbirth Using Caranavamsa and Vimshottari Dasa at Once.

The native's rasi chart.

In this post we will examine how to see the possible birth of children happening in the chart of a woman, by using both the vimshottari and caranavamsa dasas together.  Everyone uses vimshottari, but it is always better to use more than one technique or timing system to see something before predicting it with confidence.  The more techniques, the better, or else, why would Vedic Astrology texts have so many different techniques?

This person had their first child around September of 1981, and the second child around February of 1987. We will start with the first child.  But before we go into the example, certain principles need to be known to fully appreciate this example:

  • In the chart of a woman, the 9th house often is equally or more important for children than the 5th house, which is more commonly known. This is important to know.
  • Similarly, the saptamsa varga (D-7) is the most important varga for childbirth and is a bit more important for a female in this context than it is for a male.
  • With vimshottari dasa, it is always an important time for a varga when the period and sub-period are connected by one being ruled by the other, or both.  For example, if Venus rules Mercury, then Ve/Me period becomes more important for the areas of life that are represented by the Varga that this is happening in. If Venus rules Mercury in the navamsa, we can bet some important marriage related events could occur during this time.
  • Of course, Jupiter is the karaka of children, this must be understood.
  • Saturn and Jupiter conjunctions particularly indicate children according to Vedic Astrology texts.
  • With caranavamsa, it’s all about the rasi and its strength, and whether it is getting manifested or not. There is much more to it than that, but for brevity’s sake, I will have to keep it simple here. (The way I learned how to make caranavamsa dasa actually make sense is basically not found anywhere online except for Ernst Wilhelm’s courses, so go take those if you want to understand this example more completely.)

Now let’s look at the first example. Here is the saptamsa chart of the native, and the vimshottari dasa. The first child was born during Sa/Ke dasa, which is not naturally a dasa that relates to having children, but let’s look more closely. Saturn rules Venus which sits in the 4th house, suggesting motherhood could be coming soon. Venus is also the Matrukaraka and Putrakaraka, the “Mother-producer” and “Child Producer”, respectively.

vimshottarri-d-m
Vimshottari Mahadasa and Antardasa of the Native.

Ketu is ruled by Venus in the rasi, and so giving the results of Venus, which is to say that Ketu has the same children focused agenda as Venus. Saturn is in a sign of Jupiter, and Ketu is being rasi aspected by Jupiter, showing the connection to children (Jupiter) of both Saturn and Ketu. Jupiter is the planet of children and progeny, so here is another connection to children with Saturn and Ketu. But it gets better when we look at the Saptamsa.

saptamsa-dm
Saptamsa of the native

Here we see that Saturn is conjunct Jupiter, the karaka of children, in the key varga of children and fertility. Further, it is in the 9th house, the key house for a woman when it comes to childbirth. Even further, Ketu, the sub period lord, is ruled by Jupiter, so acting like Jupiter. Now we see that Ketu has an especially strong agenda to also produce children, even though you wouldn’t think that because its Ketu.  Ketu is also in the 5th house, the main important house for children. Notice also how the important 7th house of the Saptamsa holds Moon and Mars, two key planets of motherhood, further confirming this woman is meant to be a mother. This Mars also rasi aspects and gives “manifesting strength” to Aries, enabling it to manifest its indications more smoothly, and its indications are to produce children as we can see. Also, it is important to remember the rule that Saturn and Jupiter conjunct often indicates children, which is working nicely here. Also, when the sub period lord is in a trine to the main period lord, then things work out more smoothly.  All of these factors may also have helped buffer the fact that Saturn was fallen here in the D7.

So now we can see how Sa/Ke period was a very important period for this Native to have a child and have the course of their life change completely as a result.  But if the course of life is going to change greatly, then we should also see this from caranavamsa dasa, as this is great for seeing big changes in our path unfold. (Cara means “change” and the Navamsa we know has a lot to do with the changes on our path, so the name itself implies this)

Caranavamsa of native
Caranavamsa of native

We can see that the native was running Cancer/Aquarius period at the time of the birth of the first child (Sept 81′). In the rasi chart, Cancer is the all important 9th house, the very important house of children for a woman. It holds its lord, the Moon, which gives it “manifesting strength”. Cancer and the Moon are also the most appropriate planets and signs for Motherhood as well. Aquarius holds Venus, which we already know has an agenda for children (PK) and is aspecting the Moon in Cancer, while the Moon aspects back to Venus in Aquarius.  This shows that the Cancer rasi and the Aquarius rasi both have a karmic connection (rasi aspect) and an agenda to yield progeny. This is further indicated by Jupiter rasi aspecting the Aquarius rasi, giving Venus strength to manifest. So both the Cancer and Aquarius rasi have an agenda for children and are being manifested to do so. Is it any wonder, then, that a child was born to her during the time that these two signs were letting their karmas play out? On top of what was playing out from Vimshottari as shown above?

Looking further at the saptamsa, Cancer is manifested by the Moon and Mercury, and Aquarius is manifested by Saturn and Jupiter, so it is even further confirmed in the saptamsa that children are likely to change her path during the Cancer/Aquarius caranavamsa period.

2nd Child:

The second child was born around February of 87, when Saturn/Moon period was running. The Moon sub-period running just makes sense, as we have already seen how important that 9th house moon is for making her a Mother and for childbirth.  All of those same Moon factors were being triggered again in the rasi chart and I don’t need to repeat myself here.

Looking at the saptamsa, we see that Moon in the seventh house in Aquarius again. Note that again the idea of the Mahadasha and Antardasa lords ruling each other or connecting in that type of way makes it an important time for the varga where it is occuring in. Here we see Moon in the sign of Saturn, and both of them Rasi aspecting with the aforementioned children agenda and so it is really very logical that in the Saturn/Moon period another child was born. The Moon is also in the 11th from Saturn which is a favorable Mahadasha/Antardasa house alignment and leads to more gains in the period. But this may just be canceled out by the fact that Saturn and Moon are in 6th/8th house positions which can imply disharmony and friction in the period. The period certainly had its share of challenges which is to be expected when raising one’s second child while the first is only five years old.

Looking at the caranavamsa dasa, the Cancer/Leo signs were running. Cancer was still running its karmas and so much of what was said above was still true of this time in her life. Leo was the sub-period, and Leo is the 10th house of her rasi chart. Leo also has strength to manifest as it is aspected by Jupiter, and it’s lord the Sun, both giving manifesting strength (Leo also holds the pada of the Sagittarius rasi, which is where the lagna lord sits, for those who study padas). When we look at the

When we look at the saptamsa chart, we see that Leo is the lagna, so of course Cancer/Leo period will be important for saptamsa things (progeny).  Leo again gets manifesting strength from the Sun (who is fallen though, so not much) and Jupiter (who is strong and making up for it) in this varga as well, so childbirth is further confirmed in the saptamsa again by using caranavamsa dasa.

Conclusion:

Is it not fascinating to see how both these timing systems were able to pinpoint two very important times for children to be born, using the same techniques and principles in a repeatable fashion? This is when Astrology begins to really become scientific, if you ask me. When we can repeat techniques over and over on the same chart or others and still get good results 75% of the time, that is an amazing thing. There is more to Astrology than just science and repeating techniques of course, but this is a very important facet and one of the features that distinguish Jyotish from other occult systems. I hope this serves as a good example of that.

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.

The Astrological Houses: The Tenth House

Each house in the astrological nativity at birth is said to signify a certain area of life.  The first house, which is also the first sign in the birth chart, the rising sign, represents the body of the thing that was born at that moment. It also represents the path which that body is on in this life.  So a Capricorn ascendant (AKA Capricorn first house) has a body and path in life that is connected to the qualities of the sign of Capricorn.  What does Capricorn relate to in Astrology? Capricorn is the 10th sign, and from the natural 1st sign Aries, Capricorn is the place in space that is directly overhead, directly above us in the sky, the 10th place in the 12 stage journey of the zodiac.  It is the highest point in the sky, and from there the 11th and 12th are descending points in between that highest point and the eastern horizon.

Knowing this, we can now have an idea as to why Capricorn represents what it represents as a sign, or as the 10th house.  The house is the same idea and feel of the sign of the same number, but on a different level of viewpoint we could say.  Capricorn is the sign of a crocodile in the Vedic tradition of Astrology.  It is the sign of lasting accomplishments, doing something that is done so well, that it never needs to be refined or improved upon, it simply stands the test of time as some say.  That is the nature of Capricorn and the crocodile.  You can look at crocodiles in the fossil record from millions of years ago and they are essentially the exact same, and have not evolved or changed to any noticeable degree… This is not the case with many other animals.  This is why Capricorn is the sign of doing something so right the first time that it cannot be done any better and will thus endure through time.  Its ruling planet is Saturn, which according to the Upadesa Sutras, deals with “Accomplished Deeds”.  Saturn is associated with long term things and things that last longer than the rest and so we can see the connection.  You may recall from Greek mythology that Saturn was known as Chronos, the God of time and agriculture.  Chronos is still the root of many words that relate to time, such as “chronology”, “chronic”, “anachronistic” etc….

So the 10th house in the birth chart relates to these similar themes of the 10th sign Capricorn, but in a more specific way that relates to that ascendant which we are viewing it from.  Moreover, each ascendant is naturally geared towards a certain type of karma or action in the world which the 10th house from that ascendant gives us clues to.  And this same logic applies to each of the other astrological houses that are the same in number as the astrological sign that they relate to, and when analyzed all help to add a more nuanced perspective of chart interpretation. (For example: 7th sign libra is about relationships, 7th house is the house of relationships and your partner in your own chart)

With this understanding, we can now see why the 10th house is so important for career, because our career is usually connected with the type of actions or work we do in the world which we hope to cause a lasting change or effect.  For example having Venus in the 10th house from the rising sign at birth can make it more likely that someone will try to have a work or type of action in the world that creates harmony, beauty, entertainment, pleasure, or some type of luxury for others.  These are all Venusian types of work.  How good they are at these types of karmic work will depend on all the more particular factors such as the dignity of Venus, any yogas that are connected to Venus, the lajjitaadi avasthas on Venus, how the strength of those avasthas on Venus weigh out in each of the varga charts that relate to specific areas of life, what dasas (timing systems) are triggering Venus and when, the transiting place of Venus, and many, many more factors.  This is where it gets more complicated, but is still very fun and worthwhile to do.  But from just seeing Venus in the 10th, most jyotishis can know this person may have a career that is more about bringing pleasure to the senses, or harmony to a person, and that alone is a pretty amazing thing to be able to predict… And it will be correct most of the time.  To get the finer details takes time and skill on the part of the jyotishi, but even just to understand the basic connection of Venus to work is worthwhile information for most to have.

One more note about the 10th house:  Not all of us do make a big difference or change in the world, and not all of us are meant to do this as our dharma… Still others are meant to be on this Earth for a very important reason.  If they were not here then the world just would not be the same.  But then others are just meant to be here and enjoy life with more of an internal focus, not so much about external karmas.  That is more of a 4th house factor, the opposite house/sign. The 4th house is related to enlightenment and liberation, and retiring from the world. There is a Jaimini Yoga that relates to the 10th house in certain vargas, and whether one will be “resolute, and important”.  This technique is very useful and very accurate when you look at the charts of people who have made a profound impact on the world, without which Earth would just not be the same.  I cover these issues in readings when requested, but if you are curious about learning the Jaimini technique yourself I would strongly recommend taking the first of 3 audio courses on Jaimini by Ernst Wilhelm.  All three of the classes together total 62 hours of instruction, and it is my sentiment that just the first course could be studied and contemplated and re-studied for years, as that is what I have been doing myself… Its that good.  These courses can be purchased on his website, found Here.