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.