March 29th

March 29th should be an interesting day. Moon and Saturn exalted, though Saturn is still retrograde. Venus moves from detriment to own house. Sun closer to exaltation; just that Mercury has fallen.

An interesting day nevertheless; with a fallen Mercury anything and everything is possible.

Thank god Mars is not affected.

Metaphors in the night-sky

The last two weeks I am sure many of you have witnessed the South-Western sky with the two bright orbs lighting your path as you would drive back west. Fortunately, the drive back for me from work is west and very evening there appeared the bejeweled sky with Venus and Jupiter really close to one another.

I watched it every day; and back home shared it with family and neighbors. Even my grand daughter was so delighted to see a portion of the sky so intense and bright.

I just realized it was trying to tell us all something - something more than just a spectacle.

"A glowing Venus in close conjunction with Jupiter" - our seers and forefathers were so right - a person is truly wealthy in the presence of real knowledge. Wealth becomes a shining orb in the presence of knowledge and spirituality - a metaphor so profound; so subtle being played out in the vast sky stage right before us.

2012 Winter Sky - A Feast for the Soul

This winter I braced myself a few nights in the bitter cold to witness and capture the night sky on my digital SLR. On the left is the result of my first encounter with a winter moon on February 9, 2012 as it rose in the east. I must have wasted close to hundred shots steadying the aperture and the controls. The results were terrific - this picture was taken handheld.

On February 22nd after a storm, one could virtually count the celestial bodies. It was bitter cold

and the ground was frozen. It was a moonless night - I could get the Orion and Ursa Major. The Ursa Major pictures were awful with light pollutants in the southern sky.

On February 26th, it was a brilliant spectacle with Moon surrounded by Venus in Pisces and Jupiter in Aries. These images were taken with a tripod without any shutter controls.

Tonight, March 3, 2012 was another spectacle on the North-west sky with Jupiter and Venus in Aries and Moon in the mid-heavens (very close to Orion). Lens used - Sigma 200 MM f/11.

Sun's Triple Rebirth

Third Rebirth of the Sun

The ancient Vedic folks observed nature like very few of us do. Under the blazing sun during the day; the morbid but cool starlit sky in the night was one of the few things that they could observe besides contending the other extremes of nature - climate, germs and animals. The dominant Sun; the easiest to observe appears in most doctrines - Vedic, Egyptian, Mayan … to name a few. The Sun appears in our everyday lives at a predestined time and rejuvenates life. Metaphorically, it sets and stays in the underworld to be re-born the next day. Sunrise occurs so frequently that we have taken it for granted. If it were not to reappear (be reborn) the next day, life on earth and the surrounding planets would cease - there is little to debate the celebration of the Sun's appearance (rebirth) everyday. The Vedic seers observed the rebirth of the Sun in many ways through prayers and meditations.

The Sun is at it's powerful in spring and it faces a severe decline in fall (autumn). The very fear that the shorter days of the fall would continue and eventually perish all life on Earth was a matter of contention and the phenomenon clearly shown in earlier astrological and astronomical scripts. The rebirth of the Sun (Mitra) around December 21st was of utmost importance - it showed the increasing longer days which would culminate in spring when Sun was at it's closest - life on this planet could continue undeterred.

From the cities and vantage points where one can observe the night sky, the Seers could witness the Center of the Milky Way - the Center of the Galaxy to which the Sun would eventually belong to someday. The massive belt of the Galaxy was metaphorically observed as the pregnant belly of the mother of all creation - Aditi or perhaps Vishnunabhi and the dark rift around it the Galactic Birth Canal. Every year the Sun as it had done many thousands of years back moves into the Dark Rift and reappears - the third rebirth.

In 1998, the population on Earth witnessed the first of the conjunct phenomenons - the positioning of the Sun at the farthest from the center of the galaxy. The lowest this stellar system could stoop to - the beginning of the end of the Kali Yuga.

In 2012, during winter solstice, the Sun will have its triple rebirth on one single day - a day to rejoice a day marking the end of Kali Yuga declinations and the beginning of Kali Yuga rising to the Golden Period. The Mayan seers perhaps realized it was hard to predict a triple Sun rebirth on a single day and therefore decided not to pursue the Calendar. For the many mortals who would witness the Galactic changes to our Sun - the life giver, it will be a moment to remember.

Christmas Sky

Have you ever witnessed the skies above after Jupiter kept arriving past sunset? The trinity of Sun-Jupiter-Moon was so apparent in the October-November 2011 days. I only have binoculars to view the actual skies; nevertheless it lets you see the adjacent Ursa Major and Minor (something's you never forget from a past life - that's a pun); the critical thing is ensuring what you see is what you intend to get in Jotiz.

Post Christmas, I have followed the skies - Mars and Saturn are in the western horizon after sunset - not the best positions to be in considering the amount of light that is still around after Surya the Sun has set.

Cannot rule out conflicts in a bigger scale

This month and the next will be quite a difficult one. Mercury competing with Sun to stay together is not a big help; add the fact that the new moon day on Sep 27th was a challenging one. To top it you have the 180 degree influence of Uranus Retrograde; and Saturn just 12 degrees apart.

Are we headed for the third war - quite likely. Will it be the same as the earlier two wars - perhaps no. Every conflict has a meagre start and then moves to attracting other players, mundane astrology has the answers to who will be the allies with which axis.

The big question - is it the end of the road for this planet - NO. The species that messed it up may be vanquished or destroyed but it will be business as usual on this earth on time measured on the planets clock and not human.

The human tyrannical influence of 80-120 years (10s of billions of them at any time) slaughtering and plundering has degraded this planet closer to HELL among the better planets where similar life exist.

It is time for the sky-people - Indra, Rudra and Maruts to make a reappearance. The heaven on earth needs to be restored. It may take tens of thousands of years, its worth the way coming back to this earth.

The Uncanny Lunar Nodes

Rahu and Ketu, the two Lunar Nodes have been a constant center of controversy from the earliest of days - whether in Vedic, Arabic or Christian astrology and astronomy. The important fact is that eclipses are associated with these geometric points instigating human curiosity on eclipses and what the consequences of an eclipse are.

I do not consider myself a professional astrologer, but this is what I have observed on influences of Rahu the Lunar Upper Node especially during eclipses. Ketu the lower node is hard to determine, therefore I will stick with the head - forgive the pun.

My two cents on Rahu - Rahu reverts. Rahu is a key factor that repeats history. It is funny yet not a laughing matter; if you were to make a resolution a few weeks or a month before an eclipse or where Rahu would influence the two luminaries - Sun and Moon, your resolution may fail, you would simply revert back to where you started.

The two geometric points are in a constant retrogression (traveling in the opposite direction from the rest of the heavenly bodies); perhaps that was the reason the two geometric points were given so much importance throughout history.

The reversal, the tendency to remain status-quo; to revert is predominant among these points.

A woman may have a miscarriage around an eclipse because of the 'nodes reversal factor' sending her back to the state the child was not conceived.

A lost item may be found, the reversal being it was never lost in the first place.

Saturn may slow you down; rarely does the influence of a heavenly body begin a reversal, unlike the Lunar Nodes that decelerate to the extent you revert to an earlier stage.

Again my 2'cs - do not make a resolution when a eclipse is around; if you want to quit smoking or a habit, wait till the eclipse is over. If you are under a Dasa or a Antardasa / Bhukti of Rahu or Ketu; maintain a status-quo, these are not times for change. Wait till a period of Sun, Mars, Saturn foster the change in a period unblemished by the two nodes.

Classical astrology Vedic, Arabic, Ptolemy have virtually treated these moving points as heavenly bodies. The perception that Rahu is an impersonator of the Graha or Planet it is associated with can be taken with a pinch of salt. I have not seen how it works and have not received an explanation either on its beneficence or otherwise.

Some state that like the planets, Rahu and Ketu are dignified when they occupy a sign. Till date, different schools of astrology have associated Rahu's exaltation with either Venus' or Mercury's sign. I think the house of exaltation - Taurus, Gemini or Virgo has remained an astrological challenge till date.