starworlds: May Astro Weather 2009

Sunday, May 3, 2009

May Astro Weather 2009

Jupiter moves into Aquarius May 1 - July 30, 2009

May began with the great benefic Jupiter leaving the sign of Capricorn, its debilitation, to the sign Aquarius. While Aquarius is still ruled by Saturn, it is not as heavy, restrictive or debilitating as Capricorn for the expansive gas giant, Jupiter.

As I mentioned in my previous post modern astrologers assigned the planet Uranus to rule Aquarius. Its association with sudden change, shock, disturbance, transformation, eccentricity, electricity, and invention will also have a temporal influence on Jupiter. In Vedic astrology Jupiter in Aquarius is organized, democratic, and sometimes revolutionary. During the next three months I would expect to see new opportunities and innovations that may inspire investment in the future. Look for more headlines about the campaign to revitalize America by investing in alternative energies like the 2009 Time 100 Most Influential People interview on CNN between Ted Turner and T. Boone Pickens which first aired on May 1, 2009.

But the biggest news story of May, and perhaps the summer, is H1Ni, the Swine Flu. The media hype has distracted our attention away from the depressed economy, and instead created a worldwide health panic on which to focus. While Jupiter was still debilitated in Capricorn, the World Health Organization raised its pandemic alert level to a 5 out of 6-levels. Fear has become so widespread that Australia has told its citizens to stock up food and supplies for 14 days; Egypt has ordered the slaughter of the country's 300,000 pigs, even though no cases have been reported there; conspiracy theorists suggest the swine flu virus was genetically engineered by bioterrorists and is being used to create fear and mandatory vaccination; and in the US there are reports of school closures, overwhelmed emergency rooms, and consumer runs on hand sanitizers and flu remedies.

Even so, the fear (False Evidence Appearing Real) being promoted by the media's initial coverage of the flu is starting to subside now that Jupiter is more fully established in Aquarius and we are beginning see that it is not as "deadly" as first reported. As of today the WHO has confirmed 898 cases worldwide, with 20 deaths, all of people born in Mexico.

Aquarius is the sign that rules the masses and Jupiter's expansive nature can effect it positively and negatively. One positive revelation coming out of all this hype is exposing how the meat industry is in part responsible for the swine and avian flu plagues. For years experts have been warning that the rise of large-scale factory farms in North America has created the perfect breeding grounds for the emergence and spread of new highly-virulent strains of influenza. Now people are listening.

However, they are also listening to the fear-mongering. In spite of the facts, the media seems to be setting us up to be prepared for future mandatory vaccinations, even though historically vaccines have caused more deaths than the actual flu. And more than half a dozen pharmaceutical companies with stakes in the vaccine business will likely see revenue boosts if the swine flu outbreak continues to spread.

Moreover, governments like the US are scheduled to dispose of billions of dollars of Tamiflu stock, which they bought to counter a predicted avian flu, or H5N1 back in 2005, that never happened. At that time the US government ordered 20 million doses, costing $2 billion, and around that time the UK government ordered 14.6 million doses. Tamiflu’s manufacturer, Roche, has confirmed that the shelf life of its anti-viral is three years, so how convenient that it now can be released as it expires? On April 27, 2009 Homeland Security declared a health emergency and released 25 percent of 50 million doses -- about 12 million doses -- of Tamiflu and Relenza treatment courses from the nation's stockpile. For more on the facts behind this hype I would suggest the comments of Ron Paul on Youtube or reading the article Critical Alert: The Swine Flu -- Fact or Fiction on Dr. Mercola's website:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/04/29/Swine-Flu.aspx

Between May 15-27, 2009 Jupiter will make an exact conjunction with Neptune, which turns retrograde on May 28, 2009. As I mentioned in my previous post, astrologically Neptune is associated with drugs, psychic sensitivity, imagination, oil, and the media and film. During this time Jupiter may effect all of these realms. Certainly the flu and vaccinations, and the role of government in health care will be in at the forefront of the news. Look for the release of summer movies with fantasy and extra-terrestrial themes. The oil industry will also make headlines, perhaps rise in oil costs to cover future exploration of greener energy. During this time it will be important not to let Jupiter's expansive nature inflate our fears and imagination. A little Saturnian discernment is most useful right now.

Namaste

Future Posts:
Mercury retrograde May 6-30, 2009
Full Moon May 8, 2009 Vishaka
New Moon May 24, 2009 Krittika
Jupiter retrograde June 15, 2009
Jupiter returns to Capricorn July 30, 2009

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Aum saraswateye vidmahe, bramputriye dhi-mahi, tanno sarawati prachodayat

Saraswati is the Goddess of leaming, knowledge, and wisdom. The Sanskrit word sara means "essence" and swa means "self." Thus Saraswati means "the essence of the self." Saraswati is represented in Hindu mythology as the divine consort of Lord Brahma, the Creator of the universe. Since knowledge is necessary for creation, Saraswati symbolizes the creative power of Brahma. Goddess Saraswati is worshipped by all persons interested in knowledge, especially students, teachers, scholars, and scientists.

What is the Difference between Vedic and Western Astrology: 23 Degrees, Nakshatras, and Sidereal

Twenty-three is my quick answer to the question: "what is the difference between Vedic Astrology and Western astrology?" I don't mean to be cryptic, but 23 degrees is literally the difference between the Tropical and Sidereal zodiacs. It is called the Ayanamsha -- in Sanskrit ayana meaning solstice and amsha meaning portion -- and it refers to the difference between Tropical and Sidereal zodiacs.

The zodiac is a ring of constellations often referred to as signs, such as Aquarius, Leo, Scorpio and Taurus. It is a cosmic clock around which our solar systems operates and how astrologers measure cycles of time. Most people do not realize that there are two distinct zodiacs. Vedic astrologers use the Sidereal zodiac and Western astrologers use the Tropical zodiac. The Sidereal zodiac is based on observations of planets lining up against the backdrop of the fixed stars. It is oriented to the center of the galaxy. On the other hand, the Tropical zodiac is based on the relationship between the sun and earth. It is oriented to the equinoxes. In Western astrology the spring equinox sets the beginning of the Tropical zodiac at 1 degree Aries, even though the sun is astronomically traveling in the light fields of Pisces. In other words, it does not correspond to observable position. Vedic astrology is called Jyotisha in Sanskrit, meaning the science of light, and Vedic astrology describes how the light emitted from the stars effects us. When Western astrology was in its early stages, the two zodiacs may have lined up; but over time the two moved apart approximately 50 seconds per year to the current 23 degrees of separation (even that number is debated, but the standard of India, the Lahiri ayanamsha is 23 degrees 10 seconds).

Vedic astrology is considered by scholars to pre-date Western astrology and is the only system that has accounted for the precession of the equinoxes. What is the precession of the equinoxes? The answer to that involves another occurrence of the number 23 (those familiar with the enigma of 23, like LOST and RAW fans, may find this amusing). Because Earth's axis is tilted 23° 27' in its orbit around the sun, its equatorial plane is tilted with respect to the ecliptic plane, the plane created by Earth's orbit. These two intersecting planes create an intersecting line called the vernal axis that occurs on the first day of spring, or Vernal equinox. As the Earth spins on its axis, its axis wobbles (precesses 50.3 seconds of arc per year or 1 degree every 71.6 years) very slowly over a period of about 24,000 to 26,000 years. As this occurs, the pole of the Earth inscribes an arc in the heavens called the precessional arc. The Earth's pole aligns with different stars throughout the precessional period. The current pole star is Polaris. Approximately 13,000 year ago it was Vega, one of my favorite stars. Earth's precessional cycle is also referred to as Earth's Great Year in the alchemical tradition, World Ages, or Yugas in the Vedas. David Frawley describes it a one year in the life of humanity.

In Vedic astrology there is a line of thought that suggests this 24,000-26,000 cycle (and even wobble of the earth itself) maybe be generated by a grand cycle of our sun with a companion dark star. Modern astronomy is studying this possibility as well. The ancient Vedic seers divided up the cycle into four world ages: the Satya(Truth or Golden), Treta (Third or Silver), Dwapara (Third or Bronze) and Kali (first or Iron) Ages. Each age describes a stage of awareness for mankind in which consciousness ascends, descends, and ascends in unending cycles perhaps due to the influence of this yet to be discovered companion star. Although New Age philosophers have described humanity as entering the Age of Aquarius, astronomically speaking that will not happen for approximately 300-400 years.

According to Vedic thought, the cycles of ascending and descending consciousness are connected not only to our rotation around a companion star, but also our cycle around the galactic center. According to David Frawley, "Vedic astrology orients the zodiac to the galactic center, or the central galactic sun, whose influence comes to us through fixed stars of the constellation Sagittarius." The galactic center is like our cosmic belly button -- it is sometimes called Vishnunabhi, or the navel of Vishnu-- the point from which our galaxy grew and expanded. Many ancient cultures studied and recorded their observations about this area of the night sky, including the Mayans whose calendar marks an astronomical event of our winter solstice aligning with the galactic center in 2012. It's like the earth's pole or antenna will be aligned and open to receive message from the source itself. [H]ohm is calling.

One of the most brilliant developments of the ancient Vedic seers was to further divide the zodiac into more identifiable parts. They did this by creating the Nakshatra system. In Sanskrit Nakshatra means lunar mansion. As the moon travels through the entire zodiac in 27-28 days, the ancient seers ascribed a Nakshatra for each day simplifying its location. Although too vast a subject to go into in this post, it is interesting to point out that the name for the Nakstratra that marks the galactic center is Mula, meaning root or source.

Another difference between Western and Vedic astrology is the modern use of non-observable planets and asteroids. As a Neo-Vedic astrologer I do consider some of the outer planets when I look at a chart, but I tend to be more interested in the fixed stars and Nakshatras. I marvel at how Western astrologers bring in new astronomical discoveries to their chart interpretations. Basically I see Western charts as a map of the same terrain as a Vedic chart, but indicating different types or levels of information. It's like comparing a topological map with a road map. I don't need to know the difference of elevation between Broadway and 3rd Avenue, but I might like to know the street number of Benaroya Hall. It all depends on what type of information one is seeking. Vedic astrologers come from a tradition and philosophy that focuses on the four aims of life: dharma (purpose), arthra (attainment), kama (desire),and the most important moksha (liberation). Western astrology is enriched by many diverse traditions and the information gleaned from it may be quite extensive and more suited for the modern mind. But for me, I've always been drawn to the stars in the night sky and have felt them speak to me in the language of light. And as Jyotisha is the science of light, it is the tool and filter I use to translate this information.

For a good video overview on precession click here.