starworlds: Astroweather -- Solar Eclipse

Monday, January 3, 2011

Astroweather -- Solar Eclipse

Bring me my Bow of burning gold; bring me my arrows of desire. ~ William Blake

New Moon, Partial Solar Eclipse January 4, 2011 at 1:03 am pst

As I have been discussing in previous posts, the end of 2010 brought an unprecedented lunar eclipse aligned with the galactic center on the Winter Solstice. The next phase of this eclipse period is the New Moon Solar Eclipse on Tuesday, January 4, 2011 at 1:03 am pst in the sign of Sagittarius.

During this solar eclipse both the Sun and Moon fall in the 20th nakshatra of Purva Ashada. This nakshatra contains two stars, Kaus Borealis and Kaus Australis, that form the archer's bow of the Sagittarius constellation. In mythology the bow is universally the weapon of both royalty and the warrior, often combined in the warrior-king, linking war and the chase. For example, in the Bhagavad Gita, the bow is Arjuna’s weapon, an emblem of kingship. Arrows represent messages, and the bow is the tool of the messenger. The warrior whose heart is pure will hit the mark. When Blake describes the Archer taking up the "bow of burning solar gold" he is describing the magical weapon through which he will express the ardent desire of his heart with the arrows of intent.

Sagittarius is a sign associated with shooting for far-off goals. It is also associated with seekers. In Latin Sagittarius derives from sagire, meaning to seek, or to know. The great benefic Jupiter rules the sign of Sagittarius and confers blessings and spiritual wisdom to planets transiting this area of the night sky. The ruling planet of the nakshatra Purva Ashada is the other great benefic Venus, which gives desire, popularity, and fame. Purva Ashada means "the undefeated" and is called the "invincible star" reflecting this combination of Jupiter and Venus influences. At the time of the eclipse Jupiter in Pisces will trine Venus in Scorpio which is a beautiful and auspicious aspect that will allow us all to take up our bow and take aim at our most heart-felt goals.

The deity associated with Purva Ashada is Apas, literally God in the form of water. The shakti gift associated with Purva Ashada is called varchograhana shakti, the power of invigoration. As David Frawley writes: Purvashadha brings about purification and regeneration, like the energy gained through taking a bath in water. It provides us additional energy for our efforts. These effects flow from the Waters, which in this instance are heavenly in nature and can provide inner purification.

Another deity associated with Purva Ashada is Varuna, the protector of the seas and giver of rain. Like water, he pervades all things. Water is the elemental source of life on this planet. The body is made up of 60% water, and our brains 85%. Thus the elemental aspect of the divine resides inside our very molecular structure. Moreover, the profound and provocative research of Masuru Emoto has reveal that water is also a messenger medium.

If a message is negative, it destroys the structure of water molecules. If positive, it creates highly organized and beautiful structure. Moreover, just as the power of the moon to move tidal water is heightened by the influence of the nodes during eclipse periods, our power to express our message (shoot the arrow) is also amplified. Whether this is for good or bad depends on the quality of our thoughts and intentions.

So although this eclipse has a lot of positive energy with the benefics in water signs, the line up of malefic planets, Sun, Mars, and especially Rahu in fire signs may combine to bring a steamy upheaval, especially geologically. Already during this eclipse period we have seen increased volcanic activity in the pacific ring of fire (where fire and water meet), torrential rains and flooding in Australia, and strong and increased earthquake activity across the world. This is a Rahu eclipse, and during the past week the children of Rahu, sunspots, have been increasing and releasing energy from the Sun which also has a profound effect on earth weather and geology.

I would not be surprised to see more activity during the next week, especially with Mercury traveling through its gandanta and sande degrees (see previous posts on its direct and retrograde stations).

This solar eclipse is the first of four partial solar eclipses occurring in 2011. The last solar eclipse of 2010 was a spectacular full solar eclipse that fell in the 7th nakshatra of Punavasu. As I described in the July 2010 post, the nakshatra Punarvasu consists of two bright stars, Castor and Pollux, above the constellation of Orion. Many ancient cultures saw these stars as twins or lovers, but ancient Vedic seers interpreted them as a "quiver of arrows. And these are no ordinary arrows. Punar means "to repeat" or to "return" and these arrows function like boomerangs, or divine astras, that magically return after fulfilling their function or mission. Their perigee is the moment they hit their target, but that is not the end as the arrow must bring its rewards by returning. Under that eclipse the release of our magical arrows set the stage, for this upcoming eclipse. We have an opportunity again to take up our bow, collect these arrows, and take new aim. This is the final eclipse that occurs fully in the Sagittarius-Gemini axis, which is also the current solstice axis aligned with the galactic plane. Use the purifying power of Purva Ashada to clear your heart, refine your goals, and release your magic to the Galaxy!

Namaste!

1 comment:

Lisa Ursu said...: Thanks for this post Liz, the information is fantastic.
Happy New Year to you and yours.; January 3, 2011 at 10:53 AM

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.