starworlds: June 2013

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Summer Solstice 2013

Image from Getty images and BBC online.

The word solstice is derived from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still) as the Sun appears to pause in its analemmic path before reversing direction at the change of season. This year the sun "stands still" on June 20-21, 2013 (10:04 pm pacific daylight savings time), the Summer Solstice in northern latitudes, graciously beaming its vital light as it reaches its highest declination. We experience this turning point as the longest day, and shortest night, of the year.

Stonehenge is perhaps the most recognized ancient monument dedicated to the solstice cycles. Ancient sky watchers observed the sun rising from the same northeast position on the horizon for three consecutive days, and noted its highest elevation in the noon sky. When viewed from the center of the circle, the midsummer sun rises over the Heel (Helios?) Stone heralding its highest ascension in the northern skies. The Druids called this summer turning point Alban Hefin meaning "the light of the shore," referring to the mystical dimension where three realms meet: earth, sea and sky. During this time the Sun, represented in myth by the Oak King, is at his peak of its power. However, this moment of glory is fleeting as its path starts to decline after three days, until the Summer King's influence "falls" to his dark twin, the Holly King, in the autumn.

Like other cross-quarter holidays such as Beltane and Samhain, Alban Hefin, also called Litha, was seen as a point in time when the veils between the worlds was thin. It was a time to collect magical and healing herbs like elderberry, stonecrop, vervain, yarrow, and most importantly Hypericum, more commonly known as St. John's Wort, whose yellow flowers are filled with energy of the sun at it peak. As its name indicates, the namesake of this herb is John the Baptist, whose feast day follows three days after the solstice on June 24 when the cheery flower is in full bloom. Not only are the forces of light, symbolized by the sun, present in the plant, but under the additional association with St. John, it becomes especially potent. According to R. Folkard, the plant is "a preservative against evil spirits, phantoms, specters, storms and thunder." In Biblical traditions, St. John the Baptist was born six months before Jesus Christ, astronomically marking opposites ends of the Milky Way. Like the Ancient Celtic counterparts, the Oak and Holly Kings, St. John and Jesus are solar deities whose coronations coincide with the solstices. Whether pagan or Christian, these two male forces reign over the solstices in a perpetual cycle of life, death and rebirth.

As I described in my previous post on the Winter Solstice, the Earth-Sun relationship is one of infinite expanding and contracting energies. Like a great cosmic breath, the Winter Solstice is the completion of the exhale, and the Summer Solstice is the fulfillment of the inhale. Furthermore, there is a similar shifting of the seasons of our galaxy known as the Great Year or Yuga cycle. The 2012 Winter Solstice coincided with the last day of the Mayan Long Count calendar, which tracks the five worlds or galactic seasons of the Great Year. It marked the final breath of the contraction of consciousness, and the initial breath of the next inhalation towards the expansion of consciousness.

During the final thirteen years of the last baktun of the Mayan Long Count, the Winter Solstice has aligned with the Galactic Center in Sagittarius, while the Summer Solstice has occurred at the opposite point, the "anti-galactic center" in Gemini. Many researchers believe this period has marked a change of world ages and potentially signals the return of expanding consciousness. Thus it seems that the 2013 Summer Solstice may be the first galactic "refill" station in which this new breath of consciousness transmit a higher frequency to our local Sun as it aligns with the anti-galactic center located in the constellation of Gemini.


The bright yellow circle to the right of the galaxy's center is our Sun (not to scale). Amazing artist's impression of the four tails of the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy (the orange clump on the left of the image) orbiting the Milky Way. The Sagittarius dwarf galaxy is on the other side of the galaxy from us, but we can see its tidal tails of stars stretching across the sky as they wrap around our galaxy. Click here for article. Credit: Amanda Smith, Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge

These crossing points between the Milky Way and the Earth's solstices on the ecliptic are understood in shamanic traditions to serve as doors to the spirit or underworlds. Just as there are portals that link the Earth and Sun, there appear to be energetic "star gates" that link our Sun to its galactic counterparts -- especially at critical points in time and space. Mythology of the stars associated with these portals may help us understand the galactic wave of information that is transmitted and downloaded to our local star as it aligns with two nakshatras of Gemini: Mrigashira meaning "deer head" and Ardra "meaning "tear drop." Both of these nakshatras are associated with the constellation of the great hunter, Orion whose stars have been depicted and described in mythological legends throughout the world. From prehistoric cave paintings in France, to the neolithic Cernunnos of the ancient Celts in Europe, to Osiris in Egypt, Orion in Greece, Mithras in Rome, and Shiva-Rudra in India, the deer (or bull) hunter is portrayed a shamanic protector of life.

Like his counterpart archer, the Centaur, who stands at Galactic Center at the star gates of Scorpio and Sagittarius, Orion is positioned in the stars aiming his bow and arrows across the night sky. These mythological guardians protect both ends of the Milky Way, sometimes called the River of Heaven or Deer Jump (Hungarian), and hold the key to opening the doorway between the seasons, ascending and descending cycles, and possible interstellar dimensions.

Se'moin, Book of Saphah

Even the Freemasons and Founding Fathers understood the power of these asterisms, aligning significant architectural structures, such as the Washington Monument, to them. Many researchers, such as William Henry and Wayne Hershel, propose that the design of these buildings draw in stellar energy from specific asterisms in order open star gates here on Earth.

"Stairway to Heaven," First Degree Masonic drawing board depicting Sirius, the Pleides, and the "Blazing Star"

Image from Wayne Herschel's site Key of Solomon

This summer the solstice occurs in the gentle nakshatra Mrigashira, whose deity, Soma, is the god of the shimmering white nectar of immortality. With its special prinana shakti, the power to give fulfillment, this nakshatra promises bliss and enlightenment. In addition, the Sun is traveling with three benefics in Gemini, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury, creating a powerful yoga that imbues those planets with galactic blessings of fulfillment as well. Last weekend, as the Sun entered the Gemini degrees of Mrigashira to joined these benefics, Seattle was blessed with a rare sun halo or rainbow around the sun. I was fortunate to view this rainbow light which opened my heart and filled me with a inexplicable bliss. This phenomenon seemed like a positive omen for the upcoming blessings of this year's Summer Solstice. Researcher William Henry describes the rainbow as representing a vehicle or doorway to ascension.

Sun halo around space needle: Beam me up Scottie! Image from Seattle Times.

In Scaling the Path of the Shimmering Gods, Chad Stuemke recounts his alien abduction experience as journeying across a "rainbow bridge." His quote from Steve McFadden's Legend of Rainbow Warriors resonated with my experience:

For some traditional native people including the Navajo and Hopi, the Sunbow or Whirling Rainbow is considered to be a sign from the Creator, marking a time of great change or transition on the Earth. This full-circle rainbow around the Sun, some elders say, can be understood as a sign to people of the necessity to live a life in respect to harmony with all the creations that make life possible: plants, animals, waters, minerals, fires, winds, and other human beings.

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes! May the light of the Summer Sun fill you with bliss and open rainbow doors to your own expanding consciousness! Namaste!

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.