What is Vedic Astrology?

What is Vedic Astrology

The Vedic Astrology Podcast – Episode 1 - show notes

Overview

Introduction and Welcome   00:00

The 5 Topic Areas of the Vedic astrology podcast   00:45

Invitation to participate   01:35

Ask for Forgiveness   02:00

What is Vedic Astrology?   02:40

Etymology   03:30

What is Vedic?   03:45

What is Astrology?   07:00

Measuring Time and Distance   08:30

Calendar development   10:40

Mathematical Concepts to Reality   15:25

Back to Astrology   18:45

Ecliptic   19:00

Predictable   20:40

Markers   21:00

Not Seasonal   22:30

Tilt   22:45

Solstice and Equinox   25:00

Cardinal points   26:00

Summary   26:15

Signs   27:00

Signs continued   28:20

What is Astrology then?    29:20

Mundane Astrology   31:15

Horoscopic Astrology   31:50

The Planets   32:20

The Ascendant   33:00

What is Astrology summary   34:20

What is Astrology summary continued   35:45

Conclusion   36:50

Ancient Science / Modern Science   37:30

Therefore, what is Vedic Astrology   39:50

Astrology through time   40:30

Contrasting the Histories of Western and Vedic Astrology   40:50

Roots of Vedic Astrology   42:00

Sign off   44:55

Introduction and welcome   00:00

Welcome

My name is Fiona Marques

Vedic Astrologer – fionamarques.com

Graduate of the Asheville Vedic Astrology Apprenticeship Program

Host of AstroliJam

Tutor on the teachable.com Asheville Vedic Astrology Apprenticeship Program

The 5 Topic Areas of the Vedic astrology podcast   00:45

What is Vedic Astrology?

How does Astrology work?

Knowledge and Techniques

Interview with Astrologers

Case studies

Invitation to participate   01:35

New

Please contribute

Ask for Forgiveness   02:00

This is a very large topic, with a very broad range of inputs and thousands of years of history, so please forgive me for errors or over-simplifications.

It is my intention to be respectful of my teachers, the history of this topic and the many and various stakeholders.

What is Vedic Astrology?   02:40

Big question that is going to cover literally thousands of years of human thinking – ask for forgiveness now as I make my best effort to share this story – knowing no one person, no one podcast could ever answer this question

While at the same time – no podcast called The Vedic Astrology Podcast could ever begin without attempting to address this topic!

We are going to look at 

·         time and space,

·         take detours into Babylonian mathematics, 

·         the development of the calendar, 

·         the tilt of the earth, 

·         remind you of your high school astronomy and 

·         look at 

·         natal astrology, 

·         electional astrology, 

·         prasna, 

·         nakshatras, 

·         mundane astrology and more …!

Etymology   03:30

How and when the term “Vedic Astrology "came about

As recent at 1970s

Connects to Yoga and Ayurveda

Could have been

·         Hindu Astrology

·         Indian Astrology

·         Jyotish

Let’s breakdown these 2 words – etymology of these words

What is Vedic?   03:45

What does Vedic mean?

The Vedas

Ancient integrated form of knowledge

Explains the journey of consciousness into matter

Includes – yoga, Ayurveda, vedic mathematics, vastu, astrology

Jyotish – means study of light, the eye of the Vedas

Hindu Astrology

Indian Astrology

Same framework, same phenomena have meaning in all branches

i.e. Ayurveda mind-body types are present in yoga and astrology

i.e. elements – present in astrology, Ayurveda, yoga

consistent body of knowledge

What is Astrology?   07:00

Foundations in humans looking up in the sky

Cross cultural practice

Observing phenomena – noticing patterns – making meaning

What is our place in the Universe?

Measuring Time and Distance   08:30

Can’t answer the question – “what is astrology” without referencing the mammoth journey humans have taken in trying to measure time

Remember the Astrology and Astronomy and math etc. were all integrated in ancient cultures

Way of measuring time

How do you measure time when you’re always moving?

How do you measure time and distance – migration

When you move, you lose your reference points

Anchor our movement to nearly still stars

Calendar development   10:40

A day is a day, a month is a month, a year is a year

How do you impose structure on that – so you can administer life?

From the Babylonians 2500 BC we get mathematics structured around 60

60 seconds, 60 minutes, 360 degrees

Unlike our decimal system 60 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20 and 30 and 360 is even more divisible

Counting knuckles

Babylonians also gave us the idea of a rotation being made of 360 degrees

Our annual rotation of the Sun is VERY CLOSE to 360 days – so conceptually we’re good to go right?

Mathematical Concepts to Reality   15:25

So armed with 60, 360 – how can me impose structure on reality and make a calendar

Earth’s rotation of the Sun – 364.25 days – within 1% of 360

Moon’s rotation of the Earth – between 27-29 days – within 3% of 30

27 to rotate, 2.2 more to catch up with where the earth has moved in its orbit 29

13 x 28 = 364

12 x 30 = 360

So to keep it mathematical, and to oversimplify, we go for 360 days with 12 months

And by 1752, the UK and US have to skip 11 days to get back on track 

You can open your calendar app now and look at the year 1752 and check out September

In Portugal they did it in 1582 by papal decree – not the involvement of the church

Greece didn’t do it till 1923 (which you may have noticed with Prince Phillip)

Back to Astrology   18:45

This is just a side-track into calendar development, but it’s important to see that governments and administrator want to impose structure on reality

But meanwhile, astrology and astronomy are just observing the phenomena – unhindered by accounting, booking keeping, contracts etc..

So how did astrology and astronomy handle the challenge of creating a clock that accurately represented the Earth’s relationship with the solar system?

How do you measure time and distance when you are always moving?

Ecliptic   19:00

Now we’re back to ancient humans observing the night sky

In all the chaos of space, would you believe, it’s easy to pick out the path of the Sun, the Moon and all the other fast moving heavenly bodies?!

This path is called the ecliptic

From space, the ecliptic is the orbital plane or disc that within + and – 7 degrees, all planets orbit the sun

From earth, it’s a narrow band of sky within in which all the planets move

Because it is created by an ‘orbit’ or rotation, we can use the Babylonians 360 degrees to describe it perfectly

And we can divided it into 12 pieces for conceptual months

The ecliptic is our ‘still’ reference point in a moving universe

Predictable   20:40

We find we can predict exactly where the Sun is going to be on this ecliptic and also the Moon and all other planets

In a chaotic universe, we’ve found predictability

We take for granted that we have GPS on our phone etc.. etc..

But by mapping the ecliptic, we’ve conquered time and distance

BECAUSE you can see the ecliptic from anywhere

Markers   21:00

Now we just need markers for these 12, 30 degree division and then we can go anywhere

Each village can mark the ‘movement’ of the Sun through the year on local land marks

The Sun rises over the forest on the longest day of the year

The Sun rises over the mountain on the shortest day of the year

But as soon as we migrate, the forest and the mountain have no meaning

We need markers that are non local

Enter the constellation that are behind the ecliptic

The Sun always has ‘Aries’ behind it – whether you are in Portugal, Australia or anywhere in-between

Not Seasonal   22:30

Do you know what’s even more brilliant, not only are these markers non-local, they are non-seasonal

To understand the significance of that – we have to understand why the Sun is high in the sky in ‘Summer’ and low in the sky in ‘Winter’

So let’s take another tangent to explore the Earth’s tilt

Tilt   22:45

The Earth is tilted 23.5º to the only fixed thing we have – the ecliptic!

Our axis that we spin on is not perpendicular to the ecliptic

It is tilted 23.5 degrees

So, as we orbit the Sun, sometimes the North pole is tilted towards the Sun and sometimes the South pole is tilted towards the Sun

From our perspective, it looks the Sun goes up and down in the sky during the course of the year

If you map it from a fixed place and time every day of the year it makes a figure 8 (called an Analemma)

So the Sun’s journey ‘through the ecliptic’ is not seasonal it is a loop stimulating the North pole and the South pole

Solstice and Equinox   25:00

The Sun’s figure 8 has a northern high point in June when the light of the sun hits the earth directly on the tropic of Cancer at 23.5 N of the equator

The Sun’s southern high point is in December when the light of the sun hits the earth directly on the tropic of Capricorn at 23.5 S of the equator

And between each of these, the Sun light hits the equator directly at 0 degrees in March when it is heading north and in September when it is heading south

Cardinal points   26:00

These 4 events set the entry of the Sun into our imaginary 30 degree segments of the ecliptic

We call the equinox when the Sun light hits the equator and is moving north ARIES

We call the solstice when it hits the highest norther point CANCER

We call the equinox when the Sun’s light hits the equator moving south LIBRA

We call the solstice when the sun’s light hits the highest point in the southern hemisphere CAPRICORN

These are the cardinal signs

AIRES E

CANCER N

LIBRA W

CAPRICORN S

Summary   26:15

So by using the ecliptic as our ‘stationary’, ‘fixed’ point of reference

Astrologers and Astronomers have been able to describe the movement of planets in a non-local, non-seasonal way – that is a Gaia-centric description

We’ve seen how Babylonian mathematics helped create our calendar and a way to effectively harness the ecliptic as a fixed point

We’ve seen how the use of the background star constellation helped name the segments of this fixed ecliptic

Signs   27:00

Let’s build on this idea of the 12, 30 degree segments of the ecliptic

Wouldn’t it be good if there as way to remember where the Sun is in in ecliptic journey

We could call them ‘segment 1’, ‘segment 2’ etc..

But more creatively start looking for the constellations behind the ecliptic that fall within the 30 degrees we want to name.

Through this process, we find an approximate constellation for each of the 12 segments

Keep in mind that each constellation that we find, is a different length

We are not using them literally, just as markers for names of ecliptic segments

These signs form ‘the Zodiac’ – derived from a Greek word for animal figures

Signs continued   28:20

That’s how we get the ‘Signs’

They are names for the 12 30 degree segments of the ecliptic

Because remember the ecliptic is the only thing that is staying still

This is important because even the Earth is moving in it’s own rotational axis 

And in fact, over time, the zodiac constellations have moved in relation to our perspective of the ecliptic BECAUSE the Earth has moved on its rotational axis

But, the ecliptic HAS NOT moved, it’s our stationary reference point.

So now Astrology / Astronomy has created a clock with the ecliptic which unites the Sun and the Earth

What is Astrology then?   29:20

So, now we can finally answer the question, what is Astrology

It is using this clock (12, 30º segments of the ecliptic) to measure time and set dates for future festivals, migrations, celebrations of harvest, hunting and fishing expeditions

We can now conquer time and predict when things are going to happen based on our ecliptic clock

How important that would have been to the tribe

The movement of the Sun and the Moon have such direct impacts on our environment, (seasons, tides), that predicting becomes a powerful tool for harnessing or dominating our environment

It’s natural to think that all heavenly bodies travelling along this special clock must behaving their effect too

We get to celebrate our place in the vastness of the Universe

Mundane Astrology   31:15

From that, we have the type of Astrology that is observing how various patterns of planetary placements correlate to events on Earth

Horoscopic Astrology   31:50

But For most of us, what we recognise as Astrology is actually, what is horoscopic Astrology – observing the hour of someone’s birth

For this we need

The Signs

The Planets

The Ascendant

The Planets   32:20

In Vedic Astrology we tend to focus on the 7 visible-to-the-naked eye heavenly bodies

Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn

And the 2 nodes

Mathematical points on the ecliptic (i.e. not visible)

Where the orbit of the Moon around the Earth, intersects with the Earth’s orbit around the Sun

Rahu, Ketu

The Ascendant   33:00

Where was the person on planet Earth at the time?

Earth IS the most important planet in Astrology

From this point, we form the houses that denote where the karmic experience is going to play out

So that’s Horoscopic Astrology

Signs, Planets, Ascendant (Houses)

We can also use this same format for Prasna or Horary Astrology

That is, answering a question based on the time of the question

What is Astrology summary   34:20

In answering the question What is Astrology

Electional Astrology - Predicting festivals, migrations, harvest, hunting trips etc..

Mundane Astrology

Horoscopic Astrology

Natal Chart

Prasna

We need to acknowledge that there are other forms of Astrology that use a different ‘zodiac’ like Chinese for example

And Vedic Astrology is no different, because it has its own unique ‘zodiac’ of the Moon called Nakshatras

So instead of a Sun/ecliptic clock, Vedic Astrology also creates a Moon clock

This was used for Electional Astrology – what is the best time for festival or compatibility between marriage partners

But is now also integrated in Natal Vedic Astrology to some degree

What is astrology summary continued   35:45

From this we can see that

While you maybe familiar with Astrology being about your Sun sign (i.e. from popular magazines)

Horoscopic Astrology highlights the importance of the Ascendant and houses

The Nakshatras emphasises the importance of the Moon

This is why you may hear about Vedic Astrology that the Sun, the Moon and the Ascendant or Lagna are all used to create charts.

Conclusion   36:50

From all of this, we can see that Astrology is

A clock that is created by dividing the ecliptic into 12 30º segments

Using this clock to observe phenomena 

Can be used to find the best date, look at a birth chart, answer a spontaneous question

Helps tie a person to their place in the cycles of the Earth and the planets

Ancient science / Modern Science   37:30

Predictable like clockwork, in a world of chaos, we find clockwork precision

The fact that the movement of the planets is astronomically predictable, creates a sense of order in the chaos of living on a rock hurtling through space.

Ancient people expected the world to be orderly.  Ancient wisdom is integrated and orderly, just like the heavens and Vedic wisdom and Vedic Astrology is no different – the precision fits – knowledge is structured and systematic

In the west, we’re not used to that because after the scientific revolution, we taken a step back and are building up our knowledge again from observable, material, experiment-able phenomena.  So all of our branches of science or knowledge are independent and not-connected. Very detailed, proved, researched – each from their own perspective.  Fields of study are not expected to be related.

Therefore as westerners, we do not expect astronomy to have any thing valid to contribute to medicine or psychology or marketing or economics etc..

Therefore, what is Vedic Astrology   39:50

Vedic – ancient body of knowledge that is integrated and systematic including medicine, maths, astrology, spirituality, rituals, architecture, philosophy

Astrology – observing heavenly bodies, the ecliptic, can be divided into 12 pieces, can map movement of the heavenly bodies, predict movement of planets, put the earth on that map

Astrology through time   40:30

Practice of observing the stars, sets celebrations, practiced continually and sustained through time

It has been growing and adapting as each astrologer implements the practice of his teacher and incorporates his own observations

Astrology has evolved over thousands of years in many humans tribes / cultures

Contrasting the histories of western and vedic astrology   40:50

In the west, Astrology was outlawed and had to be tenacious to survive

In the west Astrology is not seen as a serious study therefore not so much a continual lineage

In India this is not the case – it has managed to survive – oral tradition encoded into phrases with a lot of information

Continuous practice with roots in sutras that were passed from teacher to student – until today

Roots of vedic astrology   42:00

It can claim both magical mythological roots right back to its creation stories just like indigenous stories AND at the same time, it is a living practice that has interacted with other cultures – trade routes

Claims both sacred roots to creation stories and the influence of many cultures as part of trading route

If you are western astrologer you will see many concepts that are very familiar and many that are unique

What a gift it is for us to have a continuously practiced form of Astrology from ancient times through to the present that has been integrated and protected by its inclusion in the body of Vedic Knowledge that we can access today.

Sign off   44:55

Thank you for being part of this first episode of The Vedic Astrology Podcast!

Please keep in touch fiona @ fionamarques.com