Valentine's Day and the Sun's Vargas
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Valentine's Day and the Sun in Aquarius
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Fiona Marques: Hello everyone, welcome back to the Vedic Astrology Podcast. My name is Fiona Marques. Today is Valentine's Day, and it's a lovely excuse to have a look at what Vedic Astrology can share with us about this special day of the year. One of the things that comes to mind straight away is that we have the Sun in Aquarius, which in some ways might seem unusual, for a romantic kind of holiday, but the Sun in Aquarius does sharesome ideas in common with Valentine's Day.

First of all,the Sun is the 7th Lord for an Aquarius ascendant. And it's the 7th Lord that we would look at for understanding our partner in a Vedic Astrology birth chart. So here we have for Aquarius ascendant, the Sun transiting right through That Ascendant, or another way to look at it, the partner is all the way over on the other side of the chart in what would be the 1st House if you're [00:01:00] an Aquarius Ascendant. So the Sun is transiting through its completely opposite side of the ecliptic to Leo that it owns. So maybe this tells us something about partners and those people that we choose to help us through life by mirroring back to us those things that we might not be able to see about ourselves. And the Sun is right here in kind of foreign territory, doing that mirroring. So maybe that's something to keep in mind. 

And then of course we have the symbol of Aquarius, the pot pouring out the water, which does talk about, the returning of our contribution to everyone, and maybe there's a little bit of that in Valentine's Day. Maybe it's a chocolate fountain, not a water fountain for Valentine's Day. 

Another link that seems to be there for me is that the story of St. Valentine seems to be something about a Roman [00:02:00] emperor decreeing that young men couldn't marry as they were better as single soldiers. And a particular priest, continuing to marry people rebelliously. And this is the background story of St. Valentine's. And that says something to me about the rebellious nature of Aquarius being all the way over the other side from Leo. And perhaps having the Sun here, it's a bit more rebellious. So maybe something about that unconventional nature fits in with that story of, that we sometimes tell about the St. Valentine's marrying these people against the King's decree. 


Birds, Bees and the Yavana Jataka
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Fiona Marques: And then we have another kind of connection as well. If you think about the Yavana Jataka, which is a text that tells us something about the Rasis and the Zodiac signs. It has these sweet little sutras that describe the [00:03:00] environment, the field of the Rasi. And for Aquarius, it says "In the 11th sign, we see a pot being carried on the shoulders of a man and being poured out. The sign is the shanks of the cosmic person. It indicates tanks, fields of grain, haunts of birds, areas suitable for women, liquor sellers and gambling". And maybe this tells us about in Aquarius, that desire to pool resources to make everybody's journey a little bit easier. And we spoke about that in one of the recent podcasts, but it even here says "fields suitable for women, liquor and gambling". So it has a little bit that energy that by pooling resources all there may be a little bit left over creating the opportunity for play, for romance, after all the battle has been won, a time for us to think about the [00:04:00] next cycle and starting the next cycle and reflecting on our journey through the whole Zodiac and licking our wounds with others and finding that person that we can now settle down with now that we've completed our own quest. So maybe there is even in here, a little hint of Valentine's day.

It says also "haunts of birds", and we're going to talk about in an upcoming podcast, the beautiful imagery of these final Rasis. And here we see the birds, which is a bit of a theme that goes through the 10-11-and-12. And it links as well with another more Western association with Valentine's Day that there's a poem by Chaucer, I think, that is often attributed or mentioned something about Valentine's Day. And the poem is called "Parliament of Fowls". And it is linked to Valentine's Day because it talks about this time of year if you live in the Northern Hemisphere is [00:05:00] maybe when birds are beginning to consider mating so that they start their cycle ready for Spring as well. So if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, it'sthis time when nature is beginning to show itself after retreating during the cold months. And the buds are, trying to push through in those deciduous trees, can see some blossoms maybe forming. And see the bird activity increasing depending on where you live in the world. And maybe that's the birds and the bees thing that Valentine's Day has going for it is even linked here in this theme that Yavanna Jadurka mentioned the birds and Chaucer has this Valentine's Day poem about the birds. And here we have in nature as well, just that time of year when in the Northern Hemisphere, Spring is beginning to come into the forefront of people's minds.


The Sun's Varga placements on Valentine's Day
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Fiona Marques: And then to take it [00:06:00] even a little bit further, one of the things that I love about Vedic Astrology is the way that all the degrees have a meaning of their own in everybody's charts, and if you look at Vedic Astrology through Tropical Zodiac, then you're interpreting the Rasi as a heap of degrees rather than maybe a heap of stars if you're looking at it in Sidereal. So in Tropical kind of leads us even in the interpretation of the Rasi to look towards the degrees. So what is it about this particular combination of the Sun in that 25th, 26th degree of Aquarius? What Vargas does that relate to? What is that one degree between 25 and a half and 26 and a half that relates to Valentine's Day? What does that share with us about some meaning that might be interesting? And one of the things I noticed was that during [00:07:00] the period where the Sun is above the horizon, we're going to find that the Sun is in its Moolatrikona in the D7. And the D7 is about our creativity. And often to create we create with others. It's a bringing together of two, at least two different things that we are then creating into something new. So it's interesting that the Sun will be in good dignity in the D7 every Valentine's Day. And in the D7, the Sun is actually a main Karaka. And it shows the energy behind one's creativity and whether that creativity will be lasting in nature. So having it in good dignity in the D7 on this particular day every year probably helps with the energy of Valentine's Day. And it maybe helps with our [00:08:00] inspiration towards creativity. So you never know, that might be helping us out. 

And then actually during the time while the Sun is above the horizon, it's exalted in the D24, which is a Varga about our spiritual knowledge. So this is also a beautiful energy to have in that, just that little one degree that it's transiting through during the day. Because the Sun in that spiritual Varga, the D24, again, can speak to our natural inspiration towards higher knowledge. So maybe that helps us in choosing romance that is for our best and highest good or has that spiritual element to it. 

And because we can look at all of these different Vargas, we could notice that the Sun will be in the Libra energy of Aquarius. If we look at the chart through a D3, a D10 or a [00:09:00] D45 lens through those Vargas. And maybe this also tells us that it's not a really a day for our siblings and peers. And it's also, it's not really a day for our work. Because the D10 relates to our status and achievements and how we're seen by others.

So maybe that tells us a little bit about the playful nature of this day, Valentine's Day. 

And the Card of Truth that relates to it is the Jack of Diamonds, which this is not my area of specialties, but is also a kind of fun kind of card. So maybe those are some of the things that go together with Valentine's Day.


Kamadeva and Cupid
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Fiona Marques: And finally, we probably touched on this last year, but cupid is an image that is associated with Valentine's Day, which is like a cherub angel with little wings and an arrow. And there is a lovely crossover with the mythology of Karmadeva. So this [00:10:00] is a mythology told in the Matsya Purana, (V227-255) and according to the myth, the gods were unable to defeat a demon named Tarakasur, and Brahma's advice was that the only way he could be overcome is by a son of Shiva, and he suggests Parvati as the partner.

But Shiva is in deep meditation, and it doesn't look likely that he will be available anytime soon to engage in the behavior that would lead to the creating of the offspring. So Indra asks Kamadeva, who is the God of Love and Desires to go interrupt Shiva's meditative state. And Kamadeva carries a bow made of sugarcane with its string of honeybees and arrows made of fragrant flowers. 

So this is what reminds me of Cupid. They're both kind of young, handsome men with arrows, and they're both associated with early [00:11:00] Spring. Although Kamadeva is more with the festival of Holi and Cupid is with Valentine's Day. 

And Kamadeva creates a spring to distract the guards and then enter Shiva's room as a fragrant southern breeze. Once in front of Shiva, he fires one of his fragrant arrows and awakens Shiva from his meditation. Upon opening his eyes, Shiva incinerates Kamadeva instantly with his furious 3rd eye. And in this disbodied form, Kama is now disseminated across the cosmos. 

This brings Brahma's plan into play and Shiva and Parvati do indeed go on to produce a Kartikeya, who defeats the demon Taraka.

And from the ashes of Kamadeva, a demon named Bhandasura is born, who becomes invincible by praying to Lord Shiva. All the gods get [00:12:00] terrified by this demon and create a yagya to pray for Adi Shakti, the feminine goddess. The Shakti takes the form of a demon. of Lalitha Tripura Sundari and wages war against Bhandasura with her mighty army of female soldiers. She defeats the demon and restores him back to his original form of Kamadeva. Kamadeva surrenders himself to her and requests her to always keep him close to her. So Devi takes him into her and the sugarcane bow and flower arrows in Devi's hand indicate Kamadeva working through her. 

Bhandasura was born from the ashes of Kamad eva. Kama is a powerful instinct. When Kama is suppressed, it becomes even more powerful. When Shiva burns, Kamadeva into ashes, then Bhandasura is born. Bhanda means shame. There is shame [00:13:00] associated with Kama or uncontrolled desires. Bhandasura represents the power of Kama, which overpowers all the indriya represented by Indra and the Devas.

The Maha Yajna performed by the Deva represents the Sadhana, penance, that we undertake, whereby our higher Prana is manifested. Only the highest force, Prana symbolized by Devi Lalitha can overcome Kama. Hence Devi Lalitha is also known as Kameshwari the Goddess who rules over Kama. 

And that's a story that we put together in our Varshafal group last year where we were celebrating everybody's Solar Returns by creating a program of stories and questions that related to their particular Solar Return. So that's with very much thanks to my solar return Varshafal group from [00:14:00] 2024. 

All right. So I hope that these lovely thoughts about Valentine's Day and all of its different connections inspire you to feel the opportunity of Valentine's Day and the Sun's placement being a little bit better in the D7 and the D24, perhaps leading us to finding that self awareness, that spiritual knowledge and that creativity that is truly inspiring to our souls. 

Look forward to catching up with you again next time soon. Bye everyone.