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Volume 56, 20 March 2022

“Ordinary riches can be stolen: Real riches cannot. In the treasury house of your soul there are infinitely precious things that may not be taken from you.”

A Strife-Torn Sky

I am not sure if I remember as intense a sky pattern sustained over several weeks as we have seen this winter. Let’s start with the weeks of Venus moving quite slowly as it went through its retrograde cycle starting December 19^th 2021. Though this is a very normal phenomena, what was different this time was that Mars was moving very quickly and caught up to Venus creating a graha yuddha (planetary war) which lasted from February 12^th to March 13^th - a remarkable 29-day entwining tango.

At the same time, the Sun moved in to combust the great benefic Jupiter beginning February 19th. Because Jupiter was moving particularly quickly, the astronomical combustion lasted longer than usual and just ended on March 20th.

Seems to be the fickle finger of fate had something in store for this world with both of these unusual graha movements happening simultaneously and portending the upheavals evident these last months.

A Massive Re-alignment This Spring

Continuing with the theme of the unusual, all three of the slow-moving grahas, Jupiter, Saturn and the Rāhu/Ketu axis - will be changing rāśis. Is it a change for the better? It certainly seems to be, though there are some gnarly eclipses coming up.

Let’s start with the first change which is Rāhu/Ketu. Before the 2020 election, Rahu and Ketu transitted into their debilitated and exalted rāśis respectively (Rāhu debilitated in Taurus and Ketu exalted in Scorpio). On April 12^th, Ketu will move into Libra and Rāhu into Aries. Though they can be problematic wherever they are, the fact that they will be out of Scorpio and Taurus potentiates a change for the better.

Jupiter finally got out if its debilitation rāśi in late November but as we saw, even though that was a relief, a combustion cycle started in February. The really good news now is Jupiter is speeding along and on April 13^th, the day after the nodal axis changes, Jupiter will go into its own rāśi of Pisces. That has to be a welcome change. Further good news is Venus will join Jupiter moving into Pisces, its exaltation rāśi, on April 28^th. This will provide ample opportunities for some much needed auspicious times to begin projects given the unfriendly skies of the past months where the picking was thin.

Saturn will put its toe into Aquarius after being in Capricorn since January 23^rd of 2020 - a good two years plus. For some people this will be a welcome change but it will be a short celebration. Saturn will slow down to a crawl and retrograde on June 4^th eventually moving back into Capricorn on July 12^th. It will stay in Capricorn all the way until January 17^th 2023. This means Saturn will finally clear Capricorn close to its three years anniversary of entering that rāśi January 23^rd 2020 an extraordinarily long transit. What a time it has been!

Becoming a Sky-Watcher

Would you like to follow and understand the planetary movements? Humanity has always been compelled by the star patterns and had an innate understanding that there was a relationship, a correlation, between those patterns and their own destiny on planet Earth. With our city lights, busy lives and so many avenues for amusements, we have mainly lost this connection.

One of the students in the online program I teach, Rose Zimmerman, has developed an online course to introduce students to the majesty of the sky using desktop or mobile device planetariums which can enable you to pick out these magical patterns in real time as you gaze at the heavens. She says:

“After many years of falling in love with the night, I am offering a course on stargazing as it is connected to the Vidya of Jyotisa. We will begin a 4 week journey to re-connect to our mother sky and live in alignment with her rhythms and lights.“