The traditional Vedic horoscope is based on ancient wisdom rooted in the
Veda, the oldest source of spiritual knowledge in the legacy of our
humanity. Veda means knowledge, from the Sanskrit root Vid, to know.
This verb-root has given rise to such modern words as 'video', the Dutch
'weten' or the German 'wissen', both meaning 'to know'. This Veda. or
knowledge, has been revealed in the remote past from the Divine
Consciousness to Rishis or Seers, who 'heard' or 'saw' the Veda and
shaped it into hymns and chants for the benefit of the humanity.
The Veda proper
consists of 4 texts, thousands of years old, which were learned by heart
through long years of training and were ritually chanted. In these texts
we find mythology, rules for rituals, and both exoteric or public, and
esoteric or secret, spiritual and scientific knowledge. The wider Vedic
doctrine has been laid down in numerous texts called Upanishads, Puranas,
Shastras etc., and has also been preserved in the form of orally
transmitted, secret, knowledge.
Astrology or Jyotisha,
the 'knowledge of the lights', plays a crucial role in the Vedic
doctrine. It describes the cosmic cycles of our planet and our solar
system, the influences of positive and negative cosmic energies on our
human existence, and gives rules for both enhancement of the positive
energies, and the subsiding of the negative 'ones. First of all this
science is used to determine the ritual calendar: the holy and
auspicious days for temples, festivals, the special days for particular
deities , and for the performance of rituals. Temple building and
inauguration, house building and inauguration, marriage, the start of
studies, business or other projects, the planting and harvesting of
crops, the planting of trees, and thousands of other things. All is
performed and regulated in accordance with this ancient science of the
cosmic energies and the cycles of the sun, moon, and the planets, in
relation to our earth.
On a more personal
level this science is used to make horoscopes for individuals. According
to this horoscope a person can on the one hand perform appropriate
rituals at the suitable auspicious moments. On the other hand a person
can know the positive as well as the more difficult periods of one's
life, and, with the help of certain crystals, precious stones, grains,
diet, the wearing of certain colors, and if necessary the performance of
certain rituals, subside these negative cosmic energies and influences
as much as possible. All this in accordance with the Vedic doctrine.
Two specific and
powerful differences exist between Vedic astrology and Western
astrology. Western astrology was inherited from the ancient Greeks via
the Romans. The first important difference is that Vedic astrology
follows primarily the Lunar calendar, against the background of the
solar calendar. The second determining difference is that Vedic
astrology is a so called sidereal astrology, following the actual path
and place of the planets against the heavenly map of the fixed stars.
Being a sidereal, or
star-bound, astrology means that the cosmic and cyclic process of
Precession determines the sacred almanac. Our earth `wobbles' around its
axis. This wobble makes the points of the solstices and equinoxes shift
one degree against the
backdrop of the fixed stars of the signs of the zodiac every 72 years.
For these points to move through all the signs of the zodiac takes t
26000 years. Greek astrology on the contrary has 'fixed' the signs of
the zodiac it uses to the solstices and equinoxes. In Western astrology
the spring equinox is fixed as 00 Aries (as it actually was at the
times of the Greek and Roman civilization). In reality the sun enters 0°
Aries in our time on the 15th of April, three weeks after the spring
equinox, which falls in the Western calendar on the 21st of march. The
people who follow this almanac (for instance in India, Burma, Thailand
and Cambodia) celebrate their New Year at the moment on the 15th of
April, when the sun enters the sign of Aries. Thus in Vedic astrology
the whole zodiac has shifted ± 23 degrees, resulting in completely
different horoscopes being calculated in either system.
The other difference
between Western and Vedic astrology is that the latter follows the lunar
calendar as principal determinant, and not the solar calendar. The year
is divided in the 12 months, according to the movement of the sun
through the signs of the zodiac. But it is the movement of the moon
through the 27 Nakshatras or Lunar Mansions every month that is the
decisive factor in an individual's horoscope, of auspicious and
inauspicious days, of temple festivals and other celebrations, etc.
These 27 lunar mansions all have their own name, form, presiding deity
and character. A persons birthday is the day the moon passes through the
birth Nakshatra in the month of birth. And as the moon's cycle is not
synchronous with ,the solar cycle, a person's birthday will be
celebrated on a different day of the solar calendar every year.
Because of the use of
the moon and the Lunar mansions as the main determinant of a horoscope
it is possible to, make very detailed calculations, because the moon
moves through a Zodiacal sign in 21~ days, and through a Lunar mansion
in just one day.
Another element
allowing for great accuracy is the Lagna or Ascendant. As the earth
rotates on its axis, the sign that rises on the eastern horizon at any
place of the globe at any time, changes every two hours. Therefore Vedic
horoscopes are interpreted both from the Nakshatra or Lunar mansion, as
well as from the Lagna or Ascendant.
The twelve signs of the
zodiac are called Rasis, and are the same as in Western astrology
(except of course for the 23 degree shift because of the Precession),
but their cosmic energies or influences are interpreted some extend
differently.
The planets are called
Grahas, which means seizing or holding. Traditionally 9 Grahas are
considered; Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter. Venus, Saturn, Rahu or
Dragon's Head and Ketu or Dragon' Tail. Their cosmic energies are
thought of as 'seizing' a person through the moment of his or her birth,
and then, through their movements and interactions during life.
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