The Horoscope: Second House

 

The Second House is concerned with wealth, more particularly, accumulated credit and worth. It is also concerned with family, friends, capability or otherwise to enjoy happiness, ability to speak the truth, beauty and love.

The next constellation, Leo  falls in this House for our subject under study. The Lord or owner of Leo is the Sun, situated for our subject’s horoscope in his 5th house ( see chart above). That House is part of the Holy triangle (First, Fifth and Ninth Houses are thus categorized in Hindu scriptures). These are auspicious areas of the chart. The 5th and the 9th Houses are where the Goddess of prosperity and well-being, Laxmi is said to reside.

The Second House is one of the three Houses of ‘acquisition’ deemed inauspicious for ownership of Signs falling there (together with the 6th and the 11th). However, as the Sun, the owner of the Sign Leo, happens to be located in the ‘Holy Triangle’ (the 5th is such a Triane House) and further as scriptural injunction proclaim that a malefic planet located in an unauspicious House will produce auspicious results, it is likely to produce positive effects. Additionally the Sun is located in the constellation Scorpio in the 5th House, whose lord is Mars, a planet ‘friendly’ to the Sun. The sun is therefore in a friendly Sign. We noted in the post on the First House that planets in friendly Signs are inclined to do good to the House concerned, whereas planets in unfriendly Signs bring harm – the analogy of a person being in his friend’s home being happy is apt. Therefore the beneficial effects arising do not get blemished either. Furthermore, the Sun in the 5th House is aspected by Jupiter (count 7 from where jupiter is located in the 11th House). Not only does Jupiter’s aspect always bring goodness (Jupiter’s vision according to scriptures is like nectar falling) but Jupiter also happens to be an extraordinary friend of the Sun (Param Mitra), enhancing the positive attributes acquired by the Sun. Here let us recollect the principle of flow on which Jyotish astrology relies. Positive energy thus generated from the Sun flows to the Sign it owns, Leo, in the Second House.

We also note that the Lunar Node Rahu is located in the Second House. Rahu essentially malefic in nature produces effects according to the lord of the Sign it occupies – in this case the Sun. As the lord of Leo has developed several positive attributes, Rahu will act accordingly to imitate that ambiance  particularly during its phase (Dasha) of 18 years (more on the Dasha system later) it will be beneficial for the horoscope. We also note that Rahu is not aspected by any planet, allowing unmitigated influence of the Sun’s positive attributes on it. Rahu therefore, though in a ‘killer zone’ (Marak Sthan – the Second and Seventh Houses are thus defined) may not become a killer before the normal span of life of the subject is over and only eventually in its phase or sub-phase be the agent for precipitating death.

Yet the influence of separative planets in the Second House (both Rahu and the Sun being so defined) has the effect of making the subject of the chart wander away from home, origins, family or clan and parents. Yet on account of the Sun’s positive attributes, this could prove a blessing in disguise and be the cause of his development away from his native place of origin. However, it makes for a personality given to lying and misleading others.

The location of Leo in the 2nd House is indicative of earning wealth through activity connected with Government. The location of the owner of the Sign (Sun) in the 2nd House,located in the 5th ( House of progeny) brings gains or wealth through progeny and is indicative of a wealthy individual. It also makes the subject capable of handling difficult assignments effectively and display of exceptional intelligence in early years but it also makes for an unhappy nature.

The aspect of Saturn on the 2nd House creates obstructions and delays in fulfillment of issues relate to the House – thus the subject may attain to a comfortable life of wealth and well-being only in later life.

This House also appears to have fared reasonably well, taking all factors into consideration. However, what is forecast is separation from parents through their early demise or in other ways and separation through wanderlust or nature of employment and gain of wealth from such separation. The subject is not likely to be wanting in wealth, whatever the nature of the separation.     

                                                             

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THE NATURE OF EVIL

When we stand in the sun a shadow emerges from us. The shadow defines the precise area of our body which does not receive sunlight. It is the form of our area of darkness. It does not have an independent form like our body has. Thus while we are substantial the shadow is not. The shadow has no substance, it is merely an absence of light. In other words, light is substantial, darkness or shadow is not. Light comes from a source which is real. Darkness comes from no source and is a kind of illusion. Evil can be compared to that shadow. Essentially it is an absence of good with no independent reality of its own, much like the shadow we cast. Where good has not penetrated there exists the darkness of evil,which is an absence rather than a presence. When we assist or help someone, that support extended is substantial – it has presence. When we obstruct, impede, deny or refuse someone, it is a negative which amounts to an absence as against a positive which amounts to a presence.

In Mathematics we have the concept of plus and minus. The plus is substantial, say 4+4 – that is a number. The minus is not. It is not an entity. It is like a shadow. A subtraction is not substantial in the sense in which an addition is. Evil is like a subtraction, insubstantial like a shadow. Let us dwell on this further.

Warmth is substantial because the heat comes from a source which is real. Cold is not because cold does not come from a comparable source. There is no entity which exudes cold like the sun exudes warmth. Cold is the state when warmth has fled. It is the absence of warmth. In that sense, warmth has presence while cold has only absence. Evil is like cold, an absence rather than a presence.

Life again is substantial and palpable. Death is merely the absence of life and not a thing in itself. It has no reality and source like life. Evil is like death.

Sight is real because it is enabled by the eyes, which are real. Hearing likewise because the ears enable it and the ears are real. Speech is real because it emanates from a real mouth, tongue and throat. Blindness, deafness and dumbness are only an absence and evil is like them, an absence without a source. You may object that the source of blindness is disease etc. what I mean to say is that there is no organ which produces blindness comparable to the organ which produces sight. Please move away from the semantics to grasp the meaning with some lateral thinking. Evil, I wish to underline, in the same sense, has no ‘source’. when we attribute evil to say a Satan, we err. There is no Satan which produces evil. Evil is merely the absence of good. If there were a Satan, then evil would have a presence rather than an absence.

We often blame God for tolerating and allowing  evil in his creation. That is like blaming Him for allowing shadows to be cast where there is light. We pit a Satan against God and wonder why if He is omnipotent, he allows the existence of a source of evil like Satan. We fail to see that in God’s creation there is no Satan and what we call evil has no ‘source’ because an absence cannot be a presence.

Demons that need to be exorcised, arise not from any Satan as a source but from ourselves when we have an absence of good. Our state of absence of good, in the residue, is demonic. The state of darkness is simply the absence of light – there is no ‘dark planet’ (comparable to the Sun a ‘luminous planet’ radiating light), which casts shadows. Darkness has no presence. There is no ‘source’ which brings darkness into being or creates it. Darkness is merely an absence of light. Evil is like that.

We could term the vacuum of space as a form of evil. Evil because without light and warmth filling and dispelling that vacuum, life cannot survive in it. Such a vacuum appears dark and  sinister, cold and uninhabitable, cruel and life extinguishing. And we then seek to define evil as dark, cold and cruel, one that kills and exterminates. But in the final analysis it remains only an absence rather than a presence.

The Horoscope: First house

 

 

 

In the previous two posts I sought to explain the astrological chart in Jyotish  (Hindu Astrology). I tried to give a clear idea of how the chart has a reality in space projected from the earth and that the 12 houses in the chart representing different aspects of ones life are essentially directional. We studied the placement of the Zodiac Signs in the 12 Houses for an individual who we selected for our case study. We then studied the regions of the chart and the ownership of the Signs by planets which has a central significance in Jyotish astrology. Finally we studied the placement of planets and their value as emerging for the chart in question. the idea was to give interested lay men some understanding of a complex discipline. I now propose to give a House by House assessment of the individual chart in question. For those who have not seen the earlier posts it may be useful to do so to be able to follow the presentation now being made.

The First house is called the ‘Lagna’, the connection, in Jyotish astrology. It shows the connection of the incarnating soul to the mortal world. It is also called the House of birth and the ‘Ascendant’, meaning the Zodiac Sign which ascends on the horizon at the birth of a particular subject. It represents the bodily vehicle which the soul has been assigned to inhabit, to discharge the fruits of its past Karmas and to engage in fresh Karmas in the course of its journey of 48 million incarnations (according to Hindu scriptures) to eventual enlightenment and reunion with the Absolute Essence – truth, Consciousness and Beauty (Satyam – Shivam – Sundaram). The nature of that vehicle consisting of the body and mind, is represented by the First House; its shape, appearance, size, health,character, temperament and personality. It also represents the early stages of life and longevity of the subject.

Our chosen subject was born in the Sign Cancer ( not according to the solar calendar, where the Sign at birth in which the Sun was at birth is taken as the birth Sign, but according to the Hindu system of astrology, where the Zodiac Sign rising at birth on the horizon is taken as the birth Sign), the Kark Rashi or Cancer in this case. The very fact of birth in Cancer confers a sensitive and creative nature, mild and introverted, friendly, slender of build, potential; to be prosperous, intelligent, spiritually inclined, compassionate and generous. Lord Rama’s birth sign is also believed to have been Cancer. The ancient scriptures provide the key to these interpretations. This emerging picture based on the Zodiac Sign in the first House, will however be modified and amplified by other factors introduced by planetary influences.

The consideration of the First House is always most important. As they say, well begun is half done. If the First House is ‘spoilt’, it becomes an impossible task for the rest of the Horoscope to repair the damage. If the elements going to influence the First House are positive it will be a real head start for the life of the subject in question.

 

We have seen that the Moon is going to play a positive role in this Horoscope. Not only is it only the Lord of the Ascendant (Cancer), the sign at birth in the First house – it is also the ‘Strongest’ planet for the chart, determined on the basis of complex calculations of position, location, strength and association with other planets, but the First House has been adjudged the strongest house for the chart. Together they make for a powerful birth. We need to probe deeper. The Moon is located in Aries at birth in the Tenth House. This is good because Mars ( we saw in the earlier posts) is a powerful planet for the chart, and it is the owner of the sign Aries in which the Moon is a tenant in the tenth house( see illustration of chart above). The reason why Mars is powerful for the chart is because it owns two Signs located, one in a ‘Triangular’ House, the Fifth ( part of the holy triangle of 1st, 5th, and 9th, the most auspicious Houses in all charts) and one in the Central area (called Angular Houses). Furthermore it itself is located in the ninth House, the most auspicious house in the Holy Triangle and in the chart. According to scriptures, a planet owning one of each becomes most auspicious for extending benefits to the subject of the chart. These positive attributes acquired by Mars tend to pass on from owner of a Sign to the tenant – from Mars here, to the Moon. The Moon as owner of the Ascendant Sign Cancer in the first House receives these positive Martian attributes and passes them on to the Sign it owns, Cancer located in the First House. This becomes a superb flow of positive martian energy flowing from the ninth House of Fortune and Spirituality and past good Karmas, to the Moon and the constellation it owns and in which the subject is born.

This principle of ‘flow’ is important in Hindu astrology. One is always on the look out for the channels being established through which positive and negative energies may flow through any given chart.

Now one has to look around for other factors and influences to build further on these positive attributes or detract from them. The next important consideration is planets ‘aspecting’ (looking at ) the First House and planets aspecting the owner of the Sign in the first House.

Venus from the seventh House (180 degrees) is looking at the First House (see chart above). The Venus aspect is benign, because it is located in Capricorn, owned by Saturn which is a friend, therefore Venus is a tenant in a friendly House. when you’re in the house of a friend you are happy and in a good positive state of mind. Venus is also in an ‘exchange’ of Houses with its friend Saturn, meaning that both friends are in each others’ Houses as tenants. this in astrology is considered a ‘special relationship’, which makes both more than happy. This positive energy from Venus then ‘flows’ into the first house to enrich it. Saturn, the friend’s philosophic nature thus passes from it to its friendly tenant Venus and onwards to the first house it is aspecting.

Jupiter is also aspecting Venus in the seventh House. Jupiter is significator of wisdom and knowledge and it passes these attributes to Venus and onwards to the First house. Thus the subject of the chart receives all these positive energies in its First House making it likely to be philosophical, learned and wise on account of the Saturn and Jupiter aspects and glamorous on account of the venus aspect on the first house. He is likely to have a life full of luxuries, refined sensibilities and artistic sense, lover of fine arts on account of their combined flow of energies through venus to the first House.

However, Saturn’s aspect on the First house is likely to be troublesome for the subject’s health, particularly in childhood ( as the First house represents health in early life) though its malefic influence is modified by the ‘special relationship’ formed with Venus through ‘exchange’ of houses, its conjunction with Jupiter ( both sitting together in the same House, the eleventh) and its being aspected by Mercury from the Fifth house. Furthermore as Saturn owns the Eighth House of longevity and death (Aquarius being located there which it owns – see chart above) and also aspects its own Sign in the house there, it promises a fairly long lifespan for the subject. According to scriptures, Saturn in its own house or aspecting it ceases to be a ‘killer'(Marak). If these modifications were not available, its aspecting of the House of birth would have led to the death of the subject in infancy. Yet essentially, Saturn remains malefic, even if it makes the subject more philosophically inclined and for Cancer ascendants in the Natal chart, remains an eventual ‘killer’ i.e. in the end in one of its phases (more about phases) later  when the normal lifespan is ending it will be the initiator of death. In any case it portends poor heath for the subject. However in aspecting the First House, along with the modified malefic influence, it also carries the positive energy of jupiter with which it is conjunct (in same House) and Mercury with which it is in mutual aspect each looking at the other. Thus its philosophical nature with poor health) combined with jupiter’s knowledge and wisdom an Mercury’s skills with speech and writing are also passed onto the First House and help min shaping the subject’s abilities in these areas.

There remains a fuller consideration of the Moon as Lord of the ascendant, first House. a powerful and well placed Moon will give the subject prestige and power, make him a leader or administrator and involved with governance. The Moon is also significator of the mind, from creativity to lunacy. in our case study the only aspect on the Moon is that of Rahu, the Northern Lunar node, from the second house. Rahu is a deviant planet and produces a deviating mind. If the Moon was weak in the Natal chart it could lead to mental illness but as it is the most powerful planet with Mars ( in the ascendant phase on the eve of full-moon), it becomes insatiable curiosity, need to investigate and always look for a quest. But Rahu’s aspect creates an urge to taste variety, even when it is prohibited.

We have seen that those born in Cancer have a pleasant and amiable personality. The influence of Mars, as the Moon is located in its Sign, gives this pleasant personality aggressive traits, a pushing nature and vigour and zeal.

Thus from an analysis of the First House a preliminary pen picture emerges. the positives outweigh the negatives. this is a lucky man. More about him in the analysis of the second House.

astrological aspects

 

 

SPIRIT IS THE SAME, WHATEVER THE NAME

 

Some believe that ‘Oneness’ of God is an essential basis of belief because none can share his uniqueness (Monotheism). therefore creation is only a product and a reflection of His omnipotence (Dualism – of the creator and his creation being distinct). Others believe that divinity is manifested as many (Polytheism). Yet others believe that divinity is ubiquitous, the divine force being everywhere in the smallest atom and the largest cosmic construct(Pantheism) – It is within us as our soul, our innermost essence (Monism). For them the creator and his creation are not separate but one unity ( Non-Dualism).

These are interesting distinctions over which wars can and have been fought through history and people have been put to the sword or bullet or crucified. What do these views have in common? Whether ones faith consists in bowing to an external entity or to an internal essence, essentially the nature of the prayer remains the same – a process of purification, communion and spiritual experience.

Then there are beliefs in a  Day of Judgement or in  rebirth and transmigration of the soul. In the one case, after death the soul remains in a kind of limbo till the end of time and the arrival of all souls before the throne of the Almighty for judgement, when rewards and punishments will be meted out – heaven, Hell or Purgatory. In the other, there is the dynamics of Karma, automatically taking care of this process, with reaction precisely matching your actions from life-time to life-time – Heaven and Hell and all in between, are meted out in the incarnations you earn. For the latter, the bliss of the ultimate Heaven consists in the disappearance of Ego and merger with the true Essence of the Almighty at the termination of the illusion of being.

Again, Angels and Archangels are also common, though they may assume different cultural forms. Angels with wings or without. In the one, he may be Gabriel, whispering the words of God. In the other a monkey-faced ‘Hanuman’, the devoted worshiper of his Lord Rama the divine incarnation. He too is there to guide and protect one from evil, like Gabriel.

There is the conception of ‘Avatar’ or divine incarnation when the Almighty suffers descent into the material world, incarnating as a human and subject to all the laws of material existence from birth to death, pleasures and pains and all the ‘pairs of opposites’, for a purpose – to stand out as an example when evil and anarchy have crossed certain limits. On the other hand, there is the concept of prophet. Now if you were a theologian, you could split hair about conceptual differences but if you wish to recognize how similar the purport of the messages are, you would say there is hardly much difference between the concept of the supreme spirit reincarnating or being born to man through an immaculate conception as son of the supreme spirit.

The point is that the hereafter or spiritual concepts are nothing really to fight about. You may look at the truth from many angles and it still remains the truth, much like the same thing said in a foreign tongue may sound different. The same thing that is being said is that we are more than our physical selves, that we have responsibility for our actions and will reap the consequences. All faiths speak of the importance of overcoming our egos and our selfish preoccupations, in order to expand our consciousness into something larger and nobler than merely catering to our desires. 

The Ego is tested in tolerance. Claims to great spirituality and faith are hollow or imperfect when the faith is dogmatic and worse when one is bigoted  When one feels impelled to kill in the service of faith, the providence in whose name we perpetuate such atrocity, doubtless must shudder, much like one would if one’s son were to return home with bloodied hands and say ”father, I have just killed to protect your honour”. 

No one should have the arrogance to claim that his faith is the only divinely ordained one and imagine that he alone is therefore God’s chosen one. To feel superior with the beliefs one holds over the beliefs of others and to hold others in contempt as inferior, to scorn and belittle others and mock them, is the true sign of an inferior. On the other hand to listen and appreciate and seek out the gold in the belief of others with the awe and wonder of an explorer of diverse horizons, is the mark of a superior spirituality.

Religions are great ideologies that civilize, that teach us humility and restraint. From religions arise morality, law, art and ideals.

Religions are different, not because some got it right while others have not. They are different because the circumstances of peoples and cultures differ and their needs for corrective action differ.  Different faiths serve the needs and circumstances of different peoples and cultures in the regions they inhabit and at the level of spirituality best suited to them with which they are comforted and feel comfortable. They all serve the same divine purpose of giving solace to man in the trials and tribulations of physical life. They all try to help him become more civilized and less egotistical. If one wishes to move from one faith to another that is his right provided there is no coercion or compulsion. 

Finally let us not insult spirituality by pitting religious beliefs, one against another. Let us believe that God himself created the difference for a reason – roses here, chrysanthemums there and just green leaves and grass over there. Let us respect spiritual diversity even as in the natural order. Remember, no two faces were created alike, no two fingerprints.

QUOTES FOR TODAY: The Gita – Soul’s Embodiment and Liberation

Photo Credit: ktumi-hands.com

 

”I am the Self, O Gudakesh, seated in the hearts of all beings. I am the beginning, the middle and also the end of all beings.”

”An eternal portion of Myself having become the eternal soul in the living world, draws to itself Nature’s five senses and the mind.”

”Presiding over hearing, sight, touch, taste, smell and mind, he ( the soul) experiences sense objects.”

”Sattva, Rajas, Tamas – these Gunas ( archetypal attributes of Nature), O mighty armed, born of Prakriti (Nature), bind the indestructable embodied one (Soul) fast in the body.”

”Of these, Sattva ( the quality of clarity, luminosity, purity, sagacity), being luminous and untroubled,  binds by creating attachment to happiness and attachment to knowledge, O sinless one.”

”Know Rajas ( the quality of passion and dynamism) to be of the nature of passion, the source of yearning and attachment; it fetters, O Kaunteya, the embodied one ( soul) by attachment to action.” 

”But know Tamas ( dark quality of lethargy, indolence, ignorance) to be born of ignorance, deluding all embodied beings; it fetters, O Bharata, by heedlessness, indolence and sleep.”

”He, O Pandava, who hates not light, activity…. when present, nor craves for them when absent;

He who as one sitting unmoved, is not shaken by the Gunas, who stands unaffected, knowing it is but the Gunas that move;

Balanced in pleasure and pain, self-possessed, viewing a clod of earth, a stone and gold alike; the same towards the agreeable and the disagreeable, firm, the same in censure and praise;

The same in honour and dishonour, the same to friend and foe, renouncing all undertakings (attachment to their fruit) – he is said to have risen above the Gunas.”

”The embodied one having crossed over these three Gunas out of which the body is evolved, is freed from birth, death, decay and pain and attains to immortality.”

 

QUOTES FOR TODAY: The Gita – Avatar

 

( Photo Credit: iskcondesiretree.com )

According to the Gita, the Avatar is a manifestation of the Absolute Unmanifest (Brahman) arriving periodically on the material plane to redress and reform His atrophying creation. The Hindu concept of God is not just of an omnipotent, omniscient, heavenly being, rather it is that of an intimate and familiar even friendly and companionable personage, not merely a father figure but a friend and even a beloved, indeed even the essence of ones being, the Soul within. It is interesting that while one Avatar (Krishna) was a cowherd another (Christ) is spoken of as a shepard.

Q  U  O  T  E  S

”I am the father of this world, the mother, the sustainer and the grandsire;….I am the goal, the supporter, the Lord, the witness, the abode, the shelter, the friend, the origin, the dissolution, the foundation, the treasure-house and the seed imperishable.”

”Though I am unborn, imperishable, and the Lord of beings, yet subjugating my Prakriti (Nature), I take birth by my own Maya (power of illusion).”

”Whenever there is decay of virtue and the rise of lawlessness, then I embody myself, O Bharata ( Arjun).”

For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked and for the establishment of Dharma (righteousness) I am born from age to age.”