What is Vedic Astrology?
Vedic Astrology is part of the ancient wisdom of the Vedic tradition coming from India. The goal of Vedic Astrology is to assist the client by providing insights, information, and advice. The end result of a good reading should help the client to align to a greater to degree with Truth and Dharma (not me, but That for which I was named!)
What is Jyotish (spelled Jyotisha in Sanskrit) ?
Jyotish is the Hindi name for Vedic Astrology. Hindi is one of the languages widely spoken in India and so this word is naturally present in that language.
Who or what is a Jyotishi?
A Jyotishi is a practioner of Jytoish i.e. a Vedic Astrologer
What does a Jyotishi do?
There are numerous aspects to the Divine science of Jyotish. But a quick answer is that a Jyotishi examines the subtle forces at work in a client’s life in order to assist that client in greater self-understanding and in order to assist in understanding the context of life. By understanding himself and the context of a particular time, the client is now armed with greater insight to make wise choices.
How does Vedic Astrology differ from Western Astrology?
There are many major differences too numerous to go deeply into here; however, as an example, I will mention the most prominent and commonly seen difference: planetary positions. The positions of the planets in Jyotish differ from a Western chart by about 23 degrees. At the current time, the positions of the planets in Jyotish will be about 23 degrees “behind” what they are in most Western style astrology. So if the Sun is calculated to be in the constellation of Scorpio in the Western system, it may very well be in Libra (the constellation preceeding Scorpio) in Jyotish, depending on the exact number of degrees of the calculation. Jyotish maps to the actual positions of the planets unlike most Western systems. The wise sages who developed Jyotish were aware of both approaches but clearly stated their preference for using the actual positions of the planets when looking at the lives of human beings.
How can the Moon be considered a planet? And what about the Sun? Isn’t it a star? Isn’t this whole thing just ignorance of modern science?
It is very understandable that such a good line of questions should be asked! It turns out that the word “planet” is only used for English speakers. In fact, the word that Jyotishis (practioners of this ancient Science) prefer is the Sanskrit word: graha. The reason for this preference is the greater accuracy of the word graha. This word actually means a “grabber” or “grasper.” The idea here is that there are subtle but powerful forces that have a strong impact on our lives. So the grahas “grasp” or “grab” us and tend to move us in a particular direction. Increasing our understanding of these forces and how to work with them increases our ability to understand ourselves and the world we inhabit. Ultimately, we understand that it was we who first put these forces into motion by the actions we have taken in many previous lifetimes.