Michael Laughrin's North American Jyotish Newsletter February/March 2006

[Guest guest]

Contents

-- New Year Celebrations in India

-- The Differences Between the Two Nodes

-- Book Review: "The Fated Sky" by Benson Bobrick

-- Book Review: "A Brief Tour of Higher Consciousness" by Itzhak

Bentov

-- Sattvic Gemstones

 

Introduction to Michael Laughrin's North American Jyotish Newsletter

 

I offer you this newsletter to enhance and deepen your experience of

Vedic Astrology. In these newsletters, expect to find a combination of

helpful articles, book reviews, Jyotish links and more. The purpose of

this newsletter is to educate and titillate the Jyotish-loving public.

The opinions given within are solely those of the author.

 

In this issue, Margaret Mahan offers an explanation of the three New

Year celebrations in India. Rahu and Ketu, the two nodes of the moon,

are contrasted by Alison Nielsen. I offer reviews of two books: "The

Fated Sky" by Benson Bobrick and "A Brief Tour of Higher

Consciousness" by Itzhak Bentov. And Jay Boyle describes how he became

interested in buying and selling "sattivic" Jyotish gemstones.

 

Please visit my website at http://www.jyotish.ws at your convenience.

I offer Traditional/Classical Vedic Astrology, Intuitional Jyotish

(Vedic Astrology based on deep intuition), Chakra Readings, and

Advanced Structured Psychic Work (for deeper interpretation of your

karmic pattern).

 

- Michael Laughrin (Michael)

 

 

New Year Celebrations in India

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By Margaret Mahan (mjm108)

 

There are three distinct New Years in India, celebrated in different

places at different times. And yet they are all part of one system. As

with so many things in the wonderfully complex cultural mosaic in

India, what are apparent contradictions to the outsider are resolved

with a little basic information on some of the underlying factors that

provide the unity across regions and cultures. The different New Years

can be comprehended by understanding the lunar calendar that is common

to all of the subcontinent, and with a little appreciation of the flow

of history in Bharat.

 

It is useful to note that the lunar calendar system used in the

subcontinent is upheld, and has endured, partly because of the

prevalence of Jyotish. Jyotish is one of the main cross-cultural

threads that is common throughout India. Even though there are several

distinct systems and sub-systems of Jyotish found in different

regions, Jyotish is practiced and sought by people from the four

corners of India, and all Jyotish uses the same lunar system, even

when different meaning may be attributed to various components of that

same calendar.

 

The lunar calendar is made up of 12 months, each consisting of 29 or

30 solar days, and is calculated based on the phases of the moon. Each

month consists of two fortnights or pakshas. (Note: a fortnight is an

English word meaning "two weeks" – hence, a paksha is a two-week

period.) Shukla Paksha is the waxing phase, and ends with the full

moon or Purnima, which is always the 15th tithi (or portion of 12

degrees). Krsna Paksha, the waning fortnight, ends with Amavasya-–the

dark night, or new moon.

 

The Rg Veda describes this lunar system, which means that it has been

in place in all of what is now India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (as far

as we know the Rg Veda to have been in use) for at least 5,000 years.

 

The 12 months are called:

1. Chaitra (March/April)

2. Vaishakh (April/May)

3. Jyeshta (May/June)

4. Aashaadh (June/July)

5. Shravaan (July/August)

6. Bhadrapad (August/September)

7. Ashvin (September/October)

8. Kaartik (October/November)

9. Mrgasheersh (November/December)

10. Paush (December/January)

11. Maagh (January/February)

12. Phalgun (February/March)

These 12 months are in turn each coupled up to form the six seasons in

India.

 

The calendar is based on the phases of the moon, and the total

duration of the twelve months takes 354 days, 8 hours and 34 seconds

(give or take a little). This differs from the length of time it takes

our planets orbit around the sun by some 10 days – so we need to align

the solar year with the lunar one somehow. This is accomplished by

adding in an extra month, called the Adhika Maas, every time the

accumulated difference reaches 29 days and 12 hours, 45 minutes (more

or less). Generally speaking, there are 7 Adhikas every 19 years, or

one approximately every three years.

 

Now to New Years. There are two primary beginnings of the year, both

with historical events that are known to us. The Shalivan Shaka

calendar was initiated by King Shalivan in the year 78 AD, and the New

Year for this day begins with the first day of Shukla Paksha (the

waxing phase of the new moon) of the month of Chaitra. It therefore

occurs immediately after the day of Holi, and as with the Holi

celebrations this system is followed in North Central India, where the

good King ruled his territories. The second major calendrical system

is Vikram Samvat, started with the great King Vikramaditya of Ujjain,

following his victory over the Saka in 56 BC. The New Year begins with

the first day of Kartik following the Amavasya celebrations of

Deepvali. Though Deepvali, commonly known as the Festival of Lights,

is now celebrated throughout north and west India, the tradition to

take the New Year from the day after Deepvali is practiced mostly in

the western reaches of India (Gujarat, Maharashra, etc.). Finally,

Bengalis celebrate the New Year on the first day of Vaishakh, where it

is called Naba Barsha. The last day of the last month of the Bengali

year (in both Bangladesh and West Bengal) is known as Chaitra

Sankrant, and is celebrated with equal fervor.

 

And, of course, in different parts of India, these key days are the

starting point for different festivals and observances. For example,

in Sindh, for Kasmiris and others, Chaitra is the key to Navaratri, or

some version of nine days honoring the Goddess. Ugadi is the festival

in Maharastra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh; the New Year is rung in

with the Pancanga Shravanam, the hearing of the major tithis of the

year. Here we see the explicit links to the prevalence of Jyotish in

these locales.

 

Chaitra is the first day of spring, and everywhere in the southern

half of India, there are green mangoes around somewhere. (In the north

this is not necessarily so, and we therefore get some idea of why

local festivals will use different substances and seek to propitiate

different deities for different purposes). In southern India, there is

also the first new jaggery from the sugarcane and tamarinds can also

be harvested. Neem trees are flowering as are jasmine. Sweet, sour and

bitter flavors together in one fresh dish signals the beginning of the

growing season.

 

In the far north in Kashmir, pandits bathe to wash off impurities.

They then take prasad of an herb called Wye mixed with rice powder

into cakes. A bowl of rice early in the morning is taken by

householders to symbolize fertility and wealth, and to support a

plentiful future. A new Panchang will have been prepared and so the

dates for major festivals and spiritual observances (based on the

coming year's lunar calendar) are known to all on the first day of the

year. Navreh/Navaratri begins in Kashmir also from this day, as in

west India, and in contrast to the autumnal Navaratri of Bengali

culture.

 

So yes, you can celebrate New Years at least thrice in India in the

course of one solar year, provided you are prepared to travel a

little. Everywhere you should expect common threads of early morning

bathing in rivers, offerings to the major local forms of the Goddess,

and usually some significant puja in which the coming year's major

dates are presented.

 

Happy New Year! May you be blessed with health and plenty.

 

 

 

The Differences Between the Two Nodes

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By Alison Nielsen (premavratini)

 

People are often confused about the differences between Rahu and Ketu,

the north and south nodes of the moon. This is natural, since these

two planets were once one being and they share many meanings in

common. But they also have very important distinctions in personality

and significations that can cause their manifestations in a horoscope

to be dissimilar. Because they are chaya grahas--shadow planets--their

nature is shifting and cloudy, which contributes to the confusion

surrounding them.

 

They share in common being portals to other realms of existence,

shamanic doorways that can open our minds and expand our visions of

reality. They rule over Kundalini and extrasensory perception, and

shamans and witch doctors. They both rule foreigners and outcasts, the

strange and unusual, poisons, obsessions, disguise, eccentricity,

psychism, magic and the sudden and unexpected.

 

To understand how they differ, one can begin by contemplating the fact

that Rahu is a head without a body and Ketu is a tail without a head.

The head in Vedic thought is always the symbol of all forms of ego and

grasping. It is also the seat of the intellect and the personality.

This gives to Rahu a heedless ambition and acquisitiveness (which is

largely missing in Ketu's personality), as well as striking

inventiveness and originality and often a pronounced charisma. Because

Rahu is the top part of the body, he rules the hands, whereas Ketu

rules the legs. We commit far more selfish acts with our hands than

with our legs, and again it is Rahu's trait alone to be wildly selfish

and heedless of others when hot on the trail of a desire. Rahu figures

much more strongly in combinations that give rise to legerdemain (a

show of skill or deceitful cleverness) and to visible siddhis.

 

Ketu, being a tail, is entirely lacking in a head, which makes him

associated with confusion (state of headlessness), universality (a

more positive view of confusion), and moksha (liberation from all ego

and grasping). While Rahu may be the most materially seeking graha,

Ketu is the least. Ketu knows not of this world and is possibly the

worst planet for trying to get along in capitalist society. He neither

knows nor cares for it at all. The detachment and confusion associated

with him often leads to people being very spaced out and

directionless, unable to establish the position of things relative to

one another. Also, because Ketu rules the legs, he is associated with

the acts of sitting for meditation and walking around to go on

pilgrimage.

 

Their brand of psychism tends to be different as well. Rahu tends to

produce striking visions whereas Ketu tends to produce intuitive

feelings.

 

Additionally, it is said that Rahu behaves like Saturn, and Ketu

behaves like Mars. Rahu shares with Saturn in being a Vata planet--

cold and windy--whose effects can be pernicious (destructive). Ketu

shares with Mars in being a Pitta planet prone to explosive violence,

mishaps with fire and fanaticism.

 

 

 

 

Book Review: "The Fated Sky" by Benson Bobrick

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Review by Michael Laughrin

 

"The Fated Sky: Astrology in History" by Benson Bobrick is one of the

most wonderful books that I have read in the last 20 years (the amount

of time that I have been a professional astrologer). Even though it is

largely the history of astrology (Western astrology, at that) in the

West-- primarily Europe and North America--it is filled with

astrological goodies and analyses that any student of the Divine

Science will find useful, amusing and often extremely insightful.

 

The book reads like a novel and, yet, is all true. Western astrology

prior to around 1750 was accepted by virtually all learned people and

held an honored place in almost every major European university. Did

you know that Galileo, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler and

Geoffrey Chaucer were all famous astrologers?

 

Plus, this book is wonderfully instructive as to what combinations

indicate fame, type and timing of death, money, marriage, children and

other important considerations. Of course, a lot of type print is

devoted to that lighthouse of Western astrology, John Lilly. John Dee

and Marsilio Ficino are also dealt with in some detail. Astrology is

also ably illustrated during the periods of the Romans, Greeks, and in

the Middle Ages in the Arab lands.

 

Buy this book! Own it! Read it, but, for Heaven's sake, relate to it

in some meaningful way NOW! Maybe you can tell that I am a man of

frequent and sudden enthusiasms, but I really, really, really loved

this book. It will be less useful to those who do not have a working

knowledge of some brand of the Science of Light.

 

21st Century Books in Fairfield, Iowa can get you this book for a

discounted price of $20.80 Call (800) 593- 2665 or order online at

http://www.21stbooks.com.

 

 

 

Book Review: "A Brief Tour of Higher Consciousness" by Itzhak Bentov

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Review by Michael Laughrin (Michael)

 

"A Brief Tour of Higher Consciousness" by Itzhak Bentov is the best

(and most fun) introduction to the modern idea of Enlightenment

combined with quantum physics that I have ever come across. And I have

been swimming in these "Enlightenment" waters for over 35 years now.

 

This is the same Itzhak Bentov who, on his last plane ride, as he was

boarding the plane, realized that no one on the plane had an aura and

he knew that they were all destined to crash. He got on the plane

anyway because he knew it was time to move on to greater things.

Please just treat this as a rumor.

 

This little book of 113 pages is light, fun, profound, and

mathematical. The author relates the ultimate meaning of the Universe

with both the Hebrew and Sanskrit alphabets. Every single one of you

should own this book, or, at least, read it. I especially like the

chapter about the Devas because it so closely parallels my own

experience.

 

The subtitle of this tome is also revealing: "A Cosmic Book on the

Mechanics of Creation." Wonderful!

 

21st Century Books in Fairfield, Iowa carries this book on their

shelves, or they can send you this book for $12.95 plus shipping. Call

(800) 593-2665 or visit http://www.21stbooks.com.

 

 

Sattvic Gemstones

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By Jay Boyle

 

The Council of Vedic Astrology (CVA) is a professional organization.

Jay Boyle, owner of Jay Boyle Company and AstrologicalGem.com, wrote a

feature article for the 2005 annual issue of CVA Journal titled

"Sattvic Gemstones" and a sidebar, "The Nine Primary Jyotish

Gemstones." I highly recommend you visit the link below to read this

article about how Jay became the good, intuitive gem buyer that he is.

I have sent most of my clients to him for Jyotish gemstones for the

last 25 years. You are welcome to link to this article from any

website you own.

 

You can read the article online at:

http://www.astrologicalgem.com/cva_journal1.htm

 

 

 

Contact Information

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

email: michael

business phone: (440) 582-9848; cell phone: (440) 263-2159

web: http://www.jyotish.ws

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