Body Types & Vedic Astrology

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Body Types & Vedic Astrology

 

12:04 PM 4/24/05 Sun

 

Hi Zam, Sam, All,

 

Thought to butt in a bit since you guys were discussiong the topic.

 

Zam's been coo-coo for this topic for years, as long as I've known

him, and while I recognize that everyone has their own thing to go

nuts over, I've never really seen what the big deal was/is.

 

All of the planets and signs signify certain elements, and this is

something that first-years astrology students learn about. In the

Vedic scheme of things, each planet and sign is relegated to one of

the major elements - Vata/Wind, Kapha/Earth-Water, and Pitta/Fire.

 

The Sun and Mars are Pitta; Moon and Venus, Kapha; Saturn, Vata;

Jupiter, a mixture of Pitta and Kapha; Mercury, Vata; Rahu, Vata; and

Ketu, Pitta. The reason why I say that about the latter two is on the

basis that Rahu acts like Saturn, while Ketu takes on the nature of

Mars.

 

All of the corresponding signs then follow the same scheme.

 

Looking at the planets in this way was originally designed (and still

is) to get a batter handle on what a person's basic makeup was

insofar as medical analysis is concerned. If a person had an over

abundance of a certain " dosha " (element) it meant that the person was

likely to suffer from health problems associated with that particular

element, by way of over stimulating that element. For example, a

person who is Pitta dominant needs to watch eating lots of fried

foods, red meat, hot spices and so on, because those are things which

are associated with the Pitta element or " dosha " and will bring on

health problems like heart trouble/clogged arteries, uclers from

eating things that would put a hole through a billy goat's stomach

and so on. A person with Vata/Wind dominant would be more susceptible

to having gas problems (farting) that the average, again, due to what

they were eating in terms of their diet along Vata lines, overdoing

it as it were.

 

The easiest way to apply this was and is with respect to the

Ascendant or Lagna; planets influencing this House would tend to be

more dominant that others all things being equal, because the

Ascendant/Lagna represents the human body itself. So, the planet that

rules the Lagna, and any of planets involved will usually tell the

story on that score.

 

In Zam's case, Libra rises (Vata) with it's ruler Venus in Virgo

(Kapha), conjunct Mercury in its own Sign (Vata). Saturn sits in the

7th House in Zam's chart and since it aspects the Lagna, it wll play

a strong role as well (Vata). We can add to this that in his case the

Moon is also in its own Sign, so we see yet more Kapha influence. So,

we can definitely say that Zam is a Vata/Kapha person, and will look,

think, react and go about things in the world in the way that a

Vata/Kapha person will. He will also be subject to illnesses along

those lines as well.

 

Sam's chart has a similiar setup, in that he has Aquarius Lagna, with

the ruler Saturn in Pisces, and the Moon in Cancer like Zam's. If I

recall, Sam also has Jupiter in the 7th, aspecting his Lagna, so

there again is the Kapha feel, although with Jupiter involved, there

is a bit more Pitta than in Zam's case.

 

In my case, Venus rises in the Sag Lagna, so there's some Kapha

influence; however, my Lagnesh Jupiter is associated with two Pitta

planets, Mars and Ketu. It's also aspected by two Vata planets,

Saturn and Rahu. Mars and Saturn both aspect Venus, thus " drying " her

out, so to speak, and this speaks to my appearance, which is more

along lean lines than not. My Moon is in Aries, and this again

confirms the Pitta dominance. All in all, when you think about it, my

chart speaks to a strong Pitta influence, with Vata coming a close

second. And my temperment and manner of doing things, shows.

 

As Zam pointed out, the Dosha system can also be used for things

outside of medical analysis, and often is; one of those ways is with

respect to relationship compatibility and so on. I've never been

attracted to " skinny girls " - all of my ladies have been on the

rather plump side - really curvy, lots of hips and boobs and ass, and

so on. This makes sense, as my chart doesn't highlight a great deal

of Kapha element, and so my being drawn to that is my way

of " balancing " myself out, so to speak. Ideally, this should be the

case, and the ancient method of synastry used by Jyotish, the Kutams,

employs several ways to view the same thing. For example, the " Nadi

Kutam " examines of the each of the couple's Moon naksatras to see if

they are of the same dosha; if they are, the match is not

recommended, on the basis that they would " overstimulate " each

other's good - and bad - inclinations. The best match is when one is

of one element, and the other is of another element. This " balances

out " the equation so to speak.

 

Psychologically this makes sense too, since, in my case, having a

Pitta/Vata woman simply would not work - the house wouldn't be big

enough for the both of us. Kapha people on average tend to be more

submissive, while Pitta people are the dominators of the world. Being

with such woman for me, would mean that eventually, probably sooner

than later, one of us would kill the other. Two people of Kapha

temperment would be too placid, nothing would get done, and so on.

Two people of Vata temperment would be too scatter-brained for

either's own good. See what I mean?

 

Vedic Astrology exemplifies the old saying " Viva La Difference! " by

recognizing that it takes all kinds of folks to make this thing

called the world keep spinning on its axis.

 

Salaam,

Mu