Episode 1 - What is Vedic Astrology
What is Vedic Astrology
The Vedic Astrology Podcast – Episode 1 - show notes
Overview
Introduction and Welcome 00:00
The 5 Topic Areas of the Vedic astrology podcast 00:45
Invitation to participate 01:35
Ask for Forgiveness 02:00
What is Vedic Astrology? 02:40
Etymology 03:30
What is Vedic? 03:45
What is Astrology? 07:00
Measuring Time and Distance 08:30
Calendar development 10:40
Mathematical Concepts to Reality 15:25
Back to Astrology 18:45
Ecliptic 19:00
Predictable 20:40
Markers 21:00
Not Seasonal 22:30
Tilt 22:45
Solstice and Equinox 25:00
Cardinal points 26:00
Summary 26:15
Signs 27:00
Signs continued 28:20
What is Astrology then? 29:20
Mundane Astrology 31:15
Horoscopic Astrology 31:50
The Planets 32:20
The Ascendant 33:00
What is Astrology summary 34:20
What is Astrology summary continued 35:45
Conclusion 36:50
Ancient Science / Modern Science 37:30
Therefore, what is Vedic Astrology 39:50
Astrology through time 40:30
Contrasting the Histories of Western and Vedic Astrology 40:50
Roots of Vedic Astrology 42:00
Sign off 44:55
Introduction and welcome 00:00
Welcome
My name is Fiona Marques
Vedic Astrologer – fionamarques.com
Graduate of the Asheville Vedic Astrology Apprenticeship Program
Host of AstroliJam
Tutor on the teachable.com Asheville Vedic Astrology Apprenticeship Program
The 5 Topic Areas of the Vedic astrology podcast 00:45
What is Vedic Astrology?
How does Astrology work?
Knowledge and Techniques
Interview with Astrologers
Case studies
Invitation to participate 01:35
New
Please contribute
Ask for Forgiveness 02:00
This is a very large topic, with a very broad range of inputs and thousands of years of history, so please forgive me for errors or over-simplifications.
It is my intention to be respectful of my teachers, the history of this topic and the many and various stakeholders.
What is Vedic Astrology? 02:40
Big question that is going to cover literally thousands of years of human thinking – ask for forgiveness now as I make my best effort to share this story – knowing no one person, no one podcast could ever answer this question
While at the same time – no podcast called The Vedic Astrology Podcast could ever begin without attempting to address this topic!
We are going to look at
· time and space,
· take detours into Babylonian mathematics,
· the development of the calendar,
· the tilt of the earth,
· remind you of your high school astronomy and
· look at
· natal astrology,
· electional astrology,
· prasna,
· nakshatras,
· mundane astrology and more …!
Etymology 03:30
How and when the term “Vedic Astrology "came about
As recent at 1970s
Connects to Yoga and Ayurveda
Could have been
· Hindu Astrology
· Indian Astrology
· Jyotish
Let’s breakdown these 2 words – etymology of these words
What is Vedic? 03:45
What does Vedic mean?
The Vedas
Ancient integrated form of knowledge
Explains the journey of consciousness into matter
Includes – yoga, Ayurveda, vedic mathematics, vastu, astrology
Jyotish – means study of light, the eye of the Vedas
Hindu Astrology
Indian Astrology
Same framework, same phenomena have meaning in all branches
i.e. Ayurveda mind-body types are present in yoga and astrology
i.e. elements – present in astrology, Ayurveda, yoga
consistent body of knowledge
What is Astrology? 07:00
Foundations in humans looking up in the sky
Cross cultural practice
Observing phenomena – noticing patterns – making meaning
What is our place in the Universe?
Measuring Time and Distance 08:30
Can’t answer the question – “what is astrology” without referencing the mammoth journey humans have taken in trying to measure time
Remember the Astrology and Astronomy and math etc. were all integrated in ancient cultures
Way of measuring time
How do you measure time when you’re always moving?
How do you measure time and distance – migration
When you move, you lose your reference points
Anchor our movement to nearly still stars
Calendar development 10:40
A day is a day, a month is a month, a year is a year
How do you impose structure on that – so you can administer life?
From the Babylonians 2500 BC we get mathematics structured around 60
60 seconds, 60 minutes, 360 degrees
Unlike our decimal system 60 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20 and 30 and 360 is even more divisible
Counting knuckles
Babylonians also gave us the idea of a rotation being made of 360 degrees
Our annual rotation of the Sun is VERY CLOSE to 360 days – so conceptually we’re good to go right?
Mathematical Concepts to Reality 15:25
So armed with 60, 360 – how can me impose structure on reality and make a calendar
Earth’s rotation of the Sun – 364.25 days – within 1% of 360
Moon’s rotation of the Earth – between 27-29 days – within 3% of 30
27 to rotate, 2.2 more to catch up with where the earth has moved in its orbit 29
13 x 28 = 364
12 x 30 = 360
So to keep it mathematical, and to oversimplify, we go for 360 days with 12 months
And by 1752, the UK and US have to skip 11 days to get back on track
You can open your calendar app now and look at the year 1752 and check out September
In Portugal they did it in 1582 by papal decree – not the involvement of the church
Greece didn’t do it till 1923 (which you may have noticed with Prince Phillip)
Back to Astrology 18:45
This is just a side-track into calendar development, but it’s important to see that governments and administrator want to impose structure on reality
But meanwhile, astrology and astronomy are just observing the phenomena – unhindered by accounting, booking keeping, contracts etc..
So how did astrology and astronomy handle the challenge of creating a clock that accurately represented the Earth’s relationship with the solar system?
How do you measure time and distance when you are always moving?
Ecliptic 19:00
Now we’re back to ancient humans observing the night sky
In all the chaos of space, would you believe, it’s easy to pick out the path of the Sun, the Moon and all the other fast moving heavenly bodies?!
This path is called the ecliptic
From space, the ecliptic is the orbital plane or disc that within + and – 7 degrees, all planets orbit the sun
From earth, it’s a narrow band of sky within in which all the planets move
Because it is created by an ‘orbit’ or rotation, we can use the Babylonians 360 degrees to describe it perfectly
And we can divided it into 12 pieces for conceptual months
The ecliptic is our ‘still’ reference point in a moving universe
Predictable 20:40
We find we can predict exactly where the Sun is going to be on this ecliptic and also the Moon and all other planets
In a chaotic universe, we’ve found predictability
We take for granted that we have GPS on our phone etc.. etc..
But by mapping the ecliptic, we’ve conquered time and distance
BECAUSE you can see the ecliptic from anywhere
Markers 21:00
Now we just need markers for these 12, 30 degree division and then we can go anywhere
Each village can mark the ‘movement’ of the Sun through the year on local land marks
The Sun rises over the forest on the longest day of the year
The Sun rises over the mountain on the shortest day of the year
But as soon as we migrate, the forest and the mountain have no meaning
We need markers that are non local
Enter the constellation that are behind the ecliptic
The Sun always has ‘Aries’ behind it – whether you are in Portugal, Australia or anywhere in-between
Not Seasonal 22:30
Do you know what’s even more brilliant, not only are these markers non-local, they are non-seasonal
To understand the significance of that – we have to understand why the Sun is high in the sky in ‘Summer’ and low in the sky in ‘Winter’
So let’s take another tangent to explore the Earth’s tilt
Tilt 22:45
The Earth is tilted 23.5º to the only fixed thing we have – the ecliptic!
Our axis that we spin on is not perpendicular to the ecliptic
It is tilted 23.5 degrees
So, as we orbit the Sun, sometimes the North pole is tilted towards the Sun and sometimes the South pole is tilted towards the Sun
From our perspective, it looks the Sun goes up and down in the sky during the course of the year
If you map it from a fixed place and time every day of the year it makes a figure 8 (called an Analemma)
So the Sun’s journey ‘through the ecliptic’ is not seasonal it is a loop stimulating the North pole and the South pole
Solstice and Equinox 25:00
The Sun’s figure 8 has a northern high point in June when the light of the sun hits the earth directly on the tropic of Cancer at 23.5 N of the equator
The Sun’s southern high point is in December when the light of the sun hits the earth directly on the tropic of Capricorn at 23.5 S of the equator
And between each of these, the Sun light hits the equator directly at 0 degrees in March when it is heading north and in September when it is heading south
Cardinal points 26:00
These 4 events set the entry of the Sun into our imaginary 30 degree segments of the ecliptic
We call the equinox when the Sun light hits the equator and is moving north ARIES
We call the solstice when it hits the highest norther point CANCER
We call the equinox when the Sun’s light hits the equator moving south LIBRA
We call the solstice when the sun’s light hits the highest point in the southern hemisphere CAPRICORN
These are the cardinal signs
AIRES E
CANCER N
LIBRA W
CAPRICORN S
Summary 26:15
So by using the ecliptic as our ‘stationary’, ‘fixed’ point of reference
Astrologers and Astronomers have been able to describe the movement of planets in a non-local, non-seasonal way – that is a Gaia-centric description
We’ve seen how Babylonian mathematics helped create our calendar and a way to effectively harness the ecliptic as a fixed point
We’ve seen how the use of the background star constellation helped name the segments of this fixed ecliptic
Signs 27:00
Let’s build on this idea of the 12, 30 degree segments of the ecliptic
Wouldn’t it be good if there as way to remember where the Sun is in in ecliptic journey
We could call them ‘segment 1’, ‘segment 2’ etc..
But more creatively start looking for the constellations behind the ecliptic that fall within the 30 degrees we want to name.
Through this process, we find an approximate constellation for each of the 12 segments
Keep in mind that each constellation that we find, is a different length
We are not using them literally, just as markers for names of ecliptic segments
These signs form ‘the Zodiac’ – derived from a Greek word for animal figures
Signs continued 28:20
That’s how we get the ‘Signs’
They are names for the 12 30 degree segments of the ecliptic
Because remember the ecliptic is the only thing that is staying still
This is important because even the Earth is moving in it’s own rotational axis
And in fact, over time, the zodiac constellations have moved in relation to our perspective of the ecliptic BECAUSE the Earth has moved on its rotational axis
But, the ecliptic HAS NOT moved, it’s our stationary reference point.
So now Astrology / Astronomy has created a clock with the ecliptic which unites the Sun and the Earth
What is Astrology then? 29:20
So, now we can finally answer the question, what is Astrology
It is using this clock (12, 30º segments of the ecliptic) to measure time and set dates for future festivals, migrations, celebrations of harvest, hunting and fishing expeditions
We can now conquer time and predict when things are going to happen based on our ecliptic clock
How important that would have been to the tribe
The movement of the Sun and the Moon have such direct impacts on our environment, (seasons, tides), that predicting becomes a powerful tool for harnessing or dominating our environment
It’s natural to think that all heavenly bodies travelling along this special clock must behaving their effect too
We get to celebrate our place in the vastness of the Universe
Mundane Astrology 31:15
From that, we have the type of Astrology that is observing how various patterns of planetary placements correlate to events on Earth
Horoscopic Astrology 31:50
But For most of us, what we recognise as Astrology is actually, what is horoscopic Astrology – observing the hour of someone’s birth
For this we need
The Signs
The Planets
The Ascendant
The Planets 32:20
In Vedic Astrology we tend to focus on the 7 visible-to-the-naked eye heavenly bodies
Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn
And the 2 nodes
Mathematical points on the ecliptic (i.e. not visible)
Where the orbit of the Moon around the Earth, intersects with the Earth’s orbit around the Sun
Rahu, Ketu
The Ascendant 33:00
Where was the person on planet Earth at the time?
Earth IS the most important planet in Astrology
From this point, we form the houses that denote where the karmic experience is going to play out
So that’s Horoscopic Astrology
Signs, Planets, Ascendant (Houses)
We can also use this same format for Prasna or Horary Astrology
That is, answering a question based on the time of the question
What is Astrology summary 34:20
In answering the question What is Astrology
Electional Astrology - Predicting festivals, migrations, harvest, hunting trips etc..
Mundane Astrology
Horoscopic Astrology
Natal Chart
Prasna
We need to acknowledge that there are other forms of Astrology that use a different ‘zodiac’ like Chinese for example
And Vedic Astrology is no different, because it has its own unique ‘zodiac’ of the Moon called Nakshatras
So instead of a Sun/ecliptic clock, Vedic Astrology also creates a Moon clock
This was used for Electional Astrology – what is the best time for festival or compatibility between marriage partners
But is now also integrated in Natal Vedic Astrology to some degree
What is astrology summary continued 35:45
From this we can see that
While you maybe familiar with Astrology being about your Sun sign (i.e. from popular magazines)
Horoscopic Astrology highlights the importance of the Ascendant and houses
The Nakshatras emphasises the importance of the Moon
This is why you may hear about Vedic Astrology that the Sun, the Moon and the Ascendant or Lagna are all used to create charts.
Conclusion 36:50
From all of this, we can see that Astrology is
A clock that is created by dividing the ecliptic into 12 30º segments
Using this clock to observe phenomena
Can be used to find the best date, look at a birth chart, answer a spontaneous question
Helps tie a person to their place in the cycles of the Earth and the planets
Ancient science / Modern Science 37:30
Predictable like clockwork, in a world of chaos, we find clockwork precision
The fact that the movement of the planets is astronomically predictable, creates a sense of order in the chaos of living on a rock hurtling through space.
Ancient people expected the world to be orderly. Ancient wisdom is integrated and orderly, just like the heavens and Vedic wisdom and Vedic Astrology is no different – the precision fits – knowledge is structured and systematic
In the west, we’re not used to that because after the scientific revolution, we taken a step back and are building up our knowledge again from observable, material, experiment-able phenomena. So all of our branches of science or knowledge are independent and not-connected. Very detailed, proved, researched – each from their own perspective. Fields of study are not expected to be related.
Therefore as westerners, we do not expect astronomy to have any thing valid to contribute to medicine or psychology or marketing or economics etc..
Therefore, what is Vedic Astrology 39:50
Vedic – ancient body of knowledge that is integrated and systematic including medicine, maths, astrology, spirituality, rituals, architecture, philosophy
Astrology – observing heavenly bodies, the ecliptic, can be divided into 12 pieces, can map movement of the heavenly bodies, predict movement of planets, put the earth on that map
Astrology through time 40:30
Practice of observing the stars, sets celebrations, practiced continually and sustained through time
It has been growing and adapting as each astrologer implements the practice of his teacher and incorporates his own observations
Astrology has evolved over thousands of years in many humans tribes / cultures
Contrasting the histories of western and vedic astrology 40:50
In the west, Astrology was outlawed and had to be tenacious to survive
In the west Astrology is not seen as a serious study therefore not so much a continual lineage
In India this is not the case – it has managed to survive – oral tradition encoded into phrases with a lot of information
Continuous practice with roots in sutras that were passed from teacher to student – until today
Roots of vedic astrology 42:00
It can claim both magical mythological roots right back to its creation stories just like indigenous stories AND at the same time, it is a living practice that has interacted with other cultures – trade routes
Claims both sacred roots to creation stories and the influence of many cultures as part of trading route
If you are western astrologer you will see many concepts that are very familiar and many that are unique
What a gift it is for us to have a continuously practiced form of Astrology from ancient times through to the present that has been integrated and protected by its inclusion in the body of Vedic Knowledge that we can access today.
Sign off 44:55
Thank you for being part of this first episode of The Vedic Astrology Podcast!
Please keep in touch fiona @ fionamarques.com
