Category Archives: Eclipses

2012 Deepavali

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Happy Diwali (Deepavali), the Hindu festival of lights! In many places around the world, this holiday is celebrated for many weeks as an important cultural and religious festival. Astrologically, Diwali begins Sunday, November 11, the 13th day (trayodashi) of the dark half of Kartik lunar month, and lasts through the 15th amavasya day, which in the United States this year will be Tuesday, November 13. Note that the actual *day* of Diwali this year will be the 13th November.

Diwali is a very propitious day especially for yogis because on this New Moon, astral powers become especially conducive to accessing the soul’s inner light and bringing it out into the world. On Diwali, the Sun (soul) and the Moon (manas/mind) join together in the sign of prosperity and happiness, which explains in part why the Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped at this time. In Vedic electional astrology (muhurta), Diwali is one of the four days of the year (abhuj muhurat) which offers us a ‘get out of jail free card,’ meaning that anything important that is initiated on this day is said to have a positive outcome. On this Diwali, we also have a solar eclipse, which is like a supercharged New Moon, a good day for healing and reflection especially around the time of the eclipse (at 12:08 PM HT/4:08 PM ET/2:08 PM PT).

“Wake up from the slumber of ignorance. Realize the constant and eternal light of the Soul, which neither rises nor sets, through meditation and deep inquiry. May you all attain full inner illumination! May the supreme light of lights enlighten your understanding! May you all attain the inexhaustible spiritual wealth of the Self! May you all prosper gloriously on the material as well as spiritual planes!”
~Swami Sivananda

On Diwali and always, I am sending love and light to our beautiful planet and all its inhabitants, especially you, my friends. Thank you!

Fall 2012 Astral Weather Report

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During the equinoxes, the Sun at 0 degrees of declination appears to be passing right over the celestial equator. Tropical astrologers consider that the Sun moves into the sign of Libra around the time of the fall equinox, but because sidereal astrologers track the movement of the planetary bodies against the actual constellations, and because of the precession of the equinoxes, the Sun is no longer moving into the true constellation of Libra on the fall equinox. Instead, it is currently found at almost 6 degrees in the constellation of Virgo. It will not enter the constellation of Libra until mid-October. If you want to understand the issue of the two zodiacs more in depth, I highly recommend that you read Robert Powell’s History of the Zodiac and Hermetic Astrology (the latter in two volumes). Continue reading →

Happy Lunar New Year!

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Happy Lunar New Year! In the Vedic tradition of astrology, there are many different calendars and systems of reckoning time (kaala chakra). One of the most commonly used methods to determine the New Year is based on the astro-chart for the New Moon in Pisces, which occurs around the Spring Equinox every year, this year on March 22, 2012, at 10:37:05 AM in Washington, DC.  This chart is known as the Chaitra Shukla Pratipada. For anyone wanting to know more about the New Year chart, astrologer Steve Stuckey has written an outstanding article published by both Jyotish Star and Saptarishis Astrology.[i]

Samvatsara is a Sanskrit term for “year.” In the Vedic system, there are 60 samvatsaras. The South Indian calculations for the samvatsaras are different from those in North India, and there are also two different ways of ordering the years, but most astrologers today use Sage Varahamahira’s method. Continue reading →

Astral Waves Holiday Newsletter

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All that we behold is full of blessings. ~William Wordsworth

Greetings all! As we are winding down 2011, there will be one final solar eclipse occurring in sidereal Scorpio on November 25, 2011 at ~6:20 AM UT, followed two weeks later by a lunar eclipse in sidereal Taurus on December 10, 2011 at ~14:32 UT. As I have written before, eclipses have a significant role to play in worldly affairs, and they also can trigger changes in our personal lives. Continue reading →

Happy Summer Solstice

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Happy Summer Solstice
The summer solstice occurs on June 21, 2011 at 17:16 Universal Time. I am writing about this in relation to the Northern Hemisphere, where I live; in the Southern Hemisphere, the seasons are, of course, reversed. On the summer solstice, the Sun reaches its highest point of declination (the movement north and south of the ecliptic), when it is located directly overhead at noon on the Tropic of Cancer. On this day, we will experience maximum daylight hours. According to the Hermetic tradition of ancient Egypt, the Divine Sun-God becomes fully enthroned at the summer solstice, when He is thus able to pour forth His most powerful divine blessings upon us. Continue reading →