7th lord in the 3rd house = “Miscarriage”???

Image by circulating via Flickr

In the classic tome of Vedic Astrology, Brhat Parashara Hora, Sage Parashara writes, “Lord of spouse in the house of ambition: miscarriages. Maybe a daughter or son can survive.”

Let’s leave aside the grizzliness of this imagery for the moment and talk about how fascinating it is from an astrological point of view. Neither the 3rd house nor the 7th house has anything directly to do with children. Yet the author has chosen to devote his entire depiction of the nature of the 7th lord in the 3rd house to imagery concerning children! Why is this? Answering this question will unlock the depths of meaning in the symbolism.

All we need to do to answer this question is stick to fundamental astrological principles. The 7th and 3rd house have nothing directly to do with children, but they both do have something indirectly to do with children. The 7th house is about marriage, and the 3rd house is about lust. In Vedic culture the primary purpose of marriage is to raise children. And in Vedic culture, the primary impetus for procreation is recognized as lust (“prajanaś cāsmi kandarpaḥ” – Bhagavad Gita 10.28). So now we are seeing that the connection of the 7th house to the 3rd house has a significant impact on children – not because either of them are directly connected to children, but because both are indirectly connected to children.

What is the third house? It is a place of bravery, ambition, courage and willpower. That is what the author is talking about. The 7th lord represents the fruit of marriage. In Vedic culture this is children. So, the 7th lord in the house of courage forms a symbol indicating that it will take a great deal of courage, ambition, bravery and willpower to attain the fruit of marriage: children.

Abstracting this a layer from the cultural context, we can understand that the 7th lord in the 3rd house indicates that we need to try harder to have a successful marriage. It requires more determination, more effort, more ambition. Abstracting a further layer, it also indicates that we would do well to make a conscious effort to allow less competitive spirit to enter into the manners with which we relate with other people. Our marriage, relationships, and skills in exchange and commerce will develop in time – the more we make conscious effort to be less competitive and ambitious in these, the quicker they will develop and blossom.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

What Are Yogas?

Image by Thomas Milne via Flickr

The word yoga has entered household use all around the globe. It is a Sanskrit word, of Vedic origin. It means linking together, combining. That might not be what most people expect yoga to mean. The majority of people think of yoga as a mental and physical health system. Others think of it as some sort of spiritual path. How can the word mean linking together?

The Vedic idea is that the individual soul, you and I, is an eternal fragment of the supreme soul, “God.” Currently we are experiencing various degrees of suffering mixed with happiness of a sort, because we have lost our link to the supreme soul. Regaining that link is what yoga refers to. One of the six Vedic schools of thought bears the title “Yoga” because it guides us on eight major steps for recovering our link to the divine. One of the steps is to keep the body healthy by various asanas (postures), another step is to make the mind calm and peaceful by meditation. Thus yoga has become known as a way to achieve physical and mental well being. The goal of this wellbeing is to aid in reestablishing one’s link with the divine.

The Vedas also use word yoga in astrological context. In fact, astrology is all about how the planets, houses and signs link up and combine with one another. These links and combinations are “yogas.”

The “Moon in Taurus” is a simple astrological yoga, for example. In it we see a planet (the Moon) forming a link with a sign (Taurus). The Vedic authors give lots of symbolic images to help us understand the result of this simple yoga.

The “Moon in Taurus, in the Fifth House” is a slightly more complicated astrological yoga because it links together three factors: a planet (The Moon), a sign (Taurus) and a house (the Fifth House). Some yogas get very complex, linking together five, six, or more different factors.

Although everything in your birth chart is a yoga of some sort. When we specifically say, “let’s discuss your yogas” we are talking about the particular yogas that the classical Vedic authors have defined and given symbolic imagery to elucidate.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

“Weak and Surrounded by Enemies” – Sri Krishna and the 1st lord in the 6th house.

Image via Wikipedia

Bodily happiness: The 1st is the house of the physical body. The 6th is the house of illness and obstacles. The 1st lord in the 6th house thus forms a symbol of the physical body surrounded by illness. This placement decreases the extent to which our bodies are strong and unburdened, and therefore can enjoy sensual and physical happiness.

This image is subject to the influence of surrounding astrological conditions. Of course, all symbolic images are, but this one is particularly so. The incarnation of the Vedic Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, was born with the 1st lord in the 6th house. He of course enjoyed the highest happiness and health. However it is a fact that the “body” of Godhead is a transcendental substance, not a physical object. Therefore it is noteworthy that this astrological position reveals the non-material, non-physical nature of the enjoyments Krishna displayed during his time on earth. Besides this spiritual point, it also illustrates astrological principles. The 1st lord of Sri Krishna was in the 6th house in an exceedingly elevated “raja yoga” – thus the 1st lord in the 6th house under positive conditions brings a result opposite to what the image suggestion. In other words, the image suggested by the author is the “stock” image related to the condition in isolation of other factors. If the other factors are good, the stock image takes a positive permutation, and visa versa. Krishna is an example of this. His 1st lord in the 6th house in one sense shows that he was completely untouched by physical pleasures; but because that 1st lord was in such a positive condition it contributed to his enjoying life on an unparalleled, transcendental level.

Enemies: The 1st is the house of the self, the 6th is the house of enemies. So the 1st lord in the 6th creates the symbol of the self feeling surrounded by enemies, troubles, worries, difficulties, detractors, and obstacles.

Again, the 1st lord in the 6th is very sensitive to surrounding conditions. Sri Krishna, for example, was constantly surrounded by enemies from the moment of his birth till the end of his life. But because the situations surrounding this 1st lord were so strong and positive, the outcome contributed to Krishna’s ability to very thoroughly and almost effortlessly crush each and every one of those relentlessly approaching enemies. The lesson here is that the 1st lord in the 6th house brings many challenges to us, but challenges are opportunities to become powerful and great. With some good influence on our 1st lord and with some good volition and determination on our part, the 1st lord in the 6th can make us conquer a host of enemies and rise about a field of obstacles.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com