Ancient Prayer to the Sun

This is from the first chapter, 35th song of the world’s oldest surviving book, the Rg Veda. The father of ancient astrology, Sage Parashara, recommends contemplation upon this prayer to make peace with the astrological Sun.

I call upon fire, friendship, waters and the restful night to aid us.
I call for aid to the Sun, bringer of life.

Revolving through the darkness of space, awakening gods and mortals alike
Riding in a golden chariot, looking upon every being.

Moving to the northern and southern solstices he journeys
Coming from afar to chase away all distress and sorrow

On a multicolored chariot decked with pearls and flags
The many-rayed sun sets off powerfully into the darkness

White horses draw that golden chariot, bringing its light to everyone
All beings exist in the lap of the Sun

There are three universes, two belong to the Sun,
While the other belongs to death and is the home of warriors
He is the kingpin around all things firmly rest
And revolve

Strong winged, lighting up all regions, causing fear to creatures of darkness
What worlds have the rays of the wise leader illuminated now?

He illuminates the eight points of the Earth, the three deserts, and seven oceans.
The golden-eyed Sun appears now to give treasure to those who worship.

Golden handed, far seeing, going in his path between Earth and heaven
he drives away sickness, and illuminates what was once dark

Golden handed and kind leader, come to us with aid and favor.
Drive away creatures of darkness assembling at sunset.

The ancient paths of the Sun collect no dust and are clear in the middle of the sky
Come on those fair paths today, and bless us to be free from harm!

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

© 2010 Vic DiCara, All Rights Reserved

Symbols and Glyphs of Astrology

I am a huge fan of the glyphs developed in the West to represent the signs and planets. The essential meaning of every planet and sign is encoded into these fascinating symbols.

Glyphs for the Planets

Each planet’s glyph is made of the same primary symbols: a circle and a cross.

The circle is symbolic of life. The top of the circle is your original self, the bottom of the circle is your material identity. Life is a cyclic process of the original self transforming into a material being and then returning to a truer understanding of itself.

The cross is the symbol of effort. “We all have our crosses to bear.” The specific location of the cross on the circle reveals a lot about the meaning of a planets glyph.

There are two secondary symbols used in the glyphs: the half-circle and the arrow.

The half-circle is symbolic of evolution and development. The exact type of half-circle used in a specific glyph reveals a lot about it’s exact symbolism for that planet.

The arrow is simply a blurred cross, distorted due to the energy of the arrow’s movement. Only Mars has the energy to transform the cross of effort  into the arrow of ambition.

☉The Sun’s glyph is a circle with a dot in the middle. The circle is life. The dot in the middle of the circle is symbolic of the fact that the Sun is the center of all things in life. The center of life is your identity – the core of your conscious awareness.

☽The Moon’s glyph looks a lot like the moon, which is handy. It is the only glyph without a complete circle in it. Instead the left side of the circle has folded over or reflected to the right so that there are two half circles linked together on the right, making the characteristic crescent moon shape. Why? The Moon is your emotional self, a tricky reflection that creates and satisfies feelings of incompleteness which arise from our interest in a world of dualities.

The half-circle represents evolution. The Moon (emotions) allows evolution in both directions – towards the true self and away from it.

☿Mercury’s glyph is a circle with a cross at the bottom and a half circle at the top. The cross at the bottom shows that Mercury facilitates the effort for the true self to become a real manifestation in the material world. The half circle at the top is unique to Mercury. It shows that he alone can truly facilitate the evolution towards the higher self. This glyph encapsulates in a single symbol the fact that Mercury is your intelligence, which creates the ability to communicate as well as understand.

♀Venus’ glyph is like Mercury’s, without the half circle at the top. She gives you a physical body replete with fascinating senses through which you can truly experience the wonderful manifest world in your life.

♂Mars’ glyph is a circle with an arrow (a distorted cross) at an odd angle towards the top of the circle. This symbolizes that Mars is your energy. He is the passion and ambition which prods you to going off in your own unique direction with your own angle on life.

♃Jupiter’s glyph is a cross supporting the right side of a half circle. The right side of the circle represents evolution towards a deeper understanding of life. Jupiter is supportive of this effort. He encourages it and rewards it and provides the systems of religion, philosophy, and law which do the same.

♄Saturn’s glyph is a cross to which the right side of the circle is affixed and bound. The evolution towards a deeper understanding of life is nailed to the inescapable realities which Saturn generates: death, old age, decay and misery. We evolve by coming to grips with these realities.

☊Rahu’s glyph has no cross. In fact only the five real planets have crosses and represent effort. The Sun, Moon and the two nodes Rahu and Ketu are not literally planets. Their glyphs contain no crosses. They manifest their nature without any effort or evolution required.

Rahu and Ketu are the only planets to contain two complete circles. Their glyphs consist of these two circles joined by the arc of a half circle. The two circles represent two different lives, two different worlds. Rahu’s arc connects the two – bridging the present to the future, creating the ability and need to move upward and outward, and causing the possibility of nearly instantaneous change and movement.

☋Ketu’s glyph is identical to Rahu’s except that Ketu connects the two circles with a downward arc, while Rahu does so with an upward arc. This glyph symbolizes Ketu’s essential nature as a like between the present and the past, the ability and need to move inward and downward with the possibility of nearly instantaneous change and movement in those directions.

Sign Glyphs

♈Aries is the beginning of the zodiac – where the one (at the bottom) splits and becomes many (at the top). This symbolizes the tremendous energy and ambition of life itself.

♉In Taurus the energy forms a stable unit (a circle) which is like a womb for the new energy of life. The circular womb will cause things to grow and develop upwards (the half circle at the top).

♊ Gemini is the sign in which the incubated energy of creation is born and becomes a distinctly separate being. The many created at the beginning by Aries have developed by the support of taurus, and now become a second being, a truly individual self capable of its own experiences and ideas.

♋ In Cancer there are two circles attempting to connect. The new being of Gemini finds that she wishes to integrate her new self with her former self. Therefore Cancer is a place where energy directs inwards and emotions are examined rather privately.

♌ Leo begins a new cycle of evolution – the evolution to understand our own powers. A newly integrated single circle moves sets out with a new identity.

♍Virgo‘s glyph like taurus, creates circles. The three lines of the “m” represent the three layers of the world. The last line of the “m” weaves around itself, creating circular environments. In Virgo the newfound personal power of Leo enters these circles and attempts to more deeply and practically understand and express itself.

♎ Libra‘s glyph evokes both a balance and an equal sign. It shows a balance of desire to work equally with the world as well as on it. In Libra we attempt to achieve the delicate balance between our own personal strength and the personal strengths possessed by the other people in the world, to whom we relate.

♏ In Scorpio we complete the mastery of our own powers. Thus an arrow develops at the end of the three lines – the three layers of the world. This shows that we and now ready to move to a new stage and apply our newly understood personal power on a higher level.

♐Sagittarius’ glyph shows the arrow which appeared in Scorpio moving beyond the line of the “new level” of operation. Thus, in this sign we begin to truly explore the various ways in which we can develop ourselves on higher levels.

♑Capricorn’s glyph, like Taurus and Virgo before it, possesses circles. The straight lines from Sagittarius resolve into curves which create circles. This glyph shows that the new levels we discovered in Sagittarius can now enter a safe “womb” and incubate here to become more deeply and stably realized.

♒ The glyph of Aquarius, like Gemini and Libra before it, is dominated by two lines. These lines are wavy, showing that Capricorn’s effort to evolve a deeper understanding of life are now vibrant with power and potential.

♓ Pisces‘ glyph is two half circles bound together by a line. In Pisces we reach the end of one cycle of evolution. The new levels we discovered in Sagittarius, developed in Capricorn and expressed in Aquarius are now ready in Pisces to bear their final, deepest fruit: the ability to transfer us to an entirely new cycle of evolution. One of the half circles is the end of the old cycle. The line is Pisces effort to transport us to the other half circle, the beginning of a new cycle of evolution.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

© 2010 Vic DiCara, All Rights Reserved

The Sun: Soul, Health, Authority & Career

The Sun is the center of the entire solar system, the source of all our light and heat.

If you expand on that sentence you will understand everything the astrological Sun controls:

- The Soul

- Health

- Authority Figures

- Your Public Role / Career

THE CENTRAL SOURCE OF LIGHT – The Soul

Because the Sun is the central source of light, he controls “The Soul.”

What is a “soul,” anyway?

It sounds like a religious term, only because religion uses that word a lot. Consciousness, and self-awareness are less religious sounding words which pretty much mean the exact same thing as “soul.”

Consciousness is just like light, because both light and consciousness allow you to see things. When there is light, you become aware of what is around you. In the pitch black, you can not even see your own hand right in front of your face. You and I are full of this “light.” Right now you are reading these words, aware of the thoughts and images they are creating in you. You are “shining light” upon them, increasing your awareness of their meaning. At this very moment, you are aware that you exist. You can look in the mirror or look at your own hand, and be conscious of yourself.

The Sun controls the source of that awareness: which is the definition of the word “soul.” In the West, the proper name for the Sun is “Sol.”

So the Sun is your soul, and therefore:

- Your identity or “ego”

- What you are aware of and how “aware” you are.

Ego, or self-concept, is a spontaneous and natural result of being aware. Yes you can have “too much” ego. Self-absorption and “egomania” are products of a malignant astrological Sun. The natural Sun creates self-confidence and a clear sense of self.

People who talk about existing without any ego whatsoever are, to be rude, just blowing air out their asses and thinking the fart sounds “far out.” To exist as an aware being but not have an ego or identity is as possible (or desirable) as the Sun shining with darkness! Indeed the vast majority of people who set out on the path to eradicate “self” and “ego” most often wind up extremely frustrated. Why? Because it is completely unnatural. Don’t try to destroy your own identity, just purify it of selfish intention! An unselfish ego is the most beautiful thing we can become – as beautiful and bright as the Sun.

THE CENTRAL SOURCE OF WARMTH – Health

In general, living things are warm and dead things are cold. The Sun generates all the heat and warmth in the solar system. Therefore the Sun is the source of health, the fuel of life.

Have you ever noticed that light and heat are inseparable?

Light = consciousness – which comes from the soul. Heat and warmth = health. Heat always accompanies light, and visa versa. What does this tell us about the soul? The soul generates both our awareness and our vitality – just as the Sun generates all our light and heat.

What does this tell us about health?

Vitamins, minerals and exercise are definitely important for being healthy. But nothing is as important as having a “strong spirit” – a “healthy soul.”

There are many vital organs and systems in a healthy body, and the Sun relates to them all in an overall way. But there are two that the Sun most specifically controls:

- The heart: The central vital organ upon which all physical health relies.

- The bones: The central core upon which the rest of the body is built.

THE CENTRAL SOURCE OF GRAVITY – Authority

The Sun keeps every other planet “in line”… literally. Every planet stays “in line” with its own orbit only because of the authority of the Sun’s massive gravity. Because the Sun puts everything it its place, he generates all the authority figures:

- Governments & Kings

- Bosses

- Fathers

Anyone who commands the authority to lead others gets this power from the Sun.

Authority figures are not supposed to by tyrants. Only a malignant Sun creates tyrants and abusers. True authority figures may always be strict and stern, yes, but their purpose is loving – they wish to bring light and warmth to others. Governments, bosses, and fathers truly represent the Sun when they exercise their authority only for the sake of increasing the knowledge, awareness, experience, health and vitality of the people they are in charge of.

THE DAY-MAKER – Career

Since the Sun creates the light of awareness, the warmth of health and the gravity of authority it is fitting that the Sun also creates the daytime. During the day things are bright are clear, it is warm and people tend to follow the rules of authority. At night things become more unknown in the darkness, it gets chilly and we can “catch a cold,” and thieves feel far more at liberty to go about their practice.

What do most people do during most of the daytime?

They work.

During the day we go out and are seen in public. We earn money mainly so we can keep ourselves fed, sheltered, healthy. We conform ourselves to the rules and governances of our workplace. Thus the Sun, the creator of the day, controls our career.

SUMMARY

The Sun is the source of light and therefore is the soul – which sheds “light” on things, granting us awareness of ourself and our world. This self-awareness is the core of our identity, our “ego.”

Being the source of warmth the Sun gives health. Health primarily relies on a strong spirit/soul, but is also physically centered in the heart. Strong bones are also important.

The Sun’s massive gravity puts him in the center and keeps everything else “in line,” revolving around him. Thus the Sun is the ultimate authority figure and controls all governments, bosses, leaders, and fathers.

The Sun creates the daytime – in which we work and play our visible role in society. The Sun therefore controls our career.

The Sun is the center of the entire solar system, the source of all our light and heat.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

© 2010 Vic DiCara, All Rights Reserved

The Sun for the Rising Signs

For Aries the Sun holds powerful creative urges.

For Taurus, he holds challenges for depth of self-identity and inner happiness.

For Gemini, he extends a challenge of willpower

For Cancer, he makes the family the center of identity

For Leo he is the self.

For Virgo he extends a challenge for humility and selflessness

For Libra he holds challenges not losing oneself in the social environment

For Scorpio he holds challenges with bosses and public authorities

For Sagittarius he roots the identity in morality

For Capricorn he challenges a positive self-image, and reveals the shadows

For Aquarius he challenges a healthy inter-dependant lovelife

For Pisces he holds power to examine and conquer the self

The logic? The Sun is always connected to identity, and is the source of power and focus in life. The Sun owns Leo. For each rising sign, Leo constitutes a different house. For Aries, Leo is the 5th house, for Taurus the 4th, Gemini the 3rd, etc. I have crafted the above descriptions by blending the inherent nature of the sun with the house he owns for the given rising sign.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com