Question about Astrology Predictions and Dashas

Question: Is there a 3-month period before the start of dasa/subdasa which can be considered as starting or ending of the respective dasa..something called “Kari ” period where the influences would have already started.

 

Image via Wikipedia

I am of two minds on this. One mind says that the world is analog, not digital. Things blur into each other, they don’t snap suddenly. Day becomes night after blurring through sunset and twilight. So one dasha becomes the next after blurring through a transition. Thus some influence of the upcoming dasha blur into the final portion of the current one, and some influence of the current dasha bleeds into the initial portion of the next.

By my other opinion on this is that much of what we think we observe as the “sandhi” or “kari” or “transitional period” between dashas may actually be the result of inaccurate calculation of the dashas.

I personally found that I was seeing tons of this blurry sandhi effect when I first began reading horoscopes. Later on I decided that the correct year length for calculating dasha terms was not the solar year (364.24 days) but was instead the stellar year “nakshatra year” (359.017 days). Suddenly about 80% of this blurry “transitional” effect suddenly disappeared and things looked much more crisp and well aligned to their expected dates.

Thirdly, I think we expect too much from astrology these days. We have digital watches and GPS and we schedule our days down to the minutes. It is a very unnatural way of life propped up by the huge agitation of rajo-guna created by post-industrial culture. This is a small blink in human history. In the vast majority of human history, we don’t live this way. We are less exact with timing. If something happens relatively close to the pinpoint-software date it is supposed to happen, that is more than good enough for me, and I think it should be for people who want to experience life like human beings, not computers with atomic clocks. =)

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

 

Do Your New Discoveries Make My Old Readings Wrong???

Since I published my article on the actual length of the “year” for calculating dasha cycles and eras – many people have become stumped. First of all they are stumped over the article itself. Secondly, they are stumped about what it means to the readings I did for them before I realized the correct length of the dasha year, are these readings now “wrong” or what?

Now I will try to clarify both topics.

What Was That Article All About?

Timing Things in Astrology

“Dashas” are eras of your life. Astrology correlates these eras, and the cycles and subcycles within those eras, to specific planets in your horoscope. The way the classics define the lengths of the various planetary eras and cycles is always in years. The Moon’s cycle, for example, lasts “10 years.” Rahu’s cycle lasts “18 years.” Jupiter’s lasts “16 years.”

So, the question, “Well what exactly is a year?” Is extremely important.

Defining “Days” and “Years”

Image via Wikipedia

The authoritative text on the measurement of time, for Sanskrit based Astrology at least, is the Surya-Siddhanta. It defines four different types of calendars based on four different definitions of a day. For example, we could define a day as a complete rotation of the earth on her axis. This is actually the most fundamental and accurate way to define a day. There are two ways to measure the rotation of the earth. One is to measure from one sunrise to the next, and the other is to measure the amount of time it takes for the stars themselves to make a complete revolution through the sky. Surya Siddhanta uses the former for informal folk calendars; the later (called properly the “nakshatra day”) for the purpose of accurately measuring the passage of time. This is Surya-Siddhanta’s primary method for measuring normal time.

Image via Wikipedia

There are two other ways to define a day, one is to define it based on it being a portion of a month. The other is to define it based on it being a portion of a year. If we divide a month into thirty equal portions and call those portions “days” we have tithis – and these “days” are used for the lunar calendar which keeps track of vows, religious events, and the right timings for beginning various things. If we divide a year into equal portions we get about 365 and a quarter “days” in a year. This is our modern calendar year, based on 1º of the Sun’s movement through the zodiac / Earths revolution around the Sun.

This seems to confuse readers to no end. Maybe the fact that it is not confusing to me makes me ill suited to explain it clearly. I will make one more try:

The confusion arises only when we translate time to our modern calendar. The number of seconds it takes the earth to spin on its axis once is a little bit longer than the number of seconds it takes the earth to move 1º around the sun. But we call of these phenomena “days.” Though they both have the same name, “a day” they do not represent the same exact amount of time. So, “a year” will have slightly fewer days if we go with the definition of day that is slightly longer (one spin on its axis). This is why a “nakshatra year” has fewer of what we could today call a “day” – it has 359.017 of our “days” instead of the 365.242 that we are currently accustomed to.

What it Means to Astrology

If I tell you, “Jupiter’s era of your life will last 16 years.” Isn’t it a little bit important what “year” I am talking about? One type of year is about 6 days shorter than the other. So in a 16 year period we are talking about a difference of 96 days, depending on which year I am referring to. Get it?

Image by catface3 via Flickr

Say you are 100 years old. Just say. A hundred of what years? If you are 100 calendar years old that is one thing, but if you are 100 nakshatra years old, that is 600 days less! You would be “98 years old” by our modern calendar! So It does make quite a difference to be clear on what definition of “year” we are supposed to use when we calculate astrological eras.

The Sunrise-to-Sunrise year is for folk calendars, not for precise measurements. The lunar year is for religious functions. The solar year (modern calendar) is for agriculture, because it defines the seasons. The remaining option is the nakshatra year – which is meant for the precise calculation of time, and for the “unfolding of events one after another.” Clearly this is the year meant to be used for calculating astrological timing cycles, especially those based on the nakshatra themselves – such as the most popular system (vimshottari nakshatra dasha).

So, Are My Previous Readings Now Wrong?

I made this discovery about the correct year length in July of 2010. Previous to that I was using the far more common, yet incorrect year length to calculate dashas. Does that mean that all my readings prior to July 2010 are garbage?

How Do We Do “Correct” Readings Anyway?

If my reading to you was solely a report on the dates at which your eras and cycles begin and end, then Yes, prior to July 2010 those would be unreliable (off by roughly 6 days per year of your life, later than they should be). But I never do those types of fact-printout readings.

Some astrologers are scholars, some are priests of rituals, some are intellectuals, others rarely are yogis and true-mystics. What these people have in their favor is the accuracy of their acumen within their given field. That is all. In this day and age (kali-yuga) there is pathetically little acumen available in these departments. Therefore basically these types of astrologers, with respect to what they have gained by their hard work, don’t have much else at all besides that hard work.

I myself am an astrologer who is neither a scholar, nor priest, intellcual, yogi nor mystic per se. I am a bhakta - a lover of Govinda. Bhaktas have the inconceivable krpa (mercy) of Govinda, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, even if their acumen has faults and lacking, Govinda makes up for those faults provides results that are generally better than even the pundits, purohits, yogis, tapasvis and jnanis in their own departments.

Please understand that if I have done a reading for you, what I tell you in that reading is what Govinda mercifully allows me to tell you. Far above and beyond and technical knowledge of spinning globes and such, it is the mercy of Govinda which empowers my ability to give astrological readings.

Throughout my practice, since 2007 I have been keenly aware that the dasha cycles I was using seemed to give effects slightly before they were supposed to. Many long-time clients will attest to my even explaining this directly to them. It was because of this that I was hungry to discover the accurate definition of a year, and upon that discovery this discrepancy I observed all along now fits neatly into place. Therefore even technically speaking in earlier readings I was compensating for the fact that the year seemed to be too long, even though I did not have factual confirmation yet of that.

Specific Predictions

What if I told you that some upcoming period would be good or bad? Now that the upcoming period is redefined, would the prediction change?

1) If I told you something was going to go good or go bad for you at a certain period of time, it is because that is what Govinda allowed me to tell you. Therefore it is what you were destined to hear at the time.

2) Although the new year length does change the durations and borders of the dashas, it does not change the fundamental nature of how the dashas are interpreted. Therefore the bulk of what I said will still be applicable, merely the date ranges may be skewed by a half dozen days per year.

Many of my predictions using the incorrect year system came true. How is this possible?

1) If Govinda wants me to give you a correct prediction he will give it regardless if I use a technique correctly or if I merely flip a coin. If Govinda wants me to give you an incorrect prediction my prediction will be incorrect regardless of how exact and smart I am.

2) There are many other factors in making predictions besides the start and end point of dasha eras and cycles. Therefore many accurate predictions could be made even using the incorrect year system.

What about predictions that did not come true? Could it be because I was using the wrong year length?

Yes, it could have been a factor. A more important factor however is whether or not you are karmically entitled to receive an accurate prediction at the time. No matter how good I might ever become at astrology, I could never give truth to a person who is not entitled by karma to receive it, nor could I give lies to a person entitled to truth, no matter how sloppy and ignorant and astrologer I might be.

With this new, accurate year length, will I make more accurate predictions?

My experience of the astrology is that it is a difficult and complex process of sifting through hundreds of variables, much like looking for a needle in a haystack. My experience of the 359 day year is that it makes the difficult process significantly less difficult.

- Vic DiCara

http://www.vicdicara.com

Transits, Cycles and Eras of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

In this article I analyze the transits, cycles and eras of the founder of the Hare Krishna movement, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. I previously overviewed his birth chart. The vimshottari dasha cycles and eras referred to herein are calculated with the nakshatra year, which is 359.017 modern days.

Prabhupada was born into the Mars era. This highlights the importance of the houses owned by Mars, in this case the fourth and eleventh. The fourth house is the house of bhakti and self-realization. The eleventh house is the house of social groups. Srila Prabhupada had enormous and enduring social impact by creating a social institution to facilitate the path of self-realization through Krishna Bhakti.

In Prabhupada’s case being that there are four planets in Mars’ trikona (Aries) in the navamsha, I have to note that Prabhupada’s birth in the Mars era highlights the destiny foretold by this configuration: that he would author copious amounts of very serious literature on the deepest aspects of spirituality and religion.

Scottish Church College

Prabhupada received a very good education, attending Scottish Church College in Kolkata where he was a member of both the English Society and the Sanskrit society. His education was good because it occurred entirely within his Rahu era. Notice that Rahu in Prabhupada’s chart is in the house of fundamental knowledge (the second house). Prabhupada’s education gave him the foundation on which he would later build his life’s mission: translating Sanskrit culture and philosophy for the English speaking world.

He was educated by foreigners, the British. Rahu represents foreigners.

Most importantly, note that Prabhupada’s Rahu has a 100% perfect aspect from Jupiter, the planet of wisdom. Therefore during Rahu’s era Prabhupada received a good education which would later allow him to use his second house, Jupiter-guided Rahu to speak spiritual mysteries for global enlightenment.

One sure sign that Prabhupada was educated under Rahu is that in the end he rebelled and refused to accept his diploma! As a devout follower of Gandhi at the time, he protested British control of India by refusing to accept their diploma.

w/ Mother, Father, Wife and Children

Prabhupada’s father wanted him to marry and arranged his wedding to Radharani Datta in 1918, exactly at the beginning of his Jupiter era.

During Jupiter’s era Prabhupada had children (Jupiter is the planet of children). His first child was born in 1921. This was the Saturn cycle of the Jupiter era, while both Saturn and Jupiter were conjoined in ninth house transit over Venus, the owner of the fifth house. Thus, Prabhupada’s first child was born when both the era planet and the cycle planet were activating a fortunate occurrence pertaining to children.

Prabhupada's Guru

It is well known that Saturn/Jupiter combinations pertain strongly to spiritual leadership. Thus, still during Saturn’s cycle of Jupiter’s era (1922), Prabhupada met his guru, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. This happened when Saturn and Jupiter were both in the house of the guru, the ninth house, transiting the lord of the ninth house. Furthermore, they were in the company of Rahu – the planet of significant, radical changes in direction. Finding Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur was undoubtedly a radically important milestone in Prabhupada’s life, radically changing his direction from Gandhi-like social concerns towards pure spirituality.

Prabhupada was born with Jupiter and Ketu exactly conjunct, in the house of occult spiritual perception. During the Keu cycle of Jupiter’s era Srila Prabhupada had the profoundly spiritual experience of visiting the Sri Vrindavana (Krishna’s home) for the very first time. He would later make this his own home.

On November 21, 1932 Prabhupada received formal initiation from Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, who modified his birth name (Abhay Charan) to Charanaravinda. This happened when Prabhupada was in the Saturn subcycle of Rahu’s cycle of Jupiter’s era. As I mentioned earlier, it is well known that Jupiter/Saturn combinations are relevant to gurus and spiritual leaders.

On this day Saturn, lord of the Subcycle and of Prabhupada’s first house was conjunct with Prabhupada’s ascendant – signaling very significant changes. The ascendant is the point of birth. An initiation is like a “new birth.” The transit of Saturn over the point of birth depicts this well. Rahu, lord of the cycle, was exactly trine to Prabhupada’s birth Saturn. Thus Prabhupada’s ascendant and his ascendant lord were both in a radical milestone of transformation during a period where the era and cycle planets were very spiritual and guru oriented.

Prabhupada had occasional but very deep, affectionate and confidential association with his guru for the remainder of his Jupiter era, but during the first cycle of his Saturn era, in 1936, his guru departed from the mortal world, just weeks after requesting Prabhupada to explain the message he was teaching to people who speak English. Prabhupada lost his guru when the nodes (Rahu and Ketu) were exactly trine to themselves in his chart, at the same time as Saturn was exactly trine to its own natal position, and Mars was exactly trine to its natal position. Thus all the naturally malefic planets were activated and caused a profoundly painful event.

Saturn is a very strong planet in Prabhupada’s chart. It is the lord of the house of self exalted in the house of career. During Saturn’s era Prabhupada would become known as a competent leader in his own right, no longer one among many followers.

Prabhupada was recognized for his devotional scholarship by the other disciples of his guru when they gave him the title “Bhaktivedanta” in 1939. This was in the Mercury cycle of his Saturn era. Mercury’s condition in Prabhupada’s ninth house is the cause of his approach to religiosity being one of “heartfelt intellectual scholarship” – a close translation of the term “Bhaktivedanta.”

Prabhupada began publishing his own magazine, Back to Godhead, in February of 1944. This was the Mercury subcycle of the Venus cycle of his Saturn era. Mercury of course is verbose and a writer by nature. Mercury combines with Venus in Prabhupada’s house of fortune and religion – making him a religiously creative person (Venus and Mercury combinations inspire artistic expression). In February this creativity was at a zenith point, because the two planets in Prabhupada’s house of creativity (fifth house) were being activated (Mars conjoined natal Mars, and Saturn conjoined the natal Moon). Also, Jupiter, the lord of the house of written communication was exalted at the time and was influencing very important houses for the publication of written & creative works (aspecting the third and eleventh houses).

During the remainder of his Saturn era Prabhupada attempted to start a movement of philosophically informed Krishna devotees, which he called “The League of Devotees.” Prabhupada’s Saturn is exalted in a quadrant house (shasha-yoga) which inspires one to form and lead groups.

In 1950 Prabhupada took up the first stage of renunciation, vanaprastha ashram – a precursor to the complete renunciation of the sanyassa ashram. Thus occurred in the final cycle of his Saturn era, the cycle of Rahu. We describe Prabhupada’s second house Rahu as a factor causing upheaval and dissatisfaction in family life on religious grounds (due to Jupiter’s extreme influence on Rahu). So during Rahu’s cycle of Saturn’s era Prabhupada commenced his renunciation of family life.

In 1953, exactly at the beginning of Mercury’s era, Prabhupada initiated his first disciple, Acarya dasa. Mercury is the exalted lord of the house of guru (ninth house). Thus the first thing Mercury did for Prabhupada was to officially make him a guru. At this time he also opened an actual center for the League of Devotees, in Jhansi.

Prabhupada's Room in Vrindavana

In September of 1956 Prabhupada moved to Sri Vrindavana – seeking to deeply intensify his understanding of and love for Krishna and then make use of nearby metropolitan New Delhi to share his realizations with the world by publishing his English magazine, Back to Godhead. This was exactly at the commencement of the Venus cycle of his Mercury era. A quick look at Prabhupada’s birth chart will remind you that these are the two planets forming extremely potent raja-yogas (power combinations) on the house of religion. During their era they brought Prabhupada to Vrindavana to fill him with the spiritual power that he would later draw from to create a successful worldwide movement of intelligent devotion to Krishna.

On September 17 of 1959 Prabhupada took up the fourth ashram, sanyassa: complete renunciation. It was the Sun’s cycle of Mercury’s era, on a day when Mercury was completely “combust” due to being entirely conjunct the blazing, fiery Sun. The Sun is the inner soul. When the Sun combusts a planet, that planet devotees its energy to the inner soul only, removing its energy from the normal material plane. Prabhupada symbolically devoted himself entirely to the life of his inner soul in the era of Mercury/Sun, when Mercury (lord of his house of religion) was entirely combust by the Sun – thus creating the destiny for the day Prabhupada would formally entirely dedicate himself to spiritual pursuit.

Photo taken after his sanyass initiation.

During his sanyassa initiation he obtained the name Bhaktivedanta Swami.

Sanyassa a type of death, the death of material life. Thus it is fitting that a very successful sanyassi, Prabhupada, accepted this lifestyle when his lord of fortune was swallowed by the lord of the house of death.

Prabhupada lived as a beggar, going from door to door to beg wheat, rice and beans as is customary for sanyassi. But Prabhupada also begged for paper and pens, on which he continuously wrote in English. He turned these writings into his first published book in the autumn of 1960, entitled “Easy Journey to Other Planets.” This was during the Moon cycle of his Mercury era, when Jupiter (lord of his house of writing) was exactly trine to Prahupada’s natal Jupiter.

Under those astrological settings he began an extremely significant literary undertaking: translating and commenting on the most revered of all Krishnaite scripture, the Bhagavata Purana. In two years, by 1962 he published the first section of this scripture in three hardbound volumes and began traveling to distribute them. These were completed in the Rahu cycle of Mercury’s era. Of course Mercury supports literature and written communication by nature. In Prabhupada’s chart, obviously, Mercury supports religious literature and communication because he is the lord of the ninth house exalted in the ninth house. Rahu’s cycle is more important and interesting here, at least to me. Rahu is the planet in Prabhupada’s chart which indicates that he was destined to speak revolutionary words of spiritual guidance that would change the world. It was when Mercury combined with Rahu that Prabhupada produced what could be his most important literary words to that effect.

The Boat Prabhupada Took

On August 13, 1965, Prabhupada set out on a steamship freighter to America. It was the Saturn subcycle of the Jupiter cycle of his Mercury era. The transits were all extremely powerfully aligned on that day.

Mercury (lord of the era) was exactly conjunct the two planets which destined Srila Prabhupada to become great spiritual leader (Jupiter and Ketu), and thus exactly aspects the planet who destines Prabhupada to speak words that will change the world (Rahu). The Moon was also exactly conjoined Rahu on that day.

Jupiter (lord of the cycle) was exactly trine to Prabhupada’s Rahu, and trine to Prabhupada’s Mars, which means that Mars was also trine to Prabhupada’s Rahu. This is what Western astrology identifies as a grand trine alignment. Actually, it is a rarer form of the grand trine, a kite alignment, because of the position of Mercury directly opposite from the apex point (Prabhupada’s Rahu and the transiting Moon). This is an enormous indication that Prabhupada was about to start a huge religious revolution in the world, largely focused on his spoken words (Rahu) and even moreso on the focus of the kite formation: his written words (Mercury).

Even the lord of the subcycle (Saturn) was in an important configuration at the time, being exactly trine to Prabhupada’s natal Saturn.

Prabhupada began having significant health issues a few days into the trip, as the Sun (planet of the heart and of health) transited into his eighth house. He had heart attacks onboard the steamship when the Sun directly transited his conjoined Jupiter and Ketu in that house.

On the day the Sun left his eighth house, Prabhupada’s ship landed at commonwealth pier in Boston.

At 26 2nd Ave

Within a year he managed to set up a storefront to use as a “temple” / “ashram” at 26 Second Avenue in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Many young people were attracted and in July of 1966 Prabhupada founded his International Society for Krishna Consciousness (“ISKCON”). This occurred during the Jupiter cycle of his Mercury period.

In my estimation, ISKCON went through two phases while Prabhupada remained alive on the planet. The first was a very intimate phase. The second was a very huge, opulent, expansive phase. This first phase correlates to the ending portion of Prabhupada’s Mercury era. The second phase correlates to the next era in Prabhupada’s life: Ketu.

Recall that Mercury’s era began with Prabhupada founding the League of Devotees and initiating his first disciple. It ended with him forming ISKCON and beginning to open small, intimate centers of devotion in America. The entire period has a very renunciative feeling to it, and a very “Vrindavana” mood. This renunciation is largely due to Prabhupada’s Mercury owning his sixth house (bringing the challenges and rigors of renunciation). The intimate Vrindavana mood is largely due to his Mercury being with the planet of loving emotions in the house of religion.

Prabhupada’s Ketu period began in December of 1969. Ketu is reclusive and withdrawn. During the Mercury era, Srila Prabhupada was amply available personally to anyone and everyone in his centers. During Ketu’s era Prabhupada became more and more inaccessible, working passionately on his books while his main followers carried on most of the practical business of ISKCON. The first major event to happen in Prabhupada’s Ketu era was the formation of a Governing Body Commission (“GBC”), transferring practical authority from himself to his followers. He continued forming branches and departments within ISKCON to facilitate its expansion and operation without his direct personal involvement.

Leader of a Worldwide Movement

It is the combination of Ketu with Jupiter which destines Prabhupada to become an extremely powerful guru, and that is exactly what happened during Ketu’s era. Prabhupada because the spiritual master of an enormous movement opening over 108 temples and at least a quarter of a million avowed followers.

Frankly, his main activity during his Ketu period occurred in private: sitting alone at his dictaphone writing book after book after book. He apparently was the world famous guru of an international religious corporation, but factually the main focus of his life during Ketu’s era was privately diving deeper and deeper into the hidden spiritual realities of Krishna consciousness, and expressing those things into his dictaphone to be shared with the English speaking world.

Prabhupada gave up his mortal body on November 14, 1977, as the first major event to occur after his Ketu cycle ended and Venus cycle began. Saturn, the lord of the physical body (first house) was on this day exactly conjoined to the cusp of the eighth house. The Moon was in the twelfth house. The Moon represents Sri Krishna. The twelfth house represents the afterlife. Thus the planets declared that Srila Prabhupada left the world on that day to return to Sri Krishna in the spiritual world.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

© 2010 Vic DiCara, All Rights Reserved

Spiritual Initiation

I was initiated into the “Gaudiya Vaishnava” school of the path of esoteric divine love (“Bhakti-yoga“) on Sri Nityananda Trayodashi in Vrindavana India – the thirteenth lunar day of the waxing half of the lunar month called Magha. The year was 1993.

Thus my initiation occurred during my Rahu era, so let’s take a moment to look at Rahu in my chart. She occupies Aquarius, the second house – pertaining to family, wealth, knowledge and support. Rahu here generically implies that one will have radical energy in this area, quite likely radical changes. Indeed, the nature of my Rahu era consisted of extremely radical changes in my levels of wealth, family relations, knowledge, and sources of support.

The Saturn cycle of my Rahu era was in effect during my initiation. You can notice that Saturn is the dispositor of Rahu in my birth chart. I hold it as a principle that major events are more likely to occur when cycles of dispositor and disposited coincide.

Saturn is debilitated in the fourth house of my chart, fundamentally causing me to be detached from material comforts of a domestic nature, and causing me to deeply need to understand my inner self. Clearly these factors play a major role in a person taking initiation on a path of self-realization, which involves heavy doses of renunciation.

Rahu was the subcycle planet at the time of initiation.

Jupiter was the sub-subcycle planet. Jupiter, of course, represents the guide which takes us away from inauspicious things and towards auspicious things. Thus Jupiter manifests all manner of councilors, philosophical paths, religions, priests, teachers, etc. The ultimate manifestation of Jupiter is the guru, from whom one receives initiation on a spiritual path, as I did at this time when Jupiter was active in connection with Saturn (a planet inspiring me to self-realization and material detachment) and Rahu (a planet inspiring me to be revolutionary and radically redefine my family-type associations).

Ketu was the sub-sub-subcycle planet at the time. Ketu is the most spiritual of all the planets, representing the internal pull into the original self.

In the transits at the time the Sun was combusting Saturn and Mercury. The Sun is the original ego, the soul. Combustion occurs when a planet is very close to the Sun and becomes completely obscured by the Sun’s brilliance. The effect is that the energy of the planet becomes directed inward towards spiritual goals. The Sun’s combustion of the cycle lord indicated that the self-realization and domestic detachment Saturn holds in the birth chart would undoubtedly have a spiritual outlet, as is the case in taking spiritual initiation.

This combustion occurred in my first house, identifying it as very prominent.

Jupiter was in my ninth house, the house of the guru and of religion, at the time I received “religious” initiation from my guru.

Rahu was in my eleventh house, allowing me to make a significant gain by this initiation (the eleventh is the house of gains) and also signifying that I would do something radical concerning identification with a social group (the eleventh is the house of social groups). When I became initiated I more or less accepted the concomitant identification with a specific socio-religious group called ISKCON.

Since Rahu was in my eleventh house, Ketu was in my fifth – the house of sadhana, which is a practice that acts as a spiritual education, bringing about enlightenment. Thus the planet of true mysticism who was active as a cycle lord was in a position indicating that by this initiation I would gain a truly mystical sadhana.

An important supporting transit on this day is that Mercury was exactly on the cusp of my Second house. This means that Mercury was exactly aspecting my natal eighth house Mercury, a planet in my chart which grants me some significant intellect to grasp mysterious, spiritual, and occult things.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

© 2010 Vic DiCara, All Rights Reserved