Planets that Break Your Face

This is my blood.

Two days ago, at about 3:30 in the afternoon – I broke my face. Well, not really, but that’s a figure of speech I grew up using and which is quite appropriate to what actually happened. See, my 5th grade son wanted me to play this complex version of “tag” with him and about 20 other 5th and 6th graders. I could only catch 1 or 2 of ‘em. They were just too fast for me. So I decided to get on my bike and chase ‘em down.

You see, I’m really good on a bike. I used to be a semi-pro freestyle trickster. But these Japanese bikes are different, they are bigger and, this is the really import part, they get the brakes backwards. Yeah – they put the front brake on the right-hand side. So, I am fully absorbed in irresponsible kid-mode, chasing these 10-11 year olds at super-high speed around turns when, after reaching out to tag one, I suddenly need to stop right away before hitting a wall.

So, I do what instinct tells me – get ready to fishtail the back tire out to the right, and turn left, while “skidding out”. So, of course, I slam on the brakes to start the skid… the right-hand brake.

Oppps…

In about a half a second my face hit the road. I had sunglasses on, to look like this character the kids wanted me to look like. The right side smashed against the street just before my skull. My son was kneeling at my side in about 3 seconds (divine arrangement), “Are you OK dad?”

“I don’t know, am I OK?” I asked and showed him the right side of my face.

“No. You’re not OK at all. It’s really bad. There is blood everywhere.”

As it turns out, it wasn’t really that bad. Just two gashes, no damage to my eye or skull. Tons of blood. More blood than I ever spilled out of a wound before. But it turned out to be fun, and a good way to show my son how dangerous a bike can be, and stuff like that. But anyway, now for the astrology. Let’s see if we can figure out what planets “caused” me to break my face.

Basic Data

I’m:

Vic DiCara

July 27, 1970 at 7:38 pm

Bay Shore, New York, USA

I’m doing this chart as I do with all charts: whole-sign houses, tropical signs, sidereal (lahiri) nakṣatra, degree-specific Indian aspects, and basic viṁśottarī daśā using nakṣatra year-length (359.017 days)

Bear In Mind

Before you jump off explaining how my birth chart is prone to face-breaking, please bear in mind that I don’t usually break my face. In fact in my whole life I never broke a bone – despite being a BMXer, skateboarder, and spending my youth and twenties in really dangerous situations.

Also bear in mind a few other things about this same day.

• It was my janma-tithi (the same lunar phase as the day I was born) – well not exactly it was the same phase, but in the opposite fortnight. I was born on kṛṣṇa-ekādaśī and this face-breaking event happened on gaura-ekādaśī.
• I met my son’s new 5th grade teacher earlier that day for the first time. It was pleasant and she gave a very positive review for him
• A court case was held that I am connected with as the plaintiff.
• Later in the day I received a large parcel from Vṛṇdāvana, India with a super-excellent new mṛdāṅga drum to replace my old one that had broken.

Initial Theories

Where does one look for a physical injury? Well certainly it would be ludicrous to give an explanation that doesn’t involve the first house and lord – since that is the house of physical things like the body. My first house is Capricorn (Asc at 25 degrees), so my first lord is Saturn, who at my birth was at 21 degrees of Taurus.

Besides this there is more standard, fundamental theory: accidents and pain comes from natural malefics and painful, detrimental house lords. Those lords for me might be Mercury (6th lord), Sun (8th lord), and Jupiter (12th lord).

Daśā

My usual astro software malfunctioned and still isn’t fixed, but it appears from my calculations that my face-breaking ceremony happened in the Jupiter / Venus / Rahu / Mercury Daśā. All the natural benefics are involved here, but we can also take note that Jupiter is the 12th lord and Mercury the 6th. Meanwhile Venus is my 5th lord – and the accident did involve children (a 5th house topic).

Transits

Four planets have congregated in Taurus – which is my 5th house (children) and the home of my 1st lord (Body / Physical). Two of them are Malefics: Mars and the Sun. The sun also happens to be my 8th lord. The two of them, Mars and Sun, are nearly 180 degrees away from my natal Jupiter, and thus cast a strong aspect upon it. Jupiter is my daśā lord, and the 12th lord (detraction from physical) and the 3rd lord too (sports, like riding a bike). On that note, Mars is the lord of the 11th house (games, like playing tag).

So the daśā lord has something inherently disposing it towards allowing events that involve detraction from/to the physical being, and can also have to do with sports – and it was at the time influenced both by the 8th lord (unforeseen events) who is also a malefic, and Mars (injury) who is also the 11th lord (games). So it does facilitate the event of getting a sudden physical injury while playing a game involving athletics.

Further, Saturn was in transit of my natal Sun/Mars combo in my eighth house. Additionally, the transiting Sun/Mars previously mentioned are also under the aspect of transiting Saturn.

We’ve seen how the daśā planet, Jupiter was involved (being aspected by Sun/Mars, who themselves are aspected by Saturn). Now, the inner-daśā planet, Venus, is also involved because it is the closest transiting planet to the Sun/Mars transit pair – and also conjoins transiting Ketu. This means transiting Venus was with two malefics (Sun/Mars) and Ketu (a planet who can really amplify and exacerbate malefics in it’s vicinity).  Furthermore transiting Venus and Ketu are not outside the significant influence of transiting Saturn’s 180 degree aspect.

The inner-inner daśā planet, Rahu is also involved, transit-Rahu being conjoined transit Saturn while transit Ketu is conjoined Sun/Mars/Venus.

My first lord and house are also involved. Transiting Saturn has a strong 60 degree aspect to my ascendant, while it’s 270 degree aspect falls upon my Sun/Mars combo in the 8th house, and it’s 180 degree aspect falls upon my natal 1st lord. As mentioned before, the congregation of Sun/Mars/Venus/Ketu also occupies the same sign as my natal 1st lord.

It’s also curious that the ascendant at the time was almost exactly opposite my natal ascendant.

Conclusion

No doubt we can see that there is considerable transiting malefic influence on my natal 1st lord and all the daśā planets, not excluding my 8th house factors and 1st house itself. Therefore we can accept that a physical injury happened at this point. We also see that much of the action in the transit chart focuses on the 5th and 11th houses, so we can accept that an event can arise involving playing games with children. So the event – breaking my face while playing with kids – is quite acceptable from the astrological point of view.

In final conclusion, this is the sort of thing that gives confidence that astrology is a substantial science; yet at the same time demonstrates that the complexity of the science is quite off-putting and daunting. While it is not impossible to reverse engineer the astrological significance after the event occurs, it still seems nearly impossible to look through the nearly infinite possibilities of transits for a given period of time, find this one as being particularly significant, and then correctly predict that an injury will occur while playing with children. It’s not impossible, but it’s similar to finding a needle or two thrown into a haystack.

And that, my friends, is just a fact of how astrology works, and the complexity of life, destiny and karma.

Riding home from soccer practice the next night with my son, he said to me, “Dad, I think Krishna wanted you to pull the wrong break. I mean, when you get a boo-boo like that it’s supposed to hurt a lot. But it didn’t hurt you at all. So Krishna must be doing something. And I think he wanted me to see you fall so I can see how bad I could get hurt if I don’t wear a helmet.”

I love that boy.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

Alignments that make Spiritualists

Here is a quick thought.

There is something called parivrajak-yoga which is an astrological alignment defined as having four or more planets in a single sign. The effect of the yoga is classically defined as “renunciation” and sanyassa. The actual effect is that we lose interest in enjoying the world and prefer to / need to look for deeper relevance and meaning in life. Therefore we wind up giving away or abandoning what most people would want in search for that deeper thing that we truly want.

Why is it that 4 planets in a sign has this effect?

Some people think it’s because it makes you unstable and crazy, to have that many parts of life  (planets) put in the same environment (sign).

Here is what I think:

There are sankhya-yogas and really this parivrajak-yoga is a derivation of those. Sankhya means “count.” The sankhya yogas count how many signs the planet occupy. Now you can see why I say parivrajak-yoga is a derivation of sankhya yogas: because it counts how many planets are in a sign.

There are only seven planets you can deal with (Rahu and Ketu don’t factor in to sankhya-yogas, and classical astrology doesn’t count the multitude of new planets and quasi-planets). So if you have four planets in one sign it means that at most you can only have your planets in a total of four signs (if the other three planets are each in separate signs). So if you have a yoga for renunciation (parivrajak-yoga) you cannot have a sankhya yoga higher than four houses. The higher count yogas produce people who enjoy life and are materially productive. The lower count yogas produce people who struggle to attain something more significant.

The fifth yoga is particularly important to this discussion. When the planets occupy five signs it is called harsha - the effect of which is that we see the world as something fit to enjoy. We are more delighted with life, and see everything as something enjoyable (this is putting it in a bright perspective, it also makes hedonists). If you have four planets in one sign you cannot have this harsha. That means you cannot get excited about exploiting people and objects for your personal enjoyment and pleasure.

If you have four planets in one house you must have either a four, three, two or one count yoga. And these are all yogas which make us dissatisfied with the external world and seek something better.

I think this is the logic behind parivrajak-yoga.

Do Rahu & Ketu Own Any Signs?

Question: What about Rahu and Ketu – being imaginary points they should not own any houses but there has been different school of thoughts regarding this. What is your view?

 

Image via Wikipedia

“Everyone is a doctor and astrologer.” Therefore there are millions of opinions about health and astrology. We don’t concern ourselves with millions of opinions, because the masses are shudra and their opinions are not clear or sharp or accurate. We care for what carefully makes sense and is best supported by the historically recognized experts.

Rahu and Ketu do not own any signs, and that’s that. They are not even planets, they are points derived from the relative positions of two other planets: sun and moon. They did not even exist when the zodiac was formed. They only came to exist later, after the universe was formed, during the churning of the milk ocean. Furthermore they are not devas.

Since they are not real planets they do not have the same privelages of owning property in the heavens as the real planets do.

Since they did not exist as heavenly bodies when the zodiac was formed, all of the zodiac property was divided up and taken charge of by the planets which did exist at the time. By the time Rahu and Ketu came to exist there was no free zodiac space left to take ownership of.

Since they are not devas, they will not be given any property in the heavens by the deva kings, the Sun and Moon. They are enemies of the devas and thus the Sun and Moon do not lend or lease or put in their charge any of their domain in the heavens.

The great respected experts of Indian astrology through history don’t ever treat Rahu and Ketu like planets. They are two extra points with very significant meaning in a birth chart, and an important role to play in the unfolding of the human condition and the timing of events – but they are not planets. Some texts, questionable as interpolations perhaps, allude to Rahu being given shelter in Aquarius and and Ketu in Aries. However in my opinion all of the talk of Rahu and Ketu having dignity and owning signs is a whole lot of “barking up the wrong tree.”

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Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

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9 Planets – 9 States of Personal Evolution

What are the Planets, and Why?

Planets are the active principles of astrology. Knowledge of what the planets represent is fundamental clearly understanding every other component of astrology – so learn carefully and well!

If you look up at the sky, it’s clear to see that the planets are “the active principles.” Go ahead and look up at night. You will see hundreds or thousands of points of light. Look night after night, very carefully, and you will notice that all of the points always form the same patterns relative to each other – almost all of them! There are a handful that move around with their own free will. They are the active stars, the “planets.”

As astronomy goes through various changes in modern times it might discover or declare various objects to be or not to be “planets.” That does not concern authentic astrology. Astrology is about the observable heavens. It is a science of foretelling the destiny of human beings, based on observing the sky with the natural human eye.

Thus astrological “planets” are the lights we see in the sky which are active – they move around. There are seven that are obvious, starting with the Sun and Moon. Next there is the dim but very swift light, Mercury; the bright and beautiful diamond-like light, Venus; the reddish and very unpredictable light, Mars; the slow but bright and pleasing light, Jupiter; and the dim, cold, crawling light, Saturn.

In addition to these main planets there are many “sub-planets” that are like satellites revolving around these seven. Most of these are beyond the scope of what we need to learn to get a working grasp of astrology, but there are two from this group that are elevated to a very high status, almost the same as the seven major planets, because unlike the others, they have a very dramatic and powerful visible effect of their own. These two are Rahu and Ketu – and their effect is to eclipse the Sun and Moon.

So altogether there are nine important planets crucial to the function of classical, authentic astrology: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu.

Before learning about each planet separately, I want you to clearly understand how each functions as a part of a unified whole.

Mandala of Planets

Envision a circle with the Sun at the top, flowing in a counter-clockwise manner. Rahu is on the left side of the circle, Ketu is on the right, and they are the forces keeping the energy of the circuit flowing. Visualize three planets evenly spaced going down the left side of the circle, and the remaining three evenly spaced on the going up the right.

Starting from the Sun, Rahu takes us counter-clockwise to the Moon, then to Mercury, and finally to Venus. At that point Ketu takes us to the right side of the circuit and we come first to Mars, then Jupiter, and finally Saturn. This is the mandala (visual aid) to bear in your mind at all times as a symbol which will come to encapsulate everything you will learn about the planets.

All the planets revolve around the Sun. This is literally true in modern astronomy and in ancient astrology too, at least symbolically, because the Sun is the focal point of meaning for all the other planets.

The Sun represents the soul – the light within us that allows us to be alive, conscious and aware of existing. Every other planet is a stage of the soul’s transformation on its journey into and out of this temporary material world – the kingdom of destiny, fate, and karma.  The Moon, Mercury and Venus (“inner planets” in modern terms) are stages of our consciousness evolving outward and downward towards the phenomenal world. Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (“outer planets”) are stages of our consciousness evolving inward and upward towards its original pristine nature.

Seven Transforations of Sunlight

The Sun is light – consciousness. The first transformation of sunlight is the Moon, which is the light of the Sun reflecting into the night. The Moon is the mind – which reflects spiritual consciousness onto material things and thereby acquires desires and emotions.

Next, the Moon transforms into Mercury – intelligence – because the mind needs to be able to interact with the world that it desires and has feelings for. Mercury thus evolves from the sunlight and becomes our intellect, the faculty by which we can communicate and exchange.

Mercury then evolves into Venus – the senses – because the capacity to interact with this world requires actual tools of perception and action: “senses.” This marks the apogee of outward evolution from the soul’s brilliant light of consciousness towards the dark night of temporary objects.

Thereafter begins the return journey. First Mars evolves as our first attempt to deal with the inevitable problems that arise from attempting to enjoy the limited resources of temporary objects. Mars is the sunlight evolving the energy and strength to rise above in such a competitive environment.

Next, Mars transforms into Jupiter – moral guidance – because ambition and strength becomes terrible without it.  Jupiter then evolves into Saturn – reality’s limitations – because positive moral encouragement eventually must face the fact that the material world is not inherently a positive residence for the soul.

Paradoxically, by enforcing unbendable limitations and restrictions like misery, time and death, Saturn delivers the sunlight back to its original, blissful condition – completing the circuit of evolution.

Rahu and Ketu are the forces of transformation itself. Rahu facilitates the outward transformations orchestrated by the inner planets. Ketu empowers the outer planets to make their transformations to the soul.

The Nine-Planet Sutra

We must now begin to dive into the vast, spreading branches of meaning contained within each planet. But first I want to give you a verbal tool to go along with the visual diagram, as an aid to helping you remember and get deep context on the meanings of each planet.

A sūtra is a word or a few short words into which great volumes of meaning have been compressed. I will give you a sutra that will act like a filing cabinet in which to store and easily retrieve all the detailed knowledge you are about to learn about the planets.

The Sun: the soul.

The Moon: the mind.

Mercury is intellect.

Venus: the senses.

Mars is energy.

Jupiter: guidance.

Saturn: reality.

Rahu & Ketu are transformation, external and internal.

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- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

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