What you can learn from just words

What do these words have in common?

• Soulful
• Lunatic
• Mercantile
• Venereal
• Martial
• Jovial
• Stern

They are adjectives formed from the proper Latin-based names of the seven main astrological planets: Sol, Luna, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn!

The Sun’s proper name is Sol. It represents the Soul, the singular center of all things, the core of our identity or “ego.” So the it is soulful. The word “sole” could also apply because the Sun / soul is of singlular importance and centrality.

The Moon’s proper name is Luna. And from this we get the words lunacy, lunatic, looney and all that. The Moon represents the subjective mind, the repository of all our emotions and opinions… the stuff that makes us crazy.

The Moon also has many interesting adjectives from it’s title, “Moon.” My favorite is mood. The mind controls our moods and moodiness.

Mercury is the planet of intellect. Intellect is the mother of communication, and communication enables exchange. Therefore we have the word mercantile indicating trade, exchange, barter, etc.

Venus is the planet of senses. When you hear the word venereal you immediately think of VD (unless you are from the new generation where they renamed the stuff STD for some weird reason, maybe Venus protested?). VD, venereal disease, is a “disease of the sense organs.” Especially the reproductive ones. And the implication is that it results from overuse of sensuality.

Martial is among the more familiar of this group of adjectives, sadly. Mars is the planet of energy, which means ambition, which leads to competition, which becomes war. So anything competitive or warlike we call martial.

Jupiter’s older name is Jove, source of the word jovial. Jupiter makes things positive and happy… but why? Well Jupiter is actually the planet of wisdom. Wisdom leads to morality (doing what is best for everyone). Morality creates lasting happiness and joviality more fully than anything else.

Saturn gives us “st” adjectives – all with meaning matching the hard, cold sound of those letters: stoic and stern especially come to mind. Saturn is the planet of reality, which buldozes through our masquerades with hard and fast limitations, and restrictions that we fools tend to perceive as “misery.” Saturn is stern and when you don’t run away from Saturn you become more stoic.

The Sanskrit name for Saturn, shuni also seems to have had an effect on the English word “shun.” We all try to shun Saturn, and Saturn represents the shunned. And if we become very serious and stoic like Saturn, the shallow people of the world may start to shun us a bit.

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Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

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Looney! =)

 

Venus and Semen???

Vedic Astrology boldly equates Venus with semen and the reproductive fluids of both genders. In a recent class with a student I explained why. I will share that explanation in that post. As a background, please understand that the main topic of Venus is senses. Thus she creates beautiful sense objects, and is responsible for arts, beauty, pleasure, and positive means of sharing such resources: peace, love, cooperation, marriage, etc. Now to explain how this pertains to semen…

 

Image via Wikipedia

One thing is to be familiar with the vedic / yogic concept of what reproductive fluid is, and how it relates to tejas and ojas, which are the elements of the body that invigorate it and allow the sense perception to be powerful, bright, and pure. Venus creates the senses and she creates the power within the senses, therefore she creates reproductive fluids – which according to the yogic/vedic concept are the primal source of that power.

Another angle on the topic is that the term “senses” is synonymous with “body” because the physical body is merely an apparatus of senses. Saying that Venus creates senses is therefore synonymous with saying that Venus creates the body. Venus creates the body, therefore Venus is reproductive fluids – literally the substances which combine to create a new body.

Venus is connected with the sexual act – especially insofar as it is part of the art of enjoying life. In this way there is a slight connection to reproductive fluids as well. Mainly however, the connection is because such fluids create bodies, which is Venus’ domain. Secondarily because such fluids transform into subtle physical substances which invigorate the senses, Venus’ domain. Of less direct importance is any mythic story associated with Venus (for example, the God of Venus, Shukra, being swallowed by Shiva and emerging from his body in his seminal fluids and thus becoming lustrous), or any connection with sexuality as one of the primary ancient artforms, Venus’ domain.

Hopefully this clarifies how reproductive fluids are one permutation of the topics in the astrological care of Venus.

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Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

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Venus in the 12 Signs

 

Image by junibears via Flickr

Venus is the planet of our senses. She therefore largely determines our level of good behavior and our wealth. “Good behavior” means how well we go about enjoying our sensual lives. “Wealth” refers to the quality of sensual objects we have at our disposal.

 

The resources available in the sign that Venus occupies determine how Venus can manifest our good behavior and wealth. You can break down her relation to the sign owners like this:

Difficult	Neutral	Positive
Mars Moon	Sun Saturn	Mercury Jupiter

 

Venus does not find it easy to create productive outcomes when she is in a sign that belongs to Mars. The main reason is that Mars’ resources are too passionate and independently ambitious. Venus in such an atmosphere becomes prone to selfishness and greed.

The Moon’s Cancer is a bit easier for Venus to work with, but still the Moon’s resources involve desire and emotion. Venus in such an environment is more susceptible to becoming overly passionate and desirous.

The resources of the Sun and Saturn are fairly neutral for Venus, meaning that they present as many challenges as opportunities.

Although Saturn is in the same camp as Venus, there are some unusual outcomes that become likely when Venus must operate through Saturn’s resources. She becomes prone towards making us enjoy unusual or unaccepted things. On the other hand Venus in Saturn’s signs is able to generate very enduring desirable results, too.

The Sun’s resources are slightly positive for Venus, although it again seems to go against the rule of “camps.” Venus here is able to produce power and success through beauty and females.

Venus can make good use of Mercury’s signs, but of these Virgo debilitates Venus. Therefore Venus’ good results in Virgo take a humble turn, and she becomes prone to forego personal happiness for the sake of serving the happiness of others. Gemini, on the other hand, is a place Venus can easily thrive in an artistic, enjoyable way.

Venus is surprisingly happy and productive in Jupiter’s signs. It’s a surprise because they are members of opposite “camps,” but the synergy is quite practical. Jupiter’s resources provide excellent moral guidance to Venus, who therefore becomes more capable of producing good character and true happiness. Pisces, in particular exalts Venus.

Of course, like every planet, Venus operates quite well in her own signs.

To look at this topic from an elemental point of view, Venus seems very neutral to all the elements but does better in the more moderate elements: air and, especially, earth.

Venus in fire signs raises a danger of our sensuality becoming too “hot” but this only really becomes a strong issue in Aries, where Mars rules. It is less of an issue in the Sun’s Leo. In Sagittarius it is entirely overcome by the moral guidance of Jupiter.

Venus in water signs presents a danger of becoming too sensually desirous, but again this is entirely overcome in Pisces due to the influence of Jupiter there. It is somewhat of a concern in Cancer and a definite issue in Mars’ Scorpio.

Air signs give Venus the ability to be smart and intellectual about pleasures, though this outcome is less easy to obtain in full from Saturn’s Aquarius. It is particularly ample, on the other hand, in Mercury’s Gemini.

Earth signs allow Venus to be grounded yet powerful about how we can enjoy life. In Saturn’s Capricorn this can more easily wind up in a negative permutation. In Mercury’s Virgo this grounding causes humility and a servile attitude about enjoyment. The positive ramifications of Venus in an earth sign are most abundant in Venus’ own Taurus.

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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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