New Episode!!! Layers of Identity in Astrology

Episode 3
“Layers of Identity in Astrology”

Part 1

Vic DiCara clearly explains the psychology of identity – organizing our identity layers into 3 major categories: physical, emotional and ideological, and correlating those categories to 3 astrological focal points: the Ascendant, Moon, and Sun. He then illustrates how to interpret the effects of these three points on an individual’s identity – using the chart of the Hindu Godhead, Sri Krishna as a practical illustration.

This episode will be fascinating to those interested either in Astrology or in getting an “insider’s view” of the famous and controversial Krishna. Those interested in both topics will find themselves completely engrossed and delighted!

Part 2

Script

LAYERS OF PAPER IN FRONT OF LIGHT, MOVING OFF ONE BY ONE

VOICEOVER

Identity… What is “Identity?”

We build an idea of ourself as the light of our conscious being filters through all the layers of concepts we hold about who we are.

SEATED

VIC

Boy or girl? Young or old? Rich or poor? Black or white? Catholic or Protestant or Muslim or Hindu?

These are all layers of sediment that we have accumulated around the core of who we really are. What happens when we look inwards and ask “who am I” – consciously or not – what we wind up seeing all these layers.

There are infinite paper thin layers surrounding the true core of who we are, and forming our conventional “identity.” But we can group all of them into three distinct categories.

FLASH PHOTOS PERTAINING TO THE THINGS MENTIONED IN THE DIALOG, THEN RESOLVE TO A GRAPHIC OF THE “ASC”

VOICEOVER

First of all, we have the physical category – Race, gender, social class, income bracket, fashion choices, these primarily fall into the PHYSICAL category of identity filters.

The Ascendant is the astrological factor holding jurisdiction over this physical category of identity.

PICKING OUT DVDS OF OBLIVION, LORD OF THE RINGS, DOCTOR WHO, UNIQUA.

VIC

Then there are deeper layers… created by our preferences: – our favorite games, movies, tv shows, & music… our subjective opinions on things like these form the basis for our emotional experience of life.

LONG TRANSITION RESOLVES TO GLYPH GRAPHIC OF MOON.

VOICEOVER

All the layers in the emotional category of identity are under the astrological jurisdiction of the Moon.

MONTAGE OF PRABHUPADA, EINSTEIN, MARTIN LUTHER… RESOLVE TO GLYPH GRAPHIC OF THE SUN

VOICEOVER

Still deeper down, very close to our core awareness itself, are the very subtle layers of ideological conviction. Our moral outlook, religious viewpoints, political stances… these are examples of the layers composing the ideological category of identity – which is primarily the jurisdiction of the Sun.

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VIC

One of the most common and important functions of modern astrology is to improve our awareness and understanding of who we really are, our truer identity. By interpreting the Ascendant, Moon and Sun we can understand the conditions of the physical, emotional and ideological layers of who we consider ourselves to be.

VIC

Let’s see this in action, using the fascinating horoscope of Sri Krishna, which I introduced you to in the previous episode of this show.

FILM THE CHART, I WILL POINT TO VARIOUS THINGS IN IT AS I GO ALONG

VIC – OFFSCREEN

What immediately grabs your attention in Krishna’s chart is that he was born just as the Moon was rising. Therefore his Moon and Ascendant are under nearly identical astrological conditions.

Persons born with the Moon rising (not just in the first house, but very close to the ascendant) are going to find that the emotional layers of their being are unified and melded with their physical identity. Their emotions will have a huge impact on their health, looks, etc. And similarly their physical surroundings will have a deep emotional impact on them.

Krishna was born with an exalted Taurus Moon rising. This is a very significant reason why the results of this physio-emotional oneness were overwhelmingly positive for him.

AT DESK

VIC

Actually, this is beginning to point to a crucial point of Vedic philosophy: advaiy jnana tattva – the non-duality of godhead. Vedic philosophy states that all the layers of identity become perfectly unified and fused in the enlightened state. Krishna, who Vedic tradition holds to be an incarnation of godhead, does not inhabit a physical body, but Godhead manifests a form which physical senses can perceive, but which is non-different from his inner being.

FILMING THE CHART ITSELF

VIC – OFFSCREEN

Thus, Krishna appeared exactly when the Moon was rising – to manifest a birth in which the physical layers of identity (the Ascendant) are in perfect unity with the emotional layers of his identity (the Moon).

SEATED

VIC

Let’s look at some of the things that will shape the nature of the unified physical and emotional layers of identify in this horoscope of Krishna’s – as an example to help you understand this process of interpretation.

FILM CHART

Planets in conjunction with the focal points of identity will have strong effects. The Moon conjoins Krishna’s ascendant. This tells you that he identified himself as a beautiful, charming, mystical, and creative fellow. In fact the exaltation of the Moon is a strong initial hint that Krishna’s opinions of himself were dead on the money.

Another planet in the first house of this chart is ketu.

AT DESK

VIC

Ketu is a wormhole taking the tangible realities of the empiric world and bridging them directly to the metaphysical realities of the occult world. In this horoscope we see Ketu conjoining both the Moon and Ascendant. This indicates a person whose physical and emotional self is inexplicably tied into the infra-subconscious metaphysical world.

The identical Moon and Ascendant in this chart hint loudly that we have a person with a highly unified body and mind, but Ketu takes it one step further and reveals that both the body and mind of this native are directly linked to occult reality. Krishna’s physical and mental self is a tangible expression of a spiritual, occult reality. Krishna’s mind and body are one, and both of them are manifestations of an occult reality. Thus in godhead there is no duality, even between body and soul.

CLOSEUP OF SANSKRIT DISSOLVING TO A PICTURE OF KRISHNA SPEAKING TO ARJUNA

VOICEOVER

Indeed, the Bhagavad Gita portrays Krishna himself explaining this in a very straightforward way: avajananti mam mudha, manushim tanum ashrita, param bhavam ajananto mama bhuta-maheshvaram.

“Fools who don’t really know me say that I have taken birth in a body. They don’t realize that my very nature is occult, transcendental, and in complete mastery of all the layers of material existence.”

SEATED

VIC

The conditions of the planet who owns the sign occupied by one of the focal points of identity will also tell you a lot. For example, in this chart the Ascendant and Moon occupy Taurus, which belongs to Venus – who was in the 6th House of the sky when the native was born.

We explored the implications of this placement in detail in the previous episode. So now let’s move on.

CHART

VIC

The Sun controls the deepest ideological layers of our identity. In this chart, the Sun occupies the The 4th House – the deepest part of the sky, governing the deeper, more private aspects of our life. It is, by its very nature, the Moon’s domain.

In Krishna’s horoscope the Moon’s domain is occupied by the Sun. This adds momentum to the theme of Krishna’s unified identity by indicating oneness between the Sun and Moon. It unifies the ideological layers of the native’s identity with his emotional layers… which have already been unified with the physical layers, and which are all tied to transcendence by way of Ketu.

SEATED

VIC

The Sun is in his own sign, Leo in this 4th House. Leo’s influence hints that Krishna’s ideological moralities are highly autocratic. That Leo is the 4th House in this chart is a significant reason that Krishna’s self-determined morality was so deep a feature in him, deeply embedded within many of the fascinating and unconventional events of his life.

SEATED

VIC

If we are to summarize our evaluation of the three layers of identity in this example chart, we would say that the three of them are unified around the Moon. So, let’s take another look at that Moon.

YUNIKA’S FOOTAGE OF ESCONDIDO MOON

VOICEOVER

The Moon is the ruler of the mysterious night, the subjective realm of intangible shapes and elusive feelings. This specific Moon in this chart is exalted and strong not just in the obvious zodiac sign of Taurus, but also in 4 out of 10 of the harmonic divisions of his exact position. The extreme prominence of this Moon is indicative of the opinion held by many that Krishna is not even an common incarnation of Godhead, but the most mysterious and esoteric of all beings.

GORGEOUS PICTURES OF KRISHNA

VOICEOVER

The Moon is the most charming and beautiful of any heavenly body. To have this Moon so super-excellently adorning the First House and Ascendant indicates a person’s whose physical appearance possesses unparalleled beauty and charm of a highly mystical magnetism.

DESK

Pulling BRS off shelf

VIC

In fact Krishna is so strongly associated with the Moon that the greatest of India’s medieval poets, Sri Rupa Goswami, wrote a poem about Krishna in which every word has a double meaning identically suitable to Krishna and the Moon alike.

KRISHNA MONTAGE

VOICEOVER

(read verse 1.1.1)

AT DESK

VIC

The Moon in Krishna’s chart wants to tell us a very elevated and hidden secret: that the deepest nature of Godhead is not one of power, majesty, and grandeur, but one of all-attractive charm and beauty. Godhead, like the Moon herself, is the source and ultimate reservoir of all happiness, pleasure and bliss.

We will examine this in more detail, from an astrological perspective, in the next episode.

– Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com