A serious study of Astrology increases our respect for those who have adventured into these realms over the centuries and have provided us with a basis for utilization of information that we can make into a life art, a science or both.

As most of us are equally interested in discovering the universe within our human nature and relating what we learn, to the universal realities we benefit through methods that help us to integrate astrological knowledge.

The most common technique of learning is recognized as that of repeated words and repeated action. It is by this elementary but powerful technique of repetition that we find simple assistance in keeping our mental focus and interest during our life course.  This applies in astrology as it requires both concentration and imagination to conceive of the realities of the greater universe as it takes aspiration and perseverance to find our inner realities and identify with our greater soul self rather than the outer personality.

There is nothing new about the technique of mantra that is practised widely all over the world. It is integral in what we know of Asian philosophies and religions in particular. But it is also used in Christian countries through prayer and ritual where certain words and sacred chants and invocations are employed. In our native cultures we generally find a familiar basis and custom to follow but it is also quite an adventure to create our own words that will generate qualities and responses that we personally strive for and seek to identify with.

As with anything, the most successful technique is usually the simplest.

In addition we possess the remarkable faculty of imagination that can create a mental concept or image that can motivate us.

We all know the benefit of strengthening self confidence by confirming that we possess one of the virtues natural to our birth sign.

There are many approaches but the astrologer has the advantage of mental ‘antennae’ that stretch to the heavens and anchor in the realities of earth. So it is natural to condense what is known of each of the twelve zodiacal signs and encapsulate the energy or quality in a word that will help us to ‘tune in’ to the influence of that sphere of the cosmos.

For example: if we select the exercise that involves the 12 signs in order starting from Aries it may sound like a chain of words indicating the differing energies such as –

Courage (Aries)– Stability – Versatility – Compassion -  Generous – Careful – Harmonious -  Truth –Wisdom – Helpful – Independent – Humility (Pisces)

But if we can construct a less clumsy flow of words that are meaningful and help us to affirm fine qualities that are potentials within us all, it can become a useful reminder of the heavenly energies. These we should select and learn them by heart as a tool to anchor chosen qualities by expressing them in constructive ways in our lives.

Such mantra or affirmations are practical as silent, mental repetitions as in meditation rather than vocal.

To create a personal spiritual exercise is very rewarding and when by affirmation and a sense of identification, constructive imagination will help to bridge the worlds of the little earthly self and the heavenly stars.

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At present we are aware of our planet’s increasingly disturbing earthquakes, volcanic activity and natural disasters woven into the fabric of our political and social environment. It is up to us to try to correct or contribute to resolutions of the latter problems that are of our own making.  To watch the disturbances and to be caught up in the destructive events of Nature and its elements requires a different attitude as we are in the role of observers.

Whatever great Nature has in its plan for changes of continents, climate and life forms will remain forever obscure if we seek to use our limited consciousness. Ours is not to reason how and why as much as to offer faith and unconditional affection to our fellow human beings and to our Maker, in our knowledge that the Ultimate evolutionary purpose is good.

We must acknowledge the fact that our tenancy on Earth is tenuous. We humans have despoiled our environment and broken most natural laws, desecrated the land, betrayed our animals and allowed greed to dominate our hearts and minds. We do not deserve extension unless we can contribute massive and sincere dynamic programmes to improve our ways. This is not likely, but we must allow that we may have time to try a remedy. That is the responsibility of each one of us.

Our Moon is also suffering bombardment as NASA images showed recently. Our neighbouring planets are exhibiting strange and violent signs of change. Our Sun is believed to be intent upon increasing it solar flares in the future. We are more aware of comets and the possible asteroids visiting our Solar system. There are signs of cosmic changes of serious proportion and to these we must find an attitude of acceptance, come what may.

There have been many predictions swirling around on the Web and tangling up many minds about the possibility of both man-made and natural disasters.  Whether indeed we are coming to the end of this materialistic but incredible technological civilization or not is not known. Nor are we guaranteed that we will ourselves be involved in the processes of change in the future.  But that each day dawns ever fresh and we have opportunity to live another day happily and constructively – that is a current certainty.

News of the world is regrettably full of negatives.

News of the heavens is above all these errors and material things and we have to elevate our consciousness and increase our sensitivity in order to interpret and to understand.

They indicate clearly the converging forces and energies that become anchored when we take our first breath . They influence the ‘mix’ or the individual recipe or blueprint of our character.

The aspects at our Birth influence our personality to the extent that they programme our particular tendencies, talents, responses and also our motivations, expressions and inclinations. They also are involved in our health.

Traditional wisdom in astrology confidently points to and interprets these characteristics. Few would argue with some of the common features that are recognized in the science between those born in under the same zodiacal Sign. Even more similarities are observed when their Charts show similar planetary relationships.

The most prominent relationships are those described by the degrees and angles as the positions of the planets are placed in the 360 ͦ  Chart or complete circle of western astrology. Basically these placements will point to harmonious or conflicting life elements and circumstances, factors of ease and plenty, or disease and privation.

We all learn from every quarter and experience in life but at first glance it would seem as if some aspects are blessings and others are misfortunes. However, we must be careful not to exaggerate the power of these relationships as they are interpreted, to the point where we consider we are favoured by some and are victims of others.  We always possess free will – that is the blessing and sometimes the problem of being human and capable of creating our own life and fate.

The traditional basic aspects are determined by the degrees of placement in the Chart.

Conjunction  – where two planets are very closely sharing the same position in the heavens – from 0 ͦ  to 3 ͦ. This must be individually considered according to the planets involved, but usually has the potential for strength.

Opposition – 180 ͦ  between implies conflict or antipathies or energies that must be blended and strain dissolved.

Trine – 120 ͦ  is a relationship of harmony and power

Square – 90 ͦ  indicates difficulties and personal effort required in particular areas of oneself and also circumstances

Sextile  –  60 ͦ  a pleasantly harmonious blending but not as potent as the Trine

Semi-square – 45 ͦ usually indicates negatives or difficulties

We consider these relationships first as we learn to understand and interpret the effect of them upon our own personality and upon the events and relationships in our own lives.

This is important to do before we study more profoundly how to cope with and develop our good fortune and how to redirect the bad elements.  Then we are better equipped to understand others.

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In childhood each of us reacts different to external realities of nature. One child will show a love of the earth and material things; another will relate well to water; another has the need for air and the outdoors; and one will love to play in the sunshine and be fascinated by fire. The fifth element is universal as we all feel conscious of the need for love and to express to a greater or lesser degree our own affection through harmonious behaviour.

Negative behaviour of an infant can offer a further demonstration of the proportion of an element in its nature. When it is upset a child will tend to revert to contact with the element where he feels most comfortable.  For instance ………….

a dominant earth child will throw himself in tantrum on the floor or ‘throw things’

a water child will resort to tears, need a drink of water or will enjoy a swim

an air child will use the lungs to cry and sometimes struggle from a cuddle to go free

a fiery child will demonstrate anger and often seek to retaliate or to hurt something or someone

a more ethereal child will seem older and wiser about life and seem more composed

All children will in time respond to soothing comfort, kindness and loving care of the integrating fifth element.

As human beings we possess all nature’s components within ourselves. These five major elements are cultivated, directed or changed as time goes by until they are all integrated and the life energies used appropriately. Many of the differences between people can be explained by the symbolism associated with earth, water, air, fire and ether and the proportion of each element represented in their personality or character.

Relating to great Nature outside ourselves, the ideal would seem to be that we accept and relate to each external element harmoniously so that we could enjoy mountains and earth, oceans and water, fresh air in nature’s vast environment, and the heat and comfort of firesides and sunshine.

If we could indeed achieve all this in our personal nature we would likely be seen to be practical and down to earth, as well as emotionally balanced and creative, mentally keen and communicative, enthusiastic and idealistic and with all the elements blended in wholeness, well being, loving kindness and inner peace. A  perfect and high aim indeed!

Celestial bodies we observe as stars are known poetically as ‘Flowers of the Sky”. As earth flowers bring special qualities, colours and influences to our earthly days so the stars provide us with a focus on beautiful lights, qualities and thoughts of a more rarefied spiritual life.

In some cultures it is believed that once a virtuous person dies physically, the soul takes its place amongst the billions of lights in the heavens – an idea that is beautiful and very appealing to those who suffer bereavement.

Because there has always existed a natural tendency to associate the light of the heavens with the divine, with spiritual blessings and grandeur, it is understandable that the opposite qualities are associated with the fiery core of matter of our lowly earth. So we are in the habit of considering heaven as ‘up there’ and hell as ‘down below’.  But in this, our own concepts as we seek universality must mature to arrive at our own level of understanding.

As we study astrology and astronomy and study the “Flowers of the Sky” we have the opportunity to inject beauty into our purpose in seeking greater beauty beyond in the far flung, mysterious and impersonal reaches of space.

In Astrology water has always stood for the unconscious mind, the emotions and the feeling nature of humans and all sentient beings. The Moon’s influence is equivalent to the qualities of water, even though astronomers have considered it to exist without any of this element in its physical make-up.

In practical research by our scientists, efforts to understand the Moon stem from a more materialistic standpoint.

Back in 1972 astronaut Harrison Schmitt in the Apollo mission retrieved tiny beads of lunar ‘glass’ that were thought to be a sign that water is within the Moon’s interior as we have within our Earth. This caused serious flurry in re-thinking the scientific attitude that previously had prevailed and invited regrettable imaginative schemes for exploiting potential mineral resources in the greed schemes rather than respect for the celestial bodies.

NASA announced in 2009 that two spacecraft sent crashing into the lunar surface had discovered frozen water on the moon for the first time, a dramatic revelation it hailed as a giant leap forward in space exploration.

Now after considerable analysis it has been found by a research team led by geochemist Erik Hauri of Carnegie Institute of Washington, that the sample of orange coloured beads contain microscopic bubbles, or melt inclusions.

It is now concluded by scientists that the Moon may in fact possess as much water as within it as our own Earth and even pose that the two bodies – Earth and Moon have a common origin. This thought has been held in spirit lore for millenniums, giving rise to the symbolism and well known legends relating to the Moon in our cultural heritage often hinting that our Earth is the progeny of Moon and Sun.

That the Moon in one’s Chart represents our human emotions and tides is easy to accept and that it is as important as the power of the Sun. Both contribute to our understanding of our conscious and our unconscious nature and help us to focus upon our need for both, just as we depend upon our physical parents.

The Moon remains the spiritual symbol of femininity, of motherhood, of nurturing, of gentle power in a magnetic sense. Its force is great as we all know and witness in the tides that occur throughout the globe but it also has a subtler effect upon us psychologically.

In our symbol of the Sun and the Moon that together function to maintain life for us on our planet, we have a clear lesson to learn that needs reflection in human relationships. The Sun represents the male and the Moon the female principle. We depend upon these celestial bodies equally just as human life depends upon male and female interchange.

Although at birth our bodies are distinct in physical features of either male or female, the features of our personality characteristics demonstrate a blend of both sexes in a unique recipe of strong and gentle, selfish and selfless, understanding and aggressive features. These must be blended in harmony with our self image if we are to be true to ourselves, as wisdom dictates.

Nature demands for our growth and well being that a male must focus upon developing physical strength and male talents as a female must learn to express the feminine virtues and maintain the gentle traits of her sex. This in spite of the fact that we all possess inwardly a mixture of traits.

The Sun’s natural characteristics are demonstrated as power, light, heat and outgoing energies.  Translating this in terms of male sexual qualities, we would best reflect our natural self as a male by our strength, intelligence, warmth and creativity, for instance. Society depends upon the strength and leadership of good men.

The Moon to a female represents the gentler powers that nurture and protect. She uses the subtle senses and gentler responses in caring and expression of energies. She would best demonstrate the gifts of her sex by beauty, compassion, understanding and wisdom. Society depends upon the magic qualities and self sacrifice of women in caring motherhood.

Many male/female relationships show us the clash between the two in a state of friction instead of a complementary exchange that allows differences but not conflict. Some refuse to seek understanding of the other sex in a manner that is respectful and does not stir defensive reactions from the partner. Some relationships falter because neither is prepared to compromise. However, it is only by an exchange, compromise and understanding  that we can escape being locked up within ourselves and suffer eventual loneliness.

By a mutual exchange that proves constructive and enriching, we find the magic that allows the Sun to rule with power in the day and in practical ways and the Moon to provide the gentle wisdom that allows her to rule and guide the souls in her family. Neither should be antagonistic to the other’s differences, but able to absorb them and so enrich the other.

Opposite characteristics create a strong magnetism that is healthy in a natural male/female relationship and results in a creative relationship.

If we should challenge the natural laws that determine sexuality things begin to go wrong. Should a man seek to cultivate female or Moon traits and qualities over and above the male features of character Sun dominance, he risks ignoring or betraying his birth sex as does the woman who assumes male habits in imitation of the opposite sex and denies the Moon qualities that alone will bring true satisfaction. Nature does not tolerate such challenges.

The answer could be that when we discover how to cultivate our own sun/moon qualities in an appropriate balance for our sex as nature decreed at birth, and can balance the energies and responses from our marriage partner so that we are true to our self image and respectful of the other, all should be much more harmonious.

We cannot deceive Nature itself. Nor can we deceive ourselves for long. We must be genuine in our attitude and true to ourselves and open to expanding our understanding of our mate by respectful understanding that does not demand from the other what is not possible.

The sun cannot shine at night time.

The moon is always without obvious power in the day.

The more thoroughly we enter into the study of esoteric Astrology, the nearer we approach the realm of the Angelic hosts or Devas about whose evolution humanity knows so little. Although it lies at the root of all things connected with both science and religion and is inherent in the biblical teachings, we generally possess only vague ideas about a spiritual kingdom parallel to our material one.

Ancient astrologers appear to have made a special study or at least to have had deeper understanding of this evolution of angelic beings to the extent of recognition that it runs side by side with the human world, although invisible to our physical senses. The knowledge is encapsulated in what has been handed down to us in the teachings of the Five Elements of Nature connected with the signs of the Zodiac and identified as Ether , Air, Fire, Water and Earth.

Modern astrologers confirm the usefulness of this classification of the kingdoms of natural elements and have rediscovered the inner meaning of these divisions in connection with the types of matter through which the modifications of consciousness are constantly working from the gross material to the ethereal.

Nature’s creative forces are at work through a host of intelligent entities belonging to the 7 great planetary spheres and the 7 fold spectrum colours and energies of pure Light from the subtlest spheres down to the lowest grades of matter.

The fact that there is a great evolution beyond the human one in which there are grades of these Beings or Angels, from the mighty archangels down to the minor elementals should surprise no one. All religions teach that the work of Creation began with the calling into existence of a vast host of intelligent beings of varying power and authority into whose care was entrusted the special work of guiding and controlling the activities of Nature according to the Divine Will.

If we could look into the angelic world we would be amazed at the wonderful evolution that is going on in a realm as real and as important as all the other divisions of Nature such as those we humans are more conscious of, namely the mineral, vegetable, animal and human kingdoms.

As we develop greater sensitivity of sight that in some people can extend into clairvoyance that allows them to perceive these subtle beings, from the tiny fairy agents to the great Devas, our acceptance of this spiritual or ethereal kingdom must grow.

It may be that some technological instrumentality is developed to allow visual demonstration of these mystical beings as a reality to us and upon whom we are dependent, although unaware.

In time we must come to accept their existence and to recognize them as great benign intelligences, free of personal human ego, and dedicated in their role of assisting in the realization of the Universal Plan.

There are also the natural affinities and antipathies between people of different signs because of diametrically opposed points of view, of themselves and of the universe around them. Awareness of the fundamental differences allows choices for contact with or avoidance of some personality types.

So, make a start and consider both the virtues and the faults of your Astrological sign and determine your first Self Analysis through careful consideration of these aspects of yourself, knowing that a fair degree of this exercise will be shared with others born under your Sun Sign.

Of the 12 Zodiacal signs, your birth sign is the sign the Sun was in at the moment of your birth. However, often it occurs that someone is born during the time of transition from one sign to another in the natural cycle of the zodiac. This takes place between the 21-22^nd day of each month by our western calendar. In this case we need to check the degree of the Sun’s position in order to determine if your home sign is in the latter degrees of Aries, for instance, or in the first degree of the next sign, Taurus. However, it is often simply perceived that if we are born ‘on the cusp’ as described, we will naturally partake of the features of both signs.

It is stressed that our birth sign is only the first of the ingredients in one’s unique recipe of qualities. After this must come identification of the sign rising above the horizon at the moment of our birth; what constellations and influences were in the mid-heaven as we took our first breath, as well as what planets or stars were setting at this moment.  All of these present further paths for your exploration of factors that have a powerful influence upon your nature and circumstances.

The strengths which are indicated as potentials in our Astrological sign must be exercised and utilized in some constructive manner until we learn to express the energies to a positive outcome – of assistance to ourselves and to our fellow human beings.

Over time, each of us is required to nurture our full potential and learn to direct all the energies without exception.

Astrology teaches us that the personality is the natural soil in which we cultivate our life energies.  The seeds of all human sins and virtues are our inheritance from the family of mankind.  It is our freedom of choice that allows us to select the qualities we wish to cultivate or to eliminate from the garden of our character until we feel at ease within ourselves. Then we are most likely to feel able to accept others who do not share our own approach to life and yet remain true to our own inner values.

Surya, or Ravi             Sun

Chandra-Indu             Moon

Budha                            Mercury

Shukra                           Venus

Mangal-Bhouma          Mars

Guru, Bhrihaspati      Jupiter

Shali-Manda                 Saturn

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Rahu                               Dragon’s Head

Ketu                                Dragon’s Tail

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ZODIACAL SIGNS

Mesha                        Aries

Virshabha                  Taurus

Mithuna                     Gemini

Kirka                           Cancer

Simha                          Leo

Kanya                          Virgo

Tula                              Libra

Vrischika                     Scorpio

Dhanu                          Sagittarius

Makar                           Capricorn

Kumbha                       Aquarius

Meena                           Pisces