Karma: dridha vs adridha As astrologers we often grapple with notions of fate versus free will. The very premise of astrological prediction implies we’re capable of reading something in a client’s chart that says: this will happen, this won’t. Whether we call that fate, destiny or karma is just semantics. The tacit understanding of Jyotish […]
David Bowie: the starman who fell to earth
David Bowie: the starman who fell to earth “There’s a starman waiting in the sky, he’d like to come and meet us, but he thinks he’d blow our minds.” From the moment he first appeared as Ziggy Stardust, David Bowie was the beautiful alien we fell in love with. In one swoop he made extraterrestrial […]
Indira Gandhi: Parivartana power!
Indira Gandhi was a remarkable woman on two scores. On a mundane level, she is India’s only female prime minister to date. On a stellar level, she has three Parivartana Yogas in her chart. How rare is that? Although 40% of the general population has one Parivartana Yoga, only 3% has two, and only 0.03% […]
The Ashley Madison affair: Venus & Mars are not al
In 1975 Paul McCartney sang, “A good friend of mine follows the stars: Venus and Mars are alright tonight.” But as of this week when a hacker group made public the customer database for the Ashley Madison website, Venus and Mars are not alright. In fact, they’ve been up all night fighting… For those who […]
Club 27 rockstars: “Hope I die before I get old…”
“I hope I die before I get old.” ~ Pete Townshend, The Who. Sadly, half of people don’t get what they want, and the other half don’t want what they get. Death is like that for some. They flirt with it, dance with it, lie down with it at night, and sometimes they just don’t wake up. […]
Swami Prabhupada: a choice of ascendants
Swami Prabhupada Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was a guru and the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), commonly known as the “Hare Krishna Movement”. His mission was to propagate Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a school of Hinduism taught by his guru, throughout the world. A charismatic leader, he emerged as a major figure of […]
My Practice of Vedic Astrology
This article describing my consultation process first appeared under a slightly different title in the May 2014 edition of Jyotish Star. Thanks to Juliana Swanson for encouragement and guidance, and Christina Collins for publishing. Thanks also to my teachers, Hart DeFouw and his guru Mantrji, without whom I’d never have seen the light of the […]
Lindsay Lohan: Fully Loaded
If anyone needed evidence of Rahu’s power to turn an otherwise charmed life into a shit-storm of trouble, look no further than Lindsay Lohan. Lindsay (LiLo) Lohan was born July 2, 1986, at 9:50 pm in New York. (Data courtesy of Astrotheme.com) Her mother was a singer/dancer, her father a Wall Street trader. She began […]
Pattinson & Stewart: Lovers in the Twilight Zone
Christian Fundamentalist parents all over America can rejoice this month, having received proof positive that vampire adulation will send you to hell – along with other devil worshippers – just as the good book said. This is apparently what’s happened to Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. Once regarded as one of Hollywood’s most beautiful young […]
Karma & Reincarnation
Woody Allen said, “I believe in karma and reincarnation, because nothing else explains how I could get so far behind in just one life.” Half the world’s population believes in reincarnation, which obliges us to be reborn again and again, working on our soul’s multiple-life lessons, like some poor kid who can’t get his college […]