Michael Laughrin's North American Jyotish Newsletter February 2005

[Guest guest]

Michael Laughrin's North American Jyotish Newsletter February 2005

http://www.jyotish.ws

Michael Laughrin, Michael, business phone: (440) 582-

9848; cell phone: (440) 263-2159

To , send an email to: jyotish_ws-

Contents of this newsletter © copyright 2005, Michael Laughrin

unless otherwise noted.

 

Contents:

1. Introduction to Michael Laughrin's North American Jyotish

Newsletter

2. A Message From the Sun

3. A Message From Ketu

4. Astrological Combinations with Striking Outcomes Part II

5. Mahashivaratri 2005

 

--------------

1. Introduction to Michael Laughrin's North American Jyotish

Newsletter

 

I offer you this newsletter to enhance and deepen your experience of

Vedic Astrology. In these newsletters, expect to find a combination

of helpful articles, book reviews, Jyotish links and more. The

purpose of this newsletter is to educate and titillate the Jyotish-

loving public. The opinions given within are solely those of the

author.

 

In this issue, enliven your pita! The sun has a hot message for you,

so pay attention. So does Ketu. Enjoy Alison Nielsen's "Astrological

Combinations with Striking Outcomes: Part II." And welcome a new

contributor to this publication: Dr. Paul Muller-Ortega. He is

Professor of Religion at the University of Rochester in Rochester,

New York. Dr. Muller-Ortega's special article is on the Hindu

celebration Mahashivaratri, which is coming up on March 8.

 

Please visit my website at http://www.jyotish.ws at your

convenience. I offer Traditional/Classical Vedic Astrology,

Intuitional Jyotish (Vedic Astrology based on deep intuition),

Chakra Readings, and Advanced Structured Psychic Work (for deeper

interpretation of your karmic pattern).

 

"Thank again Michael... really enjoy these." - a reader

- Michael Laughrin (Michael)

--------------

2. A Message From the Sun

By Michael Laughrin (Michael)

[As you may know, I can talk to the planets and other celestial

bodies. The Sun wants me to give you this message. - Michael]

I am the center of things, the essence, the fire, the Soul. In the

body, I am the Soul; in the personality, I am the ego; in the

family, the father; in the nation, the King; and on the job, I am

the Boss.

I do not need the planets. They need me. I am very fond, however,

of the [Earth's] Moon (for egotistical reasons) as her Light is

really My Light. The Western astrologers are somewhat correct in

doing Sun sign analysis as your truest nature is always reflected,

in large part, through your Sun sign.

I rule passion (of the Mind or Soul -- not the body). You come to

infinity through Me. I see with infinite eyes.

I am:

1. Heat

2. Life itself (more properly, the Life Force)

3. Light

4. Clarity

5. Power

6. Rulership

7. Government

8. Ambition

9. Divine obsession

10. Fire

11. The great eater (although not as great as Brahman itself)

12. The urge to succeed

13. Movement at its finest level

14. That which never dies in a person; the essence that lasts from

lifetime to lifetime

15. Clairvoyance (indeed, I have a large role in all the siddhis

[psychic powers])

16. Natural Law (along with Jupiter)

17. Self-confidence

18. Control

19. The impulse to lead

20. Ultimately, it is I who urge you to seek Enlightenment (I am

Light itself)

You ignore me at your peril. I may lead you to wealth and power. I

may lead you into the cave. But, if perfect mental, spiritual and

emotional health is what you desire, you pretty much cannot go wrong

by following *Me* because I am your best part.

I do not react to the world. The world reacts to me. Ultimately,

*Soul Power* (Sun power) always wins the day (the year, the

millennium).

Surrender unto Me, O ye people, and I will give you Light and

ultimate Fulfillment.

Om sri suryaya namaha.

--------------

3. A Message From Ketu

By Michael Laughrin (Michael)

[As you may know, I can talk to the planets and other celestial

bodies. Ketu wants me to give you this message. - Michael]

I break things up. I will tear you down. I spit on your middle class

values. I embrace the hippies, the dropouts, the weird, the

unwanted, the bums and especially those who have given up everything

for God (or Enlightenment or the Absolute).

There is a hidden trick to me -- how to get the best out of my

dasha, my transit or my strong placement in your chart. What I

really want is your mind. Give it to me willingly and wholeheartedly

and I will let you keep your Lexuses, your houses and your mutual

funds. Ultimately they don't exist anyway. They are all Maya.

What is the short version of how to make friends with Ketu and

receive the blessings of Ketu? Meditate. Every day, without fail.

However, I see that my simple message is falling on deaf ears. For

those of you who are all entranced with the Relative, with Maya,

your path is harder. Much, much harder. Whatever you are attached

to, I will take away from you: job, money, health, relationship,

houses, fame, glamour, reputation -- that is, until you call out for

the Ultimate Truth of the Universe with all of your mind, heart and

soul.

I am the wild card of Jyotish. You can depend on my being

undependable. I will trick you in a harsh way. Jupiter teaches

lovingly. I am sharp, harsh and even vicious if need be. I shock,

hurt, kick. I often remove all of your psychological underpinnings

until you fall so that I (or God or the guru) can catch you. I force

you to transcend by whatever means necessary.

However, I also rule the celestial realms of light that are of the

Essence of Heaven and heavenly states of consciousness. I am the

psychic, the seer, the medium. I am the voice of the Divine from on

high. In lower individuals, I am the psychotic, the black magician,

the berserker. I am the force of Kundalini gone wild. I am the best

friend of the true meditator, the Seeker after divine knowledge, the

sadhu, the sannyasi. I give them their heart's desire (Liberation)

or, at least, I give a healthy taste of it. The worldly man is more

afraid of Me than he is of any other planet (as well he should be).

But the spiritual man longs for my embrace.

Everyone who has left home or job or money or security for the

Kingdom of God is blessed by me. But I generally do not give my

Lights, my Blessings right away. I must test you first. I am very

strong medicine indeed. Most of you could not handle my undistilled

energy without going insane. Therefore I give most of you only a

little at a time until you can take the straight stuff.

Do not mess with me. Material happiness means nothing to me. Even

life means nothing to me. Moksha and ultimate Wisdom and true

Knowledge mean everything to me. You must make a big bet when you

bet on me. Bet all your possessions, your heart, your Soul and your

Sanity and I will give you Spiritual and Material fulfillment beyond

your wildest fantasies. But the giving up, the letting go must come

first. Seek first the Eternal and you may gain it and the Relative

to boot.

I am mighty Ketu. Even the Sun and Moon fear me. Kings avoid me.

Queens do not want to hear my name. But, dear One, if you approach

me humbly and sincerely for a long time, I will make you whole and

protect you too.

Om shri Ketave namaha.

--------------

4. Astrological Combinations with Striking Outcomes Part II

By Alison Nielsen (premavratini)

Certain combinations in Jyotish are counter-intuitive. Mostly,

Jyotish's general principles produce similar results, but

occasionally combinations come up in which predicted outcomes go

against one's intuitive sense. Five such combinations appeared in

last month's issue (archived at

jyotish_ws/ ). Here are five more in

the second of two parts:

6. "No planet in a kendra, get thee to an ashram." The angular

houses, or kendras, are singularly important for being able to

accomplish focused, organized action in the world. If all the

kendras are empty, usually the person has a very difficult time

selecting and maintaining a course a meaningful course of action in

the world. Instead, he or she drifts along with the tides of

circumstance. If the trinal houses are filled with planets instead,

the person is often ideally suited to ashram life, as the trines do

tend to give one a spiritual inclination. Or, because they also rule

bhagya, or good fortune, and purva punya, or past life merit, they

may give the person a large sum of unearned money, again rendering

action unnecessary.

7. Two planets primarily rule authority in Jyotish. They are the Sun

and Saturn. Saturn is the son of the Sun, but these two planets have

very different natures and govern in very different styles. The Sun

is a natural leader, shining brightly with natural power and

charisma, often even unconscious of his air of authority. Generous,

he likes to be fair but is often unconscious of his self-centered

view of things. Saturn, on the other hand, likes to have control and

rules by rules. Structure is his forte. It is almost his lack of

presence that drives him in the direction of wanting to establish

control over things around him. When these two planets mutually

influence each other in a horoscope, they produce a distinct dislike

of authority in the native. The conflict of styles makes the native

intolerant of being bossed around by others and often intolerant of

existent social structures.

8. One of the most helpful combinations to have in order to

successfully organize and manage very large-scale projects is to

have both Jupiter and Saturn in angles mutually influencing one

another. The kendras are the houses pertaining to action in the

world -- Jupiter and Saturn very nicely counter-balance each other.

Jupiter rules optimism and expansion; Saturn rules pessimism, doubt

and contraction. Without Saturn reining Jupiter in, a person can get

carried away planning huge things that lack the underlying

structure, caution, patience and step-by-step planning necessary for

success. With Jupiter's ebullient confidence to diminish his doubts,

Saturn in an angle leads a native into endless doubt and

procrastination. After twenty years, the native is still trying to

flesh out every detail of his plan into perfection without having

actually made a move to do anything.

9. Many people are aware the Jupiter, the planet of the guru, when

conjoined with Rahu, a mleccha, produces a yoga called Guru-

Chandala, or the guru-dog-eater yoga. This combination makes for

unsuccessful relationships with teachers. The person's blind ego

drives cause him to go to war with the guru and/or to acquire a guru

not worth having. A less-pondered version of Guru-Chandala occurs

when Jupiter conjoins Ketu. Ketu is moksha karaka or significator of

moksha, but he can still give problems with gurus stemming from

different sources. Because Ketu has no head, he often has difficulty

attaching to things. Many times a person with Ju and Ke conjoined

cannot settle down with a teacher because of a long legacy of

involvement with many different teachers in lifetimes past. Another

reason for this problem may be that their own progress toward moksha

forces them to break with a teacher.

10. Normally, the house the lord of the horoscope goes to involves

the person with the themes of that house. For instance, someone with

the lagna lord in the sixth or twelfth often struggles with debt and

expenditure; however, when Venus as the lord of the ascendant goes

to the sixth or the twelfth house, she becomes a potent giver of

prosperity if anything else in the chart also supports affluence.

*** We thank the astrologer Hart deFouw and his guru lineage for the

knowledge above.

©2005 Alison Nielsen.

--------------

5. Mahashivaratri 2005

By Paul Muller-Ortega (rashivam)

About the author: Paul Muller-Ortega, Ph.D. is Professor of Religion

at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. He is the

author of the 1989 book "The Triadic Heart of Shiva: Kaula

Tantricism of Abhinavagupta in the Non-Dual Shaivism of Kashmir."

The great night of Lord Shiva approaches, Mahashivaratri, one of the

most ecstatic and yogically meaningful of all the holy celebrations

in the Hindu calendar. It celebrates the reality and blessings of

Shiva Mahadeva, the Great God, the Lord of Yoga, and the AdiGuru,

the primordial teacher and liberator of humanity. On this night,

Shiva beckons his devotees to catch a glimpse of him, and to taste

the exquisite reality of his being. Devotees fast and keep a night

vigil in temples and shrines, worshipping Lord Shiva through

meditation on the Absolute, through rituals of devotion, through the

repetition of his mantras, and through telling traditional tales.

It is said that when the creation of all the worlds had been

completed, Shiva and Parvati were dwelling on the peak of Mt.

Kailasa. Devi inquired of Lord Shiva, saying, "O Venerable Lord!

Which of the many rituals observed in your honor pleases you the

most?" Lord Shiva replied: "O Goddess, my favorite is the observance

of the Mahashivaratri vow, on the fourteenth night of the new moon

during the dark half of the lunar month of Phalguna."

Mahashivaratri is a time of great blissfulness: it is said to be the

time to have the vision of Shiva as the Absolute consciousness

brimming over with bliss and love. Mahashivaratri is observed as a

vrata, a solemn vow of austerity. Devotees and yogic practitioners

take a vow to redouble their efforts and dedication in the

performance of spiritual practices. In order to entice his myriad

devotees into this vow of austerity, Shiva declares that all

spiritual practices performed on this night will bear fruit a

thousand-fold.

The Garuda Purana charmingly narrates the blessings of this night.

Once upon a time King SundaraSena, who was not at all known for his

virtue or kindness, ruled over the land of the Nishadas. One day, he

went out with his dogs on a hunting excursion in the forest. The day

wore on and the night came without any game being sighted. The King,

hungry and tired by this fruitless day, sat down weary and watchful

in a bower of trees on the bank of a pool.

Unbeknownst to the King, there happened to be a Shivalinga there.

The linga is the holy emblem of Lord Shiva, the form through which

he is traditionally worshipped. Close by, there was a bilva tree

which was shaken by the impact of the hunter's body as he strove to

make himself comfortable lying on the ground. Without the King

noticing it, some of the leaves of the bilva tree fell in heaps over

the linga emblem of Shiva. Later, the King fetched some water to

sprinkle on the ground and so settle the choking dust, and quite by

accident some drops of water spilled from his fingers onto the

linga. Suddenly, one of the arrows from his quiver fell onto the

ground. He crawled on all fours to retrieve it, thus unknowingly

bowing before the linga. Thus he touched, bathed and worshipped the

linga on the night of Mahashivaratri, and passed the rest of the

night awake, guarding himself and his dogs from wild beasts.

The next day the king returned to his family, and the years passed

away in his undistinguished and not very pure life. At the end of

his appointed days, the messengers of Yama, the Lord of death, came

to take his spirit, which was sure to adjudged as destined for a

less-than-pleasant afterlife. But, just then Shiva and his ganas

(his troop or army), intercepted and overpowered the messengers of

Lord Death, and abducted the King. Bringing him to Shivaloka, the

realm of Shiva, the King thus attained the blessed domain of bliss

and freedom. This intervention of Shiva was due entirely to the

unconscious devotion practiced by the King that one night on

MahaShivaratri.

This charming puranic tale carries a simple moral. On this night,

the mysterious and exalted Lord grants his darshan to those who

perform this vow. In traditional language, it is said that the great

Lord descends from his cloud-hidden lair on the summit of Mt.

Kailas, and wanders the earth granting sublime vision, inner

torrents of bliss, and subtle insights and powerful transformations

to all his devotees. Lord Shiva is called the Lord of the Cave of

the Heart, hidden away from view. But on Mahashivaratri, devotees

keep a night vigil with the hope and intention of catching just a

glimpse of his spiritual reality. As the tale shows, on this night

even the unconscious performance of spiritual practices brought

great merit to the king and earned him rebirth in Shivaloka. Shiva

is called "the deity who is easily pleased": even a little of

spiritual practices, of devotion offered to him, brings much by way

of rewards. How much more is to be gained by spiritual practices

offered consciously, and with great love and devotion by dedicated

and devoted seekers!

©2005 Paul Muller-Ortega.

--------------

Michael Laughrin's North American Jyotish Newsletter

http://www.jyotish.ws

Michael Laughrin, Michael, business phone: (440) 582-

9848; cell phone: (440) 263-2159

To , send an email to: jyotish_ws-

Articles from past issues of this newsletter are archived at:

http://www.jyotish.ws/wisdom

Please feel free to share the newsletter with anyone for whom you

think it may be appropriate. You can also post it to appropriate

email lists or listservs. If your friends wish to receive the

newsletter directly, tell them to send an email message to

jyotish_ws-.