Western versus Vedic astrology (Jyotish)

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Western versus Vedic astrology (Jyotish)

Jyotish is generally considered to be the mother of all astrology,

dating back 5,000 years. From India, the practice of astrology fanned

out into the rest of the ancient world, evolving en route into its

Chinese, Arabic and western variants. Western astrology likely arose as

a result of Jyotish having migrated over time and distance through the

Arab world and then into Europe, courtesy of Gypsies, the Greeks, and

Moorish invaders .

Because western astrology has developed far from its original

source, some original principles and techniques have undergone

transformation or outright loss. Although the differences in the two

systems are many, they can be summarized as follows:

 

 

 

* Western astrology uses the tropical zodiac, which is based upon the

seasons. Essentially, this system says that on the first day of spring,

when the Sun appears to move from south to north of the equator, the

Sun enters the first degree of Aries. As for the other planets, their

zodiacal positions are determined relative to that of the Sun.

 

* Jyotish uses the sidereal zodiac, or the starry background of the

constellations, to determine the zodiacal position of any planet. On

the first day of spring, a Vedic astrologer would look beyond the Sun

and see it in the constellation of Pisces, roughly 24 degrees earlier

in the "zodiac" than suggested by a western astrologer.

 

 

 

* Western astrology uses all of the known planets in the solar

system, ie, the visible ones as well as the outer planets Uranus,

Neptune and Pluto. In addition, many western astrologers use several of

the asteroids, eg, Pallas, Athena, Juno, Vesta, and Chiron in their

charts.

 

 

* Jyotish, which existed for millenia prior to the

invention of telescopes, uses only the two luminaries Sun & Moon,

the five visible planets Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus & Saturn,

and the moon's nodes Rahu & Ketu, which are accorded the status of

planets.

 

 

 

* Western astrology principally makes use of only the birth chart

(the map of the heavens that shows where all the planets were

positioned at the moment of birth relative to the specific place of

birth) to analyse and interpret the character, health, relationships,

career, etc, of the client.

 

 

* Jyotish uses the same birth chart of course, but also

employs several other amshas (divisional charts) to cover a range of

subjects such as relationships, career, etc. Among these, the navamsa

is considered so vital that no Vedic astrologer conducts a serious

analysis of the birth chart without it.

 

 

 

* For predictive purposes, most western astrologers rely heavily on

transits, or the motion of current planets through the zodiac relative

to the original birth chart, to make predictions. Some astrologers,

depending on their level of expertise, use other techniques called

directions or progressions (eg, equating each day after birth to each

year after birth) to complement transits.

 

 

* Jyotish uses a scheme of planetary periods whose

sequence is triggered by the Moon's position at birth. These dasas

(major periods of 6-20 years) and bhuktis (sub-periods of several

months to a few years) provide the background against which individual

karma unfolds. If transits are the actors on a stage, dasas and bhuktis

provide the stage setting, without which the drama has no context.

 

 

 

* Western astrology is oriented principally toward psychological

understanding of the client, with a self-empowerment approach that

assumes anyone with adequate effort can make the best of a bad

situation.

 

* Jyotish has an undeserved reputation as being fatalistic when in

fact it recognizes karma comes in three forms — fixed, unfixed and

mixed — and that some people are inherently lucky or unlucky no matter

what they do, while others are capable of tipping the scales in the

direction of their efforts.

 

 

 

In the eyes of some, Western astrology might be considered the more

"open-minded" of the two, having welcomed experimentation with

techniques and theories. But during the same time that western

astrology has evolved far from its original sources, Jyotish

has remained faithful to its roots, despite the passage of so many

centuries. Western astrology as commonly practiced today generally

provides a psychological understanding of the client, but is somewhat

less capable of what Jyotish has to offer — a perspective

contextualized by an understanding of karma, and the ability to make

predictions from the mundane to the sublime.

We must acknowledge, however, that just as there are many fine

carpenters who work without modern power tools, so too are there many

astrologers who achieve good results with the western system. Based on

my experience with both systems, Jyotish has a greater array

of techniques, and in the hands of equivalent practitioners, offers

greater capacity to render results for the client.

 

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