Jupiter and Saturn: Stick or Twist?

After the sturm und drang of last month's Cardinal Cross, it's good to report Jupiter and Saturn are comfortably trined. Between them, these two giants symbolize growth versus contraction, liberal v. conservative, spirit v. matter... Jupiter believes a pie expands during the baking, Saturn knows if it sounds too good to be true, it will be. Financial astrologers draw heavily on these planets to predict market trends, and their mutual synodic cycle is an easy reckoner to see the shape of the world economy.

Every 20 years Jupiter and Saturn come together in a Grand Conjunction which describes a new beginning, financially and philosophically. In the Tropical Zodiac, the Conjunctions occur in the same element for approximately two hundred years at a time, with the penultimate conjunction foreshadowing the change to the next element. For example, since 1802, Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions have been in Earth, before they move to Air in December 2020. However, the second last conjunction was in Libra in 1981. The 2020 Grand Conjunction in Aquarius will see our full emigration to The Cloud.

This present Jupiter-Saturn cycle is the last to happen in the Earth element for the next approximately 600 years. Earth is security-oriented and all business: in this era we have seen the Industrial Revolution, the rise of the Banks and the model of nine-to-five work. However, this is not how life always was: setting so much store by material matters would have been considered positively Diabolical in previous ages, where faith in God's Providence was the thing. Incidentally, it is theorized that the Star of Bethlehem was the Triple Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Pisces in AD.7.

So, we are three quarters of the way through the cycle which began in May 2000, in Taurus. The planets go through their synodic cycle, very much like the phases of the Moon: first the waxing phase: the separating sextile, square and trine. Then the opposition which is like the Full Moon - this peaked in 2010 in Aries-Libra, when the financial crash was at its scariest and everyone was predicting financial Armageddon. Perhaps the last Earth conjunction had to be a full-blown crisis, marking a clearing-out process before the next cycle in Air. Our present waning Trine in water is the first step of the recovery, where choices made at the opposition phase start bearing fruit. 

In Vedic astrology too, we see Jupiter and Saturn in their respective exaltations: Jupiter entering Cancer in July, while Saturn is at the end of Libra, until November. This shows the two principles at their strongest, with the promise of faith and generosity, and wisdom and renunciation. Somewhere, somehow, someone is thinking of the future in a smart way and good decisions are being made. The generation being born with this signature will also prove influential in politics and world affairs, perhaps after they have their Saturn Returns.

By any reckoning, this is an auspicious time to make good moves in your own life. Particularly if Jupiter and Saturn's placements trigger good things in your natal chart (placements in Tropical Pisces might benefit especially) but generally you can plan ahead under this influence and balance competing factors in your life. Mars now going direct after an epic retrograde spell is further good news if life has been all planning and no living. 

Arsene Wenger

So he finally did it. Soccer manager Arsene Wenger broke a nine-year hoodoo for Arsenal and brought the FA Cup back to north London. It has been a strange ride for the club, moving stadiums and having to balance the books while oil money flows like a steroid injection through their closest rivals. Arsenal have been an enigma, keeping in touch at the top while rarely threatening to win anything. 

Scorpio rising in Anuradha nakshatra is a 'star of success', but also shows somebody beset with responsibility that is shown in their face. It gives Wenger a mysterious, secretive air which is enhanced by Sun and Moon in the 12th. For Scorpio lagna this combination forms a highly auspicious Dharma Karma Adipati Yoga, showing a notable or successful leader. This signature is diluted in the 12th house however, and further by both the Sun's debilitation and the Moon's relative lack of light. 

It suggests a private person who does well working behind the scenes or operating inside an institution, especially in faraway places. He arrived at Arsenal as an unknown in 1996 after managing for two years in Japan. He was the first successful foreign manager in the Premier League and sparked a revolution with his innovations in player's diet and match preparation. "People who do know him tell me he is a good man but I don't suppose I'll ever find out for myself," Sir Alex Ferguson said in 2003. "He seems to pull down the shutters when you meet him".

22/10/1949, 11am, Strasbourg, France

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Venus rising however, gives him personal charm and a gift for public relations. He regards media work as an essential part of his job and is respected by the press as an open and engaging interviewee. Chart ruler Mars in the 10th also shows someone at ease in the spotlight, with an ambitious, competitive streak. Saturn also in the 10th gravitates towards an executive role and is comfortable with playing a long game, career-wise. Its exaltation in the Navamsha shows character, and he is famous for never having broken a contract in his managerial career. 

Mercury is stand-out strong, exalted in Virgo and also powerful in the Navamsha. This is a classy, practical thinker with natural intelligence. Nicknamed The Professor, Wenger has an economics degree, speaks several languages and is known for his mastery of detail. He arrived in the UK during his Mercury Mahadasha and in 1997-8 won the League and Cup 'Double' in his first full season. The 2002-3 season (Mercury-Moon) saw his stylish Arsenal side remaining unbeaten throughout the whole league campaign, an unprecedented achievement. 

Yet until last Saturday, Wenger had lived on his laurels. Jupiter is notably weak at the first degree of Capricorn, which speaks to his managerial philosophy. Rather than break the club's wage structure, he has repeatedly missed transfer targets and allowed star players to leave. We do not know to what extent his hands have been tied financially, but he has stubbornly refused to pay even a little extra when it might have made the difference. On the field too, Wenger's insistence on playing what some perceive as a dilettante style of football has recently lead to some embarrassing defeats.

He remains popular with the board at Arsenal because he works within the financial restrictions and allows the club to turn a profit. An admittedly weak Gaja Kesari Yoga links the Moon with Jupiter, which shows a builder, but fans do not want him to balance the books so much as lift trophies.

Will he ever recapture his early heights with Arsenal? The astrological evidence suggests not. His Mercury Mahadasha, especially 1995-2007 was a golden period that saw him operating at the height of his powers, with energy, talent and good fortune. He oversaw the move to Arsenal's new stadium in 2006 and the club narrowly missed winning the Champion's League in the same year. Since 2012 he has been in the otherworldly Ketu dasha, which is still governed by Mercury, but with a quite different complexion. He seems aloof and rather eccentric sometimes, Ketu qualites, and one wonders whether he is running a competitive side or simply a footballing academy.

He is also coming out of the gruelling transit of Saturn over his natal Moon, Sade Sati. Times have been tough. When Saturn hits his ascendant next season, we might see a new man, with money to spend and a new competitive spirit. His name and longevity alone links him with the club, he has a statue outside built to him. If he doesn't hit the heights of the 2002-3 Invincible season, then he can rest assured that few others have either.

Buddha Purnima / Scorpio Full Moon

May 14th's Full Moon is Buddha Purnima in the Vedic calendar, the symbolic birth of the Buddha and his enlightenment. This year it falls, auspiciously, on a Wednesday, Buddha's (Mercury) day. It occurs at the very edge of sidereal Libra, in Vishaka nakshatra, and just fifteen minutes later moves into fall in Scorpio.

Buddha Purnimah, 14/5/2014, 19:17 GMT

The Full Moon at the end of a sign suggests a transition, especially as the Moon moves in to fall as the Sun moves out of exaltation on the same day. April and early May is a time of potency, promise and tree blossoms with the Sun in sidereal Aries looking forward to the Summer. May 14th is a double junction point and a good time to bring a project to completion. Anyone feeling especially keen might try a fast during daylight hours.

Vishaka is ruled by Agni and Indra and its symbol is the Triumphal Arch. Individuals with this moon have fixity of purpose bordering on obsession, the gift of diplomacy, along with a capacity for indulgence. Over-doing the triumph, maybe?  

The Scorpio Full Moon in the tropical zodiac is mystical, emotional and naturally Pagan. With this sign we are rising above the dross and transforming base emotions into gold, best symbolized by spiritual Enlightenment. It's warm enough to meditate outside now, just be careful of sitting under any trees...

Johnny Depp: Transcendence & Jupiter in Pisces

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Johnny Depp built his movie name in a series of quirky roles that peaked in the billion-dollar Disney franchise Pirates of the Caribbean. Yet his latest outing, Transcendence is his third box-office flop in a row and the former teen-idol, now aged 50, finds himself at a career crossroads. He is a beloved entertainer and more than a pretty face, but he is still searching for a truly defining performance. 

Despite some handy placements and high earning potential, his chart lacks the powerful yogas one finds in the most enduring stars. On first glance, Jupiter in Pisces in the ninth house seems like first prize in the astrological lottery: faith, luck, God's Grace, you name it. Yet a closer look reveals Jupiter as a not unmixed blessing, ruling also for a Cancer ascendant the Sixth house of enemies, illness and debt. 

More pressingly, Jupiter picks up aspects from both Mars and Saturn, without any mitigating benefic glance. One malefic aspect is tough, two is punishing, and the effects of this unfriendly energy will be felt especially in Jupiter's Mahadasha, beginning in 2013. Angular Saturn in his own house and yogakaraka Mars are both strong, creating tension between relationships, money, and spirituality. Guru's placement in gentle Revati nakshatra has a lot to cope with, and the best one might say is that it will allow Johnny to rise above some difficult times.

June 9th 1963, Owensboro Kentucky, USA. 08:45am

Rahu, exalted and vargottama in Gemini, brought him material wealth and hyperfame during its mahadasha, which began in 1995. Rahu is governed by Mercury in the 11th, which picks up a Dhana Yoga of Venus and Sun. Johnny was famed as a charming maverick and cult favourite, who for years could not cross over into the mainstream. He finally got his hit playing Captain Jack Sparrow, but he has not built on his leading man status. It is said that whatever is given during Rahu's dasha is taken away at its close. 

This would appear to include Johnny's 14 year relationship with Vanessa Paradis, whom he broke up with in 2012. Rahu in his Navamsha seventh house brings an attraction to foreigners and outsiders, though Mars there too makes for a volatile romantic life. Shani is also strong in his Rasi seventh house, even if it brings a rather dutiful relationship atmosphere and a basically marriage-averse nature. It is typical of this placement to bring a large age difference in a relationship, and Johnny was recently engaged to actress Amber Heard, 20 years his junior. 

Jupiter is also debilitated in the Navamsha, further diluting its essence. What seems like his strongest planet is in many ways his weakest, and the next fifteen years of Jupiter dasha might see whimsical decisions and high hopes not borne out. Transcendence is an apt project title for a Jupiter-Jupiter period, but by all accounts the film is a muddle. It is too soon to write him off, but Johnny might do better looking for some real-life transcendence and it would be no surprise to find him embracing religion or studying with a guru at some point in Jupiter's jurisdiction.

Eddie Van Halen: The Sound of One Hand Tapping

Eddie Van Halen has been the most influential electric guitarist since Jimi Hendrix. While Jeff Beck and Steve Hackett both used fretboard tapping before him, Van Halen took the technique to a new level and spawned an army of spandex and big hair clones in the 1980s. For any young guitar nut, he was the Man - the top of his field at the best thing in the world to be.

Western astrology does not say much about why certain people achieve such eminence. Yet Dutch-born Eddie's Jyotish chart reveals a powerful, success-laden signature. Moon-Mercury in his fifth house of creativity, ruling his 9th and 10th houses, forms a potent Raja Yoga, showing intelligence and originality, with the promise of wealth and protection. This pairing is disposited by exalted Shani in the lagna, making a Sasa Yoga and an all-round irresistible case for fame. A surprisingly conservative first-house perhaps, but equally one showing discipline, dedication and a lasting legacy.

Eddie Van Halen: 26/1/1955, 01:05, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Rahu in the 3rd house of arts and dance is a maverick, showing innovation and a touch - no pun intended - of genius. Strong Mars in the navamsha lagna shows a pushy character who knows what he wants: successful people generally do. Exalted Jupiter rules his 3rd from the 10th house of career, giving Hamsa Yoga (a second Mahapurusha yoga). Despite being in Bhava Sandhi and receiving an aspect from Saturn, Jupiter is doubly exalted,  vargottama in Cancer in the navamsha 9th house, and reasonably promises big things in his mahadasha. Sure enough, Eddie and his brother Alex formed their self-titled band in 1973, just as Jupiter period began. 

Eddie's personal superstardom peaked during his Jupiter-Venus period, with his 1983 appearance on Michael Jackson's Beat It. This spell also saw Van Halen's only #1 hit, Jump, in 1984, and second-house Venus would have brought money along with the acclaim. His stellar Jupiter mahadasha lasted until 1989, which was about the end of Van Halen's golden period. Frontman David Lee Roth had already quit and the band were never the same again. 

Shani mahadasa, beginning 1989, has brought very mixed results. Van Halen remained an iconic act, but with a sense of living on their laurels. First house Shani suggests health problems, specifically the bone structure, and Eddie has had spells in rehab, along with hip replacement surgery in 1999, a consequence of too much stage diving (rockstars' occupational hazard). He has also had repeated cancer diagnoses, first in 2000, which has caused him to lose parts of his tongue. Second house lord Mars in the Sixth may bring diseases of the mouth; there may also be a predisposition to the disease, plus of course any chain smoker with long-running alcohol problems is likely to suffer ill health. 

Still, his Shani is exalted and his potent Jupiter should offer Eddie faith and protection. He is 60 this year, and his reputation is secure as being one of the few - only? - truly game-changing musicians to come out of the heavy-metal genre. 

Crystals in Astrology

Crystals are the ultimate New Age cliche, though when was the last time your astrologer suggested you wear one? In Jyotish, there is a consistent model of nine precious stones relating to the planets and Nodes, even though the rules for prescribing them vary from astrologer to astrologer. This picture is at least clearer than in the West, where there is not even agreement as to which gem relates to which planet. 

This state of affairs was not helped in 1912 by the decision of the American National Retailers Jeweler's Association to declare a list of 'birth stones', according to month. This purely commercial move exploited the public's fascination with astrology and added mystique, and therefore value, to many common semi-precious stones. Their bogus list was widely adopted, muddying the waters of Western astro-gemology forever afterwards.

This, like other questions of correspondence such as the chakras for instance, makes the subject very difficult to research. One comes across an intriguing online article where the learned author lays it all down. A grand theory brings in the Chakras, the Tree of Life, Biorhythms, you name it, and the outer planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are ingeniously thrown in too. You finish the article and look for the provenance of the web-swami's claims, only to find it is entirely their own work, based on a personal whim, or dream-induced revelation wherein they have cognized the mysteries of the universe.

Yet even when the recommendation comes on good authority, there are differing attitudes to the therapy. Inflated expectation is the first, with a belief that a costly multi-carat ring set in purest platinum is the key to wealth and fame, and a panacea for all life's ills. Should this scenario not play out, the disillusioned wearer goes to the opposite extreme and declares that astrological gemstones are all hokum. 

Medieval and Renaissance astrology had many techniques and practices to remedy planetary influence: crystals, amulets and talismans, and in a more otherworldly age, belief in the power of prayer. By association with overt magic or credulous superstition, these methods were driven underground at around the time as astrology's more general influence began to decline (c.1700). Today, Western astrology is psychologized to the point where, other other than a few herbalists or those promoting a positive mental attitude, it is all diagnosis and no remedy.

Jyotish gemstones are only one of a number of Upayes, or remedial measures to propitiate the planets. A jyotishi might recommend a mantra, a Vedic ceremony, a special fast or charitable donation in addition to a precious or semi-precious stone. This gem might be for a planetary period (Dasha/ Antardasha), a benevolent natal planet, or a house in a chart whose affairs need a lift, for example wearing the ninth house ruler's gemstone to promote travel and study.

The Vedic planetary gems are:

Sun - Ruby
Moon - Pearl
Mercury - Emerald
Venus - Diamond
Mars - Coral
Jupiter - Yellow Sapphire
Saturn - Blue Sapphire
Rahu - Hessonite Garnet
Ketu - Chrysoberyl Cat's Eye

At the most, there are probably only three gems that any one person can safely wear. Ask an expert: prescription is a delicate art and should be undertaken with great care. It is generally advised to strengthen a benefic planet, rather than attempt to rectify a malefic. You do not wish to boost an already difficult influence. For this reason, blue sapphire and coral are treated with caution, along with the stones for the Nodes. Some ascendants can support a Shani (Saturn) or Mangala (Mars) gemstone, but tread carefully, and if there are any problems or bad feeling, remove it. 

Choose the correct finger: Sun, Moon and Mars are ring finger; Jupiter is index finger; Venus, Saturn, Rahu and Ketun are the middle finger; Mercury is the little finger.

There is a protocol too for wearing the gem for the first time. Happily, Vedic weekdays agree with the Western model: Sun - Sunday, Moon - Monday, Mars - Tuesday, Mercury - Wednesday, Jupiter - Thursday, Venus - Friday, Saturn - Saturday. Find the planetary hour too, if possible and, aloud, say your name, your ascendant and its Nakshatra, and the purpose you are wearing the gemstone for: "I wish to attract all the blessings of [planet's name] for protection and success". 

No one gemstone or japa mala will solve everything, but many people do report subtle effects, both personally and in their practical lives as a result of a carefully chosen crystal. Planetary remedies on the whole exist to ward off tomorrow's problems and to create opportunities today. As Patanjali says in the Yoga Sutras: "Avert the danger that has not yet arisen". Fate is ever-present in astrology, but generally negotiable.

What I Did On My Holidays: India Trip 2014

Despite having a Sagittarius Sunsign in both zodiacs, I'm not by nature a traveller. From 22nd February to 4th March, however, I was journeying in India, between Delhi, Varanasi and Agra, a mixture of familiar tourist spots and off-piste experience. The country has a hold on many people's imaginations and in defiance of my 'inner traveller' stance, my trip was part holiday, part pilgrimage. 

Varanasi Supermodel

"Everything you say about India, the reverse is also true", I was told. For sure there are extremes of wealth and poverty, colour and squalor, spirituality and sleaze. Delhi, home to 18 million people, is a very green city, with endless parks and tree-lined streets, which seem also to be permanently swathed in a charcoal-smelling haze. Its new Metro system is a world-class facility and the prevalence of the English language makes it easy for Westerners to get around. For all its teeming energy and anarchic roads, there is an underlying softness, unlike London for example, which has a much harder, colder atmosphere.

Delhi

Thousands auto-rickshaws, or 'Tuk-Tuks', swarm around the city like bees. They are basically three-wheel motorbikes with a chassis and run on compressed natural gas, making for virtually zero-emissions. This is another planned environmental policy and explains their iconic green and yellow livery. Boris Johnson, are you listening?

I asked our driver if there are any rules on Indian roads. "Yes, many rules", he said. Which nobody pays any attention to: "We are a free country, the largest democracy in the world". You see a gap, signal by honking your horn and take your chances, rather like the fairground Dodgems, and the experience strengthens your faith. On the inter-city highways, nobody bats an eyelid to see a camel-drawn rickshaw coming the opposite way down the inside lane. We saw a couple of crashes, but no road-rage as such: if this was the UK, there would be murders on the road daily. 

Ganges at Varanasi

Varanasi is the epitome in many ways of India's paradox. This city of a thousand temples, a hundred mosques and twenty three churches is bursting with life and energy, and gives an impression of what India must have been like centuries ago. It is part Biblical, part Wild West frontier town, and all post-Apocalyptic. Buildings seem to have been abandoned then completed later, or built over in a completely different style, for quite another purpose. Its roads are mostly dirt tracks, bulls and buffaloes wander the streets like honoured guests, and the traffic is a free-for-all of bikes and beeping horns, making for the uninitiated a dizzying cocktail of culture shock. 

Varanasi

Even in the UK, some sacred sites have a hypnotic quality, where it is cautioned against spending too much time. You know anyone moving permanently to Glastonbury, for example, is making a statement and entering an otherworldly phase of their life. On a balmy evening, Varanasi has a magical quality that you only fully appreciate after you have left, since there is probably nowhere else in the world quite like it. It is not a serene or tranquil place, but a powerful mystical portal where air is thick with spirituality, and it is hard to stay there for any length of time and be unaffected. 

With Pandit Lakshmi Shankar Shukla

There is a gravity to the city too, which after all, is a place where people go to die. Varanasi's famous bathing ghats on the Ganges are a place of pilgrimage, among the most auspicious of all places to leave this world. Bodies wrapped in sheets are carried through the streets on the way to the waterside, sometimes by hand, sometimes on the roof racks of cars. Some families save up for months to afford enough sandalwood to cremate their loved ones at the holy Ganges side, where 250 bodies every day are burnt in the open air.

Meditation at Sarnath

Sarnath, on the outskirts of the city, is the birthplace of Buddhism, where Gautama preached his first sermon. It is a major Buddhist shrine, containing a Tibetan university, which attracts pilgrims from the far-East in particular, year-round. I was fortunate to spend time with Vedic pandits at a temple in the grounds, as they performed the Rudrabhishek Yagya morning and afternoon. This recitation, which takes about two and a half hours in total, is for health, wealth, peace and protection. Being present while the pandits chanted was a privilege, but this facility can be viewed on Skype and is available to everyone around the world. 

Rudrabhishek Yagya at Sarnath

Agra, after Varanasi, was a more regular sight-seeing experience. The Taj Mahal is arguably the world's most beautiful building and an icon, like the Mona Lisa say, that brings out everyone's inner tourist. Drinking in its sheer Cathedral scale and symmetry does not disappoint, and there is not an angle from which it doesn't dazzle. What you don't see from a distance are the inlaid semi-precious stones: onyx, malachite, lapis, jasper, and the precision and intricacy of the work. Twenty thousand labourers took twenty years to build a monument to undying love. 

© The India Tourist Board

In Agra, I also had my first informal sitar lesson. I volunteered to one of a classical duo playing outdoors in a restaurant that I was a guitarist and he was kind enough to show me the basics. Sitar has many similarities with guitar, basically fretting notes and plucking strings, except another layer of strings lying underneath supply a drone. The specific tuning also depends on what piece of music one is playing, with the morning, afternoon and evening ragas all having different tunings. This approach strikes me as very Indian: subtle, complex, with an innate understanding of the rhythms of life. Adjusting to sitar is rather like learning Jyotish after cutting your teeth on Western astrology.

"Where's the volume control?"

I returned from the trip feeling slightly different in ways that are hard to articulate. It is rather like waking from a vivid dream. Varanasi in particular has a profound effect and is not somewhere from which you emerge with a neutral opinion. I miss very much the way astrology and yoga are steeped into the soul of that city, and how their various practitioners are respected, or revered actually. A top Jyotish pandit has status simlilar or superior to that of a doctor. Returning to a Western city, you see far more orderliness and material prosperity, but it also strikes you what relatively superficial lives we lead. 

I was also humbled by the warmth and hospitality shown by everyone. 'The guest is God' is an admonition from the Upanishads which my friends in Delhi and Varanasi take very seriously. As a Westerner, my expectations of ever spending quality time with yogis and Vedic pandits would be pretty small, but I was welcomed and made to feel included. Next time I'm staying longer.