Predictive v/s Psychological Astrology

There is a perception that Indian astrology is only about predictions, this is incorrect. Most clients today are concerned about physical things, material gains and promises of promotion. And most astrologers too are interested in making money, charging by the hour. However Jyotish is not just predictions, it has the psychological aspect built-in. We Indian Jyotishi-s, give prime importance to the position of the birth Moon. The Moon is our psyche. When you go to a good astrologer, he will do a quick analysis of your Moon first to determine your innermost personality first and then talk to you.Predictive v/s Psychological AstrologyThe sequence should be this,

First is the important physical event. This is seen from the chart which starts with the rising sign and where the ascendant lord plays a major role as the chart is made with the ascendant sign as the focal point. Most astrologers stop at this stage because clients want just this much.

  • If you are doing this mini-exercise for yourself, you can look back to the past year and think of which event has been most important to you? Perhaps the birth of your child? Marriage? A new job? Mother’s physical death? New house?

Then the second stage is to evaluate the effect of the physical event on the psyche, this is the domain of the moon. But it is a rare client who waits for so long and tries to listen and understand. For this you have to turn around your birth chart, so that the birth Moon sign occupies the first house. All the houses /signs /planets will be realigned now with the Moon as the focus.

  • Now you are analysing how the birth of your child has affected you on the inner-most, psychological, emotional levels, etc levels. The children are seen from the 5th house. Look for the 5th house counted from the birth moon. If there are benefics here/aspecting, its owner planet is well-placed etc. the birth of this child as been very positive for you emotionally too.

And the third stage is the corrections, the astrologer will evaluate all the potential this event has. For this the divisional chart 9, navamsha is used.

  • e.g. for birth of a child, check out the planets associated with the 5th house of the birth chart, the planets aspecting/placed in 5th and the owner of the 5th. Now look to where these planets shift in the D-9 chart. If they increase in power here, e.g. if get exalted or in the kendra (1st, 4th, 7th, 10th) or kona (5th, 9th) houses etc the event has overall a very good positive potential.

Then after this analysis of the potentials, if necessary, the astrologer will prescribe some remedies to balance things on the internal (moon) levels and the physical environment. But practically nil clients interested in listening to such in-depth analysis. So most astrologers will just tell the client to wear some gemstone or do some puja without explaining why. They will just say, ‘if you want a job, wear a yellow sapphire’. This will work, but the rare client who wants to know all the inner details will go away dissatisfied.Predictive v/s Psychological AstrologyYour psyche, links to the planets/signs/lunar mansions/houses which are conscious energies. Your psyche is interpreted in the language of Jyotish, not the other way round.

  • The graha/planets represent the basic potential and direction of energy, the motivation. Of the nine graha, two Rahu/Ketu, are completely astral working on the subconscious levels.
  • The signs are the 12 divisions of the zodiac which are ‘natural agents/’karak’ of the various aspects of life in general. These are the basic archetypes. (I give about 15% weightage to the natural karaks while analysing a horoscope.)
  • The houses/bhava are the aspects of your individual life. These vary as per the positioning of the rising sign. The ‘functional agents/karak’. Your life experience is linked more to these. The ‘one who experiences’ is most important. So when analysing as per your individual horoscope, the houses have more weightage than the natural archetypes/signs.
  • The lunar mansions/Nakshatra are the finer nuances. The innate nature which lies beneath the surface. For a Jyotishi, Nakshatra and knowing how to use them is quite essential.

Predictive and psychological are two faces of the same coin. One gives rise to the other and the other helps us understand the first more deeply.

In the predictive approach, you think systematically in terms of causes, you classify and discriminate. You look at the horoscope as if it were a problem. You are going to solve it. You have the maths, the 1+1=2 systems. You are aware of the details of the entire horoscope, the rules on interpretation and all the important combinations. You have read all the authoritative works of your seniors. You use precise words, there are very clearly defined events occurring. You finally reach a static conclusion on the physical event. And the baby is born!

When you enter the realm of the psychological, you cannot take the apparent causes as enough, there will always be more. More things corresponding and combining, the past, the present and the tendencies for the future. Nothing can be defined completely, there is always a potential. You look and try to combine, synthesise. You look for an event but really you are trying to define a process. You observe how this event changes things on all levels. You are inclusive and qualitative in approach here. You are delving into the inner worlds so you look behind the meanings of every symbol, you feel. You use the 1+1=2 math but you listen to your intuition and your experience. You look at the horoscope as a mystery, you want to find the interconnections, the patterns so that you understand. You now hold the baby in against your cheek and feel his tiny self in your arms!Predictive v/s Psychological AstrologyOf the ancient Sanskrit Jyotish texts available to us, only about 20% have been translated in the past 100-200 yrs. Earlier, Jyotishi-s could read and understand Sanskrit. Sanskrit is the real mother tongue, though we don’t know how to speak it now, (a sin committed by the invaders, just 300yrs were enough to wipe out our ancient culture). Devbhasha Sanskritam, the perfectly arranged language of Light, cannot be completely translated to any other recent language. Then again those texts related to the physical effects were translated on priority, because the current trend is of the physical. Maybe in the future if there are sufficiently learned Jyotishi-s who can translate the remaining in the real sense, we would know about the other not-in-the-limelight aspects of Jyotish.

So till then, this will remain predictive v/s psychological rather than predictive and psychological!


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