Are the core numbers important in relationships?

The five core numbers are life path, birthday, expression, soul urge and personality. These are significant in understanding life trends and characteristics. It is true that certain numbers are more compatible with each other as compared to others. If the name has changed, especially if the change has been made legal, the new numbers are given equal weight as the numbers in one's birth name.

One misconception I have heard is that the more numbers you have in common with someone else, the more compatible you are. Through studying thousands of charts of couples, I have not found a reliable connection between having more numbers in common and having a happier relationship or marriage. Neither have I found there to be a reliable connection between close friends and having more numbers in common. Having four or five numbers in common with someone else you encounter in daily life is statistically quite rare and it indicates a particularly karmic connection. Therefore there are not many long-term relationships having these numbers in common. When it does happen, (which is much more likely to occur outside a romantic relationship context), you can sense there is a fated quality to the meeting in that it could not be avoided. There is something important to be learned there. Usually there is a sense of unfinished business from previous lifetimes and you can gain more insight into what that might be by studying the rest of the synastry/ composite chart. I find this helpful in order to resolve things from your end so that the same situation does not repeat over and over again. Keep in mind that having more numbers in common does not necessarily mean that you will like/ trust the person, either in a friendship or romantic sense, that you would become close to the person or that they will be in your life for a long time. These things could happen but if they do it would be due to other factors in the Astronumerology synastry/composite, not because of the core numbers.

The bottom line is that in assessing compatibility, trust and emotional closeness, number similarity is not a defining feature. In contrast, understanding how one person's core numbers interacts with another's core numbers will give insight into their dynamic and life trends together.


What does it mean if I see repeating numbers?

Repeating numbers are always significant. If it happens write the occurrences down in a journal, the time you noticed it and what you were feeling when it happened. Each number is tied to a planet and if you see that number repeating it could indicate that planet's transits are about to be especially impactful for you over the near future. It could indicate that someone who has that planet heavily represented in their chart is about to play an important role in your life. For example, you keep seeing multiple number 8s. Eight corresponds to Saturn so someone with an angular Saturn, lots of Capricorn or Aquarius or number 8 in their numerology chart is about to influence you in a memorable way. On the other hand, it could be trying to tell you something about your upcoming Saturn transit.

If you are stuck in the middle of two options, two people, two situations or generally when you have to make a decision between going down one path or the other, the repeating numbers could be giving clues as to the one that serves your overall best interests in the most optimal way and/or give clues as to which one could end up sabotaging you. Again paying attention to your feelings and intuition when you see the numbers is critical.

A number that you notice very often could mean that the corresponding planets' energy in your life is out of balance and that you need to work on integrating it in your life in a healthier way. Planets that are out of balance create negative karma which manifests in the planet's weakness and malefic nature in future lives.

Pay attention to the repeating number's characteristics. Seeing a lot of 1s could mean you are about to take a totally different direction in life, something that is a total break with the past. Number 5 is significant for foreign travel and relocation. Number 6 could correspond to wanting to have a family, or indicate the urgent need to restore family harmony and closeness. Number 9 could mean you need to wrap up a certain issue or gain closure around it so you can move on.

There are many ways that I decode the meaning of the numbers. Like dreams, numbers have a definite message for you. The messages are not straightforward nor do they make sense immediately so being patient and taking detailed notes of when this happens will be of great benefit. They will also help me tremendously in trying to assist you to understand what they mean for your life during a reading.


What are the best numbers to optimize my overall success potential?

There is not one set of numbers that will be fortunate for everyone. The answer to this question is found in your Astronumerology chart and it has to be studied holistically to see which characteristics you want to bring out more and strengthen. There are "lucky" names for any given chart, names that tend to bring out the very highest potential of the person and make it really easy for them to attract what they want in life. Unfortunately this means there are "unlucky" names for your chart and that could be why some people find it really hard to get ahead in life despite working really hard.


What are my lucky numbers?

​It depends on which planets are strongest and most favourable for you in your chart. It is similar to selecting a lucky gemstone, you have to understand how the corresponding planet is behaving in your chart to select its corresponding number to keep around you. Once you know your lucky numbers you can keep them around you and your living space.


Are crystals and numerology related?

Just like numbers, each crystal carries a unique vibration and meaning. Once you know which planets and numbers are best for you, you can choose to keep a crystal which carries a similar vibration around you. For instance, rose quartz has an affinity for Venus and number 6 because it represents love and romance. Laboradite has an affinity with Neptune and number 7 because of its ability to cause lucid dreaming and dream recall. Moonstone has an affinity with the Moon and number 2 as it enhances peace and emotional security. Keeping crystals in your pocket, wearing them as jewellery, or even keeping them in or attached to your bra for ladies, is a good way to infuse their energy into your aura. At night you can sleep with a crystal under your bed so that its energy has 6-8 hours to work its way into your system. During meditation placing a crystal on your body that relates to one of the seven chakras is also useful to balance your energy and be open to the spiritual messages of the crystals and numbers.

        I recently discovered Sivana East's website as they saw my work in Elephant Journal and requested an interview with me. I am delighted they found me because their website is a hidden gem filled with numerous metaphysical and spiritual articles, and articles on yoga, gemstones, astrology, meditation, holistic healing, and conscious living. In addition, they have a podcast with recent episodes on mindfulness, yoga, Ayurveda and Chinese medicine. You don't need any background in these subjects as they are intended for a general audience and are easy to understand. I've already learned so much from all the knowledgeable experts there! If you have some spare time during the holidays, I highly recommend browsing through all the wisdom they have to offer.

       Sivana also has some great products for sale, including items for yoga, jewelry, clothing, incense and smudging, and healing crystals. Not only do these make terrific gifts, but a portion of the proceeds go to funding nutrient programs for children living in India, and they have helped over
60 000 children so far. I believe in supporting organizations with a humanitarian vision and who strive to make a difference, and I believe this is an excellent way to make an impact. I'll leave you with this thought-provoking quote that I feel is reflective of the essence of this beautiful website:

     American film producer Harvey Weinstein has been in the news the last couple of days for making unwanted sexual advances and sexual assaults on several women, many of them high profile actresses such as Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow. These weren't all recent but the actresses recalled their early days in film when they were much younger when these incidents occurred. The usual pattern for him was to lure young women into his hotel room under the pretense of a business meeting, appear in a hotel robe, ask for a massage and then proceed to initiating sexual acts. He told them not to tell anyone and suggested that if they complained or took legal action he would ruin their reputation and careers. They feared being dropped from projects and having a harder time getting future projects both with him and with other producers because he was so well-connected. Some of them entertained his advances because they didn't feel like they had a choice. He had helped launch and further several careers, and women won Oscars for appearing in his movies. He directly told women that if they gave into his sexual advances, he could progress their careers. Other women like Mira Sorvino and Rosanna Arquette declined and felt that their careers suffered as a result. He was an incredibly rich and powerful man, and used his resources to its fullest advantage. He had his legal team pay them off, sign non disclosure agreements, and even sign statements agreeing that what they alleged never happened. He deliberately hurt people who went against him. The New Yorker article describes an account of a former employee who had knowledge of two settlements, "It felt like David versus Goliath...the guy with all the money and the power flexing his muscle and quashing the allegations and getting rid of them." Even employees within his company couldn't tell human resources because they knew they would be told to leave, after all it was Harvey's company! Female employees were being used to facilitate these meetings between Harvey and the women, even being termed "honeypots" because they would stay for a little while and then told to leave so Harvey could be alone with the woman. While they felt it was wrong, felt pressured to do it because of the culture of silence within the organization.

​     It has been decades that Harvey has been repeating this behaviour, and it has been somewhat of an open secret in Hollywood. I wondered why these allegations were all coming to light now so I checked what was going on in the stars to get some insight into the inevitable unfolding of his karma.

​

     This past July I wrote a post regarding the effects of sade sati, the 7 and a half year transit of Saturn over the natal Moon and the houses adjacent to it. This is a difficult period for the vast majority of people, but specific effects occur according to one's Moon sign and their overall chart. Please check that post for further detail to assess the auspiciousness of each subsection of sade sati. Harvey has a Sagittarian moon in the Vedic system and Saturn will move into Sagittarius on October 26th which means that the most intense phase of his difficulties will be beginning soon. When Saturn is exactly on one's Moon, feelings of depression, pessimism, anxiety, trouble, and lack of motivation can set in and proliferate, dominating the mind. This proclivity is made worse because natally Harvey has Saturn is Hasta, and Hasta is the Moon's own nakshatra which links the Moon and Saturn. 

​      A couple of weeks before Saturn actually shifts signs, we can start to feel the effects of the house it is moving into, thus these allegations are surfacing. Moreover on October 26th, the transiting Moon that day is Sagittarius so the effects of Panoti yoga are bad for people with a natal Moon in Sagittarius from October 26th 2017 to January 25th 2020.

​      Transiting Jupiter in Libra is making a tight trine to his Venus-Rahu conjunction. This conjunction played a significant part in his downfall because Rahu is insatiable anywhere it is placed in the chart, always craving more and more. If it is conjunct a planet, especially tightly conjunct a planet like in his case, it makes the person feel like they can never get enough of what that planet represents. Symbolically Venus represents women, and Harvey was constantly craving young, beautiful women and sexual favours and relations with them. It was never enough with one woman, he needed more and more to help satisfy his urges. Harvey was never satisfied. He had immense power so was able to intimidate them into keeping it secret for so long, but when the transiting planets activate your natal karma, you will have to pay the piper! This endless quest for more women has not only ruined his professional reputation but also caused his wife, Georgina Chapman, to seek a divorce from him.

​      Looking at the transits in the Western system for October 10th 2017 when the news was starting to break out these stories, we can see that his natal Sun is under a lot of stressful transits such as a wide applying square from Saturn in Sagittarius, a tight applying opposition from Venus in Virgo and a wide applying opposition from Mars in Virgo. The Sun represents one's individuality and ego, the essence of who you are. His core sense of self is coming under attack. Stressful transits are made more challenging for Harvey as his Sun is conjunct malefic fixed star scheat which symbolizes humiliation and catastrophes. When these squares and oppositions come, it brings about the negative karma of scheat.

​      Pluto is retrograding back to a conjunction with his Moon intensifying feelings of resentment towards these women (symbolized by the Moon) for coming out at the same time and running his reputation. Pluto in conjunction with the Moon can make emotions volatile, explosive and even aggressive.

     Transiting Sun and Mercury are making tight oppositions to his natal Mercury; his ability to communicate his true thoughts and feelings is being stifled for public relations purposes. The transiting Sun and Mercury are also tightly opposing his natal Jupiter; Jupiter represents ethics and morals, and the media is shining a spotlight on his ethical transgressions and abuses of power. It didn't help matters that the transiting North Node is tightly conjunct his natal Pluto, which is spotlighting the way he used his power and influence to intimidate and threaten people thinking that his secret would forever be kept a secret.
    
      His natal Mars in Scorpio and Pluto in Leo are in a tight square and this aspect tends to make people either sexual predators or sexual victims. If a predator, it gives great ability to intimidate, threaten and over power people, so much so that they feel like giving up. The sexual drive and repressed aggression are primal and tremendously strong. There is a charisma that even without using physical force, the person's presence and voice is enough to really scare others. For example, Emma de Caunes recalls her memory of Harvey in the hotel with his bathrobe on, demanding that she lie on the bed,
"I was very petrified. But I didn't want to show him that I was petrified, because I could feel that the more I was freaking out, the more he was excited. It was like a hunter with a wild animal." She continued that everybody in Hollywood knew he was doing this, many people see it, and are directly or indirectly involved but they are too scared to say anything. With Pluto being activated your deepest secrets, buried transgressions and mishandling of the power allocated to you have a way of coming out. 

We can have joy in our troubles, because we know that these troubles produce patience. And patience produces character, and character produces hope.
-Romans 5: 3-4


         Sade sati is the commonly dreaded seven and a half year period of the transit of Saturn over one's natal moon and the houses adjacent to it in Vedic astrology. For example, a person with their Moon in Scorpio would begin sade sati when Saturn moves to 0 degrees Libra and end in the period when Saturn moves to 0 degrees Capricorn, that is a start date of November 2011 and end date of January 2020 (if Saturn retrogrades into the previous sign, the period will be a little longer). In this example the three phases of sade sati last while Saturn is in Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius. Saturn spends about two and a half years in each sign. Sade sati happens every 30 years, so takes up one quarter of our lives. This is an awfully long time to dread! If people are so consumed waiting for something negative to happen, they can miss the opportunities for personal growth and advancement that are available to them. Depending on the karma of the person, it can be the case that they experience the pinnacle of success in sade sati, for example Donald Trump got elected to be the President of the United States when Saturn transited over his Moon sign Scorpio in 2016. People can continue to receive promotions in their career, get married, become famous, wealthy or spiritually enlightened in this period. It depends on the motivation and strength of will of the person, their ability to endure adversity, and their past karma as seen through their chart.

​      Regardless of successes happening in life, sade sati can be difficult on the mind by making thinking more pessimistic and sometimes clinically depressed. It can incline towards comparisons of success between you and other people or feelings of wanting to give up. Other people could be overly critical and aggressive, and you could experience low self-esteem. This is even more so if one has a string of failures over and over again (which can easily happen in this period), nothing seems to be working out. The mind starts thinking, no matter how hard I try, other people keep stopping me from succeeding and even people who I thought were my friends really aren't there for me when I need them. These are natural feelings and occurrences of the period, but the key to winning this battle is to know why these feelings are arising and to be cognizant of staying faithful, optimistic and confident that your dreams will come to fruition when the time is right.
​
​     To the general public, sade sati is full of fear, anxiety and doom about what lies ahead. Some astrologers even propagate this view to collect more money from clients in recommending them to buy expensive astrological gems and pujas even if they have financial difficulties. I believe that a person who is in sade sati needs to be informed of its real potential in their specific astrological chart and empowered to make the best decisions they can. No two people will experience exactly the same effects in the same timeframes even if they have the same natal Moon sign. Although one would expect the transit of Saturn exactly on a person's Moon sign to be the most difficult overall of the three phases, this is not always true. It is true that Saturn within 10-15 degrees on either side of your Moon will cause psychological and emotional turmoil. At the same time, with regards to devastating and tremendously unfair external events it could be that Saturn's transit over the signs adjacent to your Moon sign bring them.

       To have a comprehensive picture of the types of experiences you will attract, you need to analyze the whole chart to get the holistic overview. To make it more specific you look at the strength and favourability of Saturn and the Moon. The score in the relevant houses Saturn will go over, ashtakavarga, could shed insight into the extent of favourability of the affairs of that house. The dashas a person is in, the transits they are running, and the bhinnashtaka varga of Saturn and the Moon have to be looked at. There is also the Panoti Yoga to consider. Rarely will someone have a completely "good" sade sati or "bad" sade sati. The three distinct periods of Saturn's two and a half ingress through the signs adjacent to and including your Moon sign can give different results.

​        To assess strength and favourability of Saturn and the Moon, you look at which signs they are placed in. Are they exalted, in their own sign, moolatrikona, in a great friend's sign, in a friend's sign, a great enemy's sign, an enemy's sign or in their fall? Exaltation is the best condition, followed by moolatrikona, great friend's sign, friend's sign, neutral, enemy's sign, great enemy's sign and fall is the weakest. If the Moon or Saturn are in fall, see if they have neecha bhanga raja yoga to reduce negative effects and even replace them with positive effects. Examine how full the Moon was; the new Moon is least favourable (when the Sun and Moon are in the same sign) and the full Moon is most auspicious (when the Sun and Moon are in opposite signs). The Moon gains in favourability when it is gaining in light (waxing) and it becomes less auspicious as it starts losing light (waning). Saturn and the Moon both become more favourable if aspected by benefics such as Jupiter, Venus and Mercury, and less favourable if aspected by malefics such as Saturn, Mars, Ketu, Rahu and the Sun (although the Sun is only mildly malefic). Check the dignities of Saturn and the Moon in the 16 varga charts to see what the balance is between favourable and unfavourable signs, this will contribute to its favourability or lack of it in the rasi chart. While normally a planet is weakened by being in 0-1 degree or 28-29 degrees of a sign, if the planet receives good dignities in at least 8 of the varga charts it negates this weakness and instead makes the planet powerful.

​      The houses they are placed in and rule make a difference too. Houses 1, 5, 9, 4, 7, 10, the kendras and trikonas are favourable. Houses 2, 3, and 11 are neutral, but Saturn placed in houses 3 and 11 becomes more favourable as a person gets older. Houses 6, 8, and 12 are dusthana houses which give bad results. It can be the case that Saturn or the Moon rule a dusthana house but are placed in a favourable house, or rule a favourable house but are placed in a dusthana house, this gives mixed results. Remember to analyze the chart both from the lagna and Chandra lagna, and to use the navamsa. The navamsa becomes more important after the mid-thirties so if Saturn and the Moon are weak in the rasi chart, but strong in the navamsa, it will help. Remember that any planet in a mixed condition in the horoscope can give both good and bad results at different times in life when they get activated by transit or dasha.

​     The quality of a house can be further seen by samudaya ashtakavarga which tells you the relative favourability of one house compared to the other. For instance, a person with a score of 32 in the 10th house is likely to have an outstanding career/ public reputation and be formally recognized for their achievements. Scores 25 and below are weak, 26-30 is average to favourable, and above 30 is very favourable, the 12 houses must add to 336. The exception is the 12th house where it is better to have a lower score. If the score of the 12th house is not less than the score in the 11th house, it is much easier for a person to fall in debt and to be spending more than they are making. For the 3 houses Saturn transits during Sade Sati, it is preferred to have scores of at least 26 in each.

​       If a person runs Saturn and/or the Moon as their mahadasha or sub dasha, the effects of sade sati will be more apparent. If a person experiences their Saturn return (typically age 28-30 and 58-60) during sade sati, the effects of Saturn will be more intense. The Saturn return is not always a bad thing however, so intense can mean that it will amplify the success potential if that is what is indicated in the chart. If a person's Saturn return is not auspicious then a concurrent sade sati can mean double trouble. If the person is running a planet(s) dasha of unfavourable planets for their chart, that could make the sade sati worse. In contrast if a person is running two good planets, it will serve to soften the period and make it easier to succeed. The same can be said for transits; if a person is experiencing pleasant transits that are activating favourable placements such as raja yogas or dhana yogas in their chart, the effects of the period will be better. If a person is experiencing challenging transits such as Saturn conjunct Pluto or Pluto opposing the Moon, the effects of the period will be worse.

​      Every planet has a bhinnashtaka score in each house. This score measures the potential of the planet to give good results by transit in the house. Scores of 4-8 are favourable, 3 is neutral, and 0-2 are weak. The important consideration for sade sati is whether the Moon has the same or higher score than Saturn for that house. For instance if my Moon is in Leo in the 4th house with 6 points, it is best if Saturn has 5 or fewer points in the 4th house. I would also consider the points Saturn and the Moon give in my 3rd and 5th houses to assess the results of their respective two and a half year periods. If the Moon has less points than Saturn for any given house, it can be easier for Saturn to cause obstacles and grief during that two and a half year period. While it is desirable to have higher scores, a person can still do well if Saturn has 1 point in a house, as long as the Moon has 2 or more points.

​       Panoti Yoga assesses the transiting Moon's sign at the moment Saturn enters 0 degrees of a sign (referred to as Saturn's ingress). You are comparing the transiting Moon's sign to your natal Moon's sign to give insight into the favourability of that two and a half year period. If the transiting Moon is in the 1st, 6th, or 11th sign from the natal moon, the effects are bad. If the transiting Moon is in the 4th, 8th, or 12th sign from the natal moon, these are the worse effects. If the transiting Moon is in the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th or 10th sign from the natal Moon the effects are good.

​      Astrological counting of signs begins with the sign and moves forward in the zodiac. To illustrate, if my Moon sign is Cancer, the 1st sign is Cancer, the 2nd sign is Leo, the 3rd sign is Virgo, the 4th sign is Libra, the 5th sign is Scorpio, the 6th sign is Sagittarius, the 7th sign is Capricorn, the 8th sign is Aquarius, the 9th sign is Pisces, the 10th sign is Aries, the 11th sign is Taurus and the 12th sign is Gemini. Therefore a person with their Moon in Cancer would have good effects phases if the transiting Moon at the time of Saturn's ingress was in Leo, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, Pisces or Aries. They would have a bad effects phase if the transiting Moon was in Cancer, Sagittarius or Taurus. They would have a worst effects phase if the transiting Moon was in Libra, Aquarius or Gemini.

​      Using Parashara's Light Vedic astrological software to calculate planetary motion, I've summarized the signs that the Moon has been in when Saturn changes signs from 1977 to 2052. Note that during these periods listed for Saturn enters, Saturn may have been retrograde in the previous sign (not listed) and that is why it looks like some of Saturn's phases are shorter or longer then about two and a half years. For instance, in April 2017 Saturn went retrograde, in June 2017 Saturn's retrograde motion took it into Scorpio, by August 2017 Saturn will turn direct and finally Saturn will enter Sagittarius by October 2017.
​      

      To use this table, locate your natal Moon sign under the Saturn enters column. Look at the Moon at time of Saturn's ingress column for the sign the transiting Moon was in for the row above your natal Moon, beside your natal Moon (same row), and row after your natal Moon. Keep in mind these dates were based on Eastern Daylight Time so if you are in a different time zone, there is a small chance the Moon could have been in a different sign at the exact time of Saturn's ingress. You would need an ephemeris or astrological software to be absolutely sure.

​      ​      If I am looking at past dates and my Moon sign is Virgo, I would look at the Saturn enters column, scroll down to Leo, and find that it entered on September 6th 1977. That is the first two and a half year period of my sade sati. The Moon was in Gemini at the time of Saturn's ingress into Leo and Gemini is placed in the 10th sign from Virgo. Therefore the period between September 6th 1977 and November 3rd 1979 would have good effects. Saturn entered Virgo on November 3rd 1979 and the Moon was in Aries at the exact time of Saturn's ingress to Virgo. Aries is the 8th sign from Virgo and as a consequence the period from November 3rd 1979 to October 5th 1982 would have the worst effects. To check the final phase of my sade sati I see that Saturn entered Libra on October 5th 1982. At the time of Saturn's ingress the Moon was in Aries similar to the second phase of sade sati, therefore the period from October 5th 1982 to December 20th 1984 would have the worst effects.

​       As of August 2017, people who are currently running sade sati are those with Moon in Libra (since 2009), Moon in Scorpio (since 2011), and Moon in Sagittarius (since 2014). Those who have Moon in Libra are lucky to have had 3 good phases of sade sati in Panoti yoga. In their last sade sati from November 1979- December 1987 they had 3 good phases as well. Those who have Moon in Scorpio have had two consecutive worst effects phases in panoti yoga since November 2011 but will start a good phase in October of 2017. In their last sade sati, from 1982-1987 they ran two consecutive bad effects phases and their last phase from 1987-1990 gave worst effects. Those who have Moon in Sagittarius have had a bad effects period from November 2014- October 2017, and will continue to have a bad effects period from October 2017-January 2020. From January 2020 to April 29th 2022 they will have a good effects period. Those who have Moon in Capricorn will start their sade sati in October 2017 with a worst effects period until January 2020. From January 2020 to April 2022, they will have a bad effects period. Those with Moon in Libra will finish their sade sati in October 2017.

​      One should not feel excess fear if they are in a worst effects period. It can include significant health challenges, financial problems, career setbacks, lack of suitable employment, academic troubles in school, marital or familial issues, legal problems, battles with enemies, and overall feelings of unhappiness, isolation, depression, and grief. But it does not mean that success or happiness is impossible to achieve. Interestingly, out of all the Moon signs, people with their Moon in Scorpio have been hit the hardest in Panoti yoga in their current and last sade sati periods, where out of 6 phases of Saturn combined, 3 of them were worst effects, 2 bad effects and only 1 good effects. The Moon is fallen and therefore very weak in Scorpio because what the Moon represents is not a good fit for the traits of Scorpio.

​       Looking to future dates, the Moon sign Sagittarius will experience three consecutive worst effects phases from December 2043 to February 2052. The Moon sign Gemini will experience a bad effects phase from August 2029 to May 2032 and then two consecutive worst effects phases from May 2032 to August 2036. All other Moon signs will have at least one good effects phase within their next sade sati. Nevertheless it is the pressure of sade sati, and especially the bad and worst effects phases within it, that polishes our character and enables us to go to great heights. Consider this quote from world renowned healer John of God:

"I have been a gem prospector, and I know that the precious stone needs to suffer the process of cutting and polishing in order to reveal its beauty. Seeing a gem in its raw state, one would not give it any value, but once polished, its magnificence is revealed. Every son and daughter is a rare diamond of creation, but they must be polished, implying pain and suffering, in order to realize their higher mission and consciousness. The world passes through great transformations, consequently generating great suffering, so we must put our faith and trust in the One Supreme Being who is our God."

​     Worst effects is also to be considered in light of environmental factors. For example, take the hypothetical case of Leslie. Leslie is a Canadian university graduate in her late twenties who ran two consecutive phases under the worst effects of Saturn immediately after graduation. She is beautiful, bright, and ambitious, yet people far less qualified than her kept beating her in interviews. When she did find jobs they were short term contracts, some in her field and some not. However since Leslie lived at home, she did not have to struggle financially as her parents are upper middle class. She could afford to be unemployed between jobs, and used this time for working on her own small business. Contrast this situation with the hypothetical case of Ravi, a young man in his twenties from a poor family in India. Ravi is intelligent and very hard working. He had enrolled in university but because his father who was the sole income earner driving an auto rickshaw fell ill with a serious disease, he had to drop out and start working. He was unable to complete his studies during this time as he could not borrow the money from other sources. Even though Ravi and Leslie may have had the same Moon sign giving them the same sequence of the effects of Saturn, their realities are much different. As this example illustrates, the results partially depend on the strength of support one has from other people and the opportunities/ resources available to them.

​       If your chart indicates a spiritual nature, and you were born with Moon conjunct Saturn in the same sign, and especially so if the conjunction is within 10 degrees, you can be sure that you are an old soul. People who have a great degree of innate wisdom and strength, and who are able to withstand immense pressure and adversities tend to be born with this conjunction. It generally will delay material success until after age 31-32, but after that these people having purified their Saturn karma can rise to very high positions in life. The natal conjunction of Moon and Saturn also ensure that when you experience sade sati by transit, that you are able to deal with it much more productively than other people.
​
​       The takeaway from this article should be that analyzing the real effects of sade sati is a multi-step process with many astrological and environmental factors to consider. Breaking it down into three phases we see that there are various methods to objectively assess the prosperity and/or challenges of the relevant time frame. Despite how daunting it may look, even the worst sade sati periods have their hidden blessings! These testing periods that when passed through successfully allow God to take us to the next level of joy and abundance. This is the essence of the value of astrology; to act in accordance with the knowledge of the natural timing of the cycles in our lives.



​References

​Braha, James. (2001). The Art and Practice of Ancient Hindu Astrology. Hermetician Press.

​Svoboda, Robert. (1997). The Greatness of Saturn. Lotus Press.

​Aditya, Vinay. (2004). Dots of Destiny, Applications of Ashtakavarga. Systems Vision.

Khumar, Dhilip. Secrets of Ashtakavarga Revealed. https://dhilipkumarek.wordpress.com/article/secrets-of-ashtakavarga-revealed-6x7q12qyypma-21/

​Dignity of Planets, http://www.theartofvedicastrology.com/?page_id=266

​Parashara's Light 7.0

​Cumming, H. & Leffler, K. (2007). John of God, The Brazilian Healer who has Touched the Lives of Millions. Atria Books.

Saturn Sign Transits 2000 to 2060, http://www.indiadivine.org/content/topic/1178464-saturn-sign-transits-2000-to-2060/

Gochara Samchari Shani, http://www.barbarapijan.com/bpa/Gochara_Shani/Shani_gochara_transits_table.htm

​
​

Career

     Julia was born October 28th, she is a Scorpio number 1. People born on this day have a deep desire to uncover the truth through research and investigation. They want to expose the truth to the public and go to great lengths to make sure they are proficiently prepared to do it. Strongly opinionated and self- willed, these people are warriors and can fight tooth and nail to achieve their objectives, especially when it involves exposing the truth. Her movie Erin Brockovitch (2000) best exemplified these traits and for her work she received the Academy Award, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award and BAFTA for Best Actress. In this movie based on a true story, she portrayed Erin Brockovitch, a lady who did extensive research to find out that PG & E had known that there was very dangerous chromium in its groundwater that they were misleading the public to believe it was safe chromium. There were many diseases among the residents because of this. She took action to coordinate the plaintiff’s together for a class action lawsuit and obtained documentation to show that the senior management had known this all along and advised the Hinkley operation to keep it a secret. There is a class action lawsuit launched and the plaintiff’s won hundreds of millions of dollars to be distributed among them. For her efforts, her boss, the lawyer gave her a $2 million-dollar bonus, an amount she really needed as a single mother with 3 children. Julia’s chart shape is a sling with handle planet Saturn. In the Western chart, Saturn is in Aries which is normally the sign of its fall which is a weakness but fortunately it is in mutual reception with Mars in Capricorn, (the sign Saturn rules) giving Saturn much more favourability. Saturn is in the 9th house of law and justice. This manifests in that her character is disciplined, hardworking and persistent (Saturn) towards 9th house domains, restoring justice through the law. (Fitting of her chart, Julia had a couple of other movies playing roles in the legal field. She acted in The Pelican Brief (1993), a legal crime thriller where she played a legal student who writes a legal brief of her theory of an assassination case.

       In Conspiracy Theory (2007), Julia plays a U.S Department Justice Attorney who listens to the conspiracy theories of an eccentric taxi driver who is constantly telling her stories.) Also contributing to her fighting spirit is Mars. Mars is out of bounds and exalted in Capricorn meaning that she takes Mars characteristics such as being a persistent warrior to the next level! In the Vedic navamsha, Mars is in fall in Cancer but participates in a Parivartana yoga with Moon in Aries allowing both planets to function with more favourability. In both the Western and Vedic charts, Mars is directly linked to her career as it rules the 10th house. It is interesting that in both charts, Mars is placed in the 6th house of service, jobs and illness/health as Erin came to work at the law office only because she lost her lawsuit and needed a job to support her family. She did a service to the community by doing all of this research into the contamination of the water that was causing people to suffer from disease.
     
​       Another expression of her career roles being linked with 6th house themes such as health/disease/ illness is her part in Steel Magnolias (1989). In this film, Julia’s character Shelby who is a nurse (a typical 6th house job) has type 1 diabetes and she is informed that she could die during childbirth. She successfully delivers a baby boy but shows signs of kidney failure and a year later starts dialysis. Around Halloween, she is found unconscious and is rushed to the hospital where her body rejects the new kidney. Her family takes her off life support. For Julia’s role in this film, she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.

     Mars also represents crime, criminals, police, cons and heists so it is not surprising that Julia acted in Ocean’s Eleven and Ocean’s Twelve, both films incorporated all of these elements.

     Julia is internationally known for her romantic comedy films such as Pretty Woman (1990) which made her a star and others such as Mystic Pizza (1988), Runaway Bride (1999), My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997), Notting Hill (1999), Eat Pray Love (2010) and Valentine’s Day (2010). Julia’s personality number is 11/2, the 2 side is very interested in long lasting meaningful relationships, they work best in partnerships. They value the give and take of sharing intimacy and deeper thoughts and feelings. Number 2s are devoted, cooperative and sensitive to their partners. The number 11 side was best displayed in Eat Pray Love where her character goes on a spiritual quest to Italy, India and Bali where she learns more about herself and connects to herself and God on a deeper level. Julia’s expression number is 6, 6 is associated with love, romance and intimacy. Number 6’s highly value their partnerships and devote a lot of time to building intimate bonds. Number 6 vibrates to Venus. Venus represents romance, love and relationships. In the Western chart, Venus is tightly quincunx the MC showing the career would include Venus governed domains. In the Vedic chart, Venus in Aries is placed in the ascendant of the dashamsha (career chart). Mars which ruled the 10th house in the rasi is in Pisces in the Navamsha and its dispositor is Jupiter in Libra (a sign ruled by Venus). Mars is also the dispositor of Venus in Aries. Thus, Venus is prominently connected to her career.

       It is also interesting how her chart accurately reflects the plot of Pretty Woman, the movie which turned her into a major celebrity. In the Western chart, Venus is in Virgo, the sign of its fall. It is usually at its weakest expression in Virgo. Its dispositor Mercury is in Scorpio, the sign of sex and sex workers. In the Vedic chart Navamsha, Venus is conjunct Saturn and Ketu in Scorpio as well. The conjunction of Venus and Saturn presents the businesslike transaction in relationship/ sex matters.  In this movie, Julia plays a sex worker (Vivian) who is hired by a wealthy business man (Edward) as his escort for several functions. He spends the first night with her at an upscale hotel and very much enjoys her company. To be his escort, she needed suitable clothing and he gives her his credit cards to shop for elegant outfits on Rodeo Drive. However, she is snubbed by the saleswoman who was unimpressed by her lack of sophistication. She doesn’t buy the clothing at that store but instead is helped by the hotel manager who helps her find a dress and coaches her on dining etiquette.  When Edward gets back he is amazed by Vivian’s transformation. In the Western chart, Venus is conjunct Pluto, Pluto represents transformation and Venus represents beauty and self- esteem. Vivian got a huge boost in her self- esteem as a result of her newfound elegance, in fact she returned to the shop that she was snubbed in telling the saleswoman she had made a mistake and that she had to go shopping now! For her work in Pretty Woman, Julia was nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards and won a Golden Globe for the same.
 
  
Wealth

      Julia Roberts was the highest paid actress in the 1990s and first part of the 2000s. She has a number 1 life path and a number 4 soul urge (co-ruled by pioneering Uranus) so it makes sense she held that record.

     In the Vedic chart, Julia has a first rate dhana yoga, in the 2nd house there is Moon, Jupiter and Venus. The Moon is the ruler of the 1st house and Venus is ruler of the 11th house connecting the 1st, 2nd and 11th houses, personalizing mass wealth and bringing it to her. To add to the prosperity, Jupiter is ruler of the 9th house. A powerful Gaja-Kesari yoga takes place in the second house with the Moon-Jupiter conjunction also contributing to massive wealth.

      In the Western chart, Jupiter is in her second house, wherever Jupiter is found we are naturally lucky and blessed. Moreover, Jupiter at 1d Virgo is tightly conjunct benefic fixed star Regulus giving more fortune. Interestingly, her movies Erin Brockovitch (2000) and The Pelican Brief (1993) dealt with Jupiter governed themes of law and justice, both movies earned her a lot of money and the former also earned her many prestigious awards. Also, Jupiter governs professors and higher education. She was paid a record setting $25 million dollars for her lead role in Mona Lisa Smile (2003) where she played a graduate student teaching history of Art at Wellesley College. Her life path 7 also corresponds to higher education, learning and teaching.

​     She has several money making aspects, these are: Venus-Pluto conjunction, Venus-Neptune sextile, Jupiter-Neptune square, Sun-Pluto semisquare, Sun-Mars sextile, Mercury-Uranus semisquare, Uranus-North Node quincunx and Mars-Saturn square. The Sun is ruler of her second house of earned income so the Sun-Pluto and Sun-Mars aspects are particularly helpful.


Fame

There are numerous raja yogas contributing to fame from the ascendant
1.     The ruler of the 1st house Moon is conjunct Venus ruler of the 4th house
2.     The ruler of the 4th Venus is conjunct Jupiter ruler of the 9th
3.     The ruler of the 5th Mars makes a special forward square onto Saturn, ruler of the 7th and in turn Saturn makes a special backward square onto Mars.
4.     The ruler of the 1st Moon is conjunct Jupiter ruler of the 9th
 
As Moon is ruler of the ascendant, it is also very important to check raja yogas from the Chandra Lagna:
1.     Mars as ruler of the 9th house mutually aspects Saturn ruler of the 7th house
2.     Venus as ruler of the 10th house is conjunct Jupiter ruler of the 5th house, this is even more powerful as it occurs in the 1st house
She has Gaja-Kesari yoga as Jupiter is conjunct the Moon, it assumes more significance as it occurs in the 1st house of Chandra Lagna. This yoga bestows fame, wealth, prosperity and intelligence.
Rahu representing worldly fame and success is in her 10th house in the rasi exactly conjunct bhava madya, the midpoint making it very powerful. It is being trinally aspected by Jupiter which expands the effects of fame. Additionally, in the Navamsha, Rahu is in the 10th house in Taurus, some authors believe that Rahu is exalted in Taurus allowing it to give it best effects. Rahu in these placements are showing that she would receive much success, fame and wealth.

      In the Western chart, the ruler of her 10th house of career and fame is Mars which is exalted in Capricorn and out of bounds. This is very auspicious and denotes the person will rise very high in their career to achieve great fame and success, outside of the boundaries of what is normally thought to be success, she surpassed all expectations.

     Julia has two planets conjunct fixed stars. The first one is Jupiter which is tightly conjunct Regulus, a bright, benefic star conferring fame, wealth, dignity and honour. The second one is Neptune which is exactly conjunct Agena, a bright 1st magnitude star that confers honour, power and artistic talents, this is enhanced further as Neptune is conjunct the 5th house cusp and the 5th house represents creative projects and performing arts.


Significant events for Julia

     Steel Magnolias was released November 15th 1989 and she won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress on January 20th 1990 when she was running her Venus-Saturn period in the Vimshottari dasha system. In the rasi, Saturn is in Pisces, its dispositor is Jupiter and Jupiter is conjunct Venus. In the Navamsha, Venus is conjunct Saturn in Scorpio. In the dashamsha, Venus is in Aries, its dispositor is Mars and Mars is conjunct Saturn. Additionally, Saturn is in Pisces, its dispositor Jupiter in Libra opposes Venus.

      Pretty Woman was released March 23rd, 1990 and she won Golden Globe for Best Actress on January 19th 1991 when she was running her Venus-Mercury period in the Vimshottari dasha system. In the rasi, Mercury is in Libra, its dispositor is Venus. In the dashamsha, Venus is conjunct Mercury in the ascendant showing that this period would have notable events for her career, in this case it turned her into a major celebrity.

      She won several prestigious awards for Best Actress in a lead role in 2001 for her portrayal of Erin Brockovitch, the most awards she has ever won for a role. These included the Golden Globe on January 21, the BAFTA on February 25th, the Screen Actor’s Guild Award on March 11th, and the Academy Award on March 25th.  She was running her Moon-Mars period in the Vimshottari dasha. Mars is the ruler of her 10th house of career in the rasi and Moon is directly connected to the career house in the dashamsha, the career chart because the Moon is in Leo, its dispositor Sun is in the 10th house of career. The Moon and Mars are also connected in the rasi and navamsha charts: In the rasi, Mars is in Sagittarius, its dispositor Jupiter is conjunct the Moon. In the Navamsha, the Moon is in Aries and Mars is its dispositor.

      In the Western system, on all of the award dates, there were several tight transits to Julia’s 10th house. Because Pretty Woman turned her into a star, I will use as an example the transits that happened on January 19th 2001 when she won her first award for Best Actress.
 
Natal 10th house indicators:
MC, 16 degrees Aries
North Node in the 10th house, 27 degrees Aries
Mars ruler of 10th, 3 degrees Capricorn
Saturn, dispositor of Mars, 7 degrees Aries
 
Transits (using 5:00pm PST in Los Angeles, California)
Tr Pluto at 20 degrees Scorpio semisquare Mars 2 degrees
Tr Pluto sesquiquadrate Saturn 3 degrees
Tr Neptune at 14 degrees Capricorn square MC 2 degrees
Tr Uranus at 10d Capricorn square Saturn 3d
Tr Saturn at 24d Capricorn square North Node 3d
Tr Saturn biquintile Saturn exact
Tr Jupiter at 9 degrees Leo biquintile Mars exact
Tr Jupiter trine Mars 2 d
Tr Mars at 29d Taurus semisextile North Node 2d
Tr Mars biquintile Mars 2d
Tr Mars semisquare MC 3d
Tr Venus at 18d Aquarius sextile MC 2d
Tr Venus semisquare Mars exact
Tr Mercury at 6d Capricorn conjunct Mars 3d
Tr Mercury square Saturn 1d
Tr Sun at 29d Capricorn square North Node 2d
Tr Moon at 15d Pisces semisextile MC 1d
Tr Moon semisquare North Node 3d
Tr Moon biquintile Mars exact
 
      As we can see, there are several tight transits (19 of them, 4 are exact) to her natal career/ public status indicators, the more transits, the more confident one can be in saying that there will be a significant event around the career. Of the 4 exact aspects, 3 of them were to Mars which makes sense as Mars is the ruler of the 10th house of career.
 
      In Numerology, her birthday is 1 and her soul urge is 4. The birthday number for the date January 19th 1991 is 1 and the life path 4. Additionally, she was in her number 4 personal year which is the same as her soul urge of 4, indicating a year when her dreams would come true or major wishes fulfilled. Julia was in pinnacle number 6 in 2001 and a personal month number 6 in January 2001 which relates to Venus which relates to the themes of love, beauty and romance in Pretty Woman. She had an essence number 2 for age 33 which also represents one on one relationships and finding harmony and happiness within them. On January 19th 2001, she had a personal day number 7 which is the same as her life path, personal days that are the same as your life path tend to be more auspicious for you.

       Meryl was born on June 22nd. People born on this day are very romantic, affectionate, passionate and tend to view life as an adventure. Their inner world of fantasy and imagination is highly developed and they are able to literally feel what it is like to be in another person’s shoes. This advanced degree of emotional intelligence is probably what has helped the audience become totally captivated by so many of Meryl’s roles, she fully embodied the character with her body, mind and soul. Finding their soul mate is of utmost importance to them and takes precedence over everything else in life. They feel that with this type of love, everything else will come to them on its own time. Their memories of past love affairs are often much more dreamy and romantic than the actual relationship itself. This is seen very clearly in The Bridges of Madison County where Meryl’s character writes in vivid detail in her diary her memorable but very short four day affair with a National Geographic Photographer many years ago. Her children discover these diaries after she died. She received a Best Actress nomination at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild in 1996 for this film.
 
Fame

In the Vedic chart:

      Rahu-Ketu is on the 4th-10th axis, particularly Rahu in the 10th helps with worldly recognition. Rahu-Ketu are vargottama, being on the Aries (Rahu)- Ketu (Libra) axis and are greatly strengthened.

     The ruler of her 10th house Mars is vargottama, being in Taurus in both the rasi and navamsha charts. This is very auspicious for career success and recognition.

        Jupiter is normally debilitated in Capricorn but achieves neecha bhanga raja yoga. She has a powerful Gaja Kesari yoga, Jupiter is in a Kendra from the Moon, specifically it is 10th from the Moon which really good for fame, wealth and intelligence. It leads to a very respected position in society. The Gaja Kesari yoga repeats in the dashamsha chart, with the Moon and Jupiter being conjunct in the 6th house. From the lagna, Jupiter  opposes the ascendant (2 degrees) and from the Chandra lagna, Jupiter trinally aspects 1st house ruler Mars which is very powerful and is said to remove many blemishes from the chart. This enhances overall fortune a great deal.

​      From the lagna, there is a raja yoga as the lord of the 5th Mars and lord of the 7th Saturn mutually aspect each other by their respective special forward and backward square aspects. Mars is also ruler of the 10th house of career and is vargottama, being placed in Taurus in the navamsha, adding a big boost to her career.

        From Chandra lagna,(which is important to check especially as her lagna is Cancer), the lord of the 1st Mars and lord of the 10th  Saturn mutually aspect each other by their respective special forward and backward square aspects.

       The lord of the 5th Sun and the lord of the 7th Venus are conjunct in the 3rd house of performing arts, this gives a lot of talent for acting as well as the ability to get positive recognition.

In the Western chart:

     The North Node is conjunct the MC by 4 degrees. Having the NN close to the MC is very beneficial for fame and positive recognition and accolades in their career, these are people who will always be appreciated for the work, regardless of the field.

     The Sun makes an exact quintile to the MC allowing her work to receive many awards, honours and positive recognition, the Sun shines a light on her career. Further, the Sun conjunct Uranus at 0 degrees Cancer is tightly conjunct fixed star Betelgeuse giving ample fortune and great honour.

     The MC ruler Mars at 8 degrees Gemini is tightly conjunct fixed star Aldeberan at 9 degrees Gemini. This fixed star gives fame, honour and success to her career. Mercury at 10 degrees Gemini is also conjunct Aldeberan.

     Jupiter at 0 degrees Aquarius is tightly conjunct fixed star Altair at 1 degree Aquarius. It gives strength of will, courage and nobility.

     In total, she has 5 planets tightly conjunct important fixed stars, having half of her planets under this influence would naturally give her significant fame and honour.

Wealth

In the Vedic chart:

    Venus conjunct Sun on its own is favourable for wealth but is made more powerful because from the lagna, the 2nd house ruler Sun is conjunct the 11th house ruler Venus

     From the Chandra lagna, the 2nd house ruler Venus is conjunct the 5th house ruler Sun in the third house of performing arts, showing she would earn much wealth through her acting skills.

In the Western chart:

     The ruler of her second house Sun is tightly conjunct fixed star Betelgeuse giving success in earned income.

    She has many of the aspects found to be associated with great wealth. These include: Mercury-Mars, Venus-Saturn, Venus-Neptune, Jupiter-Uranus, Sun-Saturn, Mars-Saturn, Sun-Uranus, Sun-Pluto, Mercury-North Node

In Numerology:

Her core numbers are birthday 22/4, life path 6, expression 3, personality 6 and soul urge 6. In my study of Astronumerology and money, I found that numbers 3 and 6 were ranked 1st and 3rd place out of nine numbers for wealth creation.
 
Career

      Consistent with the trailblazing nature of her exact Sun-Uranus conjunction, her Master number 22 birthday (Uranus vibrates to 22) and the fact that Uranus is out of bounds, Meryl has more Academy Award or Golden Globe nominations than any other actor or actress in history. Uranus represents pioneers and “firsts” and it is both exactly quintile her MC and tightly semisextile her ascendant, the 2 most public points of her chart. She is one of a handful of people who have won 3 or more competitive (non- honorary) Academy Awards and she has won more competitive Golden Globes than any other person in history. She has won awards from several other institutions such as the BAFTAs, SAGs, Grammy Awards and the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award to name a few. Number 22 is referred to as the Master Builder, it takes the vision of the 22 and the practicality of the number 4 to create a tangible long lasting legacy. Number 22 reflects genius, innovation and global relevance, all of which she brings to the table. The Sun represents your individuality and essence and Uranus represents future oriented thinking and highly original thought and action, the trailblazer, the close conjunction of Sun-Uranus shows that Meryl naturally embodies Uranian traits as her essence.

      It is interesting to see the parallels between the films Meryl is most noted for and her chart. The film Kramer vs Kramer (1979) won Meryl her first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In this movie, Meryl plays a woman who divorces her husband and subsequently there is a legal battle over custody of their son. In the Vedic chart and Western charts, Mars rules her 10th house of career and represents battles and fighting. Mercury-Mars is referred to as the lawyer’s aspect, Mercury-Mars is conjunct in Meryl’s rasi and dashamsha charts in Taurus and Gemini respectively in the Vedic system and Mercury-Mars is conjunct in Gemini in the Western system. The lawyer’s are fighting to win, unleashing character assassinations on the opposing side. In the Vedic chart, Jupiter the planet that rules legal processes is placed in her 7th house of marriage suggesting a legal process stemming from marriage, this could be divorce or custody battles. Similarly, in the Western chart, the ninth house’s traditional ruler Jupiter is conjunct the 7th house cusp by 2 degrees from the 6th house in Aquarius. Aquarius and its ruler Uranus are related to unexpected and sudden events. Uranus makes an exact quintile to her MC. In the movie, seemingly out of the blue, Meryl’s character Joanna announces to her husband after he gets home from work that she needs to find herself and that she is leaving him, he was not expecting this.

      The ruler of the 10th house in the Western and Vedic charts is Mars which represents war, violence and crime. Meryl acted in multiple productions regarding Mars governed themes such as war and crime including: A Cry in the Dark (1988), The Deer Hunter (1978), Plenty (1985), The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Sophie’s Choice (1982), Mother Courage and her Children (2006), Holocaust (miniseries, 1978), and Lions for Lambs (2007). Sophie’s Choice won Meryl the Academy Award for Best Actress. Looking specifically at that movie, in the vedic chart, Mars is in Taurus, a sign ruled by Venus which represents love and romance. Sophie’s choice is a romantic drama about a Polish immigrant (Sophie) who lived through the war and survived the Auschwitz camp and her later tempestuous relationship with her schizophrenic lover who she shares a boarding house with. The relationship at times was abusive but it was passionate characteristic of Mars. Mars is conjunct Mercury both in the rasi and dashamsha (career chart), indicating a communication component (Mercury-Mars is powerful in Gemini in the lagna in the career chart). Indeed the film revolves around Sophie telling her memories about her experience in the Auschwitz camp to her roommate Stingo, including a very deep and painful secret. Rahu-Ketu run along the 4th-10th axis, they deal with drugs, alcohol, mental disorders and suicide. Her lover (Nathan) was self- medicating with drugs and at the end Sophie becomes depressed and alcoholic because of the burden of her painful secret. Nathan and Sophie tragically commit suicide at the end. The Western chart shows Moon in Taurus in the 10th house, this movie was very emotional in both range and depth and was heartbreaking for the audience as they are completely swept into Sophie’s painful memories. Generally, having the Moon in the 10th house helps one connect better on an emotional level to the public or in the case of actresses allows the audience a deeper emotional appreciation for their work. The depth and range of emotion is also enhanced by Pluto’s tight trine to the MC and the fact that Pluto is the planet closest to the ascendant. People may view her work as cathartic and transformative.

      In her movie Iron Lady (2011) for which she won her third Oscar, she portrayed British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her rise to power from lower middle class woman to Prime Minister. This was a male dominated world (Mars) through which she successfully navigated as a woman (Mars is in Taurus, a sign ruled by Venus which represents the feminine). Worth noting is that many prime ministers have a tight Mercury-Mars aspect denoting their quick thinking processes, assertiveness and sharp communication skills. Mercury and Mars are conjunct in both her rasi and dashamsha charts, the latter of which is emphasized as it is in Mercury’s ruled sign Gemini and in the first house. In her older years, Margaret struggled with dementia, Rahu-Ketu representing mental disorders runs across Meryl’s 4th-10th house axis. In the Western chart, Pluto the planet of power is in authoritarian Leo in her 1st house. Margaret was undoubtedly one of the most powerful and tough women in history, thus she earned her nickname, the Iron Lady. Her chart shape is a bucket with handle planet Jupiter. Jupiter represents law and politics. She became a barrister in 1953 and specialized in taxation. In Numerology, the expression of her stage name Meryl Streep equals 3, the number vibrating to Jupiter. Number 3 has a natural interest in law, politics and policy making. Three is also the number of creativity, enthusiasm and joy, giving an interest in artistic pursuits such as drama.

       Meryl is very well known for her romantic dramas. These include: The Bridges of Madison County (1995), Sophie’s Choice (1982), Out of Africa (1985), Falling in Love (1984), The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Defending your Life (1991), It’s Complicated (2009), and Hope Springs (2012). In the Vedic chart 10th house ruler Mars is in Taurus, a sign ruled by Venus representing sensuality, love, romance, relationships and marriage. Mars is vargottama being in Taurus in the Navamsha, greatly strengthening her career and allowing her to perform very well in romantic dramas. In the Western chart, Venus makes an exact square to her MC indicating that romantic dramas centering around love and intimacy would play a major role in her career and that she would become well known for them. The Moon is exalted in Taurus in the 10th house showing that she could infuse these romantic roles with great depth and range of feeling and that she is able to really understand her character’s motivation and emotion on a profound level. In Numerology, 3/5 of her core numbers are 6, the number vibrating to Venus. Meryl has a 6 life path and the name Meryl Streep gives a personality number of 6 and soul urge number of 6. Love and romance is one of the most important areas of life for number 6 people, they take great pride in their intimate relationships. The emphasis on Venus, Taurus and number 6 also explain her interest in acting courses in school, she obtained a Master of Fine Arts in 1975 from Yale University.
 
Significant events

      For her work on Kramer vs Kramer released on December 19th 1979, she won Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes among several other nominations and wins from other institutions. The Golden Globe and Academy Awards were won between January and April 1980 when she was running Mars-Moon in the Vimshottari dasha system. In the rasi chart, Mars is the ruler of the 10th house of career and Moon is placed in Aries in the 10th house. In the Navamsha, Moon is in Libra, its dispositor is Venus and Venus is conjunct Mars. In the dashamsha, Moon is in Scorpio, its dispositor is Mars.

      For her work on Sophie’s Choice released December 8th 1982, she won Best Actress at the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes and was nominated for the same at the BAFTAs. The Golden Globe and Academy Awards were given between January and April 1983 when she was running Rahu-Rahu. In the rasi chart, Rahu is in the 10th house of career. Worth noting is that Rahu is vargottama, being placed in Aries in the rasi, navamsha,  and dashamsha charts, adding a lot to its favourability for her worldly fame since that is what Rahu governs.

    For her work on the Iron Lady released on January 13th 2012 (North American release date), she won Best Actress at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and the BAFTA among several other nominations and wins from other institutions. These awards were won between January-February 2012 when she was running Jupiter-Mars. Additionally, Meryl won the Kennedy Center Honours to recognize her lifelong accomplishments in the performing arts on December 4th 2011 to recognize her lifelong accomplishments in the performing arts in Jupiter-Mars. In the rasi, Mars is the ruler of the 10th house of career, Mars in Taurus is trinally aspected by Jupiter in Capricorn. Mars mutually aspects Saturn (Jupiter’s dispositor) by their respective special forward and backward square aspects. In the dashamsha, Jupiter is in Scorpio, its dispositor is Mars.

​     In 2010, President Barack Obama awarded Meryl the National Medal of Arts, it is the highest honour given for achievement in the arts conferred to an individual artist by the people. The same year she was given an honorary Doctor of Arts by Harvard University.  In 2010, Meryl was running Jupiter-Moon, the two planets that comprise her powerful Gaja-Kesari yoga discussed earlier, this yoga brings fame and very high honours/ awards.
 
To give an example of the Western system’s timing, I will use December 4th 2011 the date she won the Kennedy Center Honours
 
Natal 10th house indicators
10th house cusp 18d Aries
10th house ruler Mars at 8d Gem
Mercury (dispositor of Mars) at 10d Gem
Moon at 14d Taurus in the 10th house
North Node at 22d Aries in the 10th house
 
Transits
Tr Pluto at 6d Cap quincunx Mars 2d
Tr Uranus at 0d Aries quintile Mars 2d
Tr Uranus semisquare Moon 1d
Tr Saturn at 26d Libra sesquiquadrate Mars 3d
Tr Saturn sesquiquadrate Mercury 1d
Tr Saturn oppose North Node 4d
Tr Mars at 10d Virgo biquintile 10th house cusp 2d
Tr Mars square Mars 2d
Tr Mars square Mercury exact
Tr Mars sesquiquadrate North Node 3d
Tr Venus at 10d Cap quincunx Mars 2d
Tr Venus quincunx Mercury exact
Tr Mercury at 11d Sag oppose Mars 3d
Tr Mercury oppose Mercury 1d
Tr Mercury quincunx Moon 3d
Tr Sun at 12d Sag oppose Mars 4d
Tr Sun oppose Mercury 2d
Tr Sun quincunx Moon 2d
Tr North Node at 14d Sag oppose Mercury 4d
Tr North Node quincunx Moon exact
 
In total there are 20 tight aspects, including 3 that are exact which would fit the profile of a significant positive event to her career.
 
       In Numerology, Meryl was in a personal year 5 which brings a great diversity of experience, change, excitement, opportunities and a lot of travel.  For age 62, she was in an essence number 22/4, this is very significant as it is her birthday number and when your birthday and essence number for the year are the same, the year tends to bring memorable events and accolades. Interestingly, this award was presented on the 4th as well. December 2011 was a personal month of 8, this energy can bring rewards and recognition for work or advancement in career. Her personal day for December 4th 2011 was 3. Three is the number of creativity and the performing arts. Thus looking at all these influences together, it is very fitting that she won the Kennedy Center Honours for her achievement in the performing arts on December 4th 2011.

       Hanks was born on July 9th, he is a Cancer number 9. Curiosity is the marking feature of this day, investigating, researching and discussing many things, they always want to know the deeper workings of anything that catches their interest. These interests are often off the beaten path, esoteric or not what most people would take the time to explore. Mysteries are especially fascinating, they put a great deal of time and effort trying to figure out the unknown or unexplainable. Perhaps his movie The Da Vinci Code (2006) is the best representation of this fascination for mysteries, he plays a professor in religious iconography and symbology who with the help of a police cryptologist is on a search for the Holy Grail. They must decode important anagram messages and cryptic codes. The Da Vinci Code was the second highest grossing film of 2006. Hanks continued to star in its sequel Angels & Demons (2009), also a mystery thriller involving secret societies, ancient history, symbolism and ambigrams.

      People born on July 9th are patriotic but at the same time very tolerant and accepting of people different from them. They love to interact with people of all walks of life and are slow to form judgements and prejudices. Historical events usually hold their interest and they like to understand how what happened in the past continues to impact the present and future. In Forrest Gump (1994), Hanks plays a slow witted but good hearted man from Alabama who witnesses and in some cases influences historical events in the latter part of the 20th century, meeting historical figures across the way. The film starts with his character, Forrest Gump, waiting at the bus stop talking to strangers from all walks of life about his life story. During the film, he meets several historically significant people and participates in culturally significant events. The film was the top grossing of that year and won six Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Hanks. The Library of Congress chose Forest Gump for preservation in the U.S National Film Registry as being culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. The American Film Institute recognized the film on several lists because of its importance to culture.

        In the Western astrological chart, Venus in Gemini is tightly conjunct the MC and square the Asc, Venusian themes are an integral part of his career and the first impressions he gives to people. With Venus connected to the MC, it was a natural choice for him to study theater in University. In the Vedic chart, Venus is in Taurus, it is the 10th house ruler and placed in the 10th house. Actors often have links from the third house of performing arts to the tenth house of career, indeed Venus is the ruler of his third house and placed in the 10th house. Venus is in a Kendra from the lagna, making it malavya mahaparusha yoga which causes a person to be handsome, graceful, wealthy and surrounded by luxuries. A minor weak point might have been that Venus is sandhi (29th degree). Although sandhi planets are traditionally thought of as a weakness, Hanks is a major exception to that rule, as he has had tremendous success with romantic comedies, love and romance is the domain of Venus. Perhaps this is partly because bhava madya is 28 degrees (Ascendant is at 28 degrees Leo). Planets close to bhava madya tend to gain favourability.

       The name Thomas Jeffrey Hanks gives an expression and personality number 6. Number 6 vibrates with Venus. This influence enhances the Venusian theme of his chart and attracts comfort and luxurious circumstances more easily. Number 6 makes him prone to be noticed for romantic movies and movies dealing with relationships as a major theme, as 6 is a number of love, romance, marriage and partnerships. Tom is known for starring in romantic comedies such as Sleepless in Seattle (1993), You’ve Got Mail (1998) and The Terminal (2004). Number 6 gives him natural grace and charm and an easygoing, likeable personality, and especially popular with women.

        In the Vedic chart, Venus is conjunct Ketu indicating an otherworldly, fantasy nature with romance or an attraction to unconventional people.  In fact, his first major successful movie, Splash (1984), was about him falling in love with a mermaid. Venus conjunct Ketu is also thought by some astrologers to represent homosexuality and unconventional attitudes towards romance/ marriage. Hanks won the Academy Award for Best Actor in Philadelphia (1993) about a lawyer who hides his homosexuality at work but eventually gets fired when his office finds out. He represented himself in court and won significant damages but dies at the end of the movie.
Venus is retrograde indicating a very deep love nature capable of long term commitment but that also has a few problems with expressions of love and a certain awkwardness in social skills when young. Hanks has admitted that he wasn’t popular with teachers or students. He told Rolling Stone Magazine "I was a geek, a spaz. I was horribly, painfully, terribly shy. At the same time, I was the guy who'd yell out funny captions during filmstrips. But I didn't get into trouble. I was always a real good kid and pretty responsible." It is very clear that Hanks has outgrown that stage and is immensely popular, he has many fans worldwide who greatly admire him.

        Venus represents the feminine and women. Early in his career, for a TV sitcom called Bosom Buddies, Hanks played an advertising executive who was forced to dress as a woman to stay in a cheap hotel that catered to women only. Although the sitcom didn’t have a very long run time, critics liked it and it caused Ron Howard to contact Hanks about starring in Splash (1984), the romantic-comedy movie that made him a star. Splash was a fantasy where Tom’s character falls in love with a mermaid but at the end realizes the only way for them to be together is if he sacrifices his life on land and moves to into the sea forever. His subsequent movie Big (1988) was another fantasy movie whereby a child makes a wish to be big and transforms into an adult overnight. He realizes the amount of responsibility required with being an adult and longs to be a kid again. This theme of aging and responsibility for Big and sacrifice for love in Splash can be seen in the Vedic chart with Venus’ opposition to Saturn. Neptune is the planet of fantasy, glamour, animation and imagination as well as movies and the entertainment industry. In the Western chart, Neptune is placed in the 2nd house of earned income and since it is in Libra, its dispositor is Venus linking it directly to his house of career. It is a perfect expression of his karma that he had greatly increased his earned income through acting in romance and fantasy movies as well as animated movies such as Polar Express (2004) and the ongoing Toy Story series.
 
        In the Vedic chart, Mars in the 7th house forward squares Venus, ruler of the 10th placed in the 10th (rasi). In the dashamsha, Venus rules the 1st house and is placed in the 6th house strong in Libra conjunct Mars. In the Western chart, Venus makes a square to Mars. Mars is at critical degree 17 Pisces, giving it extra strength. Number 9 vibrates to Mars and his birthday is on the 9th and the name Thomas Jeffrey Hanks gives a soul urge of 9, enhancing the power of Mars in his life. Number 9 represents battles, fighting, courage, bravery and confidence.  Having two number 9 influences show that part of Hank’s life purpose is to portray the life of brave warriors or stories of surviving against all the odds. Number 9 is a survivor, many hardships can be faced, especially in the younger years but it develops a steely determination and strength later. These influences show that his roles could include Mars governed domains such as battles, soldiers, violence, wars and survival against the elements. His movie Saving Private Ryan (1998) is a war drama about the invasion of Normandy during World War 2. Hanks plays a United States Army Rangers Captain. This film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards winning 5 of them and was the second highest grossing film of that year. Hanks was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

      Mars also represents aggressive acts such as hijacking and extortion as well as aggressive people (such as pirates) so it is fitting that in Captain Phillips (2013) Hanks plays a merchant mariner that was taken hostage by pirates and held for ransom in the Indian Ocean. The movie was nominated for 6 Academy Awards. Hanks was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role by several award granting institutions including the BAFTAs and Golden Globes. In Cast Away (2000), he plays a FedEx employee stranded on an uninhabited  island in the South Pacific after his plane crashes during a violent storm. He tries to survive relying on materials from the FedEx packages that wash up on shore, he manages to stay alive for about 4 years. He then was rescued by a passing cargo ship and was taken home.

​    Hanks' life path of 1 could relate to the independence and survival instinct needed to be alone for that many years. Number 1 people blaze their own trails and are very creative using whatever they have. The courage and self-reliance is characteristic of Mars. Hanks won Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Golden Globes and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Academy Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards. Mars also relates to crime, police and criminals. In Catch Me if You Can (2002), Hanks plays a FBI bank fraud agent who is assigned to track Frank Abagnale, whose primary crime was cheque fraud. In the end, he gets Frank a job at the FBI and Frank ends up catching some of the world’s most elusive check forgers

       In the Vedic chart, Venus is on the 4th-10th nodal axis, along with Saturn. Planets along the nodal axis tend to be amplified. Along the 4th-10th, he has become very famous for his romantic comedies (Venus).  Saturn on the nodal axis caused him to be completely devoted mentally, physically and emotionally to his roles, he really wanted to get into the heart and mind of his characters. In some cases this was displayed with dramatic physical changes such as for Cast Away. The tendency towards fame is also shown by the Leo ascendant, Leos crave attention and spotlight. The Sun and Leo vibrate with number 1. By nature, Hanks is creative, pioneering and likes to follow the road less travelled. Number 1 people are authoritative and do best when in positions of authority, they are very good leaders. Jupiter is in the first house in the rasi and Jupiter also opposes the 1st house in the navamsha, this is said to remove many blemishes in the chart and is a nice blessing. It provides a general sense of good fortune in one’s life. Jupiter in Magha promotes success and being a real star, Maghas enjoy being mighty rulers in whatever domain they find themselves in. However, Jupiter in Magha also inclines towards generosity, they are always willing to give freely. In the Western chart, the Sun and Moon are in mutual reception (Sun is in Cancer, Moon is in Leo), therefore each planet is greatly strengthened by being able to behave more naturally as if it were in its own sign.

      The overall Vedic Chart is quite strong as Venus is in Taurus, Mercury is in Gemini, Moon is in Cancer  and Mars in Aquarius and Saturn in Scorpio participate in parivartana yoga allowing each planet to strengthen. That is a total of 5 planets that are functioning most comfortably in their own signs.
Wealth

      In the Vedic chart, Hanks has a first rate dhana yoga in the 11th house of gains. The 1st house ruler Sun is with 2nd and 11th ruler Mercury in the 11th house. The combination is not blemished by any malefics or dusthana influence allowing its full fruit to manifest. This personalizes the massive wealth and allows it come to him.

      In the Western chart, Neptune placed in the second house is very favourable for gaining wealth, especially if one does Neptunian inspired work which Hanks did. He has many of the traditional money making aspects such as the Venus-Neptune trine, Venus sextile Jupiter, Venus-Pluto sextile, Jupiter semisextile Uranus, Jupiter-Neptune sextile, and Jupiter-Pluto conjunction. He also has some non-traditional money making aspects such as the Sun-Mars trine, Mercury quincunx North Node and Uranus trine North Node. In total he has 9 aspects favourable for making money so that it came naturally to him.
 

Fame

There are numerous raja yogas contributing to fame. Raja yogas propel one out of ordinary circumstances and allow them to achieve extraordinary success.
1.5th house ruler Jupiter is placed in the 1st house
2.9th house ruler Mars is in the 7th house
3.4th house ruler is placed in the 7th house
4.7th house ruler Saturn is in the 4th house
Hanks has won numerous awards for his acting skills throughout the years including Golden Globes, Academy Awards and BAFTA.
 In 2002, he was the youngest actor to win the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2014, he won the Kennedy Center Honours Medallion
 

Significant events for Tom

      For his work in Philadelphia which was released on December 22nd 1993, Tom received an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role on March 21st 1994. For his work on Forrest Gump which was released on July 6 1994, Tom received several awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role: he received an Academy Award, a Screen Actor’s Guild Award, a Golden Globe and was nominated for a BAFTA, all of which occurred between January and March 1995. He was running Venus-Saturn during this time. In the rasi, Venus is the ruler of the 10th house and opposes Saturn along the 4th-10th axis. In the Navamsha, Saturn makes a special forward sextile onto Venus. In the Dashamsha, Saturn rules the 10th house and from the 4th house makes a special forward sextile onto Venus in the 6th house.

​      For his work on Big which was released on June 3rd 1988, Tom received a Golden Globe for Best Actor Musical or Comedy on January 28 1989. At this time, he was running Venus-Rahu. In the rasi, Venus rules the 10th house and opposes Rahu along the 4th-10th axis. In the dashamsha, Venus rules the ascendant and is conjunct Mars. Mars is the dispositor of Rahu in Scorpio.

       For his work on Cast Away which was released on December 22nd, 2000, Tom received a Golden Globe for Best Actor Motion Picture Drama on  January 21st , 2001. At this time, he was running Sun-Moon. In the Navamsha, Sun opposes Moon along the 6th -12th axis. In the dashamsha, the Sun is in the 10th house and opposes the Moon in the 4th house. The Sun and Moon do not appear to be connected in the rasi chart, perhaps because we grow more like our Navamsha chart after the age of 36 and he was 44 when Cast Away was released.

      In the Western system, there were several transits to Tom’s 10th house. Because Forrest Gump is a movie he is most remembered for, I will illustrate the transits on March 27th 1995, the evening he won the Academy Award for Best Actor.
 
Natal 10th house indicators
MC 20 degrees (d) Gemini
10th house ruler Mercury at 5d Cancer (Mercury is placed in the 10th house)
Moon, (dispositor of Mercury) at 9d Leo
Sun in the 10th house at 17d Cancer
Venus in the 10th house at 22d Gemini
 
Transits (using 5:00pm PST in Los Angeles, California)
Tr Pluto at 0d Sag biquintile Mercury 1d
Tr Pluto sesquiquadrate Sun 2d
Tr Neptune at 25d Capricorn biquintile MC 1d
Tr Neptune quincunx Venus 3d
Tr Uranus at 29d Capricorn biquintile Venus 1d
Tr Saturn at 17d Pisces square MC 3d
Tr Saturn trine Sun exact
Tr Jupiter at 15d Sag quincunx Sun 2d
Tr Mars at 13d Leo conjunct Moon 4d
Tr Venus at 29d Aqu sesquiquadrate Sun 3d
Tr Mercury at 20d Pisces square MC exact
Tr Mercury square Venus 2d
Tr Mercury trine Sun 3d
Tr Sun at 6d Aries Mercury 1d
Tr Sun trine Moon 3d
Tr Moon at 0d Pisces sesquiquadrate Sun 2d
Tr North Node sesquiquadrate MC 2d
 
     
​      In total there are 17 tight transiting aspects with 2 of them being exact.
In Numerology, the birthday of March 27th 1995 is 9 and the life path is 9 as well. Tom’s birthday is on the 9th of the month, the soul urge number for Thomas Jeffrey Hanks is 9, and he was in his second cycle number 9 in 1995. This indicates a time in his life where his skills and abilities are really put into public focus. It is interesting that the movie deals with Forest Gump’s interactions with strangers from all walks of life and a wide range of different people in history, number 9 is a universal number with a global perspective. His essence for age 38 was 1, same as his life path 1, number 1 is highly associated with achieving power and positive recognition. Tom was in a personal month 7 and a personal day 7 on March 27th 1995, 7 vibrates to Neptune which corresponds to film making, drama, imagination and creativity.
 

​       Sigmund Freud (Sigismund Schlomo Freud) was a world renowned psychiatrist and was the founder of psychoanalysis. His theories remain influential in psychology today and continue to inspire people worldwide. He has written numerous books detailing his thoughts and theories.

Freud was born May 6th. People born on May 6th are generally very good at deciphering people’s motivations, desires and feelings, even when others try to keep them hidden. Their own inner world, imagination and emotions are very rich and deep and they have a strong desire to “get into the mind” of others. Because of this any subject which seeks to understand human behaviour fascinates them. They are naturally compassionate and sensitive people, even when they are privately suffering they seek to help others. Other people also tend to seek them out for guidance during times of trial as they are very skilled therapists and counsellors. Because they tend to experience many personal struggles throughout life, they have a special place in their heart for those who are oppressed or victims of forces beyond their control.

       Freud’s Vedic ascendant is swati, revealing his love for educational pursuits and learning. It also makes him independent and persevering in whatever he undertakes. Swati is a good communicator and loves to share experiences and ideas. His communication is enhanced by having a natal soul urge number of 5, the number of Mercury. The ruler of Swati is Venus as it is in Libra and Rahu rules the Swati nakshatra specifically, both Rahu and Venus are conjunct in the 7th house showing that a major life purpose was to work one on one with people and provide greater understanding in intimate relationships. Venus is closely associated with the nodal axis showing the huge impact his work would subsequently have. Also being influenced by the nodal axis is the exalted Sun in Aries giving him worldwide fame and recognition. In the Western system, his ascendant is Scorpio which is the sign of psychology and human nature, ruled by Pluto placed in the 6th house of disease, medicine and healing, a natural placement for a psychiatrist. Pluto also opposes the ascendant aby 6 degrees emphasizing these tendencies.

        In the Vedic system, Saturn’s influence on the 9th house shows his hard work ethic and discipline in pursuing his medical education, becoming a psychiatrist and then writing numerous books (Saturn is in Gemini, sign of communications). His life path 4 is co-ruled by Saturn emphasizing his dedication to work and follow through on ideas. His success in publishing his works is due to Jupiter strong in its own sign of Pisces, being in the 6th house of medicine, illnesses and healing. In the Western system, the ruler of the 9th house is the Moon which is out of bounds which indicates that area of life will be outside the normal human experience and that success can be much greater than usual. It is true that Freud remains one of the most influential authors on psychiatry and psychoanalysis today.

        In the Vedic system, the 10th house ruler is the Moon and it is placed in the 8th house conjunct Mercury in Taurus. The Moon is exalted in Taurus which has given him much success and respect in his career. The Moon is in Rohini nakshatra showing that creativity, passion and sexuality were prominent in him. His natal expression number was 2 and his soul urge for his professional name Sigmund Freud was 2, this is the number of the Moon. The 2 influence adds extra emphasis on his life purpose involving Moon related themes such as emotion and psychological state. The Moon is out of bounds at declination 26 degrees 35 minutes showing that his own thinking and emotions were highly unique and different from society, he blazed his own trail and felt confident advancing his radical ideas (for that time period). The Moon rules his 10th house of career in the Vedic system and the 9th house of publishing in the Western system, both his career and books featured highly unusual approaches to explaining the root of emotions.

        The conjunction of the Moon with Mercury in the Vedic system shows that speech, communication and writing would figure prominently in his career- he was known as a great thinker and analyst and prolific author. His books include The Interpretation of Dreams, The Ego and the Id, Beyond the Pleasure Principle and Civilization and its Discontents to name a few. He advanced talk therapy, getting clients to talk about when their symptoms first occurred and in the process releasing the symptoms by bringing the unconscious experience to conscious awareness where it could be constructively dealt with. The 8th house represents the unconscious mind, things that are hidden or secretive. A major theme of Freud’s work was that the mind is like an iceberg, with only the tip of it being seen and the vast majority below the surface. However what is under the surface of the iceberg has the greatest influence over behaviour. He wanted to transform the unconscious into consciousness so that the unconscious wouldn’t have so much negative influence over troubling issues or behaviours in people’s lives. He wanted to uncover dreams which were symbols of the unconscious and find their meaning to a person’s life and in doing so make them conscious. The moon’s dispositor is Venus in Aries in the 7th house which shows his career involves counselling people one on one and shows that intimate relationships may figure prominently into the work as well. Venus’ close association with the nodes expand the controversy and publicity of his career while Venus’ conjunction with the exalted Sun gives much fame. His birthday number 6, natal personality number 6 and professional expression 6 are the numbers of Venus showing that love, sex and intimate relationships could play a role in his career. The dispositor of these Aries planets in the 7th house is Mars which is in the 12th house. Additionally Mars casts a special 8th aspect onto the 7th house from the 12th house. Both of these features are showing that he specifically dealt with issues buried under the surface or secret that were causing people suffering and grief.

        In the Western system, Venus is the ruler of the 7th and 12th houses connecting the themes of both. Mercury, Uranus and the Sun are in Taurus in the 7th house showing the interest in counselling people about their love lives and uncovering the root of their sources of grief and sorrow in intimate relationships. The connection to his career is shown as the ruler of the 10th house is the Sun which is placed in the 7th house in Venus’ sign Taurus. Venus in the 6th house of medicine makes a 3 degree trine to the MC. The Moon is conjunct the Vertex in the 8th house showing that it was fated for him to be interested in uncovering sexually based underpinnings for stagnant or unproductive emotion and desire to heal those emotions through therapy. He popularized “talk therapy” and this fits perfectly as the Moon-Vertex conjunction falls in the sign of communication, Gemini.

        A major feature of Freud’s work was sexual motivations in explaining behaviour, in fact his colleagues felt that he had an overreliance on this and disagreed with him on it. He believed that the illnesses of his patients was due to their sexual history and emotions connected with their love life. He detailed 5 psychosexual stages, each of which had to be mastered at a particular time in childhood otherwise they would cause “fixations” later as an adult. He believed that the sexual drive was present even in infants and presented the idea of the "Oedipus complex" and the electra complex whereby children are sexually attracted to the parent of the opposite sex while hating or being jealous of the parent of the same sex.

       Mars represents sexual drives. Mars is a central planet in explaining his proclivity towards sexual motivations for behaviour and takes on a special prominence in his chart. The overall chart shape is a sling with the handle planet Mars on the Eastern hemisphere and all other planets on the Western hemisphere. His life revolved around his relationships with other people and in explaining the cause of interpersonal dysfunction but his approach to life was not defined by what other people thought nor did he wait for things to happen to him. Rather he took control of his destiny as would be expected by the sling planet Mars in the Eastern hemisphere. In the Vedic system, Mars is in Virgo, retrograde in the 12th house. The dispositor of Mars is Mercury which has already been discussed but again the Mercury influence compels him to communicate his ideas publicly. The Virgo influence makes him very detail oriented, and prone to logical thinking and analysis. There is some debate regarding whether retrogrades strengthen or weaken planet functioning. I believe they internalize the nature of the planet more such that it becomes a bigger part of personality. Indeed in Freud’s case this seems to be true, sexuality was one of the major themes of his life work in explaining the root of disease and illness. Characteristic of Mars he was confident, ambitious and goal oriented. The 12th house influence illustrates the hidden nature of sexuality in explaining adult diseases. According to Freud repressed libido or unusual experiences at one of the five stages pf psychosexual development unconsciously influence behaviour, illness and bothersome issues in people’s lives. The 12th house influence also explains the backlash he faced by many of his colleagues for advancing these ideas publicly and perhaps represents some of his secret enemies. Mars opposes Jupiter in the 6th house, showing that he had linked these unconscious sexual urges as the root cause of illness and disease. Mars is favourably placed in Aries in the navamsha chart in the 2nd house. It is on the nodal axis, possibly pointing to the controversy surrounding his theories on sexuality.


Relationships

      Freud was married for 53 years to Martha Bernays, she was his first and only wife. Many accounts suggest that they were happily married. They had six children. Freud was born on the 6th and has 6 as his natal personality number. Six is the number of Venus and Freud was romantic, writing hundreds of love letters to his wife. The interest in romance is also shown in the Western system as Jupiter is in its traditionally ruled sign Pisces and makes a 3 degree conjunction with the 5th house cusp. His destiny number for his natal name was 2, indicating a strong preference to go through life with a partner, they function better as part of a team. Four was his life path number and it is known that 4s value reliability, dependability and structure. Sixes and twos also highly value home and family and having peace in their family lives, it seemed that he was a devoted husband and father. There was a lot of stability and reliability in their home. The soul urge of 5 which is Mercury’s number gave the desire to keep communication lines open which was probably instrumental in working out problems with his wife. In Freud’s case, his natal and professional names yielded almost the same numbers so he was under the same influences his whole life. The name Sigmund Freud gives an expression 6, personality 4 and soul urge 2. The name Sigismund Schlomo Freud gives expression 2, personality 6 and soul urge 5.
It is interesting that he became engaged to one of his sister’s friends as Venus representing the wife for a man is placed in Taurus in the third house of siblings in the navamsha. Also in the rasi chart we see that third house ruler Jupiter makes an opposition aspect onto 7th house ruler Mars. We don’t have her birth time but her birthday is July 26th 1861 in Hamburg, Germany. She had her Moon in Pisces and in Freud’s navamsha, he has a Pisces ascendant with Jupiter in Virgo in the 7th house opposing the ascendant. The ruler of the 7th house Mercury is placed in the 12th house, Pisces’ natural house. In his rasi, the ruler of the 7th house Mars is placed in the 12th house and is opposed by Jupiter from the 6th house. She had Venus, Jupiter and Saturn in Leo and he had the Sun in the 7th house, indicating an inclination towards people with the Sun/Leo prominent. She had Mercury, Sun and Mars in Cancer and he had Venus, the dispositor of his Moon in Taurus in the 7th house, perhaps indicating a sexual attraction to Moon/Cancer people. As a general note, even though Freud had kuja dosha and several linkages to the 12th house for marriage, he was still able to have a happy, long lasting marriage, he had very good relational skills and he had found a partner who was close to the ideal and met his needs/ wants.

       In the Western system, the ruler of the 7th house is Venus in Aries and the dispositor is Mars in Libra. Individually both of these planets are in detriment which is weak but fortunately for Freud they participate in a mutual exchange strengthening both planets and allowing them to function as they are in their own sign. This also benefits the Sun, Uranus and Mercury in the 7th house in Taurus as their dispositor Venus is stronger. Venus conjunct the North Node in the 6th house means that he is fulfilling his life purpose and making personal progress by counselling clients and helping them heal their disease. People with Venus conjunct their North Node usually have at least one soul fulfilling marriage and more often than usual find their soul mate. These configurations bode very well for the happiness of marriage and his skill as a counsellor working one on one with patients.

       On September 14th 1886, Freud married Martha. When a person gets married, it will show strongly in both Vedic and Western transits. He was running the dasha of Jupiter-Mercury-Mercury. This would make sense for marriage as in the rasi Jupiter opposes 7th house ruler Mars. Venus in the 7th house is the dispositor of Mercury in Taurus. In the navamsha, Mercury rules the 7th house and Jupiter is placed in the 7th house.

​       In the Western system, his descendant is 10 degrees Taurus. The ruler of the 7th house is Venus at 26 degrees Aries and the dispositor of the 7th house is Mars at 3 degrees Libra. Sun at 16 degrees Taurus, Uranus at 20 degrees Taurus and Mercury at 27 degrees Taurus is placed in the 7th house. There are several important tight transits. Some of the most important at that time were:

1.Tr Pluto at 4 degrees Gemini made a 1 degree trine to natal Mars
2.Tr Neptune at 27 degrees Taurus made an exact conjunction to natal Mercury and a 1 degree semisextile to natal Venus
3. Tr Uranus at 7 degrees Libra made a 4 degree conjunction to natal Mars and a 3 degree quincunx to the 7th house cusp
4.Tr Saturn at 20 degrees Cancer made an exact sextile to natal Uranus
5.Tr Jupiter at 10 degrees Libra makes an exact quincunx to the 7th house cusp
6.Tr Mars at 15 degrees Scorpio opposes natal Sun 1 degree
7.Tr Mercury at 10 degrees Virgo makes an exact trine to the 7th house cusp
8. Tr Sun at 21 degrees Virgo makes a 1 degree trine to natal Uranus
 

Health

        We know that Freud had a smoking habit that led to a long battle with throat Cancer, undergoing numerous operations of the jaw and palate. We can see this astrologically by the influence of malefics, retrogrades and dusthanas. The ruler of the Libran ascendant Venus is placed in Aries in the 7th house conjunct 2 malefics Sun and Rahu. The dispositor of Venus is retrograde Mars (surgery) which is placed in a dusthana house. Mars receives an opposition from Jupiter ruler of the 6th house, a dusthana house of illness and disease. Venus is the dispositor of the Moon in Taurus in the 8th house, another dusthana house. Taurus rules the throat, thus explaining the throat cancer. The malefics and dusthana influence weaken Venus. The Sun is a general karaka of health and although it is exalted in Aries, its ruler Mars is placed in a dusthana house. In the navamsha, Sun is weakened. It is the ruler of the 6th house placed in the 9th house in Scorpio conjunct malefic Saturn. Sun and Saturn are receiving the special 8th aspect of Mars from the 2nd house. Sun receives an opposition from Venus as ruler of the 8th house in the 3rd house once again in Taurus (the throat). Other than that, the Sun does not receive any benefic planet’s influence. Ultimately there was too much of a malefic influence on health resulting in a losing battle with throat cancer. Interesting to note that Freud was born on the 6th and his personality number for his natal name was 6. Six is the number of Venus and sixes can have health issue with the throat area.
 
Fame and Success

        The 9th house ruler Moon is conjunct 10th house ruler Mercury in the 8th house (Raja yoga) representing the unconscious, esoteric and dream state. The Sun was exalted in Aries in the 7th house giving fame for counselling people. The Moon was exalted in Taurus in the 8th house giving a very good natural understanding of the unconscious mind. Jupiter was in its own sign in the 6th house giving success in a medical/ healing career. The Navamsha also has 3 planets in their own signs: Mars in Aries, Venus in Taurus and Moon in Cancer, these planets are able to function at a higher level. In addition, Jupiter throws an opposition aspect onto Pisces lagna from the 7th house and Mars makes a forward 8th aspect onto the 9th house Scorpio its own sign, planets aspecting their own sign are favourable.
Durudhara yoga formed by any planets being in the 2nd and 12th houses from the Moon, these planets include Venus and Saturn (the Sun and Nodes don’t count).
Ubhayachari yoga formed when any planets with the exception of Moon and Nodes are in the 2nd and 12th houses from the Sun. These planets include Jupiter and Mercury.
Lagna Adhi Yoga formed by Jupiter in the 6th, Mercury in the 7th and Venus in the 8th house from the lagna, it gives authority and status.
In the Western chart, his Moon is conjunct fixed star Rigel by 2 degrees. This star is associated with honour and leadership. The Moon is the ruler of the 9th house of publishing and higher education. The Moon is out of bounds, this contributes to creative, out of the box thinking. Moon in Gemini gives a desire to communicate these thoughts via the written word. Freud brought to us a pioneering view of sources of different feelings and emotions which are governed by the Moon.

​The MC makes 7 aspects to planets, generally the more aspects the MC makes, the easier it is for a person to gain public recognition in their career.
There are connections between the 1st house and the 10th house, the Sun opposes the Asc; the 10th house ruler Sun and 1st house ruler Pluto share a common dispositor Venus (even traditional ruler of the 1st house Mars is in Libra and its dispositor is Venus). The 1st house represents the self and the 10th represents career/ fame, thus one usually needs these connections to achieve fame in their career.
 
Significant Events

       On November 4th 1899, Freud’s first book, The Interpretation of Dreams was published. At this time he was running Saturn-Saturn in the Vimshottari dasha system. In the rasi and the navamsha, Saturn is in the 9th house of higher education and publishing. Saturn rules the 10th house in the dashamsha (career) chart.

      In 1920, Freud published Beyond the Pleasure Principle which was a landmark work and a major turning point in the evolution of psychoanalytic theory. At this time he was running Mercury-Venus in the Vimshottari dasha system. In the rasi, Mercury rules the 9th house of publishing, it is placed  in Taurus and its dispositor is Venus. Although Mercury and Venus are not connected in either the dashamsha or navamsha charts, it is interesting to note that Venus is placed in Taurus in both charts and Mercury in Aquarius in both charts. As we grow older we start to resemble our navamsha charts more as it is the fruit of the tree and at age 64 having the navamsha and dhashamsha planets in the same sign could be considered vargottama, gaining special strength.

        On April 24th 1923, Freud published The Ego and the Id, one of his most influential works. At this time he was running Mercury-Sun in the Vimshottari dasha system. In the rasi, Mercury is in Taurus, its dispositor Venus is conjunct the Sun. In the Navamsha, Mercury is in Aquarius, its dispositor Saturn is conjunct the Sun. In the dashamsha, Mercury is in Aquarius, its dispositor Saturn is in Leo, the sign ruled by the Sun.
 
        I will use the Western transits on April 24th 1923 to both the 9th and 10th house natal indicators (the 9th is important as it is the house of publishing and higher education).
 
9th house natal indicators
9th house cusp 14d Cancer
9th house ruler Moon at 14d Gemini
9th house dispositor Mercury at 27d Taurus
 
Transits (using 12:00pm, London England)
Tr Pluto at 9d Cancer semisquare Mercury 3d
Tr Neptune at 15d Leo semisextile 9th house cusp 1d
Tr Neptune sextile Moon 1d
Tr Uranus at 16d Pisces trine 9th house cusp 2d
Tr Uranus square Moon 2d
Tr Uranus quintile Mercury 1d
Tr Saturn at 15d Libra square 9th house cusp 1d
Tr Saturn quincunx Moon 1d
Tr Saturn sesquiquadrate Mercury 3d
Tr Jupiter at 15d Scorpio trine 9th house cusp 1d
Tr Jupiter quincunx Moon 1d
Tr Venus at 27d Pisces sextile Mercury exact
Tr Sun at 3d Taurus quintile 9th house cusp 1d
Tr North Node at 18d Virgo square Moon 4d
 
10th house natal indicators
10th house cusp 23d Leo
10th house ruler Sun at 16d Taurus
10th house dispositor Venus at 26d Aries
 
Tr Pluto at 9d Cancer semiquare 10th house cusp 1d
Tr Pluto quintile Venus 1d
Tr Neptune at 15d Leo square Sun 1d
Tr Uranus at 16d Pisces sextile Sun exact
Tr Saturn at 15d Libra quincunx Sun 1d
Tr Jupiter at 15d Scorpio oppose Sun 1d
Tr Venus at 27d Pisces semisextile Venus 1d
Tr Venus biquintile 10th house cusp 2d
Tr Mercury at 19d Taurus square 10th house cusp 4d
Tr Mercury conjunct sun 3d
Tr North Node at 18d Virgo trine Sun 2d
Tr North Node biquintile Venus 2d
 
 
       In Numerology, Freud was in his third cycle which was number 2, this is the same as his soul urge number, a major wish to communicate his thoughts into the world was fulfilled. His essence at age 66 was 1, indicating the pioneering and original nature of this book. Freud was in a personal year 8 indicating the emphasis on recognition and status for career contributions. His personal month number was 3 and he was in his fourth pinnacle number 7 showing emphasis on writing, philosophy and publishing.

     Although we expect marriage to be a blissful union at the start, statistics show that there are about 70 000 Canadian divorces annually and 48% of people who were married at least once will divorce. The same source shows that Belgium has the highest divorce to marriage ratio at 71% and Mexico the lowest at 15%. ​Through studying charts, I can see patterns in people's natal charts that either incline them to win, lose or stay in relatively the same financial condition after divorce. I believe it is helpful to understand this information so one can engage in better planning and preparation for a wide range of possibilities in the future should things not work out the way we intended them to.

​        I recently came across the story of Hollywood actress Kelly Rutherford who some of you may recognize from the TV series Gossip Girl. She married German businessman Daniel Giersch in August 2006, less than a year after she met him for the first time. After that she had two children with him; Hermes born in October 2006 and Helena born in June 2009. Before her daughter was born, Daniel filed for divorce. The ensuing battle for custody of the children lasted about 6 years and was a global affair that drained her emotionally and caused her to go bankrupt. The story is very unusual as the courts in North America still have a marked preference for awarding sole custody or at least joint custody to the mother. Media coverage was extensive on the case, with Kelly doing numerous interviews on television and on the internet. Daniel had previously sued google and won, and had the money to prolong the battle in court. At the same time, Kelly made some major legal errors in trying to keep the children away from their father that cost her dearly. In the end he won full custody of the children who live with him in Europe while Kelly still residing in the United States has obtained visitation rights. To understand Kelly's karma more fully, look at her Western and Vedic natal charts:

​

 Western Astrology Analysis      

​      Looking at the first chart we see that Kelly's 7th house ruler Mars representing marriage is in the 11th house in Virgo conjunct Pluto, Jupiter, and Uranus. In particular the combination of Mars-Pluto-Uranus has been associated with violent and sudden events and has a strong malefic tone. It explains the immense struggle for power and control that is likely to end with one person coming out much stronger than the other. With Mars tightly opposing chiron this can cause a very deep wound. These planets linked with the 7th house suggests Kelly will attract a marriage partner who has significant resources (Jupiter-Pluto can represent tremendous power and financial wealth, and is often found in millionaires and billionaires) but the person will also will battle with her to the bitter end and potentially win. This stellium of planets in the 11th house aspect the 5th house of children which represents them being taken away from her. The dispositor of the 7th house Mercury is placed in the 12th house of grief, isolation and losses, its also in the sign of Libra which is where Mars is in detriment.

​      The descendant at 29 degrees is anarectic and usually indicates strongly fated issues to be resolved wherever it is found, in this case with marriage.The closest planet to the descendant is Saturn which is very weak in the sign of its fall Aries. Generally, Saturn connected with the 7th house often indicates major challenges, obstacles and burdens in love but having a fallen malefic there is 10x worse. Neptune is in the 1st house casting an aspect onto the 7th house which causes her to see marriage partners unclearly at first and ignore faults that can be very easily seen by others. When they finally discover the truth it is very painful as they had rose colored glasses on for so long. For instance in the Vanity Fair article, her half brother noted that "he seemed very, very cold and calculated," but did not tell her as she seemed optimistic about her relationship. A couple years after they married, Kelly also felt that he was verbally abusive and was trying to isolate her from people who were close to her. Daniel also wanted sole legal and physical custody of the children after the divorce.

​      Turning to her finances, the 12th house ruler Venus is placed in the 2nd house. Normally Venus in the 2nd house is auspicious but as ruler of the 12th it makes it a malefic influence. Some sources believe with the 12th house ruler in the 2nd house or 2nd house ruler in the 12th house that the person will always struggle to earn money. However, in my experience the problem isn't necessarily that the person can't earn a high income (although that sometimes is the case). The problem with the 12th house connected to the 2nd house more often is that the person doesn't earn enough money to cover their expenses, or they seem to lose money easier than others. Through her various acting roles, Kelly has earned millions but the court battle wiped it all out so much that she ended up bankrupt even after borrowing thousands from other people.

​      The other major problem is the Moon at 28 degrees Taurus conjunct the 8th house cusp. It is true that the moon is exalted in Taurus and causes a person to be nurturing, thoughtful and caring towards others. But at 28 degrees Taurus the Moon is tightly conjunct highly malefic stars Algol and Alcyone in the portion of the zodiac known as the Pleiades or weeping sisters. It inclines towards tragedies, suffering and disasters. The 8th house represents our partner's money, money we didn't earn, and money we share with our husband or wife. When someone has a weak 8th house it causes them to lose financially through others, especially through a partner or spouse. It doesn't have to be because the partner took the money, but just being married or in partnerships causes losses somehow. When combining the fact that the moon is at 28 degrees Taurus with the fact that it is conjunct the 8th house, the logical conclusion is financial losses through marriage. Daniel's birthday is May 24th 1974 and from this it is clear that his Sun and Mercury are both placed in her 8th house, not a good omen for her finances or well-being. The 8th house also is indicative of scandal, disgrace and humiliation, and with someone else's planets being in our 8th house that is a possibility in association with them.


​Vedic Astrology Analysis

​      In the Vedic system Jupiter represents the husband and Venus represents the wife. To understand what type of husband a woman will get, one will have to analyze her Jupiter. Kelly's ascendant is Libra, Venus rules Libra, and Venus and Jupiter are mutual enemies. Jupiter is a functional malefic as it rules the 3rd and 6th houses. Does this mean that all women with Libra ascendants won't have a good husband? Of course not because one has to look at all factors together; this is just one unhelpful factor. In Kelly's case, Jupiter has several other sources of being unfavourable:

​1. Jupiter is fully aspected by 4/5 of the natural malefics which include Saturn, Mars, Rahu and Ketu. Saturn and Mars are the two major malefics but having Jupiter on the nodal axis amplifies extreme and fateful situations.

​2. Jupiter conjunct Mars is doubly not helpful in the sense that Mars is a maraka (death giving) planet for Libra ascendants ruling the 2nd and 7th houses.

3. Jupiter lacks the aspect of any benefic planet (Mercury, Moon, Venus, Jupiter)

​4. In the 16 divisions, Jupiter is exalted only twice, and never in its great friends sign, own sign or moolatrikona. This is reflected in being her second lowest scoring planet in Vimshopaka Bala tied with Rahu at 9/20 points. Incidentally, Saturn is the lowest scoring planet at 8/20 despite being vargottama and Daniel initially filed for divorce during the Jupiter-Saturn dasha. Saturn is the ruler of the 5th house in the rasi chart and conjunct rahu in the dusthana 6th house which represents litigation and lawsuits. There is no surprise she had to fight for them. In the saptamsha (children chart), Jupiter rules the 5th house and Saturn is placed in the 5th house making Jupiter-Saturn a perfect time to have a child. Saturn in the saptamsha is hemmed in by malefics Mars and the Sun. Having a weak Saturn in the 5th house does suggest unhappiness and loss in relation to children. It was during this time Kelly decided not to tell Daniel about the baby and leave his name off her birth certificate. This was a mistake that was crucial in the courts later taking the children away for making access to their father difficult. Venus is in the ascendant of the saptamsha, a clear indicator that significant events with children will occur during Venus periods. In Jupiter-Venus, after a 6 year custody battle, the Monaco court awarded full custody to Daniel with Kelly being allowed to visit the children in France and Monaco.

​5. Jupiter is placed in the 12th house which is a dusthana house and causes misery. In fact out of 7 planets, 4 of them are in the evil dusthana houses 6, 8, 12 which is very inauspicious, as well Rahu and Ketu are along the 6th-12th axis. With a very strong will and intensely spiritual disposition one can transform the adversities of this dusthana influence into consciousness raising, but for most people the dominant dusthana influence is extremely hard to deal with.

​6. Kelly started her Jupiter mahadasha in March 2006, shortly before she married Daniel in Jupiter-Jupiter and this karmic situation unfolded. They met in October-November 2005 while she was in Rahu-Mars. Notice that Mars rules the 7th house, and Mars and Rahu are opposite each other in the rasi chart. Rahu is in the ascendant of the Navamsha chart. In the navamsa 7th house ruler Venus is conjunct Mars. This was classical timing for starting a new romance. She will be in Jupiter mahadasha until March 2022.

​      With the multitude of factors making Jupiter unfavourable, it is no surprise to see that Kelly has negative karma to deal with in marriage and when the Jupiter mahadasha came, it was time to experience it.

​      The 7th house in the Vedic chart shows troublesome features with regards to longevity and happiness of her marriages. She was married once before to Carlos Tarajano in June 2001 but it only lasted 6 months and he died a few years after the divorce. The marriage to Daniel lasted about 2.5 years. 7th house ruler Mars is in the 12th house aspected by malefic Saturn, functional malefic Jupiter, and the unstable influences of the nodes. Mars doesn't receive the aspect of any benefic planet.

​      The navamsha chart has all of the planets within the nodal axis resulting in a kala sarpa yoga with rahu in the 1st house and ketu in the 7th. Even the birth chart has all planets except the moon within the nodal axis. I believe that this yoga can incline someone towards either extreme success or extreme failure, and sometimes both in the same lifetime. There is always a high degree of bondage in the beginning, the person cannot avoid getting into a certain situation or involved with certain people. This yoga is one of the most fixed kinds of karma which is impossible to avoid or ignore. The houses containing Rahu and Ketu shed more light on the domain of life this will occur in, and the fated situation usually starts during the main or sub dasha of Rahu or Ketu, in Kelly's case she met Daniel in Rahu-Mars (Mars rules her 7th house in the rasi) and Carlos in Rahu-Venus (Venus rules her 7th house in the navamsha). Although one cannot avoid kala sarpa yoga, with patience, awareness and commitment, the bondage can be lifted and the person can transcend their circumstances.

​       The financial outlook in the Vedic rasi chart is similar to the Western chart with the 2nd house ruler Mars going into the 12th house in the rasi chart causing net losses. On top of that, Mars is also aspected by 6th house ruler Jupiter and 8th house ruler Venus is placed in the 2nd house. In other words, all three of the dusthana houses are connected with the 2nd house and/ or the 2nd house ruler which is very detrimental to being able to make net gains. In the navamsha chart, the 8th house ruler Mercury goes into the 1st which is inauspicious overall. The 2nd house ruler of the navamsha chart is Jupiter which conjuncts 12th house ruler Venus and 6th house ruler Mars.

​       An interesting apparent contradiction occurs with the Moon in this chart as we know that the Moon is conjunct Algol and Alcyone but the extreme degree of exaltation of the Moon occurs at 3 degrees Taurus and with her Moon at 4 degrees Taurus she is very close to it. The Moon is placed in the 8th house which is a dusthana house and is associated with scandal, embarrassment, defeat and losses in addition to representing unearned and shared money/ resources. It is not always desirable to have an exalted planet in the 8th house. You may wonder is the Moon weak or strong, favourable or unfavourable? My answer is both and they can co-exist. Kelly gained success and fame from a relatively young age with her considerable beauty and talent, and became a respected actress in her own right. She has many favourable influences in her chart, for example regarding her career, but one cannot deny the karmic tests shown through relationships and family.
​     

Conclusion
​      
       ​All may not seem to be fair in love and war, but the universe is infinitely intelligent in the mysterious unfolding of our karma. Every situation we ever faced or will face was caused by us at some point in time. Not all situations occur due to actions in this lifetime but can span back to many of our prior lifetimes. By understanding our charts more deeply, we may not be able to stop the unfolding of our karma but instead prepare for it by understanding the reasons as to why it is happening. Through this cosmic insight we learn that life really is fair and we know what we can do to move as gracefully through these tests as we can. Every time we pass a test successfully, karma gets cleared and God can promote us to progressively higher levels in life! 

​      

​I hope you had a wonderful start to 2017 and that this year brings you peace, joy and love. 2017 is a universal year 1 which means as a collective we are beginning a fresh 9 year cycle. Vitality, inspiration and enthusiasm run high as this is the year for making a fresh start or a much needed comeback.
 
The universal energy is favouring entrepreneurship and stepping outside your comfort zone. If you have been working on a business plan or personal venture, this is the ideal time to launch it into action. Many people find that a 1 year brings them life experiences they have never had before or haven't had in a really long time. It is a time to embrace change gracefully, as there is a guarantee there will be some major changes in at least one area of your life. The great news is that if you want to replace bad habits with good ones, any routines you establish now are likely to be long lasting.

As an Astronumerologist, lot of people ask me whether Friday the 13th is "unlucky". This day has traditionally gotten a reputation for bad luck among the superstitious. This morning I did a Global News Interview with journalist Marilisa Racco to debunk this myth and explain why there is nothing unlucky about this day.

The truth is Friday the 13th is no different from any other day of the week. To get an accurate view of any day you must consider your personal year number, personal month number, personal day number, the essence numbers affecting you, and your pinnacle and challenge numbers to name just a few. The influence of any general day's numbers on any person in particular are not significant enough to merit any worry. It's always better to consider your individual chart and the number transits affecting it to get an accurate view of the themes and energies for the day.

Your personal year number is descriptive of the types of trends and experiences that you will encounter in a given calendar year. You will also notice that for the year, you temporarily take on the characteristics of your personal year number. For example, in a personal year 7 many people find themselves doing a lot of writing, studying, teaching and/or contemplating. They may spend more time alone, in philosophical/ spiritual pursuits or in nature. Research, analysis, problem solving and investigation are favored.
Based on your personal year, different numbers affect you in different months of the year. This makes certain feelings, experiences and trends more prevalent in one month over the other. The Numerology forecast “Your Destiny in Numbers” takes a variety of number energies into account to provide you with a glimpse into the upcoming month.
 

Personal year calculation= your birth month (1=January, 2=February… 12= December) + your birthday + current year
Example: A person born July 16th would add 7 (July) + 16 and 9 (2+0+1+6) = 5. Their personal year is 5 in 2016.
 

​Personal year 1
Cultural and food related festivals may hold special appeal for you this month as you are in an exploratory mood. You may also wish to spend more time outdoors in nature, by the ocean or perhaps at the cottage.

Personal year 2
July could be a time of endings or completions in some area of your life. It is a good time for reflection and writing or journaling. You may enjoy spending time with children or young people, it’s a great time to focus on activities or vacations taken as a family.

Personal year 3
July is a great time to revitalize your fitness and health. Trying a new physical class may interest you, or joining a health related club/ social group or a gym. Exercising helps you clear your mind and work off excess stress.

Personal year 4
July is a good time to unleash your creativity. Taking a new class or reading a book on a topic of interest may be a good use of your time. Since you are more efficient than usual, taking care of projects and other routine tasks gets done with ease.

Personal year 5
You may be in the mood for relaxation this month and you deserve to take some time off. Seeing movies, reading some of your favourite books and treating yourself to a few indulgences is a good way to recharge.

Personal year 6
July may be filled with opportunities for travel. If you can’t take a vacation, be sure to visit some places in the city you have never been to before. There may be some opportunities to re-connect with old friends.

Personal year 7
July is auspicious for purchase of big ticket items as you are likely to get both a good price and items of good quality. Communications of all kinds are favoured, as people easily understand the points you want to get across.

Personal year 8
There may be more responsibilities than usual at home or work, remember to delegate when you can. Someone may want your advice or feedback on a matter of importance to them.

Personal year 9
You may get the chance to meet some interesting new people this month either through friends and family or through another social event you participate in. Being in nature and near the water is extra soothing.
 
 
 

Your personal year number is descriptive of the types of trends and experiences that you will encounter in a given calendar year. You will also notice that for the year, you temporarily take on the characteristics of your personal year number. For example, in a personal year 7 many people find themselves doing a lot of writing, studying, teaching and/or contemplating. They may spend more time alone, in philosophical/ spiritual pursuits or in nature. Research, analysis, problem solving and investigation are favored.


​Based on your personal year, different numbers affect you in different months of the year. This makes certain feelings, experiences and trends more prevalent in one month over the other. The Numerology forecast “Your Destiny in Numbers” takes a variety of number energies into account to provide you with a glimpse into the upcoming month.
 

Personal year calculation= your birth month (1=January, 2=February… 12= December) + your birthday + current year
Example: A person born July 16th would add 7 (July) + 16 and 9 (2+0+1+6) = 5. Their personal year is 5 in 2016.
 


Personal year 1
June favours self-reflection and alone time. Be sure not to over-extend yourself and make plenty of time for relaxation activities. Spending time in places of natural beauty such as national parks replenish your energy.

Personal year 2
You have an extra dose of vitality to get tasks done efficiently and on time. Clarity and concentration come more easily, making it a great time for focusing on important tasks. Although there may be some unexpected delays or surprises, you will be able to act quickly to solve them.

Personal year 3
June favours resolving certain situations or areas of your life as you prepare to start a new chapter in July. If you are currently in a confrontational situation, it is preferable to settle it now. If your work involves research, investigation, or truth-seeking, you may be able to make a breakthrough of some sort this month.

Personal year 4
Your confidence, creativity, and risk taking are high this month and because of this you are able to successfully launch a new idea or project, or initiate some changes in your relationships. This is a great time for self-promotion, sales, and public speaking.

Personal year 5
If you can spend time near bodies of water, you will find yourself more inspired and refreshed, it has a soothing effect on you. Active listening skills are important as you may need to read between the lines in understanding certain messages being communicated to you. Someone in your life may need your encouragement.

Personal year 6
Foreign travels can be a wonderful learning experience, as can connecting with culturally based activities and events this month. Self-expression is important, you may want to do activities that lets you display your creativity and personality.

Personal year 7
June is a great time for trying out a new restaurant or activity, or otherwise varying your daily routine. You may realize an innovative way to improve upon an old tradition. Although someone may freely offer their advice, it is more important than usual to try something out and make up your own mind.

Personal year 8
June may bring a variety of exciting or at least different experiences into your life. Opportunities for adventure, exploration and trying new things are highlighted. If you have a vacation planned, it is sure to keep you entertained.

Personal year 9
Activities designed to beautify your surroundings are auspicious, as are making luxury purchases. It is a great time for treating yourself and your family to pleasurable and entertaining activities and events. If you are in a relationship, June favours romance!
 

Like many of you, the effort to exert more conscious control over my thoughts and feelings have been an ongoing struggle. Although I realize the vast majority of the thoughts repeat day to day, often centering around the same issues and people, the mind is relentless in automatically playing them again and again. Not only that, the emotion associated with these stories come back to me, and I feel exactly how I felt when the original situations occurred. Some can be positive and some can be negative, regardless they are major blocks standing in the way of the peace of the present moment. Nisargadatta Maharaj summed it up concisely, "throw out all your talking concepts and words! After all, what is the mind? It is just the noise that goes on inside".

As I began through self-inquiry methods to realize what the true reasoning was for the "stuckness" of a certain repetitive and at times even obsessive/compulsive thought or feeling was, my new-found understanding didn't permanently rid me of them although it lessened the intensity and frequency. These methods described in Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender shed considerable light on the cheap little payoffs people get when holding negative emotional states. Dr. Hawkins compares it to what life could be like if these toxic states were simply let go; a new life characterized by lightness and equanimity is described in vivid detail. It makes you realize the tremendously destructive effects some common negative behavioural patterns have in an overall sense, and provides a lot of motivation to drop them like a hot potato. I've read hundreds of books on human nature so I can truly say that this book is exceptional in terms of the author's understanding and profound insight into the peaks and pitfalls of the human condition. It is obvious that he has both experienced and been able to transcend each of these behavioural patterns at each consciousness level. He shares his wisdom and practical, simple techniques so we can transcend them too.

​Some meditation techniques I find very effective in staying in the space between thoughts for longer periods are the Getting in the Gap and Meditations for Manifesting DVDs by Dr. Wayne Dyer. The 20 minute ah meditation is to be done in the morning while the 20 minute om meditation is to be done at night (unfortunately I could not find the om meditation on YouTube so it is not included here). There are affirmations mixed in to both of these meditations which are great for carrying around with you through the day. The Getting in the Gap meditation can be done at anytime.

The most important thing in my opinion is to keep being persistent in your practice to stay in the gap between thoughts even though your mind may be filled with one thought after the other. When I started, distraction quickly set in and I would bring to mind another 'mind movie' as the silence felt boring and uncomfortable. Even when I got past that point I felt it was still difficult to maintain the practice without having so many thoughts come and go. I thought there was something wrong with my method as my mind wasn't empty of the thoughts like I believed it should have been. Now I know that it is inevitable and uncontrollable that thoughts enter the mind and feelings permeate the body, but the trick of it is to not indulge and expand upon them. The thoughts will come and go, but I understand the secret to success is to watch them like visitors and be conscious of the watcher of these thoughts, because they aren't really me...