Many of you know that outside of massage, my other side hustle is Astrology.
I often hover somewhere in between being vocal and quiet about this aspect of my life. Mostly it is due to the awareness of the general sentiment, especially with skeptics, scientists and atheists who often dismiss astrology as some strange prehistoric pseudo science based on superstition and random animal shapes in the sky.
As someone who was always found alone, in either the library, the computer room or the science department in high school, I spent most of my teenage years contemplating the meaning of life.
I struggled to do the tasks that were set before me, because I couldn’t place their purpose in a larger picture. I also wasn’t religious, having a father who advocated I walk out of religious scripture in primary school, so I was the last person to blindly believe in randomness and some judgemental god in the sky.
I was 17 when I started exploring astrology, which began in magazines and then a free account with astro.com. There, I found myself reading about myself – emotions, moods, feelings, certain events that had happened in my past (the early death of my mother was one of them).
The motivation which drove me, was to understand and discover why I do the things I do. I knew there was more to life than just the big bang, statistics and Darwin’s theory of evolution. Everywhere I went I saw intelligent design in every aspect of nature. This sent me in perpetual states of wonderment and amazement and neither pure science, nor religions would satisfy my desire to know how our phenomenal universe came to be, and how I, existed in this living, breathing, feeling, cognizant form.
After discovering yoga in my early 20’s I realised the link between the vedic sciences and astrology – and went through a process wrapping my head around the (astronomical) fact that my sun was in Aries, not Taurus. From then on it was a continually sequence of ‘aha!’ moments where the interconnectedness of events, and the patterns of life began to make far more sense than western astrological techniques could give.
Vedic Astrology is known as Jyotish. It translates as the science of light. It is light that illuminates darkness and jyotish is said to bring the light of awareness to the darkness of ignorance. With an illuminated mind, we can navigate our way through the spirals of life with clarity, consciousness compassion and most importantly, self awareness.
Vedic knowledge of India existed long before religion had a place in the world. This was, and is Yoga. (Not just the physical postures we are used to in the west). Vedic knowledge is not based on belief. It is based on the natural consequences of cause and effect. This is Karma. There is no one saying we should do this or that, we are free to choose what we will, but, we are not free of the consequences of our choices.
So we should want to make the right choices to create healthy, inclusive and productive outcomes.
It is with this philosophy that jyotish, yoga and ayurveda etc are not based on beliefs, judgements or blind faith. It is a science based on continual experiments through observation, evaluation and reflection. It is an inner experience, not an external measurement.
The human being is a vessel through which the forces of nature continually move through. By developing and tuning our relationship to these elements, we are essentially, ‘worshipping’ and respecting nature – and ourselves by extension. This is what leads us to our purpose – to evolve our consciousness and unite with the source of Life…
…TBC
With Love X
Darinka
Darinka Maja 