Ayurvedic Astrology

This is perhaps the easiest or perhaps most obvious of the steps, and the others haven’t been too hard.

A. Ask what is interesting to them.

What are their plans? Do they have travel coming up? Plans for a child? Career concerns?

Each of these and any others have very particular and different signatures and divisionals appropriate to them.

B. Look at the appropriate divisionals and houses.

Simple enough. See if any yogas are involved. You might also want to look at rashi aspects here. And is there activation of any of these via dashas, including sub, subsub, and subsubsub?

Besides the ultra-important yogas, you may eventually want to consider omens.

Really, before the presumption inherent in C can take place, it is best to go through a thorough and disciplined study of the ancient texts.

C. Come up with a complete picture as an answer.

Imagine the total picture of what is happening, has happened, and is going to happen. It’s as simple and as difficult as that. Be neutral, calm. Then more will flow to you.

Look at involvement of other themes. For example, see if career is going to be waylaid by having a child.

This is where you get to be archaelogist and literary professor.

D. Determine how much of the answer the client is ready to hear.

OK, this one is harder. But just tell a little bit and see the reaction. Usually the person will respond immediately and then you can mutually go from the point he/she brings up. It’s usually a very fluid, dynamic process. This is the best, most efficient way to address the person’s mindset all at once, and it IS the mindset you want to address, not really the particular question.

What also is important is what not to say. There are numerous injunctions in the classic texts against saying something that is not asked for. This is very important. Beginning astrologers (including me back in the day) sometimes get so excited about seeing something so clearly that is nonetheless not what the person is ready to hear.

As well, it’s important to show some restraint even if the person wants to hear something that is not appropriate to talk about. Time of death for example is sometimes asked for. It is my opinion that this is not usually appropriate to talk about, even when seen clearly.

Remember that you are the meteorologist in the road trip of life. Ultimately, you just know probabilities.

There is still considerable free will in the Jyotish chart.

I’ve decided that doing a reading is like taking a walk together with the client, down the street of their life.

There are literally not a million, not a billion, but an infinite number of things one can see by walking down the street.

But do we really capture in our minds what we really see?

The astrologer can help the other person by pointing things out; important things, notable things, beautiful things, and/or dangerous things are the most typically of interest to both seer and seen. But really we can talk about anything.

Construct a narrative, their play of life. Think compassionately about what the other person needs to see for themselves. Use your vidya to help them, and do nothing else but that.

All you are as an astrologer is someone who helps with a little extra sight.

The astrologer’s strengths, weaknesses, predilections, etc. are hence as much a part of the reading as those of the “astrologee”. Again, you are walking down a path together.

E. When the answer to A. is met with satisfaction, stir, and repeat.

So, here is another step. It’s pretty much the last one.

Like the others, there is even more to it than meets the eye, but I think the value in listing steps like this is to realize that there is an order to things in a presentation, even if it is of a melodic, roving, mental, psychical, emotional, moral and intuitive environment.