The Dark and Terrible aspects of Vedic Astrology

I have found that there is a spectrum of two perspectives on Vedic astrology among modern-western astrologers. On one side there is great respect and praise and on the other side there is disdain and audible repugnance. This article is specifically for those on the repugnant side of the spectrum.

            There are two primary issues that the disdainful modern-western astrologer has for Vedic astrology. The first is the concept of fate. They believe that an individual has certain color eyes, hair and body shape because of genetics and are prone to certain diseases because of genetics, and experience negative affects due to hormonal imbalances. People have negative reactions because of internal interfering complexes developed when they were children. And people see life through a certain cultural lense which leads one to choose certain professions and ways of living. These things are out of the control of the young human being, and a few of them one hopes to gain a better handle on as they age. A four year old did not choose how its mother would treat it, nor the body type it has, nor the genes for its hair color, nor the cultural stigma it is enmeshed within. All these are ‘fated’ by nature of when and where it was born. Yet to say that astrology doesn’t show fate is to state that one cannot see these core factors making a person who they are in a birth chart. And if one cannot see them, then projecting that others cannot see them.  

            Vedic astrology doesn’t say one can’t change their fate. We are born into a certain situation, in a certain body with certain skill sets due to fate. We have certain genetic material that predisposes us to certain possibilities. But there is a whole branch of remedial measures to work with karma, to work with what we have been given in order to shift our circumstances. The word fate in English has a sense of doom associated with it. It comes from the Latin past particle of ‘to speak’- therefore it is what has been spoken or determined. The word for fate in Sanskrit is daiva which literally means ‘of the gods’ or that which is of the gods. The gods, seen through the planetary combinations and alignments, indicate the past action of an individual. Past action indicates the potential future.

If an astrologer has a client who has had two divorces and they see an afflicted Venus, then the client can be advised to donate to a women’s shelter to counter the past life’s actions by helping out suffering women in this life. This karmic remedy allows inner causal structures to shift and new realms of looking at oneself to arise which allow the individual to attract a relationship more conducive in the future. The Vedic sense of fate has many levels of density, it is not set; fate is what was, and it is what astrologers need to work with to help their clients. Clients have places they are stuck, places they are disempowered. Clients have bad habits, addictions, and parts of themselves they struggle with. As well as parts of their life that are not working. These parts need to be addressed and cared for.

            The second negative aspect is that many older Indian male astrologers come from a very different cultural reality than Americans and often say things much more harshly than Americans are used to. And while I agree that there are still a handful of these types of astrologers out there it is the fallacy of overgeneralization to act like all Vedic astrologers are this way, similar thinking that all modern-western astrologers have crystals balls and suck the money from hoodwinked housewives by telling them what they want to hear (which many old Indian astrologers are convinced that all western astrology is). I can list off story after story of horrible situations people have been put in by Vedic as well as western astrologers, but then there are also such gruesome stories about psychologists, psychiatrists and medical doctors.   

            This article is inspired by an interaction with a modern-western astrologer (who holds a license in psychology) who, after making personal criticisms of me, said, “By now, you probably know that I utterly deplore Vedic astrology, though for reasons that go far beyond the sidereal zodiac being a historical error. Suffice to say I have zero respect for anyone that is peddling this poison. At best, you’re in denial.”

           

His statement made me think of Carl Jung’s concept of shadow. The shadow represents all that we wish to disown within our own psychic life which then embodies its own autonomous energy that breaks through into daily life. In Sanskrit, the shadow self is called the pāpa-puruṣa, and seen as our shadow reflection- our dark opposite. Jung showed how if we deny the shadow, then it gets projected onto others. The more we deny and disown our shadow the more it is everywhere around us. What we dislike or hate in others is how they embody aspects of our own shadow. It is those aspects we cannot accept in our self and so condemn in others. To know our shadow is to look at what we hate in others.

            It is important to know our shadows, so we don’t let them remove our clarity. The best way to protect a client or anyone else in our life from our shadow is to be aware of what that shadow is so it doesn’t come out subconsciously (in lack of awareness). Whether we are hurt from a divorce and so don’t advise people to get married, or are against abortion and make negative comments when a woman mentions it, or have money issues and don’t give a rich investor client equal care because of shadow emotions. These shadow qualities make us lesser astrologers, and block the all accepting care that is needed in us to heal with our art. After our personal shadows, there are shadows that arise because of culture.

What falls into ego and what falls into shadow varies by culture.[1] In Indian culture, sex is shadow and death is fine to talk about, to predict death is an important event that you don’t want to miss. To the western mind, death is in shadow and it’s a horrible things to discuss. Yet westerners are quite happy to talk about when the next girlfriend will come into one’s life, and whether to leave the present relationship for something better. Talk about sex and different relationships is a horrible shadow topic to the traditional Indian. I have watched people of both perspectives be triggered into angst and disgust about the way the other talks about sex or death.   

            Then there is another important shadow that arises from the power dynamics we hold over those who wield knowledge over another. Guggenbuhl-Craig discusses shadow power dynamics in the helping profession, and mentions a pertinent dynamic for astrologers which can come out when one needs to say hard things to the client. There are two power dynamics that arise when needing to say hard things to a client.   

In making the hard observations to the client, one can abuse power by making the observations hurtful. This belittles the client and uplifts the astrologer. On the other side of that, what Guggenbuhl-Craig calls the “more dangerous possibility,” is transforming one’s unpleasant observations about the client into flattery. It may make the client happy and increase the client’s self-esteem, but it binds the client more firmly to the therapist who sees value in something no one else can.[2] Then the client then flatters the astrologer and uplifts their ego, creating a circle of flattery and no growth. Guggenbuhl-Craig gives the example of labelling an over dominating woman as having a royal nature, or calling a ruthless egotist a noble introvert, or calling the lack of respect for one’s aging mother as liberation from her.[3] And though we can find either power dynamic in any type of astrologer, certain types of astrology lend themselves to one form over another based on cultural biases.  

None of us are neutral- it’s not possible. The way the human mind works and gives meaning to experience and objects in the world is filtered by culture, gender, race, economic status and more. I often try to see if I can debate both sides of an argument to test my bias. But there are so many other factors that can’t be accounted for- just because I am born at this point in history. Vedic astrology is more family based and sees the individual as part of a family unit. The views of the parents and spouse have a huge impact on life and actions. American rugged individualism is the opposite and preaches individualism. James Hollis says, “Most of modern-western psychological theories and treatment plans invest heavily in the fantasy of ego sovereignty and control through cognitive restructuring and behavioural modification.” [4]  The Vedic paradigm does not see ego sovereignty as a goal or even as something beneficial. We all have a bias based on culture, our family, parent’s profession, mass media, etc. All of these factor into the nature of our shadow along with our own specific planetary nature and the shadows that brings.  

If someone thinks they don’t have shadow, it’s the worst. Everyone has shadow, and the more we know it the safer we are. The willingness to be accountable to our shadow self allows a healthy integration of our personality. One where we don’t get angry and make personal criticisms about someone during an intellectual discussion, or make a degrading comment to a client that we are unaware of. James Hollis says “One may make the Shadow conscious and be summoned to humility before its levelling of ego presumptions, fantasies, [and] inflations.[5]

Shadow awareness makes us humble. My astrology guru often says, only a saint has no bad habits (ṣaḍripu). Awareness of our faults makes us compassionate about the faults of others. Awareness of our shadow makes us clearer within ourselves; we aren’t blinded by our conception of how things should be. We understand that we exist in an imperfect world, where malefic planets exist in everyone’s horoscope. This awareness allows us to see more clearly.

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[1] Connie Zweig, Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature (New York NY: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Perigee Books, 1991), xvii.

[2] Adolf Guggenbuhl-Craig, Power in the Helping Professions (Thompson, Connecticut: Spring Publications, 2015), 67.

[3] Ibid., 68.

[4] James Hollis, “Theogonies and Therapies: A Jungian Perspective on Humanity’s Dark Side,” in Humanity’s Dark Side: Evil, Destructive Experience and Psychotherapy. Ed. A. Bohart, B. Held, E.Mendelowitz, & K. Schneider (Eds.). (Washington, DC: Prepublication draft copy, 2013), 152.

[5] Ibid., 147.