Eclipses, Nodes, and Lunar Mansions

I'm not sure if this is an esoteric question or a practical one. I've been doing some online research on the effects of eclipses in the lunar mansions and haven't been very successful in getting results. That could be because it's not important or because there's very little available to the western astrologer.

The Lunar Mansions (nakshatras) are a very important part of Vedic astrology, but mostly overlooked by western astrologers. We are more attuned to the decans. There are some good insights and symbolism/myths that we could put to good use, especially since the Nodes have become more and more important to us.

I guess my question(s) boils down to this:

1) Does anyone have any online references to eclipses in the lunar mansions?
2) Can anyone offer an interpretation of the upcoming eclipse in its lunar mansion?

Astrology is truly endless!

Short Answer to a good question

http://www.jameskelleher.com/index.php/news/eclipses.html

Slightly longer answer to follow

Thanks for the link, Minderwiz. That's very helpful.

Now...even more puzzling...do you know of any astrologers who have adapted this to the tropical zodiac instead of sidereal? That would put the eclipse in Mrigasira instead of Krittika. I can interpret that myself, but am looking for experienced tropical vedic astrologers' insights.

I'm looking forward to your longer answer.

I found a wonderful explanation of Mrigasira by an Indian astrologer on youtube. Definitely take a look. The astrologer is very charming and easy to follow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufX8s4cTBaU

BigLuna said:

Thanks for the link, Minderwiz. That's very helpful.

Now...even more puzzling...do you know of any astrologers who have adapted this to the tropical zodiac instead of sidereal? That would put the eclipse in Mrigasira instead of Krittika. I can interpret that myself, but am looking for experienced tropical vedic astrologers' insights.

I'm looking forward to your longer answer.

Click to expand...

BL you come up with the most challenging questions

I don't know of any tropical vedic astrologers at all, though strangely I was thinking about the possibility some days ago. According to Komilla Sutton the Nakshatras are the original lunar calendar of India and, she claims, the oldest lunar calendar. So I don't even know if the eclipse would definitely shift Nakshatra if we switched solar zodiac ( it might not do as the system is constellation based).

Krittika is associated with Power, War and Destruction but given the Moon's exaltation, there is a strong possibility that it can be controlled. One thing here could be the destruction of the Euro, or at least a step which starts the process.

In your first post you used the terms Lunar Mansions and Nakshatrs as interchangeable but the Lunar Mansions that entered Western Astrology are the Arabic Manazils and there are 28 rather than the 27 of the Nakshatrs. Again it seems that although these were originally constellation based they began to be measured from the Vernal Equinox nd so are tropical in nature. The eclipse will occur in Almices ruled by Jupiter. The general advice given in the Piccatrix is not to do anything important at the time of the New Moon, so using the activities associated with Almices (travelling, learning, building and relationships between spouses) are probably best ignored.

For more information

http://www.astrologer.com/aanet/pub/journal/picatrix.html

I did interchange the nakshatras and lunar mansions. I think it's because I just love the term "lunar mansion" and my inner editor has a faulty default.

I downloaded Dennis Harness' book, Nakshatras, and he uses them interchangeably, too, it seems. He says that they are called lunar mansions "because the Moon 'lives in" each of them for approximately a day."

When you mention the collapse of the Euro, you're using the sidereal zodiac which has the eclipse in Taurus. If we use the tropical zodiac, the eclipse is in Gemini. Warnock uses the tropical zodiac with the nakshatras. It's just so much easier for me (at this time) to wrap my mind around that.

In the long run, I guess it's a matter of picking a system and sticking with it. Or, maybe we can have a celestial "do-over" using both systems simultaneously. Another

Your answer has definitely activated my Mrigrasira, Minderwiz, giving me plenty of options as I continue to search. I appreciate it.

BigLuna said:

I did interchange the nakshatras and lunar mansions. I think it's because I just love the term "lunar mansion" and my inner editor has a faulty default.

I downloaded Dennis Harness' book, Nakshatras, and he uses them interchangeably, too, it seems. He says that they are called lunar mansions "because the Moon 'lives in" each of them for approximately a day."

Click to expand...

The Nakshatras and Manazils seem to have the same basis and may well be derived from a common 'ancestor'. Whether the difference has any real significance, other than the possibility of the same degree falling into a 'different' mansion I really don't know but in such cases at a personal level I would choose one or the other and keep to it, otherwise I'd end up very confused LOL

BigLuna said:

When you mention the collapse of the Euro, you're using the sidereal zodiac which has the eclipse in Taurus. If we use the tropical zodiac, the eclipse is in Gemini. Warnock uses the tropical zodiac with the nakshatras. It's just so much easier for me (at this time) to wrap my mind around that.

In the long run, I guess it's a matter of picking a system and sticking with it. Or, maybe we can have a celestial "do-over" using both systems simultaneously. Another

Your answer has definitely activated my Mrigrasira, Minderwiz, giving me plenty of options as I continue to search. I appreciate it.

Click to expand...

Yes I did use the Sidereal Zodiac because I honestly don't know whether there is any legitimacy in using the Tropical - but like you I would naturally lean towards it, which is why I had already wondered about using the Tropical Zodiac with Jyotish. Till you mentioned Warnock I'd not come across someone who uses it in Jyotish. I did download 'Jyotish Tools for Android and that does have an option of using the tropical zodiac.

Again at a personal level I'm unconvinced about the validity of using a sidereal zodiac in Astrology - though I take a much more favourable view of Precession Correction as used by Dave.

Incidently David Pingree, makes out an excellent case for Jyotish Horoscopic Astrology being a Hellenistic graft onto Indian culture, so I think that has to be my next field of exploration

Congrats on your new droid toy!

This is off topic from the nakshatras, but an interesting little something anyway that's sidereal/tropical based.

Carol and David Shaw are lunar gardeners. In their book, In Tune with the Moon 2012, they work with both the constellations and the signs. They say that they've observed a difference in the effects on plants and people. People and animals are more sensitive to the signs while plants are more sensitive to the constellations. The absolute best time for observing lunar gardening rules is when the signs and constellations overlap.

That's a wee bit reminiscent of using nakshatras as divisions instead of decans.

If you tire of the Hellenistic graft project, wouldn't their observations about plants make a wild and wacky research project for astrology and the overlap effect on people?

lol !!!!

That's what I thought you'd say.