Vedic Study Group

[Libra8ca]

The textbook by Sutton, that NamasteIndia suggests, is simply the study guide we will be using, as a matter of having common ground and a jumping-off point for our book-study discussions.

Komilla's book is pretty good and I won't need to buy it since I already have it
I also have "Beneath a Vedic Sky" mentioned by WyrdRaven and found the software that came with it pretty useless; it's basically a demo software.

I do all my charts using the software on www.astro.com. I prefer the Western wheel-type chart over the Indian square charts. After all I did start out with Western astrology With this type of chart I find that it's much easier to look at transits and aspects (I guess I'm a visual type). I have it set where one sign = 30 degrees; this way it's easier to see aspects.

To do an Indian chart you have to select "Hindu/Lahiri geocentric (sidereal)" as the zodiac type when displaying a chart. The sign on the ascendant is the first house and the next sign is the second house etc. The website allows users to save up to 100 charts for free which is plenty for a beginner.

To do the Indian style charts and dasha calculations etc. I have the software "Jagannatha Hora 7.0" installed on my computer. It's available for free on the internet: http://www.vedicastrologer.org/jh/ (Looks like I don't have the latest version but mine works fine for me I find it really user-friendly and you can do just about any calculation imaginable in Indian astrology. With my version, I have to enter the longitude / latitude manually for births that are not in the list of displayed cities.

 

[WyrdRaven]

Thanks for the software and website info, Libra8ca! I will check on the possibilities for installation (this computer I'm using isn't mine). Just ordered a copy of the Sutton book and also, because I couldn't help myself, a copy of Light on Life to keep it company! Really looking forward to this!

 

[firecatpickles]

I have been using the Hindi/Lahric on astro.com. Does this give us the same information in the more familiar "Western wheel" format? If that's the case then perhaps we could forgo the extra software and use astro.com's as a common reference?

 

[Libra8ca]

I have been using the Hindi/Lahric on astro.com. Does this give us the same information in the more familiar "Western wheel" format? If that's the case then perhaps we could forgo the extra software and use astro.com's as a common reference?

Hi Fire Cat,
you can do a basic Vedic chart on astro.com using the Hindi/Lahiri zodiac. To interpret the chart you just need to know that one sign = one house in Vedic astrology and you start counting from the Ascendant / first house.

However, Vedic Astrology also uses planetary periods called dashas in forecasting and you need a Vedic software to do those calculations. There are also other calculations such as "Ashtagakarga" where points are assigned to each house to determine strength. Another important chart is the "Navamsa" chart which is a 9th harmonic chart derived from the natal chart. It's helpful to have software to do all those calculations ..... I'd say for a beginner you only need a natal chart, the dasha calculations and maybe the Navamsa chart.

ETA: the Jagannatha Hora Lite software can do all those calculations and many more and it's free. There are other free calculators on the web but I've found the J. Hora Lite software to be one of the easiest to use and you can install it on your computer.

 

[May]

Thanks Fire Cat

Komilla's book is out of stock in the stores around me. I've requested for it and hope it will be here soon. I do have some other books to refer to in the meantime.

Welcome WyrdRaven & May!

Other points-of-view are certainly welcome. And we aren't discrediting or discounting other sources by any means. The textbook by Sutton, that NamasteIndia suggests, is simply the study guide we will be using, as a matter of having common ground and a jumping-off point for our book-study discussions.

As I had mentioned, I was interested in getting the other book for its software, but the Parashara software seems to be a better fit, as well.

Here is our updated list:

Fire Cat
Minderwiz
Aulruna
NamasteIndia
Libra8ca
WyrdRaven
May


Please let me know if I've skipped anyone.

I will need a lot of help with charts. I understand the Indian square charts and yet feel I'll be more comfortable with the western way of drawing a wheel. It just seems so much easier to look at.

 

[firecatpickles]

Thanks for the info, Libra8ca. We like "free"!

May: The study group doesn't start until the last weekend in May (Memorial Day Weekend in the States) so hopefully that will leave us plenty of time to prepare our materials.

 

[NamasteIndia]

www.astrojyoti.com is a good site with lot of info about vedic history, mantras, remedies to reduce negative effects of planets, sanskrit stotras for listening and other related info's

 

[firecatpickles]

I found some "basics" that we could be looking at on Sutton's homepage:

http://www.komilla.com/pages/Column-July.html

It is the first time I have seen Mithun/Gemini on the cusp of my July 17th birthday. (Part of the reason I am getting more into Vedic astrology is that I feel more closely in-tune with being a Gemini lately.)

The info if you scroll down is outdated, though.

But, the working link for the Sutton book is now here:
http://www.komilla.com/pages/orderVedicBook.html

The one provided above is defunct.

 

[Libra8ca]

It is the first time I have seen Mithun/Gemini on the cusp of my July 17th birthday. (Part of the reason I am getting more into Vedic astrology is that I feel more closely in-tune with being a Gemini lately.)

I too find the vedic signs more accurate than the western ones. In western astrology my ascendant is Cancer but in vedic astrology my ascendant is Gemini which I find describes me much better.

I also like the following website for vedic astrology: www.galacticcenter.org

This website used to have all information for free but now you have to pay for some of the content . However, it looks like the beginner lessons are still free if you sign up with the website.

I have her book "Eastern Astrology for Western Minds" which is one of my favorite vedic astrology books but I think it's not suitable for a total beginner. I like reading the astrological analysis on this website but don't like some of the spritual stuff.

 

[Minderwiz]

It is the first time I have seen Mithun/Gemini on the cusp of my July 17th birthday. (Part of the reason I am getting more into Vedic astrology is that I feel more closely in-tune with being a Gemini lately.)

I too find the vedic signs more accurate than the western ones. In western astrology my ascendant is Cancer but in vedic astrology my ascendant is Gemini which I find describes me much better.

Be careful here, don't go by Modern Western Astrological sign meanings, in any way - You can't be in tune with being a Gemini, in a Western sense with the Vedic sign, of 'Gemini' there's no personality implied in the latter, just like the situation in Hellenistic, Medieval and Seventeenth Century Western Astrolog. The modern Western descriptions are themselves the product of late nineteenth, early twentieth century Theosophical Astrologers and would not have been recognised in by a traditional Western Astrologer.

And to be fair, even Modern Astrologers all recognise that no one sign characterises a person.

I'm not trying to defend modern sign meanings, they're one of the reasons I abandoned the modern approach but we should realise that ALL those sign meanings have to be jettisoned. whether they appeal to our self image or not.