219: Vedic Astrology—Ayurveda's Sister Science with Laura Plumb

Namaste, it's Sahara Rose. And welcome back to the Highest Self podcast, a place where we discuss what makes you your soul's highest evolvement. I have been super geeking out on Vedic astrology for the past couple months and I'm so excited to bring it to you in this episode. So this episode with Laura actually was really profound for me because it allowed me to really make sense of Vedic astrology. A little bit about my background with astrology was I never believed in it growing up because I would look up my sun sign and saw I was a Capricorn. And I did not relate. You know, I was never organized, I was never that disciplined on time, practical person at all. I was always traveling, always late, always, you know, creating something and making a mess. I was like, I really, I don't feel like a Capricorn. So that made me just not believe in astrology. And it wasn't until really about a year and a half ago that I did an epic interview with my friend Danielle Page. And that made me really see astrology.

In a whole new way.

But I still had this grip about, you know, I don't really know about the whole Capricorn thing, but I could understand some aspects. You know, I am definitely a hard working person, which is Capricorn, but it still didn't really feel like me. And a big part of Ayurveda are the sister sciences. So Ayurveda is the knowledge of life. It is the science that I focus on. I've written two books about, I have my upcoming Yogic path deck which also dives into Ayurveda, but it's the knowledge of life. It's balancing the mind and the body and the sister science of yoga, as well as Jyotish, which is Vedic astrology, which we're going to be talking about today. So Ayurveda, how to balance the mind and the body. Yoga, how to become one with source, with spiritual consciousness. And Jyotish, Vedic astrology is the science of the stars. So these sister sciences were always meant to be practiced hand in hand. You did a yoga practice according to your dosha, which aligned with your koshas, which aligned to your dashas and all of these incredible tools, all to balance your chakras. So lots of shas going on in the Vedic world. Anyone that knows those terms is probably cracking up right now. But the Vedic astrology component was a part that came later for me. I started practicing yoga when I was 12. But the Vedic astrology, once it came in, I was like, holy Crap. This is so specific, so real. I never felt as well understood as I got my Vedic astrology chart read. I did my first session with Dr. Suhas Kashir Sagar, who's been on this podcast twice, who was actually Laura Plumb's teacher. Laura Plum is the astrologer we'll be chatting with today. And then I later did it with Laura herself, and both were amazing and of that same lineage. And I actually met Dr. Suhas Kashir Sagar through Deepak Chopra, and he's been Deepak's longtime friend, Dr. Done His Jyotish too. So really good people to be working and learning from. And he learned from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who brought Transcendental Meditation to the US So really an incredible lineage. But I want to tell you a little bit about some core differences between Western and Vedic astrology before we get into the episode, because you may be thinking, well, what does that even mean? You know, like, my whole life I've thought, I'm a Gemini. You're telling me I might not be a Gemini? Like that doesn't make sense. So this is offering you a more ancient perspective. It's not saying that Western astrology is not true. I still have found lots of benefits from Western astrology, but it's just differences. It's different systems. And the main difference was that Western astrology came after Vedic astrology. Vedic astrology is the most ancient type of astrology that's based on the entire galaxy, which the sun is part of. Western astrology is based off of the sun. And the Western zodiac is actually no longer accurate in relation to the actual stars in the galaxy, but more of a theoretical zodiac based on the position of the sun relative to the Earth. So when we are working with Western astrology, they didn't account for the fact that the Earth shifts on its axis every single year. So from the time it started 2000 years ago to now, there has actually been a 23 degree shift of the Earth's axis. So we're about one complete sign off. And this isn't a debate or an opinion. This is actually like a fact that you can look up, you can even look at the stars with your own eyes and see that it's shifted. Now, you could still say that Western astrology is accurate because it's in sync with the sun and it doesn't really matter where the other planets are. So you can still find a lot of validity to it. But I have found in a lot of people who've done Western and then done Vedic, I have found my Vedic to be much more accurate to the point that to the date, to the week, it has told me things that have happened in my life that no one could have ever known. So I also love Vedic because, you know, it really separates it into different houses, which we're going to talk about, and different sub houses, nakshatras and different submoons. And it's so specific. It's such an intricate science. And I appreciate it so much coming from an Ayurvedic background, because one, it includes the doshas. Each of the planets has their related doshas, which we'll talk about. It's extremely holistic. It looks at colors, mantras, chakras, gemology, all sorts of things. But also it's very pragmatic. It's not saying, oh well, because you were born this certain day and time, this is your destiny. Actually you can shift your Dharma through your karma. So what that means is you can shift what's going to happen to you by shifting how you are reacting to things today. You can, for example, say certain mantras or be wary of certain things, et cetera, that the things that are destined for you in the stars are actually not set in stone. They're in motion and you have the ability to change them. So I really like how it has that empowering stance to it because a lot of times with, you know, astrology, a lot of people like myself have thought, well, that doesn't make sense. Like it just tells me that's what's going to happen. And with the Vedic, there are a lot of things, and some people take it even too literally, like you have to wear all these specific crystals on different fingers and do all these different pujas. And you know, with that it can also become really, you know, intense and control oriented. But I think looking at the fact that nothing is set in stone and you have the ability to change your future is really powerful and really empowering. So on this interview, Laura Plumb is going to be sharing with us all things Vedic astrology. She's someone I've learned a lot from. She's always texting me because, you know, when we're celebrating these full and new moons, we're pretty much one sign ahead of what it would have been in the Vedic perspective. So right now, for example, we are entering into Leo, whereas in the Western world we believe we're entering into Virgo, but in the Vedic, we're entering into Leo. So I made a little graphic that I'm going to post on my Instagram, am SaharaRose. That has all of the different birth dates. So you could look up what your sun sign is in the Vedic chart. See how that resonates. Some people when they find out their sun sign in Vedic are like, oh, my God, that's made so much sense today. That was, for me, Sagittarius. I'm like, yes. My whole life, I'm like, I feel like I'm a SAG because they're like, all about philosophy and the rule by the planet of Jupiter, thinking big, highest self. That felt so me. I was always just backpacking, going to new places. So for me, finding out that I'm actually a SAG is like, hell, yeah. That's where it's at. That makes so much sense to me. Definitely still have some Capricorn even in my Vedic chart. But other people, they hear it and they're like, I don't know. I don't really resonate with it as much. Keep in mind also that in Vedic astrology, they have different interpretations of the planet. So you may think Libra is like, so fairy Schmerry. Like, that's not me. I'm a Scorpio. But they may be looking at Libra in a way that you haven't looked at before, which is another thing that we talk about. So our Western interpretations of the planet aren't the actual original interpretations in the Vedic times. And the Vedic astrology is the first ever recorded astrology that predates all other systems, especially in the Western world. So I love learning from the root again. You could love this system or you could say, you know what, I want to stick with what I know. And Western is just vibing more for me. And that's totally fine too. It's just great for us to see things from another system, understand things from a new approach, and who knows, you may learn more about yourself that you could add on, on and play with both. Because I do think that they, you know, look at the planets in their own ways. Vedic is more macro, while Western's more micro. So they both have a lot to offer. Try them on for size and see how it fits in with your life. Now, before we get started with Laura Plum, I want to share with you that she is going to be one of our experts in Rose Gold goddesses. Rose Gold Goddesses is my new sacred sisterhood collective where we are gathering each month to honor a new goddess. In our virtual goddess circle. We have our very own app with forums on all things from Ayurveda to astrology to shamanism. To herbal healing and everything in between with location services so you can find the other goddesses that live near you. Experts like Laura and Heather, who's been on the podcast and many others sharing their wisdom with us and such an incredible community. We're doing live events, launch parties in many cities around the world. Goddess Spotlights to share your magic each and every month and and so much more that I've been preparing for you guys for months and months and months and I cannot wait to finally open doors this September. The doors are only going to be open for one week and after we will be closing them to really create that container of a long standing community. If you're listening to this after September I may open doors again in 2020. So head over to rosegoldgoddesses.com if the membership is open, you'll be able to sign up right away. If not, you'll be able to join the wait list. You're going to be to ask people like Laura, other people who've maybe dabbled in Vedic astrology, Western astrology, Ayurveda, all sorts of things, their opinion and just have the support and the community of people who want to talk about this stuff because we live in a world that this isn't really mainstream, this isn't common at all. Not even really not at all. And there are other people out there who are so on this journey and so on wanting to connect with you. So head over to rosegoldgoddesses.com goddesses plural. The link is also in the show notes and I'm looking forward to meeting you there. Now that further ado, let's welcome Laura Plum to the Highest Self podcast.

Welcome Laura to the Highest Self podcast. It's so good to have you here.

Thank you. It's a treat.

So the first question I would love to ask you is what makes you your highest self?

That's a great question and I'm glad you asked. We should all be asked that every morning. The answer I have is twofold, but they're interlocking. One is nature. Just to be in nature. Whether it's to even just go for a walk or to go for a hike or to get down to the beach and watch the rhythms of the ocean, or be by the river or even at night to just kind of look out the window and see the moon or the stars. But the second answer is quietude. To just sit quietly. Whether it's closing my eyes and focusing on the breath or whether it's again getting into nature and being quiet. I think the interlocking aspect of it is that when we're quiet, whether it's in nature outside or whether it's in nature within ourselves, you know, we touch the hem of the holy, so to speak, we touch the part of ourselves that is great and vast and mighty and majestic. And I know we're going to talk more about it later, but I feel like Ayurveda, which you've shared so beautifully with the world, is an opportunity for us to realize that we are nature. And Jyotish, which I think we're going to talk about later, is an opportunity for us to remember that we are the cosmos. And so anytime that we come in to quietude and just pay attention, then we are coming into that presence of the magnificence of nature and the magnificence of the cosmos that is all around us, but that is also within each one of us. So in many ways it's easy just drop in, but remember to do it.

So easy to just silence the mind. Right. It just happens instantly.

Right. That's the thing.

Well, I love that we're having you.

Here because not only are you an expert in Ayurveda, but you're also an expert in Jyotish, which is Vedic astrology, which lots of listeners have had questions on. So what is the difference between Vedic and Western astrology?

Oh, great question. In a way they're similar. There are certain overlaps, but in a way there's some great differences. One is called Sidereal, which is the Eastern or Vedic astrology. And Sidereal is said to be a star based system. The Western astrology is said to be, you could say Earth based or equinox based. It's seasonally based. And just to explain that a little bit, I love to tell a story just to give some context. Alexander the Great went all the way from Greece through Persia and all the way to India. And apparently when he got to India, he fell in love with the place and stayed, I think, 14 years. He was finally called back. So he packed up his generals and his soldiers, he packed up his camels and his mules with silks, you know, and spices and gems and everything. But he also packed up with yogis, Ayurvedic doctors and Jyotish masters. And he brought them back to Greece because he knew that they could make his armies stronger. So whether it was the Yoga to make people individually really stronger, really powerful, really clear, really brave, whether it was the Ayurveda, of course, for the medicine, or whether it was a Jyotish to help people really know in a grander way, the power of who they are. So when you see something like that, you see that the east has really influenced, right, we think of our history. Basically, Western history is taught that it sort of all begins in Greece, Mesopotamia, et cetera. So Greece becomes, in a way, the portal for the medicines, the wisdom, the genius, you could say, of the east to come through to the West. So Hippocratic medicine, for instance, reflects a lot of Ayurveda in its humors, in its first do no harm. Of course, that's the first beginning of yoga sutras, ahimsa. And so then also we see in Western astrology, we see a lot of Eastern astrology. There's similarity in terms of what the planets mean and stand for. There's some similarities in terms of the signs, but it slightly ends there because some 2,000 years ago, when this exchange would have been taking place, the sun, literally in the sky, from the vantage point of the Earth, entered the sign of Aries on March 22, which was the spring equinox. And Western astrology is pinned there. The problem is the Earth has a wobble on its axis and it's very, very, very minute. And I don't know how people with the naked eye would have been able to see this or determine it once upon a time, but The Earth wobbles one degree every 72 years. And what that means is that over time, the sky seems to shift, right? It's actually the Earth that's shifted, but it seems like the sky has shifted. And over 2,000 some years, that means that we've shifted 25 degrees. So just talking about degrees, that's a piece of pie. So we're talking about a 360 degree. So this circle, the sky as it circles around the Earth, what we can see with the naked eye is that which is around us, right? We're not talking about the entire sky or the entire solar system out there. We're just talking about what passes through our Earth's sky. So what happens now is that from Earth we see that the sun enters Aries. Now, get this. April 15th. So if you're born between March 21st or 22nd and April 15th, you are not an Aries anymore. You're now a Pisces. And so the major difference for a lot of people that surprises them is that 25 degrees means most of a. Because every sign is 30 degrees. There's 12 signs. That means 12 times 30 is 360 degrees. That makes up the circle. And if we've moved 25 out of 30 degrees we've moved most of a sign. That means 25 out of 30 people who are one sign, who think they're one sign are actually the other. And what you see now in a way to sort of compensate for that is more and more I'm seeing Western astrology describing the signs as the next one. What I mean by that is I'm hearing that a lot of people who are in Western considered Capricorns. December 20th, I guess, I think it's 22nd to January 22nd. Is that right? That's Capricorn, yeah.

Which is me. I'm in that bracket, which is you.

You're a great example. Actually Sagittarius goes December 15 to January.

15, which I relate to so much more than Capricorn.

Right. So it means that a whole group of people have actually moved. And yet I'm hearing it's a great example to give as you, because I hear so many people who are told that they're Capricorns, people now saying that Capricorns in the Western canon, Capricorn is creative, Capricorn is theatrical, Capricorn likes philosophy. Well, that simply isn't true. Capricorn is practical, Capricorn is earthy, Capricorn makes a great executive, they're great project managers, they're great at what they are. But they're not Sagittarius. Sagittarius is the one that's sort of big, big picture, broad minded, loves to run with the wind in their hair. They're the philosophers, they're the ones who are interested in multicultures. They're very different people. And to sort of start to take the qualities of one and stick it on the other just to make it work doesn't exactly. It's not fair to people.

So that's one of the main differences.

The other difference is that because it's a star based system and because it is precise, it's astronomy we're talking about and we're basing the astrology on the actual astronomy. And because of that Eastern or Vedic or Jyotish we call it astrology is very predictive and it's turned to for its capacity to predict. Now that becomes a very precise, of course, science that takes a lot of time for people to really learn. But Ayurveda can speak to people. That's why a lot of people in ancient times in India would go to a Jyotish program person for help with determining a wedding date, for instance, or to set a time for any kind of a big event. To make sure that it's going to be the most auspicious time that it can be. I mean, why not get the support, let's say right of the universe anytime we're doing something important.

I love that so much and I think it's so important for people because I remember there was this whole thing that happened a couple years ago saying that everyone's sign is one backwards because there's one extra planet. I forget what it was called and I don't know, was that whole thing related to Vedic astrology or was that just related to them finding this new planet? Do you remember that whole thing happening?

I sort of remember it and I sort of don't. I didn't get too into it, but I think what happens. So the other thing just backing up is that all of the Vedic sciences, which is yoga as the prime Veda, right? The science of self realization, Ayurveda and Jyotish being Upa Veda, supporting sciences that support that prime purpose of our life, to self realize and to find our highest self. All of the Vedas are what we could call knowable sciences. I think the reason that they're catching on so beautifully is because by knowable we mean we can know these sciences with our own five senses. So we don't need a microscope or a macroscope or a telescope or someone else's research or books. We can actually go into nature and experience the 20 attributes. Let's say that we learn about Nyurveda, we can spend time feeling the wind on our skin and coming to know, well, it's a little bit cold, right? It's certainly mobile. We can come to know the qualities of the doshas by just experiencing them with our five senses. And Jyotish is the same. We only include the planets that can be seen with the naked eye. They're not always seen, you know, we don't always see Jupiter or Saturn, but we can see them. And it was by watching them and paying a lot of close attention consistently over time that the ancient people of sages, we call them the seers, we call them, came to know the genius of existence. But they came to know it in the very same way you and I can come to know it. That's what I love so much about it, is that it's not impossible, it's not out of reach to us. I think the invitation of the Vedas is you too can be that genius, right? You too can know it. So to discover another planet means it was out beyond Pluto, let's say. And that would Mean it would take scopes. Right. It would take instruments beyond the instrumentation of our five senses. And when it comes to that I don't pay attention that much because I believe so much in Geotish. It feels like everything that we can know through Geotish is enough for me and it certainly has been enough for my clients.

Oh yeah, and it's more than enough.

That's a great question. I'm curious about it.

Yeah. And are the signs still seen the same as they are in Western astrology?

They are and they aren't. So it depends. Sometimes I'll have a client and I'll say well a Gemini is a great example. Capricorn, if we're true to Capricorn, is a great example of one that's really pretty much the same. And what I love about Jyotish though is it gives different symbols. So whereas we might say, well Capricorn as I said earlier, is practical and they're sure footed and they're great at managing projects, they're great at bringing in things budget on time, they're really reliable, they're honest, they're stand up folk. The symbol in Western astrology is the goat. Great symbol for Capricorn because the goat, even though it's got those skinny little legs, it goes up Rocky Mountains very sure footedly and it gets to the top. And Capricorn is very much that way. They may go slow and steady but they will get to the top and so they will meet their goals. The symbol for that in Jyotish, which isn't so flattering but I think is brilliant, is the crocodile. And that's because the crocodile is often unseen. You know, oftentimes they'll be just under the surface of the water but you don't see them. If you look carefully you might see an eye, just one little sort of arch of an eye above the water. They are an animal, you could say, that has their eye on the prize and once they lock on their target, they will wait hours for exactly the right moment to then snatch and get their target. So it's the same kind of idea that Capricorn is somebody with their eye on the prize and a great deal of patience. They're willing to wait out the time they need to wait and they're quiet about how they go about things. On the other hand, someone like Gemini I think is a very different description. Pisces is another one that I think is very different in Western. I think we tend to think of the Gemini as two faced or the twins they're called in Eastern astrology, it's ruled by Mercury. And Mercury is the planet we're much more interested in. What is the planet that rules the signs? Geodes is much more a planet based system than a sign based system. So we're looking more at, okay, who rules Gemini? The planet that rules is Mercury and every sign except the sun and moon. Sun rules Leo, Moon rules Cancer. Every other planet gets two signs to rule. So Mercury gets Gemini and Virgo. And every planet that gets two signs gets a masculine and a feminine. Gemini is the masculine expression of Mercury. In a way. That's all we need to know. Mercury is the planet of the intellect, the planet of communication, the planet of study, the planet of facts and details, of gathering information, of gathering people, even through communication. So a Gemini person has got a facility. They're very facile in their capacity to communicate and connect. But that does not make them superficial. They tend to be people who like to study, who like to learn, who like to share what they're learning in a very joyful and playful way. To be playful is not to be superficial. To be playful is to take information and make it understandable to others. So Gemini makes great teachers and they make great what I call pollinators. They're like butterflies that goes from a flower to a flower to flower, pollinating ideas and therefore pollinating creativity in the world. So my Gemini friends are the ones I turn to for new ideas. If I feel like I'm in a rut, I call up a Gemini friend and say, let's go out for lunch. And I let them decide where we're gonna go. Geminis are inspiring. And I think the way that the western astrology talks about Geminis, I think is slightly insulting to the greatness and the potential that Geminis is for all of us in the world. They really bring to us, as I said, inspiration and creativity and learning and play.

That's so beautiful. Yeah. I feel like in the west there's almost this, like, Geminis are crazy. Have you heard this?

Right, Right, Absolutely.

So in Vedic, is it like they.

Have these two sides of them also?

No. So the other thing that's beautiful about geotech is it has a story. All that mythology of the Vedas is so gorgeous. And every planet is considered an archetype or even a deva, like a divine being. The sun is considered king and the moon is the queen, Mercury. So Mercury, you know, who travels very close to the sun, tiny little planet. In close, he's considered the prince. So he is, he's the little guy. He's going to grow up there one day and be the king. So he's not. There isn't a dual nature to him so much as he's got to study, he's got to learn to be the king. So he's got to learn history and military warfare. He's got to learn a lot of things, but he's not the king yet. So he can knock off after lunch and go play with his friends. And that really does describe Gemini. They love to learn, but they also love to play. But that doesn't make a dual nature. That just makes somebody who can be both fun loving and very interesting.

I love that you're not crazy, you're just fun loving. Yeah, amazing. So let's talk about the doshas, because I do know a major part of Vedic astrology is you can see someone's prakriti within their chart. So can you please share how this happens?

Sure. So starting with Gemini is a good one. And maybe the reason sometimes people think Gemini might be a little crazy is because Gemini is an air sign. And an air sign would be obviously a vata. A vata, dosha, vata, prakriti. And a vata out of balance could be described as a little crazy. We certainly feel a little crazy, right? If our vata is out of balance because we feel like the wind has just swept us off our feet, we can feel very ungrounded and scattered and that can feel frightening. The main thing though that's interesting is that for people listening, it's important to know that first of all, you may not be who you think you are. You may not be the sun sign that you think you are. If you're born in the first three weeks of the sign according to the western dates, then there's a good chance you are the sign before. So again, if you thought you were an Aries, it's a good chance you're a Pisces and et cetera, so on. But the other thing is that we're not looking at the sun sign to determine the prakriti. We look at the rising sign. So I like to say that if you're in India, where Jyotish is actually the astrology that they would be practicing or know about. And if somebody says, hey, what's your sign? They're not asking your sun sign. The sun is the center of our solar system. And in the chart it represents the center of you, your innermost being. It represents your soul. Just as the planets travel around the sun. But the sun is supposedly a fixed point, we actually now know the sun. Our sun travels around its own sun, but it's fixed in the sense that our planets and our solar system travel around that one singular point. We believe that the sun represents the soul in you, that eternal singular point. And so nobody's coming up to you and saying, well, tell me about your singular eternal self when we just meet you. I mean, you might Sara as you do when you do a podcast. But what we're asking more is what's your rising sign or what's your moon sign? Because the rising sign speaks to the vehicle, the physical body that's carrying your soul through this human experience. And the moon represents your mental and emotional nature. So if I'm going to get to know you, I might like to know a little bit more about your moon and what that's going to be, what that experience of you will be. So it's the rising sign that we look at first for prakriti, we're looking at the sign itself. We're looking at whether or not there's any planets in that rising sign and if there's any planet aspect in the rising sign. And then, of course, we want to look at the moon and see how the moon's doing, because that's going to determine a lot about a person's mental property, you could say. And it also has to do somewhat to do with the immune system Moon Soma Somatic gives us that sense of embodiment. So those are the two primary things we look at. We can also look at like the sixth house for digestion. We can look at different things. It can get complex, but the starting point would be at the rising sign. So again, if you're a rising sign, Gemini, that speaks to a vata Prakriti, if your sun signed Gemini, but let's say you have Taurus rising, and maybe you even have Moon or Venus in your rising sign. Well, that's going to be a kapha prakriti, but still with the Gemini sun. So you're going to have somebody who may be who loves learning, who loves teaching, who loves communicating, who loves traveling around and getting to know things and people. And yet they're in this container, this vehicle that has more of a kapha nature to it, it that speaks to the complexities. And I think that's the problem now in the west with Ayurveda, people are looking to kind of clamp down, let's say, on the one dosha to describe the entire entirety of themselves. And what I like to remind people is that you are a beautiful, complex being and there's a lot more to you than just one, you know, dosha, one aspect.

So true. Yes. I see a lot of people, they're like, what's my dosha? And then they only follow that. And we're so complex, just like we have different planets and different signs. So do you mind going through the signs and what dosha each are related to, just so people can have an idea? Because I think with water signs people may get kind of confused because water is in pitta and kapha.

Right? It's a great question. And your rising sign, if you know your western rising sign, same as what I just said about the sun, there's a good chance for 3/4 of people that your rising sign has changed and it would be the one prior. So if you thought you were, for instance, again, let's go back to the same example. If you thought you were Aries rising, good chance that you're actually Pisces rising. So starting with Aries, because it's said to be the first sign Aries is, and we know everything by the planet that rules it. Aries is a sign that's ruled by Mars. Mars, if you see it again with the naked eye, we can see what Mars is. Mars is red in the sky. So what dosha would that be? Right. Mars is Pitta. It's a pitta planet. And Aries is the masculine expression of a fire planet. So clear pitts of Aries rising people, Aries sun people, Aries Moon people have tremendous clarity. Leaves are like focus on things. Leaves are like capacity to just bore in. And they're good at strategy, they're good at vision, they're brave and they're forward moving and they will wait to do the research they need to do and to put together a strategy. But then it's, we're off, no more waiting around. Let's go do this. Taurus is an interesting one. It's an Earth sign, so it's considered kapha, although it's got a little bit of the Earth signs are interesting. Without the water, they kind of move. Let's just say it's mainly kapha, but it can have a little bit of secondary vata to it. That's because it's ruled by Venus, which is said to be a Kapha vata planet. Now this is going to be different depending on what Jyotish teacher, you speak to certain lineages. Just like yoga, certain lineages have their own interpretations. So this is pretty generic that I'm speaking about here. I Mentioned that Gemini is an air sign ruled by Mercury. Mercury is very sensitive, right? That's why we use Mercury to tell the temperature. Very adaptive. And so of course that all gives vata. Cancer is an interesting one. You'd think that it being water, it's ruled by the moon. And we think that because moon governs the tides that cancer would be a kapha sign. Cancer is kapha, but it's also vata, equal parts. Why? Because the moon waxes and wanes. It's changeable every day. You know, pretty much every day it changes. So that's the vata of it. But then it governs the water. Kapha, Cancer rising people, you can very much see that in a cancer rising person. You'll see oftentimes that they might be very creative, they might be emotionally very engaging, that might give some emotional volatility or drama, but at the same time they're very kapha. And they're very kind, they're very comforting, they're very caring, they're very nurse like or mother like. Leo rising, of course is ruled by the sun. So that's a strong pitta. They are great leaders, visionaries, storytellers, motivators, coaches. Leos are very much the sunshine of the cosmos. And then back to Virgo, I mentioned that it's ruled by Mercury. Virgo is also an Earth sign. So ruled by Mercury gives it that. You'd think it would give it that vata. But Mercury is actually exalted, meaning its greatest place, the greatest place Mercury can be is in the sign of Virgo. Anybody born with Mercury in Virgo is somebody who's going to have a very precise, clear intellect. They find the right word, exactly the right word they need at the right moment. So they're great at communicating and speaking on their feet. And so that gives a lot of pitta. There's a lot of clarity and focus and precision to the Virgo mind. So there is that Earth, but we would say secondary or lot of pitta and then this secondary quality of adaptive. So where Mercury is, if Mercury is with another planet, it adapts to that planet. Mercury by itself could be seen as kind of pitta, kind of vata. But if it's with the sun, it's clearly pitta. If it's with the moon, it's got kapha. And Virgo has some of that too. Depending on what it's with or what it's aspected by, it might go with that. Virgo rising people are very caring, very kind, very nurturing people have a great capacity for order, for administration, for managing things. And they have the tendency to get overwhelmed sometimes. They're the ones who love yoga, feng shui, you know, especially we all love it, but they especially kind of need it. Gemini people too, to a lesser degree. But they both those Mercury based people, because of Mercury's capacity to kind of go and adapt and pick up on that, you know, Virgo people can have a lot of that. And that's the, that's definitely a secondary vata influence there to Libra. Now Libra is an interesting one because it's ruled by Venus. Remember, Venus is kapha and vata, but libra itself is an air sign. So libra is air, but it does have this, I would almost say tertiary kapha. But mostly you would think of libra as air sign. So some vata there. Scorpio is another interesting one. Scorpio and Sagittarius are unique in that their element is one thing. The planet that rules them gives them another element. So for instance, Scorpio is a water sign. It's ruled by Mars, which is a fire. So Scorpio is clearly a fire water person. Easily Pitta, Kapha and Sagittarius is the same for different reasons. Sagittarius is a fire sign, but it's ruled by Jupiter, a kapha planet. So again you've got Kapha and Pitta there for Sagittarius. Capricorn is Pitta, Earth sign, but ruled by Saturn actually, which is interesting. But Mars is exalted in Capricorn. Capricorn people are pitta in that they're practical, focused, organized and they're going to meet their mark. And then the last two, Aquarius, the water bearer of all things. Air sign. Vata, Pisces is ruled by Jupiter and so it gives kapha. Although most Jupiter, I mean most Pisces people I know don't look obviously kapha. They're not obviously big boned or jointed. But you will notice the kapha in them because they've got a tremendous kindness and compassion that is very natural to them. So straightforward for most of them. Some of them have a little bit more complexity to them.

I love that. Thank you so much for that whole thing. I hope listeners were taking notes. Yeah, it's interesting because in Vedic my rising is Scorpio and I always thought, since my fiance is a western Scorpio, I always thought they're like into being in the dark and he's always like making music in dark rooms. And I thought I was like, I'm definitely not that But I remember you were saying how in Vedic astrology, a lot of spirituality, people in spiritual world are Scorpio because it's kind of going into the depths and the truth and the places that people don't really go typically.

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Scorpio are the people, you know, the women who see into the dark. And that doesn't mean that you like being in the dark or that you are dark or you're goth, but the capacity to see in the dark. I've seen you do this, you know, I was at a workshop with you last summer, as you, as you remember, with Melissa and Nick and. And you have the capacity, and this is a very Scorpio thing, to see through people, to see into the heart of a person, to see into the heart of a matter. That's the fire piece that's in a Scorpio. What Scorpio is, you know, I said that Scorpio and Sagittarius are both pitta kapha, really. So fire and water, but in very different ways. Scorpio, you could think of it as fire surrounded by water. Where's that fire gonna go? No escape for that fire. So all it can do is get more and more intense, hotter and hotter. So a Scorpio person has a real intensity of fire, meaning they have. What does fire give us? Light. And they have a laser like capacity to see in the dark. That doesn't mean, again, that they hang out in the dark, but that means that they can be great coaches, they can be great therapists, they can be great yogis, they can be very great at helping people see what they need to see, see beyond the ego and see into the heart of the matter, see the heart of who they are. To see the. The essence of a thing, whether it's a problem or a person or a soul. The water aspect of the Scorpio person means they have both the empathic, the empath also capacity to feel what's going on, but they also have the intuitive to kind of move into that sort of dark space or that invisible space, you could say. But they also have the compassion to hold the person as they're going through the transformation. So Scorpios are fabulous coaches, fabulous life coaches. They're great at. There's also that creative piece because the Scorpio is the eighth sign. It relates to the eighth house. The eighth house is very well known as the alchemical house, the house of energy management and refinement and even transformation. Very much the birth, death, rebirth house. So it's that cycle of life, death, going underground and then rebirth very much relates to the Phoenix of Fire that transforms and from which we fly. And I've seen that in you. So the Sagittarius, which is another big strong part of you, very different because that's where the Jupiter is the Kapha part and the fire is the element. So Jupiter, Sagittarius, people have the fire, which gives them vision and idealism and the Kapha part, which gives them the broad minded, big picture. They're, you know, Jupiter's that outer planet, so. So it sees the whole. So Sagittarius is very, very different from Scorpio. None of the intensity. They're much more looking at the whole. They're much more interested in the philosophy of things. Don't sweat the small stuff. Interesting how they combine to give somebody who's both a philosopher and the firebrand the passion. The one who's gonna go right in and take their clients with them and like, let's go, let's go burn through this thing and get rid of it once and for all.

I love that. Yeah, I totally relate to, especially when I was learning about sag, just how they're just like, they're adventurous and they want to travel and they want to learn. I was like, that's me. I was like, why am I not that one? And that's why I'm so. I love Vedic because I'm like, I am my son and my moon are such like, it just. I feel so much more at home that because I'm like the least organized, I would be the worst person with a budget. I do not have like my schedule figured out, which are all the Capricorn things. I'm like, am I just like not embodying my truth? But it always felt like it was like. I guess what I did relate to Capricorn was being ambitious. But. But seeing. I love that analogy you made of the fire surrounded by water. Like that is more how my ambition feels than like it's on the schedule and I need to get it done and execute. Like, it doesn't feel as much like that.

It's a much different kind of ambition. Capricorn might be. Yeah, like you say, that's on the schedule and they're gonna move towards something whether it takes a week, a month, a year. The Scorpio is more the holding. Right. You're holding for others this fire of transformation. And the Sagittarius is holding the possib. And I love what you said because I felt the same when I came across Geotician, when my teacher first told me about my chart. And I felt like that moment I felt like, gosh, I too am Sagittarius Sun. So I felt like people had been like trying to like, force me into a square hole to be a Capricorn. And I was like, I'm sorry, I feel like a failed Capricorn. You know, I'm just not like that. And then you find out you're actually not that at all. It's such a relief, you know, it's so liberating. So I think that's what I love about Geotus too. I mean, what, what more, what greater gift than to reflect back to a person the truth of who they are so they can be free to be who they are? Right.

So beautiful. And it's so spot on. I mean, I did a session with Laura, guys, and it was so specific to the date of things happening. She's like, did this. It's so crazy to me how, how specific and accurate it is. So can you share with us what are the different houses in Vedic astrology?

Right. The houses are great. So let me give you like the context for Jyotish. I usually start my sessions this way. People can listen to this podcast now instead. But it's a planet based system, oftentimes spoken about as a moon based system. Jyotish. The planets really matter. And we're looking at, when we talk about somebody's chart, we're looking at the planets in their chart and where they are, we're looking at where they are in terms of signs. So those are stars. We're looking at planets, stars, and houses. Houses are space. So. So it's basically three things. We're looking at planets, stars, space, the planets, where they are, in terms of which stars they're in. That gives us the signs. And then the planets, which part of space they're in. We divide space into 12 arenas, 12 areas that are called houses. As the moon travels, you could say through the houses, you might sometimes are referred to as sort of mansions. Another way to think of it is just think of this, of space. You know, think of the night sky and think of it as divided into pieces of the pie. And as a planet travels through it, it's traveling through obviously some different areas. So if the planet is at the piece of the sky that you know is directly east of you right now, if you're looking wherever you are, whatever time of day. If you look directly east and you look at the horizon, that's what we call the first house, that piece of the sky. Just to give you the piece of the sky directly above you, wherever you are right now, whatever time of day, the piece of the sky directly above you, we're going to call that the 10th house. So we divide the sky into 12. Each piece represents something, obviously, the first house, that which is that piece right above, just at the eastern horizon. And right above, that's the rising. That's what's rising. So the first house is going to represent all things that rise. So it represents the self, it represents the ego, it represents the body. Because for a soul to rise into human existence, we need a body. It also represents the head. So, you know, you can look at it that way. The 10th house, for instance, that which is directly above that represents our highest self, our highest expression, our highest gifts, our highest unfolding, or even our highest offering to the world. If the 10th house is the one directly above the opposite house, the fourth is the one directly below. And what's below us, you could say would be what's within. The fourth house relates to home. So I'm jumping around the sky here. But if we go back to the first house being that which is at the eastern horizon rising in this moment or at the moment of your birth, if we're talking about your chart, then the opposite house is the seventh house, right? So this, every, the seven is always the opposite. So seventh house is opposite the first house. That means the seventh house is at the western horizon. And the western horizon you could think about, right? What is, what happens at the western horizon? The sun sets, the planets set into the western horizon. And what do we do at the end of the day? We come home to our loved ones. We come home to our beloved. 7th House relates to our merit or our marital partner. So first house is rising. That gives. Mainly that's what we're looking at for Prakriti. Second house is childhood or the resources that come from family. Third house is. And this is interesting too, because it goes. There's a cosmic purusha, cosmic being. First house is head, second house is throat. And so it's the age at which we learn to speak. And the second house can also relate to speech. And we can look at somebody's second house if they have a Venus that's strong in the second house, they might be a singer, right? Third house relates to shoulders and arms, and the third house relates to tools Things we do with our hands. It relates to, you know, people whose hands we hold in life. So it relates to our siblings and our peers, relates to energy as well. And it relates in a way to that action that the hands kind of represent in the world. Fourth house is the house of home. As I mentioned, the first home, we all lived first in our mother's womb. And so it relates to mother as well. The fifth house is an interesting house. It's said to be a bhakti house. It's a house of creative intelligence. It's a house of children, It's a house of romance. All those things that come, like from romance and getting creative and procreative. But it can also, you know, represent higher intelligence or higher learning. And it represents. Fourth house is chest. Fifth house is the upper, upper belly. Sixth house is more the digestive part of the belly. Sixth house is the house of service, environment, food and digestion. 7th House, as I said, is the house of marriage or your one on one partner. So if you have a. If you're an entrepreneur and you have a business partner, it's really the one that you're in relationship with kind of constantly. And you know, the highest relationship, of course, is the one you have with your higher self. So it can also be looked at for that eighth house. Sixth and eighth houses are what we call upaya houses. So houses of effort. Houses where we may, if we have planets there, it indicates there may be challenges, but that we are there to learn the lessons in order to. Then they're also seva houses. So the lessons we learn from six eighth house activities, we will then be serving the world through the lessons we learn. It's very beautiful to see that dharmic purpose sometimes to the challenges that we have in our lives. 8th House is the house of the underground or the esoteric or the alchemical process. People who have their planets in the eighth house may find that it's harder in some ways to access the energy of that planet at the same time. What they learn through that process is alchemical. Right? They're turning metal to gold. Very beautiful. A lot of people who are Ayurvedis have either a very strong library for the sign of balance or oftentimes I see they have a strong eighth house because eighth house is that house of Hatha yoga, energy management, alchemical process, roots. You know, obviously we use a lot of roots in Ayurveda and then, you know, transformation, taking people from, you know, illness to wellness, or from bits and parts to wholeness. Ninth house is The House of Dharma, House of the Father. The House of Belief System. The House of Religion. The House of Guru. The House of Guidance. Again, when I see people with a strong ninth house I often see a person who's naturally drawn to meditation or to explore the purpose of life. Let's say it's also a house of opportunity and possibility. And I think you have a very strong ninth house. Right. And I remember thinking. Well, I do.

I'm looking at it. I'm looking at it right now.

Yeah. I remember reading your chart and what you said earlier about not feeling like a Capricorn because you have such a beautiful chart. And so it was such a kind of honor to be able to say to you. You are totally living your dharma. You are really expressing it beautifully. Yeah. And that's partly because your ninth house is so strong. Tenth house is the house of, again, higher gifts. So, you know, oftentimes we'll say the odd numbered house that precedes the even number house. In this case, the 9th house preceding the 10th. Then the odd number is kind of the ideas of the thing. The ideal or the idea. So whereas the ninth house might be philosophy, religion the ideas of humanity and philosophy and how we. How we live. Why are we alive? What dharma this is. The ninth house represents how we explore that. The tenth is how we take that into action. So the ninth house might relate to a philosopher or a professor, let's say, of justice. The 10th House might be the lawyer or the one who's actually taking those ideas into form or into action. So 10th house is very much the house of career or vocation. And then the 11th house is. It's a house we call. It's a house of increase. It's an interesting house because we say whatever you give to the 11th, the 11th will increase. If your son is in the 11th house, however strong your sun may be the 11th house increases it. It makes you more of a Sunny person. The 11th house also relates to community and, you know, sort of your larger support system. Somebody with a strong 11th house is probably somebody who's really good at cultivating community or cultivating tribe. That sense of tribal. And then the 12th house, as we go along, we're going from the first, which is the individuation of the soul, to the 12th, which is the merge back into the totality of all. So 11th house, as you can see, 10th house goes, you know, I'm going to serve all. 11th house goes to. I'm going to connect and be one with all. And the 12th house is really where we go, it's said to be a moksha house where the 12th house very much represents releasing the mortal coil and returning back to spiritual. So the 12th house does relate to things like meditation retreats. You know, really, even if somebody has a sun in the 12th house, that's an indication that this is a completion lifetime for them. This is a time for us to like release this patterning and merge into back to the one. The 12th house is very beautiful also like the 6th and 8th said to be where we might experience challenges because the 12th House also relates to hospices, hospitals, prisons, convents, places where we may feel confined but in order. But what happens is that confinement takes us inward to finally feel what we call that final liberation, that release that comes through doing the inner work.

So is it very rare to have.

Planets in the 12th house?

Well, people are just gonna. It's almost like you just throw it up in the air and they land where they do. Not quite that random. But people are going to have planets in the 12th house as much as they're going to have planets anywhere. It's just, you know, it's just the circling around. What's rare is to have a lot of exalted planets. What's beautiful about Jyotish is that it shows us that we are alive on purpose. The soul has come here in order to evolve itself. And the Jyotish chart can show us what that means. So are we going to evolve through talents and skills? Sure. But mostly we evolve through challenges. You know, the sand in the oyster is what makes the pearl. It's the grating, right? It's the challenges of our life. It's the karma that builds character. I love what Paramahansa Yogananda said, which is, you know, your challenges have not come to penalize you or to punish you. You, your challenges, your trials and tribulations have come to set you free. They've come to awaken you. And the Geoges chart can show you where those challenges are. And I think that gives people a better sense of then how to manage and overcome or even just to be patient with it, to see that even these challenges are here to help us become better, to become maybe more meaningful or more impactful. And even if it takes until we're 65 to have our awakening or to be set free or to really, truly discover our dharma, it's worth it. We're not here necessarily. Even though it may be fun to have the most awesome wild success, or to have the biggest Instagram account, or to have the Most, you know, we're here to evolve our consciousness, right? To refine the soul, to grow and to learn, to build character and hopefully to serve and to love. And the Jyotish chart can point you in that direction.

I love that. So beautifully said. So people want to look up their Jyotish charts online. What websites do you recommend?

Well, I used before I bought software a while ago, I used to use astroved.com. there may be others out there now, but that's been a really reliable place. Astroved.com, as they've grown, they've become, you know, they've now got all these services that there someone have to look for it. But you can put in your chart and the nice thing is you can put in a whole number of charts and they'll give you not only your chart, but they will actually give you like a little report on your star sign, the Nakshatra. The other beautiful thing about Jyotish, which is very unique, is that there are 12 signs. But in Jyotish we go, we bore down even deeper. There are 27 nakshatras, so there's about two and a half Nakshatras per sign. So you may be, as we talked about, Scorpio Rising, but I think you are on your other. I can't remember exactly your Nakshatra. So within Scorpio, there's different Nakshatras that give even deeper color and flavor, you might say, and expression.

Mula.

I just found it.

Oh, your mula, which is Sagittarius. That's where your sign is. And I have mula. And that is very much related to again, Ayurveda, because mula means root, right? Mulabandha. Right. Muladhara chakra, that's the root chakra. Mula bandha is the root lock. So mula means root. And of course, you know, Ayurveda is in many ways, many of the formulas are roots. Dashamula, you know, the 10 roots is one of the main formulas in Ayurveda. So I've seen that a lot where Ayurvedic people, people who really go into the formula, people go deep into Ayurveda will often have that mula, that sun or moon in mula Nakshatra. So now we're talking about something that is. I didn't mention anything about Sagittarius. Right. But it's taken us into a deeper look at who you are and what your interests may be. So the Nakshatras are very, very powerful and we especially want to look at those for the rising and for the moon. And that's what's beautiful about this astroved site. They will give you what they call the stars, but they're giving you that Nakshatra. And so they'll give you more than just your chart. They'll give you a certain, you know, it's computer generated so it's not that personalized. But they are giving you, they give you a number of free reports and you can put in other charts, you can put in your beloveds. We always say in Jyotish we try to do that mindfully. We do that with permission and we do that with love and compassion. We're not looking for faults, we're looking for beauty, grace, light.

I love that so much. And I do think that it's especially with something like Vedic astrology. I mean a lot of the stuff like Rahu and Ketu we don't even.

Have time to go into but it's.

Stuff that we aren't aware of. So I think it's really beneficial to work with a Vedic astrologer like Laura. She's amazing, she does Skype consultations or just anyone that you trust to really dive deep because it is such an intuitive thing and people have their own relationship with the planets and understanding of the planets and even different, different astrologers will point out different aspects of yourself. And I think a lot of people who are interested in astrology started Western astrology. They're like, oh my God, so does that mean I have to throw away everything I learned in Western astrology? And it doesn't. It just means that you can add more and just have another understanding of your planets and see what resonates with you. Maybe you're going to find aspects of yourself in Vedic that resonate with you more. Maybe aspects of yourself in Western resonate with you more. So it's not one's right or what's wrong, it's just different systems, right?

Absolutely. I don't know Western that much and I certainly didn't when I in the beginning mean to in any way disparage it. I've seen people who are Western astrologers who are amazing and they give such great insight and I think what you said is so important what helps you live a better, fuller, more heart centered life is the right tool. That's what matters.

So very true. Although there are so many other things that I want to ask you that we don't have a time for. We'll have to have you again. But I do want people to know because you know, when I just went on vedicastrology.us.com and it's showing me South Indian versus North Indian chart. Seems like they're reflecting the same thing, but just kind of illustrated in a different way. Is there a chart we should be looking at more?

No, it's what you get used to. I was taught originally in the North Indian style, it's easier for me because that sets the rising sign up top and something is going to be fixed. In the case of North Indian, it's the houses that are fixed. Fixed. So you'll look at the North Indian chart and the top diamond is always the first house. Whereas if you look at the South Indian chart, it's a little bit more of the square style and they're fixed on the signs. It's the signs that are fixed and it's just what you get used to. Again, neither one is better. It's just a. It's a layout. It's a design to just speak to what's going on. But it's the same thing going on in the chart. It's just how we're going to actually write it out.

Out. Love that. And can you briefly share with us what are the dashas?

Yeah. Another thing that's very unique. So I think the three main things that are unique. Although there's a lot there, the three. No, there's four primary things that are unique to Jyotish. One is the Nakshatras that I mentioned. The other one is the dashas. The other one you mentioned earlier is Rahu and Ketu, which we haven't gotten into, but those are the eclipses. And then the final thing is the divisional charts. We can really bore down deep into a chart. The D9, for instance, in a Vamsha chart is what we look at at for the soulmate. But since you asked about dashas, dasha means ten. And the moon phase, when we're in a moon. So the dasha system is basically this idea that at any given time in your life, one planet is ruling. So there's a planetary theme throughout that life, that part of your life. It sort of speaks to the hills and valleys of life. You know, we can have periods of time where we can just like never fail and we just feel like we're on top of the world. It seems like things are really going well and then we have times where it feels like we're really, really working hard and things are more of a struggle. We might have a time where we feel like we're kind of more intimate, we're More in relationship mode. And other times we're more independent. Well, that's because there's a certain time when a certain planet is kind of running the show, you might say. One way they say it is that that planet gets at that point in time to deliver its karma. But I don't really like to use that term because people have a funny way of understanding karma in that sense. It doesn't mean that you're going to get hit by tough karma, it just means that karma being the word for action, the planet gets to deliver its energies and actions into your life. It's called the dasha period because the moon period is a 10 year period, but each period is different length. Venus has a 20 year period, sun is short period, Mars is a short period, Saturn's a nice long period. Rahu is an 18 year period. So, so some are short, some are long. And it isn't like, okay, we're all born and it's the beginning of a moon period, but it depends on where the moon was when you were born. That shows us where you jump on that train, let's say, or that linear sort of dasha period. So some people are born in a Saturn period and that might speak to why their childhood was maybe a little challenging, a little cold, or maybe a parent was absent or they were stern. Another person might be born into a Jupiter period and they had a really, really terrific, loving, amazing, abundant childhood, but they got their Saturn period when they became an adult. And that's a little bit confusing. You know, I've met people who enter a Saturn period and a Saturn crossing their moon around the age of 19 and it lasts until they're in their 30s and they think, oh, being an adult is so hard. So part of what's beautiful about learning the dashas as well as the transits where the planets are currently and what they're doing to your chart is that it helps you understand that this too shall pass. Right? That every period we're in is just an opportunity again for learning and for growth. But it isn't a definition of existence. And if we can breathe into it and if we can learn the right tools, we're going to overcome. So it's beautiful, it's so beautiful in how Jyotish really helps us live, you know, again, a fuller and more beautiful life.

That is so beautiful. I could listen to you talk all day. Well, where can listeners connect with you? Book a consultation with you, find your book and connect with you on Instagram?

Well, they can certainly find me on Instagram. Auraplumb. My website is lauraplum.com on Instagram. You know, I occasionally do some live bits and I go on to IG stories. I'll often, you know, post in terms of the transits. I'll often post what's going on with the moon and I save that under little Geotish IG stories. So that's where I keep up to date in terms of what's going on and what to look for and how this weekend might be depending on where the moon is in terms of booking a session or learning more about Geotish. Definitely go to Lauraplum.com and it's Jyotish J Y O T I S H meaning by the way, the science of light. Understanding that you are the light of consciousness. Come alive to know that you are the light of consciousness.

So beautiful. And you should write a Jyotish book. Do you have one coming up?

I'll take your advice. Yeah, I'd like to do that. Although it's so complex and there's so many great geniuses of Jyotish. But yeah, maybe, maybe one day we could do that together. What do you think?

Yeah, I think I need to learn about it but I think that we really. There's no one who's making it simple and I think a lot of us are interested but a lot of the teachers are doing it in the very old school Indian way. So I really appreciate how you're making it accessible for people and I would.

Just caution people on that because as you know from living in India, the Indian people are so wonderful. There's such a kindness and shanti peace in them. And they're different culturally than people from the West. They're much more direct and they'll just say to you exactly, you know what they say? I sort of feel like a mother who wants to cuddle my children sometimes. In geochas, if you look up your chart online and then you go Google things about your chart and you come upon a chart, I mean a site that's very traditional, very Indian traditional, it might say in the bluntest terms something about something in your chart. Two things to know about that. There's many ways to interpret and there are many loving ways to hear something. So take it with a grain of salt. The second thing is just because you make might see that you have, let's say moon in Scorpio. You may look that up and say, oh gosh, moon is debilitated. And then you might read a site which is pretty blunt about what that means. But if you and I looked at your chart. I might be able to see, because of certain technicalities and details and subtleties, that actually that debilitation is canceled. I know we're getting into technicalities here, but I just want to give people a word of caution. It's really great to have your chart looked at by somebody that you relate to because they will interpret in a way that feels right for you. Trying to interpret your chart on your own is a bit challenging. I'm not trying to say everybody has to go see somebody. I'm not trying to sell you on it. But I just don't like people to get into a situation where they sort of get lost in what can be painful. Can be painful to hear something about yourself that doesn't feel good. And that may not even be the truth, if that makes sense.

Totally. And I think a lot of what they do also in India is they have a lot of rules that come with it. Like, now I have to wear 500 rings that match all of the things, and I have to not have cactuses in my house anymore and rearrange all my furniture. And it's like, holy crap. Like, I have to move pretty much. So my window is facing the right side. You know, it's like you can decide how much you want to be a part of your life. You could literally live your whole entire life. And there's so many sister sciences, like Vastu shastra, which will is essentially where feng shui comes from, but it doesn't mean you have to. So I want you, before you go to India and find the guy on the street, like, be careful, because sometimes they do, they do use it as control over you. I've seen that happen. People being very, very dependent on their astrologers in India and not be able to make a decision without them.

And it's actually an Indian woman who said to me, consciousness is consciousness and you are consciousness. So consciousness rules. It's why mantra is the most effective remedy in Jyotish, because mantra actually can change your consciousness. And what we mean by that is, sure, you may have this chart, and it may look fixed, and it may speak to certain karmas that feel fixed. But ultimately, mantra is taking a pattern, a mental, psychological pattern, and dissolving it back to the totality of consciousness itself. Consciousness is the king, the queen, the ruler, and we must all remember that we are consciousness. Come alive, nothing's fixed. And so no one can have control over us, because no one can say, well, it can only change your situation can only change, because I can do prayers for you or because I'm going to teach you how to feed the crows on Saturdays. But that's the important thing that I find that Teotish is a very empowering, very affirming science. And so let's, if anything for you feels that it's less than empowering or affirming. No, no, no, no, no. Let it go.

So very true. Well, thank you again for all of your words of wisdom and for sharing with us and we look forward to having you again for a future episode.

Thank you, Sahar, so much and thank you for doing this beautiful work you're doing in the work. You are lifting up so many people and I just get, you know, stars in my own eyes seeing you and seeing what, you know, really great work you're doing in the world. So thank you.

Oh, it's not me, it's my planets.

Thank you for living your planets so fully and radiantly.

Namaste.

Wow. I am seriously obsessed with Vedic astrology. I've just been reading so much about it since I did this interview interview, learning very deeply about our karmic tendencies and how those tendencies can manifest for certain people and how the different houses that we have planets in can interpret different things for us. And it's just taught me so much. It's allowed me to understand my friends in a deeper way, understand myself, my husband, and so much more. I'm obsessed. So I'm really excited to have Laura as one of our experts in Roman gold goddesses. If you haven't joined yet, please head over to rosegoldgoddesses.com to join this incredible community where we're going to be talking about all things Vedic astrology, past lives, spirit guides, and so much more. And if you're listening to this, after September, we're going to be opening doors again, probably sometime in 2020. So head over to rosegoldgoddesses.com to join the wait list I'm looking for. Forward to meeting you there and have a beautiful rest of your day.