346: 2021 Forecast in Vedic Astrology with Laura Plumb

Namaste, it's Sahara Rose. And welcome back to the Highest Self Podcast, a place where you discuss what makes you your soul's highest evolvement. I am so excited today because I have one of my favorite Vedic astrologers on the podcast today, and her name is Laura Plum. She's been on the podcast before. I will link that episode in the show notes so you can listen to that too. Where we go more deeply into just what Vedic astrology is, et cetera. But in this episode, she shares about her 2021 forecast according to what is going on in the stars. So for me, I love to look at Vedic astrology. It has been so helpful in my life to better understand the truth of who I am. I am someone that does follow Vedic astrology. So we describe the difference. Vedic astrology is essentially one of the most ancient forms of astrology that is based off of the sidereal system that she shares more about. And it's the sister science of Ayurveda, which I am an Ayurvedic author and practitioner, the sister science of yoga as well, and all forms of Vedic sciences. Jyotish, which is called science of the stars, is really meant to be practiced hand in hand with these different systems. So if you resonate with my work with Dharma, with the goddesses, with Ayurveda, with Yoga, with Vedic or transcendental meditation, all of these ancient scientific modalities, they are all interconnected, and Vedic astrology is a part of it. So in this episode, we talk more about what it is, dive deeply more into just the actual science of what Vedic astrology is about, how it is different than Western astrology, how it is based off of where the planets actually are in the sky right now, and why in Western astrology there is a discrepancy. We also speak about how we can look at the stars to support us. How she speaks about how 2021, what the theme of the year is and what we can focus on. And we also just speak about, at the beginning of the episode, deeper understanding of why bad things can happen to good people. And I think it's that universal question of why. Why does suffering exist and how we can move through that and see from the greater picture. Again, none of us know the answer to why. I wish I knew why. But all we can do is take the obstacles that we've overcome and see them as our soul's unique preparation for us to embody our dharmas in a fuller way. So we share more about this at the beginning of the episode, then we get into what Vedic astrology is. Then we get into her 2021 predictions. At the end of the episode, we talk about her recommended stones that you should wear the recommended mantras according to the planets that we will be working with this year. And so much more to support you. There's such great wisdom that Laura shares. Her language is just so poetic and so beautiful and teachers like her who have such immense ancient knowledge are so rare. She actually is Dr. Suhas's former student, so she is really learning from the most incredible lineage. Dr. Suhas has also been on the podcast a couple times now, sharing about Vedic astrology as well, and is just one of the most incredible and respected Ayurvedic doctors as well. So I feel so blessed to have these incredible teachers here sharing with us on the podcast, giving us their insight, their wisdom, their time, and helping us see the world in a brighter way and making these ancient sciences more accessible for all of us. So without further ado, let's welcome Laura Plum to the High Self podcast. And before we get started, I have an announcement for you. If you are listening to this podcast, you are someone that knows you were born on this planet for a reason, that you have gifts that you are meant to share, and that your curiosities are guiding you towards your dharma, your soul's purpose. So what if you had a book that was a guide that showed you step by step how to unpeel these layers, these conditioning, these limiting beliefs that may be holding you back, how to have courage to finally take action on your dharma and frameworks, including a process for you to actually decide what it is that you should focus your energy on right now. Well, this doesn't have to be some far off fantasy because I've written this book for you. Boo. And it is called Discover your Dharma. It is out now. So excited. I literally wrote this book for me where I was in my life when I was in this point where I wasn't sure if I really had a purpose or not. I wasn't sure if it was some like, fairy tale they tell you as a kid, like, follow your dreams. Then you get older, they're like, oh no, that was like Santa, you weren't actually supposed to do that. And how to actually make a living doing it. Especially if you're someone who's multi passionate, you don't know what it is to focus on. So I bust through so many different obstacles that I've overcome. From confusion, from not knowing where to start, from feeling like you're not good enough, smart enough, et cetera, and how to move through them in a way that really gets to the bottom of these fears and allows you to see that your obstacles were your soul's curriculum to help you embody your Dharma. So every single person I know that has read this book, whether they are living their Dharma already or not, has walked away with a deeper sense of what their Dharma is. And I'm so excited to see the effects it has in your life. So I've created epic bonuses for you to go alongside this book. I have my discover your dharma meditation practice, my dharma tapping practice, which is eft, and my dharma embodiment practice, where you'll actually be dancing your dharma with me. And I also have a virtual book launch happening on February 4th where I'll be answering your questions on Dharma Live. And if you're listening to this, after February 4th, you will get that replay. So to get all of those bonuses, head over to iamsaharrose.com dharma that link is in the show notes. You'll be able to order the book, submit your receipt, and get those bonuses in. You'll email right away. Again, that is, I am saharrose.com dharma that link is in the show notes. And I'm so excited to share this book with you. Welcome, Laura, to the Highest self podcast. It's so great to have you back.

Thank you. It's wonderful to be with you.

And the first question I'd love to ask you again is, what makes you your highest self?

Lately it's been chanting. The full moon has been keeping me up at night, so I just put on some chants and sing away. What makes me my highest self is to see the sun, to see the flowers, to see life, to go out and ride my bike, to meditate, to dance. But mostly I've been very inspired by others and by how much more we are together. This idea that dancing, ritual, singing together, these are the most powerful ways for us to heal. And we have some healing to do as we move into this new year. So there's lots of ways to reach for a higher self. But right now it's enchanting a lot.

I love that so much. So for people who haven't heard your previous episodes here on Vedic Astrology, can you share with us briefly what is Vedic astrology and how is it maybe different than Western astrology?

Vedic Astrology is called Jyotish. Jyoti means light. Ish is like the Lord, the governing principle, the governing intelligence. It's the science of understanding the light of our cosmos, how it forms Patterns, a matrix, you might say, of energy and intelligence. And then each one of us born at a specific time is, you could say, the coming alive of that matrix of light, energy and intelligence. It's an understanding. It's an actual application, you might say, of the Vedic term yata pinde tta brahmande, which is often translated to be as above, so below Yatapinde, in the smallest thing, as in the smallest, so is Brahman the greatest. The creator is in everything. In creation. The patterns of the cosmos are alive in each one of us. In the individual is the universal right. In the atom is the all. So Jyotish is an understanding that we are atmas, we are eternal, we are unbreakable, we are something undiminishable, that we have an intelligence, that intelligence chose to have this life in order to evolve. Jyotish helps us understand what those choices are and how we are here to evolve. Often people refer to that term as karma. I like to, you know, the word karma is so laden, you know, with so much meaning and so much overlay. So I like to think of it more as evolution. How are we going to refine our minds? How are we going to grow and expand our hearts? And what Jyotish can help us with is it can help us to really see why are you having this experience? Why are you challenged, why are you suffering? But also what are your unique talents? What is your dharma? What are you here to really experience, to know, to feel, and how can you really grow? So it's a very, very powerful, definitely spiritual science based in consciousness. Jyotish is called the Eye of the Vedas. So it helps us to really see with a large perspective, to see not just our own life, but life itself. It's very powerful.

So beautiful. I love that. It reminds me of the Sanskrit word purusha, how we are all part of the same city. We're all homes in the same city and all connected to that. And can you share with us what is the sidereal? Because Vedic astrology, Jyotish is based on that. And also I found out that different forms of Kemetic astrology, African astrology, are also based off of the sidereal system.

And the Zoroastrians, the three wise men who went to.

That's my background.

So it's really fascinating. I once actually saw at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, I once saw you lie down and you look at the roof. Basically, they created a kind of sky, supposedly at the moment of the birth of Jesus Christ. And they show what the Zoroastrians were seeing, when they were looking at the. Basically, they didn't call it jyotish, but what would have been a jyotish chart. Why they, you know, it said that they followed the star to Bethlehem. What they were doing was they were looking at the. The stars in the sky. And of course, we know now that it was probably the greatest conjunction where Saturn and Jupiter had again united back at that point. And at that point when it united, sun was in opposition. So sun was really lighting that up. So, yeah, I mean, Persian astrology, this is an astrology that is very, very ancient, a way of looking at the sky and seeing what we refer to as the fixed stars system. That's what that stands for, that word. It means that the stars are fixed. When we look at the sky, the stars, they don't move, obviously. They seem to be moving as they cross the sky. But that's us that's moving. You look up at night, you see the Big Dipper directly above. An hour later, it's off to the side. Two hours later, it's starting to set. But they're fixed, they're not moving, the stars. What's moving is Earth and the planets and the moon. So this system versus the tropical system. The tropical system is based on this idea that on March 22nd, which is the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere, 21st or 22nd, the sun moves into Aries. And that was true 2,000 years ago, 3,000 years ago. Right. That the sun did go in there. And that's what, for instance, Persian New Year, the Vedic New Year, always started with the moment that the sun went into Aries. Aries is considered to be the first sign because that's when the year begins. And why did the year begin then? Because that was spring and that's when nature came back to life. So of course, we would consider that as a new year, new birth. The thing is what people were able to recognize, this is why we really do, you know, thank our teachers, because we could not have cognized this in one lifetime. It's over many, many, many lifetimes that they were able to see that. There's something called the procession of the equinox. And just very briefly, the pressure of the electromagnetic energy in the cosmos makes our axis expand and wobble. Because we wobble, the sky seems to have moved, but it's us that's moved. What that means is on the vernal equinox now we're only at the beginning of Pisces. Sun is in pisces at about 10 degrees. Now, every 2150 years, we go through a new sign. So the sun would go into Aries. Now the sun is in Pisces and it's going to be traveling through Pisces until in about 500 years on the vernal equinox, the sun will enter Aquarius. So we had the age of aries in the 2000 years BC up to about BC then we have the age of Pisces for about 2150 years. And then we're going to have the age of Aquarius. And when you go through all 12 signs, multiply that by 2150. It's not exact. Because the Earth's wobble doesn't follow a calculus. Right. They don't follow calendars, they're not subject to that. They go by their own accord. They go by their own electromagnetic energy. So we aren't absolutely clear whether it'll be 500 years exactly when the age of Aquarius begins or not. But we can project that it's somewhere around four to 600 years from now. When you multiply 2150 by 12, you get 25,000, 26,000, you get a Yuga. And this is what these ancient people understood. So tropical astrology is fixed to that vernal equinox, sun goes into Aries, which.

Was happening when they were recording it in the sky about 2,000 years ago.

Right. And the Greeks recorded that and it said that the people of India and the people of Greece did share a lot of information they learned from each other. So, you know, kudos and praise to the Greek system, but it's not accurate to what's actually happening now in the sky. So again, many people get a lot out of it and that's great. But what's great about Jyotish or Vedic astrology is that we, it can be very predictive. We can really suggest a great time to get married or a great time to launch your business.

Yeah, I mean, every single person that I have shared it with, you know, for myself, of really diving deeper into Jyotish about two, three years ago and now, you know, because of our social media world, everyone's like, it's Capricorn season right now and like you're going to feel like going back to work and I would always not feel it. But now that I know that where the signs actually are is that sign before right now we're in Sagittarius season and that we're both Sagittarius in our, in our sun signs, it makes so much more sense to Me and everyone that I've shared it with, when they look up their signs in Vedic astrology, they're like, oh, this feels like so much more like home. Whereas I have some friends that really resonate with their Western sun signs, and that's amazing, too. And sometimes they happen to be the same, you know, based off of the. I think, is it about 24 degrees behind that they're at right now? Right. So for people who are wondering, I mean, you could look it up online, but typically it's 24 degrees before where you would think it's at now in the different steps. But it feels so much more accurate for me. And every single time I learned about Vedic astrology, which is why I wanted to have you share a little bit more about this year from that perspective. It has been so accurate, so spot on. And it's something that I think a lot of people, first of all, don't know about, and then second of all, feel intimidated about. You know, it's different words there in Sanskrit. We're so used to the Western understanding of things. We have our, you know, T shirts or maybe the tattoos of our sunset. We don't want to let go of that and doesn't mean drop it at all. I still do love some Western astrologers and feel like they're super accurate channels in their own way. But if you're listening to this podcast, you're probably interested in Ayurveda, you're probably interested in yoga and the goddesses. And this is just the sister science of all of that. So it's just a natural progression of if you're, you know, connecting to these different forms of ancient wisdom, this is a part of that pie.

I love what you're saying, and I think it reminds me of the French word for a well. So once upon a time, people had a farm, they dig a well, they get their water. They call that word S O U R C E source or source. And the source provides the water that nourishes, fertilizes, lubricates, etc. The water is life. And I feel like when you access your source self, your Svadharma, you get watered, right? You get nourished, and there's a lot of freedom. You've got a book coming out soon. I mean, you know that once you access your true nature, you access your true purpose, your Svadharma, your purpose for being. There's a freedom that comes from that. And I think that's what Jyotish allows us. It gives freedom. And I've even had experiences where a teacher in front of a whole room. I might have already shared this with you, but teacher in front of a whole room showed something about my chart that's not gorgeous. It's not like what we'd all be clamoring for. And he said, laura's got this and it means that. And I said to myself, I'd been saying that for the past year. I'd been saying that there's this one thing that I feel my husband's like, no, stop. No. And it just felt so good to be recognized. It just felt so good that I could see that that is something that I, that I have. And then once it was acknowledged, now what are we going to do about it? Right? So I feel like whether it's that you're square or you're circular, whether you're purple or you're orange, to know who you are in your essence, the matrix of you is to know your freedom, to know your light. Right? It's so, so beautiful.

I love that. And before we dive into it, one question that I think a lot of people have is why did we choose our birthdays? Did our souls choose our birthdays or is our personality shifted based on when we happened to be born?

Yeah, it's a great question. So you know, a couple things. When we look at scripture, it said a lot of people will say to me, when is the actual birth? So what are we putting the birth time to? Is it just after everything got taken care of? And then the nurse looks at the clock, oh, by the way, it's 4:30. Well, let's write that down, right? Is it when the head comes out? Is it when the umbilical cord is when is it? And it turns out scripture says it's when the body of the baby touches the earth. It's when you're earthed. And people used to give birth squatting, so that made sense. But now we give birth mostly in different way. So the baby isn't actually put on the earth necessarily. Imagine how beautiful that would be to actually be touching the earth when you first arrive. Now that's a great question, because the reason I'm saying that is because your birth time determines your rising sign. We call that lagna. Your rising sign or lagna gives prakriti. It also determines where the planets fall in your chart. What house are those planets in? Planets are energy, house is action. So where will the energy of you be active in the world, Right? So what time you're born is really essential. And it will determine so much.

So would you say it's when now, because we don't touch the earth, it's when the full body has, you know, exited.

Yes, when the full body's exited. And you could say maybe it's been swaddled or it's been received. Let's say maybe mother or father placed on mama's bed, or maybe the father is able to hold the baby, but there's some sense of earthing. I think that's the main thing to think about, that you're fully arrived in this plane. But your question. I think it's a great question of why did we make those choices? And does it change? Does it change? If the doctor plays golf on Tuesday, so he's got to schedule the cesarean for Wednesday, how does that doctor determine the soul's choices? I just believe that in some larger way there's a bigger picture than all of us can even understand. Soul sees the portal, this fixing, this turning of the sky suddenly becomes. That's the portal into which I'm entering. Here I go. I'm going in. Now. Does that make sense? It's almost like I see this matrix of light, planets in relationship to one another, in relationship to the stars. And the time. All of a sudden, it's like this turning. The piece of the puzzle falls into place. And in that soul comes. This is my moment. And so I don't think it's like this long planned thing. I think it's in I come. And maybe it's even the soul who's helping determine. No, that doctor's playing golf on Tuesday. So, mom, we got to be born. I got to be born on Wednesday. There's just something else that's going on. All I would say is that that soul chose that time and place, whatever that time and place is, and however it was determined. And you'll see that because when you talk to people about their chart, so often they're in a kind of full body. Aha. The whole body is just sort of. Huh. Like there's something that they're hearing that is real deep truth for them. Other times I've, especially recently I've been on with people and I'm looking at the chart and I'm. All of a sudden I look up. They've been silent for a long time. I'm looking up to see how it's going. Is this making sense to them? And they're just streaming with tears because it's so real. It's so true.

I love that. Yeah, it totally, you know, to me, makes so much sense that we would choose our ideal birth times, places, everything, mothers even, to help us live our dharmas, to help us have those archetypes and energies and patterns that we need to really radiate our soul's expression.

Yeah, I was up with the full moon at night. And the first night of the full moon was just lots of memories, of traumatic experiences and just one after the other. And so in the morning when I woke up, I was feeling teary and vulnerable. When I finally, finally got to sleep and finally woke up next night, I thought I'd go to sleep early. It was the same thing, but this time it was much more gentle. So when I woke up the second time after that, I was meditating and asking, why? Why was I born as a woman? Was I born to be raped, abused, you know, treated as women so often can be? Why to experience all that? And it was so interesting because, like in Galloped My Atma, who just said, to show that none of that defines you, that none of that is who you are, that you are greater and bigger, and nothing can take you down. It was a really powerful message that I feel comes to me because I'm constantly looking at charts and I'm constantly able to see that behind all of your experiences is power, is radiance, is the truth that you are consciousness. Come alive to have these experiences, not just to heal and to become whole, not just to learn to be compassionate, but to know that you're Arjuna, to rise above it all and to be right, that radiant being. It's really powerful.

I love that. Thank you so much for sharing. I was thinking the exact same thing. Last night I watched this documentary by the Heartmath Institute. Do you know Heart Math? They do a lot of research on just how the heart is so intuitive. And the documentary was quite sad. It was a number of different tragedies that have happened, from the Rwandan genocide to this young girl with all these hopes and dreams who was killed by a drunk driver. And how forgiveness was found after those experiences. Forgiveness from the woman who she literally had to be, like, standing in this shower for six months or something to hide from schoolmates that she had that were now going after her. And then the parents of this girl who died in a drunk driving accident, her heart being donated because she was an organ donor. They later on found her bucket list. And a couple years after that, the organ donor reached out to them and was like, hey, I think I have your daughter's heart. And they ended up speaking with her every single thing on the bucket list this organ donor had done.

No.

And the girl was training to become a nurse, and she was the nurse. And it was just incredible because it's such hardship. And it was. I was just trying to wrap my head around, well, why did these bad things needed to happen? Like. Like, why did they have to get there to get to this beautiful moment? And, you know, the conscious mind will never be able to understand. It's the eternal question. But even with that happening, there are so much greater synchronic. And it inspired in that story, the parents to also create their own bucket list and live their own fullest potential. So it just shows that even from the darkest of dark comes the lightest of light.

Isn't that so true? And. But is that always true?

Well, I think that's where that's. And that's the other thing of the free will. You know, it's like what. What creates some people to. You know, for example, this woman who is in the Rwandan genocide has every reason to be angry, you know, every reason to want revenge. And is choosing forgiveness, is praising forgiven. And it's like, what makes someone choose that? Is it their soul? Is it their astrology? I don't know.

It's all.

But it's incredible because. And then also, what is free will? How do we even know if it's free will? Right. Because sometimes you may think it's free will, but it's something deeper in you that's making you more likely to behave in a more altruistic way versus perhaps a non.

Yeah. You know, what I see you talk about the Rwanda is that life really wants to live. And for this woman, the way that she's going to live fully is she has to forgive. Otherwise she's just a flower dying. Right. But she wants to be a flower radiantly growing in the sun. And her path to that is forgiveness. So it's her choice for her life. And then I love this idea of this girl who dies and in a way goes to live inside her heart, goes to live inside someone who then can carry forward her life maybe even more fully. And maybe that girl who died, like sort of sacrificed so that the world could come to know that we don't really die. Do you know, like, so many people, I think of them as bodhisattvas. So many people are really here helping us advance, and they're willing to do what it will take because they knew the atma doesn't die.

Absolutely. And I think, yeah, I think the question that comes up for me is like, how do we know if we're one of those people? You know, and it's like, anyways, it's all, it's all divinely planned. So with that, you know, we're going to get to a very deep conversation which we'll do, we'll do another one. But you know, with that of there are so many things, energetic things that can be in our destiny that we are not aware of and we have so much free will. I would love to get into your astral logical forecast for 2021 because I think if 2020 taught us one thing is like, okay, I mean, I know in astrology they could definitely see things were happening. We didn't know exactly what, but we could see things were happening. And then also each person's experience of that was so unique, right? Like for some people, some people are still waiting for things to go back to normal and some people are thriving more than ever before. And it's really how we are responding to the situation. So I'm sure we have another Big Year plan and I'd love for you to share a little bit about what you're seeing in the stars for us.

Yeah, I'm excited to share with you because there is a lot going on. I want to go back to something you said earlier about being at about 24 degrees. So the Vedic system is about 24 degrees off from the tropical system. There are 30 degrees to every sign. We call the signs the Rasis. So if you were to give you an equivalent of that, if your sun sign, let's say is Gemini 3, 24 out of 30 people, right, will be not a Gemini anymore, but 6 out of 30 still will. So that's the idea of the shift. It's 1 degree every 72 years and therefore it takes 21, 2150 years for it to move 30 degrees. Now also a lot of people will look at their geodrit's chart and they'll say, or they don't want to look at their geotrist chart because they don't want to be different. But, but a lot of times if one does identify with the sun sign in the geoshistart, we'll see that now their moon is that sign or their rising as that sign. So let's go ahead and dive in and explore because they may find that there's still a relationship to that sign that they might love.

And when you say explore, should we be looking at our rising sign or our sun sign?

We should be looking. That's where I was going to go next. We should be looking at the rising sign and the moon sign. What I wanted to talk about next is that the moon. Jyotish is much more interested in planets over signs. Signs are stars. I'm not saying that they don't matter but we are looking at planets. Planets are devas. Planets are considered devic, being divine beings. They have energy, they have a perspective from the sky and their energy comes down into this world through us. So in a way we're sort of serving, you might say those devic or those divine beings. So when we talk about somebody we might say oh, that person has got so much Jupiter, so much Mercury, so much moon to their chart. We're going to identify more with the planet than with the stars. The stars are behind the planets, the planets are moving basically in front of the star constellations. And the planets are bouncing the light of the stars as well as bouncing the light of the sun into this world. So that's the light that kind of configures to make the matrix of you. But more than anything, Jyotish is a moon based system. And so when we look at your chart, look at where your moon is, that's very essential because moon is manas and manas is mind. Manas is the, you know the word human or the word man. Man doesn't mean the person with that gender or that sex. Man means person who has a mind, A human mind. Right, Perception. So we talk about human or man or woman. It's one who has got the capacity to perceive the world, who has five senses and is able to interpret their experience of life through these five senses. Plus our intuition. That's what the moon relates to. People say the moon is your emotional body. Emotions are one of the ways in which we respond to sensory input. Okay. But it's also general day to day thoughts, general day to day interpretation of life. Where your moon is, is going to basically determine how you think about life, how you feel about the world, how you feel about yourself. It's everything about how you are mediating this world in this life. It's very, very fundamental because Jyotish is a Vedic science. The Vedas very much focus on the mind. How do we grow the mind to be? You could say that one or at least open to expanded into the cosmic mind. How do we see the world in our life? From an expanded perspective, from a higher perspective. So when we look at this, the mind. I'm focusing on the moon because in a way the theme for 2021 is going to be moan it's the year of the Moon. If there's a theme for this year, I want to really again thank my teachers. But I also want to thank Camila Sutton and James Kelleher for some of their insight. Those two practice mundane astrology, it's called, which is forecasting, which is what's going to happen in the world events. I focus more on individual working one on one with people, Geoch consulting, helping people understand and interpret their charts. So when we look at the forecast for the year, there's a couple things that we can look at overall. What are the major planets? The planets that are slowest in their movement around the sun? Because they're the slowest, they stay the longest in a sign. And because they stay the longest in the sign, they have the most impact. What are those planets? We always look at the beginning of year of the year at this, at the planet Saturn and the planet Jupiter. And we like to look at them. If I'm doing a one on one with somebody is where are they generally speaking, and where are they in relationship to your own chart? Because that will have a lot to do with what this year is going to be like for you. So Saturn, Jupiter and then Rahu and Ketu, which are the lunar nodes. Lunar nodes take 18 months to get through a sign. Saturn takes two and a half years to move through a sign.

And can you just share, what does lunar nodes mean?

So they're called the lunar nodes because it's when the moon lines up so perfectly on the same plane as the sun and the Earth to cause either a solar or a lunar eclipse. It's the moon that causes those eclipses. Right. Either when it's new or when it's full. The north node, we call in geochas Rahu, the north node means that eclipse is happening in the north orbit. The moon is in the north orbit, according to our view.

And is Rahu north node the same interpretation of Western. Your north node being like your highest self, your dharma, the direction you're going to. No. Okay. Because that's what it's like in western astrology, where you're going.

Yes, Rahu does have some idea of where the soul wants to go in this lifetime. So what you're here to learn, you know, it's pointing. The soul wants to go in this direction. I always feel like, right. Somewhere in one's 40s we make peace with Rahu and then we start to become more like my Rahu. For instance, in Cancer, my Rahu is in Pushya Nakshatra. I love, I love that Nakshatra So people nowadays will say, oh, you must be Cancer. I'm nothing in cancer. In my chart, once I say Rahu, it's because at a certain point in your life, you start to seem more like what Rahu is pointing towards as an example. But Ketu is the indicator. Ketu is a South node. Ketu in Jyotish is the indicator of moksha. And I know you're doing some deep course this year that's going to be transitional, transformational. A lot of people I'm hearing, are taking courses. I know somebody who's going to become a soil advocate. She's doing a training around soil advocacy. A lot of people are more interested in Jyotish. A lot of people are more interested in Ayurveda because of where Ketu is right now in Scorpio, the sign of transformation, we're seeing a lot of people really getting more focused on transformational arts. Whether it's yoga or whether it's a sort of shamanic dance, some sort of transformational or transitional rituals. We're seeing more and more of that ever since Ketu moved into Scorpio in September of 2020. So where those lunar nodes are placed also is going to say a lot about what this year will be like. Makes sense.

So we're all moving more closely to our Rahu, which is individual and a collective one. For example, South Node in Western astrology is, you may really be used to that thing, but it's not really what's best for you. It's just kind of like what you came in with. It's maybe your karma. Would it be the same expression of that?

It's karma. It does represent karma and it represents moksha, which I love, because I do think that when we accept, moksha means.

Liberation for people who don't know.

Thank you. When we accept our Karma, why is our Karma there? It's not there to punish you. It's there to break you open. And what's left when everything physical is broken? Nothing but your atma. So now you've got moksha. On the other side of your karma is your moksha. I always say, on the other side of your Karma is your Dharma. Through your Dharma is your moksha. So Ketu represents both. He does represent. So let me give you, I think, the best way. And I love Jyotish because it's an ancient science. It gives a lot of visuals, a lot of narratives, a lot of story that I think helps us understand. Rahu is said to be the head of a dragon. Ketu is the Body. So we've got a beheaded dragon in the sky, the head living on one side of the sky, and the body and tail living on the other side. Because Rahu is the head of the dragon. He does represent what's ahead. But he's also always hungry because whatever he eats, there's no body to hold it. So Rahu represents our hungers, our desires. He represents our desire for material accomplishment or attainment. Rahu represents chaos. Rahu represents the secretive, the material, the uncertain, the doubts. But he's all head. He's all head. Ketu is the body and the tail. So he's what's behind, right? He does represent what's familiar, what's comfortable. Old patterns, conditioning DNA, the genetic expression. You know, we suddenly act like our parents. We act like a grandparent we never even met, right? All the things that we've inherited. And yet, K2, without a head, he's running around the world like a chicken with his head cut off. He can't see. Until, as Antoine Saint Exupery said, the most important things in life can only be seen with the eyes of the heart. Once Ketu finally goes inward. And Ketu then does do that. He points us inward. He internalizes the mind and he helps us find the internal light that can never be extinguished. So Ketu's symbol is the yogi who goes to the mountaintop and spends his days doing pranayama to keep warm, to build inner strength and to ultimately build light and to awaken to moksha, to our highest self. But it's overcoming. It's facing our past. It's overcoming the karmas that we've come in with. It's not leaving them behind. It's living with them, going inward, just as Shiva does. Shiva, the purple throated one, the nilkant, he swallows the poison. It turns his throat blue. He goes to the mountaintop and he meditates it away. He doesn't run from it. He takes the poisons. That once we start on our spiritual path, we do the churning, the churning of the ocean, so to speak. The churning brings all the stuff up. The first thing that happens when we start a spiritual path is we have to face ourselves. And we have to face all the poisons of our life, all the illusions of our life, all the mistakes and the failures and the hurts, the injuries. And Shiva says, hold it in the throat. Don't swallow it. Don't eat it. Don't become it. Don't make it part of you. Hold it, meditate on it. And it will dissolve away. And Ketu very much represents that.

I love that. So Ketu this year is in Scorpio. Correct.

And Rahu is in Taurus. Now, what is Taurus? Taurus is creation itself. Taurus is the natural world. So Rahu, it's beautiful because Rahu was in Gemini prior for 18 months. And then this September, depending on whether you look at the true node or the mean node. But let's just say around September 20th, give or take a few days, depending on how you calculate. Rahu moved from Gemini to Taurus. Ketu moved from Sagittarius to Scorpio. Now, when Rahu and Ketu were in Gemini and Sagittarius respectively, they were fierce. They were accompanied by Saturn. And then Jupiter came on in, and at lots of points, Mars was ferociously there as well. So there was a sort of planetary battle in the sky. K2 in Sagittarius relates to infections and disease at the core because Sagittarius is right across the galactic center, the Milky Way. Gemini, for a lot of time, you know, Rahu is a very air planet or node. Gemini's air. Rahu spent a lot of time in one of Gemini's Nakshatras. So within Gemini, there's this star called Ardra, which is the tear. The teardrop or the water drop, this infectious disease that then Jupiter came in. And Jupiter is a great globalist and spread it wide. You know, we could see by looking at the nodes that there was going to be something like. You're right. That we somewhat look back, it was known that something worldwide would happen that would be upending, uprooting that would. And not just. Not just the pandemic, but Black lives Matter. It was uprooting the status quo and saying we need to go to the roots of how we are living and really examine it. At the very least, maybe even throw it up in the air and see what remains. So once those nodes moved after 18 months into Taurus and into Scorpio, they then moved from very fierce place into the place where they are said to be exalted. Exaltation for shadows doesn't suddenly mean it's a party, because there's still shadows. There's still that which causes the eclipses. Right? Do you see what I'm saying? They still cause eclipses. They still cause shadow and darkness. But what Rahu and Ketu come to do is they come to say we live in a dualistic world where shadows will always present themselves. No matter how enlightened you become, we still live in a world subject to time, space, continuum and the time space continuum. Even its power is so great it can even bend light. So we have to firmly hew to the light, recognizing that even with all the light that we cultivate within, we're still subject to the human experience. So Rahu and Ketu caused great uncertainty, caused lots of doubt. People couldn't figure out what was going on. That's Rahu and Ketu. And the sages say, whenever there's an eclipse, don't go out to look at it. Don't go out to try to say, why is the light just gone away? Why is the sun just gotten darkened? Don't celebrate endarkening forces, celebrate enlightening forces. Go to the place where the light can never be eclipsed, extinguished or diminished. And that's within, that's in your own heart. So we're advised to meditate, to fast and to chant and to pray through the eclipse periods. When Rahu and Ketu were in a different place for 18 months in Gemini and Sagittarius until September of 2020, the advice was not to look outward for explanations, but to look inward for the one true thing, which is your light, right? And to really root into who you are and what your values are. Now that Rahu and Ketu have gone to their places, their signs of exaltation, Rahu's delighted to be in Taurus because Rahu is always hungry. Rahu desires material things and Taurus is nature itself. So Rahu gets somewhat to be able to fulfill his desires. I think what we're going to be seeing these 18 months that started September 20th, it goes all the way into when I say September 20th, 2020 goes all the way until April 4th of 2022. So 2021 is right in the middle of this 18 month period. While Rahu's in Taurus, Rahu will get to materialize, will give us tools, desires, of course, but the desires and the tools to recreate, to rebuild our economies, to rebuild our work or our life. Ketu is pulling in the opposite direction, saying, Scorpio's fire, Scorpio's transformation. Scorpio is the phoenix rising from the ashes. So Ketu saying, what do I really want? Let's burn off, let's look at 2020 and say what remains from that period. To me, 2020 was all about what is essential. We always, we kept going back to honoring the frontline workers, honoring the essential workers, honoring the essential work, honoring the essential. We come out of 2020 really having pared down and pared back to our essence. And I Think now Ketu is saying, what remains from that? What is your essence and what do you want to take forward? So Ketu is saying to Rahu, hang on, let's not start building anew until we really know that we're rooted into what my essence is, what is essential for me, and how do I want to build that going forward. So it's a time where the sort of seesaw is I've got this capacity to build something new, and there's going to be a lot of energy for that. But there's also that other side saying, what's the transformation? A lot of people drawn to more spiritual work, deeper spiritual work, the work that is not just meditating. La de da. I'm finding peace through meditation, but really the deep spiritual work that transforms you from your animal self to your divine self, that finds the seeds of divinity within and grows a garden out of that. So that's one exciting piece that the nodes are really pointing us in very positive direction.

I know this episode is good, but so is this sponsor. Self care is so important right now. And Abhyanga Ayurvedic Self Oil massage is one of my favorite ways of doing it, especially in the dry winter months. So basically you massage your body with herbalized oils, which are specifically made to balance all three doshas, so you can actually continue to do it throughout the year. But I know I get very dry in these months, and Abhyanga just makes me feel so soothed and relaxed and grounded. I love putting oil on my feet and putting socks on right before bed. Such a major life hack. It really just feels like a hug. So you can give Abhyanga a try with Banyan Botanicals daily massage blend for 20% off. And shop my other favorite products at banyan banyanbotanicals.com Sahara. Again, that's banyanbotanicals. Com Sahara. You can find that link on the show notes and be sure to check out their website too, for other Ayurvedic information. Yes, I mean, I think that we're definitely seeing more people moving out to nature as well. More people moving, like, out of the cities into nature. So many people I know are desiring to buy land and grow their own food and really live this way. So I think that that definitely has, you know, the grid is spreading around globally, and I think we're going to continue to see that more and more people realizing they can live anywhere.

Yeah. And that's Rahu. Rahu is going to desire more and more people to go and live in nature, to live closer to nature. So the ideal is we live closer to nature. We live in harmony with nature, and we do our inner work to continue to transform ourselves. This is the ideal that Rahu Ketu would be messaging to us and representing for us in this time. And I think 2020 was saying over and over, we. And we'll talk a bit more about this, because the other thing that happened in late 2020 is Saturn and Jupiter conjoined. So they went onto the same plane in the same degree of 6. They met at 6 degrees, 20 minutes in Capricorn, and that moving together. You know, if Jupiter represents Dharma while Jupiter's in Capricorn, he's at his weakest point, and he sort of gets subsumed by Saturn. You could almost say that we are moving to our lowest point of dharma. All of 2020 was sort of a low Dharma point. We were almost living adharmically a Dharma, a being the opposite of. And that was a prediction, that sort of Mayan calendar related to the Vedic calendar of saying that, you know, this is a time of. It doesn't mean that on December 20th, 20th. Now I'm already forgetting December 20th, the great conjunction. It doesn't mean that that is the beginning of Adharma or that that was the day of Adharma, but almost like it was all culminating to that point. And now, phew, we're breaking free. We're moving away. Those planets are moving away from each other. And so now is our time to grow Dharma again. And really, so many of them of the Ayurvedic community, we were saying last spring, what did Covid represent to the Ayurvedic community? It's sort of the culmination also of living out of harmony with nature. So we have these planets that are now helping us move back into alignment with nature, which we know we have to do. We hope that we don't come out of the COVID experience racing back to what was. We hope that we've been changed. I hope we've been changed. I hope that this experience has helped us really know what matters most, what is our essential self? What is our essential way of living? And how can we all contribute to collectively living more according to Dharma, individually and all together? And thank God your book is coming out just in the right time for that.

Well, I could feel this year my own self being so swept away with trying to figure out what was going on the news, the theor, the this, that, that, that. It was so taking me out of my Dharma and I. And I think everyone really had that experience of our attention was so outwards focused and focused on survival, which were, you know, things that for many of us, we weren't like thinking of on a daily basis, that now suddenly we're at the forefront of our mind. And for me, around October is when I moved to Miami. But, you know, starting September, I guess astrologically, this shift began. And now finally around December, but I started to realize that I'm not going to be able to change the world by only focusing on the world. I can only change the world by focusing on my Dharma and let that express out into the world. So I think a lot of us are realizing this. We're realizing that our true power to create change comes from aligning with who we are and what we can sustainably change, not doing it for a month and screaming and then going back to our normal lives. But what can we be so in alignment with, so enjoy with that we want to continue sharing it?

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I, you know, that's exactly the message of the nodes. In addition to which, you know, June, July, August, we had what for most of that, we had four planets retrograde. So September is when everything did start to shift. Planets went direct, the nodes shifted to a new sign. And I think everybody started to just breathe a little bit more easily. Right. And then the great conjunction, I think that was like the culmination of what we'd lived through for these 18 months. And so while it was challenging, there was a lot of loss. People lost jobs, they lost money, they lost loved ones. Right. There was so much loss. Again, what does loss do? Loss. Through our grief, we realize, what do we love most? Who do we want to become? How do I want to live? If at the end of the day I'm going to lose the people I love, I want to make sure I've spent as much time with them. Right. I want to make sure that I've lived my values because I too, will one day drop this mortal coil. And so, like you say, to live in your joy, to live in your freedom, to live your purpose. We may not have all the answers. How could we? But we know who we are and we know how we want to live. And that becomes a beacon of light for others.

Absolutely, yes. So what else can we expect this year? Do you have, like, any specific dates we should look out for or themes of the month?

So speaking of the lunar nodes. So they're called the lunar nodes. They work with the moon. They're the place in the sky where the sun, moon, Earth, line up. I think what's so interesting, if you think about once upon a time, people might be out farming and suddenly the sun disappears. It all goes black in the middle of the day. Two weeks later they're out looking at the moon and it goes dark. That would have been scary and freaky and they might have been trying to figure it all out. But in time they just decided, well, I'm going to go in, maybe sit by the fire and chant songs or tell the stories of our ancestry to our children. This too shall pass and then we can go out again. And the sun's back, the moon's back, we root into the essence of being right and then it comes back. So this is where we are now. We're now the light is coming back. The nodes relate to the moon. And what's interesting is that Rahu spends most of this year not just in Taurus, but in Rohini Nakshatra. Rohini Nakshatra is ruled by the moon. So Nakshatra is a star within a constellation of stars. And Rahu is going to spend most of this year in Rohini. Rohini is a beautiful Nakshatra. It is said that Krishna was born under the Rohini moon. So Rohini is all about creativity. Rohini is all about the birth cycle. So this is about birth and rebirth. We're going to be reborn. Rahu's got this desire to rebirth through Mother Earth, through Matabhumi. So hold that thought. Rahu is going to be in Rohini most of this year. Rohini is ruled by the moon. Saturn and Jupiter are in Capricorn, but they too are in now they're in Shravana Nakshatra. Again, the star inside of Capricorn called Shravana. Again, these are the three Grahas. They're called Saturn and Jupiter who move slowly through the signs. Two and a half years for Saturn, 13 months for Jupiter. Saturn represents our work. Saturn represents the tools. Saturn represents growth, the digging deep in order to grow. Jupiter represents expansion, our higher self, higher wisdom. So we always look at them whenever we're doing an update to the chart or the new year. And we look at where Rahu is. These all three of these major players are in a moon governed Nakshatra. Saturn for the whole of the year, Rahu for most of the year, and Jupiter until the spring when he moves on into Aquarius. So these are the really significant things. This is why moon is so much the theme. The major players are in Nakshatras ruled by the moon. And the moon is Mind. I talked about Rohini and what rohini means. He's creativity. Deep, deep, deep creativity. Birth, Birth, rebirth. Shravana. I love Shravana. Shravana at its root has this word hari, Infinite one, the infinite creative one. One of the herbs in Ayurveda that we love is haritaki. It's one of the herbs that's in Triphala, Triphala being three fruits. Haritaki is one of those fruits. Haritaki is said to be the herb that takes away disease. Haritaki has been shown through research to help to heal and restore hearing. Our sense of hearing. Hari, taki, two words, hari and taki takes away disease and restores us to our Hari, our infinite, eternal self. Shravana has this word Hari in it. Shravana means to hear, to hear the divine voice, to hear the whisper of the atma, to hear the song of the heart. So Shravana Nakshatra means to listen, to listen to the chants, to listen to the Vedic scripture, to listen through deep inner meditation. Right? So the theme of this year is to listen and to create. I mean, how do you use the creative in one? It's so beautiful that the theme keeps playing and replaying. The theme of this year is to use the mind to go into the infinite, to double down on your meditation, to go deeper into the core of who you are, to listen, to take the ear and to listen to the inner self. But also, this is a year after everybody's shouting. This is the year for listening. Listen to your friends, listen to the family members. Let this be a year where you practice deeper listening. We talk about nonviolent communication, but how about nonviolent listening? How about compassionate listening? Listening to yourself, really listening to what's being asked. What does your heart want from you now? Right? Really learning. How do you manage your mind? How do you come home to yourself? It's really going to be a year of that for all of us. That's one thing that I really wanted to share with you because it's a theme that you see playing out in many, many, many ways. So that's one thought. So I love that one. The other one that we see is we can run a chart for the new year and we run the chart for the time that this year was born on January 1, this western New year, of course, born at sunrise. So we say that the new year starts at sunrise.

Would it be sunrise for what time zone?

Yeah, so I did sunrise for my time zone, which is I'm in San Diego, so California. But if you did it 6:30 in Miami. You're going to get more or less the same thing. Think about it. The sun is coming across. So it's interesting because when we look at this chart, the New Year's chart, and I just want to back up and say this about that, in ancient times, December 21st, 5th was when this, the solstice happened. The again, Northern hemisphere winter solstice happened December 25th. And thanks to calendar reform, the solstice got moved to the 22nd. The calendar got moved so that now the solstice fell on the 21st or 22nd of December, but it used to be December 25th. So the return of light, December 25th. And about 14 days later, the sun is in the sky, closest to the Earth. That's called Pele helion. Helion is sun. And this date at which the Earth and the sun come closest to each other by miles, by measurable distance, generally is always about 14 days. It can be 11, it can be 12, but it's about 14 days, 15 or 16, it's about 14 days later. It's interesting that in traditions that honor Christmas, its birth of the light, return of the light is December 25th, when the solstice used to happen. And two weeks later, on January 6th is what's called the epiphany. The wise men arrive, the Zoroastrian priests arrived. What does that mean? The birth of light is now received, recognized. The Earth has come closer to the Sun. Right. So we're now accepting the light. It's so amazing. And what happens right in the middle January 1st, this idea of a new year. It's almost as if now we're going to have the intention to embody the light and to take it forward. So there is, you know, people say it doesn't mean anything, it's just a calendar date. But it does mean we're in between the solstice and this Pele Helion time, when the Earth is literally coming close to the Sun, Very, very close there. Now we are turned away from the sun on our axis. So we are still in winter. Of course, in the south, I mean, southern hemisphere, where they're turned towards the sun, they're going to really feel how close we are to the sun now. So what's interesting is that on this date, when it's all about the return to the light, we have a chart which is so beautiful, where the sun is in the rising sign. The sun is in Sagittarius with Mercury rising. So you have sun rising. Of course, it was sunrise, but you have this beautiful time of what is Sagittarius? Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter. Sagittarius is the philosopher. Mercury is the communicator. So communicates a more philosophical, more symbolic, more globalistic. Sagittarius is always looking for the pattern, the big picture. How does it all fit together? Right. So this is an overriding theme for 2020. What's the archetype? What's the Dharma? What's the purpose? Why am I alive? How does it all fit together? Saturn and Jupiter, as we know, are in Capricorn, but they're starting to move apart. They're in Capricorn in the second house. So Capricorn is all about building. Second house is all about income.

So would this be the age of Capricorn that we are in?

We are in the age of Pisces because the ages are determined by the procession of the equinox. And the spring equinox begins when the sun is in Pisces.

Okay, because what was the thing in Capricorn that we are moving into because of the conjunction, like an 80 year period?

So the western astrologers were saying that we're moving into the age of Aquarius because Saturn and Jupiter, that great conjunction, according to them, was happening in Aquarius, but actually in the sky. It happened in the sign of Capricorn. And you can look at maps of the sky. Even western astrologers were putting up maps of the sky and where it was happening. And you could see Capricorn was right there. So it happened in the sign of Capricorn. The age of something. The age of Aquarius doesn't have anything to do with where Saturn and Jupiter are. It has to do with where the sun is on the Vernon the first day of the vernal equinox. And right now the sun is still in Pisces and it stays in Pisces from the beginning to the end for 2150 years. And in a few hundred years, we will then see the sun go into Aquarius. But I don't think most of us will be alive in a few hundred years. So the age of Aquarius is not necessarily going to happen in this lifetime. What we do have is a very strong Saturn in Capricorn. Saturn is all about structure. Saturn represents your spine. Saturn. Somebody with a strong Saturn has spine. Right? Somebody with a weak Saturn is a spineless person. Right? I mean, Saturn really represents that inner spine, that inner core strength. And so Saturn wants us to rebuild our income and our economy and will help us with that, will give Us the tools. But Saturn is a fair player. He's a farmer. He gets up at the crack of dawn, he gets out to do his work and he wants everyone else to do it too. He wants discipline, he wants consistency, he wants honesty, he wants integrity. And with that, we will really be able to rebuild. I really feel so optimistic about what 2021 is going to look like. This New Year's chart is absolutely beautiful. We had moon in cancer. When we all woke up on New Year's Day, the moon was in cancer. A beautiful loving moon. Moon in cancer is mother Moon. Wants to nourish, wants to feed, wants to cuddle, wants to know, check in, how are you really feeling? Wants to stroke your head and give you a massage or give you something delicious, some comfort food. Wants to take care of you emotionally and physically, right? Wants to mother us. So this could be a time when we also see that we come back together. Let's stop fighting, let's just start loving. Let's start nurturing one another. Let's really feed. And let's feed what really inspires us most deeply. We have Venus in Scorpio, but in the 12th house, I think not. I think, but in the 12th house. What I think that means is what I meant to say is that we're going to be looking towards more spiritualized relationships, bringing more compassion to our relationships. Mars is in Aries, still in Aries. Now, Mars is just coming up on the 3rd of January. Mars will be ending its retrograde arc that started at the end of July. And the first thing that happened at the beginning of Mars retrograde arc, Beirut and that big blowing up of the wharf. So Mars in his retrograde arc has been quite fiery. We had fires in California. We had fires go up the coast then once Mars actually began his retrograde on September 9th. So finally Mars is ending this vast. It's called a retrograde arc. That's January 3rd. That'll be very positive. Mars is now in Aries, his own sign. So Mars, the planet of energy, action, the warrior, the fire of transformation. He's in a really strong sign to go out and get things done. Aries is strategic and Aries is all about action. Aries is general. Aries also has a star within it called Ashwini. And one of the symbols of Ashwini is the physician. Ashwini means healing or cure. So we are going to see, you know, Mars has to do with infection, infectious diseases, inflammation and inflammatory conditions. Mars is going to be bringing us right now while Mars is in Ashwini, Answers and solutions to infections. And you can. You can relate to that or expand that to what that might mean. But what I also love is that Ashwini can often be symbolized by they're running the horses. And so I feel like it's this rapid motion. Like rapidly we're going to start to get into motion, get into solutions, get into problem solving and getting. I just feel so excited about this year. I just feel like human beings are so inventive, so resilient. Yes, we've suffered. Yes, we've been through hard times. But I feel like we're going to really see so much rise up that's going to both astonish and delight us. It's an extraordinary time. Saturn, Jupiter, together, as I said, Jupiter is moving away from Jupiter, is moving away from Saturn now. But still he's debilitated in Capricorn because he's there with Saturn, that debilitation is canceled. But it doesn't mean that he's suddenly strong. Jupiter's weak in Capricorn. And while Jupiter is in Capricorn, with Saturn, it's really about the hard work now. It's really about the elite. Jupiter represents the elite. It's kind of like, take a back seat, you guys, sit down, let everybody else now do the work. You guys had your chance, it didn't work. Now let the people do the work. Let the people lead. This is going to be the time of. I call it the Il Popolo. The Italians that have that great term, but the people, the people, the everyday people, the people from every walk of life, let them step forward and lead and let's see if they can lead us to a better place. Once Jupiter actually moves out of Capricorn, he goes into Aquarius. And in Aquarius, he goes into a place. Aquarius is all about the people, the world, the communities, the neighborhoods. Everybody, you know, he is going to Aquarius. So we're going to get a flavor of the Aquarian. Even if it's not an age of Aquarius. We're going to get that flavor of Jupiter in Aquarius. Coming into Shatabisha, which is also a healer. Lots of healing for this year. Healing not just from disease, but healing our communities and healing from the rift in our societies, but also really bringing people together. To me, the theme of Aquarius is E pluribus unum, or the French motto of liberte egarite fraternite, the brotherhood of humankind, the fraternity, which means brothers and sisters, all of us from different walks of life, learning how to respect each Other to restore dignity, the dignity of man, so to speak. You know, I think we're just going to be seen. So much creativity, so many movements of young people. We're going to be seeing so much more democracy and access to what that stands for and really means liberty and justice, not for the few and not even for the many, but for all right to really come together, to seek to create a more perfect union. I do feel that that is what our mission and our theme is for this year. But. But think about mind. I started there on purpose. Mind and how you manage your mind, what spiritual practices you do, what exercise you do. For some of us, we can sleep better at night because we get out and we really do some hard exercise, right? Some of us can calm the mind because we did some wild dancing. So physical exercise can also help the mind. Foods that you eat can help the mind. Brahmi, for instance, is a great Ayurvedic herb for the mind. But not if your kapha, it's too cooling. Then it might be Ashwagandha. But just thinking about how do you take care of your mind this year? Last year it was how you take care of your physical body. Now it's how do you take care of your mind?

I love that so much. So is there a time of the year that you think will be maybe like the most smooth for us, the most prosperous for us, most easily able to manifest? And is there a time that's more hunkering down inwards? Are you seeing those periods for the collective?

Well, I think, you know, we still have work to do. So wintertime, we're hunkering down. We're getting on with the work. What is my mission? I think we're still internalized, but I think we're going to start to see things rapidly start to pick up in February and just start to move and move and move. It's almost like we're going to start galloping. I really think of that word of galloping. Ashwini. Ashwini. What does that mean? What does ashwagandha mean? Right. They say ashwagandha is an herb that was named for the virility of a horse. Ashwini is the virility of a horse, the galloping of horses. And that's where Mars is right now. Mars is kicking us off into a new year. I know that your audience is everywhere in the world, but the US President will be inaugurated on January 20th with Mars Rising in Ashwini. So we're going to really see, like this new administration just take off just hit the road running. And I think all of us will start to feel that in February. And then I think especially once Jupiter gets into Aquarius, then we start to really see the rise of Dharma, the rise of unified movements for change, for progress, for evolution. And, you know, then I think sort of April, May, June, we're gonna have a beautiful summer. Those of your listeners who are in the southern hemisphere, they can look forward to that in sort of late autumn, early winter.

What do you see for travel? When. When does that seem to be picking up again?

You know, Jyotish is the art of interpretation. So I'm just going to say that I first don't know. I want to say that what I'm interpreting is I felt until about three days ago, I have a trip planned to go to India in October of 2021. And until the. Really, until about three days ago, I thought, I think I'm canceling that trip now. I think I'm going. So I do think by the midpoint of this year, we're going to really start to see the world opening up. You know, don't hold me to it. But I think we're, you know, I don't mean that we can't go anywhere until six months from now, but I mean, in a unified way, in a global way, we start to really see it making a difference. We're going to see such a difference in this world. 2021 is going to be a completely different world than 2020 was. We have such positive stars, such positive planets. It really, I mean, Rohini Nakshatra, you know, Rahu is in this place where Krishna was born. The archetype, the symbol, the avatar of love and delight. And then Saturn and Jupiter are in Shravana, which is all about listening to the spiritual voice, listening to the sacred texts, which is about listening to one another. Well, Rohini is not really devic, but it is Devak Nakshatras, which feels like we have these divine energies that are coming in now to guide us forward. I would only say to people, don't give up on yourself and don't give up on your practices. It's because of your good work and good heart. It's because of your spiritual practices that that has joined with the energies of others to hit critical mass. Let's keep doing the inner work, but let's keep doing that also together. Ancient people, shamanic people, saw that we heal in community. Healing means we return to the whole. And the whole doesn't just mean you as an individual. No man is an island, said John Donne. But we are one, right? And if we are one, we heal together. So we have to keep doing that work. But I do think it's going to have big, big rewards.

I love that and I love how positive your perspective and outlook is. It feels so great to hear because I know a lot of people are saying that it's going to keep getting worse and we haven't seen the worst of it yet. And you know, some people are talking about this seven year cycle, which we are in a seven year cycle. But I don't know if you're familiar with the gene keys, if you've ever read that, but they said that we're in this cycle from 2020 to 2027 of, you know, rapid transformation. And some people's interpretation of it is that it's going to get worse until like 2024, and then that's when we're going to shift. What's your take on that?

I think we've been getting worse. Yeah. I think that that again, the idea of Dharma, the opposite of Dharma. And what is Dharma in the sense it's living in harmony with nature, with the cosmos, with one another. Yeah, it got bad.

And also, I think it's also the collective. Where the collective is going doesn't necessarily mean it's where you're going. Right. So, you know, collectively, things may continue to unfold or even feel chaotic, but that does not mean that your personal life has to feel like that. I think we're learning how to find stability in the chaos.

Well, I think that's why, again, I, and I mean this, it's an important time for your book to be coming out. It's important because we need to unhook from that world that is living adharmically. And we need to rehook or hook. Like, right, you turn off to turn in. We need to hook into what is our dharma? What is your svadharma? What is your essential self and your purpose in this life? Because once you're aligned to that, not only is it liberating and joyful, that's where your abundance is too. Right. And in that space, we're not trying to figure out what's going on. We're not trying to figure out who's in charge. You're in charge. Your soul is in charge, your spirit is in charge. And you're. I mean, I live in a place that just crumbled. This world that I live in, the neighbors were all at each other's throats. It was very painful to See what happened last June, July, here. But in my life, in my world, I was working with others, sharing Joacha, sharing Ayurveda. I don't look at 2020 personally and say it was a terrible life. I don't mean to be insensitive. I feel for people who had difficult times. But I'm living my Dharma, and I lived a joyful year. And more and more people need the emotional, financial, spiritual freedom that Dharma gives. Because you're absolutely right. As the world crumbles around you, you don't have to crumble with it, as the world may move into more adharmic times. Adharmic times. You don't have to go there, and you don't have to figure out why, even hook into it. Stay in your pure, pristine state of your heart, but keep giving, because the world needs that light. They need your strength. They need your spirit. The world needs everyone to wake up to their true nature, to the true self. Everyone needs to do it, because that's how we're going to go forward. And that. I just see you as such a powerful force of that. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Because I know what it's like to not live in my Dharma. And I could only imagine where 2020 would have taken me if it happened, you know, for me, like, seven years ago when I was, like, really in this place of, like, confusion and not knowing what's for me and not knowing who I am. And then on top of that, this collective thing, I could have really lost myself. And it was still a difficult year with me knowing my Dharma, but that was this constant anchor I could go back to. Okay, I don't know what's happening in the world around me, but here's what I can focus on. And that would fill me up with joy and every single day, give me a small win, even if around me felt like a loss. And I think when we continue to just be guided by that, the little hits of Dharma, the little feelings of flow, we find ourselves moving through a year like 2020 in a way that actually was more rapidly towards our growth and our truth than any other year could have been. I feel like for a lot of people, this year, decisions that could have taken them 10 years to make, it only took them this year to make because it was just. The process was so much faster. And I think anyone listening to this podcast is on that path too, of listening to their truth, listening to their intuition, and moving forward. And I think that if we were able to get through 2020 of, like, this being A totally new experience for us. And then, like, you know, we're on a surfboard for the the first time. Okay, now we've found our balance. Now we know how to surf. And riding the waves is just going to become more and more intuitive for us.

Absolutely. That's what I was talking about earlier. Rahu Ketu, come around to remind us that the external world is not going to be fulfilling. Find the fulfillment within, find the light and the truth within. And then hew to that. Stay at the place in your surfboard where you have balance, right? And that's the center line. And in that balanced state, you can ride those waves. I mean, surfers seem to be having a great time riding those waves. So it's not just you can ride the waves, but that you can have a great time. You can really feel free and you can feel that you're soaring. I think what you said about the people listening to this are probably already doing that. But what I have found this year is that they also need affirmation in that, right? Because. And that's again, what I think is so helpful about having community or kula dharma tribes is that we can affirm one another. You're doing the right thing by meditating. You're doing the right thing by focusing on your dharma. You're not doing something selfish. You're doing what the world needs. This is a generous act because self care, right, is World Care. Dr. Vandana Shiva said it to me once after she was talking about all the things that are going wrong with the world. I said, well, what can each of us do? And she said, you can choose food that was grown by a local organic farmer. You can do simple acts that help strengthen, right, the organic and the conscious web of your world. And those things that you do to feed yourself good, healthy food helps the world around you. It echoes out. And I think that we need to be that for each other. We need to reflect to each other. That's again, what the moon does. It reflects back, right? The moon is reflective. So to reflect to each other your light, your truth. Yes, you're doing this work and yes, it makes a difference. So stay with it because we need you. We need you on our team.

I love that. And do you have any specific mantras you recommend for us for this year?

Ah, good question. A great mantra for the moon, which is very, very simple, is I like to just do Om. So maya namah S o m. Let's make it even simpler. Just inhale. So exhale ma. So you just inhale silently. The sound of so and you just imagine a big O of your breath filling your belly. And Ma, as you exhale, Ma, so it's very soothing on the exhale. So is Shakti. So you're inhaling the power of life. Ma, of course, is the soothing sound of the Divine mother. So you're letting go and releasing Soma. You can do it walking, cooking anytime. You can do that on your breath.

And the longer one was Om Somaya Namah.

S O M A Y A Om Somaya Namah.

I love that name, Somaya. It's a good, like, baby name.

Soma is just one of the words for the moon. And it's that juicy, waxy, sort of ojas, luminescence of the moon. The other one is because Jupiter is a little weak. It's really. It would be really helpful to strengthen Jupiter with Om Gurave Namah. G U R A V E Jupiter was called the Guru. He's the guru of the planets. So Aum Gura ve na Maha Omgurave.

Namah Beautiful Om Samayana Mah Om Guravayana Maha. And any stones that you recommend for us for this year?

Well, stone for the moon is. I'm wearing my little pearls right now because that's the stone for the moon. And really, pearl is the best. And hopefully you can find some creative and funky ways of wearing pearls if pearl reminds you too much of your grandmother. But pearls, pearls are really helpful. They're very grounding, pacifying, really stabilizing the mind. Moon is. Monday is the moon's day. So Monday is a good day for gentle fasting, deeper meditation. I don't so much anymore, but I used to take Monday as my day of silence. You know, I don't work on Mondays. I don't have clients on Monday. So Monday is more of an internalizing day. If you can schedule your life that way, it's good to do on Mondays. You might honor the moon also by wearing the colors of the moon. So whites or creams or soft blues, you know, just maybe Monday is a good day too, to reach out to a friend and not say, how are you doing? But how are you feeling? So maybe you act like the moon. You sort of act like a bit of a mother. Or maybe it's a day for feeding children or families or mothers who need that help. So that's one for Jupiter. It's yellow, the color yellow. And you know, the best stone for Jupiter is yellow sapphire. It's pretty expensive, but yellow citrine is also okay. And we tend to wear Jupiter goes on the index finger. Moon could be worn on the ring finger or the pinky finger. And I say moon can be worn there. I mean, the stones for the movie.

I love that. Amazing. So anything else that we should be looking out for or focusing our intentions on for 2021?

The stars don't make your life. You make your life. The stars just reflect to us our life. I love to live by the stars. I mean, the other night when I couldn't sleep, I woke up. Why can't I sleep finally? Oh, it's full moon and it's in Arjun Nakshatra. It's in the Nakshatra of something fierce, making me feel some of that. But also, you know, it was a very much of a completion cycle. The nodes were in Rahu was in Arja for most of 2020. So I just felt like at the end of 2020, you know, the moon came back and said, let's just be sure that we've cleaned it all up. Let's be sure we finished our work. Right. So it's beautiful to live by the stars. It's beautiful to live by the planets, to see what's going on, to have a better understanding of what you're feeling yourself or how you can use these energies and these powers. But at the end of the day, everyone is an atma within you have an indistinguishable, inextinguishable, uneclipsible, undiminishable, eternal light. And to know that is to know that you were born on purpose, that you matter, that within you are the seeds of divinity and you are alive to cultivate that and turn it into a garden, to bring more beauty to the world. Get Sahara's book. Learn what your dharma is, because that's what the world most needs. The world needs everyone to wake up to their higher self and their purpose for being alive. Because then we all will live in joy and create a world of Dharma where we can be regenerative and sustainable for our children and their children.

Well, thank you so much for that and for sharing today. You have such a poetic way of saying, speaking, and it's so beautiful and rich and. And feminine and fluid. And I love the stories that you tell related to the different planets and. And you know, it's rare to see teachers like you this day with such immense, deep, ancient wisdom who really hold it so true to what it is and make it understandable for us. So I really want to acknowledge you for living your dharma and for expressing it so beautifully.

To all of us, by the grace of amazing, extraordinary teachers, and to them, Om Sri Guru Vhyoramaha. Thank you so much. Sahara. It's wonderful to see you out there just lighting it up. You are making a big impact on the world and I appreciate that.

Thank you. And where can listeners book a session with you?

Lauraplum.com l a u r a p.

L u m b.com Amazing, guys. You definitely have to do it. It's going to be a game changer. You're going to keep coming back to that recording. Like what? And it's just such a wonderful way also to learn. I think we're all so interested in learning about ourselves. So it's such a great way to learn about Jyotish, to have a chart reading and then that makes you see, okay, here's how these things are now further affecting me individually.

And if it's electromagnetic energy that is creating these impacts, just think what it would do if you knew the truth of who you are. Think about the electromagnetic energy that would come out of you to help with this shift in the world. So we should never underestimate the power of our practice and the power of our awakening.

Absolutely. Well, thank you again.

Thank you. Beautiful to be with you.

How beautiful was that conversation? I love learning more about Vedic astrology. It is like Ayurveda that there is so much, and definitely at first it can feel intimidating with all those words. But take it slow, be gentle, take it easy, let your curiosity guide you. And sometimes it takes re listening to an episode to get it all, because it is so potent and it's so rich and every single little aspect of it can really lead you down a path of understanding so much more. And that's how beautiful it is that it's so interconnected, going back to what we shared at the beginning of the episode. But it's Purusha, which is the city, and each of us are homes and each of us are connected in this greater cosmic web. So understanding that our birth time and date is related to our Dharma, is related to our Yoga practice, is related to our Doshas, is related to the goddesses that we work with. All of these things are interconnected. Nothing is in a vacuum. And the more we can unpeel these layers of ourselves, the more we can see the truth of who we are and can make decisions that support us. So take what serves you. If you listen to this at the end, I'm sure Vedic astrology is something you're more curious about. I highly suggest getting a session with Laura or Dr. Suhas as well. They are both incredible and you can learn so much from them. And check out the other podcasts I've done on Vedic Astrology with them both. I will link it in the show notes so you can dive further into that. And if you are wanting more support and finding and embodying your soul's purpose, then check out my new book Discover your Dharma. I have epic bonuses waiting for you when you submit your receipt over on iamsaharrose.com Dharma that link is in the show notes. I got my Dharma tapping practice, my Dharma meditation, my Dharma embodiment practice, tickets to my virtual book launcher. I'll be answering your questions on February 4th or the replay if you're listening to this after. And all of that is available for you when you submit your receipt over on my website. Thank you so much for being here, for listening, for diving deep, for looking deeper into the truth of who you are. The world is a better place because of you and I am so grateful. If you loved this episode I would love to send you a free gift which is the first half of my unrelated released book Eat Right for your mind body type. This is a different book than Eat Feel Fresh, my first book ever which is not released anywhere and I am gifting it exclusively to those who leave a review of my podcast in the iTunes store. So all you gotta do is head over to itunes where you may be listening to this podcast and leave a review. Take a screenshot that you've left it and email it over to me@saharaatfieldfresh.com again that's Sahara S A H A R A@eatfeelfresh.com and I will send you back the first half of my unreleased book Eat Right for your Mind body Type which goes all into Ayurveda, doshas, plant based nutrition, body types, all of the things in a really fun and engaging way. So this is my gift to you for free for supporting the podcast. Every single review I personally read. It really helps the the podcast be listened to by more people so we can raise the vibration of the planet together and I am so grateful to have you on this journey. Thank you so much for listening and I'll see you on the next episode. Namaste.

It.