Wellness Curated
On Wellness Curated, Anshu Bahanda gets world renowned experts on physical and mental health to guide you pro bono. Packed with content that helps people to understand their bodies and minds better and to find relief from the pain and restrictions that have long prevented them from living their best lives, this show is a go-to resource for anyone who wants to improve their quality of life.
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Wellness Curated
The Cosmic Connection: Aligning with astrology for personal growth and healing
In this insightful episode of Wellness Curated, host Anshu Bahanda expertly navigates the complex and often misunderstood world of astrology, drawing upon the expertise of Liz Norman and Dr. Sundeep Kochar to bridge the gap between Western and Vedic traditions. The episode reveals astrology as a powerful tool for self-discovery and personal growth.
Liz Norman, a highly respected Western astrologer, illuminates the tropical zodiac's connection to the natural rhythms of the earth. She unpacks how understanding planetary movements can provide invaluable clarity, offering a roadmap through life's inevitable challenges and uncertainties. It's not about passively accepting fate, but actively aligning oneself with cosmic cycles for greater self-awareness. This is where the unexpected comes in: Norman subtly suggests that even seemingly negative transits can be reframed as opportunities for profound internal shifts.
Dr Sundeep Kochar, a leading authority on Vedic astrology, introduces Jyotish – the "science of light" – focusing on the sun and moon's profound influence on our individual destinies. His perspective on the interplay of fate and free will is particularly compelling. He proposes a fascinating 70/30 model: 70% of our lives may be pre-ordained, yet we retain a crucial 30% agency to shape our paths. This empowering message encourages active participation in our own lives, rather than passive acceptance of destiny. Consider this: the seemingly fixed 70% might be less about predetermined events and more about inherent predispositions, talents, and challenges – areas where self-awareness becomes paramount.
The conversation seamlessly flows into practical applications, exploring the impact of moon cycles and planetary transits on our well-being. Intriguingly, the discussion expands beyond pure astrology to encompass complementary healing modalities, such as homoeopathy and Bach flower remedies, highlighting astrology's potential as a holistic guide to self-care. This unexpected connection underscores astrology's capacity to inform a more comprehensive approach to wellness.
Intrigued by the ancient wisdom of astrology and its practical applications in modern life? This episode provides an engaging and informative exploration, prompting listeners to reflect upon their own life journey through a truly cosmic lens. It’s a conversation that resonates long after the credits roll.
For a transcript of this show, go to
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Anshu Bahanda: So, I have a friend who was in the corporate world, who went to an astrologer and the astrologer said to her that it’s a great time for her to be learning new skills and for changing her career path. Now, she’d been thinking of a particular healing career for years but she was just a bit worried because her corporate career was going well, and this gave her the confidence to go and learn that particular kind of healing. Today, she’s a well known healer… She's doing really well. So, people have had two sorts of reactions to her story: There are believers who said, ‘Look, wasn’t this amazing that the astrologer was able to point the period in her life where she was able to go and study and it was the period where she would be successful in a different career!’, while the sceptics said: ‘No matter when she would take on a new career, she would have been successful. And this is just a coincidence that the astrologer told her that!’
So, today we’re going to explore all these issues. We’re going to try and understand where astrology comes from, how it can help us in our personal life, in the development of our lives, and also how it will show us strengths, challenges, and potential in our life. And we’re going to delve into two — into astrology — but two different kinds of astrology.
Today, we’re going to look at Western astrology and we're going to look at Vedic astrology. And we have here with us some great experts who are going to help us decipher astrology, so to say. Because there are so many times when I looked up at the sky and thought, how do these celestial bodies determine my destiny and do they determine my destiny? And I hear that from a lot of people. They cannot understand how the position of the stars at birth and later in life can determine your life, basically. So, welcome to the first episode of our new series, Mystical Practices for Modern Minds. And this is part of our season, Ancient Wisdom for Modern Living. Today we have with us, as I said, two fantastic astrologers. We have with us today Liz Norman, who’s been an astrologer for 20 years. She’s a Western astrologer and she combines it with B flower remedies and homoeopathy. So she can really help people with their health, healing, and wellness. We also have Dr Sundeep Kochar, who’s been a Vedic astrologer for 25 years, and he’s well known in the TV and the radio space. And he famously predicted the US elections and that Barack Obama would win and Donald Trump would win in 2016. So, welcome to the chat, Liz and Dr Sundeep.
Sundeep Kochar: Thank you so much, Anshu, for having us. It’s always lovely to interact with different energies. And I think I’m feeling so good about it because mostly, you know, people have appreciations, whether, you know, there’s Vedic science, which is more from the eastern part of the world, or it is Western astrology, which has better relevance. And today I think I’m open to learning a lot of things from Liz as well.
Liz Norman: Thank you. And it’s a pleasure to be here and to talk because astrology is just such a wonderful tool as we both know, working with it day in, day out. And this is what we can be sharing with your lovely audience.
AB: Thank you! I’m delighted. This is such a treat for me to have one person who does Vedic astrology and one person who does Western astrology, you know, and talking to them both at the same time. I can't tell you how excited I am. So we’ll start by asking each of you to explain the foundational framework of astrology, or of your kind of astrology to us and how it can help people with their lives, with their personal growth, with their decision making. Liz, would you like to start?
LN: Yeah, yeah, I’m very happy to start. So the study of the movement of the planets, the celestial bodies — that’s astronomy. We study the movement of the planets, but their effect on us on Earth, is astrology. We’re saying, how are the movements and the energy of those planets going to affect us here on Earth? And then how do we work with that energy? So we’re looking at patterns, we’re looking at cycles, we’re looking at that celestial dance because each of those planets is going at its own unique pace. And they’re going to dance and weave in and out of each other. And it is the most beautiful, exquisite dance. And if we understand that energy, we can align with it. We can dance with it, instead of against it. And that, to me, is the key of astrology: learning to align with that energy, to know when we should swim, when we should float, when we should surf, you know, because the energy is moving at its own pace. So, that’s generically what I see as all astrology: the movement of the planets.
Western astrology is based on the tropical zodiac. So, this is where it — the main difference — would be, because… obviously, I’ll let Dr Sundeep explain in much more detail because that’s his discipline, but the tropical zodiac is very much based on that dance of the sun and the earth. So, we mark that movement around the ecliptic with the four anchor points of the solstices and the equinoxes. And they are the beginning of each of the seasons. So, although they share the same names, the signs… they are not the same. So, in Western astrology, the tropical zodiac is where we divide that ecliptic of the sun going around the earth into 12 based on the seasonal wheel. And so that’s why I love working with it because it connects us to these cycles, to this dance. So that's my very small explanation in a nutshell. That’s what tropical Western astrology is and it links us to those cycles.
AB: Thank you, Liz. Dr Sundeep?
SK: Yeah, of course. Thank you, Liz, for beautifully explaining the dance of the celestial bodies and the impact on human beings. That’s amazing. I really love that. So, coming back to the Indian concept of astrology, in Sanskrit, Anshu we call it Jyotish, Ish is God and Jyot is light. This is the light of God. Why is this the light of God? Because in the Indian system this astrology is a part of Vedas. The old scriptures on the planet are more than 5,000 years old and it is a part of Rigveda and you won’t find anything written beyond that. And, you know, whatever calculations they have done, sages at that time with their divine connection, you know, without the help of any telescope or satellites in that era that calculation is still true, it is still valid and it’s impacting earth. So from the Vedas, the oldest scriptures, to the MacBook, where I see the horoscope, this is a long journey and anything which is still existing, I think it has definitely a beautiful impact on human beings. I always say the destination of life is already destined from the day one to the last day and it cannot be changed. So, something that is pre-written at the time of birth and that is already predefined — I always say the best is to go with the flow. Basic difference also between Western astrology and Indian astrology because for them it is the sun that is the most important thing. In Indian astrology, in Vedic astrology, it is the moon. Because here, in this part of the world, we are supposed to be more emotional…
AB: So, Dr Sundeep, you just said something which got me thinking… you said your whole life is predetermined by the horoscope — so, do we have no free will?
SK: So, when I say destiny is fixed, you know, how do you spell destiny? D.E.S.T.I.N.Y. Yeah, TINY. Though there is a ‘tiny’ word attached with ‘destiny’ as well. And destiny itself says there is a scope of some changes. And what is that? So, according to me, when I say destiny is fake that means 70 per cent is something which you can’t choose. You can’t choose your parents, you can’t choose the family or the city or the place you’re born in, the environment where you are born in. You can’t choose. Like there are people who are born with silver spoons. There are people who are born in a very, very, very low… you know… situation, financially, and otherwise. Maybe, maybe in that part of the world where there is no technology, you know… So, 70 percent is a part which is already destiny. Now coming back to the remaining 30 percent, which is exactly what you spoke of: free will. So, what opportunity you are getting and how you are utilising that opportunity can influence destiny, which is 70 percent fixed. So 30 per cent is always in anyone’s hand. That is the reason I always say no matter how educated you are, no matter how intelligent or wise you are, the more important thing is ‘what is your behaviour?’ So, I always say if your behaviour is good and time is bad, you won’t feel a thing. And when your behaviour is bad and time is good, again, you won’t feel it is a good time because it is all about… A man is a social animal. So you’re the way you perceive. If you start hitting me, I will stop talking to you. It works at an energy level. What you seek is seeking you. So, I bring that element of energy in between. And that is the reason 70 and 30 make 100. That is how life goes.
AB: That was wonderful! So, I want to ask you both another basic question for our viewers and that is... So, there’s two… I guess there’s your birth chart when you’re born and also the position of the planets as you go through life. So can you explain to us how these two things affect people’s lives and how can it help with people’s development?
LN: Yeah, so I mean, that was a beautiful, beautiful description of the birth chart. You know, that ‘seed potential’ that you were saying. You know, it’s a map, this beautiful divine map that shows us our natural talents, our natural gifts, what… we’re here to shine, you know, we’re here to shine and bring those gifts to light. We also carry challenges. That’s the birth chart. That’s the snapshot of where that energy was when we were born. So that’s the birth chart and that remains. I like to call it the ‘seed potential’ that we can either grow and flourish into the best that it can be or we don’t water it and we don’t work with it. So, then the planets keep moving and their energy that affects us on Earth keeps changing as they move through the skies. So, let me give you one really good example this year, you know, the planets move and in their own beautiful dance we had two planets: Jupiter and Uranus come together. They came together and their energies were amplified because they were together.
And that was a ‘seed point’ in April, this year. And Jupiter is the planet of expansion and Uranus is the planet of breaking new ground or, like, thinking outside the box. We add them together… They come together once every 14 years. So, if you knew that that was the energy around that was seeding something that's a 14-year cycle, you become empowered to work with that potential energy.
AB: Wonderful, wonderful. And Dr Sundeep?
SK: Yeah, almost the same as you had asked me about the placement when a person is born. So, astrologers can help you with the help of those planets when you are born. This is what your strength is and this is where you need to change. So that is, that is something which is all almost fixed because you are born with that kind of mindset. You know, every one’s nature is different. But, your question is, you know, ‘what about the placement of planets which keep on changing?’ The placement of planets at this moment, they have equal say…they have equal say in predicting anything about a person. So, a person who is running a phase, you know, we call it in Sanskrit, ‘dasha’, like a person is born in some particular moon sign, in that particular moon sign that degree can define the nakshatra. The lord of nakshatra is the planet which will be ruling you from your time of birth and then it keeps on changing, you know, so that is how the change in time, change in mindset, and change in situation, and circumstances take place. So, this is something which is from the time of birth, but what about the planet which is moving now? So, they the placement of the planets can also influence a person in a good or bad way. So, you definitely need to inculcate the transitional planet along with the placement of the planet when the person is born. And then you have to combine predicting something which can be two plus two equals four, or which can be two minus two that is zero, because a good phase and a negative transit can nullify that.
AB: Okay, and then you just mentioned ‘dasha’. Dr Sundeep, could you go into that more? Because I know that the ‘dashas’ are important in people’s lives, the ‘dashas’, the ‘mahadashas’ in Vedic astrology. So, will you explain that more to our audience and how can people use that again for their personal development?
SK: Absolutely. See the most important thing is it is not about a person… you know, it is about the time the person is running. I must also tell you this word ‘dasha’ is a Sanskrit word. ‘Dasha’ means the state of your mind. The planet that starts influencing a person will also try to change the mindset of a person. So that is the impact of ‘dasha’, the state of mind gets changed with the change of planets in any individual’s life.
AB: And Liz, the other thing that I want you to talk to us about is ‘retrogrades’. Because I know so many people who start freaking out when there’s Mercury Retrograde and they start saying we’re not going to travel and we’re, you know, we’re not going to do this, we’re not going to do that. And is it such a bad thing, a retrograde period, or can you actually use it for personal reflection, for some sort of development?
LN: So, number one with astrology, take the fear out, okay? Because there’s always that element of free will, okay? The key is to work with energy. If you understand the energy, you have the capability of working with it. So, Mercury is the planet that goes retrograde most often. So that’s the one we're talking about. It goes retrograde three times a year for about three weeks. And we have the build-up and the after effects. Its effect can be about five, six weeks. Mercury is the planet that rules all of our communication. You know, we live in a world where we are so communication dominated. You know, emails, texts… you know, we also remember astrology is about cycles. And one of the biggest things that remembering that did for me with retrogrades is… we tend to live at one pace in the western world which is ‘go, go, go’... and that’s not honouring the cycles of nature, you know. So, retrogrades are a reminder that we don’t go a hundred miles an hour all of the time because then we’re not always going in the right direction. So, when a planet is retrograde, its apparent movement compared to that of the earth is apparently going slower. Think of all words: ‘re’, ‘reflect’, ‘review’, ‘rethink’, ‘reassess’, ‘reframe’... So, the other big thing with Mercury retrograde, you know, is to be aware that there may be miscommunication. So, big ‘C’ words: ‘concise’, ‘clear’, ‘communication’, ‘check’, ‘clarify’, you know, because there is the possibility in the air of miscommunication. So, if you send a message, it’s possible the other person may not get it. If again we work with energy, we can make sure that our communication is as clear and concise as it could be. Actually, I’m a great fan of retrogrades. They help with slowing down in a world that is 100 miles an hour.
AB: Wonderful! And, Dr Sundeep, how would you explain retrogrades in Vedic astrology? Because I believe it’s quite connected with karma and life purpose. Is that right? Different retrogrades…
SK: Retrograde planets are a blessing. If there is a dictum in Vedic astrology, like a malefic planet, like Saturn, and it goes retrograde, it looks bad, but they say ‘no’. If a malefic planet is debilitated, like Saturn, if it becomes retrograde, it will behave like an exalted planet. So, this is the beauty, you know, it reverses the tendency of that particular planet. So, that is something which is so good. But, yes, as you said and as Liz said, this business of astrology, which is a divine science, you know, the science of the stars, has unfortunately become a business of fear and lies.
AB: I want to ask you both what happens if someone comes to you and you see something in their chart, which you know will give them a lot of fear?
LN: Okay, so that’s a really interesting question. So I’m always looking for the medicine in a chart, you know, because everything is only a set of possibilities, you know, and so there is a potential for some astrological planets in certain situations in aspect to other planets, or, as we might call, ‘debilitated’ that are in a more inherently challenging position, say, than another. But we still then… actually, the last thing I would do is use the word ‘fear’, because there’s an awareness, because there’s always a way of working with that energy. Our jobs as astrologers is empowering our clients to use the potential of the birth chart or the transits in the best way.
AB: Lovely. And Dr Sundeep?
SK: Absolutely! See, astrology is about empowering a person, not putting any fear in mind. So, now this is up to you how you take it. If an astrologer is telling you something, like if they were to say, ‘Oh, your wife would be a dominating wife’, or ‘Your wife would be a powerhouse of energy’. This is what is the responsibility of an astrologer: to make a person understand the situation that is the fear factor.
AB: So, are there any misunderstandings that you would both like to clarify about astrology? Because astrology is very, very deep. You know, like in India, it’s come from the vedas. Liz, where did western astrology originate?
LN: It’s, it’s around 2,000 years ago. It’s the Babylonians. It has its origins in Greece. So, it’s, it’s orthodox... It comes from thousands of years ago. Yeah. So. And this is something which is so deep…
AB: Do you think people are taking it very frivolously today?
LN: Yeah. Number one, I would say to anybody with their journey into astrology is you are more than your sun sign. You know that if you look at the newspapers and that’s how some people look at it, they will go: I am a Leo, a Pisces… You know, if you simply said… divided the population into their sun signs, there are 12. You cannot divide everybody on this earth into 12. You know, you are at least your sun and your moon. Well, if we’re doing 12 times 12, which is 144, and that’s before we’ve even looked at Mercury and Venus and all the other planets. You are more than your sun sign.
SK: I would add to the same. If I were to ask you who you are and if you say to me ‘I’m married’, is that the right answer? No, because you, you know, somebody can be creative, somebody can be a doctor, somebody can… can have various aspects of life. So, this is what Liz meant. You are not one sun sign. You are a combination of many things. And especially in Indian astrology, you know, we have moon signs… like, for example, in Western astrology, they call it Aries. You know, from 21st March to 21st April is Aries. But that’s not right. In the Indian system, it is a moon sign. So, in Western astrology Aries is a sun sign and in Vedic astrology it is a moon sign. In the moon sign, they are Nakshatras, the constellation. And in every Nakshatra, there are four types... So, that means 108. So, you’re already 108 types of thing. And that is only one side of astrology. And then when you are born with the set of planets, which planet is expecting you. So, that is how it is. So, every planet can influence you and make you a different person and unique from every other person on the planet.
AB: And, Liz, as we were talking earlier, before we started this conversation, you work with Bach Flower remedies… you work with homoeopathy. And you work with astrology, so you can do this whole package, you know, in terms of healing and helping people. Will you delve a little bit more into that and tell our viewers about it?
LN: Yeah, I mean, what’s wonderful is that the key principles of homoeopathy fit so beautifully with the key principles of astrology, you know, and the two biggest are the idea of individuality, exactly as Dr Sundeep said. We are a unique set of planets in certain placements in our chart. You know, they make that dance of those planets, particularly the moon. Actually, we work very closely in medical astrology with the moon because it moves so quickly. The moon will change signs every two and a half days. And one of the key principles of homoeopathy is individuality. And it’s your individual response. You know if you’re ill… one… you can have… everybody could have a cold. One person’s going to be angry, another person’s going to want lots of hugs and cups of tea and people around them. And another person’s going to want to be very quiet and hide away. That’s your moon sign… is your emotional reaction. And that’s very individual because the moon moves quickly. We look at your individual response to an illness and we look at it in the totality of your whole case. So there’s an immediate synergy of the two languages. So, when you’re having a consultation, they kind of flow in and out of each other. And so it enables me, when I’m having a consultation with the language and the insights of the chart to go much deeper, much quicker when I’m working with people. So, that’s the kind of… number one… that their philosophies are the same. And then we have literal links between the Bach flowers and the 12 zodiac signs. Dr Edward Bach was an amazing man, who lived about 100 years ago. He was a physician… a doctor first. Then, he realised we were so much more than our bodily health. He became a homoeopath. And then he loved homoeopathy, but it wasn’t accessible enough for him. He wanted to create the beautiful healing herbs that we could all use. So, he went into Mother Nature and he developed the 38 flower remedies, which are really easy for anybody to use. They’re completely safe, they’re gentle, and they link, literally link, to the zodiac signs. So there’s a literal golden thread between them.
AB: Thank you! And, also, I mean, I’ve had a lot more Vedic astrology readings. But Dr Sundeep, you’ll be able to relate to this. Years ago, someone I remember had looked at my chart and recommended a few things that I should add to my life and one of them is breathwork, pranayama. And I do that about three times a week and when I’m away from it for like a couple of months, if I’m travelling a lot or something, I can tell the difference in my health. So, Dr Sundeep, do you want to comment on health and astrology from a Vedic point of view?
SK: Absolutely! And, you know, I agree with you. They say everything has become psychosomatic. What is the definition? Bodily disorder formed by the human brain. So, overthinking mind and negative thinking mind has no difference. It creates stress which leads to anxiety and that creates some chemical, emotional imbalances in the body and that is how somebody can attract some kind of ailment. Well, six years back I was in London, I read an article and the headline said doctors will keep on telling you it is all in the mind. So, I was out and I read it and they said they have discovered another phenomenon known as BDS, Bodily Distress Syndrome. That one person understands something from the mind. And then the doctor said we have no cure. Go to a counsellor or psychiatrist. They didn’t name any astrologers. But that is how it is. So, what I’m saying is it’s all in the mind. So, I always say a happy person is always a healthy person. And how to be happy? Happiness is a habit. If you’re waiting for something to happen, then keep waiting. And if you have a habit to be happy now, you will, you will always be happy, no matter what. And that is the beauty of astrology, which can help you to understand this is your journey. If the next seven years, 10 years, 18 years are going to be like this, then there has to be an acceptance. Because if you are trying to swim against the tide you will be draining out your energy.
AB: So, can you both give me some practical tips on how people can actually use astrology more than just reading their little chart in the morning and getting into a panic state if something is not right, how can they actually use it to help them?
LN: Easiest way to start understanding astrology is to understand the ebb and flow. And you can start with the moon. If you can start nowhere else you can start with the moon. You can track the moon cycles, you know from the new moon when the sun and moon are together and that becomes like a ‘seed point’, you know, the moon is dark at that stage and we have a new ‘seed point’. And, then, as the moon moves over the next two weeks, the light increases and, you know, so, you know, I’m a great gardener as well. And so I plant by the new moon. I go back to those ancient cycles and I plant my seeds by the moon at that new ‘seed point’ ..., so that I’m working with the energy. When I move the plants, I plant them at the full moon, so I am working with energy. So, if we understand the new moon as a ‘seed point’, and then the full moon is where the sun and moon are opposite in the sky, and that energy is illuminated. So, we have a culmination, a fruition, and we can celebrate what’s, what’s come to light, what’s, you know, what’s done well. But, also, we illuminate and come to light anything that didn’t work. And we can use the second half of the moon cycle to release anything that wasn’t working for us.
AB: Wonderful. Dr Sundeep?
SK: Yeah, absolutely. You know, one should first have faith in astrology. Like, somebody may have some bad experiences with bad astrologers. Like in any, any, any kind of profession, you know, you find good or bad. But I think you need to find the right astrologer like Liz is... She’s quite experienced. And, you know, last month I gave a talk, and I said, today, I will talk about AI, which is not artificial in nature, which, you know, I will talk about the real AI, which is astrological intelligence. So, understanding yourself, understanding your, your mind, understanding your strength, weaknesses, and potential, and bringing those changes in you, that is how you can evolve and lead a better, happier life.
AB: Oh, that’s fantastic. Tell me about karma and dharma, because I know in our astrology, because we look at it as a whole, it came out of the vedas, everything is about karma and what you're meant to do… your life purpose. So, how can people use their life’s karma and why they’ve come to the planet, which is probably apparent in the horoscope… to be more at peace with who they are and to be more at peace with their life’s purpose.
Dr SK: You know, there’s a Sanskrit word called ‘prarabdha’ it means ‘the deeds of the past’. And, because of that, you are born in a particular family or city or country, wherever… So, your journey begins from there. So, once you understand, okay, this is, this is your journey, you know, the… Then, then, acceptance will happen. So, normally, a person who doesn't believe in astrology will keep going where he’s going. So, the day you will understand your purpose in this life, you will start working towards it. In Japanese, they say… ‘Ikigai’ secondly, to answer your question... yeah, about one’s dharma and karma. So, dharma is your responsibility. It’s not only religion or following, you know, some, some rituals… It is about your… your own purpose in this life, your responsibility towards everyone. So, in astrology, it is very interesting. Number one: Raj Yoga. Raj yoga is a combination of two… two planets, which can elevate a person during the phase of doing. Two planets, the ninth house is the house of your dharma and luck. Tenth house is the house of karma. So, when dharma and karma, these two planets are together… 9th and 10th lord… Liz, you can also find it in your… your client’s horoscope, whenever there’s a ninth or tenth lord together, it is known as dharma karmadhipati raj yoga. In Sanskrit, they call it ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ one world, one family. That means the purpose. The purpose of the person who is born with this combination is to do something for humanity and mankind. So, they are the one who live their life not only with passion, but with compassion. And that makes them complete.
AB: That’s wonderful. Liz, I also want to ask you a term that I see a lot in Western astrology and that is transits. Will you explain that for our audience?
LN: Yes! So, transit literally means move. And a transit is the movement of the planets in the sky right now. So, if we say Mars is… in Western astrology… let’s just take Mars for example. The planet Mars, the fiery go-getter planet, is moving through the zodiac sign of Cancer. So, we would say that Mars is transiting through Cancer. It means it is moving through that part of the skies. So, that’s what transit means. And then how we interpret that in terms of the language… I like to think of it, think of Mars as an energy, and imagine that energy is kind of like a giant spotlight and it’s shining down on to Earth. Now, if you have any planets in your chart that are around the degrees that Mars is shining on, then that spotlight is going to come down on you and you’re going to notice it, you’re going to feel it… if you don’t and that light is shining, and it’s like 10 feet away from you, it might be affecting people around you, but it isn’t affecting you personally. So, transits are happening all day, every day. They’re not affecting all of us all of the time.
AB: Right. Thank you! And Dr Sundeep, do we have this concept in Vedic astrology as well, the concept of a transit or not?
SK: Absolutely, yes. You know, like there are two sets of planets. One, the planet when you are born and all the nine planets are aligned and that becomes a horoscope. The placement of the planet, the time of Earth that is fixed, that’s not going anywhere. And this is what your personality is, your journey of life. Then, I said the other side of astrology is the transit. In Hindi or Sanskrit they call it ‘gochara’. So, every planet has a… like Saturn is two and a half years, Jupiter is one year… That is how it is. So, every planet has its own speed and they keep on changing, keep on changing the sign with their own speed. So, that this transit of the planet can influence a person’s life — good or bad, depending on whether that particular planet is good for you, or that particular planet is not that great. Or depending on the sign it might be. Like Liz gave an example of Mars going into Cancer in the Indian system. So, Mars goes into Cancer. Cancer is the house of peace and Mars is a planet which is, which is fire. Anyone who has a Mars in their fourth house and if they read their horoscope, the person has a tendency to get higher blood pressure, you know, they are the ones who are aggravated. Anyone can provoke them just like that. So, for them they need to calm down and understand, okay, this is something which is a problem I need to change. So, this is how the transit of the planets can influence a person's mind and their life.
AB: Definitely. Yes! Okay, thank you so much for this incredible chat. Would each of you like to give people some advice about astrology or some insight before we wrap up the chat? Liz?
LN: Don’t be fearful. Understand the energy, work with the energy. Two words I always use in my practice: ‘Validate and empower’. If you understand the energy, it validates your gifts, validates anything that’s challenging and, most importantly, it empowers you to use your free will to do that better.
AB: Fabulous. And Dr Sundeep?
SK: Yeah. I also believe astrology has a bigger purpose to help you understand your journey. So, go to an astrologer, find out your real purpose, understand your strength, weakness, and potential. Try never to compare your life with anyone else. You have your own individual journey, you know. So, have better contentment and, no matter what, be in the moment and live a happy life.
AB: Thank you so much! That was such an incredible chat with both of you. I love some of the things I’m going away with is the celestial dance of the planets and how we should work in harmony with it. And about meditating and looking inwards rather than looking outwards. What beautiful messages you’ve both given us. Thank you so much for being here with us today!
SK: You’re welcome. Thank you, Anshu, for having us and lovely meeting you, Liz, here and look forward to seeing you in person!
LN: And you, I could talk with you for hours and hours. So thank you for joining us together. It’s been an absolute pleasure!
AB: Thank you! Thank you for being here with us today. I hope you learned something new. I hope you’ve learned to look at the stars now and know that if you went to an astrologer, you would find very interesting stories about your life and you’d be able to interpret a lot more than just your horoscope in the newspaper every morning.
