Important Notice
Due to the unfolding global crisis I have decided to make some major changes to my work with clients.
From August 2020 I am only accepting new clients who wish to establish or maintain a daily meditation practice and who are also attempting to live sustainably in the light of the climate and ecological emergency.
The stars and planets hold the key to the overall patterns of our lives, and there is no better way to explore this knowledge than through the ancient teachings of Vedic astrology or Jyotish. Jyotisa in Sanksrit means the science of jyoti, the divine light. This science is not seen in India as a form of ordinary knowledge, rather, it is viewed as a sacred science that was revealed thousands of years ago by the Rishis, the enlightened sages whose teachings form India's immense reservoir of spiritual wisdom. Discovering your personal star map as delineated by Jyotish will help you to understand the subtle spiritual influences - your personal karmic codes - that are shaping your path in this incarnation. Armed with that knowledge, you are much better able to realise your true soul-potential.
In attuning to the deep wisdom of the planets and stars, we are therefore following a path taken by our prehistoric ancestors, who lived by the maxim 'as above, so below'. These ancient star-watchers strove to hold a spiritual balance between earth and sky, so when they discovered important soul-teachings in the shapes of the different constellations, it comes as no surprise that they saw animal forms in many of these star patterns. Numerous early societies have left us tales of departed souls travelling into the afterlife along the river of stars that we call the Milky Way. Today, we appear to have lost the balance between earth and sky that these archaic societies worked so hard to maintain. But even today, the stars and planets can still provide a very precious guidance, showing each of us how to live well - that is, in accordance with dharma or right action - on an overpopulated, polluted and warming planet.
Your astrological chart offers insights into every aspect of your life journey: your relationships, your career, your key challenges and your particular gifts or callings. Learning about the subtle, ever changing celestial cycles that influence your life through the birth chart will help you flow more easily with the different phases of your life. And most of all, knowing the karmic codes of your own astrological chart will help you to discover your personal path of dharma or soul fulfilment, and the reason for your present incarnation.
Winter Solstice sunrise along the main axis
of the Temple of Karnak, Luxor, Egypt
After studying Western astrology for over twenty years, I became disillusioned with its ambiguous stance towards questions of karma and reincarnation. It seemed that this tradition either lost - or failed to develop - an in-depth spiritual understanding of the astrological chart as a profound soul-map. And as Nicholas and I became more and more interested in understanding the 'real sky' events observed and reverenced by our prehistoric ancestors, I concluded that the loss of true soul wisdom from Western 'tropical' astrology had a lot to do with its failure to stay with real sky astrology.
As many of you will know, the star and planetary positions used by Western tropical astrology are now 24 degrees (nearly a whole zodiacal sign) out of sync with the real sky, or 'sidereal,' positions of the stars and planets. This discrepancy has occurred due to Precession, the slow axial movement of the Earth which causes the stars to appear to turn through an entire 360 degrees (relative to a fixed calendrical point such as the Winter Solstice) over a 26,000 year cycle.
So it was my observation of the real sky positions of the planets, in the tradition of ancient sky-watchers from British prehistory, that led me towards India's ancient Vedic wisdom and its extraordinary 'science of light', which I began to study in 2010. My guidance was to study this because it was a sidereal astrological system that still observed the true sky positions of the stars and planets. But I admit I was unprepared for the profound wisdom and extraordinary spiritual teaching that I found in Jyotish.
Jyotish birth chart of Mahatma Gandhi
A square or rectangular birth chart is used in India, as also in medieval Europe. Here 'As' marks Gandhi's Libran ascendant, the 7 in that uppermost diamond denotes Libra as the seventh sign. The Nodes of the Moon, Rahu (North Node) and Ketu (South Node), are of great importance in Jyotish, where they have the status of planets (akin to Uranus and Neptune). The houses of the chart are counted anti-clockwise, as in Western astrology. Here his ruling planet, benefic and gentle Venus, is strongly placed in its own sign and the Ascendant. Gifts of speech and intelligence are also conferred by Mercury in the Ascendant. The presence of Mars here, in conjunction with Venus, made Gandhi courageous and stubborn, but caused a lifelong struggle with his desire nature. The strength of his tenth house Moon in its own sign of Cancer made devotion to and by the people the guiding theme of Gandhiji's career, while the additional presence of Rahu in the house of career guided him to politics. As lord of the auspicious and spiritual 5th house, Rahu's conjunction with the Moon as tenth house lord shows Gandhi's life task was to serve as a compassionate spiritual teacher for an entire nation - indeed, for the whole world.
In your consultation, I will use special techniques from Indian astrology to explain the stellar influences shaping the present moment in your life, and to give you timing for key forthcoming events. My starting point is always to look at the individual planets, planetary combinations and placements which are most directly guiding your soul in this lifetime; these will include one very special planet that plays the part of your atmakaraka or soul significator. In Indian astrology, the Moon also has a very important role, and the lunar mansion or nakshatra occupied by each planet is just as important as its zodiacal sign, so I will also explain the key nakshatra influences in your life. I will describe the Dashas - long cycles ruled by a particular planet or sign of the zodiac - which are governing your current life experience, and also look at Gochara or transits: these show the changing paths of the planets in the sky at present, mapped across your individual astrological chart. Finally, I take a look at your Progressions - another extremely accurate predictive technique, used slightly differently in Indian and Western astrology; these focus on the subtle solar movements and lunar phases that also shape your life.
In addition to using the profound astrological techniques of Vedic astrology, I also refer to the outer planets of Western astrology when this is appropriate. But at this time of unfolding environmental crisis, I have also found working with two other Western astrological tools - the little planetoid Chiron and the point in the Moon's orbit called Black Moon Lilith - to be instructive. Both these elements connect us with the Earth Mother and her wisdom, so their placement and transits can indicate specific Earth teachings that the individual soul is being asked to remember.
Om Gurave Namah (May the Guru be reverenced!)
I was fortunate to find a wonderful Jyotish Guru in Dr Steve Hubball, and through him to be accepted as a student in an ancient astrological parampara from Orissa in Eastern India (a parampara is a lineage of Vedic teachers who have passed their knowledge down orally, in this case over many hundreds of years). My Jyotish ParamGuru, Pandit Sanjay Rath, is the current head of this parampara, which now has an international reputation. In this intensive process of study, I have learnt innumerable precise techniques to decipher the karmic challenges and opportunities given to each individual soul, along with wonderfully accurate ways of mapping the changing cycles that overlap in any individual life. Perhaps most importantly, the spiritual teachers, or rishis, who oversaw the creation and preservation of this 'science of light' have blessed the tradition with the gift of precious remedies - numerous healing tools and spiritual practices to help a client pass safely through especially challenging planetary periods. The recommendation of an appropriate mantra is an especially valuable aspect of this remedial work; a mantra will be offered to any client who is trying to meditate on a regular basis.
Sacred lake of Temple to Mars, Tamil Nadu, India
Consultations can be given in person in Porlock, West Somerset, or by phone or Skype. Please contact me at austera123@gmail.com.
My charge for an individual astrological session is now £100 for an hour, £105 for long-distance clients (due to the Paypal payment fee). If you want to spend more time discussing your chart, currently I request that you schedule two hour-long slots within a few weeks of each other; for this option I charge £170. (Please note that there will be a small additional charge if your birth time is uncertain and needs to be rectified.)
If you wish your consultation to include advice on astro-cartography (along with other, Vedic, techniques that identify your best locations on the planet), there is an additional charge of £60.
For a synastry analysis, which looks at your chart alongside a partner's or considers another chart such as that of a child, my charge is now £150 for an hour, or £190 for two hour-long sessions. For a full family constellation analysis, in which I look at individual charts alongside a composite family chart, I charge £170 for an hour (this price is for a family of four members, all with full birth data).
Please note that I offer a discount of between 30 and 40% on these charges to clients on a low income.
Your consultation will be digitally recorded and the recording sent to you by email afterwards.
Dr Philippa Glasson, B.A. Hons (Cantab.), M.A., D.Phil., co-authored The Star Temple of Avalon and Avalon’s Red & White Springs, and has also written about the influence of Renaissance astrology upon Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Botticelli's Primavera.
Click here to go Philippa's Soul Counsel page