EYE ON ASTROLOGY: New Light on Friends and Enemies Part 1

New students of astrology learn to memorize that Jupiter/Mars/Sun  and Moon are a cluster of friends and that Saturn/Venus and Mercury and Rahu   are a cluster of friends and while there are a lot of neutrals and other relationships, we often get lost and fail to translate this into English to help students and clients understand what it really means.  In modern times, it is rarely the case that an enemy will break into our house and attack us it is more often something more subtle so even using the word enemy lacks clarity.

People want to know if something is good or bad but that is rarely a  term to use as even the most challenging situations in life bring growth in our life and sometimes it may takes us years to understand this.  In 1982-3, I had kidney stones every month and was a walking time bomb and in fear of deep pain and he doctors told me I would be in pain the rest of my life.  Clearly this was a “bad” situation but it forced me to study alternative medicine and find a cure involving a Magnesium supplement and it had a long-term impact the rest of my life. It was a long-term “good.”

In exploring friends and enemies deeply, I have noticed that Parashara is taking a very traditional Vedic point of view.  Saturn/Mercury/Venus an Rahu are more material planets or business planets and have a different purpose than Sun/Jupiter/Mars/Moon  who point us toward the Divine and help us stay in dharma and get us off the wheel of karma and attachment to the material.

A modern way of understanding this is more connected to examining the nature of the planet involved and what happens when they are in an enemies sign and why they have to really fight to bring out their nature.  For example, Mars by nature is a solider, a fighter and needs to be involved in action and not thinking too much and not caught in the sensual realm of Venus.  Mars by nature is a celibate and a good solider has his maximum energy to fight and conquer if he has not used up his vital energy in a night of passion.  Hence Mars in Taurus or Libra or conjunct Venus, is in enemies houses or afflicted by an enemy is tempted out of his dharma.  He may enjoy great sensual pleasures and food but will get lost from his mission and nature and dharma and hence he is out of his natural element.  He may have a lot of fun but he will not be fulfilling his highest calling.  Hence he is in enemy territory and going against his nature. Still a client who is an earth sign or who may have an Artha (business/wealth) or Kama (Pleasure path) may benefit from doing its nature.  Aries rising may get thrown from the path but Libra needs sensual enjoyment to  fulfill her nature.

When we see the complex karma involved here, you have help people discern what is best for their life path.  From a traditional Vedic perspective, getting too involved in the world is maya and causes suffering but in a modern western society, clients may not have a strong impulse for spirituality and what to know how much money they will make, when their relationships and sex life will improve and that may be where they are and need to be in their life.

Lets look at Mars and Mercury as bitter enemies.   Mars thrives when he is physically moving, athletic and exerting his prowess.  When he is in Gemini or Virgo or conjunct Mercury, he may get too caught in his head may be thinking too much and this may block his natural energies.  We often note that Mars/Mercury conjunctions can cause accidents because if our enemy has done something to upset us, we are thinking too much about it not focusing in the moment on driving or the task at hand and we get into trouble. In this way, Mercury afflicts Mars natural ability to focus on the moment and the action at hand and not caught up remember what someone said and being angry.  Mercury in Aries may be too prone to act quickly and not be using his intellectual nature that allow deep though to act.  Hence Mercury is in an enemy’s sign and out of his nature.

I hope to write a series of these but the point is that we have to think why planets are in enemies territory or afflicted by an enemy and translate it into something useful that a client or student can understand.  We need to modernize the archetypal relationships in astrology to shed new light on their real meaning so we can grow in awareness of what we really need to do in order to remedy the afflicted planet and its situation.  My Blind Spots course just completed 3 lessons on this and I hope to write it up into something meaningful for all the planetary relationships.

If you like this kind of deeper analysis, you may want to purchase our Videotape class which ran live last spring and has new depth on all of Vedic Astrology:

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