Tiny Pockets of Light

Time is not a clock ticking away on a screen—it is the living fabric of life that brings in an infinite variety of textures and flavors on its many rivers and rivulets.

Vedic Astrology is the study of Time, in both its quantitative and qualitative dimensions. When I am looking at a chart and seeing the landscape of an individual’s karma, I am also seeing a sort of ‘timescape,” which is the perceptible influence of Time on a person’s direct experience.

Different times in life bring in different people, events and experiences. Along with these there is often an underlying ‘feeling-tone’ to certain time periods of life. This is particularly true with dashas, which are the planetary time periods which can govern anywhere from 10 to 20 year sections of life. These dashas press us into the moods of the planets ruling the dashas, so that in a Rahu dasha we might often be anxious, while in a Moon dasha we might be emotional and in Saturn’s dasha we are more likely to be depressed. All of the other events taking place are actually happening ‘inside’ this larger mood. It can be an extremely helpful exercise, to regularly check in on your overall mood this way: the mood of the day, the week, the month and the year(s). It may be that you have been in a negative mood for years, accepting it as normal. We can become so fixated on the details of the day that we miss the larger context of the habitual mood we are operating inside. These unidentified moods can turn into calcified ‘personalities’ that leave little breathing room for the inherent nature of an individual. This is one way in which we can lose ourselves.

Although a planet’s periods will push us into certain moods, there are ways to work with this influence so that it doesn’t overwhelm you. Even just knowing that you’re in a certain planet’s period and understanding its influence can be helpful in distancing yourself from the immediacy of the experience.

And no matter what time period you’re in, there are doorways into vitality everywhere, tucked inside the fabric of unfolding Time. It is a matter of identifying where and when these are. They often appear quite and inconspicuously, in moments when we feel that we can do something different, move in a more positive direction, let go of an old habit, or feed a new positive habits. Any moment where we feel we have a genuine choice where we formerly didn’t I consider to be a doorway opening in Time. And we may or may not choose to walk through it, but it is helpful to begin to know when these openings appear as they are our own personal crossroads— the places where (in my opinion) our willpower is most appropriately applied.

Mythologically, the crossroads is the place where a deal is made with the devil. This ‘deal’ has been demonized as the selling of one’s soul, but if we go deeper it is actually the commitment of the soul to one particular path. Modernity pushes us towards limitless options and the absence of commitment. But that is not a place to live—being available for anything but wedded to nothing.

Each crossroads—whether of an individual or of humanity at large—is a place to reaffirm what it is you are actually after. Where are you going? If you are certain of your direction you are less likely to be blown off course, and it becomes clear which path to choose at each crossroads and open door.

We are approaching a massive crossroads of humanity at large, shown by the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in a new elemental sign that marks the end of a 200 year cycle and the beginning of another. There will be many doorways opening, decisions to be made and directions to be evaluated. The question is what will commit ourselves to, as a society? Economic growth has guided our decisions for some time, and has determined how we pivot as a collective. This crossroads will call into questions whether acquisition and financial gain is a worthy North Star.

Your personal North Star or guiding light is like the spinal column of your life: the thing which supports you even when the entire weight of the world is bearing down on you. For some people this is God, for others a cause they are committed to. If you are unsure of what is guiding you, you are more vulnerable to being blown asunder, as I said.

Try looking back at the course your life has taken and attempt to identify what it is that has been moving you. It will be important, as we enter rougher waters collectively, to keep your eye on this target which may appear to be external but is actually at the center of yourself. When you enter your own personal rough waters, in the form of planetary time periods or transits, this target can help steady you. It is a compass that can guide you toward the tiny pockets of light available in those doorways, which reside within the larger map of Time which is the natal birth chart.