There was an article that circulated widely a few years ago that claimed that astrology had infiltrated work culture. I found it fascinating that the decline in organized religion is somehow driving millennials and the post-millennial generation toward esoteric practices such as Astrology. Truth be told, at the time I read that article first, I didn’t care about astrology at all. What I was exposed to in the recent past has been what I would now refer to as ‘pop astrology’, which can feel like caricatures of people created based on their ‘star signs’, which can be entertaining, but not really helpful.
Not soon after that, various events led me to re-look at astrology out of curiosity. This sent me down a rabbit hole of research, reading, and courses to understand what the hell this was.
As I was reading about various interpretations and modalities in astrology, I was drawn to the form of astrology that’s closely related to my ancestral lineage — Vedic Astrology. This is the Astrological system developed in India and is thousands of years old. Before the development of the Tropical Zodiac system which is popular in culture today, the Sidereal Zodiac took the center stage.
Historically speaking, Western astrology suffered much persecution because of the Christianization of Rome in the early 4th century, that it was deemed illegal and astrologers were persecuted as ‘pagans’. This led to western astrology slowing down in its development over time. However, further east, Vedic astrology, based on the Lunar-based calendar, was accepted as a science by the Eastern Monarchy and was given a legitimate place in society, including government. This led to constant development and advancement of the system itself, and over time it became quite robust.
While in mainstream society, Sun sign astrology, based on the tropical solar calendar, is popular, Vedic astrology is hardly known. One of the fascinating aspects of this system is Nakshatras — the 28 lunar mansions. Ever since I stumbled into it, it has continued to blow my mind.
In traditional Hindu culture, when a baby is born, parents would take the baby to see a priest at the temple. The priest would then ask the parents what the ‘jenma nakshatra (birth star)’ of the child was. Jenma Nakshatra is the Lunar mansion in which the moon was the day and time the baby was born. Based on this, the priest would then draw the birth chart of the child.
While the Jenma Nakshtra (birth star), would not necessarily give all the ins and outs of a person’s life, it provides a psycho-spiritual outlook of a person’s intimate aspects of their personality. It also aids in understanding the timing of key events in a person’s life.
This brings us to the birth of the Nakshatra Project. I intend on sharing my learnings and thoughts on various aspects of Vedic astrology — specifically with an emphasis on the Nakshatras — the lunar mansions.
I invite you to come on this journey with me.
— DV
References:
Christianizing the Roman Empire: A.D. 100–400, by Ramsay MacMullen