Astrology

Shiva has five faces because consciousness has five jobs. They are called Pancha Brahma, the five faces corresponding to five activities: creation, preservation, destruction, concealing grace and revealing grace. The Pancha-Brahma mantras in the Taittiriya Aranyaka X.17-21 of the Krishna Yajurveda exalt Shiva through these five forms: Sadyojata, Vamadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha and Ishana. They also…

Rahu and Ketu In Tantra are called the serpent In classical jyotish Rahu and Ketu are called shadow planets. In Tantra they are called the serpent. "Rahu as the Vahan, Ketu as the Tail: A Tantrik Way to Read the Nodes" Most charts read Rahu as obsession and Ketu as detachment. That is true but…

Vishnu's Sudarshan and Shiva's Trishul in Tantrik Astrology The Discus and the Trident: Vishnu's Sudarshan and Shiva's Trishul in Tantrik Astrology Most jyotish columns list fifty yogas, but you will not find Sudarshan and Trishul among them. In Tantra they were never yogas. They are bandhas, knots when a chart leans to stillness or movement.…

Tantra hides its deepest teachings in two Kalis: one who sanctifies desire, one who guards the secret Self. Kaamkala Kali: Desire as Goddess Kaamkala Kali is the Sri Vidya Kali, not the cremation-ground Kali. Her name comes from Kam, the will to create, and Kala, its manifestation. The Kamakala Vilasa describes her as the first…

Varahi and Baglamukhi The Mars Shaktis of Srividya The Two Generals: Varahi and Baglamukhi, The Mars Shaktis of Srividya Every queen needs a general. In Srividya the queen is Lalita Tripurasundari, and in the Lalitopakhyana her Shri Chakra becomes a battlefield against Bhandasura. There the two most martial goddesses of the tradition reveal themselves. Tantra…

Shukra and Brihaspati The Two Gurus in Tantra The Two Gurus: Shukra and Brihaspati in Tantra Every tradition needs two teachers: one to keep the law, one to break it open when it stops working. Vedic myth gives us Brihaspati, guru of Devas, and Shukracharya, guru of Asuras. Tantra reverses their rank. The Split in…

The King Who Dressed Up as God Paundraka, king of Pundra and Karusha The King Who Dressed Up as God Long before deepfakes, a king tried to deepfake God himself. Paundraka, king of Pundra and Karusha, believed his flatterers who called him Bhagavan. As told in Bhagavata Purana 10.66, he took the title Vasudeva, wore…

Power, Dharma and Silence Why men fight for it, why Vishnu returns for it, and why Shiva walks away from it? History is largely a record of men trying to hold power they cannot keep. Kingdoms rise on conquest and fall to another conquest. The Mahabharata is not really about a throne, it is about…