Dharma

The quest for the meaning and purpose of life, and our own lives more specifically, is ours sooner or later. A deep-seated feeling, that there has to be something more to life than mundane drudgery and the pursuit of material things, emerges for our scrutiny. Whatever you choose to label this inner urge is not as relevant as the craving for answers. Call it self-actualisation, realization, avocation, destiny, purpose or illumination, the answers lie outside the parameters of mere words and concepts. Remember a period in your life when you were simply happy. Little things brought you joy. Whatever tasks you had at hand progressed smoothly and effortlessly, which in turn left you a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. My question is how do I attain that feeling again. This feeling lead me to contemplate the concept of Dharma.

The concept of Karma is somehow an easier concept to grasp. John Lennon made it a part of our vocabularies a few decades ago. Karma is Sanskrit for action. In astrology we know to identify it as the nodal axis. The North Node is where rewards await us - a point of destiny. South Node is the baggage (karma) and skills from the past. The nodes are also about relationships, which in themselves are powerful learning tools. We attract strong friendships, partnerships and other encounters to these points. People whose planets connect with our North Node seem to come to our lives when we need to move toward the future, and need encouragement. People whose planets connect with our South Node help us recognize the solid foundation we have built up in the past, and allow us to recognize our skills and strengths. People we attract through nodal connections either help or hinder our progress depending on our life situation. Transits trigger these and give us the tools of timing.

What makes this concept easier is the fact that it is like the physics equation; for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Naturally this has to be applied to the situation. After all we are not talking about a rock displacing water but about people and their lives. Perhaps we are...

Dharma is the Concept of One's path or assigned task for a lifetime . Ancient scriptures say: Every person has his life designed beforehand; and the light of the purpose he is born to accomplish in life has already been kindled in his soul! I have always envisioned the anteroom up in the sky where the manuscript for this life was drafted. I see the person who is about to begin a new life on Earth as taking part in this planning process. One of the ways of decoding this information is the picture of the heavens at the time of birth. I also believe that we get as many attempts as it takes to get it right.

In Hinduism Dharma is the religious and moral law governing individual conduct and one of the four ends of life, to be followed according to one's class, status, and station in life. It constitutes the subject matter of the Dharma sutras, religious manuals that are the earliest source of Hindu law, and in the course of time has been extended into lengthy compilations of law, the dharmashastra In Buddhism, Dharma is the doctrine, the universal truth common to all individuals at all times, proclaimed by the Buddha. Dharma, the Buddha, and the sangha (community of believers) make up the triratna, or "three jewels," the primary statement of Buddhist belief. In Buddhist metaphysics the term in the plural (dharmas) is used to describe the interrelated elements that make up the empirical world.

In Jaina philosophy, Dharma, in addition to being commonly understood as moral virtue, also has the meaning unique to Jainism of an eternal "substance" (dravya; q.v.), the medium that allows beings to move.

In this the information age there is so much knowledge available to us through so many sources. In the Middle Ages we would have had to wait for the bard to arrive to sing us a song about the latest events. Up until relatively recently all information was passed on verbally. Hey, Dharma is on TV. As I started watching Dharma and Greg on TV my question was why would you name your child Dharma?. With each passing episode, the name seemed more and more appropriate. There is more here when you watch it from the perspective of Dharma (it is, however, TV and sometimes borders on ridiculous ala Hollywood). She was raised by hippie parents as a free spirit, to be true to herself and to trust her intuition. She is full of life, joy and firmly believes in cosmic laws. She teaches yoga and shares insights about life. TV is a powerful media in educating people. This little comedy is probably just what people needed in the "depressed 90's".

My quest for Dharma took me on the Internet. I found relatively few articles on the topic, but one of these was a gem. It is written by Dennis Flaherty who coins it as the purpose. There are four levels of Dharma - universal, social, human and personal.

So where does Dharma live in the chart? There are so many methods of astrology; so many different ways of casting a chart that it can get truly confusing. Not only are there dozens of house systems, there is the sidereal position of the planets, the tropical ones, Vedic astrology, Draconic charts, Tobey secondary charts, progressions, transits, composites, etc. you get the drift. I have stuck to tropical and use Koch houses, and want to read more levels of that chart not change to a different system.

Out of curiosity, however, I dug up my Vedic charts, to compare to the standard one I use - both have the same information, I guess it's more to do with what you are used to. So obviously the nodal axis is important, as that is where the karmic connotations show up. Further the North Node, Rahu, is generally considered to represent professions involved in with insight into both the spiritual and the dark side of life. Ketu, the South Node, gives otherworldly vocational trends, such as spiritual and religious professions. Perhaps we sometimes ignore the positive in the South Node, it is after all the only the opposite side of the North Node. I wonder if we actually need to learn to make a composite of the two opposing energies, and fly with it.

In Vedic astrology the fire houses are the houses of Dharma. These increase in importance with their position. Therefore, the ninth is the most important house of Dharma. Yet interestingly enough the 5th house is often referred to as the one where the soul lives. The 1st house is not only the self it also represents incarnation, ethics and moral qualities. The ninth house holds in it higher learning, morals, beliefs, convictions, spirituality (not to take anything away from the 12th), travel and it is where we make those big plans to be carried out in the 10th. According to James Flaherty=s article the 10th house is where we bring in good Dharma, read the planets posited therein, the ruler and how it is placed. The 10th house has career, vocation, avocation, parents, authority, etc. in it. But it opens up with the Midheaven, and the Midheaven does represent the best we can be.

The connection between the 9th and the 10th is important in finding out how your Dharma can be fulfilled. Do the rulers have a communication line (an aspect), are they inter-exchangeable (mutual reception), or use horary rules - what brings them together. This second part is the key to see where the potential for realising your Dharma is, to put it more judgementally if it exists. The same applies to a lesser degree with connecting the other Dharma and angular houses. To a lesser degree because they occur earlier, and are not given as high an importance as the 9th.

Mercury is the natural karaka (ruler, significator) of the 10th house. Mercury is considered the discriminating intellect in Vedic astrology. It shows you where your choices are. Maybe Mercury is the connection between your Dharma and your house of action.

Another part is to look at your late degree planets. Atmakaraka is the Vedic term, which translates to indicator of the soul. The late zodiacal degree of the atmakaraka indicates that the quality represented by this planet is in an advanced state of development within the person.

Want to dig deeper, take a look at the ninth harmonic chart, I don't have enough Virgo for this, as it involves the navamsas within which the atmakaraka resides, etc. I suggest reading Dennis' article on the web for more details. However, just looking at the 9th harmonic will give you fresh insight because at first glance it looks like a stranger's chart and those are easier to read than our own, we as astrologers know that first hand.

Learning astrology is a thinking process; we get new information and start looking at in our own charts, and then in the charts of clients. It's a rewarding process because ultimately we can gain fresh insight into ours. My own Dharma is beginning to make sense through my tropical chart applying these Vedic astrology concepts to it. Although this article only scratches the surface, perhaps it'll inspire you to put your own thinking cap on, and to dig deeper.

Sometimes the answers to our queries are simpler than we think, and naturally we can get there without astrology as well. But it would be a shame to waste such a wonderful tool. I always find myself in situations where I am opening new doors for others, so that they may peek in, and choose to make more of their lives. I have a strong 9th house, and the rulers of the 9th and 10th are in mutual reception; and to add insult to injury I have a Gemini south node, and a Sag north node. Where do you always find yourself... Could that be you Dharma or just sheer coincidences?

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Dharma

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