Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Some astrological thoughts on cyclone Sandy and Nilam.


In a year that is expected to reel under drought due to El Nino, we are witnessing severe cyclones in two ends of the world – one on the east coast of the US and the other at the east coast of India.



 

These two occurring around the same time when two strong Anavrishti yogas (deficient rainfall) such as Mercury going ahead of the Sun and Mars in opposition to Jupiter make me take a re-look at the olden texts for what they say on cyclones or rainfall that come with destruction.

The chief sources of rainfall prediction are Brihad Samhita and Prasna Marga. Eight chapters are written on rainfall prediction in Brihad Samhita from which the main points were taken out and written in my earlier post

Planetary connection to El Nino – some tips from rainfall astrology.

It seems the more technical yogas that I have left out in that article may contain the clues to the rainfall that was experienced in Tamilnadu in the last couple of weeks through cyclone. Those clues are about continuous monitoring in the Ashada month (Month of Aadi in Tamil or Cancer). The monitoring includes measuring the rain water collected on specific days. Unless a committed observation and recording of the meteorological features are done all round the year, it is not possible to predict the rains exactly.


Coming to cyclones, there are very few verses on heavy rains with storms. The malefics play a role in such cases. Conjunction or opposition of Mars and Saturn or the nodes without any benefic influence causes storms according to Brihad samhita. Prasna Marga gives clues on prediction of storms or floods or heavy rainfall by means of prasna charts that are made when  someone raises the question on these issues. In that case the lagna (ascendant) is plotted and based on that, prediction of a cyclone is given.


The reason for lack of information on cyclones may be due to the fact that in those days people desisted from living in places that were regularly battered by Nature's fury. The east coast – particularly the cyclone prone areas were not populated but for the fishermen community in olden days. May be only in the last 1000 years, the habitation has come up gradually in those areas. Perhaps Pumpukaar in the east coast was the only city that thrived in olden days, say before 2000 years BP, but was lost to the seas many times.


But places like Chennai were not populated areas until 400 years ago. It was mentioned by Edward Eastwick in The Handbook of India in 1859, that an extent of 500 miles from north of  Kancheepuram to Ganjam district (in present Andhra Pradesh) was a desert forest in the 7th century CE according to the chronicles of the Chinese traveller Hiuan Tsung. People had kept away from cyclone prone places and perhaps that could be the reason for the lack of astrological literature on cyclones. The same holds good for the US where the native Americans had inhabited the west or interior lands that were safe from hurricane hazards.

In the wake of spread of habitations all over the land, research is needed on identifying cyclones in advance. While translating Prasna Marga, Dr BV Raman had emphasised the need to look into the celestial factors in predicting cyclones and floods.


According to him, sunspot activity has some connection with cyclones and floods. He says that research conducted in the West showed that the average level of water in great lakes like Nyasa, Victoria and Albert as well as the Caspian Sea and other water bodies rose up during times of Solar Maxima. He mentions that in the year 1957 which saw exceptional solar conditions, there were large number of cyclones in the US.


Looking at the sky map in October and November 1957, we are in for a surprise because the long term planets are more or less in the same position as they are now!  Saturn, Mars and the node (Rahu / Ketu) were close to each other in Libra and Scorpio as they are now with Sun joining them in these months. Jupiter also was nearing this group then. Almost similar to this, Jupiter is in opposition to Mars and Rahu at present. In other words, these long term planets get associated with each other in conjunction or opposition with each other in the signs of Libra(airy) and Scorpio (watery). The other watery signs namely Cancer and Pieces also get afflicted by some of these planets.


Dr BV Raman adds Uranus also in the list of these planets (Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Rahu and Ketu) to watch out for the havoc created by cyclones. He has studied the cyclones in Andhra in the last one century to substantiate this.


When I went through those cyclones, I was amazed to see a similar combination of these planets (as they are now) in November 1927 cyclone that hit Andhra Pradesh. A detailed study of all the major cyclones would give us better insight. As it is seen now, conjunction of malefics in Libra and Scorpio with affliction caused to one of the watery signs (other than Scorpio) is a major factor for violent and destructive storms.


Even otherwise the present combination of malefics afflicting Martian signs with Mars getting involved in the aspect, along with the nodes is an indicator for natural calamities such as earthquakes. Many earthquake charts have this combination. With watery signs also getting afflicted, the effect is also felt in the form of floods or tsunami in the case of earthquakes.


An article on astrology cannot be concluded without some reference to propitiation to avert danger to oneself! In the case of threat from waters and storms (as experienced now), Narayana reclining on Sesha or Krishna on peepal leaf must be worshiped.




Let all beings be saved and protected by the grace of Narayana.

Let there be peace to all beings.

 

12 comments:

  1. Vanakkam,

    I had read your original post "Planetary connection to El Nino – some tips from rainfall astrology" and had even shared the rainfall predictions with few of my colleagues here in Bangalore. I was both happy and sad to see the predictions (esp. of a dry navarathri) fall flat. Happy because it put the Cauvery issue on the back-burner and sad because I am a great fan and avid reader of your blogs. I really appreciate this follow-up article. I am one of the many silent followers in your journey along the Gnana margam.

    Kailash Swaminathan

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  2. Thanks for sharing your opinion Mr Swaminathan.

    The rainfall astrology that I wrote in El Nino article was vast and centered on rainfall in the rainy season (varsha ritu - from from Shravana to Bhadrapada - July to Sep). This comes from south west monsoon. The monsoon arrived almost on time and went dry as per Bahu varsha indicators. Again it revived as per that and ended around 13th Sep for India as a whole whereas the Bahu varsha indicators ended on 10th Sep. The Navaratri time was dry in rest of India which usually receives rain from South west monsoon.

    By all this we deduce that the vast rainfall literature given by Varahamihira (attributed to sages) was about the rainfall received through SW monsoon and in regions of Aryavartha, Ujjain and west coast of South India where most of astrologers (who have given the astrological texts around 1000 years ago) lived. Prasna Marga also repeats Varahamihira's rules. It must be noted that Prasna Marga was supposed to have been authored by a Nambhoothiri Brahmin who lived in Kerala.

    The Bahu varsha indicators appear again once Sun enters Scorpio (karthigai). That is the time TN receives rains and I correlated accordingly.

    Actually I have not intensely observed meteorological factors by myself for lack of time and other per-occupations. This year when reports appeared about a possible El Nino, I decided to check it with Varsha yogas. I wrote the article to show to the world that there existed a detailed study of weather and rainfall in India which modern meteorological and El Nino concepts did not incorporate. Those factors must be studied, researched and incorporated for weather prediction.

    Infact agricultural astrology tops among other issues of astrology with maximum number of combinations and rules. In olden days, every village had astrologers who were mainly engaged in observing agricultural (containing meteorological) astrology and guiding people. There is a record of this in Census reports. In the last 150 years this was neglected. By bringing into the attention of people, I hope meteorologists take this branch of study seriously and analyse the factors for use in their models.

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  3. Hi Mrs.Jayasree
    Post Nilam.Chennai is going through a long dry phase..is it due to the Mercury-Venus combo?As the lakes are just 40% full,we need rains until end Dec 2012..will it happen..nned yr views pls.tks

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  4. Hope you read the combinations for rainfall and lack of it in my other post http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.in/2012/08/planetary-connection-to-el-nino-some.html

    The present planetary situations are indicative of dry spell as per those combinations.

    To quote from that article, the conditions at present ( as of today at the time of writing this) are

    # Mutual opposition of planets (180 degrees apart) spoils rains.

    # Sun -Jupiter opposition have a tendency to mar the rain forming conditions.

    # Mars in front of any planet including the Sun scorches the earth

    # Since Mercury and Venus are the sensitive planets helping in rainfall, outer planets namely Jupiter or Mars or Saturn moving in front of them in rainy season causes famine like situations.

    # When Saturn is in front of Venus, there will be less rainfall.

    ****

    At present Mercury is moving towards Venus and Venus is moving towards Mercury thereby closing the gap between them. But Saturn positioned in between them mars rain cloud formation.

    However the equation changes when Venus crosses saturn in Libra and Rahu in Scorpio and follows Mercury closely from behind. The sign of Scorpio being a watery sign is a significant catalyst for good rainfall. Mercury leading in front of Venus shows storm formation. At that time Sun will be in front of these two planets thereby aiding in good rainfall. My assessment is that the Solar month of Scorpio will yield good rainfall from NE monsoon.`

    By 30th of November Venus crosses saturn and by 11th of December it crosses Rahu also. From that time onwards, for nearly a month these two rainfall causing plants are going to be too close to each other, which is a good sign for plentiful rainfall. However we must watch how Jupiter in opposition to this duo is going to upset the rainfall condition.

    In the larger picture we must see yearly prediction based on Solar ingress into Aries early this year and Solar ingress into Arudra. In addition we have to see Nava nayaka planets. They all give a good picture of more than sufficient rainfall for Tamilnadu.

    We must note that though the reservoirs are not full now, TN got more than normal rains in the last month.

    In the immediate future, if it rains on or around Karthik Purnima, the Budha- Shukra saammebhyam (nearness) can be said to be highly beneficial. It must be noted that the last 2 spells of rain in the solar month of Virgo, started on New Moon and Full moon. Recall the varsha yoga I wrote in the earlier article, that if it rains closely after New moon or Full moon, it will rain for the whole paksha (fortnight). Let us wait and watch.

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  5. Thanks a lot for the lucid and patient explanation..request you to post us on weekly basis on NEM ..atleast until end Dec...this will be a huge guidance to amatuer meteorologists like me with belief in astrology

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  6. @ decefriteen,

    If you are ready to work on astro- meteorology, I would suggest that you maintain a daily record of climate. According to Varahamihira, the most widely used model in olden days was to observe and record the climate everyday and make predictions of rainfall that would occur later. If you are interested I will write what to see / observe

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  7. Hi Ms.Jayasree
    will do..pls guide me.

    Tks

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  8. I will prepare the list and post it as a separate article.

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  9. Ms.Jayasree
    It is now end Dec-Madras and TN faces a huge deficit in NEM rains.This can spell huge trouble to Delta crops and to Madras water supply during 2013 summer..What is your reading?Will we get rains between now and end Jan 2013?

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  10. The failure of NEM is causing concern for all of us - including me watching the sky map for prediction. As of now 2 deterrents (refer the other article on rainfall yogas)are present - (1) Venus - Jupiter opposition and (2) Mars heading the line up of rainfall planets including the Sun.

    Today Venus has crossed 12 degrees in the watery sign of Scorpio and is fast moving to exact opposition to Jupiter in Taurus. Jupiter is close to 16 degrees in Taurus. Such an exact opposition between Venus and Jupiter is a matter to be watched for lack of rainfall.

    It is indeed a tricky and maze-like combination when it comes to assessing rainfall factors. Rainfall prediction has to be done depending on the nature of season too. Even if Venus crosses the exact opposition to Jupiter, and Mars moves farther away, Time also moves away from rainy to wintery season. We can think of severe winter, fog and snow fall for the same Venus - Mercury conjunction.

    When I read about the avalanche disaster, i wondered whether this is the way the Ven-Mer conjunction works when mars heads the line up.

    The rainfall astrology works at 3 levels -terrestrial, atmospheric and celestial (planetary). Though the last one appeared with better chances in the last month, the lack of data on the first too might have upset this calculation. So a better approach is to observe all the three on daily basis and verify it for a minimum of 5 years (5 year cycle makes one round in Vedic society).

    The observation schedule begins on 27th December this year for predicting rainfall next season. The GarbOttam (conception of rainfall) starts at 10;29 PM IST on 28th. I will post the article on what to observe before that.

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  11. @ decefriteen

    I have posted the first article on what to observe for rainfall prediction. The link is
    http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.in/2012/12/rainfall-prediction-part-1.html

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  12. 5 parts on rainfall astrology posted so far. Check here:

    http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.in/2013/04/rainfall-prediction-part-5-planetary.html

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