91
Stefan, taking your planetary and nakshatra suggestions, tomorrow afternoon in my location gives a chart with Mula rising, Mercury, Rahu and Sun in 10th, and Jupiter trine the Moon and ascendant. The only choice would be between a Mula and Purva Ashada ascendant if we want to keep the trine of Jupiter.

What about the Moon as 8th lord? Is that important for a Muhurta? From a western point of view, this brings in the Pluto-Uranus square in the heavens at the moment, which might be interesting a that square as seen as disruptive---if it would even have an influence. But of course Uranus and Pluto have nothing to do with classical Muhurta or traditional Jyotish.

The third pada of Mula sounds good. This gives Gemini rising in the navamsa and according to Prash Trivedi is good for communication, wordplay and relationships. It's supposed to operate mainly on the intellectual plane according to Trivedi. Of course he's taking the Mercury rulership of Gemini.

This isn't exactly off topic as we're looking for a good time to transfer the zodiac discussion to another area of the forum. Then anyone who wants to can transfer the time to the tropical zodiac for study.

Therese
http://www.snowcrest.net/sunrise/LostZodiac.htm

92
Both Mula and P.Shada is a bit unfavourable in muhurta. But Mula is good for astrological Learning and research. Yes the navamsha you mention seems a good choice.
And getting a Close trine to Jupiter ?

Yes - Moon as 8L is there in asc, but setting muhurtas is a "nasty job". No
muhurta is ever perfect ! But with Sag rising I like the general house placements, and raja yogas + the strong Jupiter aspect on asc. into own sign et.c. The 5L of intelligence mars placed in 9H with Jupiter asc lord. The raja yoga with ME 10L with SU 9L in the 10th house.

But the most important thing may be to get the moon out of scorpio today
and the bad influence of Saturn and Mars on it.
So make it when you are able to. Not so big deal, it's just a thread in a forum anyway :D but a bit fun to setting a muhurta for it.

S

93
Yes, Mula isn't the best, but it can be good for astrological learning and research, as you said, Stefan. The best time I have gives these positions:

Asc 9 Sag (Gemini navamsa)
Moon 11 Sag (Cancer navamsa)
Jupiter 15 Leo (Leo navamsa)

So Moon is in a good navamsa, and Jupiter is vargottama. It's only a forum thread, yes, but let's see if there is some interesting discussion! The only problem is I have to be away tomorrow for several hours, but I'll try to arrange to be home in the afternoon.
http://www.snowcrest.net/sunrise/LostZodiac.htm

94
Therese Hamilton wrote:
An email correspondent recommended Abhyankar's book earlier this year. I purchased it through Amazon from Exotic India for USD $27 in July.
I just thought I would update that Amazon.ca were ultimately unable to provide this book through their supplier as promised. Amazon.com and Amazon Europe are also not providing the book at present.

However, I contacted Exotic India direct and obtained a copy. For anyone interested they still seem to have copies of the book.

Mark
As thou conversest with the heavens, so instruct and inform thy minde according to the image of Divinity William Lilly

95
Since I opened this thread 4 years ago the subject of tropical Vedic astrology seems to have gathered more prominence in the astrological community. Not without controversy and heated opposition from several quarters it must be conceded!

Reflecting that I thought I should update members that Chris Brennan has just conducted an interview this month with the astrologer Vic DiCara entitled ''The Tropical Zodiac in Indian Astrology''

Here is the link to a recording of the full interview with Vic DiCara:

http://theastrologypodcast.com/2017/07/ ... ic-dicara/

There are many useful links provided by Chris Brennan. In particular a critical response to tropical Vedic astrology by Andrew Foss of the British Association for Vedic Astrology BAVA.

http://www.vedicsoftware.com/zodiacs1.php

An introductory link giving Vic DiCara's argument for supporting tropical Vedic astrology.
http://vicdicara.com/tropical

And a You Tube response by Vic DiCara to the arguments presented by Andrew Foss in his video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuyNmpqwW4M&t=1s

Mark
Last edited by Mark on Sun Jul 16, 2017 11:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
As thou conversest with the heavens, so instruct and inform thy minde according to the image of Divinity William Lilly

96
Thanks for the links, Mark.

I haven't the patience for videos, but I had a look at the DiCara website and read what he describes as 'the key texts'. There is (of course) nothing there that Indian astrologers haven't been aware of all along, and it doesn't change a thing; the only perspective from which any of this is a new discovery is that of the author's personal history. Once again it brings Pope's lines to my mind (... And drinking largely sobers us again). It is rather like those little sects springing up around a handful of isolated and over-interpreted scriptural passages.

A note of warning: DiCara claims to know Sanskrit and to read the texts in the original, but his translations are incorrect, sometimes a great deal so. I hope this is due to ignorance rather than a wish to deceive, but the result is the same. To give just one example, he translates m?ndya-?aighrya-sam?n?bhir gatibhir as 'in a cardinal, fixed, and dual manner'. What the phrase really means is 'by slow, fast and middling motions'.
https://astrology.martingansten.com/

97
The key texts are basically Medieval-era Sanskrit astronomical and philosophical works that have been influenced by Greco-Roman astronomy essentially, right? That would be the main counterpoint to the textual argument? To me that seemed like the strongest counterargument that one could make at least. I tried to draw this out a little bit in my interview with Vic, but obviously I don't specialize in this area. I was mainly interested in it as a debate that is currently happening and apparently gaining more traction in the astrological community lately, and I plan to contrast it later this month with an interview with Kenneth Bowser to show the opposite, which is a western astrologer who argues that the zodiac should be sidereal.

98
Martin Gansten wrote:Thanks for the links, Mark.

I haven't the patience for videos, but I had a look at the DiCara website and read what he describes as 'the key texts'. There is (of course) nothing there that Indian astrologers haven't been aware of all along, and it doesn't change a thing; the only perspective from which any of this is a new discovery is that of the author's personal history. Once again it brings Pope's lines to my mind (... And drinking largely sobers us again). It is rather like those little sects springing up around a handful of isolated and over-interpreted scriptural passages.
... To give just one example, he translates m?ndya-?aighrya-sam?n?bhir gatibhir as 'in a cardinal, fixed, and dual manner'. What the phrase really means is 'by slow, fast and middling motions'.
Yes the mistranslations are important clues. And the use of Surya Siddantha to <prove> the zodiac is tropical doesnt hold water either.
Anyone interested in Surya Siddantha would have better study the material on Vinay Jha's website, instead of the Ernst Wilhelm's lone article which is impressive only to a newcomer.
I dont recall any ancient chart being tropical before the 4th or 5th century, the many charts in V. Valens, and the collection of charts in the CG (Im forgetting the title of the collections of ancient texts in Greek, used by Neugebauer,) were all sidereal charts. The earliest is dated 410 BCE.

To Chris Brennan: great book on Ancient Astrology. Very thorough, bravo !

99
Chris Brennan wrote:The key texts are basically Medieval-era Sanskrit astronomical and philosophical works that have been influenced by Greco-Roman astronomy essentially, right? That would be the main counterpoint to the textual argument? To me that seemed like the strongest counterargument that one could make at least. I tried to draw this out a little bit in my interview with Vic, but obviously I don't specialize in this area. I was mainly interested in it as a debate that is currently happening and apparently gaining more traction in the astrological community lately, and I plan to contrast it later this month with an interview with Kenneth Bowser to show the opposite, which is a western astrologer who argues that the zodiac should be sidereal.
And a third one with @Martin Gansten to put it in perspective.

PD

100
Pankajdubey wrote:
And a third one with Martin Gansten to put it in perspective.
Martin, would you be willing to share a podcast with Chris?

Kenneth Bowser isn't really familiar with Eastern texts. He may not even have been following recent translations of western texts. He will swear up and down that there is irrefutable evidence for the one and only TRUE ayanamsa (termed the SVP for synetic vernal point) discovered by Cyril Fagan and Donald Bradley. This ayanamsa is based on scholars writing in the last century before the popularity of computers.

But Ken has done all he can to keep western sidereal astrology alive amidst the competition from India's astrology and the tropical camp. He may be the only astrologer in recent times who has offered us books on modern western sidereal astrology.
http://www.snowcrest.net/sunrise/LostZodiac.htm

101
Chris Brennan wrote:The key texts are basically Medieval-era Sanskrit astronomical and philosophical works that have been influenced by Greco-Roman astronomy essentially, right? That would be the main counterpoint to the textual argument? To me that seemed like the strongest counterargument that one could make at least.
To me, the strongest argument is the fact that, for more than 1500 years, the same people who authored, studied and commented on these texts have been casting horoscopes using a sidereal zodiac. Tropical parameters were used in some clearly defined contexts, where the seasons were the important thing, but for judicial astrology, sidereal parameters were used. (I say 'were', but of course this is still the case in 2017. We mustn't analogize this with the situation in the west, where astrological tradition has had to be revived following a 300-year lapse. Nothing of the kind happened in India.)

The choice of texts itself is rather amusing -- it looks like a random and rather eccentric selection, but speaks volumes about the background of the person who picked them (namely, a Hare Krishna background). In any case, yes, they are medieval (except possibly the excerpt from the BPH, which could be much later). Most Indian texts on astronomy/astrology are, and most show Graeco-Roman influence. But I'm not entirely sure where you want to go with that. The horoscopic astrology that entered India from the Hellenistic world seems to have been chiefly sidereal (as of course you know, and as Pier mentioned as well).

Incidentally, I too enjoyed your book!
https://astrology.martingansten.com/

102
Therese Hamilton wrote:
Kenneth Bowser isn't really familiar with Eastern texts. He may not even have been following recent translations of western texts. He will swear up and down that there is irrefutable evidence for the one and only TRUE ayanamsa (termed the SVP for synetic vernal point) discovered by Cyril Fagan and Donald Bradley. This ayanamsa is based on scholars writing in the last century before the popularity of computers.
I would have thought the Fagan/Bradley zodiac is very close to the zodiac that was used by Babylonian astrologers prior to the development of hellenistic horoscopic astrology. Statistical examinations of astronomical cuneiform tablets by Peter Huber in 1958 provided an ayanamsha that differs by less than an arc minute from the Fagan/Bradley ayanamsha. However, according to a more recent investigation by John P. Britton (2010), the difference could still amount to several arc minutes. Nevertheless , this is certainly much closer to the Babylonian ayanamsha than Indian ayanamsha such as Lahiri.

I certainly echo the idea of getting Martin interviewed too. Not just to discuss the tropical Vedic issue and relevant texts though. He obviously has many strings to his bow such as his research on Nadi and Perso-Arabic astrology in India, 18th century British astrology and primary directions. One subject I would personally like to hear him elucidate more on is the fundamental difference between the traditional Indian notion of Karma and the positivist New Age version of the idea so prevalent in modern western astrology today. Martin has written a very interesting article on this topic.

http://www.martingansten.com/pdf/ReshapingKarma2011.pdf

But it would be worth hearing Ken Bowser too. The last Tropical-Sidereal Radio blog chose a very laid back western Jyotishi who didn't really push the sidereal case that much. Noone could accuse Ken Bowser of that!

Mark
Last edited by Mark on Tue Jul 18, 2017 1:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
As thou conversest with the heavens, so instruct and inform thy minde according to the image of Divinity William Lilly