Saturn & Jupiter, the Guardians
Saturn and Jupiter: Two Great Forces in Time
OM
This article was born on 7 January 2021, during a period in which Jupiter and Saturn were being discussed extensively.
The web was full of articles, interpretations and astrological predictions concerning their positions and their entry into different Signs.
And it is precisely here that the provocation of this article began.
But Where Were Jupiter and Saturn Really?
If you have any doubt, you do not necessarily have to believe a Vedic Astrologer.
You can do something much simpler:
consult an astronomical observatory, an Astronomy program or astronomical ephemerides and check where the Planets are actually located against the background of the stars.
This is precisely the point.
Vedic Astrology, or Jyotisha, uses a sidereal zodiac, that is, a system that maintains its reference to the starry sky by applying the correction called Ayanamsha.
Western Astrology, on the other hand, predominantly uses the tropical zodiac, whose starting point is linked to the spring equinox rather than to the current position of the constellations.
For this reason, today there is a difference of about 24 degrees between the two systems.
On the day I wrote this article, 7 January 2021, according to the sidereal system I was using, Jupiter was around 10° Capricorn and Saturn around 8° of the same Sign.
And if the sky was checked through astronomical ephemerides, Jupiter and Saturn were indeed projected in the region of Capricornus.
So my provocation from that time remains:
do not believe me. Check the sky.
Ask an Astronomer.
Consult an observatory.
Open an astronomical program.
The actual position of the Planets against the stellar background is there, observable.
This is one of the fundamental differences between the Western tropical zodiac and the sidereal zodiac used in Jyotisha.
The Precession of the Equinoxes, Known in India as Ayanamsha
Over the centuries, because of the Precession of the Equinoxes, the equinoctial point has progressively shifted in relation to the stars.
Jyotisha takes this shift into account through the Ayanamsha.
For this reason, a Planet that in the tropical zodiac is indicated, for example, in Aquarius may still be in Capricorn according to the sidereal reference.
This does not, of course, mean that two different skies exist.
There is only one sky.
What differs are the systems through which it is measured.
Jyotisha chose to maintain the sidereal reference.
And it is precisely this reference that can be compared directly with the astronomical sky.
Truth and the Kali Yuga
According to the Indian Tradition, we live in the Kali Yuga, an Age in which Truth becomes progressively more difficult to recognise and Illusion acquires ever greater force.
The Truth of something and the representation we construct of that thing can become extremely distant from one another.
This principle does not concern Astrology alone.
It concerns Life, information, politics and our own mind.
Every time we observe something, we must ask ourselves how much of what we see truly belongs to the object observed and how much, instead, belongs to the structure through which we are observing it.
This too is a question of Consciousness.
The Rishi Observed the Sky
The ancient Rishi did not possess computers, astrological software or electronic instruments, yet they developed extremely complex systems for observing Time, the Planets and celestial cycles.
Jyotisha therefore did not arise as a system built simply upon the psychological characteristics of the Signs.
It arose from the observation of Time and the Sky.
From here comes the very meaning of Jyotisha as the Science of Light.
Observing the sky meant trying to understand the quality of Time in which events were taking form.
A Demanding Historical Period
The year 2021 belonged to a particularly intense phase of recent history.
Many People perceived an acceleration of events, growing instability and a general sense of transformation.
In that article I wrote that some very heavy Forces seemed to be working against the evolution of the Human Being.
This was what emerged from what I saw happening during that period, compared with the celestial positions.
But a difficult phase does not necessarily produce only destruction.
It can also force Consciousness to search for something that it previously had no need to seek.
And it is precisely during the most demanding phases that Saturn and Jupiter take on a particularly interesting meaning.
Saturn and Jupiter, Two Guardians
Saturn and Jupiter are often observed as profoundly different Planets.
Saturn restricts, concentrates, slows down, forces us to confront limits, Time, responsibility and what can no longer be avoided.
Jupiter expands, teaches, seeks meaning, opens towards Knowledge, Wisdom and a broader vision.
One seems to take away, the other seems to add.
But this is only a first reading.
Saturn can remove what no longer possesses a useful structure.
Jupiter can reveal the meaning of what Saturn compels us to go through.
For this reason I consider them, symbolically, two Guardians.
They do not act alone and cannot be interpreted outside the Astrological Configuration in which they operate, but they represent two fundamental Functions within the Person’s Path.
Does Free Will Exist?
One of the questions I have most often been asked during analyses of the Birth Chart and in Vedic Astrology courses is this:
“If you can read the past and outline a future scenario, then does free will exist or is it another Illusion of this world?”
My answer has always been more or less this:
“Illusion and Truth coexist simultaneously in every instant of this world. If you have the Capacity to See or Perceive, you know where to go. The higher you rise, the farther you will see in every direction.”
This does not mean that suddenly everything becomes possible.
It means that our ability to see the terrain on which we are walking changes.
If we see only what is immediately in front of our feet, the possibilities seem few.
If we rise higher, we can see roads that we did not even know existed before.
And it is here that Jyotisha can become an important instrument, not because it erases Karma, but because it can make its structure more visible.
Then Another Question Often Followed:
“Which Planet pulls us down and which one pushes us upward?”
And I would answer:
“Have you ever listened to a choir? Have you ever had the impression that the final result was produced by a single voice?”
A Birth Chart works in the same way.
There is no Planet that, in isolation, can describe the whole Person.
Each Planet carries its own voice, each House carries an area of Life, each Nakshatra adds a quality, each Dasha opens a different Time, and the Divisional Diagrams reveal further depths of the same Path.
The final result arises from the relationship between all these Forces.
Like in a choir.
One voice may become stronger at a particular moment, but it remains part of a much larger whole.
Saturn, Jupiter and Consciousness
Saturn may force us to look at what we would have preferred to avoid, while Jupiter may help us understand its meaning.
But neither of them travels the Path in our place.
The Birth Chart shows the structure of Karma, the Dasha show the Time in which certain parts of that structure become more active, and the Planets indicate the Forces that are operating.
Then there is the Consciousness of the Person who lives through that experience.
And it is precisely this Consciousness that determines the quality with which we go through what Time places before us.
May the Wisdom of Jupiter shine upon our minds.
OM
Sama
