My journey into astrology began with the arts, which is something I was drawn to at an early age. First drawing, then music, and eventually theater, where I worked extensively as a professional actor, director and producer for many years, and then into dance, and writing. Every human is an artist, whether they realize it or not, because it is in everyone’s nature to create.  The act of creation, like living, involves becoming entangled in two different worlds at the same time: The “outside world” and the “inside world”. The outside world is the physical world and is composed of everything which is detectable by our five primary senses. The “inside world” is everything that we experience which is not detectable by the five primary senses, such as thoughts, feelings and emotions, urges, etc.

To be involved in the arts is to be involved in using physical skills (the outside world) towards manifesting what originates in the non-physical or inside world. To put it another way: What begins in the inside world then manifests in the outside world through using inspiration, skill, and action: the notes or words in your head (inside world) become music, or writings (outside world). The character you see with your imagination (inner world) slowly manifests onstage in rehearsal, then performance (outside world).  This is a great deal like living.

In 1929 Nobel Prize winning physicist Albert Einstein said: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” In an interview with G.S. Viereck in 1929 he also said: “Everything is determined…by forces over which we have no control…we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned by an invisible piper”.

I began studying the subject of Western Astrology in 1995 for the same reason as many others: It grabbed me. Much has been written on this subject. I studied books by many different astrologers: Marc Edmund Jones, Robert Hand, Liz Greene, Isabel Hickey, Alexander Ruperti, among others, and most significantly Swiss astrologer and artist Dane Rudhyar, who had formed a relationship with Carl Jung, teaching the latter how to interpret Western astrological charts. Like Isaac Newton, Carl Jung had been grabbed by this subject and began developing his intelligence and knowledge in understanding what this subject teaches.

My entry into “Jyotish”, a Sanskrit term which means “The science of light”, otherwise known as “Vedic Astrology” began in 2003, when I was introduced to the man who became my teacher, Jyotish Kovid and Jyotish Visharad, Brendan Feeley, from the Sri Jagannath Center established in New Delhi, India.

The journey into this subject, like the teachings of “The Bhagavad Gita” is inexhaustible in one lifetime. The reward is in developing our own understanding. As humans we are distinguished from other life forms by our ability to discern, to use spoken and written language, our upright walk, and the power of the glance. Jyotish, or Vedic Astrology, could be seen as simply a tool. Like any science, it is a tool for understanding. This sense of understanding brings us in closer contact with ourselves as well as the Divine, God, Great Spirit, Yahweh, Big Bang, or whichever name you prefer. Also, like any science, there are established principles, however, these principles have been developed over thousands of years by thousands and thousands of individuals, observing, and recording results based on these principles.  These principles include a precision in the timing of events in different areas of our individual lives, all based upon our first action as an individual being:  The first breath.  Our lives in this physical world begin with a breath, and end with a breath.  We must use these principles to develop our intelligence and understanding.  Tools are helpful. Through using this tool, we develop our own intelligence and ability to respond to life’s demands.