Astrology of Joy

Newsletter: 24/MARCH/2025 New Directions: Solar Eclipse!

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David

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Astrology Monday! SOLAR ECLIPSE! New direction for you! 🥳
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This Week’s Focus

New Directions: Solar Eclipse!!
Issue 12 Volume 8          24 March 2025
“Sunsets we always liked because they only happen once and go away.”
     “But, Lena, that’s sad.”
“No, if the sunset stayed and we got bored, that would be a real sadness.”

― Ray Bradbury (1920 – June 5, 2012), American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, from Dandelion Wine (1957)

Photo © Freepik: Aerial view Doi Luang Chiang Dao mountains at sunset, Chiang mai, Thailand
He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool—shun him.
He who knows not and knows that he knows not is simple—teach him.
He who knows and knows not that he knows is asleep—wake him.
He who knows and knows that he knows is wise—follow him.
― Persian proverb


Dear Friend;

Spring has sprung… have you noticed? 

On the Forth estuary in the Scottish village where I live, it seems everyone and everything is experiencing the joy of renewal. From out the window of my second floor flat on this glorious morning, the world appears wide-eyed and bushy-tailed. A chorus of songbirds below me blends melodiously with the tenor of gull-speak above creating a symphony Handel or Beethoven would envy. Further out somewhere in a neighbour’s yard, the sound of a lawn mower mimics the deep resonance of an omnipresent Aum from which all is born… what is it about the smell of fresh cut green grass that is so intoxicating? 🤔

Familiarity breeds contempt is a phrase with far reaching implications. At first glance, we understand that the Roman playwright who wrote these words in the 2nd century BCE was likely pointing out how the more we know someone, the more chance their opinions and mannerisms will trigger our conditioned mind into no longer respecting them. Nevertheless, as a contemplative, I enjoy examining things from different angles, especially from my personal experience.

Many years ago as a young software engineer while driving the 75-minute commute to my place of work, I reflected upon a verse from the Guru Gita, a transcendent Indian scripture found in the Skanda Purana. The planets must have been auspiciously aligned for in the blink of an eye, a veil was lifted from the banality of the world around me and I saw everything as if for the first time: the road, the cars around me, the utility poles, the buildings. I had made this commute hundreds of times before, but on this morning, everything was fresh, alive, and vibrant. 

Lest you think I was a menace to the other drivers while experiencing this new found state of mind, it was not that I lost the knowledge of an object (most of all the car I was driving); rather, it was that I had lost any preconceived notions regarding the object. Familiarity had been erased and in its place was the exuberance of a new experience. 

     He who knows, knows not.
     He who knows not, knows.
                         ~ Guru Gita

In a certain way, familiarity is the bane of human existence. It “breeds contempt” because familiarity carries with it the baggage of a conditioned mind. As a survival and social mechanism, familiarity is quite useful, but as a support for Life, it destroys the inherent joy of being alive and colours the world in our ignorance. 

The reason we feel so alive in the spring is because life has renewed itself after a long winter of forgetfulness and we experience this rejuvenation through new sprouts, fragrant blossoms, and the singing of cicadas, frogs, and birds. The truth is that every day we can experience this renewal, in every moment and in everything when we allow our senses to detach from expectation. This takes a deepening connection to the underlying fabric of life, an awareness of the canvas upon which this world is painted.

You are the artist. It’s just that you have been painting your world in the colours of your past. Look out with fresh eyes. Open yourself to the fabric of life. Get to know its exquisite weave, its priceless thread. 

Impossible, you say? Not at all. You are made in the image of God and that image is Love. Love, you see, is the fabric of life. 

 🤗

David 🔆

astrologyofjoy.com


In this issue:
  • Weekly Planning Forecast
  • Eye on the Globe
  • Hero’s Journey: Free App

Astrology Monday

Weekly Planning Forecast
Suggestion: match the significations of the following dates to what you wish to accomplish. To plan important events further into the future, contact David for a Muhurtha reading which finds the best date(s) for your specific tasks or goals.

Sun in Aries

21 MAR — 19 APR

An important aspect of the Sun is right action (dharma), i.e., right action at the right time. It is right action that burns away the darkness of the night each morning, warms the land, and brings forth the conditions for life. In Aries, a sign ruled by Mars, the Sun becomes exalted and is welcomed by Mars, the planet of directed will and focused attention. Aries is a fire sign that creates a conducive environment for the fire of the Sun. In Aries, the Sun enhances leadership potential, career, rules and laws, and vision. In Aries, the Sun’s innate capacity as a ruler allows it to rule over its kingdom with honour and integrity.

Fun Fact: Zodiac comes from the Greek zodiakos (kyklos) which literally means “circle of little animals” and is one indication of how astrological knowledge was shared between the cultures of Greece and India beginning in the time of Alexander the Great. For thousands of years before the Greeks, the Vedic culture used a 12-part circle which represented 12 aspects of the Sun (Adityas) and offer us some fascinating insights not gleaned from the Greeks.

The Aditya that corresponds to Aries is Aryama which means friend, companion, and life-partner who protects through noble cause, chivalry, and duty. Aryama provides the warmth that nurtures institutions and societal structures through just laws and sense of duty.
This Week
This forecast is a quick look at what is affecting your self-image, self-confidence, and self-worth for the next 7 days. For a more complete and personal look at all the amazing aspects of your astrology, contact David at astrologyofjoy.com.

Solar Eclipse!!
  • Solar eclipse-New Moon; Aries; Saturday, 29 MAR
    • 10:08AM to 12:06PM GMT (Maximum at 10:57AM GMT)
    • An eclipse “eclipses” the power of a planet to produce results creating uncertainty. Read below for more details and turn this solar eclipse into an opportunity of transformation.
Moon Planner
Has the Moon got you hurried and harried?

No worries! The Moon represents your capacity to receive, a feminine quality, and recognising the resources you have available to fulfil your emotional needs.  Too often, we get distracted with what is not ours to have and miss out on the available opportunity, experiencing disappointment and disillusionment… or worse, we become like the poor fellow in the photo.  😄




**Solar Eclipse Bulletin**
The first step to improving your current circumstance is to drop your need to have an opinion about everything and open your mind to other possibilities.
 
Saturday, 29 March
New Moon Eclipse in Aries (Max at 10:57AM GMT)
#21 in Saros series #149
Period of strongest effects: 29 FEB thru 29 APR

Quick Read:
This solar eclipse offers a significant opportunity to embrace a new approach from what you have been doing the past 18 years in the areas in your horoscope touched by the eclipse.

More
Who: You — especially if you have any planets or your ascendent within 29 degrees Pisces to 19 degrees Aries.
What: Solar eclipse (New Moon) — signifying end of one cycle and beginning of a new cycle of activity related to the house and planets affected in your horoscope
Where: 9 degrees Aries
When: 29 March. Note: this eclipse is active from about late February through late April.
Why: Related to the house and planets affected for you, this eclipse indicates a shift from your usual approach over the past 18 years to a new approach involving Mercury (communication) and Venus (relationship) and the houses they rule.
How: Mercury is the planet of investigation; thus, this eclipse signals the end of trying one way and embracing another.

And a bit more…
Examining the first solar eclipse in this cycle (21 AUG 1664), we find that this cycle is about trying a new approach (Mercury) and committing to this approach over the long term (Venus). With a positive aspect from Pluto, this reveals how a change in how you accept yourself creates the motive to try something new. At the same time, Pluto does indicate a certain amount of trepidation to embrace the new approach. Once the commitment is made, positive results are realised.

More specifically, the indications of this current solar eclipse show a stronger Mercury influence and less Venusian. This means that while you will assume a new approach, there is less commitment — more of a wait and see attitude. For example, if your relationship house is affected, though you may commit in the short-term, it is from a place of investigation and experimentation, and not from a feeling of “this is the one.” Thus, your feelings about the relationship are more aloof and non-binding. If it works, great! If it doesn’t, you’ll move on.

Eclipses are felt strongest by those who have planets or their ascendent directly affected. Others can still be affected, but it is typically less noticeable and more of an internal change. If you are one of these, then you may experience a subconscious change that is only understood in hindsight.

Self-study
I encourage you to study this eclipse through your own horoscope. To help you along the way, I’ve outlined some simple steps below:
  1. Obtain a copy of your horoscope using the tropical zodiac. NOTE: For those of you who opted for the eBook add-on after an astrology session with me, there will be a copy of your horoscope in your booklet. Otherwise, contact me and I will send you a copy of your horoscope free of charge.
  2. Look at your horoscope to determine if your rising sign or any planets are within 10 degrees of the Sun and/or Moon on either side. The Sun and Moon for this eclipse are at 9 degrees Aries.
  3. Use the tables below to get a quick idea of the areas of your life that are being touched by this eclipse. 
Some basic significations of the Planets
  • Sun: physical health, public image, career, father/authority
  • Moon: materiality, mother
  • Mercury: communication, business deals, school work
  • Venus: conditional love, contracts, relationships, diplomacy, material comfort, beauty
  • Mars: action, decision making, land, house, vehicles
  • Jupiter: unconditional love, children, finances, wealth, guru
  • Saturn: construction, disease, government

Some basic significations of the Houses
  • First House (Rising sign or Ascendant): personality, physical appearance, health, ego, self
  • Second House: wealth, possessions, financial status, speech, poetry, communication
  • Third House: performance and performing arts, writing, siblings, neighbours, short journeys
  • Fourth House: home, family, vehicles, cemeteries, emotional security, mother
  • Fifth House: creativity, romance, children, education, spiritual practice
  • Sixth House: health, work, service, enemies, disease, illness
  • Seventh House: partnerships, marriage, business relationships, sexuality
  • Eighth House: secrets, transformation, inheritance, longevity, psychology, accidents, chronic disease, mysticism, unearned income, financial gain from partnerships
  • Ninth House: philosophy, higher education, travel, ethics, father, guru
  • Tenth House: career, public life, social status, government, authority
  • Eleventh House: long term goals, friendships, income, community, networking
  • Twelfth House: losses, solitude, isolation, spiritual liberation, places of confinement, sexual pleasure

I am purposefully keeping this very simple so you can begin to contemplate your unique situation. It’s also important to understand we humans are not black and white but grey. At times we are selfish, at other times we are selfless. The inherent chance in an eclipse is not to beat yourself up, but to gain a deeper understanding of what motivates you to do what you do then take positive action.

We were born into this world precisely because we did not have all the answers. This creates a subconscious fear that arises only because we believe ourselves to be weak. This distrust in ourself puts us in survival mode. When we become aware of the potential energy within us, we can better arrange our life so that our energy can be guided toward a constructive outcome. This is an internal process; not an outward one, though from our internal expansion, our outer circumstances improve.

It’s also possible that some people will only notice a slight difference during this eclipse; some not at all, especially if you do not have any planets within ten degrees of the eclipse line. However, it may also be that some people won’t notice a difference because they are generally unenthused about life or they are always distracting themselves from anything uncomfortable with their nonsense. Feeling uncomfortable means opportunity and opportunity knocks loudest when we are paying attention to Life. Perception is everything.

Of course, it may also be that you notice no difference because you are a free soul and the stars and planets are your loyal servants who prostrate at your feet in devotion…

This, my friend, is very good. 🤗
Eclipse Special: If you would like to go over in detail the potential and possibility of this eclipse for you personally, I am offering an eclipse special: £35/hr online; audio recorded. Contact me here.
Important upcoming dates (2025)
JAN 12 thru summer 2026: Rahu enters Pisces joining Saturn and Neptune
     — Loss of boundaries; heightened creative expression
APR 9 — 20: close orb between Rahu/Saturn in Pisces
     — Making choices out of fear; supports organisation and systematic planning
APR 18 — JUN 16: Mars enters Leo
     — Aggressive work scenarios; energises authentic work and projects
MAY 25 — AUG 31: Saturn enters Aries, its sign of debilitation
     — Weakening of foundation; supports taking calculated risks
JUN 17 — AUG 6: Mars in Virgo
     — Taking on too many responsibilities; supports fitness programmes
SEP 1 — FEB 13 2026: Saturn in Pisces
     — Tendency towards fear-based decisions; loss of boundaries; strong creative ideas
FEB 14 2026— APR 12 2028: Saturn in Aries
     — Weakening of foundation; supports taking calculated risks
 
Eye on the Globe
Using astrology, yogic science, and the archaeology of now
to understand world events
It can be useful to examine world events from the perspective of the astrology of the players involved, not just in understanding the forces behind occurrences, but in understanding the tendencies of our own mind. Human beings have similar inner challenges which mundane astrology can help us understand…

This week:
Globalisation: turning the world grey
Venus is the spice that makes human life enjoyable


“No black people, no white, no yellow, no red. They came from every part of the earth to work at the World Planning Center or to look at it, from Thailand, Argentina, Ghana, China, Ireland, Tasmania, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Honduras, Lichtenstein. But they all wore the same clothes, trousers, tunic, rain cape; and underneath the clothes they were all the same color. They were gray.”
~ Ursula K LeGuin (1929 — 2018), American author especially known for thought-provoking science fiction/fantasy; from The Lathe of Heaven (1971)

Question: Would you like to live in a world of grey?

Variety is the spice of life; it’s one of the great attributes of Venus which represents the external world and all its beauty and variety. The enemies of Venus are the Sun (authority) and the Moon (emotional needs). In a global context, the ruling authority (Sun) can stymie the free expression of Venus either through policies and regulations enacted to control others or through overreach: government may have good intentions, but not be aware of the consequences, turning a colourful world into a world of grey. This is both an unintended result of globalisation and its intention. Both are true.

LeGuin’s novel The Lathe of Heaven is about a man whose dreams become the present reality. His psychiatrist knows this and seeks to change the world through hypnotic suggestion. At one point, the psychiatrist wants to end racism on Earth. When the protagonist awakes, he finds everyone not only wearing the same clothes, but all human beings are coloured grey.

Would this really end racism? Perhaps, but we humans are experts at emphasising our differences. We would likely latch onto some other characteristic and divide our world according to such. Prejudice will always be around as long as we remain separate from the underlying principle of unity that connects us all. Until then, the world tends to live in a near constant state of personal bias.

Personal bias is well documented; much research reveals how a human being is conditioned even while still in the mother’s womb. In Vedic astrology, it is understood that the horoscope is a map of one’s karmic stream from previous lives. This makes eradicating prejudice through legislation impossible for a person’s perception is not just about what they acquired in this lifetime but is influenced by countless lifetimes. Thus, an external remedy will never be found for prejudice; rather, only by raising human consciousness will old stories be transcended and we relate to one another not according to superficial differences but from the unifying principle that connects us all beyond the physical.

Inclusion happens because our perception transforms to include all life not as some fanciful abstract notion but as an experience of the one reality. Any inclusive doctrine that attempts to change ‘me’ to ‘us’ is doomed to fail because the answer does not lie in ‘us” — it is only found in the experience of “I-ness”, the sense of “I am”. In this state, the self-imposed boundaries between you and I disappear. There is no ‘us’, there is just ‘me’, so-to-speak, but this me is unlimited and boundless and I look upon you as my own Self. In such a state, prejudice of any kind simply cannot exist.

As the adage says, variety is the spice of life. Who wants to live in a grey world? One of the great beauties of human existence is the variety of cultures and races that populate the Earth. As a young man, I would at times throw several weeks of canned food and a sleeping bag in the back of my car and crisscross the width and breadth of the United States. Over a summer’s worth of traveling, I could embrace the friendliness of the Deep South, the activity of New York, and the cowboy culture of the West. Each area had its unique style in food, architecture and most of all, people. Yet, beneath all the differences, a river of undeniable unity strung us together like pearls on a single strand. 

Like many ideas from good-hearted people, it does not appear that globalisation’s time has come because human beings simply do not have the consciousness to embrace it in a beautiful manner. As currently propagated, globalisation risks stamping out diversity and turning the world into a bland soup. More concerning is how globalisation has become a tool for those who seek more: more power, more wealth, more control. Control is easier in a world of grey.

In time, human consciousness will rise and a world united will be a reality where love of one’s neighbours coexist with national and ethnic pride because variety in life is treasured and respected. In such a world, diversity will be a natural consequence of a conscious society. Until then, we can focus on helping to raise human consciousness… beginning with our own which is easiest…

After all, there is only one.

☺️
Hero’s Journey
The journey of the hero is about the courage to seek the depths; the image of creative rebirth; the eternal cycle of change within us; the uncanny discovery that the seeker is the mystery which the seeker seeks to know. ~ Joseph Campbell, 

Free and low cost programmes and discounts…
Miracle of Mind! FREE Meditation App!

Launched by Sadhguru this past Mahashivratri, Miracle of Mind is a free app to download that empowers you through a daily 7 minute meditation. For more information, follow this link.


Cinema spotlight
The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)
Inspired by the Bhagavad Gita, India’s most revered text. Will Smith plays Krishna who tutors the reluctant warrior-hero Arjuna (Matt Damon). Based upon the bestselling book by Steven Pressfield (1995). Highly recommended.
 
Watch this beautiful and profound clip from
The Legend of Bagger Vance.
Sadhguru speaks on the difference between expression and perception. 
Consultations

Become an Astro Affiliate! Receive 20% cashback on any referrals.

Visit astrologyofjoy.com/special-offer for more information.

What is the Astrology of Joy? It’s a tool for finding your bliss and living a joyful life. It’s a gentle “push” to get you back on the right track. Based upon the time-honoured system of astrology practiced in India for thousands of years, Astrology of Joy is inspired by David’s four decades living in ashrams, seeking truth, and learning from enlightened beings who taught, “You are more than a body and a mind. You are That!” 
 

Recommended Schedule

1. One-time Natal in-depth overview:
£95… 2hr online reading. Optional: £29 add on eBook.
 
2. NEW! Varshaphala (6-month Solar return)
£95… 2hr online reading. Optional: £29 add on eBook.
 
3. Rahu/Ketu Elemental Reading
£79… 2hr online reading. Optional: £29 add on eBook.

4. Specialised Consultations:
£79… 2hr online reading. Optional: £29 add on eBook.
  • Relationship/Compatibility
  • Career/Finances
  • Health and Wellbeing
  • Spiritual Development
  • In-depth examination of any area of your choosing
5. Muhurta Consultation
Auspicious date determination for wedding, pregnancy, business start up, surgery, etc
£29 per month analysis; £60 for three month analysis. Months do not need to be successive.
 
All readings are recorded as an MP3 file for your continued reference.
Financial concessions available.

For more information, visit astrologyofjoy.com/consultations.


AstrologyOfJoy.com
About David: Personally certified by Dr. David Frawley, author and founder of the American Institute of Vedic Studies, David has been a professional astrologer for over 30 years. David learned the art and science of Indian astrology while a ten-year resident in the ashram of a realised spiritual master. David guides clients throughout the world on achieving everyday fulfilment in their spiritual and personal goals, relationships, and wellbeing.

David served as editor of Isha Yoga’s European newsletter for two years, was Vice President of the Rosia Montana Cultural Foundation in Romania, and has a Masters in Archaeology (with Distinction), studying the challenges and issues facing contemporary society from the archaeological perspective. He also wrote and published a parent-child picture book with his brother, Steve (illustrator), about the life of Adiyogi, the first yogi. He currently resides in Burntisland, Scotland, where he serves on the board of the Burntisland Harbour Access Trust helping maintain public access to the historically significant harbour.
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