Dear Friend;

One of the greatest saints India has ever produced, Swami Rama Tirtha spoke of the need for “spiritual patriotism“. It’s a beautiful concept that reveals the transformation possible when we love our nation with all our heart and all our mind, for the distance between a lover of nation and a lover of All is very short.

Though Swami Rama attained the ultimate bliss, he lived and taught “practical Vedanta” and urged everyone to see God in the world as the world. Speaking fervently on spiritual patriotism, he said:

Tune yourself in love with your country and people. Be a spiritual soldier. Lay down your life in the interest of your land abnegating the little ego, and having thus loved the country, feel anything and the country will feel with you. March and the country will follow. This, indeed, is practical Vedanta.
 
These are strong words, perhaps even surprising to you. Can nationalistic pride support world peace and global harmony?

In today’s world, patriotism is often derided as an antithesis to the idea of a “global community”. In America, if you fly the stars and stripes, it is not uncommon to be labeled a redneck, right-wing nationalist. In the UK, showing patriotism and pride in your country has been in decline for a while, especially among 18 — 24 year olds where only 15% feel strongly patriotic (YouGov.co.uk). Not to be outdone, only 9% of Germans feel strongly patriotic. Are these trends a good thing? 🤔

In Vedic astrology, there is no “patriotic indicator” per se. However, when accessing a person’s horoscope, certain placements are more indicative of patriotic feelings and actions and, together, can reveal a person who takes pride in their country. Are you patriotic? In case you are having trouble deciding (😄), here are a few ways to determine your level of nation-pride. Look for these influences upon the fourth house (home and homeland), the 7th house (foreign residence), and the 12th house (exile whether self-induced or not):

Moon: as significator of home and homeland, can indicate emotional connection. This is especially true if your Moon is in the 4th house (home) or in Taurus (loyalty) or Scorpio (devotion).

Sun: the Sun’s influence upon homeland can indicate pride. Afflicted, it can indicate blindness to your nation’s faults.

Venus: Venus is a planet of contracts. Its influence indicates loyalty as a reflection of your contract to your country.

Jupiter: as a planet of unconditional love, Jupiter is more associated with being a “citizen of the world” though it can also indicate a strong yearning to uplift the citizens of your country. Jupiter is more closely related to the spiritual patriotism espoused by Ram Tirtha, Sadhguru, and others.

For enlightened souls, having national pride is a good thing, after all, it is nonsensical to be otherwise. Sadhguru was once asked if showing patriotism toward’s your country has any value? He replied, “How do you make a nation without investing any emotion into it?” “The idea of Nationhood,” he said at another time, “needs love and pride in the hearts of the people to make it a great Nation.”

Patriotism is not the final destination, but a waypoint on the road to establishing oneself in the global community as a conscious being. By loving your nation with all your heart, it is easier to make the step to loving the world. Paradoxical? Perhaps, but there is a simple reason for this…

…there is only love and nothing but Love. When you love anything unconditionally, whether it is your spouse, a wildflower, or your nation, you have unwittingly thrown open the door to the only Love there is, the divine Love of God. Your task is to make this a conscious experience, not an accident. 

 🤗

David 🔆

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Dear Friend;

Louis L’Amour (1908 — 1988), the popular author known world-wide for his novels about the American West, once wrote, “The only thing that never changes is that everything changes.“ We work so diligently to create stability in our lives only to have the winds of fate remind us that we are not in control of anything except our inner experience — heaven forbid if we have tied our inner experience to the outer circumstances of life! As the old timer said to the ambitious young entrepreneur, “That’s a hard way to make a livin’.” 😉

Reading the day’s headlines, one senses that every aspect of life is undergoing the tremor of change. From AI’s future effects on culture and the workplace to trade deficits and trade wars, the world is experiencing a seismic shift and no one can be exactly sure of where we will find ourselves in the future. Nevertheless, each week in this newsletter, astrology, especially Mundane astrology, the branch of astrology that considers global trends, will help us understand what we will be facing in the years ahead.

Mundane astrology examines the horoscopes of nations, rulers, politicians, and other influential people as a means to better understand world events related to natural processes and geopolitics; it is among the oldest forms of astrology. After all, in centuries past, a King was better able to rule, and keep his kingdom, if he had some idea of what was coming down the road. In your case, you don’t have to wait to be crowned a King or Queen; this newsletter will help you rule your own personal kingdom with a better eye on future possibility.

Beginning this month, we shall take a closer look at the revolution affecting the world today. Revolution may be a surprising word to use, but it is exactly what is happening across North America and Europe with repercussions throughout the world. As always, things are rarely what they seem and the revolution that is happening is an opportunity that, in my lifetime at least, has not presented itself as raw and unfiltered as what we are witnessing now. Are we humans up to the task? Can we put aside our assumptions and simply look at world events without prejudice?

In Mundane astrology, the slower moving outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, the nodes, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto offer the greatest insight into long-term trends. Taking at least a year to traverse a single sign, Jupiter, Saturn, the outer planets reveal deep and profound changes at work within us and the global community. For this reason, much can be gleaned from analysing their position in the sky, especially in reference to a particular nation through the horoscopes of that nation’s leaders, inaugurations, and the birth chart.

At the end of May 2025, Saturn moves into Aries, its sign of debilitation in Vedic astrology. On a global scale, Saturn represents the karma we must go through and our capacity to experience it with a steady mind. As we saw in an earlier issue, Saturn in the Aditya sign of Dhata (Pisces) indicates difficulty in bearing what must be borne in order to resolve what needs to be resolved. In other words, an issue in the world today that will intensify later this year and through 2028 is that many will not have the will to make the changes they must make in order to help make their lives, and the world, a better place. Aries is our capacity to give energy to what is possible and Saturn, a planet of karmic pain, dulls this capacity by creating a sense that we have been victimised, that somehow, life has given us the short end of the stick.

A question we must ask is if playing the role of victim or encouraging others to be a victim is a legitimate means to a legitimate end? Too often, victimhood is encouraged by those seeking to manipulate emotions in order to gain a foothold to more money and power. If no victims come forward, they are created. This does not mean there is never any truth in a perceived injustice, but when a person’s power to change their life is overshadowed by the greed of powerful groups, aggression and violence unfolds. Indeed, for those with nefarious agendas, violence is welcomed as we have seen in Hamas’s campaign of fear in Gaza and in the violent attacks on Tesla owners in the United States. 

The world is in need of a higher perspective and this can only come through an experience of one’s higher nature. Speaking about the need for a “meditation revolution”, Sadhguru says this:

Whenever we talk about revolution, most of the time people are talking about changing somebody, isn’t it? All the time rather. See, you wanting somebody else to change is not a revolution. This is an age old problem. Mother-in-law wants the daughter-in-law to change; daughter-in-law wants the mother-in-law to change, isn’t this an age old problem? Is there a revolution in it? What is revolutionary about it? You want somebody else to change – there is no revolution about it. ‘I am willing to change’ — this is a revolution. This will bring about genuine change in the world. That ‘I am willing to change my ways to make things happen’ – this will bring about the change.

There is a revolution happening in the world today… inside and out… but only the revolution on the inside will determine if the global revolution on the outside brings peace and prosperity… or slavery. 

I prefer peace and prosperity. Will you join me? 

 🤗

David 🔆

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