Be Who You Are....

For a significant period of time the Moon sign was considered the most important placement to study. As time went by, a very important development unfolded. Today the Lagna/ Ascendant is studied as an equally important placement. And most widely used as the defining placement by astrologers today.

What is the Lagna/Ascendant? When you are born, the house of the Kundali/Zodiac that rises in the Eastern Horizon, marks your Lagna. That's why it's called 'The Ascendant' because it was ascending, moving upward on the eastern horizon at the time of birth.

The Moon represents the mind. In Advaita philosophy, the Ego is said to rise before anything else. And it is the ego that gives rise to the mind. I think it's fitting that this change took place in how we interpret our Kundali.

Who we truly are....is the greatest mystery. It is left to each one of us to discover.

Together, however, we can explore the Ego. And its plans and machinations.

"Your Identity Is Like Your Shadow, Not Always Visible Yet Always Present"

What our ego is decides what kind of mind we have. And what our ego is, is decided by Fate.

Where are you born?

Which Country? Which State?

Which Race?

What Gender?

What Class?

Which Religion?

What Caste?

Some people say we choose these things before we are born. They say that we think- "Oh that seems like a good set up to be in...seems like I will learn something here", and we then whoosh into this plane, into our mother's wombs.

I think these decisions are made by Karma.

Some people say that's a suffocating idea. Karma blames a person for their misfortune.

Some others say....Karma means action. So it is a liberating idea to think that you have the power of creating your situation. Through your actions. Instead of simply blaming it on random chance.

Anyhow, something decides our Ego at birth. We are born with an Identity. And that identity creates our Mind and how we think. It creates our filters. And it creates our world.

How we see, is how we understand. How we understand, decides what we see.

Kaamale Kannige Lokavella Haladi

Freud believed that the core of a person's personality is mostly established by the age of six.

Freud listed 5 stages of human development. All of them strangely, are related to body orifices and sex.

The Kannada saying above means - "To the jaundiced eye, everything is yellow".

Freud also said, that by the age of 18, our development stops. By then we get fixed in our ways.

Psycho-analysis was his method of uncovering 'fixations' . He said that unless someone underwent psychoanalysis to resolve 'fixations' from their childhood, their fundamental personality was unlikely to change after teenage.

Moving On...

For several years Freud and his thinking dominated Psychology.

Until our perceptions were changed.

Erik Erikson made a significant contribution. He recognized that people continue to face new social challenges and grow psychologically until the very end of their lives.

Freud looked only at biological drives. Erikson, expanded our outlook. He looked at social interactions.

Freud's Ego was the mediator in between his Id and his Superego. Between his unconscious desires, and his persona that was successful in the outside world. It's area of operation, narrow.

Erikson's Ego was a conscious sense of self that we develop through social interaction. It's our connection with the wide world around us.

Freud believed in fixations. If there is a negative experience that made you stuck in childhood, he believed that it led to neurosis in adulthood. Erikson, on the other hand, viewed the person as someone constantly learning and adapting to the world around her/him. He said that if you struggle in an early stage, you stand to gain the associated Virtue (such as hope, competence, resilience etc), later in life through new social experiences.

The Ego Identity

Erikson also introduced the idea of 'Identity' along with the Ego.

What do you think Identity means?

When we say "This is my identity. This is who I am." What are we actually saying?

It seems as though we are saying - this is who I am. Different. Unique. Apart from you.

But then, the word 'identity' stems from the root word 'idem', meaning 'same-ness'!

We are defining who we are based on the same-ness we share with other people.

Our race, gender, religion and nationality.

We are stating who we are according to our social role. One of the very first questions we ask someone new is, "So....what do you do?"

We are typing in numbers of our Aadhar card as our reference.

We create a social media profile to show ourselves off.

We are defined in relation to groups.

Identity Paradox

At the same time, the 'same-ness' of the word identity, refers to the organizing principle within you.

The curator-creator of your experience.

The fundamental principle that keeps the continuity of your experience going. Maintaining the same-ness of your sense of self.

Keeping the story line going.

A story like no one else's. Because no one has had the experiences you've had.

Unique, like you.

Identity Crisis

Erikson believed that our sense of Identity is created in Adolescence.

He said that the period of Adolescence is a time where we have to answer the questions -" Who Am I?" and "What Do I Want To Be?"

Erikson said, that this period was conducive for experimentation of different values, identities and roles, without the permanent consequences of adult life. An unstable time, a crisis situation.

Every smart-ass Genz or Gen Alpha, who is in their teens currently, is a testimony of this crisis. And it seems to be severe. We can judge just by the lashing out they do. And we can be more understanding. Because forming an identity is no easy task.

Erikson says there are two outcomes of the Identity Crisis.

If a person fails to establish a clear identity, they may experience role confusion. It will leave them feeling un-moored, insecure, or unable to commit to goals and relationships.

If a person succeeds in this Identity crisis, it leads to 'The Virtue Of Fidelity'. Loyalty to ones values and ideologies. And being able to commit to goals and relationships.

Time To Move On Again

I like Literature more than Psychology.

A book that I just remembered is 'The Moon and Sixpence'.

It's a story of a middle-aged man, a conventional stock-broker who abandons his family, leaves his job and goes away to pursue art. He leaves his comfortable life behind, lives in poverty and disregards social norms. To live a life of meaning. He decided his meaning. He chose.

And this is not just fiction. It was loosely based on the painter Gauguin's life.

People scoff at fiction. But fiction has taught me more about the world than science has.

It makes no sense to say that we should be loyal to ideas that we formed when we were 18.

Erikson says that after we form an identity, then we use that identity to fall in love, commit. And then the same identity for nurturing our kids. Then contributing to society. And then reflecting about life in old age.

That seems like the 'Ideal Life' poster. Adarsh Balak. Adarsh Balika. Adarsh Samsarika.

Life is far messier.

All of us are answering the questions 'Who Am I?' and 'What Do I Want To Be?' at all stages of our lives.

Everyone around me is figuring out these questions. A housewife in her 30's wants to know if she should get a job. A man in his 40's starts dressing better, and wants to know how an affair feels like. A woman in her 40's wonders if she should even try to get married now.

A man in his 50's whose son has gone to college, doesn't know whom to constantly parent any longer. A woman who retired in her 60's, feels like- "A new chapter deserves a new Me".

We are always free to choose.

And we needn't always be afraid to choose. While creating ourselves, we also create the capacity to handle the consequences. And to make them work to our advantage.

We are more powerful than we think we are.

Ancient Wisdom

The word 'Lagna' means 'marriage'.

What? What does that mean.....How can the first house of the horoscope mean marriage! What rubbish....that's the 7th house! What kind of astrologer are you!

Crazy, isn't it?

The house of identity. The house of Ego. The house of the sense of self. But named as Lagna. Marriage!

The ascendant is decided by the house that is rising on the eastern horizon at your birth.

The lagna is decided by the house where the horizon intersects with the ecliptic. It is the marriage of the earth with the sky.

The coming together of your perspective horizon, with the grand ecliptic on which the Sun and it's Solar System move along the sky. The path of the Kundali which connects you to stars far,far beyond.

The Lagna is your anchor to the universe. For you to remember your connection with the grand cosmos. For you to never play small. To remember "As Above So Below. As Below So Above."

The Week Ahead

Friday, May 1st, is the full moon in the beautiful Chitra nakshatra. You maybe drawn to making things better. And it will be simple and easy for you to do this.

Mercury has moved into Aries. To all of you who complained of feeling frozen in communication, you will get un-stuck. You will find the words. Or you'll make them up.

The moon remains out of Kala Sarpa/Snake's Belly. Free mind. Easy emotions. Potentially.

Venus in own house. Who just dealt with the eccentric guest,Uranus. Now finding more peace. And enjoying the good things of life.

The Sun is in Bharani. If you have ever wanted to do something creative. Take the plunge now.

Life is for the living!

See you next week.