Michael Conneely - The Tantric Hindu Astrology Course

We now come to the Tantric Hindu Astrology Course. In the Foundation Course, we established the exact way each planet will manifest in your life. We meditated on what level of improvement or remedy is possible, or to what extent certain fates appeared to be fixed. If you are also studying one of my Western Astrology Courses, you will also have learned a great deal about the psychologies of each planet and the transformative possibilities.

Now, in the Hindu Astrology Course, we now move from astrology, more towards deity tantra. We study how each planet has been perceived as a God or Goddess in Jyotish. We develop a ‘clear appearance’ of each planet as he is found in our chart or in our lives.

Working alone or with our friends, by ritual, puja and deity tantra, art, ritual and music, we open ourselves to the healing power of each planet.

We can, if we wish, merge in modules from the other Tantric Spirituality courses to deepen our ritual and meditative techniques or deity awareness.

To give an idea of the way in which each module can be handled, I show more detail in the case of Sukra, God of Love; and I recount myth in the Case of Kartikeya, Lord of the Planet Mars, God of War:

Sukra is sexuality, sensual enjoyment, desire and love. He is semen, art, beauty, taste, refinement, love and marriage, poetry and sense of harmony. He represents ‘small fortunes’, harmony, creativity, artists, glamour, the ovaries – and our capacity to love. Sukra is beautiful, magnetic and attractive. He is the guide of demons and spiritual teacher. He is male, but his energy is feminine. He rules the reproductive system, love affairs, the spouse and marriage - and if afflicted by malefics can cause sexual disorders or diseases. Sukra enhances the House he is placed within. He is the spark of our aspiration for the good and his beauty can be a gateway to the divine realms; Ananda is the divine bliss of creation. Afflicted, he can be vain, superficial and affected, wanting the joy of possession and the adulation of others; he can be seductive and even vampiric. Whole cultures can give themselves over to negative Venus and be based on greed, image and materialism. Negatively, he is problematically materialistic; the love addict, the miser, the person who makes their life too small or who is too critical in relationships. Positively, he is the powerful enhancing flow of sexual energy through our lives, the enjoyment of beauty, using it as a gateway to divine appreciation.

Sukra is occult, powerful and mysterious, potent, sexual, effulgent and enigmatic. He generates, preserves and nourishes the Earth’s burgeoning life forms. The divine energy polarizes: occult magnetic highly-charged energy stormily churns the divine with matter through the creative violence of polarity and the sex impulse. Opposite poles are impelled to fervent charmed attraction directed towards the channeling of cosmic energy to materialization and manifestation – Purusha and Prakriti – on the different planes, whether sensual matter or associations or divine art or inspiration or magic. Negatively, this is debauch, hypnotism and deception; positively, this is the compassionate Seer. Sukra has the power to restore life to death. As Teacher of Demons: the swarming multitude of unbalanced first growth, Sukra can help them because he understands their nature and ordeals, and knows that if you try to overcome them by force you feed them energy, whereas you can charm them and treat them with grace. Myth recalls that Sukra hung upside down for thousands of years performing penance by imbibing the smoke of the yagna sacrifices, so as to protect the demons against the Gods – reminiscent of Odin.
Using the exact identification that we achieved in the Foundation Course, of the manifestation of Sukra’s energy in your life, we use remedies, puja, rituals, visualization, meditation and yoga, to develop Sukra in your consciousness, and if you wish, you can extend this to encompass other magical Gods and Goddesses of love.

Kartikeya is the son of Shiva, born of the union of Shiva with Bhumi the Earth Goddess. In Hindu myth, the Gods needed a warrior who could defeat the seemingly invincible menacing and atrocious demon Taraka, a thunderbolt-wielding seductively beautiful serpent who was possessed of strength, wisdom and venom, Born of a peerlessly beautiful mother, Varangi, his geiss was that no one could kill him unless a seven-day old child – so he was virtually invincible; virtually immortal, none of the Gods could defeat him. He was taking over the Universe. Only the great Lord Shiva had the power to destroy Taraka, but Maha Shiva, Lord of Ascetics, was sworn to celibacy and renunciation and was lost in trance. The Gods therefore sent Kamadeva the God of sexual attraction to persuade Shiva to mate with Parvati – she who gave Shiva his other son: Ganesha; but Shiva’s ascetic’s wrath burnt Kamadeva to ashes and the blast of Shiva’s fireball headed on outwards threatening the annihilation of the entire cosmos. The Gods hastened to assure Shiva of the rightness of their intention, so Shiva allowed Brahma to restore Kamadeva in the form of a magical white horse to be cared for by the sea, and the six-headed child Kartikeya was born of the ascending kundalini-serpent-fire of Shiva: the exploding sexual union of Shiva and the Earth Goddess - and the baby was hidden in the care of the Pleiades. Taraka took advantage of the confusion and became even more proud and self-seeking and his atrocities became boundless and ravaging beyond belief. At last the child was grown to the age of seven days and Ganges delivered Kartikeya to the world, born of Fire and Water. The Gods’ war with Taraka had been going very badly; their weapons were blunted, but Vac (Divine Voice) suddenly announced that the small child must take command. Kartikeya challenged Taraka to single conflict and Taraka sneeringly questioned the Gods was this their wish? They agreed. Invoking the blessing of his father, Kartikeya bravely advanced towards the seductive and lethal immensity of the Demon. He seized his mace and smashed the demon to pieces. Thus Kartikeya or Skanda is now invoked as the Kali Yuga Avatara. Only Kartikeya’s divine weapons can defend what is spiritual and good in the Kali Yuga, the Iron Age: this age of fall, of technical achievement and pride – and the sea keeps the white horse in waiting, until it will be released at the next Deluge…

Another myth of Kartikeya is about the strong sexual urge of Martian people, born of Shiva’s ascending seed expressed as fire. Later on, when he grew older, Kartikeya circumambulated the Earth to be worthy to be given a bride, only to find when he returned that his fat chubby elephant headed brother Ganesha had beaten him to it! Kartikeya was left feeling tricked and depressed, so he took off to the mountains to live in solitude. Mars’ strong sexual urge and the individualism of their quest need not bring loving relationship.

Here is a simplified guide to the planetary deity’s associated deities and remedies, which are explored further in the course:

PLANET - Western name	PLANET - Vedic name	VAHANA (‘mount’ – shamanic basis)	HINDU DEITY	Some associated deities (can be studied in the Hinduism, Buddhism or Paganism courses)	Some indicative aromas, oils and herbs (depending on strength of planet)
SUN	SURYA	7-headed horse	Surya, Ravi, Savitur	Agni, Shiva, Re, Apollo	Cayenne, black pepper, fry ginger, cardamom, saffron, calamus, eucalyptus oil
MOON	CHANDRA	Deer	Chandra Soma	Apas, Parvati, The Goddess, Artemis, Vesta, Ishtar, Cybele	Marshmallow, slippery elm, comfrey, Solomon’s Seal, jasmine, gardenia, lotus, lily, sandalwood oil
MERCURY	BUDHA	Lion	Budha	Narayana, Hermes, Thoth	Skullcap, passionflower, betony, chamomile, mint, sage, basil, mint, cedar, thyme, sandalwood, frangipani, lotus
VENUS	SUKRA	White horse		Kamadeva, Aphrodite, Freya	Rose, saffron, jasmine, lotus, lily, iris, red raspberry
MARS	MANGALA	Goat Skanda rides a peacock	Skanda, Kartika, Kuja	Bhumi, Aries	Cinnamon, saffron, cayenne, ginseng, astragals, myrrh, turmeric, asafetida, aloe, ginseng, goldenseal, echinacea
JUPITER	BRIHASPATI	Elephant	Brihaspati	Zeus	Licorice, ginseng, astragals, various nuts and oils.
SATURN	SANI	Ox	Sani	Yama, Yamantaka, Cronos, Saturn	Myrrh, frankincense, guggul, , cedar and juniper
NORTH NODE	RAHU	Lion	Rahu	Bhairava Durga, Shiva, Loki	Camphor, bayberry, sage, eucalyptus, wintergreen, sandalwood, lotus, frankincense, calamus
SOUTH NODE	KETU	Serpent	Ketu	Chitragupta, Brahma,	Sage, calamus, bayberry, wild ginger, juniper, camphor, cedar, myrhh, frankincense, gotu, kola, skullcap, passionflower.