Kaarl Sarp

While searching for information for a future post I came across mention of Kaal Sarpa Yoga. It comes from vedic astrology. Basically, it occurs in a natal chart when all the traditional planets (which excludes Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) lie between the north and south Nodes of the Moon, then Kaal Sarp or Kala Sarpa (the name varies from source to source) comes into play.
Wikipedia has a fairly clear explanation.

I'm not sure whether to take its interpretations/ predictions with a pinch or two of salt, as I do with most ancient interpretations relating to the Fixed Stars, or whether to consider Kaal Sarp more seriously.

In my own natal chart all traditional planets lie between Moon's north and south nodes, aka Rahu and Ketu. Only Pluto and Neptune lie outside that span. I have noted, and there's a post about it somewhere, that some of the important events of my life have coincided with times when the Moon's nodes are in natal position or directly opposite that, or, sometimes in line with the vertex or opposite.

As Wiki also tells us, there are "different types of Kala sarpa yogas. Since Rahu and Ketu are placed at 180° to one another, they can form twelve different types of Kala sarpa yogas." The different types depend upon house position. I'm not sure how nearly house positions translate from vedic to western astrology. If they are more or less the same, Moon's node positions in my chart are: north node in 5th in Scorpio, south node in 11th in Taurus. That combination = something called Padma Kalasarpa Yoga.

Oh my! Most of the interpretation doesn't fit, the only direct hits are "no progeny" and "death in a foreign land" (but not yet!!) Suffering will be up to 48 years... okay, I'm in the clear now then, and though I've had a few ups and downs I haven't suffered unduly. I did have to undergo a major operation (hysterectomy) at age 46, which sort of ties in with north node in 5th house (Scorpio). South node is conjunct Uranus, maybe that has significance too.

However, perhaps it's unwise to mix eastern with western astrology. Taking one stray concept and attaching it to an entirely different "system" is likely not to be recommended. Any thoughts on that, or on Kaal Sarp generally ?

Bhrigu Samhita

An article at Answers.com pulls together, in brief, most of the scattered and often garbled information on this topic so far available on the net: BHRIGU SAMHITA
It begins: "Bhrigu Samhita: An ancient Hindu astrological treatise, said to contain details of millions of lives, with horoscopes drawn for the time of consultation"

It's not easy to be clear on how much of the story is legend, grown gradually around some original facts, but it certainly is fascinating to consider that an Indian astrologer, many centuries ago, with his students, could produce horoscopes decades or centuries in advance, for anyone who would ever visit and seek the wisdom of their predictions in the future. The date and time of a seeker's visit would lead the astrologer to the correct horoscope from the thousands, or millions, originally prepared. Well - that was the theory before the Bhrigu Samhita was partially destroyed, and the remaining parts scattered to several different locations.

A type of horary astrology in reverse must have been involved, together with interpretation of natal planetary positions and predictions based on these and future cycles, and perhaps other factors of which I'm ignorant.

Some researchers have come to the conclusion that there is much fraud perpetrated in the name of Bhrigu Samhita in India. I don't doubt that over many years use of the legend was seen by some astrologers of lesser integrity as a way of enticing clients. This doesn't mean though that the whole story is untrue or in any way fraudulent. If true, in its entirety, though, it does rather point towards the fact that we humans have a fated destiny rather than the free will many of us assume is ours.

Another brief informative piece can be read at Kamalkapoor.com , and Googling "Dr David Lane Bhrigu Samhita" will point any interested passing reader towards several links describing Dr. Lane's quest, as mentioned in the Answers.com article.