At the Lodge - 12th May 2003

Lodge Lecture | Members' Classes | Charts Discussion

Lodge Lecture

It was great to welcome back a familiar face tonight. Komilla Sutton gave a talk on Astrology and Gemmology. In India Astrology, Palmistry and Aye Veda (Medicine) are all considered as a whole. Part of the culture is to understand your birth energy and what you have to do about it and in particular the Karma of the chart. If you understand your difficulties you can work with them. Problems in life don't go away so you have to open a way of providing remedies for them. Intense problems are usually on a materialistic level.

Therapies help, particularly if you have faith in them. So this talk was about the remedy of Gems. Using a good quality gem - cut well - will concentrate on the rays of the sun and give you energy. There are gems to represent each planet (outer planets are not used in Vedic Astrology). Komilla talked of a necklace of gems representing all the planets as the best protector. Of course they have to be able to reflect the rays of the sun, so if you are not able to expose the necklace then gems can be worn on the fingers of the hand.

So assuming you can afford the best, you will need a ruby for the Sun, a pearl for the Moon, coral for Mars, and emerald for Mercury, a yellow sapphire for Jupiter, a diamond for Venus, a blue sapphire for Saturn, hessonite for Rahu and cats eye for Ketu (the two Moon's shadows).

If you cannot afford the best then wearing lesser stones, like jade for Mercury or even wearing the colours of the planet brings out their powers. You can also wear metals or eat the foods of the planets. The days of the week, which are also represented by the planets, can be helped by wearing the stone of the planet on that day. Most gemmologists will not sell Saturn's stone. It has to be worn on approval.

The Ascendant ruler fortifies your energy and of course the trine aspects of 5th and 9th house rulers also. A fascinating talk. For more information on Komilla, go to her website

Members' Classes

Tonight saw the first of the series of classes on Astronomy with Nick Kollerstrom Tonight's class concentrated on the story of the Zodiac. It is the ongoing story of evolution of the human race. Measured by the ecliptic and by the equator the ancients experienced their astrology/astronomy as they saw it happen in the sky. It started in Babylon with the monitoring of the seasons and noticing that the Moon goes round the Sun thirteen times, so at some point in history a Zodiac framework came into being. By the 2nd millennium the Caldeans divided the sky into time and 360 degrees of the heavens. By the 3rd century BC the stars were allocated degrees. There were originally 17 constellations.

The zodiac arrived in Egypt in 300 BC and it was the Egyptians who created pictures to represent the stars. Around 250 BC the line of the Tropical and Sidereal Zodiacs coincided with Spica at the end of the Virgin. The 5th century AD the first horoscopes were drawn looking something like they do today with Ptolemy. It was also being used by the Greeks at the same time. As the Greeks used the seasons and the vernal points their concepts were used to produce a calendar. Astrology became fashionable in Greece and Rome. They used the circle of animals for the calendar and the sidereal for farming. After Ptolemy Veteus Varnes in Syria put the four elements into the Zodiac. In the nineteenth century the pictures disappeared and dots and lines appeared and the modern boundaries came in the 20th century. In 1995 a thirteenth sign was discovered on the foot of the Scorpion, Ophiuchus - thus giving us 12 signs, 13 constellations.

Carole West

Charts Discussion

This week - charts discussion simply flowed like a river.

First Mavis showed the chart of Mr Robert C Atkin - the diet man - who proposed that you eat more fat in your diet e.g. bacon, butter etc. and reduce your carbohydrate and you would lose weight. Guess what? He had a Mercury opposition Uranus - different ideas.

Next Wanda did a 'guess who' chart - Leo rising with Pluto on the ascendant. However the best thing about this chart was Moon at 21 degrees Sagittarius trines the Midheaven was at 21 degrees Aries with Jupiter very close to the MC. The Venus was at 21 degrees Gemini (conjunct Mars) sextiled the MC - this man was very popular as he has a little help from the fortunes. Never been married and a very private person - well Venus/Mars conjoined in Gemini in the lucky 11th house and the privacy - Pluto in the 12th house. The chart was that of Al Pacino, who had just been voted the world's favourite actor in a poll shown on TV on Saturday.

Then we looked at the chart of Israel, as the previous day in the interview between Prime Minister Sharon of Israel and Colin Powell of the USA, Prime Minister Sharon had confirmed that Israel would be making concessions to Palestine albeit not at the expense of their security. Also Israel will be celebrating their solar return this week and Mavis had been kind enough to bring this chart with her. After reviewing both charts it was decided that Israel needed a new beginning and a new chart!! Their solar return chart for 2003 shows very positive aspects especially towards the end of the year.

This led to a debate about water, especially rivers as it transpires that the long-term problem in the region is water. It was discussed that Turkey are building dams which will effect the head waters of the Tigris and Euphrates and this will cause problems in Syria, Iraq, Jordan Israel... It just so happened that I had brought the birth chart of Turkey along with the event chart of the recent Earthquake. So we looked at this chart and what was happening. We discussed Turkey's relationship with the EEC and the politics of the country and we just loved the grand trines in water (!!!) which jump out at you at the chart.

So it flowed like a river and was over so quickly. Next week we are going to discuss the Earthquake in Turkey and I have more mystery charts to show. Hope to see you there. By the way Mars was conjoining in the early hours of Tuesday morning - so it was a great evening to discuss water!!! And of course, afterwards go down the pub.

Gill Dorren

Lodge Lecture | Members' Classes | Charts Discussion