The December Solstice (Summer Solstice) is on Wednesday, 21 December 2016 at 9:44 pm on the eastern seaboard of Australia. This day is 4 hours, 58 minutes longer than on June Solstice. In locations south of Equator, the longest day of the year is around this date.
The Nagas
Sri M, author of Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master wrote in his book about encounters with the Nagas, the race of Snake beings. Sri M was fortunate to both witness the arrival of a vimana (a vessel which travels time and space on recitation of mantras) and encounter the Chief of the Nagas, a brilliant hooded serpent with a sparkling gem in the hood. The naga hissed for communication, but was also communicating at a higher level, much higher than ordinary vocal speech. This indicates that the Naga chief had an elevated consciousness and was ordinarily resident in higher dimensions. The naga had descended to the third dimension in the vimana to communicate with Maheswaranath Baba.
We have several purposes in remind you, the reader, of Sri M’s episode of encounter with the Naga Chief. At this time of the December solstice, the planets are all afflicted by a yoga relating to the Nagas; planets are all positioned between the two lunar nodes, Rahu and Ketu. This is call Kaal Sarp yoga, the time of the Snake, since sarpa means snake in sanskritam. It is a time when the planets are ruled by the energy of the Nagas. And at this time, the energy of the Nagas – along with that of other star-people, is raising the consciousness of all beings on Earth to the higher dimensions, the 5th and 6th Dimensions. This state of influence by the Nagas, the star-people who are snakes, will continue until Mars breaks the Yoga on Tuesday, 27 December.
A point of understanding about Nagas and other star people that do not have the image of human: Cosmic Sai Baba has recently been drawing attention repeatedly to the fact that images of the human are different on different stars, galaxies, universes. We are reminded that humans have different coloured skin, different colour of eyes and hair. Colour does not make anyone any less a human just as the soul is the same essence inhabiting all who have life on this planet – and other planets. What differs from person to person is the soul contract. The soul contract has people taking birth in a pre-arranged contract to meet up with certain other individuals, interact with them and achieve certain tasks. Coming back to Cosmic Sai Baba and the different images of star-people, Cosmic Sai Baba clarifies that while forms are different, the essence is the same. They are human, for they have the distinguishing qualities of being, awareness, the exercise of discrimination and the activity of the human values which undergird all the worlds, all the universes. The nagas are advanced humans, higher in consciousness and have a different image, as Cosmic Sai Baba tells.
The Nagas once lived on Earth; they were teachers of spiritual wisdom and guided earthlings toward setting up villages, townships, even construction of the pyramids. If you take a close look at the funerary mask of Tutankhamen, you will see there is a representation of a snake above the mask, indicating that King Tut honoured and worshipped the Nagas.
Funerary Mask showing snake symbols at the top
The Kaal Sarp yoga will end not only with higher vibration but also with a clearing out of unwanted, unneeded energy. Where most think Ascension and the higher dimensions are something to be witnessed externally, the Nagas and the star-people aiding the human are visible within. The higher dimensions exist within the human.
Change of Lordship
At the time of the December solstice, several planets will be temporary masters of signs other than their own, exchanging lordships. In this wise, Mars and Saturn exchange lordship of Scorpio and Aquarius; Mercury and Jupiter exchange their signs as lord, with Jupiter taking lordship of Virgo, and Mercury taking lordship of Saggitarius. These exchanges grant some additional relief to what might have been an otherwise extremely challenging time for seeking balance and steadiness within. Mars has moved beyond the direct aspect of Saturn (less of conflict) and continues to be in exchange with Saturn, helping Saturn to provide some organisation where Saturn normally does very poorly. The Mercury and Jupiter exchange bring a certain lightness – and expansion – to the customary work of spreading news and information about that Mercury does so well. Jupiter, on the other hand, expands and multiplies groundedness, being in an Earth sign and digging roots down deep for some good and peaceful coarse earthiness!
The Equal Sided Cross
There is the Cross and there are Celtic Crosses, Orthodox Crosses and then there is what is sometimes called the Crusader Cross, the one which has equal sided arms. Cosmic Sai Baba has told that if the Cross is encapsulated within a circle, then it is a sign of the Leonines, from the constellation of Sirius. Here, the equal sided cross has a significance within. It is a sign of balance.
We may look upon the equal sided Cross as a symbol – it can actually be focussed upon simply to help find a balance within yourself – as you face East, North, South and West, it is a balance. For within that, you are part of the whole and it is all relevant to where you are facing as to what influences you. If you do not have the practice balance within, then we may end up being pulled out of balance by events, people, situations, alarums and excursions. Another aspect of balance is that the equal sided cross suggests that life is a balance between work, exercise, spirituality and relaxation.
While the planets exchange lordships at the December Solstice, the influence of the planets remains strong, particularly that of Mercury. Solstice day is the day of Mercury (Wednesday) and the tithi, ashtami, is ruled by Rahu who hates to follow right conduct and is a promoter of fraud and station in life that does not have a proper foundation, i.e., Rahu promotes being a charlatan, a kind of knavery, treachery, betrayal, quackery and trickster. Rahu aspects signs 5,7,9 places away, and is aspecting Mercury at the time of Solstice. Effort will be needed to maintain balance.
Crop circle showing 4 dimensional equal sided cross. Crop circle appeared at Cley Hill, near Warminster – Wiltshire; Reported 9th July 2010
The 4 dimensional equal sided cross – although presented to humans before the end of the Mayan Calendar and the baktun long count – indicates that the journey to higher dimensions takes time and preparedness. One needs to be prepared to encounter all things on the journey and not be taken by frauds and charlatans. One also must take care not to be taken in by knick-knackery and tricknology. Where Mercury signifies communication and dissemination of information and bringing information together, we must take care not to be subsumed by the medium nor the message; the influence of Rahu can have us buried in our mobile phones, smartphones, blackberrys, tablets, airpads, simply for the experience. As Rahu represents the masses, effort is needed to not be swallowed by the toxic energies of the public spaces: Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) and Fear of Being Offline (FOBO).
The equal sided cross provides a simple point of balance, and can be used for meditation to bring us deeper into balance and disengage from toxic energies.
The Two Guru’s
We next look to the two planetary gurus in Vedic Astrology, Jupiter and Venus. Jupiter is guru of para vidya (higher wisdom); Venus is guru of apara vidya (worldly wisdom). At the time of the solstice, Venus is aspected by Jupiter in a 5/9 axis which is an extremely beneficial aspect with regard to the energy Venus delivers to our planet from Capricorn. Highlighted by the multiplying affect of Jupiter is the artisan qualities of Venus such as music, dance, filmmaking, acting in theatre, gardening, communing with nature. Jupiter is in an Earth sign as is Venus, so strong grounding will be on offer at the time of this solstice. One takes up the energies (grounding, magnetic, and all other energies) for one’s advance. We need to learn to utilise the energies planets make available to us.
Venus, on the other hand, being in 5/9 relation to Jupiter, also provides an aspect to the purposes of Jupiter. Where Jupiter may go to excess with food and drink, merrymaking and wassail in this season of Yuletide, Venus actually provides some brakes to Jupiter. Venus, being giver of street-smarts and worldly wisdom, can enable one to make quite good decisions for your personal environment, for your friends and family and for the well-being of the community. Venus – being in that 5/9 relationship – WILL nudge Jupiter to take common sense and apply it to all the merrymaking of the season, and all that Yuletide has to offer. So we can have an opportunity to have well grounded common sense (Venus in earth sign) and well grounded spiritual sense (Jupiter in earth sign).
Man has to recognise his indebtedness to society and his duty towards it; this is the best way to solve the troubles of the day. Attention is paid only to arguments and counter arguments, propositions and oppositions, plans and programmes; the aim of the egocentred is more to win a verbal victory than achieve a valid target. No attempt is made to foster the social virtues of honesty, tolerance and cordiality. In this time of the December solstice, the mutual aspect of Venus and Jupiter provide spiritual intelligence and worldly intelligence to resolve both personal and social problems which confront us today. We can proceed with confidence, for we have purva punya, credit from compassionate actions in past lives, as signified by the 5th aspect of Jupiter onto Venus.
The December solstice is a time of fruition of particular energies that the Earth has been transiting since 21 December 2012. We are 4 years down the path, confronted with chaotic nodes of religious fanaticism, mass migrations of humanity, political transitions and ecosystem collapse. In this time, the Earth herself has been raised to the 4th and on to the 5th Dimension; ditto mineral, plant, animal and human life. ALL life on our planet will make this transition, we have been told – repeatedly – by the Ascended masters, spirit guides from the Angelic Realms, and the Source of Creation of ALL itself.
At this time of December solstice, we find that the Kaal Sarp higher energies and higher faculties upon the human. We find that planets exchanging lordship provide the opportunity for balance within, and for steadiness as outer challenges continue. We look to the offer of both groundedness and the mixture of common sense + spiritual sense on offer as Venus and Jupiter give 5/9 aspect one to the other. This is a time when one may both protect one’s own family and friends and also uplift the community at large with the compassion and understanding these planets give.