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Yesterday, Astrologer Ashutosh interviewed Astrologer Juliana Swanson, on behalf of Jyotish Biz. The interview was done through Google Chat software. 

This highly informative and intellectually stimulating interview reveals a very interesting and brighter view of the Astrology which is being practiced by the new age astrologers like Juliana Swanson.  

Juliana Swanson is a long-time student and a practitioner of astrology, yoga and the healing arts. She is an ACVA Level II certified Vedic astrologer and a member of the Council of Vedic Astrology.

Juliana is a registered nurse (RN) and polarity therapist (RPP) with over 30 years of experience. She currently specializes in psychiatric nursing and energy-based holistic therapy.

Juliana is also an astrological researcher, private astrology tutor, and instructor for the ACVA Online Program. She lives with her family on Hawaii’s Big Island. You may reach her via her Web site at www.AstralHarmony.com or e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Juliana:  Hello!

Astrologer Ashutosh:  Namaskar! Thanks for taking time to chat with me.

Juliana: Thank you for this opportunity.

Astrologer Ashutosh: What has made me curious all along is…did you begin learning Western or Vedic astrology first?

Juliana: Western astrology was first. From about 1969, I began studying everything I could find about Western astrology, and I began casting charts. I was vaguely introduced to Vedic astrology when I became a devotee of Kriya Yoga in my early teens, as Yogananda's guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, was a Jyotishi. Then I read Alan Leo, who had traveled to India and introduced concepts of Indian astrology in his books. I also read an article by Bepin Behari about karma and astrology in the 70s. I think it was in Theosophy Magazine. And then, I read a Paul Brunton book in which he told a fascinating tale about a Vedic astrologer he met in India. I also studied some of the works of Western sidereal astrologers. Based on their ideas and those of Edgar Cayce, I was curious about the sidereal zodiac and had this gnawing feeling that the tropical zodiac was all wrong. However, it was not until the mid-90s that I crossed over to the "Eastern Side."

Astrologer Ashutosh: And, how did this transition occur?

Juliana: A friend recommended that I have a Vedic astrology reading in the mid 90s, which I did, and I quickly became hooked.

Astrologer Ashutosh: What was the first noticeable and meaningful difference which you noticed between Western tropical and Vedic astrology?

Juliana: Probably the fact that Vedic astrology is aligned with the stars, as I have always been a star gazer. This appealed to me and solved the issue I was having with the tropical zodiac, which is that it is no longer aligned with the stars and just arbitrarily chooses the spring equinox as the beginning of so-called “Aries.” Also, I quickly became attuned to a few of the Vedic astrology dasa systems that worked better than Western progressions for my predictive work. The nakshatras were another perceptible difference that seemed to enliven my interpretation of charts.

Astrologer Ashutosh: Were you practicing as an astrologer using the tropical zodiac before you got interested in Vedic astrology?

Juliana: I was not really practicing full-time as a professional astrologer, but was always reading, studying and casting charts since the time I was a teenager. I also did formal studies in Western astrology. I did charts for friends and relatives and I played around with mundane horoscopes, too. When I was introduced to Vedic astrology, I was working as a holistic practitioner and often cast charts for my clients, not so much for predictive work but to help me understand their issues and so forth. Occasionally, I would do a reading for an astrological client.

Astrologer Ashutosh: Juliana! What I like about your approach toward astrology is that you are open to all ideas from all schools of divination. You seem to be an eternal student of these arts.

Juliana: Yes I am very open to all mystical and spiritual knowledge as long as it is not dogmatic!

Astrologer Ashutosh: And, quite effortlessly you have formed a balance between these diverse sciences which look different on surface but have the same goals.

Juliana: Yes, all systems of astrology have the same general goal, which is to understand self and others. I especially resonate with the term “Universal Astrology,” which my friend Sam Geppi has coined for his astrological work.

Astrologer Ashutosh: Interesting term “Universal Astrology.”

Juliana: It is “universal” because the stars and planets are not just “up there”...they are also “in here.” The complete zodiac and the grahas are found in our subtle spine, which includes the chakras. The lunar nodes are the ida and pingala currents that snake around the sushumna in the subtle spine. So this knowledge brings astrology down to earth. Further, astrology does not belong to any one culture or geographical area. The source of all occult wisdom is the One Supreme Being. This may sound simplistic, but it is my innate understanding.

Astrologer Ashutosh:  The spiritual lessons of astrology.

Juliana: Of course we know that Vedic astrology is steeped in the light of the Vedas, and is part of a deep wisdom tradition that one cannot help but respect and revere. At the same time, many types of Western astrology have a “spiritual” connotation. In fact, much of what I understand about “spiritual astrology” has come through Western astrology teachers. However, when I look closely, I often see that even they have been strongly influenced by the ancient wisdom traditions of India, for instance, the Theosophical system of Esoteric Astrology.

Astrologer Ashutosh: How many different systems of healing, metaphysics and divination have you tried and implemented, Juliana, in part or whole, in your daily practice?

Juliana: I studied occultism, Theosophy, Philosophy and Comparative Religion. I attended psychic school. I also work with the Runes, Tarot and Western astrology, and of course Vedic astrology. I have been a registered nurse since 1977 and have long been interested in alternative healing. I work with homeopathy, color healing, acupressure and massage, foot reflexology, crystals, flower essence and gem elixir therapies. I practice herbal healing, Reiki and MariEl, Polarity Therapy, and Rebirthing (Sacred Breath Work). I am a sound healer and use toning, crystal bowls and tuning forks to clear and balance energy fields. I have explored Ayurveda, Vastu and Fen Shui. I have been a recipient of Shamanic healing and Rolfing myself. I study Huna and Ho’oponopono, which are Hawaiian spiritual practices. I studied Zen Buddhism and also took a class in Tibetan Buddhism at Naropa University long ago with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. I have been involved with yoga for 40 years and practice Nada and Kriya Yoga meditation and Mantra Japa.

Astrologer Ashutosh: Juliana! The exposure and knowledge of so many diverse fields must have worked towards increasing your intuition to great levels.

Juliana: Yes, it has enhanced my natural abilities. I believe that we all have intuitive power but it requires training and effort over time to develop.

Astrologer Ashutosh: There must be times when the mind leaps to correct conclusions without even noticing the leap. I used the term “leap” instead of “jump” because that happens when intuition gets sharpened with experience.

Juliana: Yes, that is an apt description. I like your use of the word “leap”...I am reminded of a ballerina flying across the stage with utter grace!

Astrologer Ashutosh: Almost effortless to an observer…seemingly effortless.

Juliana: But it does require effort…lots of practice and firm intention, and then, intuition can be a double-edged sword. When I am doing astrological counseling or healing, I can often sense the potential for difficult things that will happen based on my intuitive perception of the chart...sometimes I see pictures or hear statements about what will happen, and then I have to transmute the “negative” implication through wisdom and my own process of inner purification.

Astrologer Ashutosh: I understand. Then, there is the task of revealing the future difficulties to the client.

Juliana: Yes, it has to be discussed very gently and carefully, keeping in mind the concept of free will with karma, using open-ended and indeterminate qualifiers, and informing clients that it is impossible for astrology to be absolutely certain regarding the interpretation of character or future events. Because I am empathic, dealing with another person’s karma can feel like a heavy burden, and I have to be careful not to take it on psychically. So I always do energy healing with my readings, whether in person or remotely, to help transmute some of the karma for my clients and myself.

Astrologer Ashutosh: You have mentioned energy healing and Polarity Therapy. Please tell more about it.

Juliana: Polarity Therapy is a comprehensive natural health care system comprising energy-based body work, energy exercises (Polarity Yoga), nutritional counseling and self-awareness. It was developed in the 1940s by the late osteopath and yogi Dr. Randolph Stone. Polarity represents a synthesis of his revelations about various healing systems and theories. According to the Polarity model, health is experienced when energy systems function in their natural state, and when energy flows smoothly without significant fixation or blockage. In the body-work component, a Polarity practitioner stimulates an electro-magnetic relationship of positive and negative poles that corrects the flow of blocked energy. That is the straightforward explanation, though it is much more complicated than that.

Astrologer Ashutosh: Interesting. When and where did you learn it?

Juliana: I studied it from 1988 to 2001, and became an advanced practitioner of it. My instructor was Nancy Risley, in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Her school at the time was called the “Polarity Realization Center.” I was fortunate to have such an enlightened healer as my teacher.

Astrologer Ashutosh: Some astrologers and psychic healers end up as emotional garbage bins.

Juliana: Yes that is a fitting expression—“emotional garbage bins.”

Astrologer Ashutosh: This happens due to the one-way transfer of emotions and negative energies from some clients. How do you manage with it and does Polarity Therapy help with it?

Juliana: Through Polarity and other methods, I have learned to heal with spirit. In order to do this, I have to develop my own consciousness, and to realize that the Divine Spirit manifests in everything as vibration or energy. I consciously attune myself to this higher vibration to bring healing to myself and others in all relationships, including with my astrological clients. My intention is to bring them into their own state of unconditional self love, and to help them access their personal power so they can bring it into the world in whatever way is dharmic.

Astrologer Ashutosh:  OK.

Juliana: Astrologers and healers need to stay in alignment with the higher consciousness. Thus, they need to develop themselves through spiritual and psychic practices. For many, it may be important to be connected to an enlightened spiritual teacher or lineage. Some use a special mantra. Whatever the technique, we have to cultivate spiritual detachment in this work, to do our best to shine the light but not be attached to success or failure. Before and after giving a reading, I have to do my inner practice to cleanse my physical, emotional and spiritual bodies so that I can remain uplifted and in harmony.

Astrologer Ashutosh: Speaking of “harmony,” what are the various astrological and other remedies which you use to heal your clients? I mean remedies involving mantras, gems, aromas, etc.

Juliana: Well, here I will copy my repertoire of remedies that I typed for my students just this last week:

1. Modern upayes (remedies) that I often recommend are massage/body and energy work, psychotherapy, psychic (metaphysical) healing, homeopathy, flower remedies, acupuncture/Chinese medicine, pancha karma (Ayurveda) and other kinds of healing modalities like vitamin-supplements, digestive enzymes...and also, exercise regimes. Or, I might suggest games and puzzles, brain-training exercises or a language course to strengthen a weak Mercury. I might suggest that someone seek financial counseling for an afflicted financial indication. Also, life coaching is a modern upaye, which we already do in a limited capacity as astrologers.
2. Gems and Planetary Gem Elixirs.
3. Mantras, yagyas, yoga, pranayama and color therapy.
4. Meditation and hypnosis.
5. Vastu and Feng Shui. Most important is to promote a restful and peaceful atmosphere and avoid unnatural environments.
6. Yagyas and pujas.
7. Kirtan and other forms of devotion.
8. Yantras.
9. Seva and charity.
10. Yatra (spiritual pilgrimage)

11.     Incense and essential oils (aromatherapy).

12.     Kavach (astral amulet or numerical yatnra.

1. Darshan with a saint.
2. Satsang.
3. Sacred texts and myths.
4. Dietary changes for propitiation (herbs and food items).

Astrologer Ashutosh:  Wow!! So many arrows in one quiver.

Juliana: The secret I have learned is, in a reading, not to give too much information, and also, fine tune the remedies based on the client's interests and predilections.

Astrologer Ashutosh: Yes!

Juliana: It is a science and art to read the chart, but then to prescribe the remedies can be the most important and challenging part. I have to study the chart a while and meditate on it...and then I usually have some possible remedies in mind, but still need the interactive dialogue with the client to find out what he or she might resonate with. Sometimes, often, you will not know what remedy is needed until you give the reading and hear from the client.

Astrologer Ashutosh:  Sometimes much information and even some information given before its time can give reverse results.

Juliana: Yes, knowing what to say and how and when to say it...that's it! For me, it is about being really present with someone, developing rapport and tuning into the higher guidance. Sometimes, just the reading itself...shining the light on someone’s path, and affirming who they are at the deepest level of their being, will be enough. Being a clear mirror to someone else can be very healing.

Astrologer Ashutosh: Yes.

Juliana: When I give readings in person, which is rarer these days, I like to only give a brief snapshot (that is usually enough information for one session), and then put the client on my massage table and give them a healing treatment. It works well.

Astrologer Ashutosh: OK

Astrologer Ashutosh: These days Mars is in its prolonged transit in Cancer. What effects have you observed of this transit on your clients and on other people in general?

Juliana: Tamas!

Astrologer Ashutosh: Darkness.

Juliana: Yes, darkness. Inertia. Stuckness. Materiality. How to get our positive energy flowing becomes an issue. Mars is a tamas graha that motivates us to overcome the difficulties in the world. But when he is in debilitation in Cancer, we can at times feel overcome by tamas.

Astrologer Ashutosh:  Has the tamas increased ever since Mars became retrograde in Cancer?

Juliana: Well, some astrologers say that retrograde neecha Mars acts like it's exalted, but that has not been my experience. I feel it is heavier since retrograde.

Astrologer Ashutosh:  Here I too agree with you.

Juliana: What do you notice?

Astrologer Ashutosh: Mars does not act as exalted when retrograde. In fact, its negative influences have increased, and negative energies have become almost unbearable.

Juliana: For some of us, worse than others.

 
Astrologer Ashutosh: Yes, and the people who are ruled by negative forces…the anti-social elements, the greedy ones, the shady ones, have been getting powerful. For them, the retrograde Mars could be acting as exalted.

Juliana: This is an interesting perspective, and it makes sense to me. As an energy healer, I want to relate this back to the body and the subtle energy system. Mars relates to the will center...the 3rd chakra, where we digest our food and also our experiences, where we get our fire going to help us put our inspiration into action. In Cancer now, Mars’ fire energy gets washed out. So, our will to act can feel somewhat stifled or smothered at times.

Astrologer Ashutosh: Exactly. The will to fight back the evil forces has gone down. Everyone is waiting for something to happen but no one is willing to make it happen.

Juliana; Yes, and we may feel overwhelmed, like we do not have the fire to purify and transmute the negative energies...

Astrologer Ashutosh: Yes!

Juliana: The word “quagmire” keeps coming to me…meaning, “a soft miry land that shakes or yields under the foot, or a difficult, precarious, or entrapping position or predicament.” Mars is bhoomi karaka, relating to the ground of the Earth itself, and we have had some devastating earthquakes recently, such as in Haiti and Chile. Mars has been especially strong since being retrograde, but strong for what is the question. There is emotional, physical, and collective instability in this transit.

Astrologer Ashutosh: Three more months of Mars in Cancer remain. What effects did you see on US economy in last five months?

Juliana: Real estate sales may be showing some slight improvement in certain areas of the country, but lending is still sluggish. Buyers are still looking for bargain-basement prices, foreclosures are jamming up the system, and sellers are holding out for higher offers. Banks are still closing. The jobless rate has apparently peaked, but political upheaval, corruption, and outrage toward the government remain the order of the day. I don’t think we will see great improvement in the economy and other matters until Mars leaves Cancer, which is currently in the evil 8th house of the US Kelleher chart.

Astrologer Ashutosh: Governments, business houses and even the common man all have been promoting and believing in unrealistic goals. Hopefully, as Mars leaves Cancer things will start getting to affordable levels.

Juliana:  Yes, one hopes...and I do believe that all one can ultimately do is be responsible for one's own consciousness in all this mess. So when we see all this confusion, suffering, greed, insanity, oppression, evil, fraud, anger and hatred, we must look inside where these things also exist and forgive ourselves and release ourselves from the vision of negativity we have projected on the world. There is so much fear in the mass mind in the US now...I thought it might ease up when the lunar nodes left Cancer and Capricorn...but now Mars is transiting very close to the point of the solar eclipse of last July 2009...and it is getting ready to station...debilitated in the 8th house...this reflects fear, suffering and difficult karmic events. The only solution is to keep purifying ourselves and letting go of the darkness...invoking compassion and spreading light. Am I sounding like a fanatic or a Pollyanna?

Astrologer Ashutosh: No, I agree with you. This is the actual truth today. 

Astrologer Ashutosh: Jupiter will enter Pisces on 2nd May, 2010. Its last transit in Pisces was very short. This time it will be for a complete year, until 8th May, 2011, with one month of retrogression back to Aquarius in November 2010. This should be extremely good for the economies all over the world. But, any correction in established order requires the destruction of the existing system, and Jupiter actually succeeds in doing just that as Pisces is a dual-natured sign

Juliana: It may bring a good cycle in the US...as it will be in the US chart 4th house which is very strong in Sarvashtakavarga. And for India's Independence chart it will be the 11th lord in the 11th house in its own sign and also extremely strong in Sarvashtakavarga.

Astrologer Ashutosh: So, we can expect great changes in economic policies. Venus will also become retrograde in Libra this year, just like it did in 2002. It has an eight year cycle. Venus was creative then…it marked the beginning of the real estate boom in 2002 from September to December when it was in Libra. If you notice, every eight years it does the same. Before 2002, it was in 1994, when real estate markets shot up. So, this year, it will be a combination of Venus in Libra and Jupiter in Pisces, both strong beneficial forces. Both are teachers, gurus, one for gods and one for demons.

Juliana: The double dharma-karma effect of Saturn in Virgo aspecting (opposite) Jupiter in Pisces will also make some big things happen, and in the Virgo-Pisces axis, this can be in part about healing and transformation.

Astrologer Ashutosh: Judiciary, education, real estate, etc. will be boosted. The humanitarian values will increase; the social organizations will be strengthened. Mars in Cancer is actually necessary to bring the evils of the society to the fore, through some purging of society. This is a necessary cycle.

Juliana: Yes, it is the way of the world.

Astrologer Ashutosh:  A preparation for the next good phase.

Juliana: This is hopeful. Thank you, Ashutosh!