The following are important articles and excerpts from an extensive collection of writings and recordings. We hope you find the material helpful, informative and useful. We have included a contact link for you to join our friendship list. We hope you sign up to receive future updates.

Rhapsody in Blue – Breakthrough Moment in American Art & Culture: Feb. 12, 1924

January 29, 2017September 2, 2022

There are cultural flashpoints in every era. And since musical tastes typically take the longest to develop, flashpoints may be recognized at the time as such. But they can also take many more decades before their impact is fully understood. One such moment was on Feb. 12, 1924 at a concert in New York City, now referred to as “a defining event of the Jazz Age and the cultural history of New York City.” (Wikipedia: Aeolian Hall) The concert became known as a “jazz concert” only years after the event. It was also the world premiere of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Up to that time, Gershwin was largely unknown to the classical music world. Continue reading →

PRINCE OF BROADWAY – LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA brings Alexander Hamilton to (musical) life

December 30, 2016April 2, 2018

On a recent trip to the Caribbean, and while staying on the beautiful island of Nevis, I learned that Alexander Hamilton was born there – a surprise to me and perhaps to many people. So we had to visit his birthplace and the museum there. Coincidentally, upon our return to the U.S., Public television was showing a documentary film on the Broadway musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda. He in turn was inspired by Ron Chernow’s biography of Hamilton, first published April 26, 2004. The musical Hamilton had its World premiere on Jan. 20, 2015 at the Public Theater, New York City and its Broadway debut on Aug. 6, 2015. Continue reading →

POST ELECTION COMMENTARY: Nov. 28, 2016

November 28, 2016September 1, 2018

ELECTION SURPRISE

When most astrologers predicted Hillary Clinton as winner in 2016, using both East & Western techniques and classical rules, it did not turn out as planned. Astrology did not work the way it normally works – at least I can say that for sure using Vedic astrology. I think all along was the revolutionary component that had to be considered and that would shatter all the usual rules we follow, including astrological rules – such as that Trump would lose in the last sub-period of his 18-year Rahu Dasha, which is normally the case. Continue reading →

Election 2016 Update : Oct. 28, 2016

October 28, 2016April 2, 2018

By Edith Hathaway © 2016

2016 PRESIDENTIAL PREDICTIONS & TECHNIQUES

In Dec. 2015 I predicted that the Democrats would keep the White House in 2016 and that the likely Republican nominee was Donald Trump, out of a field of 17 GOP nominees. (Click here for the article.) I also noted that due to the timing to Trump’s birth chart, especially being at the tail end of his 18-year Rahu Dasha (a Vedic planetary period), and losing the protection of transiting Jupiter in sidereal Leo from Aug. 12, 2016, his chances of reaching the presidency would diminish noticeably from that time onward. Continue reading →

ELECTION 2016 UPDATE : Sept. 28, 2016

September 29, 2016April 2, 2018

PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE – Round 1 of 3

The first 2016 Presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump surpassed all previous records for U.S. Presidential debates. It was viewed by some 80.9 million people, plus another four million or more via live streaming and other media venues. This superseded the previous record Oct. 28, 1980 – at 80.6 million – for the one televised debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. For the 2016 debate, most television audiences watched Continue reading →

ELECTION 2016 UPDATE: Aug. 28, 2016

August 29, 2016April 2, 2018

TRUMP STILL AT THE EPICENTER

Donald Trump is still at the epicenter of the 2016 U.S. Election. Though he is currently ca. 6 % points behind Clinton in national polls, no other presidential candidate can match him for sheer entertainment value. He knows how to keep the spotlight focused on him, whether positive or negative. We will shortly cover his progression from glorious media darling to the candidate many media organizations now want to bury. But when he announced his presidential candidacy on June 16, 2015, complete with all the fanfare at Trump Plaza in New York, and only one day after the expected GOP front-runner Jeb Bush announced his candidacy, pundit Ian Bremmer headlined it this way: “How Donald Trump Stole Jeb Bush’s Moment.” This was both correct and prescient. Continue reading →

ELECTION 2016 UPDATE: JULY 28, 2016

July 29, 2016April 2, 20181 Comment

THE POLITICS OF VITRIOL

Political rhetoric has reached new boiling points during the 2016 Election season. Intense hatred for Hillary Clinton on the Republican side is matched by intense fear of a Donald Trump presidency on the Democratic side. The difference is that pro-Trump supporters may now be surpassing pro-Clinton supporters in their fervor. Continue reading →

Election Update: June 27, 2016

June 29, 2016April 2, 20182 Comments

TOP STORY MISSING FROM THE HEADLINES

Nationwide election fraud in the 2016 U.S. Election season to date may exceed anything yet known in American history. Yet this top story in 2016 is conspicuously absent from corporate news headlines, even if numerous voting “irregularities” were reported in many states. The fraud is believed to have occurred throughout the Democratic primaries, where – in state after state – the alleged vote rigging systematically shifted votes to Hillary Clinton from Bernie Sanders, who should have been the real winner in the primaries. Continue reading →

Satguru Sivananda Murty, 1928-2015 – A Tribute

June 1, 2016April 2, 2018

Sivananda Murty

[This article is a slightly edited and amended version of the one that appears in the June-July 2016 issue of Sapatha magazine, a bi-lingual (English and Telugu) bi-monthly magazine from India. This issue is dedicated to Satguru Sivananda Murty at the one year anniversary of his passing on June 10, 2015 at age 87. Sivananda Murty is a revered spiritual master with many followers across India and around the world. Vedic astrologer K.N. Rao wrote this about him on Oct. 11, 2005: Continue reading →

U.S. Presidential Election 2016

March 30, 2016April 2, 20183 Comments

HISTORY & THE PLANETS SHED LIGHT

JU-SA SQUARES IN U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION YEARS

The exact Jupiter-Saturn square coincides with a U.S. Presidential Election year every 20 years, and we can make certain observations about what this configuration means for Election 2016 and for previous U.S. Presidential Elections. For most of 2016, Jupiter and Saturn are transiting in a mutual square relationship, in this case the last quarter square prior to the JU-SA conjunction in Dec. 2020. In 2016 there are two exact squares, March 23 and May 26, 2016. This theme was first introduced in my article “Trump it Up” (Dec. 21, 2015): https://edithhathaway.com/trump-it-up/#more-625. Continue reading →

Election 2016 Update: Feb. 26, 2016

February 26, 2016April 2, 20182 Comments

THE PUBLIC vs. ESTABLISHMENT POLITICS

As we look at the U.S. Presidential primary races and caucuses in late Feb. 2016, we see how themes from 2015 keep reiterating themselves: The voting public is guided in one direction by corporate media (to support establishment politics, keep the corporate-oligarchy dominant, and give the illusion of consensus). But the current planetary configurations indicate that the larger public is becoming more dissatisfied with the status quo, especially regarding financial inequality, and therefore more anti-establishment. They want a candidate who will fight for them and not for establishment politics, which has only widened the already historic inequality gap. This in turn challenges Big Media, which is invested in keeping the status quo and has moved towards the Right since becoming more and more consolidated, from 1983. Continue reading →

ELECTION 2016 UPDATE: Jan. 28, 2016

January 28, 2016April 2, 20183 Comments

Big Planetary Indicators in January 2016

There are FOUR MAJOR PLANETARY SIGNATURES just three weeks prior to the Iowa caucuses on Feb 1, 2016. This event, in turn, launches the four-month long primary season to decide the presidential nominees for the two major U.S. political parties. These planetary markers indicate what is to come shortly in the more critical portion of the early presidential campaign period. In fact they are already showing their influence as of early January 2016. Continue reading →

TRUMP IT UP

December 21, 2015April 2, 20188 Comments

The 2016 U.S. Presidential Election Campaign

News as Entertainment

The mainstream media plays a larger than ever role in the unfolding of the 2016 American presidential campaign, accurately reflecting the infotainment world that corporate media now produces, more so since the early 1980s, when greater and greater consolidation of media ownership occurred across the world, and for example, the United States went from 50 major media companies owning 90% of all U.S. media outlets in 1983, to six major media companies owning 90% of all U.S. media in 2015. Seeking profitability above all, big media made deep budget cuts for investigative journalism and fact-checking, with more focus on speed and flash. Continue reading →

How to read a South Indian chart

3 Comments

South Indian Chart

In this square chart the 12 zodiacal signs (known as Rashis in Sanskrit) are always in the same squares. The Dual signs are in the four corners. Pisces is always in the upper left hand corner, followed directly by Aries, then Taurus, and Gemini in the upper right hand corner. Virgo is in the lower right hand corner, Sagittarius in the lower left. The signs and houses are read clockwise around the zodiac. The Ascendant can be in any one of these 12 signs, and the planets distributed according to where they are in the heavens. All South Indian charts are read like this, and the birth chart is typically shown to the left or above the Navamsha (the 9th harmonic chart.)

How to read a North Indian chart

2 Comments

This chart is in the shape of a yantra (a mystical diagram), with diamond-shaped houses. The Ascendant (known as the Lagna in Sanskrit) is always located at the top central position of the chart. The houses are read counter-clockwise from the Ascendant. In this diagram, H2 indicates the 2nd house, H3 the 3rd house, and so on. The arrows indicate the direction in which the houses are read. Since the Lagna is always set for this format, the typical North Indian chart will have numbers in each house to show what sign of the zodiac resides in that house. The zodiacal sign that is rising is indicated by a number from 1 to 12: Number 1 is Aries, 2 is Taurus, 3 is Gemini, etc. through each of the 12 houses. Thus, if number 3 is in the Lagna, Gemini is rising and is assigned to House 1, Cancer to House 2, Leo to House 3. All North Indian charts are read like this, and the birth chart is typically shown to the left or above the Navamsha, the 9th harmonic chart.

From Sykes-Picot 1916 to ISIS 2015

December 1, 2015April 2, 2018

From Sykes-Picot 1916 to ISIS 2015: Setting the Stage for the 2015 Paris Attacks

“… From a proud tower in the town
Death looks gigantically down.”

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

ISIS is a Sunni Muslim jihadist group in the Middle East that declared itself a Caliphate as of June 29, 2014. Prior to this, the last major official Caliphate was the Ottoman Empire, which had control over the political and religious affairs of a large swath of territory. During the height of their empire in the 16^th and 17^th centuries, the Ottomans controlled much of Southeast Europe, Western Asia, the Caucasus, North Africa and the Horn of Africa – coincidentally, many of the same areas the new ISIS or IS (Islamic State) wants to control again, including almost half of Africa. ISIS presently controls territories within Iraq and Syria. The Ottoman Empire ruled over Iraq from 1533 to 1918; its empire was founded in 1299 and dissolved in 1923 when the secular Turkish state was formed. The Ottoman Caliphate began in 1517 and was abolished March 3, 1924. The Ottomans were predominantly Sunni Muslims, and from the 16^th thru 19^th centuries they were at war with the predominantly Shia Persians. (Shia Muslims currently represent between 10 to 15% of all Muslims, the rest being Sunni Muslims.) Continue reading →

The Libra Ascendant -excerpt

October 1, 2015April 7, 2018

Introduction

Libra is an active or Chara sign, the third Chara sign – after Aries and Cancer – and the only one to occur in the air element. As an air sign it is associated with the Vaishyas, the merchant or trading class. Tula is the Sanskrit word for Libra; it signifies balance and is often symbolized by the balancing scales. Libra expresses Kama – the desire nature, especially the desire to be in relationship and to create a more harmonious environment. At times the intensity of this desire can manifest in a very unbalanced way: Ascendant lord Venus is itself the planet of desire. Thus we observe closely the condition of Venus in the chart and as always, the natal Moon – ruling over the mind. In the process of seeking harmony and balance the Libra person may well create just the opposite. As Indian astrologer K.N. Rao is fond of saying: Libra and 7t h house matters are either “marital” or “martial.” Continue reading →

Syria Boils Over – Into the World’s Problem

September 28, 2015April 2, 2018

Introduction

Syria’s national crisis is gaining the world’s attention – finally. But why now – after several years of increasingly alarming headlines? The state structure may now collapse without outside intervention; Syrian national borders set in place in 1915 -1916 have become totally porous within the last few years; its citizens are fleeing in droves, causing a world refugee crisis not seen since the end of World War II; and as of late Sept. 2015, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has control over only 25 to 30% of Syrian territory due to the increasing power of ISIS, the Sunni- extremist group which now claims a large swath of Syria and Iraq. No longer are the Syrian government’s brutal attacks on the rebels center stage, but also the violent actions of ISIS and its much flaunted and horrific beheadings. Continue reading →

The Virgo Ascendant -excerpt

September 1, 2015April 7, 2018

Introduction

The Sanskrit word for Virgo is Kanya, meaning “the maiden” or “virgin.” Its symbol is a young woman, often pictured in a boat, holding wheat (or corn) in one hand and fire in the other. 1 Given this symbol, we know Virgo is greatly concerned with purity – both in food and agriculture and in mental and verbal discrimination. And if not, the body strongly rebels and may well suffer ill health. Virgo is often asked to carry the fire of dispute and to play the role of arbiter. Continue reading →

The Leo Ascendant -excerpt

August 1, 2015April 7, 2018

Introduction

Leo is Simha (the lion) in Sanskrit. After Aries, it is the second Dharma sign in the zodiac. Leo is fire and a fixed sign, leading towards consolidation. Vedic astrology associates all three fire signs (Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius) with the Kshatriya, or warrior class, which includes political leaders. Kshatriyas have royal status, as do the Sun and the Moon, the two great luminaries and symbols of the King and the Queen, respectively. This includes the signs over which they rule: the Sun rules Leo and the Moon rules Cancer. Since each luminary rules only one sign, their respective Ascendants are important for that reason, among others. Of the three fire signs all associated with royalty, Leo is considered the most royal sign, especially with Magha nakshatra at the start of Leo. Its symbol is a throne room. Continue reading →