case studies — general introduction

So, how does this work? All the charts used on the following Case Study pages were randomly selected from a public database but based upon various seed patterns to give some focus. This means that most of these cases are drawn from ordinary people with ordinary aims. The reason? If you can overcome the extra hurdles of being spiritually inept as demonstrated in these cases then you surely can make headway with your own particular karmic challenges. For you, at least, have sincere interest in the spiritual path.

This echoes an old principle from the martial arts: train harder than you ever expect to need in real combat. In short, these natal wheels show dysfunctional patterns arrayed in various guises but all of them nailed to ordinary, worldly concerns. They represent a first hurdle to the spiritual journey and need to be dispatched if one can ever even hope to start a true trek towards Light.

The fixes illustrated below first balance out the primary axis (an overwhelmingly worldly focus) and then show a way to ignite the secondary axis (start of ethical and spiritual growth). All the these fixes draw from the related practice level. For instance, the case studies on this page utilize the physical level tools introduced on the preceding Whole-body Movement page.

Finally, on occasion, a fictitious name parades around to help ease the presentation but birth details and real identities for all examples are not given. The focus here turns toward energy work and decidedly not toward getting enmeshed in the thrills and chills of personal narratives. Everybody has a story. What’s different is that some figure out a way to become more than their story.

case 1 — Artha way up, moksha WAY down

In a nutshell: this fellow, call him Smith, had a calling: to smash the outer world and create a better life … for himself and his minions. In Hindu terms, his dharma (life mission) was artha (accumulation of possessions in various forms). To this, he added an aggressive bent and subtracted what little mercy and care ordinary folks usually get bequeathed from nature. Sounds like your ordinary powerful and successful business person or politician, huh? Yeah.

However, it also represents you … just in extreme. Why? Every human gets the same standard issue from life: we are, all of us, animals mostly and only secondarily, humans (some capacity to be more than animal). All societies and cultures masquerade this blatantly obvious reality under a mountain of propaganda, delusion and misinformation. Hence, fixing the energetic wiring for this guy really offers you a glimpse of how to plump up the pillow of your own life into something more becoming and aligned with choosing the higher path.

Here we go. Left chart first: the top box (number 11, Aquarius) relates to Smith’s identity in the world and the way he actually operates. Venus gives you diplomacy and beauty (attractive and appealing) while Ketu gives you the elite but also often ruthless and destructive, or at least, headless and not mindful of others’ needs. To confirm this potential for crazed power mongering, you find his soul, Moon (AK) in Leo (number 5) along with Rahu (greed, personal focus, neurotic behavior). Leo in this case is the seventh house which signifies the outer world (society, others). Therefore, a clean sweep it is: not only is his mind bent on conquest of things (anything will do) but his very soul chips in and seconds the motion. And, Rahu too. Yowza!

Okay. So, he’s a powerful tyrant and probably a criminal of some sort. Who cares? Everybody’s got a rap on this planet. That’s just his. But, if you’re considering all this from the spiritual perspective, then there’s a considerable bummer facing this guy. And, why?

Quick review: primary axis = worldly activities and goals = houses 1 and 7 = the rectangles numbered 11 and 5 in the above left chart. It’s an axis because you imagine a straight line from one box to the other. Usually, the most powerful fireworks manifest from this axial stream of energy. You find yourself confusedly alternating between fending off and running after cornucopias of enticing experience. You name it. The world can dish it up—and more. Every chart has a primary axis (1° axis). For those shown on this webpage, the 1° axis will be the top and bottom boxes. Top box = you (or the person being studied) and bottom box = the rest of the world (the outer: society, nature).

Great. But where’s Spirit in the chart? That’s the secondary axis (2° axis) and for charts on this page it always goes from far left to far right. For our bud, Smith, this will be the rectangles numbered 2 and 8. Nothing there, eh? Who would’ve thought?

Consider each box in the kundali (chart) as a home, hotel or resort of some ilk—say, a Club Med. The key factors for any resort are: location, who runs the place, and what sort of guests frequent the place. If you’re worldly wise, all three need to be looked at before you book your tickets. And it turns out that the same checklist applies for any esoteric getaway or honeypot.

Any luck booking in a supernal destination even if only as a furtive dabble at being a spiritual tourist? Nope. Zip, zero. The locations for true spiritual progress always remain the same (far left, far right) but for this chap the owners, Venus and Moon (for number 2, Taurus) and Mars and Ketu (for number 8, Scorpio) all find themselves trashed in one way or another. The owners aren’t out to help him find his way past the worldly drudge of being at the top of the heap (what a drag, wouldn’t you say? hah!). And who would want to frequent the secondary axis in his chart—such arcane, psychic places? Why no one, of course.

Hmm, you’ve got a clean sweep, a homerun, a goal, a winning shot. Moving on, the right chart (Arudha lagna) depicts what society and the world—earth itself—have to say about the matter. And, what do they think? How do they craft circumstances to ensure their own ends? Well, you apply the same analysis. There are further details, of course, but the gist remains the same: check primary and secondary axes.

For the right chart (called the Arudha lagna, which means the left chart was rotated to synch into what society and earth want for the guy), Mars (war, aggression, vitality, concern for self) at the top confirms he has a militant, if not violent, streak to him. Nobody hangs out in the secondary axis houses and the owners of these houses are again all beaten up and distorted. He’s meant to be worldly and dominate others. For most folks, that’s the end of the story until death does them in.

But let’s say this character has a revelation or some life-shattering experience that throws his world upside down and he suddenly gets an itch for the higher road of conscious evolution. What to do? First, a visit to the check-in desk of higher knowledge to situate the context: For sure, dreamland is the norm. But simply going along for the ride with everyone else will NOT get you free or to a better place spiritually. You have to buck the system—not violently but with true pluck, valor and effort. In yoga, this process relates to a niyama (observance) called tapas (discipline).

Which means? Which means he should focus most on cultivating supportive energies related to the secondary axis and only attend to the primary axis enough to meet his commitments but not one ounce or step more than that. What happens?

Through struggle and determined practice he cultivates agni (a form of subtle energy related to heat and knowledge). And it is this agni—spiritual fire—which purchases him entry to real—that is, really effective—sādhana (spiritual practice). He can change his life. But the price is effort, lots of effort.

Maybe in the coming decades AGI or ASI (artificial super intelligence) will save the day and we can all just kick back, goof off and have a grand old time. Maybe. The wise money says not. Actually, it’s obvious that—barring a miracle—the story is already all over for humans and their insane folly … good riddance to the insanity.

Then why try, if the jig is already up? Because life (you know: nature and physics and metaphysics and all that stuff) is way more subtle than mere common sense, and even, way more subtle than deep spiritual insight. The master simulation you currently flop around in along with all your kith, kin and kindred chums takes no prisoners. It was developed by—and gets maintained by—incredibly advanced lifeforms. So advanced that we only get glimpses of their workings from many, many levels lower in the building of reality.

The upshot? If you change your outlook on life AND you can deeply change your energy pattern (karma and related streams), the simulation bends itself enough for you to check out of one hotel and park yourself into another. All advanced yogis say this. Beyond words, they experience this. Their words and experiences are closer to the true and real than all the fiction of ordinary life and ordinary dramas.

The end of human civilization is nothing to sneeze at but compared to our universe, or even deeper, the master simulation (metaverse and beyond), such drama reeks of bad fiction and will soon pass one way or another. Not much you can do about that. But you can change yourself.

Thus, back to Smith and his woes: beginning step? Learn to sense qi. It’s that simple—and, that hard. Now, he’s got Rahu and Ketu smack dab on the primary axis. Here’s a rule to remember: wherever you find this pair in a chart (usually across the street from each other such as in this chart), you have immediate access to a deeper current of qi, lung and prana (spiritual energies). Which means? Geez, the crook doesn’t even have to try … he’s already loaded with high voltage. The trick for him entails finding a healer, shaman or spiritual adept who can coach him on how to apply the heavy hitting juice for personal growth and not for beating up his opponents (just about everyone by his way of thinking).

So, think about your natal chart (rashi chart or D1 chart). Where are that paranormal pair of perennial thorns in you sides? That is: where do you find Rahu and Ketu? Make no mistake: they have their good parts too but for most folks and for most of the time, it’s Murphy’s law (expect the worst for that’s what mostly happens). Now, you are NOT trying to fix this pair. They’re just doing their thing. Good for them. Your job hinges upon transforming the energy they sling at you into higher and purer forms. This is not fiction. This is not folly. It’s a sure bet. All you need is qigong, advanced yoga or some other bona fide energy medicine to effect the changes you’re after.

Can do! Remember the Seabees? If you’ve seen enough World War 2 flicks you will have come across them. They were (and are) Construction Battalions for the US Navy. Their motto is “we build, we fight” and even more pithily, “can do!”. You don’t need a worldly war to get in on the act. The essence of your plight in this world system revolves around the certainty that you are in a war with ignorance and other spiritually depressing energies. No one will help you unless you start to yourself. Seabees … go get ‘em.

Back to work: you have two choices. Either tap into the Rahu - Ketu axis of the left chart (D1 or rashi chart) above or use the right chart (AL or arudha lagna). Note that the box numbers will be the same for both the left and right charts (Rahu in box 11 and Ketu in box 5). What varies? The location of these boxes.

As a refresher: you read the chart like a circle (in this case, it zig zags but you still follow a counterclockwise pattern starting from the top box. That is called the lagna (ascendant) and is house 1 (the number 11 means that it is constellation 11, Aquarius). The next house is 12 and then the next is 1 and then 2 and so on. A house is different than a rashi (constellation). Houses are more superficial than rashis but usually have first dibs on what happens. A rashi is deeper and has more power than a house but only when the activities cut deeper than normal everyday experience.

So, larger than life experiences directly link to the rashi level. As examples: a great political leader, someone extremely rich, a very famous person, a brilliant scientist and an advanced spiritual master would all be operating at levels where the rashis are important considerations along with the usual houses.

For Smith, the D1 axis is more powerful (since it includes two kendras; houses 1, 4, 7 and 10 are kendras) but the Rahu-Ketu axis (house 3 to house 9) of the arudha lagna chart will do just fine. For Smith, this house 3 - 9 axis of the AL chart relates to initiative, plans and practical short-term steps in the direction of sparking consistent sadhana (spiritual practices such as internal martial arts, qigong, pranayama and meditation—activities that make a difference and not just wishfully waving an incense stick at the altar).

This is good advice regardless of where you find the astral pair of Rahu and Ketu—who are shadow planets (they live on the astral plane and not down here in the physical world). In Hindu myth they are asuras (demi-gods). Uh … what’s the good advice? Ah, glad you asked: Activate and harmonize the nodes wherever they show up in the chart. They represent a level of power beyond this solar system (and its planets). Recall the old adage: follow the money. They’re the money!

How? Use yoga and energy work—real juice, things that craft certain change! And keep at it relentlessly. As your metaphysical practice deepens, your inner skills will too. Eventually, you will change the Rahu - Ketu axis so profoundly that your karmic patterns will start to unravel. Awesome! This hits different and is what genuine spiritual practice entails and aims for. You deserve much more than a bucketful of grunge. Now, just follow through and your story will shift. Life itself will snowball in your direction.

What about the secondary axis? Yes, you are right: that’s the goal. But here’s the bottom line: no harmonized but strong energy, no secondary axis. Again, all serious spiritual aspirants concur. As an instance, ponder what the great Bon master Shardza Rinpoche had to say. What are his credentials? Many, of course, he was a great scholar and yogi but most famously, he demonstrated complete mastery over the physical plane by exiting the planet upon his “death” in about 1935 as a body of light—very little of his earthly form remained. In Tibetan culture, he achieved the rainbow body. Whew.

To paraphrase his words: you only need two items in your knapsack to get to heaven (the higher realms): intense and balanced midline energy (tummo in Tibetan, kundalini in Hindu, and neidan in Daoist traditions) and then, constant, unwavering focus with clarity and expansive awareness of the present moment (rigpa of Dzogchen; nirvikalpa samadhi of Hindu yoga). That’s it. Just two. Count them: two. However, let’s try something eminently practical.

To wit: first things, first. Get the energy part churning a ways and then you can up the ante and tie in the secondary axis. The whole plan stares you in the face from the chart. But you can only proceed as fast as you can rack up some points in the cosmic VR game.

One last idea for this chart: wherever you find Rahu and Ketu (called the two nodes), you should regulate the signs (rashis) they reside in. Why? There’s a direct mapping between signs and meridians. You can harmonize the nodes through qigong, acupuncture or other energy work! You always have 11 = Aquarius = Gall Bladder meridian and, 5 = Leo = Heart meridian. The mapping for all the signs and meridians was given here: Rashis and the Meridian Clock.

How you treat the meridians will change depending upon the house locations of the nodes. To finish this example, Smith has Rahu - Ketu in houses 1 - 7 of the rashi chart. These houses, together as an axis, have a larger than life quality naturally built into them. They give the treatment a particularly strong focus and spin. it In contrast, although the nodes are in the same signs in both the rashi chart and the arudha lagna chart (so the meridians for both are the same), the houses for the AL move to houses 3 - 9. This axis activates different patterns than the house 1 - 7 pattern: here the emphasis becomes more on the individual and especially about issues of emotional integrity and personal power. Changing your life, and even the world, all starts from this axis.

Look up the acupoints in any Chinese Medicine text about acupuncture and you have a start. Other points reside along these channels such as Tung’s acupuncture points and points related to deep space objects such as galaxies from the Local Group. It’s endless … there are plenty of levers for you to pull on and tweak … you just have to show up and try. Up to you.

To conclude, there are three important levels to balance: surface (houses), deep (constellations) and even deeper (deep space objects). We have discussed the first two in this case study.

To recap: It’s not possible to jump straight to midline work (tummo, kundalini, neidan). Some preliminary energy cultivation must occur. Wherever the nodal axis sits in a rashi chart (or equivalently, the AL) represents a mother lode. You can cultivate and balance prana for the meridians related to the two ends of the axis (the signs where Rahu and Ketu reside). This provides you a surfeit of qi to stash into your qi bank account. You are then set to continue along the path and scale the heights of midline energy work (tummo, kundalini or neidan—take your pick).

What about the deepest of the three levels to be balanced? It relates to galaxies and superclusters and other enormous beasties. Surely treating this level is important too? Right you are. But the opportunity to touch and eventually manipulate such deep space objects only swings into view after you get to and master genuine midline work (tummo, kundalini, neidan). In turn, mastery of midline energy can only happen after one achieves very deep concentrative states known as the jhanas in Theravadin Buddhism—you can take them as early stages of samadhi. Quite a feat to get that far on the tramp to higher ground, for sure. Indeed, just to start serious midline practice brings tremendous blessings for you and the world around. Hey, it’s all like a VR game for the thoroughly sane. Here’s your chance: main character for an ultimate challenge. Bet!

If you give these techniques even 10 minutes a day for a month or two you will be amazed—and, in a better place to pick up the chase as described in the next case study which addresses yoga and pranayama. No harm in reading ahead but do the right thing, will you? Practice. Practice, practice until you are blue in the face. And then? Yeah. Practice some more.

Sorry, if this sounds like bad news or lost in space somewhere off the grid but if you put your nose to the ground and take the time to drink in what all those other moving blobs out there do, you will eventually conclude that winners (take your pick: sports, the arts, finance, film, power, chill, knowledge, service, what have you) vary in size, shape and language but all knot together in one way: they ALL work hard, and then even harder, on and on, until they reach their goals. So get yourself vibing and understand the assignment. It’s not so bad, no cap. Once you make this gig a habit you’re on easy street.

Just keep going and don’t give up, ever. As they say in Tonga, “ʻOua naʻá ke teitei tukuange ʻa e ʻulungāngá.” Which means? You can guess, surely? Never let go of character.