Is astrology making a big comeback in our lives today?

In contemporary times, most people’s familiarity with astrology has been limited to reading monthly or weekly forecasts in newspapers and magazines. It was not so in the past when it played an important role in the fixing of coordinates of significant milestones in people’s lives like marriages, birth and funeral rituals. Astrology was a prominent feature of state craft as rulers of yore had official astrologers appointed in their courts. Experts in it were revered and consulted with great deliberation to arrive at auspicious times and to avoid the inauspicious ones to perform pujas. The astrologer had the last word in fixing things, with people following his words in letter and spirit. No doubt some of those astrologers were masters in the subject and deserving of such veneration. 

At the same time, blind faith in it by the people has encouraged quacks to don the mantle of astrologers and try to fool or scare without any basis or scholarship. That is how, astrology as a science took a hit and widespread scepticism about it took root in society. Its importance started waning during the colonial period. Western education added to the alienation people felt about it as they started equating it with a whole lot of mumbo jumbo. It became a light hearted ‘time pass’ rather than a source that could provide a serious input into managing lives. 

If you remember, there was a best-selling astrologer-author Bejan Daruwalla whose pocket sized books on all the zodiac signs were a hot favourite , more as a part time dalliance than any kind of serious consideration. And people generally consumed those generic forecasts with a generous pinch of salt. One’s hopes were raised by positive predictions and one generally ignored the negative ones as some make-believe stories, to be read and forgotten. Then there was Linda Goodman who was a worldwide phenomenon at one point in time with her successful books, “Sun Signs” and “Love Signs” becoming best sellers. The net result was that they were good conversation cues and everyone had an opinion on something or the other! Science and technology were making huge strides and the relevance of astrology was being questioned. 

Till the pandemic happened and the world was riddled with uncertainty and doubt. People started to look for answers to puzzling questions and viewed astrology afresh, as a source for those answers. Would that mean that astrology could really predict the future and also mitigate imminent dangers? Could the stars be influenced to be more benevolent, could major catastrophes be deflected? Legitimate scholars with years of study and practice started speaking up and offering rational explanations and deductions. Astrology, as a result, started coming into its own, not as an esoteric and dodgy pursuit but one embedded in serious enquiries to test hypotheses and draw conclusions. 

More and more people are planning ceremonial events around the stars. The 'Saya' months are very heavily booked everywhere as far as venues, pandits, decorators, caterers and musicians are concerned. It becomes a completely seller-driven market with clients running around to book events, much in advance. So great is the rush that invited guests, both domestic and overseas are having to book travel tickets months in advance to get better fares! Surge pricing rules as the stars have decreed the most auspicious days astrologically!

There is a new understanding of astrology being a rational and accurate prediction of the future, when applied by a trained and knowledgeable practitioner. Riddhi Bahl’s new book “Astrology Simplified” demystifies astrology for the lay reader with evidence to show how it is actually based on scientific calculations. She is a practicing astrologer and Vastu expert having spent many years in serious study.  She happens to be the great granddaughter of the former royal astrologer of the royal house of Jaipur Shri Madhusudan Ojha. She is also involved in research in her subject for the contemporary context. Why is that necessary, you may ask. Her answer is simple! The astrology that was being practiced earlier was for a different world, different from the complex one today, impacted deeply as it is by things like climate change, a pervasive geo-politics that threatens to blow up the world any moment, pandemics that lurk around corners, man’s increasing greed and the earth’s inability to feed it unconditionally and the consequent tinkering with the constellations that is jeopardising life on earth. Called Mundane astrology, one of Riddhi's interest lies in connecting the dots on the big picture as it emerges in the times to come. 

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