A Conversation with Astrologer Dennis Flaherty
By Charlotte Benson
Interview Date: 4/20/12
Charlotte Benson: Thank you so much Dennis for taking time out of your unbelievably busy schedule to give us an interview at the Jyotish Star. Tell us, how did you become interested in Astrology?
|  | Dennis Flaherty: I became interested in philosophy and astrology in my teens. I had a strong interest in comparative religion and began my formal study of western astrology, right after high school, with a teacher from the AFA. (American Federation of Astrologers) Like many hobbyists, I did charts in my spare time, and later this evolved into a full time practice in 1987. I then met my late business partner and dear friend, Bruce Hammerslough. Together we opened what was to become the NW Institute of Vedic Sciences. Kate Sholly interviewed me for The Mountain Astrologer back in the June 2001 edition entitled: �East - West Astrology: An Interview with Dennis Flaherty� This interview is available on my website and it provides more background information on me and my approach to astrology. |
Charlotte: Who has inspired and influenced you in your study of Vedic astrology?
Dennis: I must first credit James Braha and his 1986 breakthrough book, �Ancient Hindu Astrology for the Modern Western Astrologer,� as a foundational influence. I was so impressed with this seminal work that I invited James to present a workshop on Vedic astrology for a largely western astrology audience at the Washington State Astrological Association when I was President in 1989 - 1990. James suggested I contact Dr. Dennis Harness, who I met during an earlier UAC (United Astrology Conference). Dennis then invited me to speak at the 1st International Symposium on Vedic Astrology in San Raphael, CA in 1992, a conference that he was organizing with Dr. David Frawley (Vamadeva).
The rest is well recorded history, as I later had the good fortune to become one of the four co-sponsors of the continuing series of International Symposiums on Vedic Astrology, along with Dennis Harness, David Frawley, and Jim Kelleher. In that atmosphere, like many in our community, I was blessed early on to have been influenced by many of the great teachers we sponsored through the continuing symposiums. I invited many of them to lecture in Seattle for post symposium workshops. A few of the early ones who come immediately to mind are of course BV Raman, Chakrapani Ullal, and Bepin Behari. I still remember my first reading with the late Narendra Desai. He looked at my chart enthusiastically and exclaimed: �You have Uranus stationary direct in your chart. You must be an astrologer!� I was flabbergasted to finally meet an Indian astrologer that used the outer planets!
Most recently, I sponsored Gayatri Devi Vasudev as my keynote speaker at the NW Vedic Sciences Conference in 2010 in Seattle in 2010. I feel blessed and privileged to have been part of the process that brought forth so many of our great teachers of the Vedic system. I have been sponsoring and recording the great teachers for over 20 years and have one of the most extensive audio recorded libraries of their work available to students of Vedic astrology. You can visit it on my website at: www.vedicsciences.com
Charlotte: Yes, you definitely are widely recognized as instrumental in laying the foundation for Vedic astrology in the west! Additionally, you are a well-known Jyotishi with a very busy practice and many students! Tell us, in your experience, what are your clients� greatest concerns?
Dennis: The �usual suspects� that most Vedic astrologers address are work, money, love and health - the four cornerstones of an astrologer�s practice. In my years of practice, I personally find more and more people are interested in their dharma, or what I call right vocation, as distinct and separate from their work. The challenge in the west is that when you ask a person who they are they tell you what they do. Most people are not what they do, and that contention is now being compounded here, and in India as well, due to the effects of globalization. In times of economic challenge, dharmic issues of right vocation become collectively amplified, and I have found this to be a consistent concern among my clients. I have included an article that I wrote years ago as part of this interview. The Dharma; The Purpose.
Charlotte: Brilliantly stated! And, thank you for taking the time to go into more depth with your article!
Now, in reference to your students, what have you found to be helpful, and what are your recommendations for the successful study of Jyotish?
Dennis: I am a proponent of �Shruti�, the oral tradition that is heard and transmitted to the student from the teacher. I liken it to a voice activated recorder. It is my belief, and my experience that if you have a connection to your guru, acharya, or teacher you will record and learn whatever it is you wish to remember in the harmony and resonance of that connection. This is as true in Jyotish, as in everything else. I tell all who ask me about study to look for that connection in their teacher. I like to quote the familiar story of the Rishi who is attempting to teach the King the power of mantra. To show the power of Shruti he requests the King permission to speak directly to His royal guard. He exhorts the royal guard to throw the King in jail. Enraged, the King turns the tables and directs the royal guard to throw the Rishi in jail! They immediately drag the Rishi off to prison. Once in jail, the Rishi turns to the King in lesson and explains that it is not only what is said that is important, but more important - who says it. Study with someone you resonate with - whose voice instills you with Vidya. You will learn Jyotish like a beloved musical melody and you will never forget that song.
Charlotte: Yes, and that leads me into asking about your own personal style of teaching. Is your audio correspondence course your primary teaching aide for the study of Jyotish?
Dennis: My colleague and friend David Frawley had the very first correspondence course for the study of Vedic astrology in the west that was accepted by the American Council of Vedic Astrology. I followed his lead, but decided on an audio course. I had been asked through various publishers to write a book on Vedic astrology, but declined, and in the spirit of Shruti, I decided to make it an �audio book�, a living book of sequential, live interactive classes. That was the first audio course in the west available to a student of Vedic astrology. I released it in and 1996 and the course is available today in CD format. Mary Plumb of The Mountain Astrologer favorably reviewed my course many years ago, and you can read the archived review at TMA. http://mountainastrologer.com/tma
Of course, many other fine correspondence courses have followed David�s and mine, and they are all recognized and accredited toward certification with the Council of Vedic Astrology, the CVA. You can see them all on our teachers and practitioners page at www.councilvedicastrology.org.
Charlotte: Please tell us about any of your own publications, books, or projects in the works?
| Dennis: As the current elected President of the CVA, I am busy as the editor and principal interviewer of the CVA Online Journal, so I am limited to writing only occasional articles. My last extensive piece for the Mountain Astrologer was a couple of years ago entitled, �Saturn�s Sadi Sati: The Time of Your Life.� Martin David, in his well-written history of astro-locality published in 2008, �From Here to There: An Astrologers Guide to Astromapping� properly credits me in his chronological history of relocation with the development of astrolocality within the Jyotish movement with my new horizon�s article �Jyotishlocality: The Art of Relocations� that I published in the Mountain Astrologer in 1997. I coined the term Jyotish Locality to distinguish the interpretive aspect of jyotishlocality from astrocartography, the term coined by the late Jim Lewis. I am currently developing a comprehensive program to train and certify Vedic astrologers in this powerful contemporary relocation tool. Other than that I am mostly busy teaching my classes, | | |
mentoring my students, and spending as much time possible with my wife and four daughters.
Charlotte: Great, be sure to keep us posted when the course becomes available, and we will certainly let people know. Such an important topic!
As you are the current President of the CVA, would you tell us about CVA�s mission?
Dennis: Since its inception in 1993, the mission of the CVA has been to establish and maintain a professional association for Vedic astrologers, and to establish professional standards through the education and certification of Vedic astrologers. We now provide educational and professional services through our international community of CVA recognized teachers and practitioners. We promote the free exchange of ideas and research among various schools of Vedic astrology and you now can study Vedic astrology with any one of our CVA recognized teachers in over 12 different countries, and all classes and courses of recognized practitioners count toward CVA accreditation. You can find out more about the CVA by visiting our website at: www.councilvedicastrology.org.
Charlotte: The ACVA and the CVA are co-sponsors of the United Astrology Conference coming up the month of May in New Orleans. Could you tell our readers about UAC?
Dennis: The United Astrology Conference is the Maha-conference of all astrology conferences. It will feature over 150 astrologers speaking on 15 tracks over several days. This is the second time the Vedic community has co-sponsored this conference and it will feature many of our finest speakers.
Charlotte: How do you juggle it all, Dennis, with your organizational commitments, your practice and students, adding to these facts that you have a strong family focus with a lovely wife and four daughters, two of your daughters being 13-year-old identical twins?
Dennis: Every astrologer should have identical twins! Although they look so alike, the charts are different in the divisional charts. My late friend, Keven Barrett�s, specialty was twins� charts and he was very fond of my girls. What really helps me to manage my time is intentionality. There is only time to have people in my life by deliberate intention, not by accident. I describe myself as an intentionally available man. Although I appreciate many of the benefits of the internet, I use it in a very balanced manner, only engaging in intentional email correspondence with a very small group of people so it does not subsume my life. This time management experiment is easy to espouse, but difficult to implement. It takes constant vigilance and review. I only do email correspondence with a small group of intentional people, and the rest I leave to my assistants. My goal is not to be on the internet hours on end, but to enjoy those hours with the people I respect and love, my wife Patricia, and my young daughters during their formative years. Their exalted Moons in the 9th Bhava probably wouldn�t let me spend too much time away from them anyway.
Charlotte: Absolutely! And that speaks not only highly of them, but highly of you! Exalted Moons in the house of their father!
Is there anything else you would like to say in closing our interview?
Dennis: Yes, I want to encourage all who read this interview to attend the coming UAC conference. Our Vedic community has come a long way in the last twelve years being represented at UAC. At first only a few Vedic speakers were selected, really only James Braha, Dennis Harness, Ronnie Gayle Dreyer, Edith Hathaway, and myself. This was principally because we were known in both the Western and Vedic community. Now we have over a dozen Vedic speakers at this UAC, among the best the field has to offer. You do not want to miss UAC 2012!
Charlotte: Absolutely. New Orleans is the place to be in May. www.uacastrology.com . Thank you for such an intimate look at your life and times, Dennis.
Dennis Flaherty Biography:
Dennis Flaherty is an internationally acclaimed Vedic astrologer with over 25 years experience as a full time practicing astrologer. He is a longstanding member of the astrological community. He serves as the current President of the Council of Vedic Astrology (CVA). He is the founder and director of the NW Institute of Vedic Sciences where he teaches a curriculum in Jyotish. He is one of the few westerners who is experienced and practiced in both western and Vedic astrology. He is one of the original foundational people who have brought the great teachers of Vedic astrology to the West, having co-sponsored the International Symposiums on Vedic Astrology since the early nineties with Dennis Harness, David Frawley and James Kelleher. These historic symposiums featured the teachings of many of India�s most illustrious contemporary astrologers. Dennis is one of the original seven founding board members of the American Council of Vedic Astrology (CVA) and the American College of Vedic Astrology (ACVA). He is the recipient of the Jyotish Kovid (1994), the Jyotish Vachaspati (1996), and the Jyotish Medha Pragya (2011) from the Indian Council of Astrological Sciences (ICAS) founded by the late Dr. BV Raman. Further he is the recipient of the Jyotish Navaratna (2005) from the ACVA, and the Jyotish Visharada and Jyotish Kovid (2011) from the CVA. Dennis consults and lectures on Vedic astrology throughout the world and serves a busy local and international clientele. His clients include celebrities, business professionals, politicians, but most importantly, has read for people who are looking for life direction, path and purpose to lead a more meaningful existence.
Contact Information:
NW Institute of Vedic Sciences
543 Main Street, Suite D.
Edmonds WA 98020
Phone: 425-778-6487
Email: [email protected]
Web Site: www.vedicsciences.com
 | Interview by:
Charlotte Benson, International Liaison and Jyotish Star Chief Correspondent
Diplomate: AFA, NCGR, ISAR
Executive Director, American College of Vedic Astrology, Inc.
President, Arizona Society of Astrologers, Inc.
www.charlottebenson.com
602 952-1525
Phoenix, AZ USA. |
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