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Jyotish Star of the Month |
By Juliana Swanson |
Juliana Swanson: Thank you, Carol, for taking the time from your very busy schedule to share a bit about your life and times with us. Please start by telling us about your early life.
The thing I really remember, though, was Dad�s friends always looking at me and saying (in hushed, conspiratorial tones) that I was �a sensitive� and �one of them� and that �one day� I�d do something like what they did� Juliana: You weren�t buying it? Carol: I thought they were delusional! I was going to be a ballerina, of course� or a movie star! (Thank you, Moon in Leo! Ha ha�) Juliana: How did you find your way to astrology? Carol: My sister initially introduced me to it. She and I were always boy crazy, and we loved Linda Goodman and her insights into astrological romantic compatibility. Of course, it didn�t work, but it was endlessly entertaining! I remember my sister even had a book called Sexual Astrology (which was pretty ridiculous, given how innocent and young we were) and I remember it saying something about Capricorns going from �Zero to Sixty� between the sheets in nothing flat. Pretty hilarious stuff. Juliana: Hilarious, yet surprisingly familiar to many of our fellow astrologers, no doubt! What was it like to be a �sensitive�? Carol: Like so many women especially, I�ve always adored having intense heart-to-heart talks with everyone, everywhere I go� and have always been blessed to be able to make people feel at ease, and create emotional intimacy pretty easily. For some reason, people always know someone who looks just like me � I hear that constantly. So strangers often become instant friends, and trust me with their innermost secrets. So way before I could drive, I was already giving everyone tons of unsolicited advice on everything under the sun. Juliana: A wise teacher told me once that this is a reflection of charisma, when you seem familiar to and are instantly liked by strangers. What in your chart would reflect charisma, along with being a born-natural advisor (I am wondering�something related to 8th house, in addition to Leo Moon and Guru in 1st house)? Carol: Part of it isn�t charisma � it�s that I have such non-threatening physicality. I�m short, and girl-next-door. That sister I mentioned is tall and vavoom and classically attractive � (she has Rahu and Venus with the Moon � a combo found in many a vixen and starlet!) and I can tell you, it�s a huge burden to have that effect on people! Our whole lives women were jealous of her, and men wanted to sleep with her, whereas, women are typically not threatened by me, and men see me as the sister they should have had. I�ll take that, any day! The advising stuff is for a few reasons� Mostly Jupiter, as you�ve said. I also have the lord of the 6th house in the 1st, which is great for doing service work. And then Saturn in the 9th, in Pisces, and the ruler of the 9th in the first (yup � Jupiter again). As you know, combos of Saturn and Jupiter make people want to minister to others, and that�s always been the case for me. And the 9th house is the house of counseling, and wherever Saturn is, is what you�ll feel drawn to do. The Dharma of it all, as they say. Then I have the Sun on an angle, which makes me bossy� so people have no choice but to listen. Ha ha! Juliana: Were there other astrologers in your family? Carol: To my knowledge, there were never any astrologers in my family, but the women on my father�s side were definitely very �tapped in,� having prophetic dreams years before major events would occur, which I�ve experienced a lot as well. My mother�s mother was a Christian Science reader, akin to being a minister � which back in the 1930�s was a very big deal for a woman. I remember talking with Christina Collins Hill at an ACVA conference about her once, and she said many Vedic astrologers come from a Christian Science background, which is interesting. Juliana: I never heard this before but have read that the founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, believed in the gifts of prophecy and spiritual seeing. Was your grandmother engaged in prophecy at all? Carol: I have no idea � she died when my mother was just nine, but she certainly believed in the power of prayer to heal, which of course is a major tenant of the Christian Science religion as well. My favorite anecdotal joke about my family and astrology is that my maiden name is Tisch, and my mother�s name was Joanne and her best friends called her Jo. So the joke is that I was �born of Jo Tisch,� which sounds exactly the same as if I was �born of Jyotish.� Ha-ha. But seriously, by the time I happened to meet a Vedic astrologer at a party at the ripe old age of 23, it seemed my fate was sealed. Juliana: Oh that sounds like truly divine synchronicity. So at 23 you found your way to Jyotish and the rest was history! Carol: Well, it didn�t hurt that I�d also already fulfilled Parasara�s suggestions that I be a vegetarian, and a meditator, and have the initiation of a guru� I�d done all that stuff in high school and college � Dad was on the board of directors of a metaphysical university by that time, but I still hadn�t heard of Jyotish until that fateful day in 1991 in the hippie capital of Los Angeles (L.A.), Topanga Canyon. Juliana: What prompted you to move to L.A.? Carol: I�d moved to L.A. after college trying to fulfill one of those childhood dreams (the movie star one. Never seen me on the silver screen? That should give you an idea of how it was going)�and was really struggling for the first time in my life. That amazing Venus Dasa was over, and my worst and weakest had begun � the one that�s all about trying to figure out what to be when you grow up (yup, the Sun). Juliana: What were you doing to make ends meet? Carol: I was walking dogs, and giving massages, and living the miserable wannabe actress life. Oh, man, the hell of it. I�ll spare you, but it�s a pretty crushing existence, and there are millions of showbiz hopefuls that form a whole subculture in L.A. and New York year after year, doing bad theatre, and taking improvisational comedy classes, and spending the rent on headshots. After a couple of years of that, I met Drew Lawrence at that party, and had a reading with him that blew me away. He told me that my chart indicated I�d have disappointment in the arts (yup!) and was instead supposed to be some kind of spiritual counselor. I thought he was as crazy as my father�s old psychic friends, but was totally hooked by Vedic astrology. It completely explained how I was feeling, and what my life had been like up to that point. Juliana: So as fate would have it� Carol: It just so �happened� that Drew and a handful of other amazing astrologers were right here in Los Angeles, and taught classes out of a woman�s home. Now, I�m sure you know that L.A. is a pretty big place. But this woman�s astrology school was just blocks from my studio apartment. I could walk there. So I started taking classes twice a week. Looking back, I can�t believe how lucky we all were. The classes were wonderful � really intimate and in-depth, and virtually free. Juliana: Who taught? Carol: There were usually a handful (or less) of us, and a revolving roster of amazing Vedic astrologers (Nalini Kanta, Chakrapani Ullal, Bill Levacy, Steve Stuckey, the late, great George Roman and in the last few years, Ernst Wilhelm) all essentially volunteered their time. Then visiting dignitaries from India would guest lecture as well. It was like having a never-ending ACVA conference just up the street, for pennies. (It was $6 a class - $5 for the teacher, and $1 to pay for the tea and electricity.) I went at least once a week for a decade. I was sooo inspired by all the teachers there � especially Bill, Steve, George, and Ernst who all became great friends, and still generously take my calls and answer my endless questions. Juliana: Oh how fabulous and fortunate was Jupiter�s blessing on you once again. You truly had some of the best teachers. Carol: Absolutely! In my early studies, Bill Levacy especially took me under his wing and taught me the basics, and gave me his old computers and printers, and helped me set up a practice, giving me sanity-saving advice as to how to be a professional astrologer. In my advanced studies, Ernst helped me stay engaged by teaching the most amazing predictive and personality techniques that he�d spent years researching, and later became a business partner�he and his wife Srishti did the programming and brainstormed the principles of many astrological products I�ve created. Along the way, George was a huge cheerleader who showed me by his example how to share Jyotish and ancient, mystical knowledge in a way the modern masses could understand and enjoy. And Steve just knows everything about everything, and always made studying this heady, cerebral topic endlessly entertaining � he�d show up for class with a stack of charts and say things like, �These are all musicians and murderers � see if you can guess who�s who.� I�m forever grateful. My strongest house is the 9th house, and it�s brought me the most incredible mentorship in everything that I�ve done. I�m a hardworking Capricorn, but I NEVER would have figured anything about Vedic astrology out without an army of help. Juliana: Your sense of gratitude and appreciation for your teachers and friends is truly inspiring! Clearly such heart-centered connections have been a great conduit for the Jyotir Vidya. Carol: I don�t have to tell you, Juliana, Vedic astrology is dense, complicated, and often depressing, and I never would have stayed with it if it weren�t for these dear teachers and friends. Juliana: How would you advise students of Vedic astrology to go about finding the right teachers as you did? Carol: I�d tell anyone studying Vedic astrology to try to find a community of fellow students with teachers to support them. We have so many amazing online resources now that didn�t exist when I was training. There were no classes on YouTube, because there was no YouTube! But for me, the richest thing was literally sitting at the feet of my teachers, and being in those immensely personal, satisfying friendships. So I worry that today�s students may not have that. I�d strongly encourage everyone to go to live conferences and try to create those connections. Juliana: So you attended some of the early ACVA conferences? Carol: Oh yes, and I first met Ernst (Wilhelm) at an ACVA conference. We were both sitting in a lecture, and we kept chiming in with the same questions and comments. He was the youngest person in the place, something I had enjoyed for a few years before he came along! And I was like, �Who IS that guy?� We chatted in the hallway afterwards, and he shared with me the handouts he�d given at a lecture he�d done on the Kuta System of compatibility, and I went home and gave it a try, and it completely improved and transformed my relationship readings, and reinvigorated my practice, and led to us working together. A total game changer, that conference! Juliana: I am sure many would agree with you about the benefit of attending conferences. The camaraderie and friendly learning experiences they provide are priceless. Speaking of relationships, you�re a relationship guru. What is this exactly and how did this professional path come about for you? Carol: Right from the start in my readings, it became clear that all anyone wanted to know about was love� Even when people called and swore they didn�t want to talk about their personal life � they just wanted to discuss a real estate transaction � the readings always turned into boy/girl conversations. I�d been struggling in my own life in this area, and recognized that although astrology was incredible, just talking to people about their karma in love wasn�t much fun and often wasn�t very helpful. What they often got the most relief and benefit from was when I�d put the chart aside and give them a relationship tip or insight. They�d often call me later to say that that part of the session had saved the day. My own relationship at the time is a great example. I�d learned relationship compatibility techniques, and my boyfriend in my twenties and I shared PERFECT compatibility. We had the whole checklist you could want � my Venus conjunct his Moon, his Venus conjunct my Mars, his Jupiter conjunct my Venus, blah, blah, blah� Steve even said we had the best compatibility he�d seen in 29 years of giving readings! And yet � we still broke up. Juliana: How interesting that your great quest materialized out of that break-up. Carol: This, coupled with the fact that � much to my amazement � people even twice my age really listened to me with this astrology stuff, led me to realize that I had to get some better tools for my own life, and to hopefully have better answers for others. So yes, I went on a quest to learn all that I could about relationships. And I discovered some amazing things that have been proven in relationship research again and again � there are rules of love that must be followed, and when broken, they lead to broken relationships � even when the stars are smiling! I started incorporating this information into my readings, and pretty soon I started to feel the most professional satisfaction and fulfillment I�d ever known. Juliana: How did this all lead to your becoming a relationship coach? Carol: After a few years of doing these sessions combining astrology with relationship advice, clients started asking me to coach them. They didn�t just want to call once a year for their Solar Return � they wanted to talk regularly about their love lives or boyfriends and get ongoing support. At first I didn�t even know that was an option. Then a long-time client of mine who is a life coach told me I should start giving seminars. And that was like being given the keys to the kingdom � that changed everything. Soon I was giving small, intimate workshops in my living room, teaching all my favorite relationship insights and tools to women. It was sooo much fun, and felt so right in a way nothing else ever had. Juliana: It seems you found a true niche in relationship coaching and slowly lost interest in giving astrology readings. Is that right? Carol: I love being an astrologer, but it had never been a BLAST, you know? It�s an honor and a privilege to read charts and learn this ancient, holy knowledge, and to talk to people about their hopes and dreams, but it�s NOT a ton of fun � it�s far too serious, and there�s often a lot of difficult news to impart. But the relationship workshops are the most fun I�d ever had while �working.� Juliana: You followed your bliss. Carol: The joy I felt in this new work seemed to open the flood gates. Suddenly opportunities I�d only ever dreamed of landed in my lap, effortlessly. A woman at a party connected me to my own radio show where I interviewed the most celebrated relationship experts of our time. Best-selling authors and Oprah experts � you name it. It was amazing. Through that I met my next set of incredible mentors � online information marketers who specialized in love, took me under their wings and taught me how to create a newsletter and an internet catalog of books and astrology reports and programs to help reach more people and share all the things I�d learned both from being a Vedic astrologer and from studying relationships and interviewing all these amazing people. Juliana: As you wrote books and created seminars, did you continue to give readings for a while? Carol: For about six years, I wrote books, created seminars, and wrote hundreds of newsletters �all while still giving at least a reading or two a day. The clients kept inspiring my ideas, and the online work kept attracting clients. It was a total dream come true, but pretty soon I was utterly exhausted, and something had to give. Juliana: So then you quit doing the readings? Carol: Yes, see�I�m so fulfilled writing and speaking that in the last couple of years I decided to phase out the private practice. I love my clients, and have worked with some of them for more than a decade. I just couldn�t do it all anymore. I�m so grateful to have been given an incredible way to help people understand themselves, and have more self-acceptance, and peace of mind. But I had to stop doing it one-on-one if I was going to continue doing it in this bigger way. I just had to make that choice. Juliana: What is it in your own astrological chart that would indicate becoming a successful author? Carol: I was sitting in a class at Bill Levacy�s one day a million years ago, and he had a stack �The Astrological Magazine,� still published by B.V. Raman�s family. I started flipping through an issue, and there was an article on what indicators needed to be seen in a chart to become a published author. I didn�t think much of it, but as I read I realized I had every single one listed. The only one I remember now is that it said Rahu in the 10th house was helpful (and that�s also helpful for having professional success online, of course). Steve always insists that writers need an aspect between Mars and Mercury, because Mars gives Mercury the energy to take the action to write, and I have that. I also have Mercury on an angle, opposite Jupiter, and then the Moon in Gemini in my Navamsa chart. Juliana: What is in it your natal horoscope that would indicate such a strong personal and professional interest in relationship matters? Carol: A bunch of things, as is always the case with something as significant as career. I guess the main one is that I have the Sun in the 7th house. But on top of that, the lord of my 10th house is in Libra, the 7th sign. Then from the Chandra Lagna, I have the lord of the 10th in the 7th house. And in my Navamsa chart I have the lord of the 10th in Libra again. So there are more and more connections between my career house and the house or sign of relationships and partnership. Juliana: How do the insights of Vedic Astrology support your work as a relationship expert? Carol: I�ve learned so many things about relationships from being a Vedic astrologer. I have so many amazing friends who are relationship coaches, and who teach such beautiful things about how to meet people, flirt, communicate, internet date, set boundaries, etc. etc. but they are missing such a crucial key � the ability to see all the things astrology can reveal, like if the people are right for each other, and if the relationship can actually work! Juliana: Are you speaking about the mysterious role of fate? Carol: That�s the most important thing astrology has taught me � that there�s a destiny to our relationships. We all know that �love is not enough,� and that great chemistry can fool people into thinking they�re compatible, when they�re not. But my colleagues and their clients often can�t figure that out for a long time after months or years of being together and �working on it,� whereas those of us with astrology up our sleeves can tell that pretty much right away. It�s an awesome tool, and huge responsibility. I�ve been talking about the importance of implementing good relationship skills, and following the rules of love. But that�s not enough if the astrological compatibility and destiny for a relationship aren�t also in place. I call it �The Will and Grace of Love.� Juliana: Can you say more? Carol: There�s the stuff we can do (�Will�) � treat each other well, communicate effectively, and build the most goodwill. But then there�s the stuff that�s beyond our will � the �Grace� part of love, that�s revealed in the stars. Both have to be working for a couple. And that�s a tall order! My own life is a great example. I mentioned that boyfriend I had in my twenties with whom I had such �perfect� compatibility. Well, we ultimately broke up after three years together. And I was so surprised, because I thought (as did many of my clients, before I learned more about it) that good compatibility was some sort of �guarantee� that love would last. I thought if you were compatible, you were set. But it was when I learned the truth about relationships, that I came to realize that compatibility was the foundation of it all, but that good relationship skills were also critical in order to maintain it. Juliana: Compatibility, skill, and destiny are all important components then. How does timing come into play? Carol: Of course timing is a major factor in everything with astrology, and in that very first reading with Drew Lawrence he had told me not to even try to have a serious relationship in my twenties � that it wouldn�t last. But he predicted that I�d marry when I was thirty. You know, of course, Juliana, that there have to be several things going on in a chart to make a big life change like marriage occur. And when I was twenty-nine, everything that could indicate what I call a �Season of Love� happened at once. I�ll never forget going to a Christmas party with about thirty Vedic astrologers and students here in L.A. that year, and we all made predictions for each other. The entire table got really animated when it was my turn, insisting that �Mr. Right� was coming! It was easy to see: I was in a good Dasa for marriage (which happened to be the planet that ruled my seventh house in my Navamsa chart, and was aspected by Venus in my natal chart, and was in a good Nakshatra for marriage), I had no love-blocking Saturn transits in the way, and Jupiter moved into my seventh house, opposite my natal Jupiter. In fact, within just three days of Jupiter moving there, my old boyfriend with the �perfect� compatibility came back into my life, and said everything out of the movies. This time, with my new relationship skills on top of the good timing, we gave things another try and our relationship was better than ever. We�ve been married seventeen years now, and have a great life together. Juliana: Well, congratulations are certainly in order�and this also makes me wonder about how your happy and successful marriage has influenced your professional success. Carol: Because my own life and love challenges and ultimate happy ending helped me learn so much, I�ve created a catalog of things to help others who may be struggling as I was. It includes a book I wrote called Love is in the Stars that explains all the amazing truths of how astrology impacts our love lives, and dispels a bunch of myths. There�s a chapter on how Sun signs aren�t as important as everyone thinks, and why compatibility isn�t enough, and how to tell if someone is �astrologically afflicted� and not fit for love no matter how great they seem, why so many of us are late bloomers in love, the idea of Seasons of Love, and so much more.
Juliana: You offer reports on your website. Please tell us about them. Carol: Of course, initially people are drawn to my work because of astrology, so they don�t always want to �learn� how to be better partners, or be more attractive to others, even though that�s the part they have control over. They want to know the basic astrological stuff, like if they�re compatible with someone they like or with whom they�re involved. So I sell a report created by Ernst Wilhelm and his amazing programmer wife Srishti, which I call �The Right Man Report.� It uses the Kuta system, and is incredible at revealing if a couple not only will like each other, but if they can join their lives. There are obviously a lot of �Kuta� reports around the web, but this one is really amazing. Ernst lived in India for a year, and did a lot of studying of the different ways North and South India used parts of the Kuta technique, and he discovered how to combine it all and some ways to apply the information that are unique and have worked literally thousands of times in my private practice. I have so many women who�ve bought that report again and again, and just love it. Juliana: Do you use Kuta as is traditional between the Moons only or also with other grahas? Carol: This one uses the Moons, which I have found to truly be an accurate emotional foundation of any relationship. It is interesting to look at the Kuta technique for the other planets, as well, and that can explain a lot. But if the Moon compatibility is solid, that will get you far, and if it�s not, then all the other grooving grahas won�t be enough. I can safely say this after having done that technique live for real women, day in-day out, for over a decade. Juliana: Yet, the Kuta system remains quite controversial. Why do you think that is? Carol: I don�t know why the Kuta is so controversial. Perhaps because it seems like it shouldn�t be so vital to depend on just one thing in the charts like that � I guess we want to believe there�s more to it. But the Moon is, in my experience and opinion, really the key to who we are, the emotional foundation of us all. I feel so badly for couples who have other great stuff going on like amazing synastry and beautiful connections for attraction, but not the support of the emotional affinity of their Moons. It may also be because some applications of the technique emphasize things that aren�t actually that important, like how many points a couple gets together (out of 36) or that they leave out key aspects. Juliana: Your reports are evidently very helpful and well received, but aren�t there limitations in using computerized reports? Carol: I�ve been so grateful to be able to share these reports. The challenge, of course, with selling compatibility reports is one I�ve already mentioned � good compatibility is not enough. It can even be a curse to share great compatibility with someone � if they�re not a good person. This is as important, if not MORE important! So I caution everyone about that in my work constantly, and there�s a two page warning that comes with each report about the fact that there are actually what I call �Five Critical Keys to Love� and compatibility is only just ONE of them. Juliana: Please share more about these five keys. Carol: Ernst and Srishti have created a powerful answer for one of the other five � a �Relationship Capacity� report that enables a woman to be able to learn how able a man is to be agreeable and do the right things by her. So I offer that as well as one that allows a woman to learn about her own limitations, and how to support herself to be the best version of herself possible. This report looks to �Chastity Yogas� mostly. I call the one for men �Chart His Heart� and the one for women �Chart Your Heart.� They�re short but soooo crazy accurate and helpful. Juliana: What is the secret of timing when love comes in the horoscope? Carol: Of course, timing is also one of the �Critical Keys to Love,� and in my practice, I couldn�t help but notice that most people sought out astrology when they were in some kind of Sade Sati cycle. It never failed � they always had Saturn transiting their Sun, Moon, or rising sign, which was always creating the pressures and loneliness or separations that made them desperate enough to do something as crazy as get an astrology reading (ha ha). So I gave the �Saturn Speech� a million times, and it struck me one day that I should create a report to let people know when this was happening. So I created a long report called �Cycles of Saturn� that explains all the major transits of Saturn, and what to do to make the most of them, and best of all when they will end! I also have a transit calendar that uses the transits of all the planets that�s very popular, and a program on �What Men Want� and an interview series with amazing experts from all kinds of new-age and self-help paths. It�s a lot. Juliana: Are you also offering seminars now? Carol: These days my favorite thing is still to give those seminars that started it all so long ago. I do them about six times a year. I call it the �Make Every Man Your Hero� workshop, and in it I teach women everything we should have learned in 7th grade about relationships, and how to understand men and have as good of a time as possible with them. I have a couple of incredible guest speakers, and we eat like kings. It�s kind of a girl party, and many women have told me it�s the reason they were able to finally leave a bad relationship, or stay motivated enough to get a good one. It�s really amazing what happens when women come together and love each other, and learn to do what works. It�s so beautiful to see all the sharing, vulnerability and honesty that happens. I learn so much from the women who attend, as there�s always so much collective wisdom and life experience in the room. I would do them every weekend if I could! Juliana: Do you teach or tutor students? Carol: I don�t teach or tutor astrology � I have but just don�t feel it�s my �zone of genius.� I had such incredible teachers, as I�ve said, and just don�t feel that my teaching was anywhere near as good as theirs. I mostly refer people to ACVA and Ernst when asked. I did have one wonderful woman show up at my workshop and I almost fell over when she said she was a Vedic astrologer. She�s gone on to take all of my relationship training, and some very advanced Jyotish courses. She�s very dedicated, and we really hit it off, so I did tutor her for a while in my favorite relationship techniques and insights. Her name is Richelle Jarrell and I now refer most of my clients to her. It�s been really fun to have another Vedic astrologer who is versed in the �getting along� side of it all. Juliana: It�s great to know that you still have a passion for sharing Vedic astrology and that you are sharing your wisdom with other great astrologers. Carol: Oh yes, and one of my favorite things about my online life is that my work has been able to introduce so many people to Vedic astrology. I�ve had loads of women write to tell me they�ve become astrologers or Ayurvedic practitioners because of my newsletter. It�s super humbling. I even had a woman tell me the other day that an article I wrote about Yogananda a few years ago led to her becoming a devotee of his. Leading someone to their guru? That was a mind blower! So, it�s been a long, slow journey and I wouldn�t change a minute of it. Having Rahu in the 10th house can cause a lot of career confusion and dissatisfaction, and for years that was certainly true for me, but I�m so happy how it�s all turned out and I hope to keep sharing the good news about astrology and love for as long as I can. And, of course it hasn�t been lost on me that my father�s crazy friends were right all along. Juliana: Thank you, Carol. This has been super fun and so enlightening. Carol Allen Biography
Whether you're looking for a soulmate, want to deepen an existing relationship, or heal lifelong love patterns, the answers are literally written in the stars� and almost anything can be made much better with your own right actions once you know the truth and what to do about it. Don't wait on fate - discover the awesome power you have to attract, enhance, and sustain a great love, and make the most of your romantic destiny with Carol's free newsletter and catalog of books (get a free book!), personalized astrology reports, and relationship programs, here: www.loveisinthestars.com. |
Juliana Swanson Biography
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