The Qualities a Woman Must Look For in Her Future Husband
Plus what spirituality has to do with astrology.
Happy Friday to the readers of Astro Wisdom! Friday is the day of Venus. Venus, also known as Shukra in Vedic astrology, is a planet that symbolizes charm, beauty, happiness, luxury, romance, love, physical attraction, creativity, and aesthetics. It holds influence over various aspects of life and is often regarded as the Lord of Happiness.
There are many things that bring us happiness. One of them is harmonious relationships with our family of origin. The last time I was there was in July - August 2013. I visited my family in Mumbai during the last week of July 2013 and then joined a month-long Hatha yoga teacher training in Mysore in August that year.
Much has happened between then and now. I’ve written about my healing journey in my book Wired For Self-Love. How I went from being angry, bitter and insecure to healed, calm and confident in life. About a year after that trip to Mumbai and Mysore, I went through separation followed by divorce, which had me live alone. I had no prior experience of what that life entailed. I had no one to call family in Hong Kong, except for my son.
My negative experiences with my mother and in India kept me from revisiting India, or even ever considering to possibility of living there in the future.
Family’s support goes a long way in helping a person find fulfillment in life. After working on healing myself for several years, and forgiving my mother, this Easter I went to re-establish that connection with my family after twelve long years.
Allow me to introduce my family of origin to you. Starting from the left in the photo below is my sister, Jyoti, then my mom, Radha, my dad, Ashok, and then me.
My mother recently celebrated her 77th birthday. Dad’s 80. Growing up, I didn’t receive birthday wishes from mom. She comes from a generation that didn’t celebrate birthdays. She was in for a surprise when my cousin’s daughters gave her a ‘surprise’ birthday party at theirs.
Let’s come to dad. And the quality every single woman must look for in her future husband. There isn’t a day in his life when my dad hasn’t uttered prayers and sang God’s names. He wakes up and thanks the lord. He drinks water in the morning. He exercises. He chants mantras and takes the lord’s name as he showers. Then he goes out to water plants and offerings to the sun. He prays after he comes back home. Only then he eats breakfast. He goes out to run errands, buy stuff for the house or to bank and comes back home and naps. He prays in the evening, too.
Everyone loves my dad. Everyone. He’s one the most pleasant natured people I know. We lived in Bahrain where I went to school. He was a salesman in a textile shop that sold fabric for both men as well as women. My school teachers and schoolmate’s parents still remember him from their visits to his shop.
What makes pleasant people pleasant? What make them likeable or lovable? I wonder. But I have no doubts when I see my dad, I know why he’s loved and respected by all. He’s spiritually connected. He’s a man of faith. He, too, has problems in his life, like everyone else. However, I don’t think he would be the person he is without his faith.
The number one quality a woman must look for in a man she will marry is his spiritual inclination. It will help her stay grounded as well. I think my mother is very lucky to have met my father.
Let’s talk about what practicing spirituality has to do with astrology.
The above diagram is a north Indian Vedic astrology chart. It contains twelve houses. The rhombus in which you see the number ‘1’ is the first house. It is where your ascendant is. Your ascendant represents you, your physical self.
Sometimes people have malefic planets aspecting the ascendant or sitting in the ascendant. This can adversely impact a person, depending on certain planetary alignments. However, one of the best ways to strengthen the first house, meaning your physical self is to strengthen one’s connection to spirit. Our source is God almighty from whom we came.
“We are spiritual beings having a human experience,” Deepak Chopra famously said. We must remember God all through the day. We must spend time in remembering that without God, nothing and no one would exist. Therefore we must practice living in surrender. Easier said than done. But that’s the path I’m guided to at this point in my life.
Come along with me, if you feel guided too. Next, I will share a beautiful story about this spiritual connection that will help you understand its essence.
May divine guidance always be with you. Thank you for reading.
Much love. Speak soon.
Lata.