A Celebration of Our Every Day Gurus
Your Chart as a Field Guide
“Śraddhā (belief/faith) is not blind acceptance but initially a working hypothesis of trust in the guru’s teaching, and attitude to be cultivated along with prescribed practices, such as meditation and mantric repetition, which provide experience.”
Guru Purnima Today
Today, in the Vedic calendar, is Guru Purnima — a sacred full moon dedicated to honoring the teachers — living and ancestral, seen and unseen — who awaken us to truth. While it’s often framed around gurus, this day is ultimately a celebration of the search for self-knowledge, -acceptance, and -love itself: the questions we are born to discover the answers to, the people we encounter who make us aware of ourselves in ways we could not do alone, and the opportunities and challenges that awaken us to our essential nature as conduits of the divine.
Often the search for a guru or mentor is surrounded by mysticism, mystery, the need for some epic soul quest. As a tropical Leo Sun with Libra Rising and Libra Moon, I’m all for an epic, romantic, bigger than life quest any day — but, if we’re willing to recognize them, our gurus surround us every day in the most mundane of circumstances and plain vanilla of interactions. How to spot them? Your chart is your personal field guide as you adventure through your 24/7.
From the Outside In
Modern astrology often begins from the inside out, asking: What do I feel? What do I want? It’s like working with a Method Actor who draws from their own psychology to build a role — who asks me, as the director, to be the bridge between the script, the mine of their lived experiences and impressions that unearth which parts of them are needed to embody this fictional character.
However, other actors skin a role from the outside in — finding how the body moves dictated by circumstance and costume, being present with their scene partners and allowing them to elicit a response with the words they’re constrained to with the script, using the senses — whether it’s a cut onion held up to the eyes to bring forth tears or a psych-up song with immediate physical resonance or even — and, yes, I’ve worked with an actor that did this — drink a liter of water before a scene so that the urgency of having to go to the bathroom was a real physical stake driving the performance. Both ways get to where you need to go — the second one is a lot easier to hack.
When you start learning astrology — especially if you want to start applying it to your life right out of the box, take the second path. The birth chart is not only a static reflection of your personality. It is a living stage — your very own reality show, populated by planetary archetypes — each with their own motivations and domains of influence — that show up as actual people in your life.
Planets as People
How do you spot the planets as the individuals populating the story of your life? Here are some astrologically sourced suggestions that you can extrapolate from and use to start identifying them:
☉ Sun – The Leader / The Narcissist
Uplifted: Visionary, honorable leader, mentor, creative director, motivational figure
Shadow: Tyrant, narcissist, megalomaniac, spotlight hoarder, absent or authoritarian father
Modern Roles: CEOs, political figures, spiritual leaders, stage performers
Temperament: Commanding, self-defined, solar-powered — needs meaning, recognition, and purpose
☽ Moon – The Caregiver / The Codependent
Uplifted: Empath, healer, intuitive, maternal figure, culture-keeper
Shadow: Over-giver, manipulative nurturer, mood-sponge, emotionally volatile or enmeshed
Modern Roles: Therapists, doulas, influencers, intuitive readers, family caretakers
Temperament: Responsive, emotional, attuned — absorbs and reflects the emotional environment
☿ Mercury – The Messenger / The Trickster
Uplifted: Analyst, communicator, translator, connector, clever problem solver
Shadow: Con artist, gossip, manipulator, troll, information addict
Modern Roles: Writers, coders, social media mavens, scammers, spin doctors
Temperament: Curious, quick, nimble — lives in the in-between and speaks multiple ‘languages’
♀ Venus – The Artist / The Sugar-Coated Strategist
Uplifted: Artist, peacemaker, connector, designer, lover, entrepreneur bringing something material into the world to bring others ease
Shadow: Seductress, vanity-mirror, passive-aggressive, transactional lover, social climber, robber baron
Modern Roles: UX designers, stylists, wedding planners, brand curators, high-end merchants, luxury marketers
Temperament: Magnetic, refined, harmony-seeking — desires beauty, ease, and mutual appreciation
♂ Mars – The Warrior / The Aggressor
Uplifted: Defender, activist, surgeon, athlete, initiator, boundary-setter
Shadow: Bully, abuser, destroyer, hothead, lone wolf, control freak
Modern Roles: First responders, startup founders, hackers, soldiers, protest leaders
Temperament: Assertive, decisive, confrontational — pursues desire, defends turf, charges toward challenge
♃ Jupiter – The Sage / The Escapist
Uplifted: Teacher, philosopher, coach, faith leader, moral compass, benefactor
Shadow: Preacher of false gospels, cult leader, over-promiser, indulgent hedonist, spiritual bypasser
Modern Roles: Professors, wellness gurus, lawyers, social reformers, spiritual entrepreneurs
Temperament: Expansive, idealistic, principled — believes in growth, grace, and big-picture thinking
♄ Saturn – The Elder / The Devourer
Uplifted: Master builder, legacy-holder, responsible guardian, wise mentor
Shadow: Joy-killer, tyrant parent, shame-weaver, withholder, chronic critic
Modern Roles: Judges, engineers, minimalists, long-term strategists, monks, fund managers
Temperament: Disciplined, enduring, sober — prizes order, structure, maturity, and results
☊ Rahu – The Outsider / The Obsessive Visionary
Uplifted: Rebel genius, taboo-breaker, social innovator, master of illusion and reinvention, success catalyst
Shadow: Addict, manipulator, opportunist, imposter, identity thief, chaos agent
Modern Roles: Viral marketer, influencer, AI ethicist, politician, performance artist, cultural disruptor, exiled genius, social climber
Temperament: Hungry, intense, boundaryless — grasps toward what is foreign, future-facing, or forbidden. Always dissatisfied, always scanning for more.
☋ Ketu – The Renunciate / The Shadow Mystic
Uplifted: Mystic, monk, trauma-informed healer, dispassionate seer, one who walks away with grace, intuitive
Shadow: Nihilist, dissociative loner, burnout case, passive saboteur, emotional cutter
Modern Roles: Minimalist, researcher, ex-lover, spiritual dropout, hospice worker, hacker of systems and psyches, athlete, model
Temperament: Detached, internalized, instinctive, ghostly — moves in silence, often without attachment to outcomes or relationships. Master of exits and endings.
And when a planet is activated — by dasha, profection, or transit — you are asked to play its role, ready or not.
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A Quick Side-Quest: Activated Roles vs. Default Identity
Think of your Ascendant Lord (the planet that rules your Rising Sign) as your default setting — the role you’re most comfortable in. Refer to the table below to identify your Ascendant Lord. (If you’re not sure of your Rising Sign, drop me a line.)
♈︎ Aries | Ruler: ♂ Mars
♉︎ Taurus | Ruler: ♀ Venus / Co-Ruler: ☽ Moon
♊︎ Gemini | Ruler: ☿ Mercury
♋︎ Cancer | Ruler: ☽ Moon
♌︎ Leo | Ruler: ☉ Sun
♍︎ Virgo | Ruler: ☿ Mercury / Co-Ruler: ☊ Rahu
♎︎ Libra Ruler: ♀ Venus
♏︎ Scorpio | Ruler: ♂ Mars / Co-Ruler: ☋ Ketu
♐︎ Sagittarius | Ruler: ♃ Jupiter
♑︎ Capricorn | Ruler: ♄ Saturn
♒︎ Aquarius | Ruler: ♄ Saturn / Co-Ruler: ☊ Rahu
♓︎ Pisces | Ruler: ♃ Jupiter / Co-Ruler: ☋ Ketu
But when another planet becomes time-lorded or activated, you are cast into a new role. Sometimes this role complements your nature. Other times it conflicts with everything you’d rather ignore.
This is where planetary friendships and enmities come in. A planet may be neutral toward another, but that doesn’t mean the feeling is mutual. For example:
Mercury (the clever child) is neutral to Mars (the soldier), but Mars sees Mercury as an enemy—a distracting chatterbox who asks too many questions while the general is trying to wage war.
When your Ascendant Lord is friends with the activated planet, you’ll likely find the transition easier. When they’re enemies, the year (or cycle) may feel like you’re learning a foreign language by immersion.
Here’s a table of planetary relationships:
The Ultimate Teacher: The Atmakaraka
While Vedic/Hindu astrology overall, uses the concept of the Atmakaraka — the “soul planet” which is always the Sun since it represents the part of the divine that you carry into this life. However, in Jaimini astrology (a branch of Vedic/Hindu astrology), takes this further and defines the Atmakaraka as the planet with the highest degrees in your sidereal chart.
This is the planet you have the most karma with — the one whose lessons you are most compelled to learn, whose wisdom you must listen to — and, hopefully, integrate, and, with whom, you must actively work to dissolve the repetitive patterns that result in reactiveness in order to gain the agency of responsiveness.
The Atmakaraka will show up as one of the people listed above. And, as taught very humorously but completely seriously by Pandit Sanjay Rath, listen to this person’s advice — even if you don’t want to, even if it feels like it doesn’t make any sense — because, at some point, it will.
To identify your Atmakaraka:
Cast your sidereal chart using your preferred ayanamsha (Lahiri, True Pushya, or True Revati)
Note the planet with the highest degree in any sign (for Rahu (never use Ketu) subtract the degree of Rahu from 29°60’)
That’s your soul’s teacher—and the authority figures who are here as your guru
Every planet corresponds with a type of real-world authority:
Sun → Your father or male figures in power
Moon → Your mother or matriarchal caretakers
Mercury → Children, siblings, those who disrupt hierarchies
Venus → Young women, artists, the sensual and the social
Mars → Warriors, athletes, those who embody force
Jupiter → Priests, teachers, judges
Saturn → The system, the state, and time itself
The friction or ease you feel with these figures often mirrors the permanent or temporary (a more complicated subject that’s beyond the scope of this current post — but if you’re interested, lmk) friendship between the Ascendant Lord and your Atmakaraka.
Summer books are open!
If you’d like to get a personal walk through your chart/field guide, book a 1:1!
Questions from the Planets
So, yay! Time to put the fundamentals of this scene together.
There you are — playing the part of your Ascendant Lord living in relation to these various people/planets in your life/chart. Something about them either vibes, doesn’t, or is ambivalent (which is not to say indifferent — your attitude towards them depends on the circumstances).
Here’s where the action really kicks off: Each asks a fundamental question through your relationship/interaction with them:
☉ Sun: How do you shine the divine spark in this one precious life of yours?
☾ Moon: What do you need to feel safe? How do you go about restoring your homeostasis through your environment and the people in it?
☿ Mercury: How do you connect your inner and outer worlds?
♀ Venus: What do you want to thrive? How do you call that into your life?
♂ Mars: What’s worth putting yourself on the line for? How do you exert your energy?
♃ Jupiter: What do you believe in? How do you connect to grace?
♄ Saturn: Are you doing your work? If not, what delays and obstacles are showing up in your life?
☊ Rahu: What do you obsess over? How are you going to make these a reality you can experience?
☋ Ketu: What must you release? How will you use/give this away so that you’re completely free of it?
When Gurus Arrive — or You Realize They’re Already Here!
It’s common to swing between idealization and disillusionment when someone—or something—takes on the guru role in your life. Whether it’s a teacher, a book, a pet, or a transit, that guru is there to activate the teacher within.
A true guru doesn’t demand your submission. They demand your integration.
Jupiter’s Yearly Lessons
Jupiter is called Guru in Vedic/Hindu astrology. It’s the planet of belief and, often, how that belief translates in the reality you life.
This year, its lessons — in whichever part of your chart it’s traversing — revolve around the direct correlation between belief, perception, and reality. Jupiter asks:
Are you reacting to life from old programming, or responding with awareness?
What world is your brain predicting by default?
What ways do outdated confirmation biases cause your mind to perceive the external world in ways that are no longer relevant to who you are and what you need to feel safe, secure, and nurtured?
What are the limiting beliefs about your self and your circumstances that do not correlate with the lived truths of your experience?
How can you recognize, state, and begin to live by your lived truths so that they become beliefs that create an external world that reflects accurately who you know yourself to be?
IF THIS RESONATED…
If this post helped you name a pattern, recognize a role you’ve been cast in, or remember a teacher who shaped your path, there are a couple ways we can go deeper together:
A Guided “Chart Walk”
We’ll look directly at your chart, the questions it’s asking now, and the roles you’re being invited to embody in real time.
Want to learn how to do this yourself?
Join the Decoding U2U class and learn how to read your chart like a living story — with clarity, context, and confidence. (Early Bird Discount: Get 15% off when you sign up by July 21st. Use code EARLYBIRD)
I’d love to work with you — whichever direction you’re feeling pulled toward.
KEY TAKEAWAY
RELATIONSHIP REVEALS DESTINY: Your chart is not a static map of traits — it's a living script that you're both analyzing and writing in real time. The planets show up as everyday gurus in the story of your life, playing their parts and making you aware of your roles — shaping your understanding of who you truly are. Co-creating your story begins when the question stops being “Why is this happening to me?” and you start asking, “What am I learning about how I react and how I'd rather respond?"
If this newsletter in any way feels like it’s been of service, please consider making a donation that will enable me to keep writing this content here.
Lots of light,
Anak.
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