Learning Vedic Astrology online for free
Many start learning Vedic Astrology for free by printing their own chart with a free Vedic chart calculator. A common next step is looking up the deeper meanings of planetary placements and conjunctions.
I also started off like this and in this article I share my experiences:
Where to find good online sources? How to learn Vedic Astrology for free online? What online free Vedic calculators are available and which desktop versions?
Moreover, I also explain how to book a Vedic Astrology Free online reading.
But I start off by sharing some precautions that are important to keep in the back of your mind while learning Vedic Astrology free of charge and without direct contact with a teacher.
Three tips for when you start learning Vedic Astrology online
First of all, learning Vedic Astrology requires patience and an ever-fresh beginners mind. Never judge your own chart prematurely! Or think that you know enough to understand a chart fully. Knowing we will never know everything about this marvellous world helpt to approach it with humbleness.
Life is always broader and more flowing than we can fully grasp. For example, one may be disappointed seeing that a planet is in debilitation, while other placements may cancel this effect again.
Or it might be the other way around: one may be very happy to see a planet in exaltation, while it is not realised that it is heavily afflicted or very weak in the relevant divisional charts.
An other problem is which source is telling me the truth? There are so many sources to learn to read a Vedic Astrology chart for free. Many sources contradict each other. Sometimes this is because subtle nuances are not mentioned, and sometimes because anyone can write or say anything online of course….
Further down in this article I will share a few sources that I enjoyed learning from and found very reliable.
For those that are really new to Vedic Astrology I have written an article on the very basics of Jyotish.
Free Vedic astrology chart calculators
There are so many websites where you can find free Vedic Astrology calculators. Recently I found https://deva.guru and was surprised to see its efficiency even though it is still evolving. All basic functions are free and in the future some advanced functions will be available as paid options.
Cosmic Insight has a nice App voor Android and IOS with many free options. For advanced function you would have to pay but they are of good quality and worth buying. However, if you like to continue to learn and get all options available, it will turn out to get expensive. They also have an online desktop version for which you will have to pay some extra.
In case you would like to have a desktop version it would be a good idea to check out the various free ones available.
The most well known free Vedic chart software is undoubtedly Jagannatha Hora. It has many functions and is reliable for all basic functions, but I have been told that some doubt its advanced functions. It takes a bit of time to learn how to use Jagannatha Hora but it is the best free Vedic Software option available.
Jagannatha Hora software only operates on Windows, but Mac Users on OS Mojave or later versions can download free software like “Play on Mac“. This will will make it work on a Mac. And if you are on an earlier version than OS Mojave some boot software to play Windows on your Mac is also findable. These other options to play Windows on a Mac have a price or take some time to figure out (“Play on Mac” is free and kind of easy to install) .
I am using Sri Jyoti Star Software nowadays for my readings. I felt this one is simply the best one available and decided to invest the price for it as I am using it almost on daily basis now.
Best online sources to learn Jyotish for free
Most people start learning Vedic Astrology for free with watching a YouTube channel like the KRS of Kapiel Raaj.
Kapiel learned Vedic Astrology from his uncle and explains the basics in very clear and easy understandable language. On his YouTube channel you can find videos on the basics of chart interpretation.
Most importantly, he has simple videos on all the planets in signs and all the planets in houses. In this way you can start learning.
He also has a lot of info on conjunctions and aspects, which I learned to assess in different and more elaborate ways later on when I completed a few courses. I always put everything I learn to the test. After learning something I simply think of the charts that I know and see whether it is true.
I first enjoyed completing one of the paid courses from the renowned astrologer Vāmadeva Śāstrī. This scholar has published a lot of informative books of which the background knowledge was shared during the course. However, it did not answer some of my questions and my thirst was not satisfied.
As I continued to learn Vedic Astrology online from free sources, I came across another lineage, namely the one of Pandit Sanjay Rath Ji. While applying what I learned from this lineage everything fell into place. Sanjay Rath Ji learned Jyotish from his uncle and grandfather.
This lineage of astrologers can be traced back till almost a thousand years ago as Atri Brahmins initiated into the fifth Mandala of the Rigveda. The family was closely connected to the Somnath Temple in Gujarat. After traveling to North-East India their family tradition merged with the spiritual teachings of Sri Achyutananda Das of Odisha in the 16th century.
This highly learned saint and scholar was one of the Panchasakhās (five friends) connected to Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He combined a Jñana (knowledge) and Bhakti approach referred to as Jnana-mishra bhakti-marga.
Sanjay Rath JI is seen as one of the last ones to hold the knowledge from the many learning centers that Sri Achyutananda Das established in the 16th century.
I can recommend learning from this lineage, but some of the YouTubes are a little bit beyond beginners level. However, I found a collection of YouTubes in which some basics are explained by Sanjay Rath.
With two of his students, Visti Larsen and Freedom Cole you can find a mix of advance, beginners and intermediate level free Vedic Astrology teachings.
I studied most YouTubes of this lineage that I could find. Experiencing this as such a gem among Vedic Astrology learning possibilities that I decided to join them in a 5-year long course.
Five year? Yes, this course is integrated in an extensive curriculum on the Jaimini sutras, where we are expected to actually do the mantra remedies while we are on the course. Moreover, we are diving in Purānas and other Vedic scriptures to grasp the true spiritual meaning behind Jyotish.
Next to this, these teachers twist and turn every concept so that we may never become rigid and always tune to life in its beautiful flowing real. This learning is an evolving and unfolding and that is the beauty of it.
While learning Vedic Astrology for free online I did not find a lot of valuable information on remedies. This makes sense because these are mostly to be fine-tuned to an individual chart. I posted an article on the basic principles behind these remedies in Vedic Astrology.
~ More info on consultations can be found here on this website ~
~ Enjoy your Jyotish journey and hope to meet you soon on the road ~
