Light of Astrology

Monica Monasterio is a Vedic Astrologer since 2009.  She has a B.A. in Psychology from Argosy University in Seattle.  Her deep passion for the spiritual and occult side of life has led her on a path to go deeper into the mysteries of life, and to seek the underlying causes of phenomena and events.  This is what led her down the path of Vedic Astrology (Jyotish).  

 

She began by studying Western Astrology first, but it still was not enough.  After about three months of studying Western Astrology she came across a book by James Braha on Western Astrology, but the back cover said he actually practiced Hindu Astrology.  She became curious about this different astrology she had never heard about and immediately called him and ordered his books.  He sent her her chart to study alongside her new Hindu (Vedic) Astrology books.  The fateful day upon receiving the book titled, "Ancient Hindu Astrology for the Modern Western Astrologer"she became so absorbed on Vedic Astrology, that she never looked back.  It explained circumstances in her life which could not be explained by Western Astrology alone.  

 

She practices the Parashara System, and stays with the traditional seven ancient planets.  She has studied personally with Punditji Mahesh Shastriji of mypanchang.com, Dennis Flaherty's correspondence course, tutoring with Penny Farrow, and finally through hours of individual study from a set of about 40 sundry books on Vedic Astrology purchased from Dennis Flaherty a week after having received James Braha's books (back in 2009).  

 

She has also been studying all the courses by James Kelleher, whom she met at the Seattle Vedic Astrology Conference in 2014.  Monica's knowledge, wisdom and intuition has dramatically deepened due to James Kelleher's courses. It is his methods which she employs in her astrological analyses, which use the rich symbolism of the Nakshatras, she uses many important Divisional Charts (each theme of life has it's own Divitional Chart), and even Nakshatras in the Divisional Charts.  She also employs the beautiful symbolism of the Drekkanas, which are Tarot-like images in each sign which shed even more symbolism and depth into the predictions and psychology of the individual's birth chart.  As James Kelleher repeats over and over in his classes, "Three logs make a fire."  An astrologer can only feel safe making a prediction if the pattern repeats itself at least three times in the birth chart.  This is a mistake many new astrologers make:  they make predictions which fail because they are only seeing one pointer into that prediction. People lose faith or don't believe in astrology as a result, but it is not the fault of the system of astrology, but the failure of the astrologer to see patterns that repeat in a chart.  This is the basis from which Monica bases her predictions, and she will not make a prediction without feeling confident that there is a karmic pattern involved.  

​

However, Monica is a firm believer in Free Will.  We have inherited our birth charts due habitual thought patterns of past incarnations.  However, we have the Free Will to change our own patterns if we begin making changes in our consciousness here and now.  These thoughts should become habits for the changes to take root into the trunk of the tree of mind.  Meditation or Contemplation is a pre-requisite for the subconscious mind to accept any lasting changes.  Like Yin and Yang, there should be a balance between Analytical Thinking and Meditation/Contemplation.  The mind needs both.  In this day and age we are too deeply rooted in analytical thinking, which is the cause of much depression, insomnia, and lack of faith.  

 

She will always consider herself a life-long student of Jyotish, considering how vast and deep this knowledge is.

 

Monica is equally fascinated by religious thought, in particular Hindu, Buddhist, Kabbalistic and Christian thought. Her approach with clients takes into account their cultural and religious background, and will give spiritual guidance from their perspective.  She is not partial to any particular religion or creed, but rather embraces spirituality as a whole.  

 

Her top five favorite spiritual books of all time (books like honey to her soul) are the following:

 

*The Law of One (The Ra Material)

*The Imitation of Christ (translated by Joseph Tylenda)

*The Bhagavad Gita

*Vasistha's Yoga (by Swami Venkatesananda)

*The Buddhist Bible (translated by Dwight Goddard)

and last but NOT least:

*Songs of Kabir by Rabindranath Tagore.