Johanne Riopel
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Hora and Hand: The Dynamic Duo

Rachel was in a slump. The young physiotherapist’s dedication to work and devotion to clients had created a flourishing business.

“I was the first to arrive at the office and the last to leave—now I couldn’t care less,” she confided. “Since breaking up with my boyfriend nothing matters to me. I barely have the energy to get out of bed--I’m totally drained.”

The first thing I did was draw up a hora, an astrological snapshot of the planets that tells us what’s going on in our lives at that precise moment. Rachel’s Hora had Leo ascendant, as did her natal chart.

“Great news, Rachel! Matching ascendants are highly karmic—they tell us we are in the right place at the right time to learn what we need to know to improve our situation.”

Rachel’s natal chart’s powerful Sun in the 10th house denoted intense focus on achieving great career heights. Unfortunately, success now left her empty and without motivation, which was reflected in her handprints. Although her strong destiny line ran vertically from the base of her palm—Indicating an enthusiastic, lifelong pursuit of a goal or purpose—it terminated at her heart line. A destiny line ending at the heart line is a double-edged sword. While the heart line provides the emotional energy that drives us to pursue our life’s purpose, our emotions can also sidetrack us—entangling us in self-absorbing personal dramas that deplete our energy, erode our focus and destroy our motivation.

In Rachel’s case, she’d attached her career accomplishments—and self-worth—to romantic relationships. When the relationship ended, she lost her zest for life and fell into a listless state of inertia.

I always carefully examine the termination point of the destiny line, checking if other lines have become blocks requiring repair or fine-tuning. Rachel’s heart line was long, denoting a desire to share her life with someone. But it was also straight (not ideally rounded), denoting over-attachment and a tendency to place heavy expectations and demands on partners.

“Rachel,” I said. “Your Hora says you’re in the right place to learn what you need to know. The lesson here is to develop self-reliance and stop depending on external factors for motivation. Your convictions must drive you to succeed in life, not the emotional approval of others. A great spiritual teacher once said: Emotion empties us, while devotion fills us.

“You have a strong destiny line and a true desire to achieve—but your emotions bog you down. You must visualize your destiny line crossing your heart line. Don’t place expectations on others; through self-reliance you’ll regain your original passion and purpose, free from the anguish, malaise and disappointment that comes with thwarted desire.

Within a year, Rachel’s destiny line had pushed beyond her heart line, and as it grew, so did her passion for life.
If we are fortunate enough to be blessed with a destiny line, it is important to maintain it through constant focus, vigilance and dedication.

Is your relationship affecting your motivation? Click here to contact us to have your natal chart and handprints analyzed to help steer you in the right direction. We are here to help.

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Johanne Riopel

Why Should You Sign Up for Guylaine Vallée’s New Jupiter Program?

If you have ever wished to be the absolute best version of yourself, Guylaine’s new Jupiter program is for you. Why? Because Jupiter is the area of the hand that embodies the finest of our human traits and qualities while connecting us to the divine spark that exists within us all.

According to the rishis—the divinely inspired seers of ancient India—Jupiter possesses the power to awaken our highest level of consciousness, deepen our awareness and help us infuse our life with truth, meaning, purpose and compassion. So, it is not surprising that in Sanskrit Jupiter is referred to as Guru, which literally means “the dispeller of darkness”. Indeed, Jupiter has the potential to illuminate our mind with noble and lofty ideals while helping us identify the unique role we were born to fulfill in this lifetime.

Furthermore, Jupiter is associated with the second chakra, Swadhisthana, which translates as ‟sweetness”. Through this program, we will examine how to activate our second chakra in order to express a sweet, gentle, and amiable disposition. We will learn how to balance our emotions, heighten our receptivity and stimulate our desire to nurture the people in our lives. We will also look at case histories to discover how to navigate the hardest lesson of all: to not be triggered or offended when others misinterpret or misjudge us.

Jupiter is also associated with the flowing element of water. Like a water filtration plant, a positive expression of Jupiter helps us sift through non-useful and destructive emotional patterns so that we can have authentic and genuine relationships. Like a vast sparkling ocean, we can flow from a wholehearted and joyful place with no hidden agendas interfering with our intimate relationships. We are able to draw inspiration from the inner depth of our feelings to express ourselves creatively.

The Jupiter program will teach you how to harness the full benefic power of Jupiter and channel it into your daily life. Your host—astro-palmist Guylaine Vallée—will guide you through this 10-week course, helping you master each lesson in the beautifully illustrated PDFs (more than 150 pages) and answering your questions during the fun and informative weekly live webinars.

Let us take a look at the case of Bruno who has benefited from working on his Jupiter energy.

 

Transforming our Life through Jupiter:

The Case of Bruno—From Enforcer to Counselor

 

Bruno, a childcare worker, was unhappy in his job as a disciplinary “enforcer” at a reform school for emotionally troubled and violently aggressive teenage boys. Although his heart line was short and did not originate on his Mount of Jupiter, he had a Ring of Solomon on the mount, a sign of wisdom which, as the name suggests, reflects an ability to understand, relate to and empathize with other people. It’s not uncommon to find a Ring of Solomon on the Mount of Jupiter of someone working in a helping profession. Consequently, it was suggested that he would find life more rewarding if he changed direction by, for example, counseling the boys in his charge rather than simply disciplining them.

Bruno’s “after” print shows a longer heart line.

He was encouraged to develop his heart line to Jupiter in order to tap into the innate empathy suggested by his Ring of Solomon. This resonated with him as he wanted to get along with people better. He persisted each day visualizing his heart line growing. He tried to incorporate all the ideal qualities of a longer heart line on a daily basis; for example, he practiced expressing empathy and concern for how others were feeling. Within three months, he found himself more approachable as people began to relate to him more easily. By allowing his heart to open, he increased his magnetism, which is reflected in his “after” print by his longer heart line.

His new attitude and outlook were recognized by others and soon he was promoted to the position of ombudsman at the reform school. This meant he was no longer an enforcer, but a counselor who created greater harmony between the boys and social workers.

This very special program begins October 3rd.  So, don’t delay—sign up today!

Click here to register.

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Ghanshyam Singh Birla

Dannion Brinkley: From Assassin to Caregiver

By Vedic Astro-Palmist Ghanshyam Singh Birla

 

Dannion Brinkley had to die to become fully alive.

Without a doubt, Dannion remains one of the most fascinating clients I’ve ever had. I will never forget our first meeting, when this big bear of man appeared in my office and loomed over me. I didn’t know whether to get up to shake his hand or run for the door. I decided to shake his hand, but he wasn’t interested in so formal a greeting. Instead, he wrapped his brawny arms around me, lifted me off my feet and gave be a big hug that radiated with genuine warmth and affection. “It’s great to meet you darlin’,“ he boomed in a lilting, South Carolina drawl. We sat down and I began to examine his palms, but before I could say a word, he took my hands in his and said, “Before we get started, let me tell you my story.”

I soon discovered that Dannion had not always been so warm and affectionate. “As a kid, I was mean and vicious,” he told me.  “I was a big guy and loved to throw my weight around. I was king of the bullies. What I loved doing most was beating up people as badly as possible, and I beat up hundreds. I’d rather punch someone in the face than say hello to them . . . I was filled with hatred and rage, I had a massive ego and a violent streak a mile wide, and I was proud of it.”

After high school Dannion found a perfect outlet for his aggressive nature—he joined the Marines, where, as he put it, he was trained to be a cold and calculating killing machine. He excelled at his training and was recruited into an elite squad assigned to assassinate enemy politicians and military leaders. “That line of work suited me perfectly,” he said. “It was my dream job, I thought I’d found what I was born to do.”

But killing wasn’t what Dannion was born to do, which he learned after receiving a dramatic wakeup call from the Cosmos.

Dannion’s life changed forever in 1975, when, at age 25, he was chatting with a friend on the telephone during a thunder storm. Lightening hit the outside phone line, travelled to the receiver Dannion had pressed against his ear, zapped him in the head and then shot through his body with such force and energy it melted the metal nails of his army boots. The jolt threw him across the room. The next thing he knew he was floating below the ceiling, looking down at his wife as she frantically pounded on his lifeless chest trying to get him to breathe. A paramedic appeared beside her and pronounced Dannion dead. He was rushed to the hospital, but the doctors could not revive him.

In his bestselling New York Times book, Saved by the Light, (and the movie based on the book) Dannion describes what happened next. After leaving his physical body he entered into a spiritual realm, travelling upward through the “tunnel of light” that has been described by so many who have undergone near-death experiences (NDEs).

“The further I travelled toward the light, the more I felt I was being embraced by a being of all-encompassing love. It was more than the love we get from a wife or parent—it was like a granddaddy’s love . . . no demands or expectations, just pure, unequivocal and unconditional love.”

Dannion described incredible encounters with beings of light, and the psychic visions he received. But for me, the most poignant part of his story was about his life flashing before his eyes. “It was horrifying and excruciating. I encountered every person I had ever hurt—I felt the agony and humiliation I inflicted on them. And I experienced the suffering and confusion of the people I killed, and the pain and grief their relatives were forced to live with for years. The being of light that engulfed me was all love; there was no recrimination or judgement of my actions—but seeing what I had done, I was forced to judge myself. I realized what a selfish, self-centered, cruel and destructive man I had been, how I had squandered my opportunity to do good and bring joy into the world . . . how I had wasted my life. It was not a pretty picture—the shame and guilt was mentally and physically unbearable, like being set on fire and drinking battery acid simultaneously. “

When the review of his life ended, the loving being that was embracing Dannion wordlessly conveyed this message to him: Who you are is the difference that God makes, and that difference is love. As the being moved away, Dannion’s pain faded; he felt the burden of his guilt being removed. And he knew he had been given a second chance. Moments later he awoke in his cold, dead body, which was laying on a gurney beneath a hospital sheet, about to be transported to the morgue. A hospital orderly noticed the sheet move and quickly wheeled Dannion into the emergency room where he was fully resuscitated. He had been clinically dead for 28 minutes. Although he was totally paralyzed for days, and spent months recuperating, he eventually made a complete recovery—both physically and spiritually.

To say I was stunned by Dannion’s incredible story would be a massive understatement. But what struck me most (and will remain with me always) was what he said next. “I learned during that 28 minutes that, while there is physical death, there is no such thing as spiritual death. The spiritual aspect of us lives on as love . . . love is divine and lasting. All of us—each and every human being—are connected to each other in loving spirit. When we hurt others, we are only hurting ourselves. When we love others, that love spreads across the planet and enriches every life.”

With that awareness, Dannion chose to dedicate his “second life” to bringing love and happiness into the world by providing comfort and solace to the suffering. His wonderful organization, Compassion in Action (CIA), recruits, trains and supports hospice volunteers all across America. He has personally spent thousands of hours at the bedside of hundreds of dying strangers, many of whom were fellow war veterans. Holding their hands, Dannion helps them pass peacefully from this life to the next. In his second book, At Peace in the Light, he recounts the beauty of witnessing the divine reflection of love in the appreciative eyes of those who he cares for. When he is not working in a hospice, he helps others overcome life challenges, making good use of the psychic abilities he returned to his body with.

“We get this precious gift of life, and we must make the most of it,” he told me. Being alive gives you the chance to be everything that God is (and that God wants us to be)—kind, loving, protective, wise, and to create life. These are the skills of God—we must practice them while we still walk this earth.”

When I finally got around to looking at Dannion’s hands and astrological chart, it was a real joy to see the amazing life journey this incredible man, born under the sign of Cancer, has been following.

 

The Moon and Our Perception

Now, some of you may be wondering how a Cancer, a gentle-natured sign ruled by nurturing Moon (or Luna), could have become a vicious bully and deadly assassin in the first place. Well, let me explain: In our hand, the Mount of Moon pertains to the qualities of perception—our creativity, imagination and sensory awareness. All the information we receive about the world around us is filtered through the lens of Luna. And because our perception influences every area of our hand (and our life), Luna is the cornerstone of our personal and spiritual evolution. Moon directly impacts the balance of our three main energies of body, mind and heart—reflected respectively in the life line (how we behave), head line (how we think) and heart line (how we love).

So, when our Moon is balanced, we are happy, optimistic and the world is a beautiful place and we tend to be kind, empathic and compassionate people.

But our perception is a very difficult aspect of ourselves to control. This makes the Mount of Luna (along with the Mount Mars) the most difficult feature of our hand to balance. And when our Luna is out of balance so is our perception—we can perceive a kind word or friendly gesture as an insult or a threat. A severely unbalanced Luna can easily push us to the brink of, well, lunacy. And an off-kilter Moon can create a negative domino effect across the entire hand. For example, misperceiving a friendly conversation can make us irrationally paranoid, which will in turn ignite our Mars negative energy (remember Mars is the Warrior God), automatically putting us on the defensive, or worse, on the attack. Physiological, this can be seen in an unwarranted activation of our body’s fight-flight response, which will cause us to abruptly walk away from that perfectly pleasant conversation, or to begin spewing angry insults and sarcasm, or even to throw a punch.

In Dannion’s case, we can see that the Mount of Moon in his non-dominant right hand is very shrunken—it is extremely unbalanced. (Our dominant hand represents our conscious awareness; our non-dominant hand represents our unconscious.) This means that while growing up, Dannion’s subconscious perception of the world around him was completely distorted. He misperceived everything and everybody as being a threat, so fight-or-flight response was continually set to “fight” mode. Lashing out and inflicting harm made him feel safe, and that made him feel good. Even though his Moon is balanced in his dominant left hand, and his head line travels toward Luna in a gentle “philosopher curve”, he was unable to access the sensitive, nurturing and philosophical aspects of his nature due to his distorted subconscious perceptions

Vedic palmistry teaches us that we can change our lines (and the mounts of our hand), by changing our thoughts and attitudes. It took a Cosmic wakeup call in the form of a bolt of lightning for Dannion to realize he was completely misperceiving the world. However, once he did, he was able to examine his thinking and his actions, and gain the awareness, desire and courage to change his ways. He could then make the most of the balanced Moon energy in his dominant hand, awakening his dormant compassion. And that allowed him to use his Mars Warrior energy to protect and care for others, rather than to attack and harm them. As a result, Dannion became a better, more peaceful and loving human being, one who is now making the world a better, more peaceful and loving place.

We don’t have to be struck by lightning to access the vast positive potential of Mount of Moon, we just have to be aware of what our hands are telling us about ourselves and use that information to become the best we can be. Dannion did it, and so can you.

 

How Important Is Our Perception?

During these turbulent times of global pandemic, runaway inflation, political strife and international conflict, it has never been more important to be able to clearly see and hear what is happening around us. Mastering your Luna will transform your life.

Do you want to learn to:

  • Overcome stress and anxiety?
  • Use your imagination creatively, not as a source of worry, fear and confusion?
  • Maintain your peace of mind, even when the rest of the world seems to being going insane?

This fall, master the power of perception with astro-palmist Guylaine Vallée
as she guides you on an incredible journey of empowerment that will transform your world and the way you live.

You want to know about this exciting new program? Click here!

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Guylaine Vallée
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Luna and The Power of Perception

By Vedic Astro-Palmist, Guylaine Vallée

 

There is a great deal of truth in the old adage: Seeing is believing. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of untruth in it as well. When our Luna is not balanced, the information we are receiving through our sense organs can be skewed, misleading and even harmful.

Perhaps a good illustration of the sensory information we receive through an imbalanced Luna is a stroll through an amusement park House of Mirrors. In one mirror, we perceive ourselves as squat and fat, in another we are tall and toothpick thin, in a third we look like a hot-air balloon. The images are grotesque, but because we are aware of being in an amusement park, we know the information our eyes are receiving is faulty and we can laugh at what we are seeing. But when our Luna is off, we don’t need to be in an amusement park to receive distorted images of ourselves.

How often have we looked at own reflection and seen something that really wasn’t there, or projected an image onto ourselves that was untrue? We may have the loveliest face on the planet, but our mind obsesses on the tiny pimple on our chin until that pimple is all we see, and all we believe the world sees when we are looked at.

 

But what is the Moon?

The Mount of Luna is perhaps the most important of the hand’s ten mounts—some say it is the most important feature of the entire palm. That is because Luna governs our five senses of perception—smell, taste, sight, touch and hearing—which means that Luna pretty much governs the way we see, feel, experience and interpret everything we encounter in the world. In short, Luna is responsible for our thoughts; it affects every single aspect of our lives—from our moods and emotions to our relationships, our self-image and our mental health. And given the overwhelming amount of recent mind-body research illustrating the enormous impact our thoughts and emotions have on our bodies, Luna also plays a major role in our physical health and well-being.

Our mind can be bombarded by so much sensory data that we become preoccupied with the physical world. Instead of feeling the joy of a beautiful summer day, we choose instead to focus on our bad hair day . . . or the unsightly pimple on our chin.

Even with our eyes closed during prayer or meditation, we are still assaulted by thoughts and images—even when we try to block them out. If we do not train our mind to connect to our higher levels of consciousness, we will be forever at the mercy of our sensory perception. This condition can create an ever-escalating series of emotional highs and lows, which will disturb our happiness, complicate our lives and undermine our spiritual progress. Instead of concentrating on achieving our goals or pursuing our dreams, we waste time thinking of ways to get even with the rude motorist who cut us off; instead of being present with our child at a hockey game, we are wondering if our spouse is texting his old flame, instead of focusing on finishing our work assignments we fret away the hours wondering if our office mates are gossiping about us, and instead of meditating to calm our nerves we dwell upon the perceived snub by a friend.

These errant emotional thoughts are powerful disruptions that separate us from ourselves, from our purpose in life, and from those who rely on us. When we mentally wander off in this fashion, it can be said that we’ve “gone fishing”. This old English idiom refers to someone who has become completely unaware of their surroundings and has checked out from reality. Our best friend might be describing the birth of their first child to us, but they might as well save their breath—we may look like we are listening, but we are not hearing a word they say. We might show up for work every day, do our chores at home, even go out for nice dinners or to shows, but later we will have a hard time describing what we have done because we were AWOL from our own lives.

Even if, overall, we are a “glass half full” type of person, if our Luna is imbalanced—when we become too caught up in our thoughts or when our perception is false or faulty—that glass can suddenly appear to be half empty. Luna is responsible for feelings of sensitivity, receptivity and empathy. But when our perception goes haywire, we can easily withdraw into ourselves and witness the best parts of our Luna begin to falter and fail. We can come to view ourselves as being undeserving, unattractive, untalented and unworthy. And if we are overly focused on the external, we run the risk of disconnecting from our inner self and becoming subjective or even irrational, ruining perfectly good jobs, relationships or our future by failing to see correctly.

Sometimes, if we are habituated to emotional drama and in need of great levels of stimulation, we can develop an addiction to substances, some natural like adrenaline, others that are manufactured like drugs and alcohol, that flood into our bloodstream when our emotions are in a state of turmoil and distress. To fuel our addiction, we may attract abusive relationships, deliberately injure ourselves or recklessly put ourselves in situations that are illegal or dangerous. All this drama and chaos can prevent us from connecting with our inner peace and joy.

At the Birla Center we’ve found one of the easiest and most effective ways to transform inner turmoil into creativity and joy is ensuring our Mount of Moon is strong and balanced. In Vedic palmistry the Mount of Moon, or Luna, corresponds to our mind and emotions—it rules our power of perception and shapes the way we view ourselves and the world around us. Indeed, the condition our Luna is in can make our life a heaven or a hell. So, we better make sure we are using our Moon energy properly—our success and happiness depend on it!

 

Brand-New Course: Luna and The Power of Perception

Join astro-palmist Guylaine Vallée this fall as she guides you through her brand new, life-transforming course: Luna and The Power of Perception. This life-changing program teaches you everything you need to know about creating peace of mind, focusing your creative energies positively, using your imagination to create health and happiness, and to express your feelings freely from the heart.

 

Click here for details and to register!
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Guylaine Vallée

Bruno’s Propelled Heart

By Vedic Palmist-Astrologer Guylaine Vallée

Excerpt from The 90-Day Heart Line Challenge: Open Your Heart to Love, Joy and Happiness

In his masterpiece, The Holy Science, Sri Yukteswar tells us that, as we evolve toward the expression of perfect love, we must progress through “Five States of the Heart.” Successfully passing through each state brings us a step closer to our goal of perfect love, a step closer to clearing the clouds from our heart, and a step closer to the power of the Infinite within us. Last month, we examined the first state of the heart, the Dark Heart. This month, we discover the second state of the heart: The Propelled State of the Heart.

 

The Propelled State of the Heart

We enter the Propelled State of the Heart when our experience of the world leaves us feeling empty, when we grow dissatisfied with the shallow pleasures of the senses, the hollow rewards of material pursuits—when the after-effects of rampant emotion, uncontrolled passion and possessiveness have dragged us into a state of desperation and despair. It is then that our heart begins to yearn for greater meaning—a deeper truth that propels us toward a higher form of love. This seeking of love and truth stretches our heart and lengthens our heart line.

In the Propelled State of the Heart, we are more open and receptive to wisdom, creating a magnetism that will draw wise teachers, inspiring guides and supportive friends into our lives. In essence, we are sending out a sincere request to the universe to enlighten us, and the universe will never ignore such a request. It doesn’t matter how jaded we are or how set in our ways we have become, once our heart propels us to search for truth, we will not be deterred from finding it, and will be ready if it finds us first. An enlightened sage once said, “a saint is a sinner who doesn’t give up.” So, don’t worry about any past missteps—we learn from our mistakes; it is often the flaws and faults in our character that bring us to the most profound revelations, and the deepest desire to do good in the world.

This was the case with my client Bruno.

 

Bruno’s Propelled Heart

When Bruno first came to see me, he was working as the disciplinary “enforcer” at a reform school for emotionally troubled and violently aggressive teenaged boys.

His job requirements did not extend much beyond being physically intimidating and verbally domineering. It was not an intellectually stimulating or spiritually uplifting occupation. Despite being unhappy with his position, he kept with it for many years; it paid the bills and fulfilled his basic needs. Although he was in a rut, it was a comfortable rut, which made him willing to settle for less, and to be less than he could be.

Bruno was holding himself back from life and from love, which is reflected in the very short heart line in his “before” handprints. However, there were spiritual markings on his sattwa Mount of Jupiter, which told me he was not only capable of much more, but that he was ready (at least subconsciously) to be propelled forward into a more meaningful existence. I suggested that he might find his life more rewarding if he changed direction by, for example, counseling the boys in his charge rather than simply controlling them.

I encouraged him to focus on a more empathic and philosophic approach, which would extend his heart line and bring him greater personal fulfillment and happiness. Bruno, however, was a curmudgeon and gruffly brushed aside my suggestion. But sometimes the universe knows what we want and need more than we do ourselves, and the universe intervened on Bruno’s behalf.

Not long after our initial consultation, Bruno’s leg was broken during a scuffle with one of the boys at the reform school. During his convalescence, he remembered my suggestion; he started broadening his horizons and seeking a deeper meaning to life by reading Vedic philosophy.

When he returned to see me a year later, he was excited to see enormous improvement across his entire palm—most notably, he had a much longer heart line. By looking at the encircled areas on both his handprints, you can see that his heart line grew an extension towards his Jupiter finger. Also, on the Mount of Jupiter, you’ll see the development of a Ring of Solomon, a sign of wisdom, which (as the name suggests) reflects an ability to understand, relate to, and empathize with other people. It’s not uncommon to find a Ring of Solomon in the palm of someone working in a helping profession.

Bruno confided to me that following his injury he consciously decided to lengthen his heart line. He visualized its growth each day and, through the regular practice of gratitude and kindness, witnessed his personality undergo a remarkable transformation. For the first time in his life he was actually happy, and for the first time, other people found him approachable and caring. His desire for truth had propelled him to extend his heart line, which increased his magnetism and helped Bruno to create a more meaningful and loving life.

 

Click here to find out more about The Self-Paced 90-Day Heart Line Challenge

 

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Guylaine Vallée

Lyn and Roy: The Dark Heart

Excerpt from The 90-Day Heart Line Challenge: Open Your Heart to Love, Joy and Happiness

By Vedic Palmist-Astrologer Guylaine Vallée

 

The Five States of the Heart

In his masterpiece, The Holy Science, Sri Yukteswar tells us that, as we evolve toward the expression of perfect love, we must progress through “Five States of the Heart.” Successfully passing through each state brings us a step closer to our goal of perfect love, a step closer to clearing the clouds from our heart, and a step closer to the power of the Infinite within us. Sri Yukteswar writes: ‘If we are able to cultivate this powerful ruling force of love implanted in our heart, we will be free of the unhappiness from the pain and pleasure cycles that are a part of life.’

Understanding the steps described by Sri Yukteswar, these five states of the heart, has helped so many of my clients find love, and has helped me so greatly in my own life, that I’m dedicating this week’s Challenge to exploring them. I really believe this will give you a deeper insight into the evolution of the heart, will inspire you as much as it has inspired me, and will help us immeasurably in our quest to expand our heart and create a love-filled life!

The first state of the heart Sri Yukteswar tells us about is the Dark State:

 

The Dark State of the Heart

When we are in the Dark State of the Heart, we are oblivious to our soul’s intuitive instinct to embrace and express love. We identify with, and become overwhelmed by, the external events that surround us. There are many traps through which the Dark State of the Heart can ensnare our consciousness: Ignorance, heartache, negative attitudes and emotions, bad habits, substance abuse or psychological and emotional trauma, to name a few. Birla clients Lyn and Roy were both plunged into this darkness through the pain of a shared personal tragedy.

 

Lyn And Roy: The Dark Heart

Lyn and Roy were a married couple who took a road trip with their young son. At one point, Roy became drowsy and asked Lyn, a less experienced driver, to take over behind the wheel. Not long afterwards they had a head-on collision in which their son was killed.

Neither Roy nor Lyn could forgive themselves for their boy’s death. Guilt pulled them both into a downward spiral of depression and emotional isolation. Despite having two other children, they could not open their hearts to express love. Years passed but their hearts did not heal; their love was consumed by guilt, anger and grief. Roy eventually retreated entirely into himself, quit his job and passed his days numbed by sedatives and antidepressants. Lyn continued to function, but her heart remained a stranger to herself and those around her.

Eventually a family friend convinced Lyn to have a consultation with Ghanshyam. Her “before” handprints reflect her persistent sadness, stress and anxiety, which can be seen in the network of fine interference lines streaking the middle and bottom areas of her palm. But fortunately, in her after prints, Lyn developed a star on her Mount of Jupiter, which is a sign of strong, intuitive soul wisdom. After several consultations, Lyn realized (and came to accept) that she could no longer let personal tragedy cloud her heart and, for the sake of her husband and surviving children if not for herself, she must stop allowing guilt and suffering to dominate her life.

 

This spiritual insight allowed Lyn to break free of the Dark State of the Heart and seek therapy to confront her grief. Her understanding of the need to move forward in love is reflected in the balance between her heart and head lines forming a healthy quadrangle which, as we’ve learned, is “The Landing Strip of The Angels”. Her healthy quadrangle gave Lyn the openness to accept and receive help from others. Her valiant spirit, which refused to let her quit on life or love, is illustrated in her “after” handprints through the extension of her heart line and her two vertical destiny lines, reflecting her determination to transcend even the most difficult obstacles and struggles.

Roy was less receptive to helpful counsel. His inability to support his family, either emotionally or materially, is confirmed by the imbalance between his short head line and long heart line. He lacks a healthy quadrangle; his “Landing Strip of the Angels” is further blocked by a branch of the heart line, which is being dragged down toward the head line and clouding his love with negative thoughts. He continued to allow his own guilt, and his anger at Lyn—whom he blamed for the accident—to close off his heart and keep it in the dark state. However, we remain hopeful he would eventually come around and, by opening his heart through forgiveness, would heal and be free to love.

The energy of our thoughts, feelings and actions directly impacts the lines in our hand. The way we direct that energy determines the direction our lines take—and the heart line is no exception. If we focus on positive emotions like love, acceptance and forgiveness, our heart line will extend to our Jupiter mount in a positive upward curve, which opens our quadrangle and invites angels and blessings into our life. If we are obsessed over negative thoughts and project negative emotions, our heart line can be pulled downward toward the head line, closing off our quadrangle and denying us the benefits of those wonderful quadrangle blessings.

A great deal of this, of course, depends on how we respond to the events in our life. If we allow negative situations to defeat our spirits, our heart line will evolve in a negative, downward direction; if we remain steadfast in our expression of love in the face of adversity, our heart will evolve in a positive, upward direction.

Click here to find out more about The Self-Paced 90-Day Heart Line Challenge

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Ghanshyam Singh Birla

The Head Line: Our Doorway to Peace of Mind

By Vedic Palmist, Ghanshyam Singh Birla

 

In Vedic palmistry, the head line is often referred to as “the king of the hand” because it rules the way we think, the way we behave and the way we perceive the world around us. With its innate powers of logic and deduction, the head line reflects our intellectual ability to make rational decisions—to determine what is safe and unsafe, to discern right from wrong, and to weigh the consequences of our actions. In short, the head line helps us decide what is in our best interest and what will promote overall wellbeing and happiness in our lives and the lives of those we love.

Even more importantly, the head line is a doorway to our psyche, a doorway through which we can access the inner workings of our mind. And understanding how our mind functions—what makes us tick—is essential in maintaining a healthy outlook, healthy behaviors and a healthy sense of self. Indeed, the way we think determines how we act and how we view ourselves and the people in our lives. Thinking shapes our perception, and our perception shapes our world.

The head line is one of the three major lines of the hand and runs across the middle of the palm. It is flanked on either side by the hand’s other major lines—the life line, which is just below it, and the heart line just above. This central location endows the head line with a critical role in unifying the three principal aspects of our being. Not only does it form a bridge between the life line (reflecting our physical body) and the heart line (reflecting our loving nature), but it acts as a linchpin connecting all three major lines. Hence, a well-formed head line brings the heart line and life line into alignment, ensuring a balanced, harmonious relationship between body, mind and soul.

As I mentioned in last month’s article, Thinking Your Way to Happiness, a strong and balanced head line is a vital component of a healthy and happy life. If the head line is broken, disrupted by interference lines, too short, misshapen, travels in a detrimental direction or is out of alignment with the heart or life lines, our thinking will be adversely affected. The way we view ourselves, our relationships and our world will be askew. Making matters worse, faults and fractures in the head line allow the negative, self-defeating voices we’ve accumulated since childhood seep into the forefront of our mind. These dark voices undermine our confidence, hamper our success, jeopardize our happiness and, over time, can cut groves into our physical brain where negative thinking can take root and lead to harmful actions.

Fortunately, we can correct faults in the head line and repair any damage that negative thinking has inflicted on our lives. But this is not always easy to do—changing our head line requires us to change the way we think, which is something that is simpler said than done. Dislodging deeply engrained negative thought patterns and changing long-established bad habits and behaviors is, to say the least, a challenging task. Modern brain imaging has revealed that nearly 100,000 thoughts race through our mind each day—that’s roughly 50 thoughts a minute. With all that noisy traffic roaring around our brain, it’s little wonder we have so much difficulty knowing our own mind, and so much trouble communicating or being intimate with those we love.

Even more alarming is the fact that neuroscience has determined 80 percent of our thoughts are either partially or entirely negative in nature. That means our poor brain is contending with 80,000 negative thoughts every day of our lives! Sadly, each negative thought acts as a brick that, when stacked one atop another, can quickly create a towering and seemingly insurmountable wall that separates us from our higher selves, from our potential, from our feelings, and from our family, friends and lovers.

The good news is that by making our head line our best friend we will gain the mental strength and clarity to tear that wall down brick by brick, negative thought by negative thought. And when that wall is gone, our mind will be calm and peaceful, our vision will be crystal clear and we will be standing face to face with our true self.

To achieve this, we must replace our negative thoughts with positive ones, which will positively reshape our head line and make it as close to perfect as possible. So, what does a perfect head line look like? Well, as you can see in the illustration, an ideal head line will be deep and unmarred by interference lines. It will originate on or near the intersection of the Mount of Jupiter and Mars negative, and then travel across Rahu before gently curving downward toward its termination point on the mounts of Mars positive and Luna. This is the ideal head line; it denotes calm, clear, rational and objective thinking and reflects sound judgement, a positive mental outlook and a state of mind that remains peaceful no matter how unsettled or disturbing external circumstances may become.

Now, take a moment to look at both of your hands and compare the head line in each palm to the ideal head line in our diagram. Pay special attention to the head line in the hand you use to write—that’s called your dominant hand. If you are right-handed, your right hand is your dominant hand; if you are left-handed, your left hand is dominant. There is a major difference between the two.

The non-dominant hand reflects our past habits and thought patterns, which tells us a lot about why we think the way we do. But it is the dominant hand that reveals what’s happening in our life right now and reveals the direction our life is taking—the dominant head line reflects the thinking that determines our present and future happiness.  When we are consciously working on improving our mental outlook by making our thoughts more positive, we are most likely to see changes appear in our dominant head line.

Indeed, with a concentrated effort, we will see significant improvement in our dominant head line in as little as 90 days; the line may become stronger, deeper, and less fragmented and lines of interference may begin to fade away. These changes are a reflection of an increasingly positive mental attitude. It may be sublet at first but, if we remain diligent in our efforts to replace negative thoughts with positive ones, our shifting mindset will become increasingly apparent and have a profoundly affirmative and lasting impact on the way we think, feel and live.

Don’t worry if your head line doesn’t match up to this ideal image in the illustration. The ideal head line is merely a target to strive for as we move toward a healthier mind. Adopting a more positive mindset is a journey on which we should focus to make steady progress, not racing to perfection. Please remember that any improvement in the head line reflects positive changes that are occurring in both our mind and our heart. These changes will manifest in an expanded consciousness that connects us to our soul and thus makes us more accepting, understanding and compassionate toward others. Our thoughts will be clear and focused, we will enjoy greater peace of mind, find that our relationships are much less turbulent and far more loving, and that our outlook on life is not only happier and more optimistic, but joyful as well.

Indeed, the head line plays such a vital role in our lives that I have designed a webinar series dedicated to helping everyone bring out the very best in their own head line. The series is fun, informative and affordable for all. It begins September 9th and will run for 12 weeks. I warmly invite all of you to join me.

Click here for details or to register

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Ghanshyam Singh Birla

Thinking Your Way to Happiness

By Vedic Palmist Ghanshyam Singh Birla

The human mind is, without question, the Universe’s greatest wonder—the unrivaled masterpiece of Creation. The great achievements of civilization, including civilization itself, have been produced by the mind’s ability to think, reason, imagine and dream.

The same thought processes that have shaped our evolution and enabled humankind to reach such dizzying displays of ingenuity, invention and beauty are alive in each of us. No matter our age, intellect, social status or education, we are all capable of changing our world and our own lives for the better; we can create lasting love, beauty, happiness and joy by properly channeling the power of our thoughts. This can be achieved when we discover how to connect our thinking to the depth of feeling of our heart and the wisdom of our soul.

 

OUR NEGATIVE VOICES

Unfortunately, there is a flip side to our thinking, a dark side that is responsible for so much of the strife, suffering and discord in our world and in our own lives. When our mind is restless, troubled or unfocused, we become lost in a cacophony of negativity—our peace of mind drowned in a tsunami of doubting, disparaging voices incessantly chattering away inside our head. These voices latch onto our thoughts, telling us that we are not good enough or smart enough or worthy enough to realize our dreams, to accomplish our goals or to love and be loved.

We all are familiar, to varying degrees, with these dark voices and the toll they take on our enjoyment of life. These thoughts creep into our mind before an exam or during a job interview; they convince us we can’t succeed or that we are unwanted and unloved. They make us believe the glass is half empty when it is actually overflowing with promise and possibility.

 

NEUROSCIENCE AND NEGATIVE THINKING

Recent advances in brain imaging have revealed that our brains are plastic, meaning that our neural pathways—the roads our thoughts travel along in the brain—can be molded and changed throughout our lifetime. Unfortunately, neuroscience has also discovered that negative thoughts carve deeper, more permanent neural pathways in our grey matter than positive thoughts do, and those negative neural pathways spread across the brain exponentially.

This frame of mind can take a serious toll on both our mental and physical well-being. And when we combine the turbulent state of the world today with the fact that we identify most readily with negative news, it is little wonder that hope and self-esteem are at record lows among North American youth.

 

THE POSITIVE POWER OF PALMISTRY

Much like modern neuroscience, the ancient science of Vedic palmistry teaches us that our thoughts make deep impressions (or grooves) in our brain, impressions that can come to dominate our mind. But where Vedic palmistry and neuroscience differ is that palmistry shows us the origin, nature and quality of our thoughts. If our thoughts are angry, bitter, jealous or confused, our hand will tell us why, for how long and what we need to do to correct the situation.

 

YOU AND YOUR HEAD LINE

The head line runs across the middle section of the palm, referred to as the rajas region of the hand. Rajas is the Sanskrit word for “king” and, as the name suggests, King Rajas rules the hand. So, no matter how well-developed or beautifully formed our heart line may be, when there are problems with the head line, there will be problems in all areas of our life, including our love life!

If the head line is broken, too short, misshapen, running in an unhealthy direction or out of alignment with the heart line, our thinking is going to be adversely affected and our perception of the world and our relationships will be askew. It is through the cracks, faults and fractures of the head line that our negative voices find their way into our mind to jeopardize our happiness—a problematic head line can prevent us from accessing our heart, which is the gateway to our soul.

By adjusting our thoughts, we can reprogram and fine-tune our own emotions in search of happier, more productive lives. And when we begin to change our thoughts and attitudes, the head line will physically change! By taking our handprints on a regular basis, our hands become a personal gauge to determine our personal progress!

Stay tuned for our upcoming
Master Your Thoughts Webinar Series

September 9th, 2020

with Astro-Palmist Ghanshyam Singh Birla
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Ghanshyam Singh Birla

The Heart-Mind Connection: Seeking Coherence

By Ghanshyam Singh Birla, Vedic Palmist-Astrologer

 

One of the biggest challenges we face when trying to find, create and hold on to love is making sense of the mixed messages we send ourselves when our head and heart aren’t in sync. How do we decide who’s the boss? Do we listen to what our heart is telling us to do, or to what our head is telling us to do?

It’s probably easy for you to think of an occasion when you, or someone you know, has been unable to figure out which signals to follow. For example, should you follow your heart and become an artist because you passionately love to paint, or take the high-paying corporate job because it offers security, even though you know you’ll hate it and it will probably make you miserable? Do you marry the person who is a real sweetheart and who’ll definitely be a good parent and faithful partner, or do you run off with the other person because they make your blood race and your heart pound, even though your mind is warning you to stay away?

These kinds of wrenching personal dilemmas all stem from a lack of heart-mind coherence and are, sadly, as commonplace as they are painful. When our heart and head are in sync, when we have coherence of heart and mind, we will tap into the very power that created and drives the universe—a power that the ancient sages of India called Sat, that physicists call The Field and that I refer to simply as the Power of Love.

If we want to see how well we are doing at balancing our heart and head energies, and determine our level of heart-mind coherence, all we have to do is inspect the quality of the heart and head lines to see if they are balanced.

Honestly, in my 50 years as a Vedic palmist, the most common attribute shared by my clients who are having difficulty finding love, happiness and joy is an imbalance in their heart and head lines. Sometimes the problem is with the head line, sometimes with the heart line, often it is with both.

 

Case of Loretta

When our head line overpowers our heart line, our emotions can get shoved into a deep freeze, making our expression of love hard and brittle.

Loretta was a well-known and highly respected psychologist and marriage counselor. She’d written a bestselling book on developing successful relationships and was a frequent guest on radio and TV talk shows, where she offered advice to troubled couples. There was no doubt about it, Loretta was intellectually brilliant, possessed an extraordinary mind and had saved a lot of relationships . . . the problem was, she couldn’t save her own marriage or keep her family together.

Loretta came to see me at the insistence of her husband, who had long complained about how emotionally unavailable she was with him and their two school-aged daughters. But Loretta insisted she was doing her best.

“Hey, it’s true that I have a career and I’m busy, but I make sure I’m home for dinner every evening. I’m confused—I don’t know what they want from me.” Loretta reasoned with me during our consultation.

Unfortunately, Loretta’s head was not listening to her heart—her head line was out of balance with her heart line. She had no heart-mind coherence. In her handprints, we can see that her head line is nearly twice the length of her heart line. In other words, her head line is over powering her heart line, which shut down her heart center and created disharmony in her life. To remedy the problem, she had to grow her heart line by being more loving. And what better place to start practicing love than at home with your loved ones? Which is what I gently tried to persuade her to do.

“You have to get your head and heart communicating, Loretta.  Perhaps you could start with working on your intimacy issues with you husband by trying to be just a little more attentive to his concerns and needs,” I suggested. “And maybe make a conscious effort to be more emotionally present with your daughters . . .”

“Oh, there’s no need for any of that,” Loretta said, cutting me off. “My husband likes me just the way I am—he’s just going through a midlife crisis. He’ll buy a new sports car and snap right out of his funk. As far as the children are concerned . . . what kid doesn’t blame their mother for one thing or another? They have a good home, lots of friends and go to a good school. They know I love them, I’m sure they’ll grow up to be well-adjusted adults; they’ll be just fine.”

I could see that Loretta was not aware of the emotional toll her remoteness was taking on her loved ones—or herself. Before she left, I emphasized once again that she needed to listen to the whispers of her heart.

 

The Case of Claudia

When our heart line overpowers our head line, our reason and discernment get hijacked by our emotions, leading to behaviour that can be embarrassing, highly inappropriate, dangerous or downright disastrous. My client Claudia had the opposite problem of Loretta, but experienced very similar disharmonious results.

Claudia was a popular and effective guidance counsellor at a veterans’ hospital. Her passion and empathy enabled her to help many male and female soldiers returning from conflict zones successfully adjust to civilian life. She’d always managed to maintain a personal connection with her patients while keeping a professional distance. That is, until she fell in love with her patient Patrick. Claudia didn’t pursue him and dutifully kept her feelings to herself. But her intense emotional attraction to him eventually overpowered her reason. She convinced herself in the little things that he said and did that Patrick loved her as much as she loved him, that they shared a special and mutual bond.

Then one day she saw Patrick and another patient standing together, holding hands and kissing. Claudia was heartbroken and deeply angered at what she perceived to be a blatant, humiliating and unforgivable betrayal.

When Claudia came to see me, I explained to her that her anger had very little basis in reality, as she had never openly shared her feelings with Patrick. She told me, “I can’t help the way I feel. No matter how hard I try, I can’t overcome the rage or allow myself to forgive Patrick. She handed his case over to another counsellor and tried focusing all her energy on her other patients, but eventually she lost all enthusiasm for her work and took an extended leave from her job.

Her imbalanced heart line had skewed both her reason and objectivity, caused her great emotional suffering and negatively impacted her career. It took many months for me to convince Claudia that Patrick had actually done her a favor by opening her up to the potential to love and understanding that she needed to confront her lack of heart-mind coherence. She needed to improve her head line by becoming more objective, by trying to see a bigger picture. She needed to believe that if a feeling of love could be awoken once, as it had with Patrick, it could happen again in a more appropriate and mutual relationship, if she remained open to it.

There is now a significant body of scientific literature highlighting the importance of a healthy communication between our heart and brain. And new evidence continues to surface that confirms our happiness, as well as the length and quality of our lives, is directly influenced by our level of heart-mind coherence.

 

To know more about the coherence of head and heart, register to The 90-Day Heart Line Challenge.

Click here for information or to register.
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Ghanshyam Singh Birla
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Healing with The Heart

By Ghanshyam Singh Birla, Vedic Palmist-Astrologer

One of the greatest lessons Vedic Palmistry has taught me is that, no matter how old we are, it is never too late to fill our lives with love. The energy of love is the energy of Sat—it is eternal and omnipresent. Love brings us into this world, remains with us constantly during our lifetime and will carry us into the next life. There is never a time, from birth to death, when we are not surrounded by love.

But wait just a minute, you say! If love really is all around us, why can it be so hard to find? Well, because too often we can’t see what’s right in front of us. Our egos, desires, daily concerns, hardships, personal tragedies and imbalances in our energy can blind us to love’s constant presence, and it’s difficult to embrace what we cannot see. Sometimes, especially as we get a bit older, we may find ourselves regretting the times in our lives when we had the chance to express our love but didn’t or regret that we did not love as well as we might have. We may feel that love has passed us by, or that it’s too late for us to love. But I am here to tell you that love never passes us by—that it’s never too late to feel and express love! Even if it sometimes seems elusive, love is everywhere in our lives—just follow your heart line and you’ll find it waiting for you.

When we balance our heart line and open our heart center, we make the invisible visible . . . we become aware of the love that we might have missed due to our lack of mindfulness, sensitivity or receptivity—and we can pull that new understanding of love into our present life and let it guide us into the future. In this respect, the heart line is like a time machine—it can transport us between all the ages and stages of our life on an amazing journey of the heart. And Vedic Palmistry teaches how to navigate that machine.

 

A HIGHER LOVE

The heart line is located in the sattwa zone of the hand, which represents the most evolved aspects of our consciousness and is intimately related to our soul. Sattwa energy is our spiritual compass; it vibrates with a purified light that points us toward the Divine within. It is an energy that is timeless and, when balanced, frees us from the heavy, anchoring demands of daily survival. The heart line can lift us high above mundane concerns; it is shrouded in sattwa energy, which means it is designed to express the eternal, idealistic qualities of unconditional love. A healthy and balanced heart line tells us we are being guided by an enlightened consciousness, both in our life and in our loving relationships.

As it travels across the palm, the heart line is supported by the four mounts of the hand’s sattwa zones. Each of these mounts represents the attributes of a corresponding planet in Vedic Astrology, and each interacts with the heart line differently at different times in our lives.

Originating on the Mount of Jupiter, the heart line crosses the mounts of Saturn and Sun before terminating on the Mount of Mercury. The Mount of Jupiter represents our higher self, our enlightened, expansive nature, as well as our life’s purpose; Saturn represents our fortitude, discipline and dedication; Sun represents our love of life and personal magnetism, and Mercury represents our ability to communicate our creativity, ideas and concepts to the world.

Each of the four sattwa mounts infuse the heart line with their individual sattwic qualities, which include kindness, goodness, generosity, compassion and empathy—the cornerstones of unconditional love. It is these sattwa mount qualities that give the heart line its transcendent nature—the dynamic fuel that allows the heart line to transcend both the laws of time and gravity.

For more info on The 90-Day Heart Line Challenge or to register: click here.

 

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