Service (Seva)
Performing service is another highly effective way of obtaining relief and grace
from a difficult chart pattern. In many ways, this is the safest and perhaps most emo-
tionally satisfying form of remediation. Even if a wrong birth chart is being used, per-
forming a service for uplifting humanity can only have positive outcomes.
In the West, there is a tendency to want to buy one’s way out of a difficult situ-
ation. In this respect, gems and even yagyas alone can be considered too expeditious
to constitute true commitment to changing a negative pattern. However, when one
allots some of his or her precious time giving service to another and sustaining that
service over time, there is a powerful reorientation that inevitably takes place.
Seva is universally applicable to all cultures, times, and societies. People who
are disinclined to perform any ritual or chant mantras can easily find an avenue of ser-
vice to fulfill the astrological recommendations. The astrologer’s interpretation of the
talents latent in the chart and the archetypes of the planets involved in the obstruc-
tive combinations can give rise to a myriad of possibilities for seva that can be very
pertinent and meaningful to the individual.
—Penny FarrowSources:
Parashara, Maharishi. Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra.Vol. I. New Delhi, India: Ranjan Publica-
tions, 1989.URANIA
Urania, asteroid 30 (the 30th asteroid to be discovered, on July 22, 1854), was named
after the Greek muse of astronomy. Its orbital period is 3^2 ⁄ 3 years, and its diameter is 94
kilometers. Urania is one of the more recent asteroids to be investigated. Preliminary
material on Urania can be found in Demetra George and Douglas Bloch’s Astrology for
Yourself,and an ephemeris (table of celestial positions) for it can be found in the sec-
ond edition of George and Bloch’s Asteroid Goddesses.Unlike the planets, which are
associated with a wide range of phenomena, the smaller asteroids are said to represent
a single principle. George and Bloch give Urania’s principle as “inspired knowledge.”
Zipporah Dobyns speculates that the meanings of Urania are related to those of
Uranus, namely, seeking of freedom, the need for variety, intellectual openness, etc.
The late John Addey regarded Urania as the ruler of astrology (which Uranus is usual-
ly said to rule); he found it prominent in the charts of astrologers. J. Lee Lehman asso-
ciates it with science (perhaps even “the muse of science”), particularly with the abili-
ty to take a range of data and translate them into intelligible form.Sources:
Dobyns, Zipporah. Expanding Astrology’s Universe.San Diego: Astro Computing Services, 1983.
George, Demetra, with Douglas Bloch. Asteroid Goddesses: The Mythology, Psychology and Astrol-
ogy of the Reemerging Feminine.2d ed. San Diego: Astro Computing Services, 1990.
———. Astrology for Yourself: A Workbook for Personal Transformation.Berkeley, CA: Wingbow
Press, 1987.Urania
[698] THEASTROLOGYBOOK