‘Nobody knew it would be a virus’: Astrologers on pandemic and 2021

‘Astrologers predicted something would happen…nobody knew about the virus’

Astrologer Somanath Sastry from Clickastro points out that even while astrologers were making predictions, nobody knew about the virus. Predictions for the coming year, Sastry explains, are made based on the position of the planets at the time of the beginning of the new year, as per principles given in classic texts of astrology. “In 2019, astrologers found that the most slow-moving planets Saturn and Jupiter were already there in Sagittarius and Capricorn around the time of the new year (2020). Further, on a rare occurrence, six planets came together (appear to be in the same range in the solar system) at the beginning of 2020. In such cases, astrologers generally suspect that something would happen to the earth — some said it was a natural calamity, some predicted health complications. Nobody knew it would be a virus.”

The predictions, however, were indicative of large-scale chaos, Sastry says. “There are shlokas which say that whenever Jupiter and Saturn come together, it may lead to “hahakara” or chaos, and may result in the loss of “seven crore population” to indicate the large impact. And that is what happened in 2020.”

Astrology is about indication while predictions are subject to interpretation. (file)

Personal horoscopes may not reflect the impact of the pandemic

However, predictions about the world may or may not show its impact on individual horoscopes, Sastry states. Even when personal horoscopes predicted career prospects or marriage, the pandemic-led crisis and restrictions thwarted aspirations. Marriages were delayed, promotions were stuck while most people could not risk switching jobs.

While Pandit Jagannath’s predictions about his clients for the year 2020 “mostly came true”, the lockdown did overturn some of his prophecies. “There were instances where I matched horoscopes in 2019 and said that the person would get married in 2020. But it could not happen because of the subsequent lockdowns and restrictions on social gatherings. Recently, about 40-45 of my clients got married. For some, I have given dates for February-March 2021.”

Meanwhile, astrologer Dr Aarti Dahiya, who says she had made correct predictions about the COVID-19 vaccine and “more disturbance from China”, predicted three marriages in April and May 2020, which could not be held due to the lockdown. “The marriages finally happened in November and December last year,” she says.

With predictions going haywire, coupled with the adverse impact of the pandemic on our overall wellbeing, a sense of hopelessness seems to have seeped in among people. “There are people who suffered huge financial losses during the pandemic–it depressed many people. I have never let them lose hope and I have always been there to counsel them. I think boosting morale and constant counselling works a lot. None of my clients lost their trust in me or themselves for that matter,” says Dr Dahiya.

Sastry, on the other hand, argues that even if a personal horoscope shows that something good will happen, it may not always be in terms of how one perceives it. Astrology is about indication while predictions are subject to interpretation, he emphasises. “The pandemic has definitely affected individual lives but it may not be reflected in their personal horoscopes, which have their own impact. Say someone’s horoscope showed he could go abroad with a job opportunity but it could not happen because of the pandemic. It is always possible because when such predictions are made, they are based on the current planetary positions and that at the time of birth.”

Predictions for 2021

According to Sastry, the position of the planets, as seen at the beginning of the year 2020, continue to remain similar to date. However, Jupiter, which is a “positive energy-giving planet”, is gradually “taking control”. “Based on that, people are expected to be recovering this year, and things are likely to be normal by April when Jupiter and Saturn will be quite distant. Astrologers are now very carefully studying the position of the planets to predict what can happen in 2021.”

Pandit Jagannath also predicted “some problem” till April 2021 while expecting the situation to improve post-June, after some “ups and downs”. “With respect to jobs, things will change after February–many people might get good jobs while some can expect to be promoted. As for businesses, the situation is likely to get better after March,” he adds.