An Astrological Autobiography
by Vic DiCara

Vic's Chart, in the Square Format

I was born July 27th, 1970 at 7:38pm in Bay Shore, New York. On an Indian calendar it'd be the 11th waning moon in the month of "The Ear" - "Krishna Ekadashi of Shravana."

The Moon was near the star named Rohini, which means that the first phase of my life was controlled by the Moon. My Moon has excellent dignity (17 out of 20 by vimshopak calculation) and is the strongest planet in my chart (by shad-bala calculation) and is most strongly aspected by Jupiter. So by astrology you could pretty easily guess that the first phase of my life was a very happy one, and I was very close with my mother during my formative years.

Between 8 and 9 years old, my Mars phase began. In my horoscope Mars is in the 8th house of secrecy and occult. This phase in my life got me involved in underground ("hidden") sports like BMX Freestyle (for which I actually got some notoriety, being that Mars is in Leo with a very strong Sun), and started to take a serious interest in the occult and mysterious.

About halfway through my 15th year I started my Rahu phase and went into some very extreme rebelliousness. I put away my bikes and skateboards, and started behaving like a "weirdo" and playing thrash metal and punk on a guitar.

Rahu is really supercharged in my birth chart - especially because it is in its beloved nakshatra, Shatabhishak; and because it is the most heavily aspected planet in my chart. So I became a fairly well known guitarist and songwriter. I’ve toured the world as a musician 3 or 4 times, and written and recorded about a dozen studio records with artists from well known bands like Rage Against the Machine, Linkin Park, and Quicksand. My main band was the heavily spiritual and Krishna "108."

During the Jupiter portion of Rahu's phase from 1988 - 1991 I became radically and passionately interested in religion and spirituality. When Saturn's portion of the phase began in 1991 I renounced the "material world" for an ashram and took up monastic studentship ("brahmacarya") which would last for eight years. I met my guru, Sripad Dhanurdhara Swami, who initiated me into the maha-mantra in 1992 and later in 1994 (during Mercury's subphase, my 9th lord) initiated me into gayatri mantras and gave me the symbolic thread of the "twice-born," signifying aptitude in the "brahminical" role of a councilor, philosopher and guide. Through Dhanurdhara Swami I lived in, experienced and studied to the best of my ability all aspects of spiritual India, including jyotisha - the ancient Hindu system of astrology.

During this period of my life, and especially during the Mercury subphase, I was writing prolifically, being widely published and distributed. I became the head of a large Hindu Vaishnava temple in New Jersey, constantly lecturing and teaching on Vedic philosophy and practices. Under my Guru's council I put together and ran a well attended school for the study of important Sanskrit literature.

In 1996, Ketu's portion of Rahu's phase began. Ketu is a planet of abrupt and radical changes, and is in my 9th house. So without much warning or forethought I completely changed my monastic and celibate lifestyle and got married within a month or two to a woman who would become the love of my life and my truest friend. We were married on October 11th, 1997 during Venus' portion of Rahu's phase.

In 1998, still under the auspices of Venus I was blessed with my first child, a boy. Venus is the lord of my fifth house, in good dignity (14/20) in the 9th house. In this Venus subphase we had no wants and were quite protected by my father. This continued during the Sun's subphase starting in 2000, but with a different tenor as I started to want to become more self-supporting. This change in tenor but keeping of the same theme is quite sensible from my chart since The Sun naturally represents the father, and mine is the lord of the 8th house, in the 8th house. So during this period I comparatively dropped off the radar and tried, rather poorly, to make steps towards setting up my own career apart from the resources of my father.

In 2001 the subphase of the Moon began (lord of the seventh house in the sixth). I went through fairly significant financial stress and made many, many enemies when I rashly insulted many of my former spiritual classmates and my teacher - something I really regret doing and will always try to make amends for.

A few good things did manage to happen during this period of time though. The best of these was the birth of my second child, another boy. As I mentioned before, although my Moon is in a challenging house, it has very good dignity and potency and a strong aspect from Jupiter (planet of children) and is near the star Rohini (fertility).

In the subphase of Mars I continued to have problems with friendships. Perhaps this could be indicated by Mars being the 11th lord in the 8th house, since the 11th lord is often related to social ties and friends who are not entirely close. But I also purchased a house with the help of my father. Mars is my fourth lord, and in the 8th house with the Sun, the 8th lord.

This purchase ushered in the transition from Rahu's phase to Jupiter's. It began in 2003 with lots of prosperity coming from finally establishing a lucrative career (Jupiter is in my 10th house).

In 2005, Saturn's portion of Jupiter's phase began and some notoriety and "fame" came back to me (Saturn is the 1st Lord and Jupiter is in the 10th house) as my band, 108, reformed somewhat successfully. Under the auspices of Jupiter I began to take more direct and serious interest in my spiritual practices and goals once again. Also during this period of time, I finally settled into what I feel is a very true and significant career for me: astrology. I began offering astrological consultation to the public in 2007.

Mercury's part of Jupiter's cycle began in 2008. I liquidated all my debts (Mercury is the 6th lord in the 8th), established myself as an internationally acclaimed and recognized astrologer (Jupiter in the 10th and Mercury is the 9th lord), and moved to Japan (Mercury is the 9th lord - lord of travels, and Jupiter is the 12th lord - lord of foreign places, in the 10th house, the house of changing homes). I began writing and publishing profusely again during this period.

In Ketu's portion of Jupiter's cycle, which began mid 2010, I dramatically renewed my participation in spiritual practices (Ketu in my 9th house, Jupiter is naturally interested in religion). In Venus' portion, beginning mid 2011, I had twin girls. One lives with us still and the other did not posses enough karma to be born, but transferred directly to the divine lila of Lalita Gopi. Jupiter is the planet of children, but also the lord of my 12th house. Venus is the 5th lord in the 9th house but also conjoined Ketu. It was also the sub-subperiod of the 8th lord when this occurred. These girls are their daddy's deepest pride and joy.

As the Venus portion of Jupiter's phase continues for me through the next few years I began teaching preschool English as a Second Language (Jupiter is the teacher, Venus is the lord of the 5th, the house of children). I am doing a lot of philosophical study and writing (Jupiter is the planet of learning and philosophy and Venus is similarly inclined towards arts, and occupies my 9th house, philosophy, as the owner of the 5th, education).

Vics Horoscope, in Circular Format