​[This essay won the second place prize for our 2020 holiday essay contest.]

Ebb and flow, push and pull, the nature of tides, oceans of water, a ocean of light.
Yes I see the ocean of light- the undeniable tapestry in the sky.
Each one of us reflects our own image back to the cosmos, back to source.
So here I am- Here we are- experiencing this year in all of its intensity,

Over there look, so many people and they are in trouble.
Famine; Dis-ease; Standing … Fighting … Falling

Then I hear the echo- a ripple from a 100 years before.
How many others can now wonder how it was for the beings back then?
Ebbing and flowing in 1920, oceans of water, ocean of light.

Visions of the past bring me to the present.
Each country in its own despair.
Does anyone know what's really going on?
Alas, there is hope.
See it through different eyes.

I take a slow deep Inhale
Letting the breath out
Letting the air expand in and out of my body
United I become- In breath and body
Moon is the masses. Mercury is the media.
I begin to release my tension
Now- look at this: Now … The Now.
All the players in this Leela. The play of life
There they are - the “celestial bodies”, “grahas they are the seizers”
Everything is visible, Some of us are doing the seizing and some are being seized.

I am reminded creator- preserver- destroyer; vata-pitta-kapha; sattva-rajas-tamas.

Beneath the layers, those grahas, those “seizers” its all there.
One with everything, I immerse myself
Washing away the illusion, the Maya.

There there it is - See those combinations? Yes I see their energy!
Oh wow! Ok I see the correlation! And this too shall pass …

The tapestry doesn’t lie
Humbling me with its magnificence
Every who- what- why can be solved. Gno-ing this … I Bow.

Searching for truth and being able to find it, How amazing is that?
Unwavering in my resolve to go deeper, the practice embracing me- as I embrace it.
Prakruti, Vikruti … Vaastu- Jyotish directs me towards its sisters.
Remembering Nikola Tesla’s words on learning the “secrets of the universe” …
“Energy Frequencies Vibrations.”
Making the cosmic connections in the Calamity that has been this year
Energy- Frequencies- Vibrations- Energy- Frequencies- Vibrations

Conjuctions, transists, dashas
Only to realize how fortunate I am, (we are), to be part of it.
No need to be in the dark
Source energy, celestial happenings
Chill out and breathe, I remind myself - it can all be explained
I saw the fear at one point immobilizing me- immobilizing everyone.
Only in the truth did I find comfort and peace
Uncovering the mysteries of our lives with this Divine science.
So much conflict on the planet, so I push on- digging deeper
No need to spiral down, this is a lifeline.
Everything will work itself out.
Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon … Rahu, Ketu … Saturn, Jupiter, Mars
Seeing them- seeing me- seeing all of us

Only with a Ganesh quality, a child like-ness full of wonder can I approach
My house of mirrors and all nonsense then vanishes into the ether.

The past, the present and the future
All we need to learn from the tapestry
This extraordinary gift of Jyotish the way to listen to their messages.
​
Seeing the people, seeing the sky
As above, so below
The vast ocean of light reveals truth and I softly surrender to the ebb and flow.

[This essay won the second place prize for our 2020 holiday essay contest.]

​I am breathing in and I am breathing out. As sure as the sun does rise, I am as sure that the sun sets. I am breathing out. I am breathing in. The moon also rises, and just as it does, the moon also sets. I am breathing. I am still breathing, and all the bodies that rise with life, they will all also set in their time and find death.  
 
Oh twenty-twenty, what can be said? How did I see you? Was it as perfectly as vision can be given? From the isolation of doors shut, families and loved ones separated, with gloves and masks on, I saw the political colors blazing as gateways to change flew open. I found comfort in meditation and mind dazing stares at a candle. It was like the light, which makes darkness known, would give me the reasons why the cosmos manifests in all the ways that have been shown.  
 
Twenty-twenty, it gave me online global communities that raised me and grew me in new ways. Sparks of learning, very deep learning came to illuminate me. The light in the darkness of watching the stars, reading ancient observations, practices, and philosophies, they created in me a feeling of connections that were greater from a far. I saw so many yogas leading to strong times and weak times. Saturn and Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Venus going through elaborate and difficult direction switches. So many traveling bodies through the knots, playing in the binds, bodies close together but not like bodies that are close together in loves kisses. How my lips miss kisses and my arms miss holding.  
 
So I explored, I am not my body, I am not my molding, but who am I? Watching, I kept the pieces moving on a board, some quickly passing where they had been when I was born. In some places I saw pieces amassed and like bodies attract and repel, my relationships in this world also rose and fell. Sometimes we are moving forwards, sometimes almost standing still, progression and regression and even moments of peacefulness did fill me. Moments, brief moments, showing me the abstract and non-linear motions of time. In a blink of an eye I could have actually missed it.  
 
And like our father, whose will be done on earth as it is in heaven, the motion of great bodies follow his laws. Even the dark and bodies without body did change at his command, and with it mood without form transferred darkness to different parts of the land. I did not anticipate all the collisions in the visions of the future and the past, but I did and will continue to watch them. Weaving stories and meanings from threads that may be but illusions, not real until I can see them, not known until their stories told. I am not my body. I am not even my mind. I do however want to know so I will continue breathing. Breathing in and breathing out, I will be.  

WINNERS:

Grand Prize: sundara2021
TIE First Place: 8838610591 & MAZ2020 [both receive full amount]
TIE Second Place: 369369369369 & 713B428490 [both receive full amount]

Thank you everyone for submitting your writing! I enjoyed so much reading each and every one of the offerings! They are exquisite.

​Winners, please contact me by 10 am Mountain on Dec 28, 2020 with your name, a good mailing address, and the first line of your essay.

​The winners' words will be shared here across the next few weeks.

I have learned so much from all of you, and for this holiday season, I want to learn even more.

Please consider writing an essay that describes how the practice of Jyotisha has impacted your 2020 year.

If you win, others will see your anonymous work, and you will receive a cash prize.

Who is eligible: students and clients of Renay who are 18 years of age or older as of December 5, 2020 who have had a class or appointment with Renay between  January 1, 2017 and December 5, 2020.

Prizes: One grand prize: $500. One first prize: $200 One second prize: $50.  All winning entries will be posted anonymously on this website: AyurAstro.com. By entering, you agree to this posting of your work. (Of course, you may publish the essay yourself also!)

How to enter: Write an essay of between 500 and 2500 words on the topic of how the practice of Jyotisha has impacted your 2020 year.

The essay can be  submitted in .docx, .rtf, .odt, or .pdf format.

Choose a ten digit or longer self-defined alphanumeric code and put it at the top of your essay. Do not put your name or email or other identifying information in the file.  The submission should contain just your code, the text of your essay, and the following line at the bottom: I hereby permit the use of my essay for anonymous, non-exclusive publication on AyurAstro.com. (All copyrights shall remain with the entrant/author.)

Submit it using this link here before the deadline of 12 am Mountain (USA) time on December 21, 2020. No submissions will be accepted at or after that time. Enter your code in the name slot and use a nonsense or otherwise non-identifying email address on the submission page.

By entering this contest, you agree to the following:

Neither AyurAstro.com nor Renay Oshop are responsible or liable for any computer or internet malfunctions leading to a late entry. No compensation will be awarded to anyone for disqualification, late entry for any reason, or failure to win a prize. Essays will be judged by a team consisting of Renay Oshop and two advisers. Final decisions will be made by the team, and no objections or negotiations will be considered. Anyone who fails to comply with all contest rules will be disqualified. Relatives and non-client or non-student friends of Renay Oshop are not eligible to enter or win. 

Winning criteria: the winner will be  chosen using subjective criteria of readability, aesthetics, and evocation of the grace of Jyotisha.
​
How a winner will be announced: Renay will announce the winners by publishing at the top of this page as well as in social media on December 25, 2020 just the winning codes. You can then claim a winning entry by contacting Renay with your code, your mailing address, and the first paragraph of your essay. Renay will then verify that you have had an appointment or class with her between January 1, 2017 and December 5, 2020, and that your age is over 18. 

​Money orders to the winners in the appropriate amount will then be mailed on December 28, 2020.

Happy holidays!