How 2021 Will Change The World, According To Vedic Astrology

The game is based on its ancient counterpart from India—Snakes and Ladders—which replicates a Vedic astrological phenomenon called the "snake of time." This occurs when all the planets are located between the north and south nodes of the Moon—Rahu and Ketu, respectively. When this happens, all bets are off. You can either go straight to the top or straight to the bottom. 

They'll be joined by Pluto in the sign of Capricorn, another rare transit that last occurred in 1894. Traditional Vedic astrologers don't tend to pay much attention to Pluto because its transit is the longest of all planets. It takes 248 years to circle the zodiac, so it shouldn't influence us much in our day-to-day. We're not even sure if it's actually a planet or not. But on the other hand, when Pluto moves astrological signs, its impact lasts for generations. 

But what does it mean for you when these three planets come together in the sign of Capricorn? How will it affect the year ahead and your choices? What kind of calculated risks can you take? 

In Vedic astrology, Saturn represents dharma (purpose), Pluto is Yama (death), and Jupiter is the atman (soul). The driving force of 2021 is to discover a new life purpose that's aligned with your higher self's mission in the face of global death, change, and transformation.

In case you're worried about what that might be for you, relax. You have 20 years to work on this life purpose project. But you'll have to contend with letting go of the 20-year project begun in 2001 that you've just completed. And that can feel like death and its companion—grief. While grief is never fun, it's the basis for compassion and wisdom. It's a paradox that we have to lose everything to gain everything.

In this way, Pluto may be the most important planet in the zodiac because death is the ultimate teacher. We forget that we're just visitors on the planet. We forget that this life is a classroom. We forget that everything that happens is service to our soul's evolution.

So in case you find all this very heavy, lighten up! In Vedic mythology, Pluto (as the god of death) is always laughing. My teacher used to say, "It's very curious how when we're born everyone laughs and when we die everyone cries, yet you cry at birth and laugh at death." 

We're never happy when things end that we wish didn't. As Charles Dickens famously began his A Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

Same is true for 2021. A great adventure lies ahead.