Jessica Girija Jewell

by Jessica Girija Jewell Prefer to listen? I've recorded this blog for you. If someone, somewhere in the western hemisphere asks you, "What's your sign?", you will answer with one of the twelve signs of the zodiac — Aries, perhaps, or Taurus, or Gemini — sharing the Sun's heavenly location when you were born — based on the tropical zodiac. The tropical zodiac is a map of the constellations, paired with the precession of the equinox, and set by seasonal shifts. Did you know, there's another...

by Jessica Girija Jewell When Arjuna is overcome with anxiety on the eve of the Mahabharata war, he confides in his divine friend Krishna who first advises him to get over his feelings and "just do it." However, as Arjuna drops deeper into despair and the direction to get over it fails, Krishna changes his tune. With the insight of someone who's been there, Krishna sighingly illuminates the problem. The problem is not the war, no. The problem is that Arjuna and the other warriors have...

by Jessica Girija Jewell The Gayatri Mantra comes to us from the Rig Veda, the oldest of the four Vedas and among the most ancient texts known to humanity. The Rig Veda is a collection of mantras and rituals that have the potential to connect us with the upper luminous realms and the beings who inhabit them. These beings are always providing help but to receive their blessings, we need to ask. How do we ask for blessings? One way is through prayer. Mantra is a kind of prayer that harmonizes...