Many people first encounter astrology through the Western sun sign system. Aries, Taurus, Gemini and the other familiar signs are widely known, and they offer a meaningful symbolic language for personality, relationships and life patterns. Vedic astrology is more properly called Jyotish, a Sanskrit word often understood as “light from God” or divine light. In the classical Indian tradition, Jyotish is not merely fortune-telling. It is an integral part of the Vedic literatures