Note from the President of ACVA

By Professor Charlotte Benson (Jyoti Devi)

President, ACVA

April 2026

Hello Dear Friends of ACVA!

Welcome to another edition of the ACVA Newsletter – please enjoy our excellent articles. We hope that all is well with you and your families wherever you are. Om Shanti - may peace prevail!

ACVA has the great good fortune to be able to add the energy and expertise of Mr. Pratik Mehta to our Leadership Team. He is an IT professional with a broad education in Jyotisha, and a real love for the sacred sciences. You will be familiar with Mr. Mehta’s work through his series of technical articles published here lately, or through his recent webinar. He will serve as ACVA’s Director of Social Media and Community Engagement. Welcome Pratik!

This month, Ms. Guylaine Vallee’ presented “Integrating Astrology & Palmistry” to our ACVA members. Her case study approach offered wonderful examples of the interaction between Jyotish and Hasta Rekha Shastra, otherwise known as Hast Jyotish). I think that this under-appreciated sister science is well worth studying and practicing. Thank you Ms. Vallee’!

ACVA is still very busy behind the scenes, preparing for the UAC Conference in Chicago, September 3 – 9, 2026. It will be lovely to meet you in person there! To register: www.uacastrology.com



Please consider becoming an ACVA member. You can read about the benefits of membership, and sign up here: acvaonline.org/membership

Thank you to our recent donors. You help make ACVA, our labor of love, manifest!

Until we meet again, be well.

Fondly, 

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Professor Charlotte Benson (Jyoti Devi)

President, American College of Vedic Astrology

ACVA Newsletter 2026 – 04 Holy Days

By Professor Juliana Swanson

ACVA Provost and Dean of Academics

Buddha Purnima, May 1, 2026

The Full Flower Moon will occur on Monday, May 1. The May Full Moon corresponds with the Buddhist festival known as Buddha Purnima, or Wesak (Vesak). In the Vedic tradition, it is celebrated as Vishaka Puja. Dates may vary according to regional differences, so please check your local calendar (panchanga) as there may be variations in your area. 

Gautama Buddha is said to have been born on the Full Moon Purnima in the Vaishakha month of May. This is known as Buddha Jayanti, which coincides with Buddha Purnima in some areas. Some areas in Asia may celebrate the Buddha’s birth anniversary later in May, again due to regional variations.

Buddha’s enlightenment is also celebrated on Buddha Jayanti, as is his Mahasamadhi. According to some legends, He promised to come back on this day every year, along with many other divine beings, to bring regenerating and healing forces onto the Earth for all beings.

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ACVA Newsletter 2026 – 04 Technical Article

By Dr. Karina Weil, D.M.

ACVA Faculty

The Archetypes of Venus — The Self We Reveal When We Love

Everything we love is a mirror of what we value.

Jung understood this: to love someone truly — not merely to desire them — is never random. It means to recognize in them something the soul has long been searching for. 

Venus is, quintessentially, the inner compass by which the soul discerns what is worthy of its love, its devotion. This distinction matters profoundly: desire is appetite; worthiness is a spiritual judgment. It is precisely for this reason that Venus reaches her highest exaltation in Pisces: the sign of spiritualized love.

As the guru of asuras bestowing worldly wisdom, Venus invites us to ask perhaps the deepest question: Am I living in alignment with what I most deeply prize? An awareness of how Venus operates in your chart invites a profound recalibration — moving beyond the search for pleasure and arriving instead at something more fulfilling. Venus, in her excess or misapplication, is the source of our most painful undoing.

Venus is the significator of feminine fulfilment. Not because this energy belongs exclusively to women, but because it is the feminine principle itself — the shakti of the nourisher. It carries the qualities the world most urgently needs, gentleness, understanding, equality. It is these qualities that heal — our relationships, our inner lives, the world beyond us.

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ACVA Newsletter 2026-04 – Technical article

By Pratik Mehta

ACVA Director of Social Media and Community Engagement

Navatārā cakra – Part 4


It has been a few months since we started exploring the Navatārā Cakra and its Tārās. In this final installment of the Navatārā series, we will briefly explore the remaining Tārās and conclude by exploring potential uses of the Cakra as an add-on tool for compatibility analysis.

1.    Sadhana (सधन) Tārā

Meaning: Realization, actualization and fructification are terms that can be used to describe the word, Sadhana. More tangibly it signifies wealth and opulence.

Signification: By the time the Mahadaśā of the Sadhana Tārā comes around, most folks are in their “been there, done that” mode of life. Mortgages paid off, kids all grown-up, retirement age approaching, the Sadhana Tārā is the time of life when most folks feel they have reached the fourth rung in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (described last month) i.e. “Esteem”, the level where one feels they have achieved most if not all of what they wanted. A sense of innate satisfaction that lets them finally step off the material train to focus on the simpler albeit more rewarding experiences that life has to offer. The time of life where they can let their hair loose, put their feet up and enjoy the sunrises with a cup of coffee and sunsets with a glass Chardonnay.

2.    Naidhana (नैधन) Tārā

Meaning: Naidhana quite literally means decay and death.

Signification: Naidhana Tārā literally represents the ending current circle of life. The golden years and their culmination that foretells the transition from the Bhūloka (earthly realm) to Svargaloka (heavenly realm). A time to reflect and review the years lived, covert them to pearls of wisdom and letting those pearls sink to the bottom of the eternal ocean of Mānas so that they can be re-discovered by the soul in its next go around.

3.    Mitra (मित्र) Tārā

Meaning: Mitra means friend.

Significance: For the fortunate few that live long enough to experience the Mahadaśā of the Mitra Tārā, life is akin to the “bonus” round of the first player video games (think Super Mario), where in the protagonist hero has rescued his princess from the evil monster and is now busy collecting goodies and gold coins for their happy ever after life.

For the rest of us that might not be that fortunate enough, the Mitra Tārā ruler’s Bhuktis would offer a sampling of what the “bonus” round is meant to bestow.

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Coming Attractions at ACVA

1. ACVA webinar – June 13th 2026 – Sue Ann McKean

SATURDAY 10am Pacific, 11am Mountain, Noon Central, 1pm Eastern

Topic: Understanding Our Life’s Purpose with Chara Karakas

In this webinar, we will explore the Chara Karakas, a topic which has captivated me in my Jaimini Astrology training with Pundit Sanjay Rath. He shared his deep knowledge of the soul in our first lesson of Sage Jaimini, revealing how important this topic is. I hope this seminar will stimulate a desire to delve deeper into this vast and profound subject. We will explore principles and concepts that have practical applications for truth-seekers. Our class will begin with the Atma Karaka, the main Chara Karaka which represents our soul's karma. It reveals the purpose of our life and what we must do to evolve. Through the study of all the Chara Karakas, Sage Jaimini transmitted the mystical depths of Jyotish and how to begin to understand the karma of our soul.

Speaker: Sue Ann McKean

Sue Ann McKean is a life-long student of Vedic wisdom and a consulting Vedic Astrologer. Her Jyotish journey began in 1990 while on a retreat in India. A founding member of ACVA and regular attendant at ACVA conferences, she studied Jyotish with Hart De Fouw and Ernst Wilhelm. She met her guru, Pundit Sanjay Rath in 2005, participating in the founding of his school Deva Guru Brihaspati as a student and mentor from 2009-12. In 2011 she completed the five-year intensive Jaimini Sutras program conducted in the Himalayas with Pundit Sanjay Rath. From 2011 to 2018, Sue Ann was also a student and mentor at AIAC - Ancient Indian Astrology Classes, where she studied with Pundit Souvik Dutta.

Webinar Registration Link:

us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kMsXQkCtSFmXNZIKxwHukQ

2.  ACVA webinar – 11th July 2026 – Gizem Heukelom

SATURDAY 10am Pacific, 11am Mountain, Noon Central, 1pm Eastern

Topic: Stelliums in a Birth Chart

A stellium represents an intense concentration of energy within a birth chart, occurring when four or more planets are conjunct in a single house or within a specific span of degrees. Known in Vedic Astrology as Pravrajya or Sanyasa Yoga, these clusters pose a beautiful challenge for any student of astrology: how do we untangle and honor so many voices singing in unison? When such an intense bundle of energy exists, it is almost as if all roads lead to Rome, directing one’s life toward a powerful focus.

In this webinar, we will explore the depths of the stellium, learning how to interpret this bundle of intensity and harness its power. We will discuss how to align with this potent energy to reach your highest potential – for when a stellium is present, it becomes a paramount gateway to understanding one of the soul’s most vital purposes.

Speaker: Gizem Heukelom

Gizem Heukelom is an accomplished astrologer, educator, and life coach with over 25 years of experience. Specializing in Vedic Astrology and trained in Classical Western and Esoteric Astrology, she founded DharmaVedas Vedic Astrology & Coaching and DharmaVedas Academy in 2020, where she currently teaches nearly 400 students in Turkey. Additionally, she serves as an instructor at the American College of Vedic Astrology. Gizem is originally from Turkey and resides in the Netherlands.

Contact: info@dharmavedas.com

Web site: www.dharmavedas.com

Webinar Registration Link:

us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MvgRMpx4RwGeDTt7h3l5jQ

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American College of Vedic Astrology



ACVA Leadership Team



• Prof. Charlotte Benson (Jyoti Devi) – President, ACVA’s External Relations Leader

• Dr. Sisira K. Amarasinghe, Ph.D. – ACVA Vice President, Executive Director of Corporate Strategy and Technology

• Prof. Juliana Swanson – ACVA Provost and Dean of Academics

• Dr. Lynn Bootes, M.D. – Registrar and Dean of Students

• Alan Annand – ACVA Editor-in-Chief of Publications
  
• Pratik Mehta – ACVA Director of Social Media and Community Engagement

ACVA Staff

• Dr. Arjuna de Silva, MBBS (ACVA LMS & IT Operations Manager)

• Sudath Mudalige (IT Administrator)



• Susheel Erramilli (Social Media and Digital Marketing Coordinator)

To contact any one of us



American College of Vedic Astrology Inc, 2675 W. S.R. 89A #190, Sedona, AZ 86336