EYE ON SPIRITUALITY: THANKSGIVING MESSAGE 2025
The holidays give us a precious break from our daily grind and force us to reflect on the true meaning of our life and why we are here. This Thanksgiving week, I arrived home to my puppies giving me big yelps and wagging tails, completely engaged in their dharma of just giving unconditional love. They don’t criticize. They don’t find fault. They just appreciate—and that is the lesson they’re here to teach us.
On Thanksgiving Day, November 27th, Saturn stations direct at 0 degrees Pisces after being retrograde since June. In my nearly four decades of practicing Vedic astrology, I have found that Saturn’s station periods—those days when it appears to stop in the sky before changing direction—are some of the most intense and transformative times we experience. You may have felt stuck this past week, as if you’re pushing against an invisible wall. Decisions may feel heavier. Saturn is asking you one final time: “Have you really learned the lesson?”
We tend to blame Saturn and our lives, but Saturn is like that tough high school coach who works you hard so you can win the race. The key with Saturn is not to resist its pressure but to recognize what it’s trying to teach us. Saturn rewards hard work, responsibility, meditation, and most importantly—gratitude. In my book on Saturn, I remind readers: replace lack with gratitude, replace fault-finding with praise. This is not just a spiritual platitude—it’s the key to transforming Saturn’s heaviness into grace.
THE BLESSING OF WATER: THE GRAND TRINE OF NOVEMBER 16-17
Just ten days ago, we experienced one of the most beautiful astrological configurations of the year—a Grand Trine in water signs connecting Jupiter in Cancer, Saturn in Pisces, Sun in Scorpio, and Mercury in Scorpio. This rare alignment peaked November 16-17 and fostered peace, stability, and wealth manifestation. Water signs are about feeling, flow, and spiritual connection. This Grand Trine was a cosmic reminder that when we align with the current of Divine love, abundance flows naturally.
Think of it like this: when water flows freely in a river, it nourishes everything in its path. But when we dam it up with criticism, resentment, and fault-finding, the water becomes stagnant and toxic. The Grand Trine reminded us to let love and appreciation flow freely. Venus in Libra, which ends today, has been restoring harmony and balance to our relationships all month. Now is the time to consciously choose to keep that flow going.
FAULT-FINDING VERSUS APPRECIATION: THE SATURN TEACHING
Saturn in Pisces creates a particular challenge. Pisces is the natural 12th house of the zodiac—the realm of the unconscious, hidden fears, and self-sabotaging patterns. When Saturn is here, our inner critic can become overwhelming. We find fault with ourselves, with others, with the world. The mind churns with negative judgments: “I should have done this better.” “They always let me down.” “Nothing ever works out for me.”
This is Saturn’s lowest energy—the bad parent who restricts us with too much fear and criticism. But here’s the truth: fault-finding is just fear dressed up as judgment. When we criticize others, we’re really projecting our own fears of not being good enough. When we criticize ourselves, we’re swimming in Saturn’s sewer pit of regret rather than standing in the present moment where real power lives.
The remedy is simple but requires a conscious choice: Choose appreciation over fault-finding.
Most of what we criticize is a mental illusion. Eckhart Tolle reminds us that 99% of our thoughts are garbage—so why buy into them? My mantra for Saturn is just to recognize the mental noise in your mind and then say, “Saturn, you can go now. I do not need the criticism.” We have the power to not just accept the garbage that goes through our heads. Our destiny is to command the planets if we are conscious and spiritual people.
THE VOICE OF CRITICISM VERSUS THE VOICE OF APPRECIATION
Let me adapt a wonderful teaching from Emmanuel’s Book that speaks directly to this:
What does the voice of criticism whisper to you?
Criticism speaks to you in logic and reason. It assumes the language of care itself.
Criticism tells you, “I want to make you better.” Appreciation says, “You are already whole.”
Criticism says, “Give me proof. Show me evidence. Give me something to fix.”
Loving appreciation says, “Only give me this moment… Open your heart and see the Divine in everything.”
Every moment of your life you are offered the opportunity to choose—appreciation or criticism, to trudge through the mud or to float on water’s grace.
THE PRACTICAL PATH: TRANSFORMING THE ENERGY
Mars is combust (too close to the Sun) from November 6th through March 26th, with peak irritability coming mid-December through mid-February. This means tension is simmering beneath the surface for all of us. It’s easy to let that tension leak out as criticism and fault-finding. But we can transform that energy through spiritual practice.
Do more meditation, yoga, and breathwork. These practices move us out of the critical mind and into the appreciative heart. That journey from head to heart—those crucial 8-12 inches—is the real journey toward enlightenment, but it takes a conscious choice to travel that distance.
The Mountain pose in yoga grounds us to the earth chakra, helping us feel our feet grasping the earth and creating more security in our lives. The Chair pose does the same. When we feel grounded and secure, we’re less likely to fall into Saturn’s trap of criticism and fear.
Use Saturn’s energy as a wake-up call to handle your responsibilities with grace. Take care of your finances, get into your body, nurture your health—but do it from a place of self-appreciation rather than self-criticism. Look up the magician’s “criticism sleeve” and expose him for the fraud that he is. You are infinitely loved in this universe.
MERCURY DIRECT: THE COMMUNICATION SHIFT
Mercury separated from its difficult conjunction with Mars on November 23rd, and goes direct on November 29th. This means the gridlock in communication—both internal and external—is finally breaking up. The government shutdown that plagued Thanksgiving week is likely to resolve soon. More importantly, the internal gridlock of negative self-talk can resolve too.
As Mercury goes direct, practice conscious communication. Before you speak criticism, ask yourself: “Is this coming from love or from fear? Am I trying to fix someone, or can I appreciate them as they are?” The answer will reveal whether you’re operating from Saturn’s good parent energy (discipline with love) or bad parent energy (restriction with fear).
CHOOSE APPRECIATION: A THANKSGIVING PRACTICE
This Thanksgiving, make a conscious practice of appreciation:
- When you sit down to your meal, appreciate not just the food but the hands that prepared it, the earth that grew it, the sun that nourished it.
- When you see family members, appreciate them not for who you wish they were, but for who they are right now in this moment.
- When you notice your mind finding fault—with yourself, with others, with circumstances—pause and say, “Saturn, you can go now.” Then consciously replace that criticism with one thing you appreciate.
- Spend time with small children and small animals. They live in pure appreciation, untainted by the critical mind. Let them teach you.
- Listen to music. Dance. Create art. Get a massage. These Venusian activities aren’t frivolous—they’re necessary medicine for Saturn’s sometimes harsh lessons.
Remember: appreciation doesn’t mean ignoring real problems or accepting harmful situations. It means approaching life from a foundation of gratitude rather than grievance. When we appreciate what is, we have the clear vision and inner strength to improve what needs improving.
THE HIGHER PURPOSE
Saturn is trying to move us into the present moment. When we’re stuck in criticism—of ourselves, of our past mistakes, of others’ failings—we’re not present. We’re trapped in regrets about yesterday or fears about tomorrow. But the present moment is where the Divine lives. The present moment is where love exists. The present moment is where real transformation happens.
This Saturn station on Thanksgiving week is not an accident. It’s a cosmic gift asking us: Will you choose to swim in the sewer pit of fault-finding, or will you stand in the clean water of appreciation?
Choose appreciation. It has to be a conscious choice.
You are infinitely loved in this universe. Your puppies know it. Small children know it. The Divine knows it. It’s time you know it too.
Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone.
