Why This Site Exists
A Framework Worth Sharing
The unlikely origin story
of Shukla Vedic.
A curious skeptic from Canada.
An ancient system made practical.
From Skeptic to Collaborator
Sean Siddals
Founder / Educator / YouTuber
A few years ago, if you had told me I'd be running a Vedic astrology business, I wouldn't have believed it. I'm a skeptic (and I still am). An educator with 15+ years in postsecondary. But to me, science isn't cold. It reveals the wonders of the universe. How most of the atoms in our bodies were once forged in stars. The deep interconnectedness of all living things. This was my spiritual foundation. But over time, I started opening myself up to other ways of exploring.
My adult life has been an imperfect gradual shift from rigid atheist to something more open. It hasn't been smooth. Anxiety, depression, substance abuse. And underneath it all, a search for meaning, healing, understanding, and relief. Over the years I tried therapy, meditation, breathwork, seminars, church, and of course, the obligatory (and life-changing) Tony Robbins fire walk, to name just a few of the necessary parts of my journey.
And then about five years ago, my partner and I started a YouTube reaction channel. Indian songs were always trending, so it was only a matter of time before we reacted to one. As soon as we did, we fell in love. The music, the visuals, the energy. We started exploring other Indian content, and pretty soon that's all we wanted to react to. 90+ million views later and I feel like we're still just scratching the surface. It's been a tremendous blessing, allowing us to connect with so many wonderful people we otherwise wouldn't have met, including Ritesh.
That's how I was introduced to Vedic astrology. And what an introduction. I'd been in a total rut, recovering from a serious biking accident, and then one morning everything shifted. I felt it in my body before I understood it. Then I got my first reading with Ritesh and everything lined up. In fact, Ritesh was particularly keen to connect with me that day because of an astrological event he'd been tracking. Ever since then, it's been one synchronicity after another. It described me in ways I never thought any system could, let alone one that's mathematically based and thousands of years old. Not just the outward stuff, but the internal landscape. And it helped me understand the people in my life better too.
Through the reaction channel, I've had the amazing opportunity to explore Indian culture with the guidance and support of an incredible community. Millions of lovely people who filled in the blanks, pointed us in new directions, and welcomed us along the way. This is my way of paying it forward. Introducing people to another gift from India: Vedic astrology, a system for understanding yourself, others, and the world around you. I'm sharing what I learn on my website and new YouTube channel Vedic Patterns, a free resource coming soon.
Whether you're exploring this site or that one, this is a space for curious skeptics and open-minded seekers.
It's not fortune-telling, not fatalistic, and not a replacement for medical or mental health support.
It's a lens for understanding patterns and timing in your life, so you can work with them instead of against them.
More clarity, less friction.
How I Got Here
I'm Sean Siddals, a Canadian educator with a Master's in Education. I grew up in a non-religious household. We didn't go to church. Religion wasn't pushed on us. I became a non-believer from a young age.
For years, I was the guy who couldn't resist debating someone about religion. I'd dig into the details, pull apart the contradictions, wonder how intelligent people could believe these things actually happened. I could be pretty obnoxious about it.
Eventually something softened. I got into professional development, attending seminars and listening to audio recordings. Many of the top speakers were religious. They'd use their faith traditions as vehicles for universal truths, useful ways of thinking about challenges. Something opened up in me. It started a slow, non-linear process.
Over the years I tried all the things. Therapy, counselling, support groups, meditation, medication, breathwork, church, motivational seminars, tarot readings, acupuncture, fasting, extreme diets, alternative healing practitioners. I even went to a hot yoga class once or twice. I also tried drinking, drugging, escaping, distracting. Chronic health issues added another layer to all of it. I'd run on empty, try something new, feel better for a while. Then crash again.
Then my partner Alissa and I launched a YouTube channel called IRH Daily. We'd react to trending content from around the world. One day we reacted to an Indian song. That pulled us down a rabbit hole. 90+ million views later, I'd fallen completely in love with India. The music, the cinema, the culture, the history, the people.
About five years ago, Ritesh saw one of our reactions to an academic lecture and reached out. It surprised him that we'd engage with that kind of content. We talked about potential collaborations, but nothing materialized. We'd exchange occasional texts over the years, but we fell out of active communication.
Then I traveled to India in 2025. It was a massive spiritual undertaking for me. I reached out to Ritesh again. Last time we'd connected, he wasn't doing readings. Now he was offering astrology sessions to people across the world. My partner had been exploring Western astrology and finding it useful. I'd noticed it gave us better language for discussing relationship challenges. I was curious.
We kept trying to connect so Ritesh could walk me through my chart. Busy schedules, time zone differences, maybe some lack of urgency on my part. We rescheduled. Then we rescheduled again. Finally, we set a time. I'd completely forgotten about it when I looked down at my phone at a coffee shop with my partner and her father. Text from Ritesh. I ran out to take the call.
He told me about a transition in my chart that had just occurred. I'd felt it. I'd woken up that morning with a strong shift in my body, feeling completely different. It struck me that he was describing this cosmic shift at the exact moment I'd felt it myself. He mentioned a rough patch in my recent past. That lined up too.
A few months later, the old patterns returned. Then I felt the shift again, started feeling it late one night, fully there by the time I woke up the next morning. Same feeling as before: bodily energy, cognitive ability, excitement for life, all shifted back. This time I checked my chart myself. A significant celestial event had just occurred, mapped precisely to that moment.
Maybe it's coincidence. Maybe I'm finding patterns where none exist.
But it's useful. It gives me confidence and clarity.
At worst, it's an interesting framework (dare I say, a bit of fun).
At best, it's a lot more.
A Note for the Skeptical Mind
If you're reading this and thinking "that's a nice story, but I'm not ready to take a leap of faith," I get it. I'm not asking you to.
Here's the shift that made the difference for me: I stopped asking "Is this true?" and started asking "Is this useful?"
That might sound like a cop-out, but I don't think it is. We use frameworks all the time without demanding scientific proof. The five love languages. Myers-Briggs. Attachment styles. None of them are scientifically rigorous, but people find them useful for understanding themselves and their relationships.
This is another one of those. A lens. A vocabulary. A way to organize what you already sense about yourself.
If you're an insight-driven person, I think you'll find value here. Approach it as an experiment. Notice what resonates. Stay curious.
That's not a leap of faith.
It's just inquiry.
Ready to Explore?
Whether you're a curious skeptic
or someone ready for a new perspective
this offers a new way to see yourself and navigate life.