I recently opened my Flower Shop, which you may visit here on my website, where I have made available for purchase some of my photography as digital downloads in high resolution. The beautiful roses featured here on the cover are our beautiful wild roses from our garden, which I’ve named them “The secret place true lovers meet”. Roses are all about love, so let us today enter the doorways of the mystical lunar mansions, also called nakshatras, as so I guide you through the energies of them and the esoteric secrets they hold, for a deeper understanding of your natal charts.
But first,
What is a nakshatra?
Nakshatra is the term for lunar mansion in Vedic astrology; and a lunar mansion is like a segment of the ecliptic through which the Moon passes in its orbit around the Earth. They are essentially the deity personifications of fixed stars within constellations, and if you’ve had a Celestial Natal Reading with me, through the eyes of spiritual astrology and astronomy visuals, I analyze your chart while also showing you where the planets were within the constellations; and within certain constellations are certain lunar mansions related to the fixed stars.
For example, within the astronomical constellation of Gemini, we find Punarvasu nakshatra. Punarvasu is connected to fixed stars Pollux and Castor; while Rohini nakshatra is the red fixed star Aldebaran within the Taurus constellation.
Our Moon’s nakshatra is most important because it essentially shows the seed or womb of which we are born, and the story of it may sometimes sound like our life’s story. There are 27 nakshatras – and they are in Vedic myth told to be the wives of the god Moon, called Chandra; and so together with the Moon we have the 28 days which is the Moon’s cycle.
A nakshatra isn’t merely a constellation nor a lunar mansion though, it is much deeper than that. It shows us the fruit that may be born.
Nakshatra, as all else in life, begins with a seed. Shakti, or the feminine energy, then receives the seed, as she is the receptive, and grows the seed. She nourishes the seed and grows it within her soil; and then each planet who enters her lunar mansion is the one who will deliver the fruit.
The planet is the husband, the nakshatra is the wife, and a child will be born.
For example, a natal Sun in Punarvasu: Sun is the husband, Punarvasu is the wife, and of their love and togetherness and merging, a child will be born. To understand this child and how the child may grow also, you need to understand the marriage between the husband and the wife and their unique relationship; who are they in their unique self, and in their togetherness. This is just like all relationships; there is you, there is I, and then, there is the relationship – the third soul and soil of our love.
Essentially, the planet will deliver the fruits of the nakshatra and the energy of the zodiac constellation, regardless of whether you use the Western or Eastern systems. As a spiritual astrologer I use both for deeper and more holistic insight, but each practitioner has their own practice depending on their knowledge and experience.
Each nakshatra is like a yoni, or a womb, a seed within a soil, which shows us our nature and nutritive needs related to that planet. This shows the feminine aspect of receptivity of nakshatras – receiving the seed that we are, and then nurturing it into being. So in this sense, the nakshatras show the kind of energy associated with each celestial body.
Each nakshatra has its particular power or Shakti, or aspect of feminine energy. These are the powers of the devatas or deities that rule over and define them. Each has an ascending and a descending energy.
Today I’ll share with you the feminine energy, or Shakti, of some of the nakshatras, and how to understand them more deeply. The first paragraph of each is a special teaching that derives from an ancient Vedic text called Taittiriya Brahmana I.5.1 and from the medieval commentary of Bhattabhaskara Mishra, and I will then share some of my own insights as well as which fixed stars it is connected to.
Please know that these are only general interpretations. Not one aspect in astrology is meant to be read as an absolute; all is interconnected and interdependent on the rest of the aspects, natal planetary relationships and with all else in the charts. For personal readings with me, you may browse through my Offerings.
Please know that I am a spiritual astrologer, and rooted in the Western astrology system, but in my professional practice I use a holistic approach blending techniques from various astrology systems such as Western, Vedic, Esoteric and Shamanic, in addition to my own knowledge in esotericism and the insights I’ve gathered through my over ten years of professional astrology experience with clients. Please know that I use the Tropical zodiac for delineating natal chart, but I use the Sidereal for the nakshatras as they are deity personifications of the fixed stars, so it is appropriate to keep them with the sidereal orbital lunar cycle rather than the synodic one.
Rohini Nakshatra
Rohini is ruled by Prajapati, the Creator or Lord of Creatures. Its power is growth (rohana shakti). Its basis above is the plants and below is the waters. The result of these three is creation.
Rohini is the deity personification of the fixed star Aldebaran in the Taurus constellation. Aldebaran is a red star found at the eye of the bull, and Rohini literally means “red girl”. This part of the sky relates to fertility, material abundance, creativity, magnetism, erotic energy, beauty and art.
The Vedic myth is that Rohini was the favourite wife of god Moon Chandra, and captivated with her charm, allure and beauty, he’d stay longer in her lunar mansion then in all the others, which made the other wives jealous. They complained to their father, who then banned Chandra from the kingdom and made him to wax and wane in the sky forever as a moon, longing to come to Rohini even if only for a night each month.
When we enter the lunar mansion of Rohini, we also see the power of the rohana shakti, which is the power of creation and to make things grow, as there is nothing the moon loves more than to nourish, grow and create beauty. The lunar feminine aspects of Rohini here, at the eye of bull, is about making things beautiful and nourishing them, which is what blesses people with creative talent and through it they are magnetic.
There is also a charm here, a lunar mystical charm, and people who have their North Nodes in Rohini are meant to create beauty in our world, which softens humanity in compassion and tenderness, and opens palms, minds and hearts. Within the lunar mansion of Rohini we remember the feminine energy of the importance of nourishing our inner flames within.
Beauty has a spiritual importance as it softens us, and it isn’t about external or physical or artificial beauty – it is about the beauty of the natural and internal and eternal; just like a rose is a rose is a rose, and she is unmistakably herself, with a sweetest most natural fragrance. Our true essence of love rising and being released – by the way we move, speak and touch people’s lives and hearts, with our kindness and beautiful open minds and soft open hands, is what true beauty is and how it creates things that last for long after scenting our world.
Punarvasu Nakshatra
Punarvasu is ruled by Aditi, the Great Mother Goddess. Its power is the ability to gain wealth or substance (vasutva prapana shakti). Its basis above is the wind or air. Its basis below is wetness or rain. These bring about the revitalization of the plants.
Punarvasu is known as the purest of all nakshatras, and we find her tucked in between fixed stars Pollux and Castor, where they hold one another, within the Gemini constellation. This lunar mansion too is one of fertility and creation, and as it is ruled by Jupiter it is also part of the Brahma trimurti, which may bring blessings of intuitive powers and spiritual wisdom and deep esoteric knowledge.
Punarvasu literally means the return of light, and is known as the renewal of soul and life. It is what nourishes the lands and soils into life again, with its water, and life is born, flowers are born, and it is what nourishes people’s hearts and brings humanity together.
As the mother of all gods, the power of Punarvasu is renewal for humanity itself, because she is the womb of the cosmos, the womb of all creation; and this renewal or birth for humanity may happen in many ways – whether it is bringing spiritual wisdom, birthing new ideas, creating beauty, bringing harmony to relationships, Punarvasu returns whatever hearts and souls need. Punarvasu is a lunar mansion of fertility also, and often bestows powers of healing and creativity.
The story of Pollux and Castor, the fixed stars where this lunar mansion is located, is that they were twins – Pollux was the immortal twin, son of Zeus, and Castor was the mortal twin. They love each other so much and were always together, but one day Castor was killed by some people; devastated Pollux pleaded with his father god Zeus to bring him back to life, offering to sacrifice his immortality for Castor’s life.
Witnessing such love and sacrifice, Zeus agreed, the brother united, and eventually became both stars, both immortal, to remind us all of the power of love and togetherness. Hand in hand, these twins now shine brightly in our sky. Pollux is one of our brightest stars in our whole nightly sky, and right beside him is Castor, bright also, and in the ancient times this part of the sky was believed by some esotericists to symbolize the power of Christ consiousness – the power of love, compassion and the human heart; of our ability as human beings to ascend, and hold each other, raise each other, lift each other up. Love is what renews souls. Love is what brings all to life.
Pushya Nakshatra
Pushya is ruled by Brihaspati, the God of Divine wisdom. Its power is the ability to create spiritual energy (brahmavarchasa shakti). Its basis above is sacrificial worship. Its basis below is the worshipper. These result in the creation of spiritual energy.
Found in the heart of the Cancer constellation, Pushya nakshatra is between the stars of γ “Asellus Borealis”, δ “Asellus Australis”, also known as the stars of the Northern and Southern donkey. Being part of the Vishnu trimurti, as it is ruled by Saturn, this nakshatra relates to the energies of preserving and protecting for the purpose of understanding and embodying true love.
This part of the sky was known as ancient astrologers and esotericists as the “manger”, i.e. where the Christ child was born, and this is why we see the two donkey stars, which is part of the Nativity scene. So this part of the sky brings quite a bit of warmth and hope, and also inspires us towards living a dharmic life and do good deeds. When a heart of full of love, it is able to see the divine and sacred spark in each human and animal and all living beings; so a donkey is not just any donkey, each is individual and worthy of love, nurturing and tender caring. Often when I’ve had clients with planets in this part of the sky, they may have experienced some problems with their eye sight; but that’s often a spiritual pull to develop their inner seeing and to see with their heart’s eyes into the hearts of others also, rather than merely with the external eyes.
When a heart of full of love, it sees with its hearts eyes. This is the spiritual wisdom, and why spiritual growth opens hearts, so that they rise in their vibration; spiritually advanced people know how to love and are full of compassion for all people, animals and all living beings.
Chitra Nakshatra
Chitra is ruled by Tvashtar, the Cosmic craftsman. Its power is the ability to accumulate merit in life (punya cayani shakti). Its basis above is the law. Its basis below is the truth. Through these, the worker is able to gain honor in his work.
Chitra nakshatra is the deity personification of the fixed star Spice within the Virgo constellation. We find Spica at the hand of the woman, often depicted as holding a branch of wheat. To understand this part of the sky, let us first understand the Virgo constellation – and it is often depicted as woman laying on her back, on the earth, and she travels across our sky. Her right hand was raised towards the sky, towards her God, symbolizing her faith and surrender and trust; and in her left hand she held a branch of wheat, or something to symbolize her connection to the earth and her devotion to work and bringing food to people or contributing to people’s lives.
What Spica, and essentially Chitra, shows us is the feminine aspects related to our integrity and work, and gaining honour through our work because of our integrity and devotion – because of our humility. This is a nakshatra about the importance of humility because humility is the bridge to God. Something as simple and ordinary as bread is actually divine and a blessing to us as humans, and yet we need to work and make it, and shape it with hands, and gather it with hands.
The essence of the word humility means “to be of the earth” i.e. knowing our right proportion in the cosmos of things, and not being “high enough” not to kneel when someone needs support. It is about our ability to have integrity also, and to be generous, and this is what creates good karma; so this nakshatra emphasizes the importance of being in service to others and creating good karma through our deeds. It also shows harvest, and what we’ve been planting all along. The tvashtar creates enduring forms, like a blacksmith, so it shows us the importance of hard consistent work. The punya shakti, is essentially good karma – punya is our magic bag of good deeds and the good karma from them that we’ve accumulated, so it basically shows the importance of generosity, integrity, self discipline, respect, and aligning to higher moral compass and living a life of virtue.
Swati Nakshatra
Swati is ruled by Vayu, the God of the Wind. It gives the power to scatter like the wind (pradhvamsa shakti). Its basis above is moving in various directions. Its basis below is change of form. The result of these is transformation.
When we speak of feminine energy, we often speak of its aspects related to nurturing, harmony and beauty, but there are also others aspects of herself such as discernment and change. Feminine energy is about movement; there is fluidity in it, and movements create change, and change makes creativity which essentially creates evolution, but change requires flexibility and freedom, in order to have the needed space of freedom within which the movement can happen. And here with Swati we see this feminine aspect of her power to bring change.
Swati nakshatra is the deity personification of the star Arcturus within the Boötes constellation, also known as the herdsman. In a spiritual context, the Boötes constellation is often interpreted as a symbol of guidance, protection, and the cultivation of the earth. The wind nature of Swati brings movement, and it spreads seeds across the soils for flowers and all to bloom and reach farther horizons.
Swati is a very independent nakshatra, and creativity needs freedom and independence to thrive, and love too needs freedom. This nakshatra often bestows great leadership skills also, and the ability to reach far and wide, which creates great leaders who may be very honourable and known as great public figures inspiring positive change for the benefit of humanity. But it needs freedom, as it is about being free minded. Change isn’t logical not linear, it demands openness of mind and the courage of soul to go where the paths are unpaved.
Being ruled by the North Node, or Rahu, Swati falls in the Shiva trimurti energy. Shiva is often known as the destroyer, but that’s not his purpose – his intention and what he truly seeks is freedom. Shiva means “what is not”, and in order to find what is the truth, or what is love, you may need to first find or have revealed to you what it isn’t. If guided by moral compass and spiritual integrity, Shiva energy isn’t about merely destroying things and making chaos, it is about finding the truth and allowing for freedom, so that we can create better things for all of humanity.
Love too isn’t about being chained or limited in falseness; it is about movement, and it is about truth of heart and spirit. One needs to always be able to discern true love from false love, and to be spiritually guided on that path. Change isn’t a bad thing, it is often needed, and each relationship too changes and evolves along the way; we re-explore and re-discover one another, and love has many shapes and forms, speeds and movements, yet love is love is love. Wind will take you far, and create beautiful things, if you allow it and trust is, and know how to harness its beautiful power.
Purva Ashadha Nakshatra
Purvashadha is ruled by the Waters (Apas). Its power is that of invigoration (varchograhana shakti). Its basis above is strength. Its basis below is connection. Through these one gains lustre.
Purva Ashadha is known as the invincible one, and for a good reason – we find it in the part of the sky closest to the densest part of the Milky Way, known as the cosmic consciousness of oneness and the oceans of all that is.
Purva Ashadha is located between the δ “Kaus Media” and ε “Kaus Australis” of the Sagittarius constellation, which is essentially the stars of the bow of the archer man. This is where the Milky Way is the densest, so naturally, this part of the sky brings abundance of spiritual knowledge, an ability to tap into universal wisdom, and is very philosophical, spiritual, high minded and intelligent, and associated with high priestess energy.
As it is ruled by Venus, Purva Ashadha also brings abundance of creative energy, which along with its spiritual depth, can become influential and attractive leaders and people who bring depth of knowledge, which moves and inspires and illuminates people’s paths.
The feminine is the keeper of all wisdom and mystical secrets – but to step into this higher calling she needs to know herself. Self knowledge is the path to illumination, and only after she has lit her inner flame and lantern can she guide properly and illuminate the paths of others for their highest good.
There is gentleness and quietness in this part of the sky, for she may often not loudly share her inner abundance of knowledge and wisdom; and this is what true spiritual wisdom is – it isn’t out their being loud nor shaped within little posts on social media, it is deeper than this, truer than this. There is high integrity here, and high principles, and one is not a herd, one thinks independently and focuses on inner growth and illumination.
With the association of the Milky Way, often these natives are here to tap into the universal wisdom and find the secret threads that unite us. So it isn’t about learning one religion or doctrine, it is about seeing the essence and interconnection; it isn’t about arguing whether Vedic or Western astrology is true, it is about learning all and becoming the wise astrologer – the one who sees the common threads and knows what technique to use when in appropriate ways and situations.
This is the wisdom. It is about the path towards unity and showing it to others, rather than perpetuating categorizations which essentially only lead to separations. Purva Ashadha connects to the ocean, and holds the oceans within, while also having the ability to cross all seas. It also connects to the natal 9th house, also known as the house of God in ancient astrology, and the 9th house is our spiritual body, so it is a light house, reminding us to live a life of virtue guided by a higher star, moral compass and principles.
Revati Nakshatra
Revati is governed by Pushan, the nourishing form of the Sun God, sometimes identified with the power of seeing. It has the power of nourishment symbolized by milk (kshiradyapani shakti). Its basis above is the cows. Its basis below is the calves. These three bring about the nourishment of the entire world.
The lunar mansion of Revati is found at the fixed star Revati from the Pisces constellation. If you’ve seen the Pisces constellation, it is basically symbolized by two streams which begin from the Cetus (the great whale) constellation, and then going in two different directions as each is led by a fish; one fish moves towards the Aries and Andromeda constellations, and the other towards the direction of the Aquarius and Pegasus constellations. The Revati star is found at the beginning of the stream moving towards the Aquarius as seen from our earth.
Whenever I have clients with planets along this stream, the spiritual lesson they’ve often had to learn is patience and surrender. It is about learning to trust the flow of life, and walking a patience and kindness of rhythm. You may not always know where you’re going and flowing to, but it is about timing and knowing when to move and when to wait, rather than just pushing through, or reacting or acting, immaturely or impulsively.
There can sometimes be difficulty in self identification, so it is important to trust the process yet not lose yourself in the river streams. Fish often swim where others go, so self knowledge and maturity matters here, but self compassion is needed as you learn and evolve.
Revati creates abundance but only through learning and applying proper nourishment. It needs to also support other people’s efforts, as it is connected to providing “milk” for other people. Its lord Pushan is the lord of cattle and lord of paths, and this is why we see Revati’s shakti power as nourishment by milk – but what means is softness, compassion and selfless nurturing.
This nakshatra too supports fertility and may give a lot of abundance, and it also connects to dreams and the arts such as poetry. There is a sweetness of the milk here, symbolizing the importance of bringing sweetness to people through their creative abilities, compassion and kindness. Sometimes things can look a bit messy in their love life, but chaos births fertility, new paths and ultimately, a deepening of trust and self knowledge.
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