Shiva wears the moon on his head, and the remedy for it is Parvati – she is his breath, she is that which joins in union. Parvati is the part of you that is of undivided devotion towards something.
Awhile back we talked about Lakshmi, her connection to Venus, and how to attract wealth and abundance into our life by understanding and diving deeper into her esoteric secrets. You can read this in my article The Esoteric Secrets of How to Attract Lakshmi’s Blessings of Abundance and Wealth.
And today I thought that we can dive deeper into another beautiful study from the old texts of Vedic philosophy and astrology – this time we’ll talk about Parvati and how she connects to our natal Moon, and how her secrets can soothe, harmonize and balance out both our deepest inner and outer worlds.
Usually, when a client goes to a Vedic astrologer, and their natal moon is not in its best position – whether by sign, house placement, nakshatra, aspect or transit – the astrologer would often give them remedies to change the energy; and in most cases the remedy is said to be yoga. But what does that really mean? Is that the only remedy? What does Parvati have to do with the moon? And how can we apply these ancient wisdoms towards all areas of our life?
Our natal chart is essentially a study of time, through the cosmic fabrics. But in a way, it is the thing that binds us. It is not something that should define you, nor should you feel imprisoned by it, because this is not your fate written in stone. You can change things and free yourself – but the only way to do this is 1. gain and receive the awareness and insights of it, and 2. you need to now invest your efforts, work and willingness – to continuously make the effort to change and free yourself from the binds. The only job of an astrologer is to translate to you where the binds are, and to practice their compassion during the session, and to also leave you with hope and perhaps tips or guidance how to change what no longer serves you – but afterwards, it is up to you.
Freedom requires courage – courage to make the effort and take the reigns, to become self autonomous. Self autonomy demands making choices, out of awareness and honesty, and having responsibility and accountability because the consequences of our choices will be ours too. Spiritual astrology isn’t for the faint of heart, but real love too isn’t for the faint of her also.
Now let’s begin,
and first, who is Parvati and her connection to the moon?
Parvati
For those of you who don’t know, Parvati is the Hindu goddess of love, fertility, devotion and determination. She is the wife of Shiva, and their love story is known to show the power of feminine manifestation carrying with itself many esoteric secrets and higher wisdom.
She was a most beautiful young girl, with so many men who desired to marry her; and yet all she wanted was to marry Shiva – who was basically an old, ugly, dirty, reclusive man living in a cave far up in the mountains and not talking to anyone at all. Throughout her life she always felt drawn to him, dreamed of him, almost as if she was devoted to him already, and against her father’s wishes and all of her city’s wishes and naysayers, she made her choice and went up the mountains to Shiva. He didn’t pay any attention to her, let alone wanting to marry her, as he was deep into his meditation and rarely even opened his eyes. Years went by and no matter what she did for him, he was still in meditative state.
Finally overwhelmed and frustrated, she left him and retreated into another cave to be by herself. There, after the tears, she began to meditate. And the more she meditated, the more awareness she gained, and eventually realized that he was her, she was him, they were one, together, already. The moment she realized this, Shiva appeared before her, and they embraced and married as husband and wife on earth – forever in love, passion and devotion.
One of Parvati’s main qualities is fearlessness. She is absolutely fearless, and despite what others say, she does what is right in her heart.
And what is fearlessness?
It is freedom of heart.
There are many names of Parvati throughout the ancient texts, and two that I’ll discuss today are Mahatapasa and Nivrtti. I invite you to do your own research for the rest.
Mahatapasa is a word meaning to have the ability to burn, and refers to her yajna i.e. fire sacrifice, described in the mystical texts. But what she actually burns is the bondage, so that she reaches her freedom and the freedom of her heart. Knowing what we must let go of that is no longer valuable to us, while accepting and pulling in what matter to us, are part of our spiritual gift of discernment, which is also a part of what must be practiced with the moon.
The other name Nivrtti is a word that has various translations, but the one that refers to Parvati is the meaning of nivrtti that is an inward moving breath. It is essentially an inward moving energy negating the superficial external; in other words, Parvati shows us the importance of and willingness to move inward – and connect to the subtle senses.
The moon often seeks desires and attractions, but when these are overpowering, we become overwhelmed and make big swings from one side to the other. These waxes and wanes, if not properly harmonized and balanced, can cause instabilities – and so to soothe this we need to find attraction towards the subtle senses. Parvati shows us this – because she was attracted to Shiva through her subtle senses. Shiva was an ugly man, not well dressed, sitting reclusive in a cave, dirty and poor like a beggar, moody and grumpy – and yet she chose him. She chose him despite other people, despite the community, despite the external, she chose not just because, but because her soul and heart asked her to. To tune into the subtle senses, we often need to turn away from what the world shows us.
And yet who is Shiva?
He is the embodiment of freedom. So essentially, she was attracted to freedom all along. And it is him, freedom, who becomes her devotion.
Going back to nivrtti and the inward moving force – when we can gather all our energy of passion and all and everything into one place, this becomes powerful – this is devotion, and this is yoga.
Devotion is fearless. You cannot be devoted if you have fear.
The secret knowledge, the secret beloved, or the one you get close to when you enter the cave of your heart – is what you reach through devotion.
This is how she attained her desire. When she sat in her own cave meditating, until realizing that he and she were one, she was him and he was her, and they were already married despite the external circumstances. She became the egg in a woman’s womb – which attracts towards itself, rather than chasing and endlessly longing in suffering, or swinging from one extreme to another. She attained the man of her heart, the desire in her heart. You can read all about that in my article The Secrets of Feminine Manifestation.
Moon is about desire, and is often a karaka for lust also – not Venus, Moon is. It’s the calling towards the “I don’t know what yet”, it’s the longing, the pulling us, the wave, the wet soil. And we’ll always have desires, even those who say they don’t, they do – and theirs is the desire for desirelessness.
That which joins is yoga
Vishnu has Lakshmi in his heart. Is that material wealth or is it that mysterious wealth that sustains all beings and nourishes them? Perhaps it is life force – or the source of all things nourishing and sustaining. Perhaps it is love itself. Lakshmi is his Shakti, the manifestation of that pure abundance that never decreases.
In the heart of Shiva is freedom. And his Shatki is Parvati – sh is the manifestation of that dynamic energy that frees and liberates. This doesn’t mean material renunciation, but it is the internal snapping of the hidden chains that bind us and releasing our hearts into freedom.
On their wedding night Parvati asks Shiva to teach her yoga.
Parvati, being the dynamic energy of Shiva and essentially being his breath, out the compassion desired to take this knowledge to the people. Out of the compassion in her heart she knew and understood the suffering of humanity – she understood that no one was free and were all bound; and to free them from their bondages, she desired to teach them yoga.
At first Shiva was concerned. He did not want people to know these secrets because he knew that if one isn’t prepared or ready to take in such spiritual knowledge, this may be to their detriment. He wasn’t sure that humans can handle the subtle power that may arise as a result of these spiritual practices; and he didn’t want people to misuse it.
This is why esoteric wisdom is often hidden; and student would have to go years of preparing, and just doing simple tasks like chop wood, carry water – because until the student is ready, they cannot be initiated into spiritual wisdom.
Nowadays unfortunately many people get access to high knowledge shared through memes, social media etc., but their minds aren’t prepared or they aren’t properly taught by having a spiritual teacher and guide, and eventually this causes them problems.
Parvati is the part of you that is of undivided devotion towards something.
For some people yoga could be sitting on a bench in the park each day, for another it may be listening to music. It is the thing, a routine, which is so deeply interesting to you, that you become one with it. You lose yourself in it. Every part of your mind is suddenly collected and you forget yourself – you feel in a natural flow that gives you peace of mind and makes you feel entirely alive.
Chandra, The moon
The moon guides and governs all states of awareness, it isn’t just emotions, it is birth itself, sleep, dream, think, all. When you wake you and call yourself whoever you call yourself – this is the moon also. The moon is like soil, and all seeds get planted into it, which is why our birth begins with the dasha of our natal moon. Our bodies too speak the language of the moon, and our moon is our physical wellbeing also.
In Vedic philosophy and astrology, Chandra Deva is the Moon god, which is why in the natal charts moon carries the name chandra. Chandra Deva would often get himself into trouble from his overpowering attractions and repulsions. He had strong appetite for the romance of life, and strong desires for women, and basically had excess of everything – excess of goodness too. He’d often wax and wane, lacking stability and consistency. All his troubles were because he lacked devotion and dedication to one thing. In astrology, there are 27 nakshatras, i.e. constellations of the moon, and these are essentially the wives of the moon.
Chandra gets into trouble for the exact opposite qualities of Parvati. Parvati has the ability to focus all her energy into one thing. She is not the girl on dating apps, going from partner to partner, and even if bored with her beloved, she’d decide to deepen the intimacy and understanding, or rekindle the spark rather than change him for no reason.
Because of these strong desires that the moon gives us, it is known as the karaka or significator of lust as we already mentioned, and lust is something that is temporary, and it can also become unhealthy and lead people down the wrong path because they often mistake it for love. There is also an insincere quality to this because other people may begin to view such natives as insincere because of the inconsistency in their actions.
The moon sits on top of Shiva’s head, which shows us that it is associated with the senses (as the head and face govern the senses). So we get ourselves off balance when we practice overindulgence or excess of anything; and the way to raise ourselves is actually to transform our senses towards higher purpose.
The 4th house is the natural home of the moon and its pure ruler is Cancer – which is the sign of high intelligence, because this is the sign of the high heart, and to know the minds of others you must know the heart. This is the deepest part of our ourselves, rules our deepest psychology since childhood, and it is also our most hidden part – because no sun shines in the 4th house, it sits at the foundation of our chart and is in the deep onyx night. This is the house that rules the high heart and it is home of the heart, the cave of the heart, and church of the heart.
It is also the house of compassion – so what this shows us is the importance of practicing compassion towards self and others, and knowing that you are not bound to anything and can be freed.
It is true that the moon can bind us – and it rules our mind also, so it can sometimes cause our minds to go in circles because of these chandra swings. It can also bind us to vanity, lust and romantic urges; and yet it is also the sweetest taste as well, the thing that drives us forward in life. It is the longing, the longing all the time, the longing for all we don’t even understand.
The moon is beauty and romance, and it is all that which stirs the ocean of attraction as we draw towards us our heart’s true desires. The moon is the singer of soul, and it is the magnetism which pulls us into the womb to be born – so that we can shape love, and experience love, through our lips, hands and gestures.
It is this pulling and magnetism that is its nature, that reminds us to be mindful of what we pull in like waves focusing our energies on, and what we must sway away from us. Be intentional and conscious of the ebbs and flows – you are the ocean, the current, and the wind.
According to Rishi Parashara, Krishna avatar is the avatar linked to Chandra. Krishna is the God is protection, love, tenderness and compassion – and this too gives us further insight on what the moon is in its essence. So there is a fierce protective aspect to it – just like a mother protects her child because the moon is the mother and the womb, and she protects her child in her womb and tummy too – she protects those she loves with fierce yet tender protection. Love often is about taking someone as part of you, and caring for them and loving them and wanting the best for them.
So what is the remedy for the moon?
The moon sits at the head of Shiva – and Parvati, his breath, her devotion, the yoga, is the remedy.
So first consider the face and the third eye – and protect your face and balance the extremities of desires. Don’t overindulge in anything, don’t excess anything (not even goodness), and don’t swing from one emotion to its extreme opposite, or alternate too quickly between repulsion and attraction. Remember Parvati’s ability to turn the focus inward and connect to the subtle senses – so connect to your spiritual core and your values.
As we already mentioned, Parvati is attracted to the subtle senses which is why she is often pictured with her third eye opened. The subtle senses are often quite opposite to the physical senses, and to access them you have to often behave in ways that are opposite the ways of the world. This requires courage, and fearlessness.
Parvati is a kind of pure love that is fresh every day when you wake up, the face is fresh, and love itself is like bread, to be made and remade each day out of that purity. Even when you are not attracted to the it anymore, just devote to it and don’t shift your focus away from it – it’s not about going from one partner to another partner constantly, it is about going deeper with one partner. The swing of Chandra emotions is what keeps people trapped.
Yoga is union. It is that for which you gather all your energies and lose yourself in it. The path of yoga is a devotional path. For some people it could be sitting on a bench in the park each day, for another it may be listening to music. It is the thing, a routine, which is so deeply interesting and passionate for you, that you become one with it. You lose yourself in it. Every part of your mind is suddenly collected and you forget yourself – you feel in a natural flow that gives you peace of mind and it makes you feel alive. It’s like you’re not even there. And yet this is only one interpretation, so I invite you to explore your own – what does yoga mean to you?
If you take all these energies that Chandra is wasting on extreme attractions and aversions, and somehow blend them and re-direct them into one devotional path – a union – this will be your remedy, this will be your freedom, this is your yoga. It is good to have desires and powerful desires also, but try to sort of put them into the right channel – i.e. take the desires into the right thing for you. If your true heart’s pure desire is to be a musician – get into union with that goal, as perhaps being a musician is your yoga. Make that desire worth it – so that your energy is more focused and purposeful for you to give you peace of mind.
Remember that compassion is what the 4th house purely is – which is what the moon is. Righteousness is the enemy of compassion and the enemy of the moon. So be gentle with your desires, with your feelings, with all you have strong attractions towards (as long as they are not to your detriment or harmful to other people), and allow yourself to have peace with those.
Big swings of waxing and waning causes you inner conflicts and outer too – so the only way to manage and balance these is to concentrate your feelings and thoughts and intentions on what truly matters to you – and withdraw your energy from all places which don’t matter to you or which are not valuable to you. You are the ocean, and you are the waves and you are the winds – and having that self autonomy and quality and skill is what is important. This is called discernment, and discernment is one of the greatest spiritual gifts and wisdoms you can apply in your life.
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