Nakshatras in a new light
Bhavat-Bhavam and the Modern Interpretation of Nakshatras
by Janos Tamas Melocco, Vedic astrologer (Budapest, Hungary)
(Published in the subscription journal Astrologic Magazine in 2016)
Note: this is a long and scholarly article about a new explanation of nakshatras we use from the Budapest School - based on an innovative explanation on the bhavat bhavam principle.
The aim of the present article is to explain the direct use of Vedic nakshatras in chart interpretation and transits on a basis slightly different from the usual ones, encoded in symbols, deities and other attributes, though deeply in harmony with those. I believe using nakshatras actively (as in neo-Vedic astrology) gains tremendously from the application of this element; moreover, that this way of thinking about nakshatras is deeply encoded into the Vedic zodiac itself. Additionally, it might throw a different light upon interpreting Vimsottari Dashas (planetary periods).
Like many discoveries, this finding has a history. My teacher of Vedic astrology, Maria Csom was a practicing Western karmic astrologer in Budapest. On the inspiration of her Yoga master Swamiji Maheshwarananda, she decided to experiment with using Vedic astrology, then gradually switched over to using only Indian charts, equal houses, and a sidereal zodiac. Maria became really intrigued by the nakshatras, these mysterious areas of the Hindu zodiac, which constitute the basis of the Vimsottari dashas, a powerful technique of prediction without equivalent in Western astrology. Her intuition was that if the planetary periods – so fundamental in Vedic prediction – are counted from the nakshatra positions of the Moon at the time of birth, perhaps these obscure divisions of the sky held the real secret of a finer analysis of birth charts and transits in the Indian way. Starting to study the classic book published about nakshatras by Dennis M. Harness, she was trying to relate the mythological and other properties to the Vedic charts of clients, friends and famous people. Studying gave rise to a piece of inspiration: to “translate” the basics of nakshatras to the language of Western astrologers – planets in signs. Then Purva Phalguni could be understood as similar to a Leo Venus, Bharani to an Aries Venus and so on.
Knowing how much more significance is generally attributed to lords in the equal house system of Vedic astrology, Maria began to correlate the nakshatras to the signs ruled by the nakshatra rulers, gaining additional information from the position of these signs counted from the sign where the nakshatra is found. Basically, she was merely applying the bhavat bhavam principle – counting a house from a house – reasoning that if Venus’s own signs (Taurus and Libra) are the third and tenth houses from Leo (where Purva Phalguni is found), Purva Phalguni should display a general meaning that derives from having a nakshatra ruler which is a third house lord and a tenth house lord. The third house, among other things, refers to expression (noted in the charts of famous entertainers), communication, tests and trials, while the tenth house refers mainly to profession and occupation in the Vedic analysis. Leo is a sign of self-expression and leadership, among other things, while Venus (Shukra) is the patron of arts, therefore Purva Phalguni could be marked in the charts of people who use Venusian energy professionally, for example in the arts – music, even psychology, television or marketing. Venus is the ruler of Taurus, the second sign, thus it is a karaka of one side of money and enterprises in the “natural horoscope” (the Indian term for the parallel between houses and signs). The third house is the parallel of Gemini, so expression and adapting to the present are also themes, therefore TV personalities and business persons could also frequently have planets or Ascendant (Lagna) there.
In contrast, counting from the Venusian nakshatra of Aries (Bharani), Venus’s own signs, Taurus and Libra fall to the second and the seventh houses. That means Bharani – no matter what planet we have in it – would display second-house themes (possessions, values and attraction) and also seventh-house themes (e.g. relationships, sex). Thus Bharani relates to relationships, sex, and possessions, money etc. far more than Purva Phalguni which tends to emphasize a professional and communicative use of Venusian energy (10th and 3rd house). So the difference between these two nakshatras – on top of the difference between the themes of the two fire signs housing them – would basically be a difference between a Leo Venus area with Venus’s signs being in the 3rd and 10th house and an Aries Venus area with Venus’s signs being in the 2nd house and the 7th house from the home sign.
We started to study with the Budapest group of basic Vedic astrology students gathered around Maria Csom around the turn of the millennium, and methodically went through the whole circle of signs and nakshatras with various planets in them, trying to correlate the bhavat bhavam characteristics of nakshatras and came up with far more nuances in the case of ourselves, friends, relatives, famous people and the charts of clients. And in every case, we found that the bhavat bhavam explanation of nakshatras bore additional fruits of interpretation, and that these were very much in harmony with the original intent coded into the zodiac of India, noting also the traditional symbols, deities as well as the male-female characteristics, and other classifications, for example the Rakshasa/Manushya/Devic classification (which can be roughly translated as active and aggressive; people-centered; or passive and idea-centered).
The parallels of the “natural horoscope” help interpret the various numbers where the nakshatra ruler could have its sign(s). The sixth house could signify sickness and healing, enemies and karma yoga. Thinking about it as a parallel to the sixth sign, Virgo, helps explain why it is useful to integrate the Western idea of the sixth house being a house of work, along with the traditional tenth one of Vedic astrology. The tenth house is a parallel to the tenth sign, Capricorn, and it is the main house of work and occupation, however, it does not carry the additional meaning of enemies or sickness and healing.
At this point I think it is indispensable to use a graphic representation to be able to count “houses” (or signs really, in this case). So here it goes:
Nakshatras of the Nodes; Dashas and Nakshatras
Now we can begin to describe some additional characteristics of nakshatras based on the bhavat-bhavam logic. Notice that in the picture, I colored the signs ruled by the same planet as the nakshatras they rule. All nakshatras are arranged in trines, that is, the same sequence of nine rulers repeats itself three times. The nakshatras owned by Rahu and Ketu are less interesting from the point of view of this discussion, because no sign is owned by either of the shadowy planets. In a birth chart, you would relate them to the natal placement of Rahu and Ketu. A few points turn up in analysis though. So let us quickly sum up what we can say about nakshatras ruled by Rahu or Ketu.
The nodes are both enemies of the Sun and the Moon. Coded into legend, this is because it was the two luminaries that betrayed the stealing of the amrita by the demon cut into two by Vishnu’s disk. (They remained immortal, though, having already had a sip of the amrita of immortality). This myth conveys a practical piece of information for Vedic astrologers: the Sun and the Moon will suffer when being afflicted by the malefic aspect of either Rahu or Ketu, and by extension, they will suffer in the nakshatras of Rahu and Ketu. In my experience, Ketu nakshatras are more difficult for a Moon placement, Rahu nakshatras are more difficult for a Sun placement, but naturally this is further refined by the aspects and the ruler relationships of the particular chart. Mula could be the hardest of all three Ketu-nakshatras for the Moon, since the Moon’s own sign – Cancer – is eight houses away from Sagittarius.
A Ketu nakshatra placement for the Moon additionally means that the native’s life would start in Ketu dasha, which is a separating and frequently otherworldly influence – not easy for a child. You could say people with a Moon in a Ketu nakshatra arrives into physical life fully only after Ketu dasha is over, and the subsequent Venus dasha starts. Literature states that the Moon in the same sign as Ketu could lead to the loss of the mother. In modern society, I find this is not necessarily so direct; rather the native’s mother can be a more masculine, tough person, or someone who suffers hardships, or that the mother-child relationship is somewhat disturbed by other factors. It is worst, however, when the Ketu period derives from the Moon being in Mula (Sagittarius). Because the Moon’s sign being eight houses from Sagittarius, what we frequently see is that the native’s mother has undergone a painful loss or separation which has an indirect impact on the early life of the native. Aswini Moon is also placed in a Ketu nakshatra, but an Aswini Moon native can have a strong mother – unless other aspects spoil that. The sign of Cancer is four houses away from such a Moon, hence family life is all-important for the mother. With Magha, Cancer falls into the 12th house, which could among other things refer to the native’s former life with the mother, a meditative life or a stay in a confined situation – or other 12th house significations.
Moon in a Rahu nakshatra means a difficult childhood while Rahu dasha lasts – it is more appropriate for Rahu dasha to start in adulthood when you are constantly growing and changing yourself, but never reaping the results. For a native with a Moon in Rahu nakshatra, however, life will start with the remaining portion of Rahu dasha (counted proportionally from how much the Moon has covered out of the given Rahu nakshatra at the moment of the first breath). Rahu dasha can be brutal, hard and shocking to a child. No wonder traditional Vedic texts say Rahu is rough, malefic and brutal, though the explanation of more mystical astrologers (and more in the West than in modern India) is that Ketu points to former lives and Rahu points towards future lives. The themes of the three Rahu nakshatras are different, though: Swati Moon (in Libra) would signify that the mother (and by extension, the father) have major relationship troubles, divorce, cheating etc. Ardra Moon (Gemini) points at the mother (and the native) going through rough adaptation to diametrically opposing environments, or that the native has a younger sibling (Gemini is parallel to the third house, which is that of younger siblings in the “natural horoscope”). Satabhisha Moon (Aquarius) could mean the mother is involved in some community work, a religious sect, or in a more prosaic setting, that she works at a demanding community site such as a hospital. (Satabhisha means “a hundred physicians,” and such mothers frequently have little time or energy for their child.) Traditional texts and teachers maintain that Rahu-Chandra (a conjunction of Rahu and the Moon) may be mentally unbalanced. There is some truth in that, though some of the most balanced, practical and reliable people I know have exactly that. Let us settle at a point in the middle and say that having the Moon in a Rahu nakshatra may be both rough and upsetting to the native and that they may also point at future development in themes of reincarnation.
This gives the reader a taste that Vimsottari Dashas can also be interpreted as periods of planets counted from the Moon’s nakshatra, in addition to the standard interpretation based upon the ruling planet’s placement in the rashi, the aspects etc. My own chart has a Swati Moon (Rahu nakshatra in the sign of relationships). Thus the fact that I started my life in a Rahu period – which went on until I was seven and a half – really means that I was living through a Swati period, not a Satabhisha period or an Ardra period. The modern Vedic analysis of a planetary period would first look at the placement of the ruling planet, yet I feel the three different nakshatras of all the nine planets (including the nodes) are different, due to the three different signs of the nakshatras counted from the Moon. Since Rahu and Ketu throw trikona aspects (1, 5 and 9 – plus some say a 7th), the influence of their nakshatras can be more mixed than those of three nakshatras of other planets, for example those of Venus or Saturn, which as planets do not throw trikona aspects. My second planetary period was Jupiter, and the second nakshatra from my natal Moon is Vishakha, not Purva Bhadra or Punarvasu. These are subtle differences, but when I arrived at my Saturn dasha at the age of 23 (the third nakshatra from my natal Moon), that was markedly a Saturn dasha with an Anuradha flavor, not Uttara Bhadra or Pushya (the other two Saturn nakshatras). Anuradha often involves moves abroad, travels or dislocation on a bhavat bhavam basis. My first wife and I left my native country exactly in the hour of the starting of the 19-year-long Anuradha dasha, and I did not return to Hungary until more than a decade later (she is still abroad). The nakshatra of Anuradha would fall into my seventh house – though I have no planets there. No doubt there are other factors traditionally explaining this sudden change – I had my Sade Sati going during that time, which transit made the starting of my Saturn dasha all-powerful, and the very first time in my life when I had a reading with a Jyotish pandit, he told me the probably month when I left my home country for a long stay abroad. Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra also has the interpretation (actually, an unlucky one from the point of view of Vedic astrology) that if Saturn dasha starts and Saturn is weak, eclipsed or found in the eighth or twelfth house, the native could go to live in a different country – the worse Saturn is off, the sooner it happens in the dasha. (Apparently, the pandits ruled that my Saturn was catastrophic – and they did consult the BPHS for a short while).
But all this understanding would come easier if we suppose that if I start my life with Swati dasha, Vishakha mahadasha is my next one (Jupiter), and Anuradha is the third one (Saturn). If we take the bhavat bhavam logic, and translate the basic meaning of the area known as Anuradha, it will be similar to a Scorpio Saturn which rules the third and fourth houses from itself (Capricorn and Aquarius). That means a changing of mental constitution – thought and communication – as well as the unconscious mind and emotions – the fourth house –, and possibly the relationship of the two as well. It is this fourth house placement which signifies the theme of moving and dislocation for Anuradha, sometimes overseas. My eldest daughter – born in America with a Scorpio Moon – has an Anuradha Moon, so her life started in Saturn dasha. An Anuradha Moon frequently involves moves, even abroad, long journeys, dislocation and a sense of being alien to the environment. She lived her life like going to school for a few years in America, then in Hungary again, and many times over. I have seen great voyagers and geographical discoverers with Anuradha placements. As for the Moon itself, all Scorpio Moons I have seen so far were spiritual in some way, because by bhavat bhavam, the Moon stands there as the ruler of the ninth sign (and the ninth house is, among other things, spirituality and philosophy). So my assertion is that despite the fact that my natal Saturn is not even near Anuradha (it is in Uttara Shadha nakshatra, Sagittarius, combust by the Sun, at the last degrees of my eighth house), my Saturn period was really an Anuradha period, since it is the next one after Swati and Punarvasu. The bhavat bhavam interpretation adds a further element to my story: Kornelia and I had just married before we left, and I feel I perhaps would not have made the final decision to leave my native country without her inspiring and supporting me all the way. Now Anuradha is found in my seventh house (which is otherwise empty). For an astrologer taking into account the nakshatra values of the mahadashas, this would be more than a coincidence.
Another fact you could mention that in these very days, there is an unprecedented recent wave of migration and people trying to escape from the Middle East war, which migration started in earnest during the recent transit of Saturn through Anuradha in the sky.
If you place a planet with a more specific aspect pattern into a nakshatra, for example, Mars, you would also have to add its own Parashari aspects to the standard explanation. Mars throws drishtis at the 1st, 4th, 7th and the 8th sign from itself. This is the third level of interpreting a planet in a nakshatra, which colors the fundamental characteristics of the sign and the planet, plus the bhavat bhavam nakshatra themes.
Let us add all this up: if you have Mars in Purva Phalguni, you would first have to account for the nature and the themes of Leo, those of the fire element (in excess because Mars is also fiery), and the friendship of Mars and Sun. That is the first level. Then you would see that Venus, the nakshatra ruler is the owner of the 3rd and 10th houses from Leo, so you would have strong career and communications meanings for this Mars, and possibly troubles with younger siblings. Finally, you would add that a Leo Mars would directly aspect the signs of Scorpio, Aquarius and Pisces. I guess a Leo Mars person would be more than ready to use computers and other innovations, and would like driving a car, because of Mars’s aspect on Aquarius. To analyze all that would go far beyond the scope of this article, so let us restrict ourselves to those meanings that are derived from the bhavat bhavam relationships of all the nakshatras. One last remark is that this way we really have to examine 36 nakshatra areas in the entire Hindu zodiac, since the bhavat bhavam counting will differ, say, from the Taurus portion of Krittika nakshatra than from the Aries portion of the same. (Since there are four parts of each nakshatra, pointing to a different navamsha sign, the Hindu zodiac really consists of 108 parts – again, not a coincidence.)
The next part of this article will examine the main house connections of each nakshatra ruler planet (we covered Rahu and Ketu) from the point of view of bhavat bhavam, mentioning just a few specific examples.
Bhavat Bhavam Themes in the Nakshatras of Venus
The three nakshatras ruled by Venus are found in the middle of fire signs: Bharani in Aries, Purva Phalguni in Leo and Purva Shadha in Sagittarius. For the sake of completeness, I repeat what I said in my starting example: Venus is the ruler of the second sign (Taurus) and the seventh sign (Libra) counting from Aries, thus the themes of Bharani will be, for example, money and sex, and holding on to relationships, plus important relationships with women (for both genders). Taurus is doubly significant here because it is the second sign and the second house from Aries at the same time, while it is simply the most earthbound of all signs, it relates to eating and diets as well. The second house in a chart would also signify speech and teeth. Bharani is difficult, because Aries means independence and spontaneity, while its ruler Venus emphasizes relationships, and it owns the seventh house. Thus Bharani placements could lead to violent swings between being dependent on relationships and individual spontaneity. I found that the possessions of Bharani people can fluctuate depending on whether they have a good partner or without one (Bharani is romantic but passionate – it is in the cardinal fire sign of Mars). That is to say, Mars as self-will and Venus as relationships (the theme of Libra, an air sign, is adjusting to another person) are mixed here and they are in a constant struggle. Venus wants you to adapt to your partner and make compromises while Mars as sign ruler would want you to go ahead and do what thou wilt and conform to no one.
Purva Phalguni, in contrast to Bharani, has the Venusian signs in the third house (Libra) and the tenth house (Taurus) from itself. Thus it signifies a more professional aspect of Venus, such as being a professional artist, entertainer, or leadership with style. Since the third house can be communications and its parallel sign in the “natural horoscope,” Gemini signifies the present and adaptation in general; other areas can be TV, movies, or communications. A tenth house relationship could mean that there is actually a lot the native works and chisels things in himself or herself, which can actually be valued in the present, even sold as a service or a talent. Leo refers to the eternal “now” – its ruler, the Sun is the karaka of the Higher Self, or Atma.
Purva Shadha naturally relates to the Sagittarian fire of religion, ideals and idealism. Since Venus (the nakshatra lord) and Jupiter (the sign lord) are enemies in Vedic astrology, this idealistic nakshatra again conveys a self-contradiction: Venus rules the present while Jupiter is the future. Venus is the material world and your desires, while Jupiter is the celestial Guru – they are forever at odds, just like Venus and Mars are in Bharani’s case. Bhavat bhavam would fortify this contradiction because the next Venusian sign is Taurus, the sixth house. While also another house of work, many Venus significations could be inimical due to the sixth house connection, and the native could have problems with organs related to Venus e.g. the kidneys or sugar. Libra is the 11th house from there, thus there is an orientation towards communities and friends – relating to ideas. My experience is that Purva Shadha planets can signify that the native is truly religious, idealistic and is actually in touch with the future (a Jupiterian sign connected to the 11th house), but they trust people without seeing their faults and are frequently bound to bitter disappointments. As the 11th house grows in power with age (upachaya), and Saturn is the ruler of the eleventh sign in the “natural horoscope,” this aspect can be improved with age and wisdom.
Bhavat Bhavam Themes in the Nakshatras of the Sun
The next nakshatras are solar: Krittika in Aries and Taurus; Uttara Phalguni in Leo and Virgo, and Uttara Shadha in Sagittarius and Capricorn. Here we must take the fire sign parts separately from the parts of the nakshatras falling in the earth signs (the first quarters of Sun nakshatras are found at the ends of fire signs, while the remaining three quarters – 10 degrees – fall to the beginning of the earth signs). The Sun’s own sign, Leo is the fifth house from Aries, while the Sun means father and rulership among other things. The combination of Sun and Mars (the sign lord) leads to excessive fire, thus while there is a challenge to find personal power and creativity, the father’s authority could be oppressive and power in general can be problematic. Sometimes the placement in Aries Krittika is more positive as far as finding power, leadership and the attitudes of authority figures. Saturn would be a tragically bad position here, in the last degrees of its debilitation sign. Having children is a positive influence (naturally, it is not easy if you place Saturn here though), because of the fifth house connection; a male offspring is particularly good in a karmic way. I have seen very critical and fiery people with Aries Krittika placements act very nicely with their sons (while their daughters can be creative and slightly masculine).
The second part of Krittika is in the cardinal Earth sign of Taurus; this is where the Moon is exalted according to Vedic tradition – and the Sun’s own sign falls to the fourth house from there. Thus the real value (Taurus) for this second part of Krittika is his/her family and home – adding it all up, it is a breadwinner’s role (sometimes alone, whether the native is male or female), and that of someone who would defend their children (or their creative results) at all costs. I would say partner relationships are not easy for Taurus significations since the seventh house is Scorpio – meaning change or destroy – divorce is frequent, especially after a Saturn round of 29 years. In all of Krittika, if the Sun’s position is weak, the native’s father can actually blackmail the native by withholding family property or money or giving it out only piecemeal.
The Leo part of Uttara Phalguni is one of the two small areas (amounting to a quarter nakshatra) in the entire zodiac where the nakshatra ruler (the Sun) is the same as the sign ruler. In these cases, one of the bhavat bhavam numbers would be 1. Naturally, such a position can be about absolute leadership and the father’s example is very positive here – whether it is the head of a company or that of a country. Since the seventh house from Leo belongs to Saturn, and because we can say the Sun truly has a shadow, the person may have a karmic debt towards a community.
The Virgo part will, however, have the Sun’s sign in the 12th house from itself. Aside from emphasizing Virgo roles such as science, healing, being methodical, learning and service, we could note that there is an important and close previous life (could be the very last one indeed) where the native experienced leadership and now does not want to be the first person any more, although he or she can be a really experienced worker, indispensable at times. At the same time, their father could also be an authority figure in the past. I have seen many movie actors and actresses with Virgo Uttara Phalguni planets – which goes on to show that doing movies is a hard job and it requires special tenacity plus detailed, precise work in the material world, and submission (service) of the leading director, scriptwriter and producer. Many film actors in turn end up directing movies on their own, which shows they already had leadership qualities in them.
The Sagittarius part of the solar nakshatra Uttara Shadha will have Leo as the ninth house from there, which could say this is the absolutely Sagittarian importance of a father who has very strong beliefs or ideals and could be an important person or an inspiring leader. People with planets like Jupiter or Saturn here could be “religious leaders,” or they have been ones in the past (if it falls into the eighth or twelfth house). The Capricorn part of Uttara Shadha is problematic for the native both referring to the father and any authority, including his or her own, because bhavat bhavam would find the Sun’s sign eight houses away. You could say that both the native’s sense of authority and their image of their father are in transformation. This area holds part of Abhijit, considered as the 28th nakshatra, playing a prominent part in the charts of many saints, religious leaders and healers. The native could feel that he or she has to manifest those leadership qualities in an earthlier, practical and day-to-day manner. I have seen an example where the father was a company’s CEO, while his daughter, the native with a Capricorn Uttara Shadha Sun was doing healing work.
Bhavat Bhavam Themes in the Nakshatras of the Moon
The Moon has one sign, Cancer, but there are three lunar nakshatras. So already in the case of Rohini, the first lunar nakshatra, we would look for its distance from Cancer only. Cancer is the third house from there. Since the Moon is exalted in Taurus (though deeply in Krittika), and Rohini is the Moon’s own nakshatra, the meaning is natural to be natural, a healing, peaceful person who could be sensitive, good with plants, animals, children, even the disabled. I have seen Rohini persons always exude such a natural charm which is actually nourishing people around them by its very essence, but I have also seen that the mother of Rohini Moons could have gone through real stressful times and obstacles, missing precisely the peace and nature that is inherent in the charts of their native daughters or sons. Perhaps this is the time when we can see that a third house relationship could mean obstacles also. No wonder Saturn throws a third aspect as one of its Parashari aspects.
Hastha, the next lunar nakshatra in Virgo means hand. Bhavat bhavam analysis reveals a special role here. The nakshatra ruler Moon’s sign of Cancer is found in the 11th house from Virgo. Because of this, the native has frequently themes of service, learning or karma yoga (Virgo themes) in groups which are somehow connected to his or her mother, communities with roots in the past since the Moon means the past. The elder brother or sister may have an important role in the native’s life. In my book on the nakshatras published in Hungarian (2012), I lengthily explored this horoscope with a Pluto retrograde in the Ascendant’s nakshatra Hastha. The native’s elder sister died while she was still a baby and that left difficult psychological traces leading to a self-discovery leading in turn to learning a very deep form of group therapy in the style of Bert Hellinger’s Family Constellation. (Pluto is not used by most Hindu astrologers, but neo-Vedic Joni Patry also uses outer planets, and here it could mean a depression out of which the only way is healing and deep transformation work). Additionally, the native has a Capricorn Moon in Shravana, so her horoscope is doubly lunar, and naturally, Pluto aspects her Moon. Jewish roots are also there to be explored, though the person considers herself a Buddhist. Cancer is the Ascendant of her Navamsha chart, which could mean that somehow she fills the vacancy left by her sister through her work and becomes family-oriented in the second part of her life.
Shravana has a seventh house bhavat bhavam connection: it is in the middle of the tough sign of Capricorn, but there are karmic ties to Cancer being the 7th house. Shravana Moons have many interesting aspects, among them being a lone shaman, an artist, a saint, a psychologist healing in a one-to-one relationship, or a social worker who listens to people lower down in society and helps them, but a karmic relationship is there in all cases between the mother and the Shravana Moon native – his/her mother could have been his/her partner in a previous life, and unconsciously, she still holds onto the native as a partner in a subtle way.
Bhavat Bhavam Themes in the Nakshatras of Mars
All Mars nakshatras are cut in the middle between two signs. Mrigarshira is between Taurus and Gemini. The first part of Mrigashira is like a Taurus Mars, holding on to traditional values for dear life and very particular about eating; in some other connections, it may signify martial art practice also. From Taurus Mrigashira, Scorpio falls into the seventh house. You could say that partnership transforms the native and that he or she transforms the partner. There is also a strong holding energy like with a Taurus Mars. The partner may also be somewhat manipulative or suggestive, and since the opposing nakshatra is Jyestha, he or she may have extraordinary intelligence but also aware of the strange negative potentials of codes and communication. (Although this may not be the seventh house of the rashi, or from the Moon, I think all seventh placements color the relationship of someone.) Aries is in the 12th house from Taurus, so a Mars theme may be there from a former life, or a theme that leads to seclusion or faraway places, and a Taurus Mars would have a weak self-confidence because Aries, the sign of independence and spontaneity fall to the 12th house from there. To some extent, that theme colors the attributes of other planets in Taurus Mrigashira. Gemini Mrigashira could be compared to Mars in Gemini – except it is an area in the sky, not an active planet. The numbers here are the 8th house and the 11th house, the bridge is Mars. I have seen people with Moon in Gemini Mrigashira fighting fiercely (Aries is the 11th house) for their political group, then gradually perceiving that the group in question is changing, transforming into something else. They can also transform the group, but one could say they have a strange suggesting power with their words anyway, since Scorpio is the eighth house from the starting point. Naturally, they have a good gift for speaking and writing, and they worry about having dual choices in their life such as conflicts between living in two countries or doing two professions. Gemini Mars aspects both Virgo and Capricorn, two signs related to work and profession. The fourth aspect can also mean that they are very family-centered and that they value their roots. But due to Gemini, they sometimes achieve the opposite effect from what they consciously aim at, and because of the combination of Mars and Mercury (the sign lord) they can have nervous troubles.
Virgo Chitra has the bhavat bhavam placements of Scorpio as the 3rd sign and Aries as the 8th sign. I would say, for example, that the communication of such a person – a real workaholic in the first level of analysis – would be in constant transformation and transformative itself. The nature of struggling or fighting also undergoes a change over the native’s life. Obstacles and transformation are found in the field of work, but that makes them even stronger. Losing a job would be a transformative experience for such a person, a deep crisis.
Libra Chitra is just as contradictory as Bharani is: it has Aries as its seventh house and Scorpio as its second house. I would say that these people are in a constant struggle with their partners, want to dominate them or to be dominated, and with strong planets such as Mars itself they may blame their partners constantly, but will not let go relationships easily. Those matters to them. Sex and money and earthly values are also important themes as in the case of Bharani, another 2nd and 7th dominated nakshatra, but perhaps they see money differently since the second house is Scorpio – they look at money as a power which is transformed and which transforms while marriage could be simply at best a place for contention and a chivalrous rivalry. It is a less romantic sky part than Bharani.
Dhanishtha connects Capricorn then Aquarius with Mars’s signs. Scorpio is the 11th house from Capricorn, so a Capricorn Dhanishtha could be a liberator with special skills, who hones his or her skills alone, like a cowboy hero in the desert who jumps to help the community when the evil sheriff takes over and thereby the community is transformed. He or she brings these skills for fighting instinctively with them, since Aries is found in the fourth house from there (which is one of the water houses – meaning that it parallels the sign of Cancer in the “natural horoscope” and as such it relates to the past and ancestors). Additionally, this nakshatra is really powerful for all accomplishments, since Mars is exalted in Capricorn. Scorpio is the tenth house from the Aquarius part of Dhanishtha, so there is a strong professional involvement – military, sports or other things. The themes of Aquarius suggest a community and a future-oriented setting anyway. Aries is the third sign from here, so the person would have to face conflict and struggle. Modern technology and speed can be top themes.
Bhavat Bhavam Themes in the Nakshatras of Jupiter
Jupiter nakshatras always lead from a more mental air sign to the difficult last quarter in a water sign. Jupiter is the planet of experiencing life. From Gemini Punarvasu, the signs of Jupiter fall into the 7th house and the 10th house. Such a person can have two sets of learning and is a marvelous teacher, one level is at the intellectual plane, and another perhaps at a higher, spiritual plane. This is one meaning of the “returning of the light” after the summer thunderstorms, as the ancients recorded. A corollary of bhavat bhavam is that this person – who could easily have an intellectual occupation, will profit from their partnership in their professional field. In other words, the experiences they have in partnership will be used in the field of occupation. This part also has an energy of creating divisions among people. The other way round, they will try to apply the things they learned in their private lives, however, they tend to be authoritarian (Jupiter) which is in contradiction to the energy of Gemini (equality) and that makes it difficult to relate in marriage – at the extreme, they can divorce unless the Gemini Punarvasu person has a teaching job.
Jupiter’s signs fall into the 6th and 9th houses from the Cancer part of Punarvasu, so here’s an entirely different cup of tea. This person has a deep karmic task relating to their mother and maternal ancestors, and is sometimes tempted to drink. The transition to the water sign of Cancer from the intensely mental experience of Jupiter can be too much to bear. The sixth house is, among other things, the house of sickness, healing and enemies. It is one of the more difficult places on the nakshatra wheel. They are prone towards mysticism and religion of a self-effacing kind. I imagine this could be all the more challenging to men.
