Beyond Star Signs: Nakshatras — #1 Ashwini
An Astrology Series
Let’s begin our journey through the Nakshatras!
If you have not yet read my first two posts on the topic, I recommend that you do so before you continue with this post.
We will begin with the first Nakshatra — Ashwini 🐴!
The Basics
Let’s start with the basics!
Ashwini lies entirely within the Zodiac sign of Aries (Sidereal). To be specific, 0° — 13°20' Aries. This means, one of the building blocks of Ashwini is nature associated with Aries.
Keep that in mind! We will get back to this later!
The Myth
As I had mentioned in my previous post, we cannot fully grasp what each Nakshatra represents without knowing the myth they are associated with. The Myth of Ashwini is quite interesting!
It goes something like this:
Surya, the Sun, was married to Sanjana. She loved him very much, but he was too bright and hot, that she could not bear to be near him. So she created a ‘shadow wife’ that looks just like her and runs away. The Sun continued to live with the shadow wife, not knowing that was not his actual wife — Sanjana!
Some time later Sanjana regrets her actions and attempts to come back to him. But it was too late! Surya (Sun) had falled in love with the Shadow wife!
But, Sanjana doesn’t give up! She’s determined to win him over. So she turns her self into a mare, and grazes only on dry grass so that she can one day withstand the Sun’s heat. The Sun learns after a while that the he was actually living with the Shadow wife and attempts to find Sanjana. In order to win her over again, he turns himself into a Horse and reconnects with her.
The Sun and Sanjana copulating as horses result in Sanjana giving birth to twins — Ashwini Kumaras.
Symbolism
In Sanskrit, Ashwini means Horse. Ashwini Kumara means ‘Horse Possessors’.
So when it comes to exploring the nature of Ashwini as a Nakshatra, think of a horse. What do horses symbolize generally? We know they are usually associated with energy, swiftness, freedom, competition, confidence and beauty.
Rulerships
In Astrology, we usually speak about rulerships. I won’t get much into the theories behind these for now.
When it comes to rulerships of Nakshatras we want to consider two things:
- Rulership of the Nakshtra itself — Ashwini is said to be ruled by Ketu — the south node of the Moon. Ketu is generally associated with unfinished karma, or in more broader terms, a sense of lack. Ketu is also said to be what you came to this incarnation with, while Rahu, the north node, is associated with what you’re headed towards in this life time.
- Rulership of the Zodiac Sign where the Nakshatra is placed in — We already established that Ashwini lies fully in the zodiac sign Aries. Aries is ruled by Mars. Mars, in most mythologies around the world, is associated with courage, bravery, action, energy, and war.
Putting it All Together
So far we have looked at some of the key building blocks of understanding how Ashwini could manifest. Before we move further, let’s re-cap what this Nakshatra is associated with. We know that Ashwini is,
- #1 — associated with Horses — energy, swiftness, freedom, competition, confidence and beauty
- #2 — associated with Ketu — unfinished karma, a sense of lack
- #3 — associated with Mars — courage, aggression, bravery, action, energy
So what could it look like when you have your Moon placed in Ashwini Nakshatra?
The Moon is your mind and emotions — your inner world. It’s how you see and perceive the world from within. It’s your deep psycho-spiritual self.
When your moon is in Ashwini, it can give you inner drive, courage and energy. Specifically, depending on the house in which your moon is placed, that specific area can be a deeply emotional part of your life.
But…here’s the caveat! Where your moon is, there is where your deep emotional entanglements lie. Putting this together, if we are to imagine a formula, we get something like this:
So, if you have your Moon placed in Ashwini, the influence of Mars on your Moon will likely make you a driven, energetic person, but that drive will come from a deeply emotional place. You may have aggressive emotional outbursts.
You can be described as headstrong, intelligent, full of energy, dynamic, and having a thirst for life. You could also be seen as childlike and having a constant craving for independence.
The energy of Ketu can cause you to feel as is you are always searching for the next thing — and if left without care for your mental health, this can cause you to be discontent with life itself over time.
How is this useful anyway?
We would be missing the point if we only use astrology to quench our thirst for the Mystical, but don’t draw any practical, helpful steps that can aid us in living a grounded life.
Astrology, while an esoteric and mystical technology, is also simply a science of pattern recognition. The benefit of identifying our patterns is to interrupt them when necessary, and foster them at other times.
Patterns you would want to interrupt are your emotional overwhelm that can result in angry outbursts, your sense of discontent by reminding yourself of the goodness in your life and that life ebbs and flows, and your tendency to overplay your desire for freedom.
Patterns you can foster are your passion and drive for action and getting things done, your quick and intelligent mind that can come up with ideas with ease, your unrelenting courage, and your drive to expand beyond what was given to you.
A Quick Example
Let’s see what this can look like on a birth chart.
A quick disclaimer: This is a general analysis. While this can give you some pointers in understanding yourself, it’s important to remember you need to consider the entire chart for a holistic understanding.
This is an example of a chart that shows the Moon placed in Aries, in Ashwini Nakshatra, the 11th house.
The general profile of this person would indicate that they are:
- Headstrong, intelligent, full of energy, has a quick mind, and dynamic.
- Since the Moon is placed in the 11th House of Community and Social Networks, their focus in life will likely revolve around public spaces.
- Since the ruler of Aries is Mars, and Mars is placed in the 2nd House of Values and Speech and also rules over the 6th House of Conflicts and Service, this person will likely be involved in matters of value — such as Law, Policy, Assets etc. and/or things requiring them to use their voice — specifically speech.
- The connection to the 6th House would also indicate an involvement with service and/or conflict resolution focused work.
- Since the Moon is in Ashwini Nakshatra, and Ashwini is ruled by Ketu, the south node of the Moon, this person will likely have a sense of needing to accomplish more through out their life.
If we consider all this together, having Ashwini Moon in the 11th House, could likely be a person who is,
- an advocate for social justice
- who is service oriented
- intelligent, sharp and quick minded
- likely an intellectual
- has a desire for freedom
- has ample energy to work diligently towards their goals
- community builder
- headstrong and courageous
- public speaker
Conclusion
I hope this series is of value to you in understanding yourself and also navigating your inter-personal relationships.
Keep one thing in mind though! Use Astrology only as a tool to make the unconscious conscious, and never as a blue print of your fate!
Use it to foster patterns that need to be fostered in you, and interrupt the ones that do not serve you well in the long run!
