Hasta literally translates as Hand.
The #Nakshatra of #Hasta is situated in the #constellation of #Virgo. This Lunar house is concerned with skill, dexterity and balance.
If we look deeper behind the symbolism of Hasta, we see into the nature of the skill that this star imparts to us. The skill of Hasta Nakshatra is concerned with transition and the balancing force of handing one thing over to another.
The ruling planet of Hasta Nakshatra is the Moon and the ruling deity is Savitr the sun god. These are explicitly two opposites. But there is yet another duality that works in unison when we consider the #Sun #god #Savitr.
Savitr is of beautiful golden hands, he hands over the power that enlivens the sun at sunrise.
Savitr is the name that the Yogins give to the sun after sunset and before sunrise… the midnight sun if you will.
Savitr is the one who illuminates and empowers the rising sun from dawn to dusk. At each dawn, Savitr hands over the celestial-stage unto Surya. They can be thought of as twins that bring us the ebb and flow of sunrise and sunset.
The Initiation of Hasta
The theme of halves is a central key to seeing into the nature of Hasta Nakshatra. We have seen already how the ruling deity is Savitr of the illuming force behind the Sun, and we have seen that the ruling Planet of Hasta Nakshatra is the Moon.
These two opposite energies are instrumental in giving Hasta the energy of moving between extremes. The skill that the Hasta star constellation brings us is its ability to see across the whole range of the spectrum, and see into the nature of halves.
Remember that we are dealing here with the star of utmost dexterity.
Speaking of halves, we know that the Moon has two halves, the rising and falling, dark and light halves. Hasta is the hand that can reach to the depths as well as to the pinnacle. Hasta carries the energy of both the Full Moon and the Dark Moon. Hasta is the hand that can expand and dilate. It is the extreme of skill in all directions.
When we peer a little deeper, we see more, indeed, Savitr, the god who dwells in this star constellation, confers vision and insight. He is the enlivening illuminator.
The constellation of Hasta makes us aware of details. Working with Hasta Nakshatra brings to us the vision of the minute things that we might easily overlook.
The smallest details hold the deepest keys, for the smallest details are the things we don’t easily see if we are out of rhythm.
Hasta brings us the fascination and beauty of details, details might be seen as something tedious, boring and unimportant. This attitude towards finery comes when we ourselves have lost touch with nature’s rhythm. The slapdash approach is the path with no heart. If we look closely, we will see that the disregard of details is at the root of all ills.
How to come to the beauty and magic of details becomes the question here?
A thorough examination of things is the key to psychic and spiritual health.
The beauty of awakening Hasta is that we need no special equipment or measures.
We could go so far as to say we require no spiritual practice or intelligently philosophical insight, even no spiritual teaching. Details themselves become the Teacher and the teaching when we align to them.
Hasta is an internal spiritual energy of simply noticing and caring for the details.
Hasta has a secret teaching:
If we address what might seem like insignificant details, the secrets of wisdom open up. It takes power, patience and the acknowledgment of a steady and regular rhythm, to arrive at the wisdom of all wisdom. Hasta is the helping hand to the gateway of wisdom.
Just like the ruling planet of Hasta that is the very epitome of steady rhythm. If we consider the Moon clock as the ancients did, we come to intuition… we come to wisdom.
By simply noticing the movements of Lunar energy and the effect they have upon us, we learn more than any astro texts can ever tell us. When we ignore the law of rhythm, we risk physical and psychic ruin.
The Ancient Yogic science put the Moon in the position of the greatest of all lovers. The Moons beloveds are the 27 star sisters known as the Nakshatra’s. As the Moon moves through the constellations, each are payed a visit under the law of celestial rhythm.
There is a point that is brought out here. The Moon does not alter his speed, but he appears to spend a longer time with the star sister of Rohini Nakshatra, thereby breaking rhythm. Rohini is said to be his favorite star sister who gets an extended stay of attention lavished upon her.
This imbalance evokes controversy, jealousy and scandal with dire consequences to the Moon.
Why the Moon spends more time with Rohini is an eternal mystery that makes no sense when the degrees of distance are the same for all the star sisters, and the lunar speed remains constant. It has been explained by astro physics as something to do with a gravitational incline. Looking deeper into this, with the detail and insight of Hasta, might be a worthy study to undertake.
If we are out of sorts physically or psychically, remedies and practices are certainly good to pursue, but a deeper remedy would be to align to the teaching of steady Moon-like rhythm.
The moon absorbs everything, it misses nothing, it takes in and responds to every single detail. To be like the Moon is a profound teaching that slows us down and aligns us to the rhythm of nature. Anything that goes against nature is sickness.
If we are to open to the Initiation of Hasta, we are brought to question the structures and rhythms of ourselves, and the things that we are aligning to.
Hasta Mudra – Hand Gestures
The hand tells us many things. Maybe the hand tells it all.
Cross my palm with silver!
By observing the way we use the hands and the considering the underlying energy behind their motions, we get many deep insights into our relationship to the energy of Hasta.
The hands can be gracious, generous and open, or conversely they can be knotted, closed and unyielding.
When we hear the word Mudra, we are apt to think of hand gestures. The branch of Mudra that relates to hand gestures is called Hasta Mudra, and involves working with the hands to effect psycho/physical reactions in ourselves.
Sometimes we grip the hands, sometimes we bite the fingernails, or make gestures habitually. By becoming conscious of these sometimes unconscious processes, we can awaken to the unconscious implications behind our doings.
The inner psychic life is reflected in the day to day movements that we make with the hands. The Yogins have found that by consciously observing our hand gestures in each moment, we can gain insight into our soul. By such insights, we may begin to unknot and heal automatic psychic patterns, that are based on response to trauma.
Hand gestures carry immense power. By working with the nerve junctions in the hand, one can awaken many latent areas of the soul.
The ruling deity of Hasta Nakshatra – as we have seen – is Savitr. One of his names is Hiranyahasta, which translates as the golden handed one.
His touch illuminates. He is the base power behind the revealed part of life. His touch causes Surya to become enlivened with the power to enlighten the day.
Working with the hands is a movement towards the base power behind the curtain of the manifest.
The Dark Power Behind the Sun
Savitr is the presiding deity of Hasta Nakshatra. He is described as having beautiful skillful hands that transfer power to the sun at each sunrise. The famous Gayatri Mantra sings his praises. The word Demahi occurs in the Gayatri Mantra and presents a central teaching of Hasta Nakshatra, and is a central principle on the Yogic path. Demahi means to be aware and look deeply at things.
Skill comes from the ability to see deeply. To notice details is too care for depth. To care for depth is wisdom.
We explored the principle of Demahi, in the second section above entitled Hasta Mudra when we considered observing the underlying energy behind the manifest motion of the hands. Demahi is the focus of looking behind deeper beyond the revealed.
Demahi is the penetrative insight that concentrates energy toward looking into the nature of things. Demahi is the honouring of the foundation and base of the manifest. Demahi is to look into the causes and roots of manifest effects and phenomena. Demahi is Savitr.
In the art of awareness, Hasta plays a primary role.
This is the star of revealing. This is the star of vision. This is the star of insight and applied care to the fine details of existence.
The ruling deity Savitr, is the one who enlivens the sun.
Savitr is described often as the sun, and he is, but he is the sun after it sets until sunrise, at dawn Savitr touches Surya and causes him to rise.
Savitr is described as having the golden hand of Hasta, Hiranyahasta. When Savitr touches the sun of the day time who is called Surya, he enlivens him to fulfill his task of revealing and spreading rays of light. Savitr.
Savitr is the birther who gives conscious vision.
In the night, Savitr is with the Moon. The Moon is the ruling planet of Hasta and has an ever changing face. Savitr is devoted to the faces of the Moon, he studies and knows intimately, every single detail of the lunar sway. To fully form a relationship with the energy of Hasta, our vision must be honed to catch the underlying movements and truth’s that surround us. The Moon is a great teacher of rhythm that is ever there to observe and learn from. Savitr is the natural power of awareness that sees and feels all of the Lunar movements. Savitr brings us Demahi.
The Yogins have a detailed system of wisdom that names and honours every face of the Moon. There has endless goddesses and gods that tell the stories of the detailed celestial movements. These celestial movements told in the form of stories and symbols are pointers towards the forms, stories and movements within us.
The celestial outer spheres are directly related to our inner astral body. The Karmas in human astral body are effected and swayed by the astral movements in space.
Yogic ritual is a way to align to these movements. We could say that Yogic ritual involves opening the psychic ear and eye to listen to, and look upon the starry secrets.
And so for the Yogin, the stars and their lessons are not outer abstractions, they are the intimate inner realms of our psyche. Our inner life manifests into our outer life.
What we are seeing and living thorough, is the reflection of an inner psychic configuration, or constellation, if you will.
#Corvus, the #Crow Constellation
Corvus is the star constellation of #HastaNakshatra, it is Latin for Crow.
Let us take a little look at the Crow, considering that in Tantric vision, it is the emissary of Saturn. Corvus means crow and is the Greek name given to the 5 starred constellation of Hasta.
The crow is also the animal of Hasta Nakshatra in the far older Indian system of Astrology.
The Ancient Greek mythology has some relevant parallels with the the Yogic perspective that are worth considering. It was Apollo who in a fit of rage, threw the crow into the sky. He grasped the crow in his hand and flung him into the starry firmament.
The crow was meant to fill a chalice with water for Apollo, but he was delayed because he was tempted by the serpent Hydra to take a break and feast on a fig tree.
When Apollo questioned the crow as to why he was so late, the crow did not reveal the reason. Apollo is a sun god who sees past present and future. And feeling deceived by the crow, he flung him along with the Hydra and Chalice into the stars for eternity. We see the the Hydra, Chalice and Corvus in the picture below.
Take note of the interesting parallel here, that Savitr the Sun god is the god of Hasta, Apollo is also a sun god.
We once again find the symbol of opposites in relation to constellation that we are considering at present. We see that the Greek Apollo is the twin brother of Artemis. His sister is the famously sworn Virgin of the Greek mysteries. Apollo on the other hand is rather a romancer. His passions and romantic conquests with both genders, more than makes up for his twin sisters chastity. The one twin, being sworn to maidenhood, and the other, opening the doors of excess.
Artemis denied the most prized of lovers, while Apollo would cunningly and obsessively keep watch on his love affairs.
The story tells that the Crow was once white. Apollo’s fiery rage turned its feathers black after he had sent the crow to spy on his latest woo.
When Apollo heard that she was getting up to that which he did not want to hear about, his rage found expression against the crow and burned his formerly white feathers to a crisp.
Later in another fit of rage, Apollo was to fling the crow into the stars as the constellation of Corvus. Which as we have seen, is the Hasta Nakshatra of the Yogins.
The 5 stars of Hasta are related to the five fingers. The constellation also resembles the shape of palm. The Hasta constellation is the constellation of meticulous detail and skill.
The hand is the medium through which one touches life.
It of course represents the physical hand, symbolically the hand is here taken to mean the inner sense of skill, dexterity and attention to detail.
The Crow is known for its intelligence and wit. Let us next consider this in story form, in the well known old folktale called of the Crow and the Pitcher.
It is worth a retelling here, as it beautifully highlights some central themes of Hasta.
Story Time
The Crow and the Pitcher
Once upon a time,
on a hot summers day, a thirsty crow was scouring the land for a drink of water.
There was a drought and the river had dried up.
His thrust was torturous, but there was no water to be found anywhere.
His beady black eye caught something glimmering in the distance.
He thought that it must be a little pool of water, and so be dove down at the speed of black lightening to reach it.
He discovered that it was a pitcher of water and not a puddle shimmering in the blazing sunlight.
When the Crow peered inside, he saw that it was more than half full with water that glistened freshly.
The problem was that the neck of the pitcher was too thin for his beak to enter in and drink from it.
He tried to push the pitcher over, but it was too heavy for him to move.
He tried to fly at it full speed in the hope to knock it over and thus get the water to pour out.
He even tried to hurl stones at it, in the hope to smash it.
His efforts came to no effect.
Feeling somewhat defeated and deathly thirsty. He sat down quietly, and pondered ways that he could get a drink out of it.
After a moments meditation, the insight came to him. (Demahi in action)
He started gathering little pebbles that would fit through the narrow neck of the pitcher.
Carefully he put them into the pitcher, one by one by one.
It took a long time and was a work of care and patience. A stone that was too big risked getting stuck and blocking the water in pitcher from ever being reached.
After what seemed like an interminable infinity, the water had risen and the crow happily had a drink.
This story highlights the skill and patience of the hand (or in this case the beak), to accomplish a task. The crow is a very intelligent creature that is placed as the animal of Hasta Nakshatra, for its dexterity and skill of mind.
More than this, for the Tantric, the Crow is a creature that can fly between the worlds of darkness and light.
Notice again, how the opposites are at play again in Hasta, this time in the Crow.
Hasta is ruled by the Moon and is presided over by the deity Savitr, the one who hands the initiating spark to the rising sun. We can see a parallel between hasta and the crow in how the both articulate between the realms of the seen and the unseen.
The Unconscious becoming Conscious
When we start to understand the energy of the star constellations, (or better expressed, stand under starlight), we begin to see the themes that the star constellations represent in all areas of our lives.
Every life situation that we might be involved in, can be thought of as a constellation.
Every level of the psyche, every action and situation can be comprehended as a reflection of an astral energy principle.
Everything from a pleasant stroll in the park on a Saturday afternoon, to a family feud on a Sunday, can be seen as an energy constellation.
If we work and apply ourselves to becoming conscious of underlying causes, we can begin to see the star lessons and their astral teachings reflected in all the scenarios of our lives.
We can see the reflection of the star principles everywhere. They are manifest in thoughts, feelings, behaviors, ambience, music, films, stories, clothing and food, to name but a few places where reflections are manifest.
Things that are unconscious become conscious when pondered with a reference point to the stars and their lessons. For example, if we do a job poorly and have carelessly rushed through it, then we have not aligned to the detail of the energy of Hasta.
By recognising that we in an energy configuration contrary to Hasta, can make us conscious of where we are and what we are doing with our energy.
To learn the wonder and beauty of detail, is to resolve something deep in our soul. If details pass us by, we are out of step with the the potency of our awareness.
A life rhythm that misses details is one that is locked in a destruction hyper-rhythm. Hasta is a study of ‘the art of detailed skill and dexterity’ of both spirit and hand.
Hasta Nakshatra Symbols in a story
Let us take a read of a story with reference to the themes of Hasta Nakshatra. We are going to consider a fairy tale written by Hermann Hesse in 1916.
Firstly, let us consider how the story is full of meticulous details, this is rather typical of Hesse’s style, but in this short story the vast explosion of tiny details are potently compressed. Though it is a short story, it could easily become a book.
Detail and skill is primarily the energy of Hasta, as we have seen in the previous text about Hasta Nakshatra. This story is certainly very skillfully put together. The way the narrative of the many stories within the story are bound together with such dexterity, is very much an example of Hasta Nakshatra in action.
Hasta concerns very much how we apply the effort and skill to get the wish of our destiny.
The story below tells of the old bachelor or who grasps poorly to his half coin. He is a perfect example of the destructive side of Hasta Nakshatra, the bachelor has a closed grip that keeps him in a spirit of inner and outer poverty.
The girl with the elegant hands in the story, is the perfect symbol of the potential of Hasta Nakshatra. She is an independent figure who is diametrically opposite to the bachelor. Children love her, and she weaves together stories and magic for them by the power of her beautiful hands.
Hasta means hand and she is indeed imbued with the full power of the hand. Creating fairytales and spreading joy all around, with little regard for riches or relation. She lives in the power of her destiny.
She is a good figure to compare ourselves too and ask of ourselves… what are we creating and spreading all around?
Do we spread the magic and skill of Hasta?
Or are we caught in cycles of drama and stress?
Sometimes we choose the path of stress and loudness, to escape the deeper lessons and learnings. Some details are only received in the quietude where the dust settles.
The story tells of the musician hidden in his attic with his friend. The creative dexterity to wield a musical instrument is an art of Hasta. It is the refinement of the soul and the hand in a unified marriage. The friend of the musician who listens deeply, is in a realm of appreciation art and finery. We could say that he is an introverted Hasta power, his wish is just to receive the music and let it’s beauty, finery and detail imbue his soul. His love of the art of music is so pronounced, that he wishes to just become a mountain and observe everything. These two together hidden away in the attic, oblivious to the happenings in the town, very well represent the active and receptive sides of Hasta Nakshatra.
The stranger in the story who grants the wishes of destiny, can be seen as the amplifier of power of our efforts. Hasta Nakshatra is the hand of destiny. We do things with the psychic and physical hand. Every step is a step towards our destiny. Sometimes the steps go round and round, sometimes the step is a standstill. What we work for doesn’t always manifest directly. Learning a subject takes time. Sometimes we look into the mirror of destiny and see what we are creating with the energy of the spiritual hand.
Where do we put our focus and our work?
More important, how do we put it?
The hand that puts the food into the mouth is far more important than the content of the spoon.
Even great good actions can be an escape from our destiny. Good actions such as helping are good indeed. But sometimes they can be a side step from our destiny. They can be a way that we avoid to face ourselves. In helping others, it is possible that we can deflect the focus from helping ourselves where we most need it. Hasta is the star of noticing the most subtle details and movements of our spiritual and physical hand. Hasta is the vision to see deep beneath our actions, unto the motivating causes. Good actions for example, can be a way we might habitually take to redeem ourselves of the anguish of an energy configuration of guilt. Hasta brings awareness to look at that which we do and why we do it. Some of the things that we continue to repeat can be addictions. Addictions are not always to unhealthy things like sweets. Addictions can also be to noble behaviors and good actions.
If there is a drive in us, then there is a deep place of investigation waiting for us. Hasta is the energy of finding the details of why we do what we do. We might grow up in a culture that presents having a drive and a passion as a good thing. Hasta is the penetrating energy to question this and other such unquestioned details. When we have not opened to the Hasta energy principle of subtle psychic dexterity of vision, then we never pause to question the motivation of our actions.
Our actions reflect back to us and create the results of our lives. It is of note to consider that in the story that follows below, the wish fulfilling stranger stood before a mirror stand.
Everyone’s destiny was being reflected back in their wishes. Some wanted sausages and they got sausages.
As the wish fulfilling stranger comes to town, he sees every small detail. He sees the hedge that the bachelor had been trimming and how it had started with care and ended in a rush. Such an acute vision as the stranger has, is the perfect principle of Hasta awareness.
This Story that now follows, was written by Hermann Hesse in 1916. It encompasses many themes that are pertinent to understanding Hasta Nakshatra.
Rather, it might be better to say, that this story encompasses many themes that are pertinent to standing under the starry shine of Hasta Nakshatra.
With all the insights we gleaned from the text above, we will now look at Hasta Nakshatra through the context of this following story by Hermann Hesse.
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