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ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

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#ASHLESHA #NAKSHATRA
#Kundalini #Constellation
Ashlesha Nakshatra
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Ashlesha Nakshatra is the celestial snake constellation.
The #stars in the head of the #Hydra form Ashlesha.
The word Ashlesha is comes from the root Shlesha, which means to #entwine or to wrap around.

This is one of the Nakshatra’s that has a collective as its presiding deities.

Review also the text on the collective deities called the Vishwadeva who dwell upon the Nakshatra of Uttara Ashada. http://healinginthewillows.com/uttara-ashadha

The collective deities of Ashlesha are the #Naaga #serpents. In the course of this text we will be looking at some of the implications of the Naaga serpents.
It is a vast and fascinating subject that we will attempt to look at from the stance of this ritual work.
There are many mythologies of serpents in the Yogic teachings that carry encoded teachings. Consider that Shiva wears the serpent Vasuki around his neck.
Vishnu rests upon the serpent with an infinity of heads who is known as Ananta Shesha.
Ganesh wears the Serpent belt around his thick waist.
Krishna battles with the venomous serpent Kaliya.
Or the serpent.
Buddha was sheltered from the storm for seven days and nights by the Mukhalindh.
These are just a few serpent teaching symbols and stories of Yogic wisdom.
Khodiyar Maa is also a Tantric Goddess connected to the Naaga serpents. You can review a past text about Khodiyar Maa here.
http://healinginthewillows.com/khodiyar-maa

The constellation of Ashlesha Nakshatra brings us the teaching of the etheric serpents that the Yogins call the race of the Naaga.
These serpents relate to the Kundalini serpent of the central spinal channel in a direct and yet subtle way. The Naaga energies are the basis of reality. They are the etheric matter that informs all phenomena from behind the veils of awareness.

How the celestial serpents relate to our experience of the personal Kundalini phenomena will be a study of this nights ritual. The ritual of Naaga Panchami spans India across many thousands of miles, there are many unique and particular regional celebrations and rituals that mark this festival. The sun is in Ashlesha Nakshatra between the 3-16 of August and this is when the ritual of Naaga Panchami takes place. It is ritualised on the 5th lunar night.
Naaga Panchami is a time when snakes are most present and prevalent on earth.
It is a time when the snake constellation of Ashlesha spreads its teaching to us on earth. The 5th lunar day is known as Panchami. It is the Moon phase that is sacred to the Naagas, rather interestingly, Ashlesha consists of 5 stars in the head of the Hydra constellation.
The 5th lunar day is a day of release and reception of lunar and etheric force. Every Panchami is reserved by Tantrics for work with the snake energy. But Naaga Panchami is the main Panchami of snake power in the Tantric calendar.

Celestial Snakes & the Doors of Perception

The Naagas inhabit the deep subterranean realms that are beyond the reach of Moon and sun. Naaga Lokh is the world of the Naaga. It is a place of unparalleled beauty and is described in the Yogic mythologies as the most beautiful paradisal realm where the most splendid jewels and treasures are to be found. The jewels of Naaga Lokh are described as radiating their own light and thus lighting the dark world of the Naaga from within.
How do we respond when we hear of a subterranean realm without light that is inhabited by serpents?

We may make interpretations according to the customs and thought forms assigned to the archetypes of our culture.

This highlighted sentence is central in getting an insight into the energies of Ashlesha. The Naagas are the underlying energy essence of phenomena.
Akash is their element and this is the subtle-most ‘physical’ element. Akash is the etheric element that is described by the Yogins as the subtlest of the 5 elements Pancha Bhoot elements.
Akash gives sense to phenomena at the most fundamental level.
Let us take a practical example of these principles that so easily can start to sound like mere wordy metaphysics:

Maybe we are blessed enough and used to living in a fine house with fresh running water. Perhaps we have a soda-stream machine that gives us access to refreshing sparkling water. Perhaps we even have a refrigerator to tune the water to our exact preferred temperature.
Now, if we were to pass a puddle of muddy water in the street, we would not think much of it, and would most probably seek to avoid stepping into it.
But the self-same puddle of dirty water would be a prize for someone else.
We all know that there are parts of the world where drinking water in very scarce. For someone living in such a situation, the dirty puddle water becomes highly precious. It is still the same puddle, but it has a different value put upon it that is relative to the situation.
In the same way, for some, a snake is a terrible creature denoting sin and the very opposite of spirituality, to others it is a sacred creature.
Some view the regions below the earth as infernal pits of damnation, but for some, they are regions of beauty and paradise.

It is the thought form that is assigned to the symbol, that creates the symbol.

A muddy puddle can verily be a source of life, or a thing of disgust. The same with a snake, which can be a divinity or a devil, or the underworld can be beautiful or ugly, horror or wonder!
The energy that we assign to phenomena is not in the thing itself, but in us.
The Tantric’s call this underlying force the Akash element that informs all phenomena and creates phenomena to be what we turn it into.
The snake is either a devil or a divinity depending upon the underlying Akash element that we shape in the furnace of the soul. We can think of ourselves as a blacksmith that is ever shaping and creating reality.
Knowing that we are giving meaning to everything around us, does not offer us any solutions to extricate ourselves from the meanings we assign to phenomena.
We might be disgusted by the same thing that someone else is inspired by, but the energy that assigns disgust or inspiration to phenomena is in the realm of the deep unconscious.
It is in the realm of the Naagas, in a realm of no external light, but a realm with internal light that creates from the inside out. Remember that Naaga Lokh has only internal light that emanates from its jewels. We could liken Naaga Lokh to the unconscious underworld workshop of the blacksmith soul that fashions reality based upon unconscious impulses.
The Tantric works with the Akashic element that is ever creating reality and assigning meanings to things.

What happens when we un-invest the energy of meaning from phenomena?

What happens when we relinquish our thought forms and see reality without the coloured lenses of the unconscious world?

Here written in his own hand, the 19th century English mystic William Blake encapsulated this in a few verses thus:

When we travel to the underworld of Akash that is deep within the caverns of creation in our soul, we encounter the Astral serpents that live in our soul.
The Naaga Akash beings are like astral energies that whisper with lisps, slivering deeply, silvery and silently behind the lens of our life experience.
The realm of the Naaga is created by our personal Karmic impressions. Things such as cultural, religious and ancestral energies, travel deeply into the underworld and live in the unseen.
Such things enter invisibly into the hidden realm because they are so fundamental to the fabric of our being. Cultural, religious, ancestral and gender energies are often part of the consensual reality that we are woven and intertwined with. But it is a question of relativity of notion, that is nourished by focused attention with no actual basis in naked reality.
The established codes of culture and civilisation might even run contrary to nature?
The Tantric does attempt to move into the naked reality, while acknowledging and moving within the consensual streams of realty that prevail in the life they live move and have their being within.

The 19th century French Occultist Eliphas Levi had popularised the principle of the Astral light. This is worth mention here because it has parallels to the Subject of the Naagas element of Akash.
The Astral light is a term that Levi much popularised in the area of occultism. The Astral light is a neutral substance that pervades and underlies all phenomena. Levi’s system of occultism worked very much with imbuing the astral light with one’s intention through working with one’s Will and Imagination.
Tantrics recognise this absorptive quality of the etheric substance to take on the character that we impress upon it. Though we often impress upon the Astral light or Akash element in an unconscious way, it is possible to effect the phenomena of our lives by wilfully manipulating the underlying energy behind manifest phenomena.

The Tantric branches that deal with healing, seek not so much to imbue the Akash element with one’s will, as they do to un-imbue or un-invest it from the energy of will and imagination.
Tantra covers a broad spectrum and scale of practices and practitioners, a practitioner of Tantra can be a magician or a healer, or both.
In the healing arts of Tantra, the practitioner attempts the healing of the vision through approaching the pure perception that was so beautifully versed by William Blake in the quote above.

Rather interestingly, Levi called the Astral light the great Serpent. He described the astral light as being a serpent like receptacle that is open to receive and reflect back all the deviations and pollutions of consciousness.
He describes the Astral light to originally consist of pure energy which can take in all manner of spiritual pollution and distortion of reality, ranging from a slight blemish upon the face of reality to downright toxicity. Once invested of inceptions and deviations from pure awareness, the astral light has the ability to bite back like a serpent and cause spiritual and physical suffering. Levi described the astral light as being a mirror of our consciousness that connects our inner reality to the pure energetic essence. The scale of deviation from the essence reality is vast. Levi said it gives us back what we put into it.
Levi also hinted that the astral light takes on collective energies and creates a mass-consensual-reality that reverberates back as psychic and even physical events such as collective waves of consciousness and happenings of collective tragedies such as epidemics.

Without digressing too far off topic, it is worth noting how the Russian Occultist H. P Blavatsky said that the ability to access the universal Akashic Chronicle is dependent upon how good a contact one has with the unembellished form of Astral light. She implies that memory becomes opaque if we do not do the work of purifying the thought forms that live in the personal and collective Astral light with which we are intertwined. The process of extracting ourselves from the thought forms of the astral light is a rather universal theme across the magical systems of many cultures.
Even in the Kabbalah, we see the spiritual map of taking back the symbols and moving towards the pure manifest.
Those who would like to read further into these subjects are recommended to read any of the books by Eliphas Levi, such as A History of Magic, translated by A. E Waite, and Isis Unveiled by H. P Blavatsky.
These books were written a few decades before the close of the 19th century, but they underlie many of the Spiritual notions that have become inherited into the Western spiritual tradition, the ideas presented in these books inform much that came after.

Shedding the Skin

We have looked at the Astral light as an analogy of the Akash element of the Yogins that underlies and informs all phenomena.
Let’s look a bit more into how one would go about the act of freeing oneself from the encasements that wrap themselves around the soul.

Through the course of our souls journey, we develop skins, some of which we shed, some which we keep. Costumes and Uniforms around the soul might be a way to navigate the many terrains of existence, We shift in and out of characters to suit the situations we find ourselves in. Some situations in life are restrictive and some give us the liberty and space to be free.
Perhaps there is a way to gain the inner liberty to shift between forms without feeling the poles of freedom and restraint?
This is a question to ponder.

What would it take to feel unrestricted by situations around us?

Maybe if we are not inwardly restricted, then we wouldn’t feel restricted by ‘outer’ happenings?

To become so predictable as to react to outer situations and phenomena in a clockwork manner, is the very opposite of liberty.
Ashlesha can be translated as the restricter.
This Nakshatra brings us the awareness of what it is that restricts us from without. The gift and awareness of Ashlesha is to find that the outer restricter lives within the Akash element within us.
This Nakshatra presents us with a profound teaching.
Some might never look at the outer as being a reflection of the inner.
The Tantric’s attempt to look.

Shedding the skin like a snake is no easy thing. When a snake sheds its skin, it is in a state of hyper sensitivity and vulnerability. It is even temporarily blind. It is the time when the snake is most exposed and prone to attack. Losing our skins, even the ones that are comfortable and familiar and yet squeeze the life out of us, is to enter into the nakedness and sensitivity of the snake at the time of shedding. This is a lesson that the snake transports to us.
The vulnerable place is a place of power. It is a transitional rite of passage but it’s not only easy sailing and pleasant.
Tantric’s approach the vulnerable place. When the vulnerable place is lost. We become encased. The avoidance of the vulnerable place is not strength, but stiffness.
When we approach the vulnerable place, the body heart and spirit melt.
Stiffness of mind, body and heart mask the wound. The only way to approach the vulnerable place is to have courage.

Kundalini Constellation

Shiva has the Naaga king named Vasuki wrapped around his throat. Shiva is the Yogic god who symbolises among many things the awakened Kundalini.
Kundalini is a heavily loaded word, Kunda is the pot at the base of the spine that houses the coiled Shakti energy,
Kundala is a swinging vibration. When the energy from the pot is freed, it creates a psycho/physical circuit of energy that gives the sensation of a swinging vibration.
Some of the Tantric practices create this sensation rather immediately, this inner swing is visited and gradually cultivated, it can become a perpetual inner motion of Shakti.
Kundala is also the literal word for the earring that Shiva and many Yogins wear.
It is a type of earring that swings side to side when one walks.
To wear the Kundala earrings is a meditation technique in itself that some Tantrics practice.
It involves becoming aware of the swing and sensation in the ear, and meditating thereon.
At advanced levels, the practitioner of the way of the Kundala earring starts to synchronise breath and Mantra with the swings of the Kundala.
The Kundala offers a practice of the utmost awareness.
By becoming acutely aware of our conscious actions, we gain insight into the underlying unconscious elements that inform consciousness.

A particular weight is selected according to the capacity of the practitioner. The piercing of the ear connects with the sexual Nadi (energy channel) and has a subtle effect upon the Sexual Chakra, which in turn affects the Kundalini.

The Jewel of Ashlesha

The Naaga Snakes of Yogic Mythology are said to be the Keepers of the Naagamani. This is a jewel of great healing power. It is said that very old Cobras have this jewel inside them. Some Tantrics believe that it is in the throat Chakra of the snake, while some say it’s in the crown Chakra of the snake. It is said to be a stone with magical healing powers that is very rare to come by. Some have postulated that the jewel is the dried venom glands. Others say that it glows in the dark. Some have taken the jewels to be the innermost power of the Chakras.
In the following section, we will apply a meditation of looking into the Jewels within.

Coiled Force

The Kundalini rises as the Jewels of the Chakras are polished and refined. The polishing of the Chakras is the healing of the Akash element from its inceptions and energy investments.
The Chakras carry skins that are sometimes blocking the opening of the Shakti in the pot. This Shakti in the pot is known as Kundalini.
By looking at our Chakras and studying the psycho/physical energies of these power stations, we get insight into the coverings that might be obscuring the self-illuminating radiance of the Chakric jewels.
Tantric’s speak of the 3 Granthis which are sometimes called the 3 cities, or the 3 jewels. Untwining the Granthis is the un-obscuring of the jewels.

The realm of the lower Chakras, which are linked to the creative force and is called the Brahma Granthi. This is the knot upon the creative force. When untwined, the Kundalini force moves from this point.
The heart region, is the preservational force which is linked to Vishnu and is called the Vishnu Granthi, this is the knot upon the heart. When untwined, it opens the heart.
The throat/head Chakras, which are the realm of Shiva the destroyer. Known as the Rudra Granthi. Its untwining is the destruction of all formulated realities.
Meditate on these 3 areas in your body and spirit.
Look into the 3 jewels by way of contemplation, and ask yourself the following questions by letting your psychic vision unfold the teachings of the 3 jewels.

What is the condition of your base, creative and solar plexus Chakras. How does the jewel of this realm appear?
What is the condition of the Heart Chakra. How does this jewel of the heart realm appear?
What is the condition of the jewels in the realm of Shiva, spanning the throat to the crown Chakra. What does the Jewel that has the power to destroy reality have to tell you?

Snake Bite

The many bites that destiny delivers to us are our lessons.
Some bites can be mild, maybe even pleasurable. Some bites can inflict venom and be paralyzingly painful.
The outer bites might come to us in many forms and mediums. Outer bites become inner bites and cause us to bite back until we have our teeth well sunken into the realm of the Naagas, and be chewing away at a corner of personal reality.
Personal tragedies can be like a sharp bite to the heart. Financial, existential or health struggles can be like gnawing, chewing bites. Accidents and injuries can be like sudden bites.
In this here reflection, identify 3 bites that destiny has delivered to you.

Identify a bite first on the physical level. Perhaps you have a physical symptom or had an accident or operation that causes you discomfort.
Next, identify a bite that destiny delivered to your heart. Maybe a personal loss or any other cause for heartfelt lament.
Identify a Mental bite, meditate deeply on the things that move through your mind. Maybe regular thoughts or phrases, maybe you labour under a conviction that might be causing you suffering. It might not be so easy to separate the mental from the feeling level, but try in your own way to access your mental body and discover your mental bite.
Some bites might be slowly poisoning and venomous, some might be drinking blood quietly in the background unnoticed. When we silence inner and outer happenings by applying contemplation or Tantric practices, we sometimes get an insight into the bites that live behind the surface.
Silence and contemplation has often been a key component in Tantric practice.
Silence and contemplation offers a route to sink behind the surface layers and gain vision of that which lives in the undercurrent of our being.
Sometimes the wish for, and the seeking after many external waves in our lives is an attempt to escape the undercurrents of the soul.
Deep healing of the soul and spiritual empowerment comes from traveling to the undercurrents.

https://healinginthewillows.com/ashlesha-nakshatra/

ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

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“And who by fire, who by water
Who in the sunshine, who in the night time
Who by high ordeal, who by common trial
Who in your merry merry month of May
Who by very slow decay
And who shall I say is calling?“

L. Cohen – Who by Fire

#Krittika #Nakshatra translates as ‘the cutting star’. This Nakshatra spans Aries and Taurus. Its ruling planet is the Sun and its presiding deity is #Agni, the #fire #god.

The #Pleiades is the #star #constellation of this Nakshatra. They are the 7 mother #stars, who as legend tells us, mothered #Kartikaya, the warrior god of Mars who fights and battles to establish cosmic justice.

On the Dark-Moon ritual night of Shuni Jayanti, the Moon will be in the lunar house of Krittika. In the year 2021, Saturn is in a place of power, as he is in his very own of Makar Rashi (Capricorn). The next time he will be there, will be in 12 years hence.

We have a particularly strong planetary focus on this ritual day for the energy of Saturn, Mars and the Sun are at play – in the India astrological wisdom the Sun is considered part of the Navagraha, the nine planets, along with the South and North Nodes of the Moon.

These 3 planets are the hard teachers that carry the heaviest and most valuable lessons to us.

Furthermore, we have Surya Grahn – the Solar Eclipse.

The Shadow entity Rahu is in force at the solar eclipse. Ketu also aligns to the dark Moon time of opening the door to ancestral forces.

To say that
this is an extremely potent
ritual day
would be an understatement.

At such potent energy junctions the ancient Yogins have advised to take advantage of the portal to the depths of the self that is offered.

Fasting and staying indoors is prescribed for eclipses by Tantrics.

Saturn is the protector of the feminine. In the stories he burns the sun to blackness in honour of the forces of the Shadow and the feminine. Remember that his beloved is Damini, the mistress of all feminine arts, and another aspect of her is Neela, the sapphire woman who is so close to him, that she lives within him.

Neelam is a Saphire and it is her stone, interestingly, it is said that a Sapphire magnifies the power of Shuni.

This is a Time when the deep-most Saturnian feminine aspects in us are revealed and drawn out by the shadow forces of Rahu and Ketu through Mangala (Mars)

Visually the form of Krittika Nakshatra constellation of Pleiades bears a striking similarity to the 7 stars of the Saptrishi (Big-Dipper). We will look deeper into why this is as this text unfolds.

Legend tells us that the 7 Krittika stars were once the lovers of the 7 Saptrishi stars and dwelt with them in love.

The Saptrishi are described as the 7 wise men. Fiery intrigue ensued when Agni fell wildly in love with the seven Krittika star women. The result of the intrigue was that the Krittika star women became cut off from their former lovers and moved to another portion of the sky.

They retain the similar shape of the constellation but exist light-years-of-love apart from their former loves. They literally are cut off from their past loves. Kritt, contained in the word Krittika, literally means ‘to cut’.

The Krittika are the sharp cutters prone to fiery, sharp, burning and singing extremities of action.

This star constellation brings us the teachings of fire and its wise handling.

THE POWER OF FIRE
Laws of the Flame

Fire requires fuel. Fire extracts the essence from fuel it transforms, while providing heat and light. A good relationship to fire and the laws and principles of fire is needed for psychic and physical health.

The spiritual work with fire, and the study of the principles of fire, is not an intellectual pursuit. It is a deep investigation into the nature of the laws of energy itself.

The forces of Krittika Nakshatra functioning well, in her sevenfold power, makes one powerful and gives the fuel of fire. When we have fire, we can spread it through our lives. The seven stars of the Pleiades relate to the 7 fires in the 7 chakras.

These 7 star women are the 7 Shaktis of each Chakra.

How we handle
the power of fire
is paramount
in both spiritual
and physical life.

THE LAWS OF THE FLAME

Malfunctioning Krittika energy is the opposite of living well. When our relationship to the 7 flames of the Chakra’s is not healthy, then the laws of fire are to be considered. Establishing spiritual rapport with the 7 mother stars of Krittika Nakshatra, gives birth to the corresponding flames in the 7 Chakras.

Upon the Dark Moon that is upon us in the Nakshatra of Krittika, the fires of chakras are called from us to burn in the last dark moon of the waxing half of the year.

When our relationship to Krittika malfunctions, we have that feeling of being burned out, feeling hot and itchy but essentially tired and lacking in power.

We sometimes might see that we switch between these states of healthy fire and burning-out, or sparking-out.

Fire can either make us smooth, warm and enduring, or nervous, restless and rushing – these latter 3 are the quality of a weak connection to the Laws of the Flame.

This is the fighting to stay aglow, reaching hungrily for scraps and twigs to effectively stay aglow.

Which scraps, twigs do you reach for when your fire burns out of hand?
How do you light your fire when it’s burning cool?
How do you cool it when it’s burning hot?

Fire becomes expansive with plenty of fuel behind it. A well-considered rhythmical supply of fuel in backup is part and parcel of keeping the stove going. This applies in a spiritual sense, as much as in a household sense.

We wouldn’t by choice be reckless about a supply of winter firewood, if we lived by the stove. Are we equally as conscientious with the supply of spiritual firewood? Or maybe we believe such things are of little import?

For the Tantric, the spiritual fire is of great importance. The laws and principles of fire are a primary study for the Tantric practitioner.

Knowing all about how to generate power and spiritual propulsion is a question of understanding some obvious but easily denied laws of fire.

Honouring the laws of the flame makes us powerful, effective and royal in all areas.

FLAMES OF DESIRE
Putting out fire with Gasoline

Let us consider the nature of Krittika Nakshatra by looking at its ruling deity who is the fire god Agni.

Agni is the deity of Krittika Nakshatra.

His name means ‘fire’. It also means ‘foremost’. Indeed Agni’s fire plays a foremost part in many Indian rituals and rites of passage. Birth is commemorated by the lighting of lamps. Weddings involve 7 circumambulations around a sacred fire, each circumambulation representing the taste of the flame of each of the seven chakras that Agni tastes with his 7 tongues. It is also Agni who conveys the dead across the sea of life at the time of death, in his presence in the funeral pyre. Indian culture has always burned the dead and never buried them.

Agni has 7 tongues of flame and has a voracious appetite for experience.

The scriptural stories often tell how he suffered indigestion because of his over consuming habits. He rules the digestive fire.

Agni’s appetite for everything is vast. A single woman was not enough for him. He fell in love with all the 7 Krittika star women (Pleiades) who were already married to the 7 Saptrishi’s (Big Dipper).

Agni is the fire of experience that is drawn to experience and taste all things.

The seven Krittika’s represent the 7 Shaktis of the 7 chakras. Agni has 7 tongues of flame that long to taste in all 7 directions.

One specialism is not enough for him, he longs to taste the essence of life in all its divisions.

Awareness of time, along with the awareness of our capacities within the realm of time is needed if we are to taste far and wide. Without this awareness, indigestion and overstimulation of a psychic nature can occur.

Without the wisdom of timing, and without selecting a well measured and well considered channel for our fire, we can lose the wisdom and geometry of rhythm, and risk scattering and dispersing our energies with little outcome.

Of course, fire does not care to hear this, it couldn’t care less for well proportioned considerations. Fire likes the gear of action. Fire likes to put itself out with only gasoline.

The solar force is disproportionately pronounced in the world culture in which we live. The time we spend in the light and in solar pursuits, usually outmeasures the time given to the cooling night forces.

An extended period of light through electrical means, overstimulates the solar plexus and arouses active energy within us.

An over emphasis of fire in our nature, is an imbalance that runs the risk of eclipsing the receptive night forces, this can put us out of touch both physically and spiritually with the nourishing forces of reception and femminity.

The teaching of Agni is to balance the feminine and the masculine energies. Although Agni is often described as being male, he has androgynous qualities, as we shall soon see.

GETTING HOT
The Cooling Night Forces

The heat and burn of fire is attractive and stimulating, but too much fire spread too far and wide creates superficiality. When the soul is drawn into the realms of superficiality it seeks ever more fire and experience to fill its empty gaping pit of hunger.

Seeking action and life experience might easily become a motto for the experience-hungry-fire that, in actuality, is not really driven by wanderlust, but rather by its own emptiness.

Heating fires abound on all sides. Coffee is served on every corner and sugar saturates the modern diet and creates unnatural fire in the system.

Music to stimulate the life rhythms is hard to escape in the metropolis.

Even fast-track spirituality is available in sensationally effective courses, with abundance of exotic plants offering quick realisation in the spiritual market place.

At the extreme end of fire we have chemical intoxicants and substances that stimulate the senses and give the illusion of equipping one for life when, in fact, the effects are rather different and, in some people, turn them into a frantic aggressive person.

The same could be said in some measure, of all the above listed things that feed the flames of an unnaturally inclined solar-dominant word-culture.

The price of all these fast measures, cited above, is quite high upon the heart, body and soul. Hot and fast seems to be the motto of modernity. But Tantric’s seem to attempt to gain admittance to the sometimes forgotten realms of coolness and slowness.

Solar, active, sunny, bright and fiery are considered powerful words, but their opposite lunar, moony, passive and dark, are all too often designations of insanity, weakness and badness. It does well to ponder the reason why the womb-deep, feminine, cooling, nourishing-night-forces are given such a bad wrap.

A look at the way that the most ancient art and science of childbirth is handled in the modern era will reveal much.

LESSONS OF THE STAR MOTHERS
The Cooling Night Forces

The lesson of Krittika is to be cautious not to lose oneself in the pursuit of wanting to experience life.

To know the right measure of a thing is Wisdom. This would be the fitting axiom for this Star lesson.

Restraint and suppression of desire is not necessarily what is meant here. Rather, harnessing the fire of desire and pausing to get the insight into the nature of fire. Fire spreads and consumes. The lesson of fire is how can it burn freely without becoming destructive?

It takes insight and forbearance to pause in the midst of heat, to see what is going on. Without the pause, fire can rage and consumes. To work effectively and safely with fire, takes a sober knowledge of one’s capacities and the effect of phenomena upon us.

This sounds like a very simple matter-of-fact level of base reality, and it is, but why does this obvious knowledge of measures and effects and causes evade so many?

Might it be that the over-handling of fire in our lives burns the nerve endings of the spirit unto numbness?

A comfortably numb state of being poses no risk. In such a state, fire can be swallowed in a mindlessly rampant and flaming march through the circus of life.

To handle the forces of our lives,
a sober glimpse of reality is required.

Striving sentiments have no place where reality is concerned. To choose wisely and with insight from the variety of ‘isms’ that are broadly on sale in the pick-and-mix shopping centre of life, is needed in the art of handling fire.

Without sobriety, and the insight into the nature of fire, the indiscriminate mix and pick of fiery ‘isms’ can merely create a reality made-up of masks upon the face of reality.

Fire must be denied in order to know its power. Fasting introverts the physical fire and gives us insights into our fiery power. Fasting from activity has been a favourable past time of Tantrics.

In the suspension of action, we glimpse into the nature of stray sparks that throw us and our true will, along with their fire fly motions.

RIDING THE RAM
Digesting Life’s Experiences

Agni rides upon a ram. His power animal is an indicator of Agni’s active charging power. A ram is a creature that is imbued with a tenacious spirit. The force of the ram burns outwardly in the solar doings that keep us in fiery motion. As we have seen the Tantrics work to discover that the solar force can be introverted with a view to discover the mysteries of the inner spiritual realms.

The golden rams fleece that was dearly sought by Jason and his band of Argonauts in the ancient Greek Odyssey might well represent the secret wisdom of spiritualised fire.

The key to the lessons of the Nakshatras are revealed in their deities, who present an encoded teaching in their being.

Each deity has a Vahaan with them. This is a power animal that represents their essence. By studying and meditating upon the animal connected to the Tantric deities we get further insights. Agni rules the digestive fire and transitions between realms from this solar station.

The ram is a creature with an interesting digestive system. It is well known that they can eat and digest almost anything, including thorns, wood and other normally inedible substances. Rams express a powerful digestive tenacity. They have the ability to swallow large clumps of wood and store them, only to later regurgitate what they ate and chew on it some more, and again sending it back into one of their 4 stomachs. Just like fire that extracts the essence from something, rams are highly refined extractors of essence. This gives them a tenacious enduring spirit.

This holds a lesson for us, if we carefully consider the symbol.

By being very thorough about things and chewing continuously on the phenomena that life feeds us, we generate great power and endurance in ourselves. This is the power that awakens Kundalini and can take us deep into the spiritual realms.

It is known that rams and their relative species can climb to mountainous heights that few can reach.

The secret potential of the ram is to extract the most hidden essence from something. The Ram in us that has not touched its potential might scoff things down and extract nothing nutritious from its existence. Tantrics honour the god of fire by honouring the ram that he rides upon. They honour him by chewing carefully on all experience.

To swallow blindly
is the path
to spiritual indigestion.

Agni is the masculine fire force in its purest form. Agni longs to know the feminine in all her Chakric aspects. He literally burns for the feminine. He can’t help falling in love with the feminine mysteries. The 7 Krittikas are also known as the 7 Matrikas (mothers), which are probably at the root of the word Matriarch.

As already mentioned, they are the Shakti of the seven Chakras. We are dealing with a powerful feminine star constellation that spiritually exerts an impact on the 7 chakras through interacting with the 7 glands of our glandular system.

The 7 Matrikas
can be thought of
as 7 types of desire.

Agni has two heads that point to the dual nature of his being. His nature is fire, and fire has two expressions. One is heat and the other is light.

We see these expressions clearly expressed in fire and in solar force.
His two heads also represent these two aspects of the fiery Manipura Chakra.
Agni is the jewel in this Chakra. Manipura literally means place of the jewel.

He rules over the Manipura Chakra of the Solar Plexus with his dual nature, receiving light nourishment and alchemically turning it into the expression of heat. Agni is a synonym for the digestive fire in which he dwells. The Solar Plexus Chakra receives the light of the Sun and expresses the heat of Mars. This brings us to another fiery deity connected to Agni and the Krittika constellation.

Kartikaya is the active expression of fire. He is the heat of Mars. Kartikaya, or Krittikaya, takes his name from Krittika. They are the mothers who raised him, as we will see in the next section. He is pure hot heat. So hot in fact that even the river Ganges could not hold him.

PEACOCK POWER
Child of the Stars

Kartikeya is the 7 day old child, who was foretold would save the Devas from destruction at the hands of the Asuras. Yes 7 days old, so powerful was he.

The story is complex and comes in several variants. Here we will simplify it to the basics and set aside some of the interesting and numerous details for another place.

The Devic world was under threat and there was no being powerful enough to save them. A child born of Shiva and Shakti would have the necessary power.

Kartikeya has more than one mother. He was born of Shiva and Pharbati’s love after aeons of effort and many celestial interventions. Yet Kartikeya grew in the womb of Agni and was raised by the Krittika star mothers. The root of Kartikeya is Kritt (to cut), he is also called Krittikya. The child of the Krittika.

Agni is usually designated male, but he has a dual nature, symbolised by his two heads. Agni is actually Androgynous and carried Kartikeya in his womb, but the embryo was too hot for him to handle, and it almost finished Agni off.

Agni survived somehow and Kartikeya was raised by the Krittika star mothers.

That the star mothers could handle Kartikeya’s heat is an important point in understanding the true power of Krittika Nakshatra. Kartikeya was multi mothered and multi headed.

With the force of Krittika Nakshatra behind him, no battle was too great for him, even though he was only 7 years old.

Kartikeya was a ferocious force that set the cosmic order back in balance. On his 7th day he fixed things so that the Devas could once again rest from the persecution of the Asuras.

Suffice it to say, he grew to be the Martian Lord of Battle.
He rides on a peacock and burns with the active force of a warrior.

The peacock is the bird with the strongest digestive fire of all birds, able to digest all manner of venomous plants, substances and creatures. The digestive fire of the Peacock is unparalleled. It is a creature of profound beauty, with its mystically feathery blooms. It transforms poison into dazzling geometric beauty. Kartikeya does much the same as his Vahaan (power animal), he turns the force of Mars to establish sacred order. He is a king of strategy and the wise handling of potentially destructive force. There are tales that tell of Kartikeya going astray in his use of force, but he learned to handle it and channel it wisely as he grew.

HORNY OLD GOATS
Fiery Longing

“O, solitude of longing
Where love has been confined
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind.”

L. Cohen – Come Healing

Agni is a sex god-dess, Agni is the mistress of reception of power for the female. But Agni is also the master of the force of ejaculation for the male.

We have seen that Agni’s passion could only be satisfied by 7 lovers. His love endures and charges with the force of his a ram.

Agni yearned for the Krittikas and was in danger of destroying cosmic order, until his longing and passion was remedied by Svaha.

As we have seen, Agni is referred to as a male god, when in fact ‘ he’ exhibits qualities of an androgen. His nature is dual, for he has two heads, he is male and female, he is heat, he is light. He is celestial fire, he is earthly fire.

The child of Shiva was destined to be the only saviour powerful enough to save the Devic realm from the Asuric oppression it was under, and that was leading to its destruction.

Much celestial intervention was carried forward to get Shiva out of his Samhadi (meditational trance) and become interested in anything else.

The story tells that Shiva was so slow and deep in all things, that his love making with Shakti continued for aeons. The Devas were getting so inpatient at suffering the persecution and torment at the hands of the Asuras that, one day, they all gathered together and decided to pay Shiva a visit and tell him to hurry up.

It happened that, in the exact moment that Shiva was about to ejaculate, they stormed their way into his grotto in the mountainous expanse of the Himalayas and caused shock to the Lovers at the very moment of climax. The seed of Shiva was not expelled into the womb of Shakti, but cast upon the walls of the cave.

As Shiva ejaculated all over the cave walls he was in a divine rage for being disturbed at the wrong moment. The Devas looked on in despair, realizing what they had just done.

Shiva’s wrath reached unbeknownst scales of rage and imbued his seed with a fire so hot that it penetrated and melted the mountainous earth.

The seed of Shiva is said to have sunk into the bowels of the earth and created mines of silver and gold.

Shakti was furious at the interruption, and the Devas knew they had really seriously messed up by their inopportune timing.

They begged Shakti to gather the seed into her womb but she was in a rage and refused.

The force of Shiva’s ejaculation was so strong that its fiery expulsion had summoned Agni who had taken a drop of it into his womb. Agni carried the child who became Kartikeya, until the Krittika took over the role of motherhood. Some accounts tell that Shiva’s seed was mixed with Agni’s own seed after his numerous lovings with the numerous forms assumed by the shape-shifting women that was Svaha.

Indra, the king of the Devas, is famous for ever fearing that someone will usurp his throne. When Kartikeya was born, Indra saw that Kartikeya was a force beyond measure and that he might be able to take his throne away.

Indra, we may add, is covered with a 1000 vaginas because of his passion for the feminine. In each Yoni is an eyeball with which the paranoid Indra watches from all directions, in case someone might be able to claim his beloved throne.

And so the Yoni covered lord of the Devas sent the Krittika goddesses to poison the baby Kartikeya. Even though Kartikeya was the one meant to save Indra’s Devic Kingdom. Indra feared the loss of his throne more than the destruction of his kingdom.

It is easy to call the Krittikas a motherly beneficiary force, but they have a fierce side. Many texts and depictions relate them as wild and witchy child-consuming goddesses.

As they went to follow Indra’s orders and destroy Kartikeya, their hearts melted upon seeing the child. Kartikeya overtook their hearts by his Martian power and magnitude and inspired their maternal instincts.

And so they took him as their child and mothered him.

Kartikeya turned out to be a Martian force who was too busy with battle and strategy to be interested in Indra’s throne, so Indra was able to relax and enjoy his Yoni, Soma and legendary romance.

BETWEEN THE STARS & EARTH
Journey Through the Planes

The 7 Mother Stars of the Kritta constellation are in a portion of the astral plane, which gives form to human souls upon their last junction to incarnation upon the earth plane. The Saptrishi constellation of the Big Dipper can be said to give the form to the mental and causal bodies of the soul, whereas the Krittika of the Pleiades, give birth and form to the astral emotional and subtle bodies that more closely connected to the physical plane.

The Mother stars are the last star junction the spirit crosses until it comes to the plane of Bhumi (Earth) where it is physically birthed by the Mother.

The myth shows how the Seven Mother Stars separated from the 7 Rishi Stars. This manoeuvre created a bridge from the spirit realms to the Earth. This happened in a previous Manvantara (inestimably earlier age). This created a linking of the causal/mental plane to the astral/earth orbit, through a bridge like connection from the 7 mothers to their once beloveds – the 7 Rishis.

An autonomy between the astral and the causal is something that is built through the astral thread known as the Antankarana. This thread exists within the spine and is equally a thread that connects the mental/causal plane to the astral, and furthermore to the earth, through the intermediary of the stars we are speaking of.

By bringing the 7 mother elements into balance we bring a balance to the Chakra in the body, astral and mental/causal levels. The seven mothers are important to balance and bring into harmony, if we are to establish connection between the various planes upon which we exist. We can exist in an unconscious way upon some planes until we take birth there. This birth goes through the seven mothers who preside over the astral plane.

The Krittikas are the mothers who from the astral level give form to the 7 physical Dhatus (body constituents) of bone, marrow, muscle, fat, skin, blood, Bindu in the male, or Rajas in the female. The 7 mothers are the essence of astral energies that live behind, and the manifest in the Dhatus that express on the earth plane.

INTRIGUE IN THE STARS
A Time of Cutting

Let me be the only one
To keep you from the cold
Now the floor of heaven’s lain
With stars of brightest gold

A. Lennox – Song for a Vampire

Agni fell intensely in love with the 7 stars of Krittika, known also as the Matrikas. The seven star beauties that Agni longed for were the lovers of the Saptrishis. Sapt means ‘seven’ and Rishi means ‘seer’, they are the 7 star teachers of the Big Dipper star constellation. It was the Saptrishis themselves who summoned Agni by their Tapasya (fiery invocations).

Agni fell profoundly in Love with the 7 star goddesses of Krittika Nakshatra because of their brightness and luminosity. Agni is their opposite. The 7 Matrika star goddess’s represent the cooling creative fire of Tejas, and Agni represents the heating, consuming and destroying fire.

The balance
of these two types of fire
is the way of Tantric Wisdom.

These fires belong together as they balance each other, but at the same time they are opposites that repel and cancel each other out, much the same as the dance between night and day, cold and hot.

Agni became depressed as a result of the star beauties being unavailable. He even resorted to watching them clandestinely through the flames of the hearth. Their cool bluish glow aroused magical wonder in his heart of red flame.

Agni’s Love for seven star beauties of Krittika was so great and so intense, but it was unrealisable because they were already the lovers to the Saptrishi star sages.

Agni could not bear it any longer and he fled in flames from the celestial spheres.

With his heart ablaze he sung his way through the astral realm of the stars in the anguish, desperation and the sorrow of a love that was not to be. One of the names of Agni is Vahani, which means ‘to fly with the wind’.

Agni escaped to the earth plane and became the first fire here. His presence threatened to consume the entire earth.

Meanwhile, up in the world of the Stars, things had gotten barren for the Krittika beloveds of the Saptrishis. The fire had literally gone out without Agni’s presence.

It had been the invocation of Agni by the Tapasya of the Rishis that had kept the flame of love burning strongly. The Rishis became impotent old wise men that the their beloved began to suffer after Agni ran away to the earth plane.

The Saptrishis were now only fit for writing and spreading scriptural knowledge. And so they started to write and edit thoughtful texts for spreading throughout the galaxy. The once hot lovers, who had been aflame with the fires of wisdom, had become a grey ponderous bore.

“A long winter
Along winter
The sun within you,
will turn into a tongue of flame
The kiss you dream of,
will shimmer like the summer rain.“

Tongue of Flame – Transglobal Under

Back on Earth Agni’s sorrowful tears were burning strong as the flames of love burned in his fiery heart. The Goddess Svaha found him weeping fiery tears in a forest made barren by his laments.

Svaha fell in love with Agni for his intensity. Svaha is a goddess who has the ability to shape-shift. When she realised the cause of Agni’s lamentations she changed her form to look just like one of the Krittika star goddesses, and together with Agni she entered into rapturous union. Their love making stayed aflame for aeons, never dwindling. Svaha transformed herself into the other Krittika stars in sequence, and Agni stayed engaged in fiery kisses with his seven tongues for aeons long. One of Agni’s names is Saptajihvi, which means ‘the one with seven tongues of flame’.

Agni was overjoyed as his wildest dreams were realised. His deepest burning wish was being eternally satisfied.

In the end Agni discovered that Svaha was behind the illusion, as she was not able to completely shape-shift into the 7th star beauty known as Arundhati. Arundhati was so devoted to her Saptrishi Lover that the force of her love would not provide sufficient illusionary astral covering to be replicated.

Agni did not revolt and was quite happy with what fate had given him. He loved Svaha for the chemistry that they had together. Svaha was imbued of pure Tejas by the power of her Love for Agni. Agni and Svaha were thereafter always together.

One may note that in many of the fire rituals of India, both Tantric and orthodox, the name Svaha is uttered, as mantras and offerings are given into a ritual fire.

Svaha being the cooling Mantra that cools the hottest element of fire, so that it can be alchemically converted into Tejas, that is, into a psychically workable and handleable form. The story encapsulates this principle in the way that Svaha is able to calm Agni’s fiery tears from becoming all-consuming.

Intrigue ensued when the Saptrishis got word of the escapades of Agni. They didn’t know the full story as they had lost their penetrating insights into matters of the heart. Accusations of infidelity were coldly thrown at their Krittika lovers.

The Rishi’s secretly hoped to rouse Agni once more by their angry displays, but all they succeeded in doing was to distance themselves from their once beloveds.

The Krittika beauties cut away, as the flame of love no longer burned. They travelled to another part of the sky, many light years of love away, leaving the Rishi’s to their books. The Rishi’s didn’t much notice, as without Agni on the scene they were bereft of fire and were only good for the books.

As the cut to their former lovers was made, a bluish cloud of stardust formed and surrounded the Krittika. This sapphire cloud can be seen to this very day. The cutting away, earned them the name Krittika – Kritta, literally meaning ‘to cut’.

And so we see, there was a time when the 7 Krittika beauties and the Saptrishis existed beside each other as Lovers. But that time is no more. However, if one looks closely at the two star constellations, it can be seen that they still have a resemblance to each other. Could this suggest that the form of true love never dies?

https://healinginthewillows.com/?s=krittika+agni

ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

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#Spica, the Bright Beacon of Virgo, is Two #Stars

The star Spica – aka Alpha Virginis – is the brightest #star in the #constellation Virgo the Maiden. From a distance of about 250 light-years, Spica appears to us on Earth as a lone bluish-white star in a quiet region of the sky. But Spica consists of two stars and maybe more. Both stars are larger and hotter than our Sun.

We say that Earth is 1 astronomical unit (aka 1 AU) from our sun. Spica’s two stars are only .12 AU from each other, a small fraction of the Earth-sun distance.

Spica’s two stars are so close, and they orbit so quickly around each other, that their mutual gravity distorts each star into an egg shape. It’s thought that the pointed ends of these egg-shaped stars face each other as they whirl around.

enter image description here

The pair of stars are both dwarfs, brightening near the end of their lifetimes.

Spica is one of the hottest 1st-magnitude stars. The hottest of the pair is 22,400 Kelvin (about 40,000 F or 22,000 C). That’s blistering in contrast to the Sun’s 5,800 Kelvin (about 10,000 F or 5,500 C). This star may someday explode as a supernova.

The light from Spica’s two stars, taken together, is on average more than 12,100 times brighter than our sun’s light. Their estimated diameters are 7.8 and 4 times our sun’s diameter.

How to find Spica

First, look for the Big Dipper in the northern sky. It’s highest in the evening sky in the northern spring and summer. Notice that the Big Dipper has a bowl and a long, curved handle. Follow the arc of the Dipper’s handle outward, away from the Dipper’s bowl. The first bright star you come to is orange Arcturus. Then "drive a spike" (or "speed on") along this curving path. And the next bright star you come to is Spica.

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ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

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#Nakshatras have a unique significance in #Vedicastrology despite being well known as a small #constellation of #stars. Predictions are made using the constellations. Aside from that, the term “constellation” appears in #ancient astrology. #Mool #Nakshatra is related to the end of life and is considered a harbinger of fresh beginnings. It is sometimes referred to as the root or the base. As we all know, no plant can survive without a root, and every event in the world is linked to something.

a glimpse of moola nakshatra
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Moola (Mool) #Mula Nakshatra is the 19th nakshatra or lunar mansion out of the 27 nakshatras, and it is located in #Sagittarius from 0°00 to 13°20′ degrees. ‘Mula’ means #root, and its symbol is a cluster of #roots joined together. The #Goddess of Destruction, Goddess Maha #Kali, rules the Mool Nakshatra.

Moola Nakshatras Padas

The Mool Nakshatra Mool Nakshatra’s first Pada falls in Aries Navamsa, which is controlled by Mars. It is related to all kinds of physical and spiritual activity, and the person makes swift decisions depending on his or her evolutionary level.

In Vrishabha (Taurus) Navamsha, Venus rules the second pada of Mool Nakshatra. The study of the occult sciences is the focus here. The native will strive very hard to achieve all of his/her goals at the material level. There is an ongoing conflict between consumerism and spirituality.

The third pada of Mool Nakshatra falls in Gemini Navamsa, which is ruled by Mercury. The inhabitants here are skilled at word playing, which aids them in tremendous communication; they influence people by creating logical reasoning.

Mool Nakshatra’s fourth pada occurs in the Cancer Navamsa, which is controlled by the Moon. The natives are generous and sentimental people who practice their religion sincerely. The focus here is on the constant struggle to connect emotionally with the people around him or her.

Moola’s basic or foundational meaning is “root.” Just as no plant can thrive without its roots, every event or occurrence in the universe has some underlying causes. In this way, the Moola nakshatra has a strong affinity for the pursuit of knowledge and understanding. Similarly, this nakshatra reveals aspects of one’s life that are buried under the surface, like the roots of plants. Because of this, Moola nakshatra is associated with the end of life or events and the commencement of a new beginning.

When it comes to the Mool Nakshatra, the inhabitants are generally blessed with both spiritual and material success. But they’re a little unsure of themselves, and that’s because of the constellation’s twofold symbol. A hallmark of these natives is their tendency to alternate between following a spiritual path and a purely materialistic one, which is rare for someone of their culture. As a rule, they appear to be carefree and unconcerned about the future. Most of the time, they put their faith in God and focus on the here and now, doing their best in whatever they do. Positivity and a firm belief in one’s ability to succeed are two of their most important character traits.

Among their favorable characteristics include hard work, commitment or determination, and the ability of their intelligence to come up with new ideas that lead to success. They have a natural tendency to be optimistic and, as a result, can often pull themselves out of tough corners.

The natives have a darker side that may be revealed unexpectedly in certain situations. They are normally peaceful, but one of their negative characteristics is their occasional rage when aroused. Females born under the Moola nakshatra can be headstrong and stubborn. They have the negative trait of not knowing how to cope with things, which frequently leads to issues.

Moola Nakshatra Career Options

Because the natives are skilled in multiple fields, they change professions frequently and have diverse career interests. They are capable of giving sound religious and financial counseling. It is recommended that they follow their career goals, which could be self-employment or employment, in a foreign land where they have a higher chance of success than in their original land.

Moola Nakshatra compatibility and incompatibility

The constellations compatible with the natives are Hasta(Buffalo f), Shravan(monkey), Revati(elephant), and Pushya(got) while the constellations of Swati(buffalo m) and Magha(rat m) are considered incompatible.
https://astrokavi.com/2022/05/31/mool-nakshatrathe-end-of-something-and-precursor-to-something-new/

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