5.13: In the Kingdom of Jyotish, Chandra is The Queen. Even though Chandra is depicted as male, the archetype has very feminine qualities. Here, Chandra reflects the light of Surya. Like a Queen who derives her power from the Monarch, the Moon exists only because of the Sun’s light. The moon controls Jala Tattva and it’s watery nature creates an emotional archetype.
The light of the Moon is cool while the Sun is harsh and bright. Yesterday, we brought up ‘separation’ as a keyword for Surya. The heat of Surya makes him a ‘krura graha’ because it’s light and heat that hurts and can never be approached even though the Sun is life giving.
Chandra, on the other hand is nourishing and works on an emotional level. The Moon also waxes and wanes. The Moon is hence responsible for not just emotions, but changing emotions. Chandra’s self aspect is ‘Manas’. In a horoscope, he represents the Mind.
5.14: Anthropomorphizing Chandra: Our Rishis have imagined Chandrama as having a beautiful and charming countenance with large expressive eyes. The hair is soft and curly, a round and shapely body as well as a mellifluous voice. The complexion is dewy and milky white.
Chandra has the ability to reach out to everyone and connect with them. There is a nourishing and nurturing quality. Chandra aims to give peace of mind to the native of the horoscope. Like a mother or like a benevolent Queen who cares for all of her subjects. Chandra has a combination of both Kapha and Vata constitution. Chandra personifies Jala Tattva.
5.15: Chandra is said to possess a fickle or changing nature. Being very emotional and possessing mood swings, the nature of Chandra changes as the moon waxes and wanes.
5.16: Chandra is neither a pure Krura Graha or a pure Soumya Graha. Like Surya, Chandra possesses the ability to act as a benefic, but being only able to reflect the Surya who is the main luminary, the moon in it’s waxing phase is more Soumya/benefic than during it’s waxing phase.
Rather than consider the waxing phase as malefic, it can simply be considered as ‘not benefic’. Chandra is not capable of being cruel or krura. Chandra is the only graha that has no enemies. (With the exception of Rahu and Ketu who are responsible for the eclipses)
Chandra is the karaka of water and hence the tides. He rules over waters, rivers, plants and therefore fertility of our earth that is responsible for the nourishing food grown to sustain all life on earth. Surya is responsible for photosynthesis and Chandra is responsible for water/tides. Together, they nourish Our Bhoomi/Earth who in turn nourishes all living beings.
Being a Saatvic Graha and the Lord of Cancer Rasi, Chandra rules over the 4th house from Lagna in the Kalapurusha’s chart. 4th House is called a Kendra position and is one of the most important houses in the horoscope. It is the place of ‘safety’ for the soul.
If Surya represents soul, Chandra represents the mind. The mind is a reflection of the soul. The soul is taintless and hence so is the mind. The mind can only be tainted by karmic stains. The domain of Chandra, the 4th H..is a place that is inherently stainless and pure. A weak Chandra in the horoscope will show an afflicted 4th H.
5.17: Like Surya, Chandrama can never be retrograde. Retrograde is considered as the slowing down of grahas in the cosmic sky due to various orbits and speeds. If the Sun and the Moon retrogrades, our world will cease to exist. Chandra can NEVER go into retrogression. (We will discuss retrograde of grahas in the upcoming sessions.)
5.18: The Moon can never be combusted by the Sun. When the Sun is in close degrees or even with the Moon, we have our New Moon Day or Amavasya(it is currently Amavasya as I am typing this!)
When the Moon becomes ‘invisible’ because it’s in the same Rasi as the Sun, it simply means that the Moon is unable to reflect the light of the Sun onto our earth and so it appears as a dark moon.
5.19: When Sun and Moon are close/in the same Rasi, this indicates New Moon or Amavasya.
When Sun and Moon are 180 degrees or 7 houses away from each other, this indicates Full Moon.
When Sun-Moon-Rahu are in the same Rasi House, it means that there is a solar eclipse happening. Solar eclipse will always occur on a new moon/Amavasya.
When Sun and Moon are opposite each other in a chart along with Rahu and Ketu, we have a lunar eclipse. It will always happen on a full moon or Poornima.
All eclipses are caused by the chaaya grahas or the shadow planets consisting of the headless Ketu and the bodyless Rahu ‘swallowing’ the luminaries(sun and moon) due to their enemity. Rahu causes Solar eclipses and Ketu causes Lunar eclipses.
5.20: It takes the Moon 28 days to travel the entire zodiac or the 12 Rasi houses. He stays approximately one day in each Rasi House. In our lunisolar calendar/ panchang, a day or tithi is calculated from moon rise to moon set.
From the New Moon(Amavasya) to Full moon(Poornima), there are fourteen tithis to wax/traverse. This is called Shukla Paksha. After the Full Moon(Poornima) night, the wane/disappear to become New Moon(Amavasya) again. These 14 days are called Krishna Paksha. Paksha can be loosely translated as ‘fortnight’. It takes fortnight/2 weeks for a full moon to wane to become a dark moon. And another Paksha or 2 weeks to become full and bright again.
5.21: Moon is exalted in Taurus and debilitated in Scorpio. Moon’s Moolatrikona is Taurus Rasi. He has lordship over the 4th house of the kalapurusha’s chart and Cancer Rasi.
5.22: The Moon’s age of maturity is 24. His direction is North-West. He rules over Monday. His colour is white. His gender archetype is female. He represents mother, all motherly figures. His Ayurvedic dosha is Kapha+Vata. He is associated with watery environments. His Guna is Saatvic and Tattva is Jala.
The Moon is a Vaishya by varnashrama. He has a Chara or moveable nature due to ownership of 4th house in Kalapurusha’s chart. He rules places of water.
5:23: Chandra Key words: Mind, emotions, Queen, Soma, Mother, water, tides, lunatic, nurturing, mood swings, fickle, cheating, gentle, changeable, food, imagination, peace of mind, intuition, psychic, nourishing, herbs, healing, nurses, pleasure, comfort, good food, beautiful, eyes, white, silver, pearl, aquatic creatures, crab, cyclical, pitris, ancestors, child, baby, feminine, round, soft speech, rambling speech, discriminating speech, shapely figure, curves, Vedas, nakshatras, sensible, vaishya, trader, merchant, ponds, rivers, irrigation, perfume, bees, protective, honey.
5:24: In the coming weeks, we will discuss mythology and symbols. We cannot go into more details of strength, aspects etc until we learn about Rasis and Lagnas after this Graha introduction.
Assignment: you already know Gunas, Tattvas and other qualities of Rasis from the past sessions. Take Chandra as the graha passing through all the 12 Rasis and write down how this interaction appears to you.
Example: Moon in Taurus:
Saatva Graha in Rajas Rasi.
Jala Tattva Graha in Prithvi Tattva Rasi.
Female Graha in a Female Rasi.
Chandra is a mixed nature graha that is in a position of exaltation.
Chandra is in an Artha house/Taurus
A Vaishya graha is in a Rasi whose lord is a Brahmin(Taurus is ruled by Venus)
We need more information to make predictions and timing of events, but this is just general information that you just remember and will give some clue about the comfort level of Chandra in Taurus. So based on just what we have covered so far, what is the state of Chandra in Taurus according to you? Please write it down and set it aside.
Now…do this for the remaining 11 Rasi houses too. Even if it’s just a few lines, it’s ok. This will help you revise concepts and be familiar with the energies/qualities of the Grahas/Rasis.
Come up with more key words and keep adding to it. They should be based upon the mythology, symbols and supported by the texts(BPHS, Saravali, Phaladeepika, Uttarakalamrita, Jatakaparijata) BUT NOT from a friend or relative chart you associate with Chandra. That would be working backwards and reverse engineering is not a way to learn Jyotish.
Tomorrow: Graha Basics: Mangala/Mars.