The Brightest Star | Chitra

Sun enters Chitra (part 1 of 3) | Coming this week: New Moon (Part 2) + Solar Eclipse (Part 3)

Dear friends,

I’ve been underground these last few weeks and months, getting sorted out about a lot of things, especially about 'place’ in the world through astrocartography studies (locational astrology).

And when it comes to ‘place,’ there is a very specific nakshatra (star cluster) that relates to place and it is named Chitra nakshatra.

Interestingly enough, the Sun moves into Chitra this evening at 10:30pm and will be here for about thirteen days, joining Mars and Ketu (Mars leaves Chitra Friday morning).

Chitra nakshatra is related to Chitta, which is the storehouse of impressions and memories that a soul has accumulated. This is the part of the mind that stays the same and doesn’t change from lifetime to lifetime. I don’t have the time to go into the logistics of mind in this blog post, but what I want to share is that we are always planting seeds through each and every thought, word and action we make. These seeds are sometimes sprouted in this lifetime and more often I would think they are spouted in another lifetime, lying dormant and awaiting the right fertile conditions.

Chitra is the most tamasic nakshatra of all the 27 nakshatras which means it takes a pretty intense desire to push against the heavy nature of habit. Ask any Chitra person about how hard they work to quit smoking cigarettes or other bad habits. Because of the storehouse of past impressions, you might see that the Chitra person has habits that don’t make sense or align with the type of person they project onto the world.

I’m writing this story in several parts as our New Moon and our Solar Eclipse on Saturday will be a part of this Chitra narrative and there is a lot to flesh out and digest as I dive in deeper throughout the week.

Some qualities of Chitra are about place. Chitra, probably because of the access to this vast storehouse of information, knows where things belong. Chitra is associated with the celestial architect Tvashtar.

A key symbol I use for Chitra is a shining diamond, referring to the star Spica that is located in this star cluster, which is said to be among the 15 brightest stars in our sky. A diamond is an amazing symbol for understanding the Chitra life. A diamond is a gemstone of great value, radiating light in all directions through its facets. And a diamond becomes a diamond through years of intense pressure as it once was coal. Using a pearl as a symbol with the grain of sand is an equally valid symbolic understanding.

Directly across from Chitra nakshatra, the most tamasic of the 27, is Revati and Ashwini. Revati is the most even-keeled sattvic of the 27 and Ashwini is the most forward-moving rajasic of the 27. It occurs to me with Chitra and the storehouse of impressions through lifetimes, there is a way for them to recruit help in overcoming this tamasic nature.

And the opposite is true for the Revati and Ashwini people, no matter how much austerity (Revati) and efforts (Ashwini) are made, there are seeds planted that create that tamasic heaviness that will try to stop them.

The question is, really: Is the fruit of what was planted in the past, in alignment with what is awakening in this current life? And if not, how much effort is needed to counter that force? Think of a see-saw.

The shakti or power for Chitra is the power to accumulate good merit! As we work on countering the tamasic forces, we are rewarded with accumulation of good merit for future lives.

This architect energy is compelling us to be conscious co-creators of our reality. We cannot just be a bump on a log and do nothing. We have to put one foot forward and take action… with our words, our thoughts and our bodies. Even when it feels like it is going against our nature (bad habits, smoking cigarettes, etc.).

Just as Chitta/Chitra is close to the lower mind (manas) which is associated with desires - of which controlling them is hard. Chitta/Chitra is equally as close to the higher mind (buddhi) and this shows up as being highly intuitive in nature as it is in very close proximity to the storehouse. When using the higher mind, first thoughts best thoughts are actually untainted, pure intuition that Chitra is learning to access and use for benefit of all.

I’ve written about Chitra before and you can check it out here.

I’ll write about the new moon in Chitra tomorrow or Thursday and then the eclipse. If you have insights or questions, please post in the comments!

If you want to begin the conversation of how you orient to place through your astrology, message me!