Ashwini is the first nakshatra in the Vedic Jyotisha System. It is ruled by Ketu and is placed entirely in the sign of Aries. Aries is the sign of birth and heralds the start of a new life. The ruling planet, Ketu, however, points to the fact that none of us is born with a clean slate. We all carry with us the karmas of our previous incarnations as we come into this world.
The reason for our manifestation is not always to continue on the trajectory that we were on prior to our present incarnation. Sometimes, the reason for our birth is to seek a new path and a new way of existence. How many years lapse between one incarnation to the next? There is no hard and fast rule. It is highly contingent upon whether or not the conditions are ripe for our soul to be able to complete the task that it has been assigned.
Imagine being born to a family who doesn’t want you. That would herald a hard beginning for the soul. Nevertheless, beginnings are not an indicator of a soul’s destination. Birth is only the beginning. It is a starting point. Those with a strong Aries presence in their chart know this intuitively.
Those born under the nakshatra of Ashwini have to be mindful not to get lost in the patterns of prior incarnations. They may have served us well in previous lifetimes, but it will no longer serve us to continue on in that trajectory.
In Revati, the previous and last nakshatra, the decision has been made to embark upon a new way of existence. In Ashwini, we are given the means to embark upon it.
Ashwini Kumaras
The ruling deity of this nakshatra is the Ashwini Kumaras. They are Hindu twin gods associated with medicine, health and the sciences. Science has made numerous advances that has led us to a more wholistic and deeper understanding of life on our humble planet earth.
We now understand that it is the sperm, the male gamete, which decides the gender of the baby that is to be born. We most likely did not possess this knowledge prior to the scientific discovery. History attests to the atrocities that were committed when we did not possess this knowledge.
The Ashwini Kumaras are associated with rescuing humans and giving them the breath of life. They also bring forth the light of the dawn. In rituals, the twin gods are invoked at dawn–the best time for their principal sacrifice. They have a close connection with Usas, the goddess of the dawn.
For those born into this nakshatra, it heralds an age where one may, at some point, come into possession of the knowledge of their prior incarnations–no matter how spaced apart and different they were. Through coming into possession of this knowledge, they are meant to release it so that they may embark on a truly new trajectory, which is the reason for their incarnation.
They are the celestial healers who heal both the mind and the body (the vessel) so that the soul may embark on its mission unhindered by past karma. Sometimes, the soul is forced to remember so that it may finally forget. The soul is forced to face the memories of a multitude of past lives so that it knows truly what it is born to do and achieve in the present moment.
This is not easy and can wreck havoc on the mind. Eventually, however, these old mental scars are healed and the soul becomes like a horse en route to a much-needed new destination.
