“I am the killer of my rivals, unharmed, unhurt like Indra; all these rivals of mine have been placed under my feet.”
अहमस्मि सपत्नहेन्द्र इवारिष्टो अक्षतः । अधः सपत्ना मे पदोरिमे सर्वे अभिष्ठिताः ॥
-RV 10.166.2
Today’s Moon nakshatra, Jyestha (presided over by Indra), holds many secrets about the spiritual role that rivals and competitors play in our lives. As I explore through my videos, individuals who share primary nakshatras (especially Moon nakshatra) project themselves into the same fields/careers & hold shockingly similar and consistent passions & perspectives. One of the strongest indicators of two individuals having the same Moon nakshatra that I’ve become accustomed to seeing in research (and have shared countless examples of in my videos, such as my recent video about the Michelangelo-Da Vinci rivalry) is a notion like this: “____’s work was very similar to the work of _____. However, they held much contempt for one another and publicly spoke negatively of one another throughout their lives.” Notice the sentence begins with a neutral third party observer objectively linking the individuals, and then stating that they hyper-fixated on criticizing one another. You and many others were born under the same Moon nakshatra and drink from the milky truths of the same sky-bosom. In this way, cosmic “sibling rivalry” is incredibly real. You and these siblings congregate on & build shared realms on Earth and struggle there for recognition and resources. The lion does not compete with the shark, and in that way the natives of one nakshatra compete in the sea, and the natives of another nakshatra in the jungle, and rarely do they cross paths.
Plato mused on this concept with his idea of Eidos, perfect forms. Each thing on Earth has a corresponding Eidos, a perfected form essence of which that thing resembles or is a copy of. Jung then developed this further into his theory of archetypes (a word which translates to “first-stamp” or “first-type”), patterns we all carry within us and play out. Just as unique and specific archetypes are channeled through lives and art of a Nakshatra, we feel uncomfortable similarity with those around us emanating from the same cosmic center & who remind us of our own cosmic origins. To truly hate someone, you have to see so much of yourself unconsciously in them that you feel their very existence threatens your relevancy, uniqueness, or survival. It will sometimes feel like they stole your words from your mouth before you said them, or stole your vague ideas from your head before you launched them. Frantically desiring to differentiate yourself, you crave energetic division from them— to feel freed from their shadow upon you.
Many thinkers throughout history have noticed the way that our enemies increase as our success increases. In phase 1 of individuation, we are not aligned with any type of genuine self-expression, so we will feel we “have no enemies.” We aren’t even on our nakshatra’s Earthly battlefield at that point, but far on the sidelines. In phase 2, with some level of self-discovery & fueled with excitement and a burst of passion, we enter the battlefield. Striving to express ourselves and make a unique impact, we rudely awaken to our cosmic siblings, like different distorted mirrors of our own reflection, doing the same. Here, many people can be trapped indefinitely, draining their energy on competing with those who agitate them, charged up with anger or fear. So, as astrological examples objectively and undoubtedly show, enemies rely on similarly. While love, union, & sex is fueled by polarity through opposition and divine differences, rivalry is emphasized by uncomfortable similarity. Similarity is the required foundation for competitiveness.
This is where Jyestha comes in, the nakshatra renowned for its ability to overcome enemies & protect you from the horror of being placed underneath them. This nakshatra is correlated to the Goddess Dhumavati (also called Jyestha/Alakshmi). Dhumavati, the lonesome widow, dwells in solitude. In the form of superiority, she grants that deep division that hatred makes you crave. Through making you stronger and removing your weaknesses, the result after her separation leaves you victorious and “on top”, rather than the other way around (which is always a possibility if you do not contend with these inner and outer weaknesses). She heals Ketu with the Rahu bija, as she has the Shakti of uniqueness. She rules over Vidvesana karma, “separation” magic.
Phase 3 is a stage of division & total independence, of digging so deeply within yourself (instead of being distracted by cosmic siblings) to where you excavate into the cavernous sparkling secrets very few, if any, of your siblings are accessing. You get a glimpse of that perfect form from which you are an emanation, and sculpt yourself closer in its image. You ignore the imperfect and muddled versions on Earth rather than slandering, obsessing over, or imitating them in all the chaos, as other active “siblings” do. You devotedly hyper-fixate instead on developing the skills or knowledge required for manifesting the perfection that is waiting to be expressed. Naturally, then, enemies begin to fall away due to the way you dissolve your sympathy and similarity with them and become unreachable— you move closer to the “Mother”. You create a huge crevice between yourself and others, which comes from working deeply alone and removing all other influences or distractions. Jyestha grants royalty; that doesn’t mean through struggling on the common-ground battlefield, but ruling uncontested over one’s own domain & kingdom. Dhumavati makes one so distinguished, idiosyncratic, alien, & advanced that no one can compete.
The mysteries of this manifest in Shatabhisha, the height of Rahu and the nakshatra that Jnanarnava Tantra attributes to Vidvesana karma. Shatabhisha fixates on innovation, meaning breaking into and ruling over brand new territory. The themes exhibit strongly in Jyestha, which (with confidence and a natural sense of superiority over anyone else that leads to a natural tendency to be undistracted) builds inimitable skills with time, effort, and discipline. In this way, one projects their vision & attention higher or further than the level of the battlefield. With one's attention gripped so securely and for so long by that goal which is higher than them (rather than that which is at their level), the next time they take a moment to look down, they will realize their rivals are now placed under their feet.
