From Ashlesha to Magha

The transition from sidereal Cancer to sidereal Leo, from Ashlesha, the star of serpents, to Magha, the star of ancestors, energetically occurs in the third eye chakra, the seat of the self, where the final knot, rudra granthi, is being untied and the final dissolution of the coverings of our self happens. Here we are confronted with everything that we thought we are, but that turned out to be yet another adaptation borrowed from our environment and shaped by our circumstances, and never really rang true. Here we become aware of all our entanglements that we had mistaken for comfort and that ended up being our shackles.

Transition from Ashlesha to Magha is a movement from the comfort of familiar entanglement towards the dawn of emerging self. The coiled serpent of Ashlesha Nakshatra reminds us of everything that still holds us back and gives us a false promise of safety due to its familiarity. The royal throne of Magha reminds us of the possibility of stepping into our power and aligning with our purpose; with what feels true and ours. It’s also a transition from hiding towards allowing ourselves to take more space and shine our light.

On one side of the threshold lives the familiar wound, the old pain or pattern that is already embodied and already has a defined shape. It feels safer, because it’s familiar and because it lived in your body for years. It’s comfortable not because it feels good, but because your body already knows how to wear it. It’s a familiar terrain that your embodied self already knows how to navigate – even if it’s not always as graceful as it could be.

On the other side of the threshold lives the potential of change and the version of you that is not yet inhabited or embodied. Even if it feels truer and more aligned, it’s initially harder to move towards it, because your body has no record of it yet; it’s an unmapped terrain. The main reason we fail to truly allow change to happen, in most cases, is because we fail to embody that emerging self. The distance between the new self and the lived experience of the old self feels too big. This is when we crawl back into the known entanglement, even if it hurts.

This is the every essence of this gandanta zone. An eternal conflict between the coiled serpent of the earth and the disembodied, emerging self that has a chance to take the royal seat in heavens. This is the place where we learn how to bridge sky and earth, aspiration with embodied experience. This is the place where we learn to honour that both the coiled serpent of the earth and the symbolic disembodied ancestor from other realms have their truth that have to be honoured.

Movement from Ashlesha to Magha, is also movement from hiding towards aligning with our role and taking our responsibility in this world. It’s a movement from entanglement towards greater detachment. It’s a movement from false comfort towards the unknown challenge, which, even though it may feel scary sometimes, it also brings the light of possibility.

Here we are learning how to drop the masks, like the serpent changing its skin, and get closer to our true self, even if it initially hurts; even if it means some parts of us have to go. Rudra granthi represents final dissolution of everything we thought we are; of all the beliefs and thoughts that are not ours anymore. The Goddess resides here in the form of Mahasaraswati, the destroyer of misconceptions and the giver of true wisdom and higher cognition. She fights tirelessly the battle against Shumbha and Nishumbha, two demons representing the qualities of “I” and “mine” – everything we falsely identify ourselves with; everything we try to possess even though it was never ours.

Here, in the heart of the zodiacal third eye chakra, in the transition from the sign of the Moon to the sign of the Sun, we are also learning how to integrate the final polarities. Sun and Moon, pingala and ida, masculine and feminine, mobilised and withdrawn. Here we are learning how to find the balance between vulnerability and power. How to stay sensitive without getting abused. How to stay true to our purpose without getting arrogant. How to balance the light of the Sun and the Moon within us, so that true wisdom, Mahasaraswati, can emerge.