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Chandra (Moon): I pay respects to Chandra, whose complexion is likened to pearls, conch and curds. Born to Atri and Anasuyā, he is the king of stars (Nakshatras) and medicine, granting wealth and prosperity to those who make offerings to him.

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CHANDRA (Moon)

Śrī Laṅkān Sadu Chandra Navagraha Yantra deemed effective for the propitiation of Moon, warding off negative graha aspects, removing fear from the mind and grief from the heart. This yantra appeases the Moon god, granting longevity, health and wisdom. Its use protects one’s home, happiness and heart. Sadu Chandra Navagraha Yantra brings fame, beauty and wisdom to its wearer.

The Moon is phlegmatic and windy in constitution and is given to rambling, his speech is soft. He has fine eyes and limbs that are firm and exceedingly lovely. He is always sensible, discriminating and of slim (yet rounded) of figure.

Jātaka Pārijāta by Vaidyanātha Dīkṣita

Chandra is considered the queen of the grahas, beautiful and feminine. Sattwika in guna, her taste is salty, her caste Vaiśya.1 The complexion of the Moon is tawny, her dosha Kapha. Her element is water. Chandra is often depicted dressed in finely embroidered white silk. She has a magisterial manner, but one softened by emotive caring tendencies. The effects of the Moon mature in the 24th year of life, when strong Moon indicates clear thinking and emotional maturity, abundant blood, clear complexion and untrammelled vision. The Moon is representative of mind, that is, the apprehender of the senses. It is said that Brahmā Prajāpati crowned the Moon both lord of the lunar constellations and master of all medicinal (herbal) arts.

A powerful Moon lifts one toward poignant social interaction, perhaps bringing fame or at the very least a deep respect for their level of expertise. The Moon is considered representative of Chitta2 (consciousness); she reveals our ability to digest impressions, emotions and thoughts. Moon is also representative of the digestive system, primarily the stomach, mucosa and gastric juices. The Moon gains strength in Earth signs and is exalted in Taurus (specifically 3°); she is equally debilitated at the same degree in Scorpio. Moon is comforted by the gemstones pearl and moonstone, her metal is silver. Moon is said to prosper in the fourth house of the home; she also rules Muhūrta (increments of forty-eight minutes).

Chandra rides in a three-wheeled chariot, each wheel born of one hundred red spokes. Ten white horses bear her across the heavens, racing with the speed of the mind. When transiting the heavens she emits a whitish ray that falls upon the Earth and ocean3 as a light dew. Both Deva and Pitris alike were known to accompany the Moon. In her masculine personification, Moon fell nightly into the embraces of ‘his’ twenty-seven lunar brides or Nakshatras (see Chapter 25).

Jyotish regards the Moon as ‘special’; its relatively swift motion not only marks the passage of time and season, but was deeply interconnected to Vedic rituals and the performance of magic. As Sûrya is lord of the (solar) zodiac, so Moon reins supreme over the lunar zodiac, better known as Nakshatras.

Somewhat overpowered by Sûrya’s intensity, she receives nourishment from the great luminary via sushumna, the name of the Sun’s rays emitted during her opposition. During her subsequent waning period both Deva and Pitris feed hungrily upon her transmuted nectar called soma, accumulated during her waxing.

Note: When viewed from a locale close to the Earth’s equator our Moon seems to ride upon its back, passing almost directly overhead. From this vantage point its ‘seas’ or ‘maria’ appear akin to that of a hare,4 birthing a host of legends tying the exploits of such an animal to the god of the Moon. Shifting geographically northward, observers tend to envision apophenic markings upon the same lunar surface, birthing a host of ‘Man in the Moon’ legends.

Favourable Chandra: Rejuvenates the body and nourishes the vital organs and tissues. Moon helps in retaining moisture/integrity through aqueous/synovial fluids, salts and secretions. One may see an increase in personal wealth through the trading of fine silks, silver, pearls, ghee, milk, cattle, rice, herbs and cooling spices. A comfortably placed Moon in the horoscope incurs favour from the goddess Pārvatī (Śiva’s consort), Durga and Apas (see Section 27.2).

Unfavourable Chandra: One may be forced to suffer at the hands of a cruel mother, or seek to project sickness upon one’s mother. One may incur the anger of powerful feminine figures (such as queens), enmities from relatives or immediate family. One may undergo mental anguish, emotional turmoil, excess blood toxins or reduced longevity by association with women of ill repute.

Bala (strength): Chandra is considered well disposed if the following are applicable: falling on his own day (Monday) or in the 4th house, occupying Cancer in Hora, Drekkana or Navamsha Vargas or exalted in Taurus. Moon gains strength during Dakshināyana, periods of darkness (night time), toward the close of Rashis, when aspected/conjunct by a benefic graha.

Undertakings on Monday: Sacrificial offerings on Mondays were considered fruitful/auspicious for those wishing to receive benefit from Chandra. These acts or undertakings include: the attainment of pearls, mother of pearl, conch, moonstone, ornaments, lotus flowers, moon-water, milk to aid in the manufacture of soothing (rejuvenating) medicines or those which reduce phlegm (Kapha), wearing of new clothes, perfumes, the arrangement of flowers, bathing, fertility of lands, horned cattle and excellence in all manner of agricultural pursuits.

Alternative names for Chandra
Soma	Rasāyana drug/elixir of youth and immortality
Indu	Changing reflection and cooling effects
Vidhu	Strong, intelligent and wise
Himanshu	One who is filled with or reflects cooling white energy
Anushnagu	Absence of heat, that which transforms hot into cold
Nakshatra-nâtha	Lord of Nakshatras
Niśeśa	Lord of the night
Śítáṁśu	Of cooling rays
Oshadhi-pati	Lord of herbs and healing
Śiva-sekhara	Adorning the forehead of Lord Śiva
Sasī	Marked like a hare

4.1 ASTRONOMICAL

Second only to the Sun, our Moon is the nearest and brightest object in the sky. Moody and enigmatic, it slowly rotates and librates5 through its various phases over the lunar month, showing but one face to Earth’s inhabitants. The length (or period) of a lunar cycle may be determined both sidereally (fixed star to fixed star) = 27.32 days or synodically (full Moon to full Moon) = 29.53 days. Moving about us in an elliptical orbit, less than 238,000 miles distant, its daily momentum is some fourteen times greater than that of Earth. For every twelve months spent by Earth orbiting the Sun, our Moon makes an additional thirteenth revolution about us – travelling at speeds in excess of 2200 miles per hour. Being almost one-third of the Earth’s mass, its relationship to its primary is unique.

As with the Sun, the ancients witnessed the Moon’s power over vegetation, fertility and agriculture. Its cooling rays were deemed equal to those of its fiery consort. When first imaged via telescope, astronomers likened its highlands to the Alpine regions. Its plains were thought to be littered with great rivers and lakes. In truth the Moon is largely a rocky body (not unlike Mercury) with radically different hemispheres. Earth-side, the Moon is awash with large basalt basins, undulating hills and pockmarked craters. Its so-called dark-side consists largely of heavily cratered highlands broken only by a few small maria (seas). Being our nearest and dearest celestial overseer, it has been gazed upon intently for millennia. The celebrated astronomer Johann Hieronymus Schröter (1745–1816) once conjectured the existence of a great city on her east side, just north of the equator, with fields of vegetation and extensive canal networks!

4.2 PRIMARY KĀRAKAS OF THE MOON

Primary Kārakas

Mother, women, mind, femininity, fertility, longevity, intelligence, infancy, nursing, convalescence, herbal medicines, eating, memory retention, fickle-mindedness, the colour white, silver, bronze, crystals, beads, glass, moonstone, pearls, contentment, salt, honey, curd, milk, ghee, sweet fruits, sticky substances, plants residing in water, oily plants, creepers and vines, sense of humour, personality, sattvic temperament, fame, beauty, romance, strength during the night, north-west direction, fair-faced, softness, radiance, immoral pleasures, inventive minds, lethargy, laziness, the senses, rain, oceans, new clothes, fine clothes, Mondays, wealth, affluence, sleep, happiness, midnight, liquids, fish, fermented foods, Cancer (sign), the Nakshatras Rohini, Hastā and Śravana, Buddhism, popularity, general public, advertising, comforts, moodiness, fear of death, hypochondria, maternal instincts, healing sanctuaries, welfare, meritorious deeds, looking squarely ahead, a protective canopy, patronage and favours, pale complexion, white umbrellas, scents and fragrances, jasmine, rice, sandalwood, gardenia, lotus and lily, house boats, fair seas, rotting wood, beaches, aquariums, salty foods, monsoon (rainy season), inns, public houses, opium dens, breweries, hospitals, aquatic creatures, born of water, tourism, photography, Durga (goddess), occult studies, pilgrimages, over-expenditure, faith, journeys to distant lands, ten-year dasha period

Physical and Medical Kārakas

Breasts, blood, lungs, chest and respiratory conditions, asthma, lymph, glands, kidneys, uterus, ovaries, bladder, hernia, loss of taste, water retention, diabetes, enlargement of the spleen, jaundice, appendicitis, mouth ulcers, neurological disorders, cancer, memory loss, child-birth, phlegmatic conditions, consumption, stomach, ulcers, left eye,6 lubrication of eyes (tears), lunacy, mental instability, over-acidity, stout build, facial lustre, circulation, injury to shoulders, anaemia

NOTES

1.Merchant caste.

2.Moon legends describe Chandra as being born from the mind of the cosmic Puruṣa.

3.The Moon’s action upon the tide and oceans was noted from great antiquity; the ocean (like the Moon) was considered both feminine and capricious, often referred to as ‘she’.

4.Sasa-Jātaka relates the tale of the selfless hare (in reality an incarnation of the bodhisattva) whose residence at the foot of the mountain was shared by three other friends: an otter, a monkey and a jackal. Noting the current lunar phase, a hare realised that feast-day was almost upon them and reminded his friends to prepare food lest some beggar should come their way. The four set out to find food. The otter, monkey and jackal all procured food with ease; the hare, however, found nothing and resolved to offer up his body if someone should be in need of food. Sakka (lord of heaven) was watching the hare and decided to test him by incarnating as a beggar asking for food. True to his word, the hare leapt into the cooking flames so that the stranger might eat. To his amazement he did not burn but was instead honoured by Sakka, who embracing the mountain squeezed forth its essence and daubed the Moon with an image of the hare.

5.Minor but periodic variations in the Moon’s spin axis.

6.See Sarvarth Chintamani of Vyankatesh Sharma.