[anuradha - of lovers and all things impure] anuradha is the 17th nakshatra, situated in the sidereal sign on scorpio from 3’20” to 16’40”, ruled by saturn and, more specifically, mitra, the god of friendship. the symbol of this nakshatra is the lotus, the yoni is the deer. (18+)

anuradha nakshatra is very tied with human sexuality. a combination of scorpio’s martian qualities of desire and intensity and saturn’s qualities of restrictiveness, this nakshatra is specifically tied in w female sexuality. this is a theme that permeates the whole nakshtra

starting with its yoni animal, the female deer (jyeshta being its male consort). this yoni specifically is often cited as very sought after in terms of purity and devotion. except for when its time to reproduce, female and male deer dont interact with each other,

however, once mating starts, the males do the most to attract the attention of the females (remember, male deer yoni = jyeshta). the doe plays “hard to get”, eventually allowing the buck to reproduce. here, the doe represents sort of the “ideal” wife in terms of submittance and

dedication to her partner. she is innocent, pure, awaiting, always ready. he, on the other hand, is insistent, energetic, reliable. she is the lotus, ready to accept and then purify, while he is the impurities (jyeshta is nirriti - goddess of impurities and filth).

here we sort of start seeing nods to the “divine masculine” and “divine feminine” but so far we’ve only talked about deer reproduction so lets continue.

- the lotus. the lotus is often indicative of the yoni, starting with its shape (beautiful opening with long stem which is not visible to the naked eye) and ending with its function (the taking of impurities and transforming them into purities).

its no coincidence that the lotus is associated with anuradha. the mix of saturn + mars creates the impression of the yoni = inviting if revered, ugly if hated, hugging if adored, cut-throat if ignored. “love’s reward needs arousal to reach climax” (vic dicara’s translation)

is the purpose of this nakshatra. once again, extremely sexual in its nature. anuradha means after radha, it is associated with followers and devotees of all kinds. in modern day media, anuradha women are portrayed as innocent virgins who get “indoctrinated” into the

secrets of sex (dakota johnson as anastasia steele in the 50SoG franchise and phoebe dynevor as daphne bridgerton in bridgerton). both are pure, ready, willing (like all scorpio nakshatras, theres a transformation to b undergone here but more on that another time)

anuradha is the woman always ready, always perfumed and oiled. she is the lotus not yet deflowered, naked in her purity. she is disrobed and ready (mars), but not accepting of all, discriminative, independent in her will to wait (saturn).

The Tantra of Canḍạmahārosạna - “For a woman, the man is a deity;
For a man, the woman is a deity.
They should honor each other
By uniting the vajra and the lotus. “

as previously mentioned, the lotus is anuradha and the female doe. the vajra, ofc, is the weapon of indra, who rules over jyeshta, the male doe. thus, we start seeing indications here of not just union, but tantric union as represented by these 2 nakshatras.

jyeshta is the male consort, impure, ugly, but relentless, insisting, anuradha is the female consort, uncorrupted in her femininity, because she is the lotus, because no matter how much you dirty into her, she remains chaste. from the same tantric text as above -

“One should always eat from her dish of leftovers. One should drink the water with which she washes her mouth and the water with which she washes her lotus.”

these are seen as impure activities, usually shunned outside of the tantric tradition. but She is Anuradha, the Forever Pure, the Forever Lotus - her leftovers are to be eaten, because they are pure by virtue of her being pure.

the water she washes herself with is pure because so is she. He is Jyeshta, Narritti, no impurity is too impure for him, he has seen it all, consumed it all, tried it all.

i said anuradha but i ended up venturing into jyeshta ANYWAY the MAIN inspiration for this was the essays of @OInscendence that i definitely recommend checking out! i end this thread with a poem tweeted by the same acc the DAY i decided on finally uploading my anuradha thread -

“you are the tree of femininity that grows in the dark
needs no sun or water
you the sea princess who has […] slept with all men & slept with no one.” - i have no power by nizar qabbani

she is saturnian, alone in her existence, shrouded with mystery, uninitiated and thus forever waiting, the forever worshipper. one more lyric to meditate upon: “and when her old man comes to call, he finds her waiting like a lonesome queen.”

DISCLAIMER obvs anuradha is not reduced to just this... this is simply a facet of this nakshatra! thanks for reading if u got this far