The Progressed Yogini Nakshatra

Recently I’ve been doing a bit of reading about Vedic astrology, a subject at which I am an absolute beginner.  I came across an interesting book by V.P. Goel about progressing the Moon’s birth Nakshatra as part of predicting with Yogini Dasas, a type of time-lord system similar to the zodiacal releasing of Vettius Valens.

If I understand Goel correctly, he pairs the Moon’s birth Nakshatra (lunar mansion) with the first Yogini period, the next Nakshatra in numerical order (starting with Aswini as #1) with the second Yogini period and so on around the wheel.  Whenever he gets to the 27th Nakshatra (Revati – paired with Saturn), he moves on to Nakshatra #4 (Rohini – paired with Venus), skipping three Nakshatras (#1,#2,#3) to keep the sequence of Yohinis in the proper order, as can be seen in the list below.

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To see how this works in practice, let’s consider the birth chart of actor River Phoenix (born 23 Aug 1970) who died of a drug overdose at age 23 on 31 October 1993. Here is his chart in the sidereal zodiac with Lahiri ayanamsa.

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At birth his Moon lies in the 8th Whole Sign house in the Nakshatra of Krittika, which in the Yogini system is paired with Saturn and has a duration of 6 years. The Moon is roughly 2/3 of the way through Krittika and will leave that Nakshatra by this progression in June of 1972 (about 22 months after his birth) to enter the following Nakshatra (Rohini), which is paired with Venus and has a duration of 7 years.  The sequence goes as follows:

Krittika – Saturn – about 22 months enters Rohini
Rohini – Venus – 7 years -> age 8 yrs 12 mo enters Mrigasira
Mrigasira – Rahu – 8 years -> age 16 yrs 12 mo enters Ardra
Ardra – Moon – 1 year -> age 17 yrs 12 mo enters Punarvasu
Punarvasu – Sun – 2 years -> age 19 yrs 12 mo enters Pushyami
Pushyami – Jupiter – 3 years -> age 22 yrs 12 months enters Ashlesha
DEATH age 23 yrs 2 months during an Ashlesha – Mars period
Ashlesha – Mars – 4 years -> age 26 yrs 12 months when it progresses into Magha – Mercury (5 years).

It is notable that the actor’s death occured when the Moon’s birth Nakshatra progressed into Ashlesha, thus activating natal Mars, by the Yogini method described by Goel.  The symbol of Ashlesha is a coiled serpent and it is symbolically linked to venom, poisons and drugs.

Natal Mars and the natal MC both lie in Ashlesha in Cancer, ruled by the Moon.  Natal Mars rules both the 2nd and the 7th houses, making it a “maraka” planet capable of indicating death or serious illness.

The astrological aspects in this chart, both Vedic and Western, are also quite revealing.

Here are the Yogini dasas at the time of his demise:

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