Shatabhisha: the Matrix, the boundary-sh(m)aker, the Innovator, the high-minded mingling of fine art and refined science

6'40'' to 20'00'' Aquarius. Completely Aquarian, here we meet the height of Rahu, where the focus turns to the maintaining the Collective and curtailing personal power

BEFORE PURVA BHADRAPADA, the DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL, there is SHATABHISHA; the innovative merging of high art with refined sciences

The many people, the circle, the collective, the veiling star, the Hundred Healers, the SkyWatcher. The merging of the self with the group, contained entirely within the rashi of Aquarius, which is the natural eleventh house. Shatabhisha relates to the illusory social laws which subtly govern and guide our communities, our social constructs which seek to keep power dispersed amongst the group so that no one individual can rise up to take it. The demands of this asterism ask for submission from an individual to the group consciousness, for the sake the greater good of the larger collective.

Each member is enlisted with a set of particularised, ephemeral rules which are derived from and co-constitute the form and flavour of the current cultural climate. These rules change constantly. As such, individuals are required to be always updating their beliefs and ways of being (to 'keep up with the Joneses') so as to remain a part of the collective. Denigration of the rules risks alienation or complete isolation from the rest of the collective. These rules are in place to combat social fears, they represent the subconscious yet purposeful repression that form the collective mental unconscious; our fears, dreams and aspirations. Saturn is the ruler of the Aquarian rashi and is often said to be the planet which creates 'the Matrix'; Shatabhisha reflects this rigid structure as a sort of social contract that is upheld by other conscious co-creators, the Collective arises as a shadowy superstructure, a complex gestalt that exists both within and on top of the relationships that exist between other individuals who all comprise the larger group.

Shatabhisha is the eyes and ears of the collective that limits and restricts individuality. Those fully under Shatabhisha's submission are at the mercy of the hivemind. Under this spell, they must always act and speak as a piece of the social structure, they never learn to grapple with themselves in order to come into contact with the true self. These natives can literally be haunted by a feeling of emptiness, always following the rules implicitly provided for them, never understanding why fulfilment remains out of reach.

Under Shatabhisha's shadow, each individual could be lacking integrity internally but is under the illusion of being a positive and productive contributor. Self-controlled and protected within the careful bounds of this highly structured framework, they take their own belonging to the group as a symbol of their good nature. But, what if the values the group asks us to espouse are not actually in cosmic alignment with true, pure goodness? Then, the only ethical part of functioning within the framework is the unthinking obeyance of the rules, regardless of the outcome these rules create. It’s a trick for human nature, a sticky point, a test. To overcome Shatabhisha's trials, one must learn, and then assert, one's own individuality.

In its highest form, Shatabhisha's Matrix need not be overcome. When all leaders are great, when all individuals are well-meaning, when the collective fears are sanguine, when the rules of the group serve to control with the purpose only to genuinely protect (rather than suppress and repress) then the Matrix of Shatabhisha can be nourishing, productive, and normatively desirable. In its highest iteration, individuals are allowed and even encouraged to individuate and can do so within this Matrix, this is because their State in its perfect condition provides a sacred role for them within the given institutional structure. Furthermore, the sacred role given by the institution is in perfect alignment with each individual soul's calling. During these times, probably during the Satya Yuga, Shatabhisha's rigidity is a blessing which serves to extend and sustain such a paradise. It would be the Fall of Purva Bhadrapada, the side which has great capacity for evil, which bends the norms of righteousness to assert individuality and shatter the collective consensus. This utopia may have existed on a large-scale in the past; it cannot be said to exist today.

This is where it gets its healing reputation. Shatabhisha blends the high arts with science. Its sway in a perfect world -- where the rivers run clean, where the Ruler is the most beautiful and righteous woman in the land, the children are nurtured and their mothers are cared for without question, where the tradition of primogeniture has never caused a hiccup, and we function in harmony with nature, -- this is where Shatabhisha can provide epic proportions of cosmic alignment. The high degree of nurture, protection, and benefic control in such a world uses the blending of art and science to produce stunningly gorgeous and effectively magical outcomes. These are worlds of inventive and interactive architecture which use the sun to heat the water the air to cool food, cities which use sound and light to invert gravity and compound energy, where the abundant and nurturing proviso of Nature renders us able to grow organically alongside our own populations. Here, beautiful aesthetics are simply a side-effect of their fruitful functionality, not the surface level be-all and end-all of collective goals. Instead, today, we are happy for our public goods to look hideous so long as we ourselves and the things we possess in private are symmetrical.

Shatabhisha today really doesn't have a lot to do with healing on a societal scale but in an idealised world, healing should be blending art and science. Its actually a fantastic definition for what healing actually is -- the Healer is able to manipulate energy in the body so as to better impact the mind, to twist the fascia into a prettier shape, to grasp the trauma and use vibrance to transform it.

The closest thing we have to this normatively desirable Shatabhishan circle in living memory is the Renaissance, if the wealth was fairly won, or golden-era Athens, if the women were not so stifled. This is the idealised Republic, the city which possesses the resources to properly care for all people and uses them to this end. This highest form of Shatabhisha is the melding of high art with refined sciences, the discovery that seemingly opposite ends of the academic spectrum are able to meet, and perfectly unify. Scientist and Artist alike are valued for their shared capacity to impel the people towards the loftiest deeds and the highest undertakings. In the Satya Yuga this would be a highly dynamic state, the society has enough creative push to continue endlessly creating, innovating, healing, and protecting.

However, in its Fall (where we are now, I think) the artificial control of Shatabhisha is a fairly static state. We do not have the creative resources for such high-minded pursuits and attempting to impel the Shatabhishan Matrix to continue in such a dearth of creativity and absence of feminine expansiveness is akin to asking the society to cannibalise itself, a process we have arguably already begun.

So the rules are shifting tides, but within the rigid structure which encodes all the demands of the cultural climate, the dynamism of Shatabhisha is restricted only to these shifting sociocultural ideals. There is not a lot of movement inherent to the asterism apart from the changing content of the structure, which itself is rigidly superimposed over the collective.

This imprinted superstructure is carried across generations; it is ever-present, even if its content (its laws) may change. This extant-ness, the ever-presence of Shatabhisha's circle, is reflected in two ways: firstly, in the tendency for these natives to innovate: the native makes artistic, scientific contributions which push an existing area of creativity or familiar arena of thought to evolve. They don't create something new per se, but instead contribute an extension to the form or method of an existing high-minded venture, such as new styles in art or fresh mediums for communication. Secondly, this rigid ever-presence is reflected in the native's capacity to leave cryptic traces or reach beyond the grave to send messages for other Shatabhisha aspirants which act as clues to others who are able to continue the Shatabhishan mission, ideally helping them to evolve the contents of the superstructure. Shatabhisha has the power to both create and merge boundaries, it evokes conversations of how best to socially organise, impressing upon us the necessity of social organisation both as a natural status quo that arises out of the regular interplay of human exchange, and as a maxim we ought to strive to constantly improve. Improvement arises when the creative and scientific resources are nurtured, and made able to gracefully unite. This empowers a virtuous cycle of invention and healing to insulate itself through the submission to the rules that Shatabhisha incites each individual to commit themselves to. There is a leader in Shatabhisha, a sort of a village Elder, a Wise One. This is breaker the maker and the merger of boundaries.

In the Matrix of Shatabhisha, there is a degree of separation between public and private; the desire to act on private feelings must be repressed if it is not deemed to be of interest or in alignment with the public collective. Purva Bhadradapa surpasses this.

** SPECIAL THANKS TO CLAIRE NAKTI without whomst I know nothing. All effort has been made to differentiate my language from Claire’s where our ideas have converged, it is never my intention to claim another woman’s work as my own. She’s taught me nearly everything I know. Follow her patreon - https://www.patreon.com/c/clairenakti/posts and look at her YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@ClaireNakti **