Jupiter Transit in Ashwini

Ashwini opens the zodiac at the first degree of Aries. Its deities are the Ashwini Kumaras, physicians to the gods, its symbol is a horse's head, and its lord is Ketu. Aries belongs to Mars, a friend of Jupiter, and Ketu acts like Mars under the rule Kujavat Ketu, so Jupiter enters a friendly sign and a nakshatra that gives it speed.

The stay runs about four to five months, and a retrograde often splits it into two visits. Jupiter's significations move quickly. A teacher appears without being sought, a course of study begins, and a child's health or education takes a sudden turn for the better. The Ashwini Kumaras favour healing, so treatment started now tends to work.

Ketu's haste is the caution. Faith turns impulsive, and money is given or invested before the matter is understood. Jupiter is the karaka of dharma, and Ashwini asks whether one's dharma is chosen or merely rushed into.

Pisces, Sagittarius, Libra, Leo and Gemini Moons and lagnas receive Jupiter in the second, fifth, seventh, ninth and eleventh, Phaladeepika's favourable houses. Aries Moons carry it in the first house, and Phaladeepika reads that as expense and displacement even from a benefic. Taurus, Capricorn, Scorpio, Virgo and Cancer Moons have it in the twelfth, fourth, sixth, eighth and tenth, and should spend carefully.

Ashwini makes visible how a person begins, and whether wisdom can act at once and keep its measure.

Honour the Ashwini Kumaras by giving medicine or caring for someone who is ill. Japa of Om Brihaspataye Namah on Thursday and Parashara's dana of yellow cloth, turmeric or gram steady the graha. Keep the pace of the mind slower than the pace of events, and test the teacher who appears before following them.