Venus Transit in Ashwini

Ashwini opens the zodiac in Aries, the sign of Mars. Its deities are the Ashwini Kumaras, physicians to the gods, its symbol is a horse's head, and Ketu rules it. Ketu is absent from Parashara's friendship table. Read as Mars under Kujavat Ketu, it stands neutral to Venus, as Mars does.

Venus stays around eleven days. Desire moves quickly and wants an immediate answer: attractions begin at speed, purchases are made on impulse, and a vehicle bought in this window is often chosen in an afternoon. The Ashwini Kumaras favour healing. The transit suits treatment of the body, a course of medicine and care of the skin.

Ashwini is also the first of the gandanta junctions, where Ketu's nakshatra follows Mercury's Revati across the sign boundary. Venus enters from Pisces, its sign of exaltation, and drops into a hotter field, and for a few days comfort gives way to initiative.

From the Moon, Phaladeepika names the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, eighth, ninth, eleventh and twelfth houses as favourable for Venus. Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, Sagittarius, Virgo, Leo, Gemini and Taurus Moons receive Venus in those houses and gain in comfort and affection. Scorpio, Libra and Cancer Moons have Venus in the sixth, seventh and tenth, and should take care in partnership and in spending. The same count is read from the lagna.

The transit shows the speed of a person's wanting. Desire arises fast in Ashwini, and much of it fades within the hour.

Slow the hand. Japa of Om Shukraya Namah on Friday, and white cloth or curd given as dana, keep the transit kind, with a prayer to the Ashwini Kumaras for the health of the body.