Lunar mansions, also known as nakshatras, provide another level of understanding to birth charts in the Vedic sidereal system of astrology. You’re familiar with each planet occupying a constellation (Aries, Taurus, etc…). Each planet also occupies a lunar mansion or nakshatra, of which there are twenty-seven. To understand more about nakshatras, I highly recommend The Nakshatras: The Lunar Mansions of Vedic Astrology by Dennis M. Harness, PhD. In this article, we’ll look at the nakshastras that the Ascendant, Moon, and Sun occupy in Evanna Lynch’s birth chart as a supplement to the previous analysis of her birth chart which focused on her journey with anorexia since childhood. If you haven’t already done so, please read that analysis first.

Evanna’s Cancer Ascendant is in the nakshatra Pushya. Pushya is ruled by her triple strong Saturn which gives her great stability, an underlying inner strength that continues to elevate her to do good things, to work hard, and to create, even when she’s juggling potentially damaging thoughts when they arise. The force of Saturn on her Moon and the Sun (emotions and feelings, self-image and identity, respectively) is strong enough (Swa in Capricorn, retrograde, and 7th House dig bala), but she also gets the additional influence of Saturn through the Ascendant due to the Ascendant’s degree at birth happening in Pushya nakshatra.

Key qualities of Pushya include being stubborn, bold, thoughtful, intuitive, creative and with eloquent speech. This brings Evanna stability and enables her creative drives to manifest. She can see positive efforts and good karma pay off- but it’ll take hard work and determination to see things through and make them happen. A key word for Pushya is “blossoming”. How appropriate for an author of a book subtitled “The Tragedy and The Glory of Growing Up“. Pushya is the spiritual warrior, but one who wrestles with pride, selfishness, arrogance, and jealousy if not careful. Pushya gives Evanna the ability to overcome her problems but also the need to protect herself from criticism and doubt (from herself and others). Relevant career interests that fit to Evanna’s creative drive that are associated with Pushya include artists and musicians.

Evanna’s Moon occupies Swati nakshatra, which is ruled by Rahu. The desire to improve things or herself (from Rahu in her 6th House) can be a source of emotional battles. The symbol for Swati is the sword, but she must remember to fight the right fight. Feeling better comes through efforts in self-improvement but if Saturn’s pressure on the Moon pushes her too hard, the efforts for health and healing could be aimed at the distorted self-image (Saturn aspects the Ascendant and Sun). It’s crucial that Saturn’s pressure is focused on healthy discipline, compassion, gratitude, love for oneself and one’s body. Then the desire of Rahu in the 6th House can support the Moon and her emotional well being. Rahu shows where in this life we should grow and this hints that Evanna should be working towards self healing and self love, and she’s on her way based on what she’s been through and where she is now according to her memoir, The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting.

Key qualities of Swati include being righteous, compassionate, truthful, famous, wealthy, clever in speech, generous, and hot tempered. With Swati, life gets better after age 30 and now that Evanna is 31 (at the time of this writing), this looks to be the case. Swati makes one charitable, sweet spoken and virtuous. This nakshatra is referred to as “the self-going star”, making Evanna quite independent and resilient with the ability to “bend in the wind rather than break”. Swati encourages learning, supporting her interest in self-improvement and healing and gives her the ability to share. There’s usually a strong intuition and psychic sense. Swati is modest, self-controlled, interested in or motivated by right action, but can be self-centered, restless, and destructive unless negativity is transformed into positive, constructive outcomes. People with Swati, including Evanna, are sensitive souls who require solitude to find some level of satisfaction and peace. Careers associated with Swati include business and sales, yoga instructors and spiritual teachers.

Evanna’s Sun is in Ashlesha nakshatra, ruled by Mercury. Remember Mercury is the winner in a planetary war with Venus (her sense of beauty and femininity -which come through Venus- are challenged with Venus retrograde and the loser in the planetary war with Mercury. This means the chances of feeling comfortable in her body, being able to feel pretty, are aggravated by the overthinking, criticizing, nervousness, and anxiety that Mercury can create. The condition of Mercury retrograde and its position of ‘hiding’ Venus is an underlying tension behind her Sun (her overall self-image) through its placement in this nakshatra. And remember the condition of the Sun being gandanta. The unfurling that needs to happen to achieve self-acceptance has a retrograde Mercury underlying its potential. This is chaotic, confused energy (Sun) turned inward (Mercury), requiring healthy, supportive, gentle, and vulnerably safe opportunities to help Evanna thrive.

Ashlesha nakshatra gives health issues around obesity (or in Evanna’s case, the excessive focus and fear of weight), poor diet and nervous disorders. Evanna’s beautiful expressive eyes (a great feature to have as an actor) are a feature of Ashlesha which is said to give hypnotic eyes that can be used with force to overpower others. Ashlesha, like Swati, gives Evanna reclusive, independent, and self-reliant traits. She’s magnetic and sensual but prone to mental instability, worry, fear, and melancholy and quick to anger due to temper issues. Like Swati, Ashlesha shows a divine discontent and restlessness. Here she has a drive to transcendental aspirations to reach new heights and accomplishments. Phrases representing the struggles faced with this nakshatra include “difficulty controlling their diet” and “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional”. Careers associated with Ashlesha include writers, teachers, astrologers, and zookeepers (not that she’s a zookeeper, but Evanna’s love of animals has been a great source of comfort for her over the years). It’s interesting to note that Gandhi had his natal Moon is Ashlesha and he spent most of his life purifying and restraining his eating habits.

A Quick Look at the Dasha Timeline

Evanna’s eating disorder began in childhood according to her book. At age four, she entered her 16-year Jupiter mahadasha, which became a fertile time to sow the seeds of worthlessness and lack of purpose which blossomed into health issues that manifested through anorexia. With Jupiter in her 2nd House of values, security, and childhood, her sense of hopelessness and feeling lost came through her combust Jupiter and with the stellium in the 2nd House from the Sun, allowed her to gain a (false!) sense of control and self-empowerment through restricted eating. Remember, Jupiter- as well as Mercury, Venus, and Mars occupy Leo, which is ruled by her gandanta Sun. There’s been much for her to untangle!

Evanna is currently running the 19-year mahadasha of Saturn, which started September 8, 2011 and runs until September 8, 2030 (as shown). Knowing this, we can see how the natal effects of Saturn have been triggered for this time-frame in giving her both the hardship and suffering but also the determination to seek truth and healing with the strength to triumph. Under Saturn’s pressure, something she’ll have all her life due to its natal position (but will shift to some degree once she moves out of her Saturn dasha in 2030), she must tend to her Moon and emotional care in synchrony and not focus only on helping her body. She must be gentle and compassionate with herself, be her own best friend instead of enemy while Saturn’s aspect to her Sun and Ascendant is also triggering at this time.

It’s interesting to note that her memoir was published on October 19, 2021 while she was running Saturn dasha/Sun bhukti. She must’ve felt so compelled to share her story in the hopes of helping others knowing that she would probably feel like she was serving herself up on a platter to take whatever the public would dish out and surrendering to the hope for a positive outcome to shed light on anorexia. At worst, she may have thrown caution to the wind in an attempt to hear all kinds of negative publicity, bad reviews, and fans calling her out for not being who they thought she was– as another means of self-hatred. (I certainly hope not. She writes about these kinds of self-defeating tactics and I hope she’s grown passed that kind of harsh behavior towards herself.) Hopefully, her decision to write and release the book was from a sincerity to share the journey so that others can better understand what having an eating disorder is like and for those succumbing to the depths of anorexia can see the light from someone who has lived within its darkness but has found a way through it. Evanna had great courage to let go like that and open up about personal difficulties especially as a celebrity.

If every fan could raise a magic wand and cast a spell to alleviate the pain that Evanna has been through and may yet go through, thousands if not millions would do so in a heart beat. Perhaps if she could close her eyes and visualize lighted wands outstretched around the world, knowing the collective light was for her, the love of her fans may continue to support her in ways even they aren’t aware.