From Muṇḍakopaniṣad

ॐ ब्रह्मा देवानां प्रथमं सम्बभूव

विश्व्स्य कर्ता भुवनस्य गोप्ता।

स ब्रह्मविद्यं सर्वविद्याप्रतिष्ठाम्

अथर्वाय ज्येष्ठपुत्राय प्राह॥ १११

om brahmā devānāṁ prathamaṁ sambabhūva

viśvsya kartā bhuvanasya goptā|

sa brahmavidyaṁ sarvavidyāpratiṣṭhām

atharvāya jyeṣṭhaputrāya prāha|| 111

Introduction[1]

Abhiśāpa or ­śāpa, otherwise known as a curse, is an invocation to the superior powers, in order to cause harm and bring about suffering to another person or persons, nation or lands. The person bestowing the śāpa or curse causes misfortune to another by evoking the Gods or supernatural elements. Consequently, the cursed person is engulfed by misery and hardship, while cursed lands are devastated by wars, strife, floods and famine. A person is instigated to curse because of extreme and intense emotions, namely, anger (Mars), sorrow (Saturn) and shock (Rāhu)[2]. Such emotion ignites a person to curse, which very often leads to the denial of the basic aspects of happiness and content in life like marriage, children, family, home, money, and profession etc. of the cursed subject.

om śrī mahālakṣmayai namaḥ

sukhī kāntavapuḥ śreṣṭhaḥ sulocano bhṛgoḥ sutaḥ|

kāvyakartā kaphādhikyo'nilātmā vakramūrdhajaḥ||

--Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śastra, Grahaguṇasvarūpādhyāya

The King of the Watery Element[1]

It is common knowledge that Venus, or Śukra, is the significator of love, affection, marriage and romantic relationships of every nature. Not only because it is the seventh lord of the Kālapuruṣa, but because it is the primary ruler of jala tattva or the primordial element of water, governing tithis and pakṣas. One pakṣa consist fifteen tithis which spans 180°, which is one half of a circle, and comes precisely to the seventh house of love and marriage. It is this jala tattva that causes Venus to be the significator of relationships as jala or water rules emotions and affection and tithis lord relationships. Afflictions to Venus are nothing but afflictions to the jala tattva.

The most potent form of jala tattva is śukra dhātu. Śukra means that which is pure and bright; liquid such as soma or water which is the essence of life. Hence Śukra in jyotiṣa terminology literally means semen, or that essential fluid which is the building block of life. Venus, therefore rules the testicles and the ovaries and the reproductive organs, sexuality and libido, the body fluids, sex appeal, and every kind of desire and wish that arises in the hearts of men. It represents beauty, love, devotion, poetry, the arts, sweetness, marriage, flowers, young couples, attraction, infatuation, decoration, adornment, ornamentation, opulence and the luxuries of the earthly plane through the satisfaction of the sensual desires.

Śukra is the healer, the rejuvenator, the one who brings back the dead to life through its mysterious powers of rejuvenation and healing.  It is in this capacity, that Venus signifies the Mṛtyuṅjaya mantra and the knowledge associated with it known as the Mṛtyuṅjaya vidyā. It is also known as the Mṛtasaṅjīvanī vidyā. This special knowledge was granted to Śukrācārya by Śiva as a result of his great penance and tapasyā. Along with the Sun, Venus is the sthira kāraka for the father, for while the Sun brings the individual soul or ātmā to a body, Venus is the śukra or semen which contains the seed from which life springs. It is the embodiment of the juṁ bīja, the very essence of the Mṛtyuṅjaya mantra.

श्री गणेशाय नमः

A Study of Rāvaṇa’s Uḍḍiśa Tantra

Gati: The Direction of the Mind (Moon)

Once upon a time, many eons ago, at the time when Śrī had left the gods, Śiva blessed the High Priest of the dark side, Śukrācārya, with the unequivocal Mṛta Sañjīvanī knowledge, by which the asuras (demons) came back to life from the dead, irrevocably more powerful and supreme as conquistadors. Shaken by this turn of events, the gods approached Lord Viṣṇu, who assuming the form of a unique tortoise[1] assisted the devas (gods) in churning[2] the Milky Ocean[3] whereby Amṛta, the Nectar of Immortality could be extracted. In this epochal exercise, Viṣṇu used the magnificent Mandār Mountain as the churning rod and the Divine Serpent, the multi-headed great Vāsuki, as the churning rope.

Viṣṇu arrived on the shores of the Milky Ocean with Garuḍa, having hauled Mandār on the way, like a puny toy. Upon arrival, he bade farewell to Garuḍa and send him off, for Vāsuki would not emerge even by mistake, as long as Garuḍa was present. In his supreme wisdom, Viṣṇu knew, even the Divine Serpent Śeśa Nāga would tremble in the presence of the greatest eater of snakes. Garuḍa is a bird, admittedly a divine bird, and so represented by the Sun, while Rāhu represents snakes. Though the latter has the power to eclipse the former, the Sun is the one who exposes Rāhu. Mantras of Garuḍa are therefore the supreme remedy for sarpa doṣa or those troubled by serpents of all kinds. The simple mantra for warding of serpentine evils, om pakṣī svāhā is chanted in reverese as kṣipa om svāhā,  prempting Rāhu’s misdeeds of reversal. For whilst chanting a mantra for cutting the bondage of snakes, Rāhu would do his utmost to reverse the process. Kṣipa om svāhā would thus automatically become om pakṣī svāhā[4].