There are certain features that can be telltale signs of a nakshatra, even if the natives do not always look overtly similar across all features. There are a few specific features I love to check for when I'm suspecting that Purva Bhadrapada पूर्वभाद्रपदा nakshatra (20° Aquarius/Kumbha – 3° 20′ Pisces/Meena) may be present. Purva Bhadrapada brings an intense, fierce, and mysterious form of beauty, causing them to having been the women who truly defined the film noir femme fatale ("fatal woman") character in cinema, a trope they channel to this day. Classic dangerous seductresses like Rita Hayworth, Allida Valli, Gene Tierney, and Ava Gardner all have or can have Moon here. This nakshatra is traditionally called धूर्त dhurta in Jataka Parijata, which can be translated as mischievous, villainous, cunning, or deceitful (like the femme fatale). I explore this more in the below gallery, ebook, & video.
This fierce (ugra) nakshatra grants wide-set, small to medium, almond-shaped eyes with a neutral tilt and a slightly cold or distant gaze. The neck tends to be on the short side as is the skull overall, and the jawline is heavy. The face shape tends to be square, and sometimes pear, with a short forehead. The nose bridge is broad, especially at the highest point near the eyebrows. The brows are an important significator, being strongly long & arched through the lowered/furrowed inner corner, which gives a naturally serious and brooding expression. They are further exaggerated through long brow tails.
The cheek bones are large, broad, and low-set. Overall, the face has a padded, fleshy look, especially in the upper cheeks and lips (which can vary in size but tend to be more even in proportion, top and bottom, than most). The cheek bone emphasis and narrowed eye shape of Purva Bhadrapadas, granting a sensual & smoldering appearance, call to mind this nakshatra's yoni animal, the lion.
You can watch my new Youtube-short to see Purva Bhadrapada beauty in motion (it can also be found on instagram @claire.nakti or tiktok @clairenakti). As with everything in astrology, these features to check for are a tendency not a rule for Purva Bhadrapada's physical appearance. A person's other primary placements will bring in features as well, though one will tend to come to the surface the most strongly (relating to their dominant planet); one can have a Purva Bhadrapada primary placement but be dominated by one of their other primary placements instead.
In this way, I seek in these posts to isolate the Purva Bhadrapada nakshatra appearance influence as much as possible by finding the most consistent common physical ground amongst its natives, while having awareness that each individual you're seeing has other astrological influences at play as well that make them unique. I wanted to make these posts so that you don't have to rely on two people looking strikingly similar to know they share a nakshatra, but rather can more consciously/logically check for certain revealing features even amongst people who have many differences.
For more information on the sacred feminine role (and its connection to beauty & sensuality)-- in both its celebrated and demonized necessary expressions-- you can check out my female spiritual path course.
My ebook & full video exploration diving deeper into this nakshatra:
Click through the gallery below for more visuals to the above description:
Birth time notes:
The birth times listed for Rita Hayworth & Debbie Harry (that place them for Uttara Bhadrapada Moon rather than Purva Bhadrapada) are both DD-rated (conflicting or unverified).