Ketu Transit in Ashlesha

Ashlesha closes Cancer. Mercury rules it, the Nagas are its deities, and a coiled serpent is its symbol. Mars counts Mercury an enemy, and Ketu, which acts like Mars, sits uneasily under this lord. The Moon owns the sign and is a friend. Ketu is itself the serpent's tail, and in the serpent star it is on familiar ground.

The stay runs about eight months, from the fourth pada back to the first. The fourth pada, where the stay begins, is the gandanta edge where Cancer meets Leo. A direct spell of the true node can divide the stay into two visits, and Rahu stands in Dhanishta and then Shravana across it.

Ashlesha clings, coils and hides, with secrets, poison and its antidote, hypnotic speech, cunning and the kundalini as its themes. Ketu uncoils it. An old grip on a person, a grievance or a habit loosens, and the release can feel like losing a limb. Cunning drops away and the person becomes plainer than is comfortable. Digestion needs care, and every poison, alcohol included, should be left alone.

Taurus, Aquarius and Virgo Moons have Ketu in the third, sixth and eleventh, the houses Phaladeepika names favourable. Cancer Moons carry Ketu on the lagna and Rahu in the seventh, and Capricorn Moons the reverse. Leo Moons meet Ketu in the twelfth and Sagittarius Moons in the eighth. Read the lagna the same way.

The transit shows what a person is coiled around.

The remedy is Ganesha and Om Kem Ketave Namah, with milk offered to a Naga image or at a snake temple. Parashara prescribes mantra and dana for Ketu, and the traditional gifts are a blanket, sesame or food for dogs on Tuesday. Keep no secrets that harm.