Mercury Transit in Ashlesha

Ashlesha closes Cancer, and it is Mercury's own nakshatra. The Nagas are its deities and a coiled serpent its symbol. Parashara's table has Mercury counting the Moon an enemy, so Mercury is at home as nakshatra lord and a guest in the Moon's sign. The mind is strong here. Feeling pulls against it.

About nine days is the usual stay. Speech turns subtle, layered and persuasive, and the serpent's gift for reading what another hides comes out in negotiation, in sales and in poetry. Medicine, poison and their overlap belong here, and so do secrets. The nerves are sensitive, and sleep can break.

Muhurta Chintamani lists Ashlesha among the tikshna nakshatras, sharp. The days suit surgery, exposing a fraud, breaking a habit, mantra sadhana for protection and any work that needs a cold eye, and they do not suit a wedding, a house-warming or a soft first conversation.

From the Moon and the lagna, Gemini, Aries, Aquarius, Sagittarius, Libra and Virgo hold Mercury in the favourable houses Phaladeepika names. Cancer, Taurus, Pisces, Capricorn, Scorpio and Leo have the harder houses, and for them the week can turn a clever tongue against its owner.

The transit shows what a person does with cleverness. It works best when used to see clearly, and using it to manage others tends to backfire within the week.

The remedy is the truth, spoken plainly, once. Recite Om Budhaya Namah, worship Vishnu, and give green cloth or moong on Wednesday. Milk offered at a Naga shrine, or a small dana at a Shiva temple, settles the deities of the nakshatra.