Mercury Transit in Magha

The Pitris, the ancestors, are the deities of Magha, its symbol is a throne or a palanquin, and Ketu is its lord. It opens Leo, the Sun's sign, and the Sun is Mercury's friend, and the usual lists make Mercury neutral toward Ketu. Mercury speaks here with borrowed authority, that of the lineage.

The stay runs about nine days, and past a month when a retrograde loop lands here. Family papers, inheritance, genealogy, titles and old accounts come forward. Speech takes on formality, as if the person were writing for something older than themselves. Government, ceremony and the honours of office are the week's subjects.

Muhurta Chintamani counts Magha among the ugra nakshatras, fierce, suited to firm decisions, the assertion of a right and rites for the ancestors, and unsuited to a soft beginning. Ketu as lord adds a sense that the words come from elsewhere. A person may say what they did not know they believed.

• Cancer, Taurus, Pisces, Capricorn, Scorpio and Libra Moons and lagnas have Mercury in Phaladeepika's favourable houses from Leo.
• Leo, Gemini, Aries, Aquarius, Sagittarius and Virgo Moons have it in the first, third, fifth, seventh, ninth and twelfth. They should not sign in the family's name without reading.

The stay shows a person's relation to what was handed down, and Mercury in Magha gives any quarrel with it a voice.

Begin the remedy with the ancestors: tarpana, or water and sesame offered with their names, on any morning of the stay. Recite Om Budhaya Namah, worship Vishnu, and give green cloth or moong on Wednesday. Speak to an elder before deciding.