Vedic astrology assigns the planetary lordship of three nakshatras to each one of the nine planets. Starting from Ashwini, the first nakshatra and going till Revati, the final nakshatra, lordships of the nine planets over these 27 nakshatras follow a regular pattern. This pattern repeats itself at fixed intervals.
For example, Ketu is the planetary lord of the first nakshatra Ashwini, the tenth nakshatra Magha and the Nineteenth nakshatra Moola. It can be seen that all three nakshatras of Ketu are placed at an interval of 9 nakshatras. Same is the case with nakshatras assigned to the other eight planets. It means Venus is the planetary lord of second, eleventh and twentieth nakshatra and the same holds for all other planets, following in a cyclic pattern.
The meaning of the word Ashlesha as interpreted by Vedic astrology is ‘coiling’ or ‘entwining’ which will become clear by analyzing the symbol of this nakshatra. A coiled snake is taken as a symbol of Ashlesha and hence the meaning of the term Ashlesha is found in the symbol of this nakshatra. Snakes are considered as some of the most fearful creatures since ancient times in many civilizations; and many people are scared of snakes.
Due to this symbol, a number of people as well as astrologers are afraid of Ashlesha and they paint it in bad colors. These fears are further consolidated by the fact that Vedic astrology assigns Serpent Gods as ruling deities of Ashlesha. These serpent gods include Nagas which are considered half serpent and half human type of creatures; according to the beliefs of Vedic mythology. Therefore, Ashlesha represents a number of traits exhibited by snakes.
Mystery is the first trait which is associated with snakes in general. Snakes are considered as mysterious creatures and this is one of the reasons why most people are afraid of them. Snakes are also considered as deceptive, hypnotic and poisonous creatures. Most of these traits of snakes are relayed through Ashlesha. Snakes can be very passive and patient most of the time but they can show surprising amount of alertness and agility when they need to. Snakes are cold blooded creatures, skilled at the art of manipulation.
Looking at some other traits, snakes store a lot of food inside them so that they don’t have to eat many times in order to survive. Snakes have keen sense of their surroundings and they can remain hidden or underground for long periods of time. Snakes are considered to have magical/mystical powers in many cultures and they are also said to protect the ones they care for. All these traits of snakes are exhibited by Ashlesha and these traits make it a special and different type of nakshatra.
Vedic astrology assigns Mercury as the planetary ruler of Ashlesha and Mercury adds traits like calculative abilities, intellect and analytical abilities to this nakshatra. Since all four quarters of Ashlesha fall in Cancer, Moon is also connected to Ashlesha. Moon renders its qualities like intuition, protection and care for the loved ones, to Ashlesha.
Since Ashlesha is a mixture of energies which are not compatible with one another and some of which are troublesome; it becomes a difficult to handle nakshatra. People under strong influence of Ashlesha are supposed to deal with intellectual traits of Mercury, emotional traits of Moon and mysterious traits of serpents at the same time. Many people may not be able to handle this nakshatra unless there are strong benefic planets in their horoscopes, which can control and channelize this energy.
Though Ashlesha exhibits a number of traits, different people may embrace different traits, depending on placements of various planets in this nakshatra as well as on their overall horoscopes. Moon may not do well or very well in Ashlesha, unless there are strong benefic planets in horoscope, which can help Moon channelize the energy of this nakshatra.
Vedic astrology associates formation of Gandmool Dosh with placement of Moon in the fourth quarter of Ashlesha. This defect can adversely affect the health and wellbeing of native and/or his mother. Since Ashlesha is a difficult nakshatra, a soft planet like Moon may not be comfortable with it in many cases.
Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu may channelize the energy of Ashlesha and they may produce different types of results, depending on the overall horoscope. Mercury is not comfortable with Ashlesha. Under specific conditions in a horoscope, Mercury may produce good results in Ashlesha; though such results may still not compare to the results given by Mercury in signs like Virgo, Taurus or Capricorn.
It can be seen that Moon rules the sign of Cancer which features Ashlesha but Moon may not perform well in this nakshatra, without the support of other planets. Likewise, Mercury rules this nakshatra but it may also not perform well in it, without the support of other planets. This gives an idea as to how difficult the energy of this nakshatra may be.
Placements of malefic planets in Ashlesha can cause various types of problems for the native as well as for society, depending on the overall horoscope of the native under consideration. Ashlesha is loaded with potentially harmful traits; and malefic planets may make the people use such traits against others or against themselves. Taking an example, if malefic Rahu is placed in the twelfth house of a horoscope in Cancer in Ashlesha, the native may become a drug addict or he may suffer from psychological problems; depending on his overall horoscope.
Suppose benefic Mercury and Sun are placed in the twelfth house in Cancer in Pushya along with malefic Rahu in Ashlesha, malefic Moon is placed in the second house in Virgo and retrograde Jupiter is placed in the third house in Libra. Leo rises in the ascendant. Sun being the lord of the first house is weak in Cancer, it is placed in a difficult house and it is afflicted by malefic Rahu. Mercury rules the second and eleventh house, it is weak in Cancer, it is placed in a difficult house and it is afflicted by Rahu.
Moon is malefic in the horoscope whereas Jupiter in general is partly benefic and partly malefic for horoscopes with Leo ascendant. The concept of planets exhibiting tendencies to be benefic or malefic on the basis of the houses they rule in a horoscope has been explained in the chapter ‘Gemstones for House Lords’ of the book ‘Gemstones – Magic or Science (Revised Edition)’.
Due to the combined effect of these factors; the native may become a drug addict; unless there are strong grace saving factors in his horoscope. Such native may get addicted to various types of drugs during young age and he may cause serious damage to his health and reputation due to such addictions. If the rest of the horoscope is weak or malefic or both; the native may die young due to drug overdose.
For example, if Venus is placed in the twelfth house in Cancer with Sun, Mercury and Rahu; Mars is placed in the second house in Virgo with Moon; and malefic Saturn is placed in the third house in Libra with Jupiter; the native may die any time before the age of 40; depending on the finer factors as well as on the running times (planetary periods). The term ‘finer factors’ means placements of various planets in various nakshatras and navamshas.
Looking at another probability, if malefic Rahu is placed in the first house of a horoscope in Cancer in Ashlesha with malefic Mercury, benefic Sun is placed in the twelfth house in Gemini, benefic Moon is placed in the eighth house in Aquarius and malefic retrograde exalted Saturn is placed in the fourth house in Libra; the native may suffer from psychological issues. Such native may face various types of psychological problems, depending on the rest of his horoscope.
If the rest of his horoscope is malefic or weak or both; such native may have to spend many years of his life in a mental asylum or he may commit suicide under the effect of a psychological disorder. Looking at some grace saving factors in this case, if benefic Venus is placed in the eleventh house in Taurus, benefic Mars is placed in the ninth house in Pisces and Jupiter is placed in the second house in Leo; the equation may improve. The native may still face psychological issues from time to time in his life; but their quantum may be reduced a lot and the native may be able to manage them with the help of medicines and therapies.
Ashlesha people may achieve good or very good amount of professional success in their lives; when their overall horoscopes are supportive. Snakes can be passive and patient for long periods of time but they can show surprising amount of activeness and agility when they need to. Likewise, Ashlesha people may wait patiently for opportunities to appear and when they do, they may act fast and grab them. Ashlesha people may have tendency to be mysterious like snakes. Hence it may be difficult for people around them to judge as to what may be going on their minds at any given point in time.
Such people may like to keep secrets and they may not share their inner feelings and many of their personal experiences even with their closest relatives and friends. Ashlesha people may have strong sense of insecurity of one type or another. Hence they may be afraid of sharing their intimate feelings or experiences with other people, fearing that such secrets may be used against them. At the same time, Ashlesha people may be good at digging other people’s secrets and they may use such secrets to their advantages, at suitable times. Hence the professional rise of Ashlesha people may be achieved by hurting many people on the way; even when this nakshatra is occupied by benefic planets.
Due to such traits of Ashlesha; it can prove very good for people who don’t bother much about moral or ethical values and who wish to achieve success at any cost. For this reason, Ashlesha people have good chances of achieving success in politics or in corporate world where most people may pretend to care for moral values but most of them actually may not.
Ashlesha people may be good at fooling other people and their public images may be quite different from their actual characters. As a result, they may witness very good results through politics since politics is all about image and little attention is paid to real character which may be well hidden behind fake images, by people under strong influence of Ashlesha.
Ashlesha can bless people under its influence with traits like good business skills, the ability to sense danger before time and act in advance, analytical abilities and good insights. These abilities may help these people achieve success in various types of professions as well as in other spheres of life. Specific influence of Ashlesha can also bless the native with supernatural and paranormal powers or it can connect the native to such powers from time to time.
It is believed that the coiled snake symbol of Ashlesha represents Kundlini Shakti inside the body of every human. The symbol of such Kundlini Shakti as shown in Vedic mythology is very much similar to the main symbol of Ashlesha which is a Coiled Snake. Hence some kind of connection seems to be there between Ashlesha and Kundlini. A person may connect to supernatural powers once his Kundlini is activated, which normally stays in passive or sleeping mode inside the body of every human.
Therefore, the energy of Ashlesha can make the native experience supernatural events and it can connect him to other worlds. It is interesting to note that the Kundlini which is considered to look like a coiled snake according to Indian mythology, stays in passive or sleeping mode inside the body of every human just like a snake stays passive or in sleeping mode for most time.
A very small number of people under strong and particular influence of Ashlesha may experience some vibrations in their Kundlini regions. As a result, their Kundlinis may get partially activated and even a small percentage of Kundlini activation may enhance working capacity of all the senses to significant extents. Such Ashlesha people may have very sharp sense of intuition and they may sense future events in advance. Some of them may see future events in dreams whereas some of them may simply have intuitions that something specific is going to happen and that something may actually happen.
Such people may be blessed with the power to unveil great mysteries of this world as well as those of some other worlds. These people have good chances of fully activating Kundlinis through various practices of meditation, tantra and yoga.
Taking an example, suppose benefic Rahu is placed in the eighth house of a horoscope in Cancer in Ashlesha, Ketu is placed in the second house in Capricorn, benefic Jupiter is placed in the fourth house in Pisces and benefic Sun is placed in the first house in Sagittarius. Benefic Mercury is placed in the twelfth house in Scorpio, Mars is placed in the third house in Aquarius and benefic Saturn is placed in the seventh house in Gemini.
In this case, the native may undergo such experiences. Such native may engage in practices of tantra or meditation and he may witness activation of his Kundlini through such practices; provided the rest of his horoscope and running times are supportive for this result.
Let’s look at performances of various planets in various navamshas of Ashlesha. Starting with Sagittarius navamsha; Jupiter may perform very well here whereas Moon may perform well but not very well in this navamsha. Sun and Ketu may perform above average in this navamsha since both of them are comfortable in Ashlesha and they are strong in Sagittarius.
Saturn and Rahu may perform on average or below average in this navamsha; depending on the overall horoscope. Both these planets are not strong in Cancer as well as Sagittarius but they are comfortable in Ashlesha. Venus may perform on average or above average here whereas Mercury may perform on average or below average here. Mars may perform on average here. Among navagraha; Jupiter may be the strongest and Mercury may be the weakest in this navamsha.
Looking at Capricorn navamsha; no planet may perform very well here and no planet may perform poorly here. Jupiter and Moon may perform well here. Jupiter is exalted in Cancer but it is debilitated in Capricorn. Moon is strong in Cancer and it is good in Capricorn; but it is not comfortable in Ashlesha. Sun and Ketu may perform on average or above average in this navamsha.
Saturn and Rahu may perform above average in this navamsha and under specific conditions; they may perform well here. Mercury may also perform above average here though it may not perform well. Venus may perform above average or well in this navamsha. Mars is debilitated in Cancer but it is exalted in Capricorn and it is comfortable in Ashlesha. Hence it may perform above average here. Within the sign of Cancer; Mars is the least weak in this navamsha. Among navagraha, Moon may be the strongest in this navamsha. No planet among navagraha may be very weak in this navamsha.
Moving on to Aquarius navamsha; Jupiter may do well or very well here whereas Moon may do above average or well here, but not very well. Sun may perform below average here, since it is weak in Cancer as well as Aquarius. Venus may perform above average in this navamsha; since it is strong in Aquarius and comfortable in Ashlesha.
Saturn and Rahu may perform above average or well here; depending on the overall horoscope. Mercury may perform above average but not well in this navamsha. Ketu may perform on average or below average; depending on the overall horoscope. Mars is debilitated in Cancer and it is not strong in Aquarius. Hence it may perform below average here. Among navagraha, Jupiter may be the strongest in this navamsha whereas Mars and Sun may be the weakest.
Looking at Pisces navamsha; Jupiter may perform very well here whereas Moon may form Gandmool Dosh in this navamsha. Hence Moon may not perform well in this navamsha; despite being strong in Cancer and Pisces. Venus may perform well here, since it is exalted in Pisces. Ketu may perform above average or well here; since it is also exalted in Pisces.
Saturn may perform below average here since it is not strong in Cancer as well as Pisces. Rahu may perform poorly here; since it is not strong in Cancer and it is debilitated in Pisces. Mercury may also perform poorly here; since it too is debilitated in Pisces and it is weak in Cancer. Mars may perform below average here; since it is not strong in Pisces and it is debilitated in Cancer. Among navagraha; Jupiter may be the strongest in this navamsha whereas Mars, Mercury and Rahu may be the weakest.
Taking an example, suppose benefic Rahu is placed in the first house of a horoscope in Cancer in Ashlesha; and a benefic combination of Moon, Mars and retrograde Jupiter forms Chandra Mangal Yoga as well as Gaj Kesari Yoga in the second house in Leo. Ketu is placed in the seventh house in Capricorn along with Mercury; benefic Venus is placed in the fifth house in Scorpio and benefic Sun is placed in the sixth house in Sagittarius. In this case, the native may become a revenue officer, a foreign services officer or an administrative officer, depending on the rest of his horoscope as well as on the running times.
Himanshu Shangari