Ashlesha
Nakshatra 9 · 16°40′ Cancer – 30°00′ Cancer
Ashlesha is the 9th of the 27 lunar mansions of Vedic astrology. Its deity is the Nagas, serpents, its symbol a coiled serpent, and its ruling planet Mercury. Tradition reads in it insight, magnetism, caution.
Attributes
- Deity : the Nagas, serpents
- Symbol : a coiled serpent
- Lord : Mercury
- Animal (yoni) : the cat
Gana : Rakshasa (demonic)
An intense, independent temperament; in the tradition the word carries no moral judgement, it speaks of strength.
The four padas
- Pada 1 : 16°40′ Cancer – 20°00′ Cancer · navamsa ♐︎ Sagittarius
- Pada 2 : 20°00′ Cancer – 23°20′ Cancer · navamsa ♑︎ Capricorn
- Pada 3 : 23°20′ Cancer – 26°40′ Cancer · navamsa ♒︎ Aquarius
- Pada 4 : 26°40′ Cancer – 30°00′ Cancer · navamsa ♓︎ Pisces
Each pada covers 3°20′. The 108 padas run through the zodiac nine times: the navamsa is the sign of that second cycle, which Vedic astrology reads as a shade of the first.
The Moon's next passages through Ashlesha
- From Sunday 1 November at 23:59 to Monday 2 November at 23:15
- From Sunday 29 November at 06:28 to Monday 30 November at 05:10
- From Saturday 26 December at 15:41 to Sunday 27 December at 13:32
- From Saturday 23 January at 03:00 to …
Paris time, from the Moon's real position (NASA JPL DE440s ephemeris, Lahiri ayanamsa). The Moon goes round the 27 nakshatras in 27.3 days.
Deities, symbols and lords: Wikipedia's nakshatra table, after A. L. Basham (1954). Gana and yoni animal: checked against two Jyotish reference tables. The one-line readings are ours.