Nakshatra 9 of 27
Ashlesha nakshatra
Ashlesha is the 9th of the 27 nakshatras. It spans 16°40′ to 30°00′ of sidereal Cancer, is ruled by Mercury, and its deities are the Nagas, the serpent beings. Its symbol is a coiled serpent, its power is to hold and to paralyze, and its themes are deep insight, intimacy, reading what lies beneath and holding on.
Ashlesha at a glance
- Name
- Ashlesha, “the embrace” or “the entwining one”
- Position
- 16°40′ Cancer – 30°00′ Cancer (sidereal, Lahiri)
- Sign
- Cancer
- Ruling planet
- Mercury (its Vimshottari period lasts 17 years)
- Deity
- The Nagas: the serpent beings who guard hidden treasure and secret knowledge
- Symbol
- a coiled serpent
- Shakti
- the power to hold and paralyze (visasleshana)
- Themes
- hypnotic insight, deep intimacy, reading what's beneath, coiled energy, holding on
- Stars
- the head of Hydra, the water snake (Epsilon Hydrae and its neighbors), at about 18°29′ sidereal Cancer
The stars of Ashlesha
Ashlesha’s stars are the head of Hydra, the long water snake: a small, faint ring of stars around Epsilon Hydrae, south of the Beehive cluster. In the sidereal zodiac Epsilon Hydrae sits at about 18°29′ Cancer, near the start of the mansion. It is not a bright group. You find it by knowing where to look, which suits the mansion.
The deity and the story
Ashlesha belongs to the Nagas, the serpent beings of Indian myth who live under the earth and in deep water and guard hidden treasure and secret knowledge. They are not simply evil. In many stories they are wise, proud and dangerous only when crossed.
The name means “the embrace,” the way a snake wraps around what it holds. That is the mansion’s double edge: the same grip that protects can also squeeze.
What Ashlesha is about
Ashlesha’s shakti in the old list is visasleshana, the power to hold, and to paralyze with poison. Read as a clock, it marks seasons of intensity and close focus: noticing what others miss, getting very near to someone, holding on.
When the Moon sat here at birth, classical texts describe a sharp, watchful mind, strong instincts about people, and feelings that run deep and stay coiled. Mercury rules the mansion, so the intelligence is quick and verbal, often with a gift for reading between the lines.
Like Mula, Ashlesha sits at a gandanta seam: its end is the line where watery Cancer turns into fiery Leo. Twenty-Seven reads that as a turning point, not a danger.
The four padas of Ashlesha
Each nakshatra splits into four quarters of 3°20′, called padas. Each pada falls in a navamsa sign (the ninth-part chart), which colors how the mansion’s theme comes out.
- Pada 1 (16°40′–20°00′ Cancer, Sagittarius navamsa): the serpent with a philosophy. Insight put to a larger purpose.
- Pada 2 (20°00′–23°20′ Cancer, Capricorn navamsa): the serpent at work. Strategy, patience, control of the details.
- Pada 3 (23°20′–26°40′ Cancer, Aquarius navamsa): the serpent in a crowd. Reading groups, hidden networks, unusual ideas.
- Pada 4 (26°40′–30°00′ Cancer, Pisces navamsa): the serpent in deep water. Feeling, dreams, empathy at the edge of the sign.
The Moon in Ashlesha
Cancer is the Moon’s own sign, so a Moon in Ashlesha is at home but in the sign’s most intense corner. Someone born with the Moon here starts the Vimshottari periods in a Mercury period, 17 years in full.
The Moon passes through Ashlesha about once every 27.3 days and stays about a day. At noon UTC it is in Ashlesha on Oct 6, Nov 2, Nov 29, Dec 27 (2026), from our chart engine. To check your own birth Moon, use the nakshatra calculator.
Questions people ask
What is Ashlesha nakshatra known for?
Depth, sharp insight and the power to hold. Its deities are the Nagas, serpent beings who guard secret knowledge, and its symbol is a coiled snake.
Is Ashlesha nakshatra bad?
No mansion is bad. Ashlesha has a dark reputation in old texts because of its serpent symbol and its place at the Cancer–Leo seam. Twenty-Seven reads it as a season of depth and focus.
What sign is Ashlesha in?
Ashlesha is entirely in sidereal Cancer, 16°40′ to 30°00′. In the Western zodiac the same stretch of sky is roughly 11° to 24° Leo today.
What is the ruling planet of Ashlesha?
Mercury. That is why the mansion is linked with quick, perceptive intelligence.
Was your Moon in Ashlesha?
Twenty-Seven finds your Moon’s mansion from your birth date, time and place, then reads it to you from its old stories and talks it through. It is an AI astrologer, and it remembers what you tell it.
Twenty-Seven is an AI astrologer, not a person. It makes no predictions: in its view the planets are clocks, not controllers.