The meanings of the word Vishakha are translated in Vedic astrology as two-branched, divided or having more than one branch. Accordingly, it is believed that people under strong influence of Vishakha may face such situations many times in their lives where they have to choose between two or more paths or options. The success or failure of Vishakha people may depend on whether they choose right path or wrong.
The trait of having to choose among different options is one of most prominent traits of Vishakha. The main symbol of Vishakha is a decorated gateway, as per Vedic astrology. This gateway is like the ones which are used as welcome gates during Indian marriage ceremonies and some other types of ceremonies.
Such gates are mostly associated with outward display of some kind of achievement or objective that someone has reached. After such achievement, the native may want to celebrate and show off. Accordingly, Vishakha exhibits traits like promoting the outward display of achievements, show off and show biz. Hence Vishakha people may be natural show offs. These people may simply love to show their proud possessions and achievements to the world.
A traditional marriage ceremony in India is a show of wealth, status and position of a family. Through this ceremony, a family shows off its achievements and tries to impress society. A decorated gate is an important part of this theme of showing off since people enter the venue through this gate. It means bigger the status of a family is, bigger is the show-off and more decorated is the gateway.
Since marriage is the beginning of a new relationship, Vishakha promotes new beginnings of various types. Decorated gateways are also used for other ceremonies like the ones which are arranged when people have achieved success, recognition or some important milestones in their lives. All these ceremonies as well as decorated gates display money, resources, power, possessions and beauty. Hence Vishakha exhibits all these traits.
Since the urge to achieve and the urge to celebrate and show off after achievements is strong in present times; Vishakha becomes an important nakshatra in these times. Vishakha people are ambitious and they wish to achieve a lot. Once they have achieved, Vishakha people may want to show such achievements off to the world, through parties and celebrations.
As Vishakha is directly associated with achievements, celebrations and acts of show off, people under its strong influence may often be found dealing in professions which feature these traits. It means Vishakha people may achieve success in movie industry, television industry, fashion industry and other such professions. A number of celebrities in glamour world are under strong influence of Vishakha.
Vedic astrology assigns two ruling deities to Vishakha. These two deities are known as god Indra, the ruler of heaven and god Agni, the ruler of Fire. Hence, Vishakha exhibits a number of traits which are displayed by its ruling deities. Let’s look at some traits displayed by Indra and Agni.
According to Vedic mythology, Indra is considered as the ruler of heaven as well as the ruler of all gods including Agni. Vedic mythology portrays Indra as the one who is very much goal oriented. Indra is many times scared of losing his throne to someone else and he often tries to save his throne. In attempts to keep his throne intact, he commits various types of immoral deeds from time to time, according to Vedic mythology.
For example, Indra once tried to kill the pregnant wife of demon Hiranyakshipu in order to stop him from worshipping Lord Brahma. The demon was worshipping the Lord in order to get blessed with great powers. Indra feared that HiranyaKshipu would gain powers, attack heaven and remove him from his throne. Therefore, in order to save his throne, he tried to disturb the worship of Hiranyakshipu through every possible way.
When he did not succeed by any means, he kidnapped pregnant wife of Hiranyakshipu and took her to the place where the demon was worshipping. Indra threatened the demon that if he did not stop the worship, he would kill demon’s pregnant wife along with his future child. It was only after the intervention of divine sage Naarad that Indra could be stopped from killing pregnant wife of Hiranyakshipu.
From the above example, it can be seen that Indra is a very goal oriented deity and he can go to any lengths to achieve his goals. Indra can also engage in any karma whether good or bad, in order to achieve his goals. This goal oriented trait of Indra is relayed through Vishakha. Accordingly, people under strong influence of Vishakha may be fixated on their goals. Hence such Vishakha people may be in danger of engaging in bad karmas or immoral deeds in order to achieve their goals.
Indra is also known for his deep interests in drinking, women and enjoying other pleasures. All these traits of Indra are also relayed through Vishakha. As a result, Vishakha people are likely to be fond of materialistic pleasures of all types. These traits are promoted by Libra part of Vishakha whereas they may be relatively subdued in Scorpio part of this nakshatra.
The expression of these traits may vary in quality as well as in quantity; depending on planets which occupy Vishakha, as well as on the overall horoscope of the native under consideration. For example, if Mars is placed in the first house of a horoscope in Libra in Vishakha, the native may indulge in company of women and he may also be fond of liquor, unless there are corrective planets in the horoscope.
However, if Rahu is placed in the first house of a horoscope in Libra in Vishakha, the native may develop taste for various types of drugs; apart from consuming alcohol. Such native may also be fond of women and he may love engaging in sexual pleasures of various types.
Looking at another probability, If Venus forms Malavya Yoga in the first house of a horoscope in Libra in Vishakha, the native may be interested in women and alcohol, but he may be even more interested in money, wealth, houses, cars and other pursuits of luxury. Formation of this type of Malavya Yoga in the horoscope of a female native may bless her with luring beauty as well as with success in professions falling under the field of glamour.
Luring beauty means such female native may be good at provoking the senses of viewers; and that too without much effort. Female people under strong influence of this type of Malavya Yoga may not be the most beautiful ones, as placements of Venus in some other nakshatras can bless them with even more beauty. However, such female people may certainly be among the most desirable types of females.
Vishakha is all about desires and their fulfillments. Since a female is a general signifier of Venus, formation of Malavya Yoga in the first house in Libra in Vishakha can make a female native most desirable.
Drawing a comparison, female people under strong influence of Malavya Yoga in the first house in Swati may inspire more appreciation than desire; by virtue of their beauty. On the other hand, female people with such Malavya Yoga in Vishakha may inspire more desire than appreciation; by virtue of their beauty. Hence you may love and appreciate the Swati type female but you may desire Vishakha type female.
Moving on, if exalted Saturn forms Shasha Yoga in the first house of a horoscope in Libra in Vishakha, all such tendencies may be put under check. The native in this case may enjoy alcohol and women also; but only occasionally. Such native under strong influence of Shasha Yoga in Vishakha may be much more focused on professional success and raising wealth, than engaging himself in various types of pleasures at the cost of professional success and health.
Placement of Moon in the first house in Libra in Vishakha in the horoscope of a male native may incline him towards various types of pleasures, including the company of females. However, such native may not go to extremes in most cases. The same placement of Moon in Vishakha in the horoscope of a female native may bend her more towards professional success and raising wealth; than engaging in bodily pleasures.
Coming back to ruling deities of Vishakha, Agni rules fire element according to Vedic mythology and he is portrayed as the one with good character. The influence of Agni on Vishakha brings sufficient energy to this nakshatra, which can help people under its influence achieve their goals.
A relevant incident is quoted in Vedic mythology where a demon prayed to god Agni to protect him. After receiving assurance from Agni, he started worshipping lord Brahma for gaining powers. Indra, seeing it as threat to his power came to kill the demon. However, Agni who had promised the demon to protect him, came in the way and fought Indra; preventing him from killing the demon. It should be noted that Agni fought with Indra in order to do what was right, despite the fact that Indra was his king.
This incident is closely related to the divided personality of Vishakha. It means the influence of Agni on Vishakha brings positive traits of Agni and influence of Indra on this nakshatra adds his questionable traits to Vishakha. This further means that people under strong influence of Vishakha may witness constant battle inside them, as if two sides of their personalities are fighting with each other.
Whenever an opportunity presents itself, the influence of Indra may encourage converting such opportunity at any cost. On the other hand, the influence of Agni may encourage assessing the cost first and then deciding whether to proceed or not. It means the first side wants to achieve success at any cost whereas the second side likes to quit; if such success is achieved through immoral ways.
Hence the biggest task of a native under strong influence of Vishakha may be to decide which side he wants to embrace, along with all its consequences. In a horoscope, placements of various benefic or malefic planets in Vishakha may indicate which one of these sides the native is more likely to embrace.
Vedic astrology assigns Jupiter as the ruling planet of Vishakha. A number of traits of Jupiter find expression through Vishakha. It is interesting to note that many of these traits may be used negatively due to strong influence of Indra on Vishakha. For example, Jupiter’s ability and optimism for achieving goals may be used negatively through Vishakha as the goals set by Vishakha may not be in tune with universal wellbeing, in many cases.
The first three quarters of Vishakha fall in Libra ruled by Venus and the last quarter falls in Scorpio ruled by Mars. The Libra part of Vishakha comes under the influence of planets with opposite natures just as it comes under the influence of deities with different natures. Jupiter and Venus are different in many of their traits and they are opposite in some of their traits.
A double set of opposite influences makes Vishakha a hard to balance nakshatra. This is probably the reason why the name of this nakshatra has been chosen Vishakha since it is divided between conflicting ruling deities as well as between conflicting planets. It can be seen that Indra’s love for drinking, women, pomp, power and show is more in tune with Venus than Jupiter. Hence the Indra side of Vishakha is likely to be the dominant side, in Libra part of this nakshatra.
Accordingly, people under strong influence of Libra part of Vishakha may get fixated on their goals. These people may not care much whether the paths they are choosing to reach these goals are right or wrong. As a result, these people may have tendency to choose wrong paths at many points in their lives. For such Vishakha people, only the goals may be important and the means may not be. Vishakha is a nakshatra of desire and the desire element may exhibit fully in Libra part of this nakshatra.
Vishakha people may be fond of alcohol, sex and other pleasures of senses. They may also be strong followers of pomp and extravagance. To fulfill these desires, they may need a lot of money and resources. Quite often, earning such amounts of money through right paths may be difficult. Hence people under strong influence of Vishakha may end up following wrong paths in their lives.
This is because getting what they want may be of prime importance to them and how they get it may not be much important. Vishakha people may be easily charmed by materialistic pleasures and they may have strong urges to experience them. Vishakha people may have strong fires of desires burning inside them. No matter how much they may try to satisfy their desires, they may end up wanting more in most cases.
As a result, strong influence of Vishakha can make the people reach for excesses in the fields like alcohol, sex and other physical pleasures. Vishakha people may not bother much about moral and ethical codes of society. They may be focused at reaching their goals which may many times not be in tune with moral and ethical codes of society.
Vishakha may give strong will power to achieve goals. It may also bless the people with love for life and the ability to celebrate life. However, these positive traits may need a check on them as they may easily cross their limits and change into negative ones. The key element for Vishakha is the kind of path it chooses, depending on how its energy is channelized.
If the energy of Vishakha is used by suitable benefic planets; it may follow the right path and it may bless the native with a number of good results. However, if the energy of Vishakha is used by opportunistic or malefic planets; the native may end up losing more than he gains. It means such native may engage in various types of immoral and bad karmas, inviting a number of problems for near and far future.
Vishakha people may do well or very well in professions; depending on their overall horoscopes. Placements of suitable benefic planets in Vishakha may bless a native with millions or billions through profession, provided his overall horoscope is supportive. Such people may have very good chances of achieving success in professional spheres which deal with glamour, entertainment, luxuries, relaxation, pleasure of senses, beauty and other likewise fields. Hence some Vishakha people may achieve success as movie stars whereas some others may succeed in hotel industry. Some of these people may engage in airline industry, some may engage in casino industry and some others may achieve success through liquor industry.
The sphere of personal life and relationships may not do well in case of these people. Vishakha people may be good at getting into relationships. Hence they may make friends, lovers and associates quickly. However, they may not be good at maintaining such relationships. Hence people may come in and go out of their lives; often leaving voids which may be filled by other people; and this trend may continue almost throughout their lives.
The major reason for this trend may be that Vishakha people may give much more priority to their professional goals and materialistic desires; compared to people. Hence when a situation arises where one such native may have to choose between an opportunity for professional growth and someone close to him or someone he loves; such native may often choose the former.
Though one such native may still care for his loved one; he may care more for his goals. Hence he may want his loved ones to follow him or walk with him on any path he chooses. Since such paths may often be troublesome ones; his loved ones may choose not to walk on them. Instead they may advise/warn him to stay away from such paths. This may leave one such native with a choice to make between such path and one such loved one.
Many times, the native may choose the path over such loved one, since materialistic success and goals may be on the top of his list of priorities. Hence he may often sacrifice people closer to him; though he may not wish to. It means what he may really want is for such people to walk along with him on the paths chosen by him. Failing to convince them to do so; he may walk alone on such paths.
For this reason, Vishakha people may witness people coming in and going out of their lives. Only those people may stay longer with them; who may have similar priorities; which means who may be willing to walk on any path to achieve what they want. Due to this trait; Vishakha people may want people around them to understand them whereas they may not be willing to do the same. Hence they may expect many compromises from people close to them and in return; they may not be willing to make many compromises or any compromises.
This attitude may especially prove troublesome for relationships like marriage and love affair; since their partners may often feel ignored due to fixation of these people on materialistic goals. The same fixation may often bless them with good or very good amount of professional success and money; though it may cost them dearly in the sphere of relationships.
This tendency may be higher in Libra part of Vishakha, compared to Scorpio part of this nakshatra. Hence people under strong influence of Scorpio part of Vishakha may not suffer that much in the sphere of relationships; since they may often make compromises for the people who matter to them. Such Vishakha people may care a lot for their goals but they may also care a lot for people close to them.
Hence they may at times sacrifice the opportunities for materialistic growth, for their loved ones. At other times, they may be able to convince such loved ones to walk along with them on the paths chosen by them. This way, they may do better in the sphere of relationships; than those under strong influence of Libra part of Vishakha. The Indra part of Vishakha may dominate in Libra whereas the Agni part of Vishakha may dominate or put a strong fight in Scorpio.
Though Vishakha displays 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. Looking at planets; Moon, Venus, Mercury, Rahu and Saturn may perform better in Libra part of Vishakha. Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Ketu may perform better in Scorpio part of Vishakha.
Vishakha is a difficult to handle nakshatra. Hence placements of malefic planets in Vishakha may cause a number of problems for the native; depending on his overall horoscope. Vishakha is prone to pay more than it achieves, in the long run. It means many Vishakha people may witness considerable gains in the short run, but they may end up suffering more, in the long run. Therefore, people under its strong influence should keep their desires in check; so that they don’t go against the universal theme.
Let’s look at performances of various planets in various navamshas of Vishakha. Starting with Aries navamsha; Venus may do very well in this navamsha whereas Mercury, Rahu and Saturn may do well but not very well in this navamsha. Saturn is exalted in Libra but it is debilitated in Aries. Mars may perform above average or well in this navamsha; since it has decent strength in Libra, it is strong in Aries and it is very comfortable in Vishakha.
Jupiter may perform above average or well in this navamsha; since it rules Vishakha and it is strong in Aries. Moon may perform above average here; since it may do well in Libra as well as Aries but it is not strong in any one of them. Ketu may perform above average in this navamsha. Sun may perform on average or above average here; since it is exalted in Aries and very comfortable in Vishakha; but debilitated in Libra. Within the sign of Libra; Sun may be the least weak in this navamsha. Among navagraha; Venus may be the strongest in this navamsha. No planet may be significantly weak in this navamsha and no planet may perform below average or poorly here.
Looking at Taurus navamsha; Venus, Saturn, Mercury and Rahu may perform very well here; since they are all strong in Libra as well as Taurus. Moon may perform well in this navamsha; since it has fair strength in Libra and it is exalted in Taurus. Jupiter may perform on average or above average but not well here; since it is not strong in Libra as well as Taurus.
Mars may perform on average or above average here; since it is very comfortable in Vishakha but it is not strong in Libra as well as Taurus. Ketu may perform below average here; since it is not strong in Libra and it is debilitated in Taurus. Sun may perform below average or poorly here; since it is not strong in Taurus and it is debilitated in Libra; though it is very comfortable in Vishakha. Among navagraha; Venus and Saturn may be the strongest in this navamsha whereas Sun may be the weakest.
Moving on to Gemini navamsha; Venus, Saturn, Mercury and Rahu may perform well or very well here; since they are all strong in Libra as well as Gemini. Moon may perform on average in this navamsha; since it is not strong in Libra as well as Gemini. Jupiter may also perform on average here; for the same reasons as Moon.
Mars may perform on average or above average in this navamsha; since it is very comfortable in Vishakha but it is not strong in Libra as well as Gemini. Ketu may perform below average here; since it is not strong in Libra and it is weak in Gemini. Sun may perform poorly in this navamsha; since it is debilitated in Libra and not strong in Gemini. Among navagraha; Venus and Saturn may be the strongest in this navamsha whereas Sun may be the weakest.
Considering Cancer navamsha; Jupiter and Ketu may perform well or very well here. Jupiter is strong in Scorpio and exalted in Cancer whereas Ketu has decent strength in Cancer and it is exalted in Scorpio. Mars may perform well but not very well here; since it is strong in Scorpio but debilitated in Cancer. Sun may perform on average or above average here; since it has good strength in Scorpio and it is very comfortable in Vishakha, but it is weak in Cancer.
Venus may perform above average in this navamsha; since it is not strong in Scorpio as well as Cancer. Mercury and Saturn may perform on average here; since none of them is strong in Scorpio as well as Cancer. Moon may perform below average in this navamsha; since it is debilitated in Scorpio but it is strong in Cancer. Rahu may perform poorly here; since it is debilitated in Scorpio and not strong in Cancer. Among navagraha; Ketu may be the strongest in this navamsha whereas Rahu may be the weakest.
Himanshu Shangari