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The detailed version of this article is featured in the book ‘Nakshatras – The Journey of Soul Part-2’.
Vishakha Nakshatra
Vishakha nakshatra is 16th among 27 nakshatras. The first three quarters of Vishakha fall in Libra whereas the last quarter of this nakshatra falls in Scorpio.
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 natives under strong influence of Vishakha nakshatra 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 natives may depend on whether they choose right path or wrong.
The characteristic of having to choose among different options is one of most prominent characteristics of Vishakha nakshatra. The main symbol of Vishakha nakshatra 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 nakshatra exhibits characteristics like promoting the outward display of achievements, show off and show biz. Hence Vishakha natives may be natural show offs. These natives 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 nakshatra 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 nakshatra exhibits all these characteristics.
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 natives are ambitious and they wish to achieve a lot. Once they have achieved, Vishakha natives may want to show such achievements off to the world, through parties and celebrations.
As Vishakha nakshatra is directly associated with achievements, celebrations and acts of show off, natives under its strong influence may often be found dealing in professions which feature these characteristics. It means Vishakha natives 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 nakshatra.
Vedic astrology assigns two ruling deities to Vishakha nakshatra. These two deities are known as god Indra, the ruler of heaven and god Agni, the ruler of Fire. Hence, Vishakha nakshatra exhibits a number of characteristics which are displayed by its ruling deities. Let’s look at some characteristics 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.
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 characteristic of Indra is relayed through Vishakha nakshatra. Accordingly, natives under strong influence of Vishakha nakshatra may be fixated on their goals. Hence such Vishakha natives 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 characteristics of Indra are also relayed through Vishakha nakshatra. As a result, Vishakha natives are likely to be fond of materialistic pleasures of all types. These characteristics are promoted by Libra part of Vishakha whereas they may be relatively subdued in Scorpio part of this nakshatra.
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 natives under its influence achieve their goals.
The influence of Agni on Vishakha brings positive characteristics of Agni and influence of Indra on this nakshatra adds his questionable characteristics to Vishakha. This further means that natives under strong influence of Vishakha nakshatra 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 nakshatra 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 nakshatra may indicate which one of these sides the native is more likely to embrace.
Vedic astrology assigns Jupiter as the ruling planet of Vishakha nakshatra. A number of characteristics of Jupiter find expression through Vishakha nakshatra. It is interesting to note that many of these characteristics may be used negatively due to strong influence of Indra on Vishakha nakshatra. For example, Jupiter’s ability and optimism for achieving goals may be used negatively through Vishakha nakshatra as the goals set by Vishakha may not be in tune with universal wellbeing, in many cases.
The first three quarters of Vishakha nakshatra 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 characteristics and they are opposite in some of their characteristics.
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, natives under strong influence of Libra part of Vishakha nakshatra may get fixated on their goals. These natives may not care much whether the paths they are choosing to reach these goals are right or wrong. As a result, these natives may have tendency to choose wrong paths at many points in their lives. For such Vishakha natives, 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 natives 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 natives under strong influence of Vishakha nakshatra 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 natives may be easily charmed by materialistic pleasures and they may have strong urges to experience them. Vishakha natives 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 nakshatra can make the natives reach for excesses in the fields like alcohol, sex and other physical pleasures. Vishakha natives 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 natives may do well or very well in professions; depending on their overall horoscopes. The sphere of personal life and relationships may not do well in case of these natives. Vishakha natives 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.
Looking at professions, natives under strong influence of Vishakha nakshatra may achieve success as models, actors, singers, musicians, dancers, writers, sportsmen, TV and radio artists, bartenders, pub owners and other professionals dealing in liquor industry; professionals working in sex industry like prostitutes, gigolos, porn artists, porn directors; drug dealers, arms dealers, gangsters, liquor smugglers, professionals dealing in sex rackets, militants, politicians, government officers, defense professionals, astrologers, psychics, healers, consultants, scientists, engineers, professionals dealing in movie industry, fashion industry, television industry, music industry, hotel industry, airline industry, casinos, tour and travel industry, apparel industry, tobacco industry and many other types of professionals, depending on their overall horoscopes.
Let’s look at some other facts associated with this nakshatra. Vishakha is considered as an active and mixed nakshatra. It is considered as a female nakshatra. Vedic astrology assigns Shudra Varna and fire element to Vishakha nakshatra. The Gana assigned to Vishakha is Rakshasa and the Guna assigned to it is Sattwic. It is a downward nakshatra and its Yoni or animal symbol is Tiger.
Himanshu Shangari