Effort that seems to fail

Ashlesha Nakshatra

Ashlesha is one of the most fascinating Nakshatras. It is very different from Pushya and Punarvasu, the other two Nakshatras in Cancer. As per mythology, Ashlesha is ruled by Lord Vasuki, the king of the serpents. We often attach a negative connotation to serpents, but we must understand this through mythology.

In the Bhagavad Gita, while explaining his role to Lord Arjuna, Lord Krishna says that among the serpents he is Lord Vasuki. He also says that among the Pandavas he is Lord Arjuna and gives several other examples. The point is that Lord Krishna regarded Lord Vasuki as the king of the serpents, and Lord Vasuki rules this Nakshatra. During the churning of the ocean, Lord Vasuki's body helped the gods and demons churn it. Lord Vishnu is also known to sit on the serpent Sheshnag, symbolising his close relationship with the serpents.

Similarly, Lord Shiva, or Lord Rudra, carries a snake around his neck. Serpents share a close relationship with the gods. Ashlesha therefore possesses the Sattvic guna, a selfless quality. Its methods may be extreme, but in most cases its intention is likely to be selfless.

Mars in Ashlesha

Mars in Ashlesha is likely to lead to your efforts not leading to anything. This is a difficult position as Mars is weak in this Nakshatra. In fact, it's the weakest in this Nakshatra. And Mars is known for doing things.

Every effort you are making to achieve something is likely to be frustrated by one thing or the other. You must see which houses Mars is ruling, which planets and houses Mars is having an impact on to understand which aspects of your life might be affected due to this combination. What might happen eventually is that you might become an expert in recovering from a difficult situation. Like we hear stories that the person failed 71 times and then finally was able to find success.

Ashlesha's ability to hold on to one thing, even when it doesn't seem practical, might actually work in your favour. You might hold on to a cause, a goal, despite failing, despite feeling it's no longer practical for you to pursue it. You keep following it, keep failing, but eventually you're likely to find success. Mars and Ashlesha, both of them, are known to go to the extreme to win a battle.

Mars-Ashlesha-like person can make an excellent war strategist or a spy of some kind if the person is working in the finance sector. Again, the person can work tirelessly to achieve one's goal. When I refer to tirelessly working on one's goal, I'm referring to the ever awake state linked to Ashlesha. The person can always have one's eyes on the goal, like a surveillance officer.

Surveillance is 24-7. You're monitoring the activity in the city 24-7 to see if there's a crime. Mars-Ashlesha-like person can be that surveillance officer, always having an eye. Mars represents single-mindedness and Ashlesha demands changeability.

Together this can be very frustrating for the native, for this reason. Mars is a builder and an innovator and Mars- Ashlesha can lead to you building something never built before. Your creation can be very captivating and your engineering skills, your technical skills can be very unique. It reminds me of the story of the Iron Man, the first one, where he built this suit in a cave.

With unique engineering skills, he put raw materials together and built the suit. That is a very Mars–Ashlesha-like event. Mars represents innovation, while Ashlesha belongs to the caste of an outcast. That's my view of Mars in Ashlesha.