Mercury (Budh)
बुध
Mercury, Budha, is the planet nearest the Sun, never seen more than about twenty-eight degrees from it, and so the quickest to change direction: it turns retrograde three or four times a year. Its name means the wise or the awakened, and in the stories it is the son of the Moon. In a chart it stands for intellect, speech, writing, trade, learning and analysis, and it takes on the nature of the planets it is with, kind with the kind and harsh with the harsh. Wednesday is its day. Mercury is the one graha that is exalted in a sign it also rules, Virgo, where the site's tables divide the sign into three parts: exaltation, then moolatrikona, then its own house, given by degree below. This page gives what the site's tables hold for Mercury: the signs it rules, those dignities, its friends and enemies, its combustion distance, its dasha and its readings in the signs and houses.
At a glance
- Nature
- Natural benefic
- Day
- Wednesday
- Vimshottari dasha
- 17 years
- Directional strength
- 1st house
- Combust within
- 14° (12° when retrograde)
What Mercury signifies
The site's table of significations, the natural karakatva the birth report reads, gives Mercury: intellect, communication, commerce, learning, analysis.
Mercury is one of the natural benefics in the site's table, with Jupiter, Venus and the Moon. Where the site weighs strength by Shadbala it follows Raman: Mercury is a benefic unless the malefics in its sign outnumber the benefics there. Natural nature is only half the story: what a graha is for a particular chart depends on the houses it rules from that chart's Lagna, which each sign's page sets out.
Signs and dignities
Mercury rules Gemini and Virgo. Its dignities, as the site's table gives them, by degree where Parashara divides a sign (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, the chapter on the planets, tr. R. Santhanam):
- Exalted in Virgo from 0° to 15°.
- Moolatrikona in Virgo from 15° to 20°.
- Own sign in Gemini.
- Own sign in Virgo from 20° to 30°.
- Fallen (debilitated) in Pisces.
Friends and enemies
The natural friendships the site reckons with (Parashara's, in the table every dignity and strength is worked from):
A planet in the sign of a friend is comfortable there, in an enemy's ill at ease; the sign pages list who is where.
Aspects, combustion and direction
Mercury aspects the 7th sign from the one it occupies. Every graha aspects the seventh. Aspects are by sign, not by an orb of degrees. Mercury is combust, lost in the Sun's light, when within 14° (12° when retrograde) of the Sun (Surya Siddhanta). It gains directional strength, dig bala, in the 1st house.
In transit, counted from the Moon sign, the classical gochara table the site uses counts Mercury favourable in the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th and 11th houses.
Its dasha and its nakshatras
Mercury rules Ashlesha, Jyeshtha and Revati, one in each third of the zodiac. Its period in the Vimshottari dasha lasts 17 years, of the cycle's 120; a person born with the Moon in one of its nakshatras begins life in it.
Mercury in the twelve signs
Varahamihira's readings of a birth with Mercury in each sign, as the birth report quotes them (Brihat Jataka, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer). He adds that a sign's effects come in full only when the planet, the sign and its lord are strong.
In Aries. With Mercury in Aries, Varahamihira gives a hard reading: a mind drawn to gambling, debt and drink, to arguing against received teaching and to bending the truth, a course he warns leads to poverty. (Brihat Jataka 18.8, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Taurus. With Mercury in Taurus, Varahamihira describes a teacher and speaker, generous and respectful of teachers and elders, always busy earning, with a large family. (Brihat Jataka 18.8, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Gemini. With Mercury in Gemini, Varahamihira describes a sweet-spoken, learned person accomplished in the sciences and in music, dance and painting, who lives in comfort and is fond of saying so. (Brihat Jataka 18.9, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Cancer. With Mercury in Cancer, Varahamihira describes earnings from work connected with water, and strained relations with relatives. (Brihat Jataka 18.9, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Leo. With Mercury in Leo, Varahamihira gives a hard reading: an unsettled, wandering life with little comfort or means, difficulty in love, few children, and a risk to one's good name. (Brihat Jataka 18.10, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Virgo. With Mercury in Virgo, Varahamihira describes a generous, learned, patient and inventive person of many virtues, fearless and living in comfort. (Brihat Jataka 18.10, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Libra. With Mercury in Libra, Varahamihira describes a teacher and speaker, generous and respectful of teachers and elders, always busy earning, with a large family. (Brihat Jataka 18.8, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Scorpio. With Mercury in Scorpio, Varahamihira gives a hard reading: a mind drawn to gambling, debt and drink, to arguing against received teaching and to bending the truth, a course he warns leads to poverty. (Brihat Jataka 18.8, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Sagittarius. With Mercury in Sagittarius, Varahamihira describes a person learned in the sciences and the law and respected by those in power. (Brihat Jataka 18.11, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Capricorn. With Mercury in Capricorn, Varahamihira describes work for others and in crafts such as carving, little reward for it, modest means and a risk of debt. (Brihat Jataka 18.11, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Aquarius. With Mercury in Aquarius, Varahamihira describes work for others and in crafts such as carving, little reward for it, modest means and a risk of debt. (Brihat Jataka 18.11, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Pisces. With Mercury in Pisces, Varahamihira describes a gift for making friends and for reading others' minds, and skill in practical handicrafts. (Brihat Jataka 18.11, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
Mercury in the twelve houses
The readings the birth report gives for Mercury in each house, counted from the Lagna:
In the 1st house. Mercury in the 1st house gives a quick, intelligent and youthful nature; you are witty, communicative and skilled with words, logic and analysis.
In the 2nd house. Mercury in the 2nd house grants eloquent speech and a sharp head for money; you earn through communication, commerce, writing or calculation.
In the 3rd house. Mercury in the 3rd house is excellent for writing, media and learning; you are curious, articulate, dexterous and effective in short journeys and trade.
In the 4th house. Mercury in the 4th house gives a learned, busy mind at home; you value education, vehicles and property, and may work or study from home.
In the 5th house. Mercury in the 5th house grants high intelligence, skill in mathematics, speculation and creative writing; learning and clever children bring joy.
In the 6th house. Mercury in the 6th house sharpens analytical and problem-solving skill; you excel in service, accounting, healing or detailed work, defeating rivals with logic.
In the 7th house. Mercury in the 7th house favours a youthful, clever partner and skill in business partnerships, negotiation, trade and contracts.
In the 8th house. Mercury in the 8th house gives a research-minded, investigative intellect drawn to secrets, the occult, finance and inheritance; speech can be guarded.
In the 9th house. Mercury in the 9th house grants a philosophical, well-read mind; you teach, publish, travel and reason skilfully about religion, law and higher learning.
In the 10th house. Mercury in the 10th house favours a career in communication, commerce, writing, analysis or trade; intelligence and adaptability raise your standing.
In the 11th house. Mercury in the 11th house brings gains through networking, commerce and intellect; friends are clever, and ambitions are met through clever planning.
In the 12th house. Mercury in the 12th house gives an imaginative, introspective intellect suited to research, foreign trade or spiritual study; mind can be scattered or secretive.
Observances
The tradition's observances for Mercury, as the site's reference lists them. Wednesday is its day and Lord Vishnu / Lord Ganesha its deity. Its mantra is "Om Budhaya Namah", and its beej mantra "Om Braam Breem Braum Sah Budhaya Namaha", recited 108 times. The customary gifts: donate green gram (moong) or green cloth on Wednesdays; feed green fodder to cows. Its stotra is the Vishnu Sahasranama.
Its stone is the Emerald (Panna). The site advises a stone only from a chart: its remedies page strengthens a planet whose Shadbala falls short of what it needs only where that planet is a friend of the chart, and never from a transit or a sign alone.
Use the tools
- See where Mercury stands in your chart and how strong it is by Shadbala: free birth chart.
- Its present sign and the day's panchang: panchang; its transit through your Moon sign: horoscope.
- All nine: the grahas.