Mercury in Vishakha Nakshatra (Budh in विशाखा)

Vishakha, the 16th of the 27 nakshatras, covers 200°00′ – 213°20′ of the sidereal zodiac, across the boundary between Libra and Scorpio. Vishakha is ruled by Jupiter, so Mercury in Vishakha stands in Jupiter’s star.

Mercury counts Jupiter neutral, while Jupiter counts Mercury an enemy. The table is not symmetric, so Mercury in Vishakha has to be described from both sides, as it is here. The other two nakshatras Jupiter rules, Punarvasu and Purva Bhadrapada, put Mercury under the same star lord.

Mercury in Vishakha, Pada by Pada

By rashi, Mercury in Vishakha is in a friend's sign in padas 1, 2 and 3 (Libra) and in a neutral sign in pada 4 (Scorpio), because Vishakha crosses from Libra into Scorpio. By navamsa the four padas fall in Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer. Mercury’s strongest navamsa in Vishakha is pada 3 (Gemini, in its own sign), and its weakest is pada 4 (Cancer, in an enemy's sign).

Neither Mercury’s deepest exaltation (Virgo) nor its deepest debilitation (Pisces) degree falls inside Vishakha, and Mercury’s moolatrikona lies outside it as well, so in Vishakha the rashi and navamsa verdicts above are the whole of Mercury’s dignity.

When Mercury Is in Vishakha, 2026–2028

• 12 October 2026: Mercury enters Vishakha, and leaves on 3 November 2026 moving backwards — 22 days.
• 25 November 2026: Mercury enters Vishakha, and leaves on 4 December 2026 — 9 days.
• 19 November 2027: Mercury enters Vishakha, and leaves on 28 November 2027 — 9 days.
• 11 November 2028: Mercury enters Vishakha, and leaves on 19 November 2028 — 8 days.

Those are the four spells Mercury spends in Vishakha between 1 January 2026 and 1 January 2029, 48 days in all. Over the same span Mercury stands in every one of the 27 nakshatras. The dates are days only; for Mercury in Vishakha a minute would be more precise than the ayanamsa behind it.

Inside Vishakha: what the tables locate there for Mercury

Of the 100 complete spells Mercury has in the table, in any nakshatra, the shortest is 4 days and the longest 58; the Vishakha spells, at 22, 9, 9 and 8 days, sit inside that range.

The retrograde table runs from 2024 to 2031, wider than the ingress table, and it places two of Mercury's stations in Vishakha. On 29 November 2025 Mercury stations direct inside Vishakha, in pada 2. On 24 October 2026 Mercury stations retrograde inside Vishakha, in pada 3. At a station Mercury’s motion is at its slowest, so these are the days it is most nearly still in Vishakha.

Vishakha as the Setting for Mercury

In the nakshatra tables Vishakha’s deity is listed as Indra-Agni and its symbol as triumphal arch; its gana is Rakshasa, and the muhurta texts put it in the Mishra class (mixed). Those belong to Vishakha whichever graha is in it, and they are read on the Vishakha page. What changes with Mercury is everything above: the dignities in Libra and Scorpio, the relation to Jupiter, and the dates. None of it is a prediction for anyone born with Mercury in Vishakha; the house it occupies and the dasha running decide what the placement does in a chart.

Related Placements

The sign-level reading is on Mercury in Libra and Mercury in Scorpio; Mercury in all 27 nakshatras is on the Mercury nakshatra table. For the nakshatras themselves, see the 27 nakshatras guide and our Vishakha article.

The Other Grahas in Vishakha