In which rashi is Mercury exalted?
Mercury is exalted in Virgo (Kanya rashi), most deeply at 15 degrees. It is debilitated in Pisces (Meena) at 15 degrees.
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Learn - Planets - Mercury (Budh)
In Vedic astrology Mercury (Budh) is exalted in Virgo (Kanya), most deeply at 15 degrees, and debilitated in Pisces (Meena) at 15 degrees. It rules Gemini (Mithuna) and Virgo. Mercury is the only planet that is exalted in a sign it also rules, so Virgo is its exaltation, its moolatrikona and its own sign all at once.
Virgo is the sign of analysis, detail and service. Mercury is the planet of the discriminating mind, so a sign that sorts, measures and refines lets it work perfectly. Pisces is the sign of feeling and dissolving boundaries, where logic gives way to intuition, and Mercury struggles to keep things precise.
Open your birth chart and read Mercury through these checks in order. No single one decides it: an exalted planet in the 8th house, or a debilitated one with its debilitation cancelled, can surprise you.
From strongest to weakest: exalted, moolatrikona, own sign, a friend’s sign, a neutral sign, an enemy’s sign, debilitated. This is the first and most quoted check, but it is only one of several.
Mercury is strongest in Virgo (Kanya), comfortable in Gemini (Mithuna) and Virgo (Kanya), and weakest in Pisces (Meena). A sign ruled by Sun, Venus is friendly ground.
A planet in a kendra (1st, 4th, 7th, 10th) or trikona (1st, 5th, 9th) can act freely. In the dusthanas (6th, 8th, 12th) it struggles to give good results for that house, though malefics often do well in the 3rd, 6th and 11th.
Each planet has one house where it gets full directional strength, and the opposite house where it has none.
Mercury gets full dig bala in the 1st house.
A planet too close to the Sun is combust (asta) and loses some of its independence.
Mercury is combust within 14° of the Sun.
Jupiter or Venus with or aspecting a planet supports it. Saturn, Mars, Rahu or Ketu with it, or a planet hemmed between malefics on both sides (papakartari), weakens it.
A planet in the same sign in the birth chart and the Navamsa is vargottama, and gains a lot of strength. A planet exalted in the birth chart but debilitated in the Navamsa delivers less than its sign promises.
Shadbala adds up six kinds of strength (position, direction, time, motion, natural strength and aspects) into one number for each planet. It is the most complete single measure, and AstroPal computes it for every chart.
Mercury never moves far from the Sun, so it is often combust: within 14 degrees of the Sun (12 when retrograde, by many authorities). A combust Mercury can still give a sharp mind, especially with the Sun in the same sign (Budha-Aditya yoga), but its own significations lose some independence.
Mercury is neutral by nature and acts like the planets it sits with. With Jupiter or Venus it behaves as a benefic; with Saturn, Mars, Rahu or Ketu it takes on their harder side. Always read Mercury together with its conjunctions.
Your own chart
The free Kundli shows which sign, house and nakshatra your Mercury sits in. Ask AstroPal and the astrologer reads its dignity, Navamsa and Shadbala for you.
Mercury is exalted in Virgo (Kanya rashi), most deeply at 15 degrees. It is debilitated in Pisces (Meena) at 15 degrees.
Mercury rules Gemini (Mithuna) and Virgo (Kanya). In Virgo the first 15 degrees are exaltation, 15 to 20 degrees moolatrikona, and the rest own sign.
Not always. Mercury is combust in a large share of charts because it stays close to the Sun. It weakens Mercury as an independent planet, but Budha-Aditya yoga (Sun and Mercury together) is still a classic sign of intelligence. Read the sign, house and Navamsa before deciding.
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