Ashlesha

The name means embrace, and the symbol is a serpent coiled. Both meanings are held at once and the tradition does not choose between them: this is the division of holding closely, which can mean intimacy and can mean constriction, and often means one turning into the other without announcement.

Mercury rules it, so the intelligence here is considerable and specifically perceptive about other people. Ashlesha reads a room accurately, which is a real gift and the source of its difficulty, because the same faculty makes influence easy. The honest reading concerns motive rather than capability. People with weight here should be asked, regularly and by someone they trust, whether they are persuading or manoeuvring, since from the inside the two feel identical.