Hasta
The thirteenth of the 27 lunar mansions, the layer of the Vedic sky that Western astrology does not have. Hasta is the nakshatra of the skilled hand: its deity is Savitar, the aspect of the Sun that sets things in motion, its symbol is an open hand, and its stars are the five of the Crow. The name means the hand.
What the tradition says
Hasta's image is of what hands can do: make, mend, heal, write, deal cards, and steal. The classical texts read it as dexterity, cleverness, a talent for craft and for arrangements, and a sunny practicality that gets things done while others are still discussing them. The Moon rules the mansion, which gives the skill its responsiveness; this is a hand that feels what it is holding.
The honest shadow in the sources is the hand's other uses: cunning that becomes deceit, a restlessness that must always be doing, and a cleverness that can outrun conscience. The texts say Hasta people must learn what the hand is for.
A Hasta Moon
A Hasta Moon describes a mind that works things out with its hands: feelings expressed by doing rather than saying, comfort in craft and in being useful, and a nervousness when idle. Anyone born with the Moon here begins life in a Moon period, and the sequence of their planetary seasons runs from there.
The four padas
All four of Hasta's padas fall in sidereal Virgo. The navamsa runs Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer across them; the tradition reads the first as the quickest hand, the second as the steadiest, and the fourth, in Cancer, as the one where the skill turns towards care.
In degrees: pada 1 from 10° Virgo to 13°20′ Virgo with a Aries navamsa, pada 2 from 13°20′ Virgo to 16°40′ Virgo with a Taurus navamsa, pada 3 from 16°40′ Virgo to 20° Virgo with a Gemini navamsa and pada 4 from 20° Virgo to 23°20′ Virgo with a Cancer navamsa.
Why your Western chart never mentions this
There is no Western equivalent of Hasta.
Western astrology divides the sky into twelve signs and stops. The Vedic system lays 27 mansions of 13°20′ over its twelve signs, a finer grain with its own deities, symbols and timing system. There is no Western equivalent of Hasta, which is why a person can know their "big three" thoroughly and still meet something new the first time their Vedic chart is calculated. It is not that one system is finer-grained and therefore truer; they are answering different questions, and we show you both so you can see where they agree, and where they argue.
The Sun passes through Hasta from about 27 September to 10 October each year, which Western astrology calls Libra. A Moon can be here on any day of the year, since the Moon crosses a mansion in about a day, and it is the Moon the tradition reads first.
About 60 seconds · needs your birth date, time and place · unknown time handled honestly
Questions people ask
Is Hasta a good nakshatra?
The tradition does not rank the mansions as good and bad; each carries a capacity and a cost, and Hasta's are the gift of the skilled hand and the tax of cleverness. Readings that call nakshatras lucky or unlucky are selling something.
What if my Moon is at the edge of Hasta?
Then your pada matters more than usual, and your birth time matters more than usual, since the Moon moves about 13 degrees a day and crosses from Uttara Phalguni into Hasta and on into Chitra within two. The calculator shows your exact degree and flags it when a placement sits near an edge.
I am a Virgo in Western astrology. Is Hasta the same thing?
No. Your Western sign comes from the tropical zodiac; Hasta is a sidereal mansion that lies inside sidereal Virgo. You can be a Western Virgo with no Hasta placements at all, and a Western Libra with a Hasta Moon. The free chart shows your actual pair.
We read charts for pattern and coherence, not prediction. Nothing here tells you what will happen, and nothing here tells you who you are; it shows a structure and leaves the judgement with you.