Hi all!
Having Mercury in Sag combust by the Sun in the 2nd house, I experience this aspect by feeling misunderstood and talked over; I also feel as though I raise my voice a lot and will talk over people in an effort to get my point across in case my chance is lost OR, on the flip side, I won't speak at all. It's very extreme. (My Rahu is with Sun, Mercury, Venus and Neptune in the 2nd in Sag). I deal with this aspect mostly through family and friends, so I have trouble with proper expression and fair treatment. I also feel a lot of shame for being told I'm so defensive, when really I know my points are just as valid and valuable as anyone else's.
What helps me is to write, make art and study/practice astrology. I am a way better writer than I am a speaker, so I find my words are more effective in writing. Mercury has 100% Dig Bala and is my second highest planet in Shad Bala over all, so I know my mercury is strong despite its combustion. It also gets delighted by being with Venus and being in Jupiter's sign and Jupiter is Jagrat in Pisces in the 5th. That helps. My moon is also in Virgo Rasi. I manage my life very well, I just don't have a lot of earthly prosperity. My moon is malefic as it is waning. Money is there, but not in huge abundance and I struggle to find work that pays me what I'm worth. I get a lot of help from family.
Where I struggle most is relating to friends and keeping fair friendships in my life, as well as making money. It seems to be the earthly, practical realms that hang me up, but that would make sense since my Moon is malefic. I'm not sure if I'm stuck in this place of never leveling up or I haven't figured out just how to work with my avasthas.
My life isn't bad, but it feels pretty lackluster in many ways. As I study the avasthas, I see the hang ups and the things that were handed to me that I had no control over. Those things have shaped me, but at nearly 50, I'm ready to figure out how to get going with life and be okay with surrendering to what is.
@l-miranda i understand your condition, i have rahu with Sun and Mercury too (in the 10th). To understand the theory of the placement is one thing, but it took me some time to make the transfer in realising the daily and lived pattern of it. Making contribution in words in groups f.ex. with people I do not know well, always felt/feels,right afterwards, like I would have liked not to do the contribution. I would have liked to erase it and sink into the ground. Like feeling being too much or having said sth very bold- I feel here very close to the notion of “shame”. So I am happy to have learned that with the LA course. And just try to leave my contribution as it is, accepting the expression of myself more and more, regardless of what others might eventually think of me. Art, especially dance, helps me too, as a tool of self expression. It’s like letting the mercury playing and trying around while being felt loved by yourself, regardless the outcome.
interestingly, the planets which I felt the less drawn too in the LA course, were the ones in my chart which need some more help.
On Mercury:
“In this context, Hermes is like the wind that blows over the smoldering coals at the center of the hearth and makes them glow. In the same way, ideas can ignite deep emotions, words can make conscious what was previously only a vague knowledge, or illuminate what was only dimly perceived.” by Jean Shinoda Bolen in “the goddess in every woman”