Saturn transit in Leo: the dates, and what it means for each Moon sign

Leo is the Sun's sign: royal, Sattvic, strong by day, in BPHS Ch. 4 Sl. 12. BPHS elsewhere (Ch. 4 Sl. 21) calls Saturn "Surya's offspring", and the two are enemies in the classical friendships; the engine reads Saturn in Leo as an "Enemy sign" placement. Advanced Predictive Astrology (Vol. II, p. 313) also lists Saturn in Leo, with Cancer, as a "detrimented" position, opposite its own signs. This page is about the transit, which is read from your Moon rather than from these dignities. Background: Saturn in Vedic astrology and Leo, Simha rashi.

The page gives dates and rules, not predictions. Apply the rule to your own Moon with the Gochar calculator.

When Saturn is in Leo: the ingress dates

Four stays inside 1990-2050, two per passage. The loop is at the start of the earlier passage and at the end of the later one.

In 2006 Saturn spent about two months in Leo, retreated into Cancer for the first half of 2007, and then crossed for good in July 2007, staying until September 2009. In the 2030s the order is reversed: a long first stay from August 2036, a step into Virgo in October 2038, and a three-month return to Leo in 2039 before leaving on 14 July 2039.

Those steps are retrograde motion (vakri). A high degree of Leo shown with a retrograde flag in the Gochar calculator means a return of this kind is under way or near.

Leo counted from your Moon: the house and the verdict

Gochara (glossary) takes your natal Moon sign as the 1st house. The engine's verdicts for Saturn: testing in the 1st, 8th, 12th (most intense) and 4th; favourable in the 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 11th; neutral in the 5th, 7th, 9th and 10th.

Scorpio is the Moon sign for which Leo is the 10th - "neutral" to the engine, "a period of gain" to Advanced Predictive Astrology (p. 311). Find your Moon sign with the Moon sign calculator; Moon sign and nakshatra explains the reference point.

Sade Sati, Ashtama Sani and Ardha Ashtama Sani with Saturn in Leo

• Virgo Moon: Leo is the 12th, Sade Sati's rising phase, from 28 August 2036.
• Leo Moon: the peak phase, with the engine's "intensified" flag. On the coming passage the order is not tidy: from 23 October 2038 to 3 April 2039 Saturn is in Virgo, the 2nd, so the setting phase starts early, then the peak resumes until 14 July 2039.
• Cancer Moon: the setting phase. It ends on 23 October 2038, resumes on 3 April 2039 with Saturn's return, and ends again on 14 July 2039.
• Capricorn Moon: Leo is the 8th, Ashtama Sani. Worked through below.
• Taurus Moon: Leo is the 4th, Ardha Ashtama Sani.

For these three Moon signs, the North Indian list in Advanced Predictive Astrology (p. 312) marks the first two and a half years of Sade Sati as the heavier part for both Leo and Virgo, and the middle two and a half for Cancer. The engine does not use it. The book also observes that Saturn's own major period can coincide with Sade Sati and says that combination is the hardest - its claim, reported. The Sade Sati calculator, the Sade Sati page and the glossary entry give the rule this app uses.

How long Saturn spends in Leo, and the nakshatras it crosses

The engine's timestamps give 852 days in Leo for the 2006-2009 passage (65 and 787) and 887 for the 2036-2039 passage (786 and 101). The calculator shows a fixed 913 days as Saturn's duration in a sign; that is a general average, and both Leo passages come in under it once the retrograde gaps are taken out.

Leo holds all of Magha, all of Purva Phalguni and the first pada of Uttara Phalguni in the engine's table. The calculator's degree readout shows which of these Saturn is in on a given date. The whole-sign rule ignores the nakshatra: every Leo Moon, from Magha to the first pada of Uttara Phalguni, enters Sade Sati on the same day Saturn enters Cancer. Advanced Predictive Astrology's 45-degree alternative would separate them, because it measures from the natal Moon's exact degree.

One more practical point about these dates. The 2006-2007 loop meant that for a few months Saturn was in Leo and then in Cancer again; a reader looking back at that period should check the engine's dates before assigning anything to "Saturn in Leo". The Gochar calculator accepts past dates for exactly this.

What the classical texts say

There is no Saturn-in-Leo transit reading in BPHS or Saravali as held here. The house rule from the Moon is the material the corpus does give, through Advanced Predictive Astrology. Its "detrimented" list is the one place the corpus singles out Leo for Saturn in transit: it says that when one of Jupiter, Rahu or Saturn reaches such a position, a person "should be ready" for difficult results. The book offers this as its own rule, not from BPHS, and the engine does not compute it. It is included only so its source is clear.

The sign itself: the Sun's fire sign

Leo is ruled by the Sun, which the engine treats as Saturn's enemy; Saturn there is "Enemy sign" for all thirty degrees. For what that means in a birth chart see Saturn in Leo. The Gochara verdict does not take the lord into account: a Leo transit is the 8th from Capricorn regardless of who rules Leo.

Worked example: a Capricorn Moon and Ashtama Sani

Take a natal Moon in Capricorn - Saturn's own sign, which does not change the count. Leo is the 8th from it; Cancer the 7th; Virgo the 9th.

1. 1.12 July 2034 to 28 August 2036: Saturn in Cancer, the 7th - "neutral".
2. 2.28 August 2036 to 23 October 2038: Saturn in Leo, the 8th - Ashtama Sani, Gochara "testing".
3. 3.23 October 2038 to 3 April 2039: Virgo, the 9th - "neutral"; the named period pauses.
4. 4.3 April 2039 to 14 July 2039: Leo again - Ashtama Sani resumes.
5. 5.From 14 July 2039: Virgo, the 9th, until 26 September 2041.

For a Capricorn Moon, Ashtama Sani lands about two decades after the Sade Sati of 2017-2025 in the engine's dates (Saturn in Sagittarius, Capricorn and Aquarius). Advanced Predictive Astrology quotes Varahamihira's harsh reading of the 8th; this app keeps its own wording, "patience and consolidation". The dasha is the other half of the picture - a Saturn Mahadasha and a Sun period are different settings for the same transit.

Neighbouring signs: Saturn transit in Cancer and Saturn transit in Virgo. Other slow transits through Leo: Jupiter transit in Leo and Rahu transit in Leo.

When is Saturn next in Leo?

From 28 August 2036 to 23 October 2038, and again from 3 April 2039 to 14 July 2039 (UTC), in this app's computation.

When was Saturn last in Leo?

From 3 November 2006 to 7 January 2007, then from 17 July 2007 to 10 September 2009.

Which Moon signs are in Sade Sati with Saturn in Leo?

Virgo (rising, Leo is the 12th), Leo (peak) and Cancer (setting, the 2nd).

What is a "detrimented" Saturn?

A term from Advanced Predictive Astrology for a planet 180 degrees from its own sign - for Saturn, Cancer or Leo. It is the book's rule, not a BPHS dignity, and this app does not compute it.

Which Moon signs does the engine call favourable?

Gemini, Cancer, Libra and Pisces. Testing: Taurus, Leo, Virgo, Capricorn. Neutral: the rest. Check in the Gochar calculator.

Does Saturn in Leo mean trouble because the Sun and Saturn are enemies?

Not in this app's reading. The enmity is a classical friendship rule used for dignity in a birth chart, and the engine labels the placement "Enemy sign" on that basis. The Gochara verdict for a transit depends only on the house Leo occupies from your natal Moon, so the same Leo transit is "favourable" for a Gemini, Cancer, Libra or Pisces Moon and "testing" for a Taurus, Leo, Virgo or Capricorn Moon.