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

Sagittarius is Jupiter's fiery sign, in BPHS Ch. 4 Sl. 17-18 a royal, Sattvic sign that is two-footed in its first half and four-footed in its second. Jupiter and Saturn are neither friends nor enemies in the engine's table here; it labels Saturn in Sagittarius "Neutral". Advanced Predictive Astrology pairs the two planets directly - Jupiter "the life force", Saturn "the force sustaining life" (p. 311) - which makes Saturn passing through Jupiter's sign a natural place to look at both. Background: Saturn in Vedic astrology and Sagittarius, Dhanu rashi.

This page sets out dates and rules; it does not forecast. Use the Gochar calculator for your own Moon.

When Saturn is in Sagittarius: the ingress dates

Sagittarius has five rows, because the 1990-2050 window catches the tail of one passage and two full ones.

The first row is a return, not an entry. The window opens in 1990 with Saturn finishing a Sagittarius passage that began before 1990; it crossed into Capricorn on 21 March 1990, came back to Sagittarius on 19 June, and left for good on 15 December 1990. The 2017 passage looped at its start, with Saturn back in Scorpio from June to October 2017. The 2040s passage loops at its end, with a four-month visit to Capricorn in 2049 before a last stay in Sagittarius.

All of these returns are retrograde motion (vakri); the Gochar calculator flags it and shows the degree.

Sagittarius counted from your Moon: the house and the verdict

Gochara (glossary) counts houses from the natal Moon. The engine gives Saturn: testing in the 1st, 8th, 12th (most intense) and 4th; favourable in the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 11th; neutral in the 5th, 7th, 9th, 10th.

For a Pisces Moon, Sagittarius is the 10th: "neutral" in the engine, "a period of gain" in Advanced Predictive Astrology (p. 311). Pisces is also ruled by Jupiter, which the count ignores. Your Moon sign: Moon sign calculator; the reasoning: Moon sign and nakshatra.

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

• Capricorn Moon: Sagittarius is the 12th, the rising phase. Capricorn is Saturn's own sign; the count is unchanged.
• Sagittarius Moon: the peak phase, with the engine's "intensified" flag - the worked example.
• Scorpio Moon: the setting phase.
• Taurus Moon: Sagittarius is the 8th, Ashtama Sani (glossary).
• Virgo Moon: Sagittarius is the 4th, Ardha Ashtama Sani.

The North Indian list in Advanced Predictive Astrology (p. 312) gives Sagittarius the first five years of its Sade Sati as the heavier part, Scorpio the last five, and Capricorn the first two and a half. Not computed by the engine. The Sade Sati calculator, the Sade Sati page and the glossary entry set out the rule used here.

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

From the engine's timestamps: the 2017-2020 passage spent 966 days in Sagittarius (146 and 820), and the 2046-2049 passage spends 970 (820 and 150). The two are almost mirror images - the short stay before the long one in 2017, after it in 2049. The calculator's 913-day duration is an average label used for every sign; both Sagittarius passages exceed it because of their loops.

Sagittarius holds all of Mula, all of Purva Ashadha and the first pada of Uttara Ashadha in the engine's table. The Gochar calculator shows Saturn's degree, which places it among these. The whole-sign rule does not depend on the nakshatra. Advanced Predictive Astrology's 45-degree Sade Sati boundary does, because it starts from the natal Moon's exact degree, so two Sagittarius Moons could get different Sade Sati windows under that version.

For the four Moon signs where Sagittarius is a neutral house - Aries (9th), Gemini (7th), Leo (5th) and Pisces (10th) - the engine's note is simply that the position is "classically unremarkable" for Saturn. That describes the rule, not the period.

What the classical texts say

There is no transit reading for Saturn in Sagittarius in the BPHS or Saravali text held here. Advanced Predictive Astrology gives one Jupiter-Saturn rule that fits this sign: Saturn's transit over natal Jupiter, it says, is good for financial gain (p. 311). That depends on where Jupiter is in a particular birth chart, not on Sagittarius, so it is a check to make in a full chart rather than a statement about this transit. The engine does not compute it.

The book also stresses (p. 308) that dasha and transit are the two limbs of prediction and that a transit alone does not produce an event. That is the frame this page keeps throughout.

The sign itself: Jupiter's fire sign

Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter. The engine labels Saturn there "Neutral" for all thirty degrees - no exaltation, no fall, no own-sign strength. See Saturn in Sagittarius for the natal reading. The Gochara verdict does not use it.

Worked example: a Sagittarius Moon through the 2014-2023 Sade Sati

Take a natal Moon in Sagittarius. Scorpio is the 12th, Sagittarius the 1st, Capricorn the 2nd, Aquarius the 3rd. The engine dates, including the neighbouring signs:

1. 1.2 November 2014 to 26 January 2017: Saturn in Scorpio - rising phase.
2. 2.26 January 2017 to 21 June 2017: Sagittarius - peak phase. Then back to Scorpio, the rising phase, until 26 October 2017.
3. 3.26 October 2017 to 23 January 2020: Sagittarius - peak phase.
4. 4.23 January 2020 to 27 April 2022: Capricorn - setting phase, Gochara "favourable" for the 2nd.
5. 5.27 April 2022 to 13 July 2022: Aquarius, the 3rd - "favourable", and outside Sade Sati by the whole-sign rule.
6. 6.13 July 2022 to 16 January 2023: Capricorn again - the setting phase closes.

Counted end to end that is more than eight years, longer than the "seven and a half" in the name, because the retrograde loops stretched it at both ends. The North Indian list would weight the first five years. The next round for this Moon begins with Saturn in Scorpio on 12 December 2043. The dasha in force is the other half of any reading; a Saturn Mahadasha and a Jupiter period, Jupiter ruling this Moon sign, are different settings.

Neighbouring signs: Saturn transit in Scorpio and Saturn transit in Capricorn. Other slow transits through Sagittarius: Jupiter transit in Sagittarius and Rahu transit in Sagittarius.

When is Saturn next in Sagittarius?

From 8 December 2046 to 7 March 2049, and from 8 July to 5 December 2049 (UTC), in this app's computation.

When was Saturn last in Sagittarius?

From 26 January to 21 June 2017, and from 26 October 2017 to 23 January 2020.

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

Capricorn (rising, Sagittarius is the 12th), Sagittarius (peak) and Scorpio (setting, the 2nd).

Why did one Sade Sati last more than seven and a half years?

Retrograde loops at the sign boundaries can extend the span from first entry into the 12th to final exit from the 2nd. The whole-sign rule counts every day Saturn is in those signs.

Who gets a favourable verdict?

Cancer, Libra, Scorpio and Aquarius Moons. Testing: Taurus, Virgo, Sagittarius, Capricorn. Neutral: the rest. See the Gochar calculator.

Why does the first row of the table start in June 1990 rather than with an entry from Scorpio?

Because the window begins in 1990, when Saturn was already near the end of an earlier Sagittarius passage that started before the window. The engine records its crossing into Capricorn on 21 March 1990 and its retrograde return to Sagittarius on 19 June 1990; that return is the first row. The final exit on 15 December 1990 closes the passage. Earlier rows fall outside the computed range and are not shown.