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

Taurus is Venus's earthy sign. BPHS Ch. 4 Sl. 8 describes it as white, long, strong at night, and connected with villages and businessmen. Venus and Saturn are friends in the classical scheme, and this app's engine labels Saturn in Taurus a "Friendly sign" placement throughout. Saturn does not reach Taurus again until 2029; the last full passage ran from mid-2000 into 2003. Background reading: Saturn in Vedic astrology and Taurus, Vrishabha rashi.

What follows is the engine's dates and the engine's rule, applied to Taurus. It is not a forecast. To apply the same rule to your own Moon on a date of your choosing, use the Gochar calculator.

When Saturn is in Taurus: the ingress dates

Four stays fall inside 1990-2050. Each passage through Taurus has a retrograde loop at one end - the earlier one at the exit, the coming one at the entry.

The 2000-2003 passage reached Gemini on 24 July 2002, and for most people that would have been the end of "Saturn in Taurus". The engine shows Saturn back in Taurus from 6 January to 9 April 2003. The coming passage mirrors it: two months in Taurus from 6 August 2029, a retreat into Aries for about six months, and only then the long stay of just over two years from 16 April 2030.

Each reversal is retrograde motion (vakri). The Gochar calculator reports a retrograde flag and Saturn's degree inside the sign alongside the verdict, so on any given date you can see which side of the boundary it is on.

Taurus counted from your Moon: the house and the verdict

Gochara (definition) is counted from the natal Moon sign, with that sign as 1. The engine's rule for Saturn: 1st, 8th and 12th "testing" and most intense; 4th "testing"; 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 11th "favourable"; 5th, 7th, 9th and 10th "neutral". Sade Sati is the 12th-1st-2nd run, Ashtama Sani the 8th, Ardha Ashtama Sani the 4th.

For a Leo Moon, Taurus is the 10th. The engine marks that neutral; Advanced Predictive Astrology (Vol. II, p. 311) is warmer, calling Saturn's arrival in the 10th from the Moon "a period of gain". The difference is a difference of sources, and this page leaves it visible. Find your Moon sign with the Moon sign calculator, or read Moon sign and nakshatra for why the Moon is used.

Sade Sati, Ashtama Sani and Ardha Ashtama Sani during the Taurus passage

• Gemini Moon: Taurus is the 12th; Saturn's arrival opens the rising phase of Sade Sati. On the coming passage the opening is interrupted: Saturn is in Taurus for two months from 6 August 2029, then back in Aries until 16 April 2030.
• Taurus Moon: the peak phase. The engine's "intensified" flag is raised for Saturn in the 1st from the Moon.
• Aries Moon: the setting phase. It ends when Saturn moves into Gemini on 30 May 2032.
• Libra Moon: Taurus is the 8th, Ashtama Sani (glossary).
• Aquarius Moon: Taurus is the 4th, Ardha Ashtama Sani - worked through below.

The North Indian list reported in Advanced Predictive Astrology (p. 312) gives a heavier portion to each sign's Sade Sati. For the three signs here it names the first two and a half years for Taurus, the last two and a half for Gemini, and the middle two and a half for Aries. It is a school's view, not something the engine computes. The Sade Sati calculator uses the whole-sign rule; the Sade Sati page explains it and the exceptions.

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

Subtracting the engine's timestamps gives the time actually spent in the sign. The 2000-2003 passage totals 869 days: 776 in the main stay and 93 in the 2003 return. The coming passage totals 836: 61 days in 2029 and 775 from April 2030. Both are a little under the 913-day figure the Gochar calculator shows as Saturn's average time in a sign, which is a label for any sign rather than a measurement of this one.

Taurus holds the last three padas of Krittika, all of Rohini, and the first two padas of Mrigashira, by the engine's sign-to-nakshatra table. Saturn's degree in the calculator tells you which of these it is crossing. A Moon in Rohini and a Moon in late Krittika are both "Taurus Moons" for Gochara, and the whole-sign rule treats them the same; the 45-degree alternative in Advanced Predictive Astrology would not, since it measures from the Moon's exact degree.

What the classical texts say

Neither BPHS nor Saravali in this library describes Saturn transiting Taurus specifically. The transit material in the corpus is organised by house from the Moon, and the main source on Saturn's named periods is Advanced Predictive Astrology Vol. II. It defines Ardha Ashtama Sani as Saturn in the 4th from the Moon and explains it through the 4th house, which it says rules "happiness of mind"; it reads the period as one of family unhappiness. That is the book's reading, given here as such. This app's own wording for the 4th is "steadiness serves better than new commitments".

The sign itself: Venus's earth sign

Taurus is ruled by Venus. The engine reads Saturn there as being in a friendly sign for all thirty degrees - neither exalted nor debilitated, but on good terms with its host. The natal-chart reading of that placement is on Saturn in Taurus. In Gochara the dignity does not change the verdict; the house from the Moon does. A Venus-ruled sign is the same 4th house for an Aquarius Moon whether Saturn is friendly there or not.

Worked example: an Aquarius Moon and Ardha Ashtama Sani

Take a natal Moon in Aquarius. Taurus is the 4th sign from it. Aries, the sign before, is the 3rd; Gemini, after, is the 5th. Reading the dates:

1. 1.From 22 February 2028 to 6 August 2029 Saturn is in Aries, the 3rd: "favourable", one of the three houses Advanced Predictive Astrology also names as good for Saturn.
2. 2.From 6 August 2029 to 6 October 2029 Saturn is in Taurus, the 4th: Ardha Ashtama Sani, Gochara "testing".
3. 3.From 6 October 2029 to 16 April 2030 Saturn is back in Aries, the 3rd: favourable again.
4. 4.From 16 April 2030 to 30 May 2032 Saturn is in Taurus: Ardha Ashtama Sani for the full stay.
5. 5.From 30 May 2032 Saturn is in Gemini, the 5th: "neutral".

An Aquarius Moon reaches this point only a few years after its own Sade Sati (Saturn in Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces, 2020-2028 in the engine's dates). The 4th is the next named period in the count. How it plays out in a given life is not something the transit settles; the dasha running at the time is the other half of the reading, and a Saturn Mahadasha is a different backdrop from a Mercury period.

Neighbouring pages: Saturn transit in Aries and Saturn transit in Gemini. Other slow transits through Taurus: Jupiter transit in Taurus and Rahu transit in Taurus.

When is Saturn next in Taurus?

In this app's computation, from 6 August 2029 to 6 October 2029 (UTC), and then from 16 April 2030 to 30 May 2032. Between those it is retrograde back in Aries.

Was Saturn in Taurus in 2003?

Yes, by the engine: it left for Gemini on 24 July 2002 but returned from 6 January 2003 to 9 April 2003.

Which Moon signs are in Sade Sati when Saturn is in Taurus?

Gemini (rising, Taurus is the 12th), Taurus (peak) and Aries (setting, the 2nd).

Which Moon signs does the engine call favourable for this transit?

Aries, Cancer, Sagittarius and Pisces. Testing: Taurus, Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Neutral: the rest. Check yours in the Gochar calculator.

Why might another website give a different date?

Ayanamsa, planetary model and time zone all shift an ingress. This app uses Lahiri and its own model and quotes UTC; differences of hours to a day or two near an ingress are expected.