Chapter 12 · गोचर Gochara
Transits
The last building block is time in motion. This chapter shows how the planets’ current positions are read against the birth chart, which transits are favourable, and what sade sati really is.
- Why transits are read from the natal Moon
- Which transit houses are favourable for each planet
- What sade sati is, and how to check it
- How transits work together with dashas
1. The sky now, against the chart at birth
The birth chart is fixed, but the planets keep moving. Their current positions (gochara, transits) are read against the birth chart, usually counted from the natal Moon. Dashas show which planet’s promise is active; transits show when it is triggered. The slow planets, Jupiter and Saturn, matter most.
2. Favourable transit houses
Classical texts list the houses from the natal Moon in which each planet’s transit is favourable. Choose your Moon sign, a planet and the sign it is transiting.
| Planet | Favourable houses from the Moon |
|---|
3. Sade sati
The best-known transit is sade sati, “seven and a half”: the roughly seven and a half years in which Saturn passes through the 12th, 1st and 2nd signs from the natal Moon. It is often feared, but its effects depend on the whole chart: Saturn’s strength and lordship, and the dashas running at the time. Check whether a given Saturn position falls in sade sati.
Worked example · Albert Einstein
Applying transits to Einstein’s chart
With his Moon in Scorpio, Einstein’s sade sati periods were the years when Saturn transited Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius. Jupiter’s transits were favourable through Sagittarius (2nd from the Moon), Pisces (5th), Taurus (7th), Cancer (9th) and Virgo (11th). Working out the exact dates needs the planets’ historical positions, which the LotusAstro engine will calculate.
Birth data: 14 March 1879, 11:30 local time, Ulm, Germany; Rodden rating AA (from the birth record), as listed by Astrotheme from Astro-Databank. Positions converted by LotusAstro to the sidereal zodiac (Lahiri ayanamsa, about 22°10′ in 1879), whole-sign houses. One famous chart illustrates a technique; it proves nothing on its own.
Worked example · Indira Gandhi
Applying transits to her chart
With her Moon in Capricorn, her sade sati periods were the years Saturn transited Sagittarius, Capricorn and Aquarius. Jupiter’s transits were favourable through Aquarius (2nd from the Moon), Taurus (5th), Cancer (7th), Virgo (9th) and Scorpio (11th).
Birth data: 19 November 1917, 23:11 local time, Allahabad (now Prayagraj), India; source given as her own account (Rodden rating A), as listed by Astrotheme. Positions converted by LotusAstro to the sidereal zodiac (Lahiri ayanamsa, about 22°42′ in 1917), whole-sign houses. One chart illustrates a technique; it proves nothing on its own.
A final check