Jupiter Transit in Purva Ashadha

Purva Ashadha lies wholly in Sagittarius, Jupiter's own sign, and Jupiter transits it with full strength. Its lord Venus is Jupiter's enemy, its deity is Apas, the waters, and its symbols are a fan and a winnowing basket, so a stretch of Jupiter's own sign is ruled by Venus. Brihaspati and Shukra, the two gurus, share one field.

The stay runs about four to five months, and the retrograde often divides it into two visits. The name means the early invincible one, and the theme is a victory that comes early and needs testing. Wealth grows through partnerships and through anything connected with water, drink, shipping or the arts, and children marry, or a child is born to a family that had waited a long time for one.

Venus pulls Jupiter's faith toward pleasure. A strong Jupiter answers with restraint. The work of the transit is winnowing: keeping the substance of a teaching and dropping its decoration.

From the Moon and the lagna:

• Scorpio, Leo, Gemini, Aries and Aquarius receive Jupiter in the second, fifth, seventh, ninth and eleventh, the houses Phaladeepika favours.
• Sagittarius carries a strong Jupiter in the first, and a long wish is granted.
• Capricorn, Virgo, Cancer and Taurus have it in the twelfth, fourth, sixth and eighth, and should keep spending within limits.

Purva Ashadha shows how a person holds success that arrives early, and whether wisdom survives comfort.

Honour Apas by offering water at sunrise and keeping a well or a river clean. Recite Om Brihaspataye Namah on Thursday, and give yellow cloth, turmeric or gram as Parashara prescribes. Feed a teacher, and give something to a musician in Venus's name.