Rahu Transit in Shatabhisha

Shatabhisha is Rahu's own nakshatra, in Aquarius, with Varuna as its deity and an empty circle, or a hundred healers, as its symbol. Saturn owns the sign and is Rahu's friend in the usual lists. Rahu is doubly at home, in its own star and in a friend's sign.

The stay lasts about eight months, backward from the fourth pada to the first, and a direct spell of the true node can split it into two visits. Healing, secrecy, the ocean, medicine, solitude, the sky, and what is hidden by being too large to see are the themes.

At home, Rahu amplifies everything the star holds. Medicine and technology advance together. Hidden illnesses are found, and a person may take to solitude with a new seriousness that surprises the people around them. The other side is addiction, secrecy that isolates, and healing that becomes an obsession. Ketu stands in Purva Phalguni at the same time and moves back into Magha for the second half.

Sagittarius, Virgo and Aries Moons receive Rahu in the third, sixth and eleventh, the houses Phaladeepika calls favourable. Aquarius Moons carry Rahu in the first and should watch the calves, the circulation and their isolation. Leo Moons have Ketu in the first and Rahu in the seventh. Pisces and Cancer Moons hold Rahu in the twelfth and eighth, and the lagna is counted the same way.

The transit measures the empty circle, the space a person keeps around the self. Under Rahu the circle grows, and the transit shows whether it protects or imprisons.

Worship Durga, and offer water to Varuna at dusk. Recite Om Ram Rahave Namah. Parashara's graha shanti asks for mantra and dana, and the traditional gifts for Rahu are dark cloth, sesame and oil on Saturday. Intoxicants are forbidden without exception, since this star and this graha make them a trap.