Rahu Transit in Uttara Phalguni

Uttara Phalguni is the Sun's nakshatra, with Aryaman, deity of contracts, presiding and the back legs of a cot as its symbol. The first pada lies in Leo and the other three in Virgo. The Sun is Rahu's enemy in the usual lists, and in the Sun's star Rahu is never fully at ease. Mercury, its friend, owns the Virgo padas and softens the stay.

Rahu enters at the fourth pada, in Virgo, and moves backward to the first pada in Leo over around seven months, and a direct spell of the true node can split the stay into two visits. Marriage, patronage, agreements, friendship and the duties that follow a promise are the themes.

Rahu inflates the contract. Marriages are made for advantage, partnerships promise more than they deliver, and a patron's favour becomes an obsession. Ketu stands in Uttara Bhadrapada for the first half of the stay and in Purva Bhadrapada for the second, Leo pada included.

• For the Virgo padas, Cancer, Aries and Scorpio Moons hold Rahu in the third, sixth and eleventh, the houses Phaladeepika names favourable.
• For the Leo pada the favoured signs are Gemini, Pisces and Libra.
• Virgo Moons, and later Leo Moons, carry Rahu in the first.
• Pisces and Aquarius Moons meet Ketu in the first and Rahu in the seventh, and the lagna is read by the same count.

The transit shows how a person keeps their word. Aryaman watches agreements, and Rahu tests whether an agreement was made with the mind or only with the mouth.

The remedy is Durga and Om Ram Rahave Namah, with water offered to the rising Sun for Aryaman's sake. Parashara prescribes mantra and dana for Rahu, and the traditional gifts are dark cloth, sesame and oil on Saturday. Take no intoxicants, and sign no contract unread.