Saturn Transit in Anuradha

Anuradha is Saturn's own nakshatra, and the graha is at home here even in Scorpio, the sign of its enemy Mars. The deity is Mitra, the Aditya of friendship and alliances, and the symbols are a lotus and an archway. The nakshatra's own strength holds Saturn up where the sign would pull it down, which makes this the one Scorpio nakshatra where Saturn goes well.

Mitra binds people to one another. Friendship, loyalty, devotion, organisation, work done with others and success in a foreign place are the themes, and Saturn in its own nakshatra gives all of them through discipline. A friendship is tested by hardship and survives. An organisation is put in order, and devotion becomes a daily practice with a fixed hour.

About a year is spent here, and the yearly retrograde usually splits it into two or three visits, with the second deepening what the first began. The chronic complaints of Scorpio, in the reproductive and excretory organs, are quieter in this middle third.

Sagittarius, Scorpio and Libra Moons are in Sade Sati, with Scorpio in the middle phase and Anuradha the gentlest part of it. Leo Moons have Saturn in the fourth and Aries Moons in the eighth. For Virgo, Gemini and Capricorn Moons and lagnas the graha falls in the third, sixth and eleventh, Phaladeepika's favourable houses.

Loyalty is tested for its quality. Mitra's nakshatra makes clear who a person stands by when standing by them costs something, and loyalty that was only convenience falls away.

Serve alongside others. Join a group that feeds or teaches the poor, give sesame oil on Saturday, and recite Om Sham Shanaishcharaya Namah. Keep faith with an old friend who has fallen on hard times, and honour Mitra with a lamp at dawn.