Saturn Transit in Ashwini

Ashwini opens the zodiac in Aries, the sign of Mars, where Saturn is debilitated. Its lord is Ketu, whom the tradition treats like Mars, so Saturn meets an enemy twice over. The deity is the pair of Ashwini Kumaras, physicians to the gods, and the symbol is a horse's head.

Speed, healing, first efforts and the impulse to begin are Ashwini's themes, and slow Saturn puts a brake on each. Work started here takes longer than planned. The body asks for rest before the mind agrees, the head, the eyes and the nerves need care, and an old complaint may return for treatment.

A single visit lasts about four months. The yearly retrograde usually brings Saturn back, so the full passage comes in two or three visits spread over about a year, and each return reopens what the first visit left undone.

From the Moon, Taurus, Aries and Pisces Moon signs are in Sade Sati, with Aries in the middle phase. Capricorn Moons have Saturn in the fourth and Virgo Moons in the eighth. Aquarius, Scorpio and Gemini Moons and lagnas receive Saturn in the third, sixth and eleventh, the houses Phaladeepika names as favourable.

Impatience is the tendency this stay brings into view. The months here sort haste from readiness, and patience brings out the healer's steadiness.

The remedy is patient care of the sick and the old, a physician's work done without hurry. Light a sesame oil lamp on Saturday, recite Om Sham Shanaishcharaya Namah, and give sesame or iron to a labourer. A prayer to the Ashwini Kumaras for health suits the nakshatra. An evening visit to Hanuman on Saturday steadies the mind.