Saturn Transit in Bharani

Bharani lies wholly in Aries and belongs to Venus, Saturn's friend. Its deity is Yama, lord of death and restraint, and its symbol is the yoni. Saturn's point of deepest debility, twenty degrees of Aries, falls inside this nakshatra, and the weakness of the sign tests the friendship with Venus.

Bharani carries, bears and delivers. Under Saturn the bearing becomes heavy: responsibility for the dying, for the newborn, for a family member who cannot manage alone. Inheritance and last rites come up. The reproductive system and the lower abdomen ask for attention, and older women in the family may need care.

Each visit runs about four months, and the retrograde usually brings Saturn back for a second or third stay, filling about a year in all.

• Sade Sati: Taurus, Aries and Pisces Moons, with Aries in the middle phase.
• Kantaka: Capricorn Moons, with Saturn in the fourth.
• Ashtama: Virgo Moons, with Saturn in the eighth.
• Favourable by Phaladeepika: Aquarius, Scorpio and Gemini Moons and lagnas, in the third, sixth and eleventh.

Yama's name is also that of the first limb of yoga, the vows of restraint. Saturn in Bharani shows how a person bears what cannot be put down, and whether restraint is chosen or forced, and a burden taken up willingly feels lighter by the end of the transit.

The remedy is service to the dying and to those who care for them. Sit with an elderly relative, help at a cremation ground or hospice, and give sesame oil on Saturday, with the Shani mantra and the Hanuman Chalisa as the usual supports. Keep a pledge of restraint in one habit for the length of the transit. That is what Yama asks.