Saturn Transit in Jyeshtha

Jyeshtha closes Scorpio, the sign of Mars, Saturn's enemy. Its lord is Mercury, Saturn's friend, and its deity is Indra, eldest of the gods, with an earring and an umbrella as symbols of rank. The last degrees are gandanta, the knot between water and fire before Mula. Saturn crosses them slowly.

Seniority, protection of those below, the burden of the eldest, occult knowledge and the loneliness of command are Jyeshtha's themes, and Saturn adds weight to each. An elder in the family needs support, a position of responsibility is held without recognition, and a secret enemy is exposed. The colon, the reproductive organs and the neck need care, as Scorpio's chronic complaints surface in this last third of the sign.

The passage takes about a year, usually in two or three visits split by the retrograde. Its gandanta degrees are the hardest part, and a retrograde that stops Saturn there can hold an ending open for months. Sagittarius, Scorpio and Libra Moons are in Sade Sati, with Libra in the last phase and Sagittarius at the start. Leo Moons carry Kantaka and Aries Moons Ashtama, and Phaladeepika's favourable third, sixth and eleventh fall to Virgo, Gemini and Capricorn Moons and lagnas.

Seniority, and what a person does with it, is the matter here. Rank used only to be served tends to be lost in this stay, and an eldest who has carried the family without complaint finds the load lighter by its end.

Protect someone weaker, with nothing expected back. Give sesame or iron on Saturday, recite Om Sham Shanaishcharaya Namah, and give moong on Wednesday for Mercury, the nakshatra lord. Feed the poor at a Shiva temple, and let the Hanuman Chalisa on Saturday deal with fear of the gandanta.