Saturn Transit in Purva Phalguni

Purva Phalguni lies in Leo, the Sun's sign, where Saturn is an unwelcome guest. Its lord Venus is Saturn's friend, and the friendship softens the stay. The deity is Bhaga, the Aditya who gives good fortune and marital happiness, and the symbol is the front legs of a cot. In muhurta it is counted among the ugra group, the fierce.

Pleasure, rest, marriage, creative work, patronage and the enjoyment of what one has earned are Bhaga's themes, and Saturn asks what each of them costs. Romance cools into duty. A creative project is finished by discipline alone, a patron withdraws support, and the heart and upper back need care, with rest taken at fixed hours helping most.

Saturn spends about a year in a nakshatra, and the yearly retrograde usually splits the stay into two or three visits. Purva Phalguni is the middle third of Saturn's passage through Leo, and the second visit often falls on the same matter as the first.

Virgo, Leo and Cancer Moons are in Sade Sati, with Leo in the middle phase. Taurus Moons have Kantaka in the fourth and Capricorn Moons Ashtama in the eighth. Gemini, Pisces and Libra Moons and lagnas hold Saturn in the third, sixth and eleventh, the houses Phaladeepika calls favourable for this graha.

The transit shows how a person rests. Saturn in Bhaga's nakshatra shows whether one's pleasures restore or merely distract, and removes the ones that distract, and a marriage under this transit is tested on its plainest days.

Be generous toward those who cannot afford rest. Give sesame or oil on Saturday, recite Om Sham Shanaishcharaya Namah, and offer white cloth on Friday for Venus, the nakshatra lord. Care for an aged couple, and spend one evening a week in silence with your spouse or family.