Saturn Retrograde Dates

Saturn turns retrograde once a year and stays so for about four and a half months. For that stretch the slowest graha appears to walk backward through the sign it is crossing. In Jyotish the state is called vakra, and it changes how Saturn's results arrive.

Parashara's shadbala gives a retrograde graha full chesta bala, the strength of motion. Uttara Kalamrita goes further and counts a vakri graha as strong as an exalted one. The tradition adds that a retrograde malefic gives its harsh results with more force. Saturn retrograde is a strong Saturn, and a strong malefic is a demanding teacher.

Saturn's fields are work, duty, delay, the old, the poor, chronic illness and the karmic accounts of the sign it occupies. During the retrograde these matters are reviewed. Contracts signed earlier come back for revision, and a responsibility avoided returns. A person who was on a slow and honest path finds the review confirms it.

The house Saturn retrogrades through, counted from the Moon and from the lagna, names the field. In the Sade Sati signs the retrograde lengthens the stay and deepens the review. In the third, sixth and eleventh, the houses Phaladeepika calls favourable for Saturn, the review tends to end in gain.

The retrograde shows the graha one holds when it turns inward. Saturn retrograde reveals where patience was pretended and where it was real. The period rewards finishing over starting, repair over purchase, and silence over complaint.

• Complete what was left half done before beginning anything new.
• Serve those who labour, light a sesame oil lamp on Saturday, and give sesame, oil or iron, the dana Parashara names for Saturn.
• Recite Om Sham Shanaishcharaya Namah daily until Saturn turns direct.