Sade Sati

Sade Sati (साढ़े साती, “seven and a half”) is the name Vedic astrology gives to the years when the planet Saturn passes through three zodiac signs in a row: the sign just before your Moon sign, your Moon sign itself, and the sign after it.

Saturn spends about two and a half years in each sign, so the whole passage lasts about seven and a half years, and it comes round roughly every 30 years. Most people have two or three in a lifetime.

It is counted from your Moon sign in the sidereal (Lahiri) zodiac used in Indian astrology, which can differ from the sign in a newspaper horoscope. That is why this page needs your birth date, time and place.

Many families treat Sade Sati as a time for patience and steady effort. This page works out the dates; it does not predict events.

The positions of Saturn and the Moon are calculated for each date (geocentric, sidereal zodiac with the Lahiri ayanamsa).

A Sade Sati starts when Saturn first enters the sign before your Moon sign and ends when it finally leaves the sign after it. When Saturn steps back (retrograde) across one of those lines for less than a year, that is counted as part of the same Sade Sati, not as a new one.

Your birth time is converted with the time zone and daylight-saving rules that applied at your birth place on that date.

This is a general guide to traditional timing. Different almanacs can differ by a few hours on the exact moment Saturn changes sign.