Saturn over the Moon
Sade sati is the period when Saturn transits the sign before your Moon sign, your Moon sign itself, and the sign after it. Saturn takes about two and a half years to cross a sign, so the whole passage runs roughly seven and a half years — which is what the name means.
The three phases
The three phases are read differently. The first, with Saturn in the twelfth from the Moon, tends to show as expense, disturbed sleep and loss of support. The second, over the Moon itself, is usually the most demanding, affecting health, mood and close relationships. The third, in the second from the Moon, concentrates on family and finances and often eases as it ends.
What it is not
Sade sati is not a sentence. Saturn rewards the things it also tests — patience, honest work, obligations met — and charts where Saturn is strong or well placed often record the period as difficult but productive. Its effect depends on the whole chart, not the transit alone.
Common questions
How long does sade sati last?
About seven and a half years, made of three phases of roughly two and a half years each as Saturn crosses the sign before your Moon, your Moon sign, and the sign after.
Is sade sati always bad?
No. It is demanding rather than destructive, and it is frequently reported as a period of hard but lasting progress. Where Saturn is strong or well placed in the birth chart, the passage is often much easier than its reputation suggests.
How often does it happen?
Saturn takes about twenty-nine and a half years to circle the zodiac, so sade sati comes round roughly every thirty years — two or three times in most lives.