Sade Sati Calculator - Shani Sade Sati and Saturn Transit
A free Sade Sati calculator for Saturn's transit over your Moon sign — whether Sade Sati is running now, the three phases of each passage by sign, and where Shani sits today relative to your Janma Rasi.
This Sade Sati calculator checks Shani's live position against your Moon sign. Sade Sati is the roughly seven-and-a-half-year stretch when transiting Saturn passes over the sign before your Moon, your Moon sign itself, and the sign after it. Saturn spends about two and a half years in each sign, so the whole passage runs about seven and a half years. Kundli Studio finds your Moon sign from your birth details and checks Saturn's live position against it.
The calculator shows whether Sade Sati is active, the sign of each of its three phases, and the other transits reckoned from the Moon — Ardhashtama Sani in the 4th and Ashtama Sani in the 8th. It reports transit positions classically; the short captions on its tabs give the traditional associations of a house, not a forecast for any person.
The three phases of Sade Sati
Sade Sati is reckoned from the natal Moon sign (Janma Rasi). Saturn crossing the 12th, 1st and 2nd signs from the Moon gives its three phases, about two and a half years each — the spans the calculator tracks against Saturn's live position.
| Phase | Saturn's position (from natal Moon) | Approx. duration |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12th from the Moon — rising phase | about 2.5 years |
| 2 | 1st — over the Moon sign (Janma Sani, peak) | about 2.5 years |
| 3 | 2nd from the Moon — setting phase | about 2.5 years |
| Full Sade Sati | about 7.5 years | |
Saturn also gives Ardhashtama Sani when it transits the 4th from the Moon and Ashtama Sani in the 8th, each about two and a half years (some texts call the 4th, and others the 8th, Kantaka Sani); the texts call the 3rd, 6th and 11th from the Moon its favourable positions. These are transit positions, not predictions.
How to read the result
The header gives the natal Moon's sign, nakshatra and degree, then the same for the ascendant. Sade Sati is counted from that sign, the Janma Rasi; Narasimha Rao treats the Moon as the usual natal reference in transit work because it signifies the mind. Under the Sade Sati tab, the Sign-Based list applies the classical rule, Saturn in the 12th, 1st or 2nd sign counted from the Moon, and names the sign of each phase.
Each card is one passage: its number, start and end dates, its length, and a tag saying whether it has ended, is active now with a progress bar, or is still to come. Every list holds three successive passages, beginning with the next one Saturn crosses into after birth, and they fall roughly 30 years apart, the time Saturn takes to circle the zodiac. A card can run past 7.5 years, because each phase closes at Saturn's final exit from its sign, retrograde re-entries included; in a 1990 sample chart every sign-based passage lasted just over eight years.
The Degree-Based list is a second window, Saturn within 45 degrees either side of the Moon's exact degree, so its dates can open and close apart from the sign-based ones. The Moon Transits and Ascendant Transits tabs give Saturn in the 4th and 8th from each reference, by sign and by a 30-degree arc, since Narasimha Rao also reads transits from the lagna. He offers the standard Janma Rasi results as reference material and reads a transit by what Saturn stands for in the natal chart.
To weigh a phase, find its sign in Saturn's own table on the Ashtakavarga screen: BPHS judges Saturn's passage through a sign by the rekhas that sign holds in Saturn's Ashtakavarga.
Key terms
- Janma Rasi
- The natal Moon sign, from which Sade Sati and the Moon-based Saturn transits on this screen are counted.
- Janma Sani
- Saturn transiting the natal Moon sign itself, the middle phase of Sade Sati, a span of roughly 2.5 years.
- Ardhashtama Sani
- Saturn's transit of the 4th sign counted from the natal Moon, shown under Moon Transits as the 4th House from Moon.
- Ashtama Sani
- Saturn's transit of the 8th sign counted from the natal Moon, shown under Moon Transits as the 8th House from Moon.
- Kantaka Sani
- Thorn Saturn, a name applied unevenly: Gochar Phaladeepika gives it to Saturn's 4th-house transit in one chapter and to the 8th in another, so check the house meant.
- Degree-based Sade Sati
- The screen's second Sade Sati window: Saturn within 45 degrees either side of the natal Moon's exact longitude, rather than in the three whole signs.
Is Sade Sati running now
Your Moon sign checked against Saturn's live position, with each Sade Sati passage dated from start to end and the running one marked Active Now.
The three phases, by sign
The rising (12th), peak (over the Moon) and setting (2nd) phases of each passage, each about two and a half years, named by the sign each one falls in.
The other Saturn transits
Ardhashtama Sani in the 4th and Ashtama Sani in the 8th from the Moon, by sign and by a 30-degree arc, and the same two from the ascendant.
Common questions
What is Sade Sati?
Sade Sati is the period of about seven and a half years during which transiting Saturn passes over the 12th sign from your natal Moon, your Moon sign, and the sign after it — three phases of about two and a half years each.
How is Sade Sati calculated?
From your natal Moon sign (Janma Rasi). Sade Sati begins when Saturn transits the sign before the Moon and ends when Saturn leaves the sign after it. The calculator finds your Moon sign and compares it to Saturn's current sign.
Which phase of Sade Sati is which?
The first (rising) phase is Saturn in the 12th from the Moon; the second (peak, 'Janma Sani') is Saturn over the Moon sign itself; the third (setting) is Saturn in the 2nd from the Moon.
What are Ashtama Sani and Kantaka Sani?
They are separate Saturn transits reckoned from the Moon: Ashtama Sani is Saturn in the 8th sign from the Moon, and Ardhashtama Sani is Saturn in the 4th — each about two and a half years. The name Kantaka (thorn) is given to the 4th in some texts and to the 8th in others.
Does Sade Sati predict bad times?
Not on this screen. The texts do assign adverse results to this transit; the tool reports only whether it is running and in which signs, drawn from the classical rule, and leaves the reading to an astrologer.
How many times does Sade Sati come in a lifetime?
Saturn takes about 30 years to circle the zodiac, so it returns to the 12th sign from the natal Moon roughly every three decades. The calculator lists the next three Sade Sati passages after birth, both sign-based and degree-based; in a 1990 sample chart the sign-based ones began in 1990, 2020 and 2049.
How long does each phase of Sade Sati last?
Roughly 2.5 years each in the texts. The calculator closes a phase at Saturn's final exit from its sign, retrograde re-entries included, so real phases differ: in a 1990 sample chart they ran about 3.6, 2.3 and 2.2 years, and the card shows the whole span.