Personal Transits
A birth chart describes what was laid down at birth. But the planets do not stand still: Saturn crosses a sign in two and a half years, Jupiter in about a year, the Sun in a month, the Moon in a little over two days. Their current movement through your chart is what Jyotish calls gochara — transits. It is transits, laid over the dasha periods, that explain why the same placements in a chart stay "silent" for years and then suddenly become the main theme of a life.
What the transits page shows
Once your birth chart has been calculated, a «Transits» tab appears next to the interpretation. For the chosen date — today's by default — it shows:
- where each of the nine planets stands, in which sign and in which house of your chart;
- the house from the lagna and, in brackets, the house from the natal Moon — in Jyotish transits are traditionally read from both points;
- when the planet entered the sign and when it will leave, to the minute, in the time zone of the chart;
- whether the planet is retrograde;
- which natal planets it is passing over right now;
- a reading of the transit by house — what the tradition associates with that placement.
The cards run from the slow planets to the fast ones: first Saturn, Jupiter, Rahu and Ketu, which set the background for months and years, then Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury and the Moon. You can change the date in the calendar above the cards and look at the transits for any day — for instance, the day of an important meeting or the start of next year.
How to read transits
Slow planets matter more than fast ones. A transit of Saturn or Jupiter lasts for years and changes the whole situation; a transit of the Moon affects only the mood of the day. Start with Saturn, Jupiter and the nodes, and use the fast planets to pick good days within the larger period.
The house matters more than the sign. The sign shows the style in which a planet works, and the house of your chart shows which area of life it touches. Saturn in Pisces is the same for everyone, but in the 4th house it brings worries about housing, while in the 11th it brings a steady income.
Favourable and difficult houses. By the classical rules of gochara almost all planets do well when passing the 3rd, 6th and 11th houses from the Moon: these are the houses of effort, overcoming and gains. Jupiter is especially favourable in the 2nd, 5th, 7th, 9th and 11th. The 8th and 12th houses are considered stressful for most planets.
A transit works through the dasha. Even the strongest transit changes little if its theme does not match the current period. And the other way round: when Jupiter's dasha is running and Jupiter itself is passing through the 11th house, the promise of the chart comes out in full. So look at transits together with the current mahadasha and antardasha from your birth chart report.
The natal strength of the planet. A planet that is strong in the chart shows itself more gently even in a difficult transit; a weak one gives less even in a good house. A transit does not cancel the birth chart — it wakes up what is already in it.
Sade Sati
The same page calculates Sade Sati, the best-known transit in Jyotish. These are the seven and a half years while Saturn passes through the 12th sign from the natal Moon, the Moon sign itself and the 2nd sign from it. The page shows whether Sade Sati is running now and in which phase, as well as all the periods of a lifetime with the dates of every entry and exit, including Saturn's retrograde returns to the previous sign.
Why the dates may differ from other sites
Transits on this site are calculated by the same engine as the birth chart — in the «Surya-Siddhanta» mode, as in Jagannatha Hora. That is why the signs and houses of the transits match your report. Many other services use modern ephemerides and the Lahiri ayanamsha: with them Saturn or the nodes change sign a few days or weeks earlier or later. This is a difference between systems, not an error. If you are checking the dates against another source, compare calculations within a single system.
What not to expect from transits
Transits do not predict specific events down to the date and hour. They show the weather: in which months it is easier to start things, when it is wise to save your strength, which areas of life come to the fore. Use them for planning, not for fear: even the hardest transits are times when a person usually grows up and builds things that then stand for decades.
An example reading
Suppose a person has the lagna in Scorpio and the Moon in Aquarius, and is currently running the dasha of Jupiter. The transits page shows that Jupiter is passing through Leo — the 10th house from the lagna and the 7th from the Moon. The 10th house is connected with work, the 7th from the Moon with partnership, and for Jupiter the 7th house from the Moon is considered favourable. So the Jupiter dasha, coinciding with this transit, is well suited to joint projects and to strengthening one's position at work. At the same time Saturn is passing through Pisces — the 5th house from the lagna and the 2nd from the Moon: the third, setting phase of Sade Sati is running, and questions of money and children call for patience. This is how several cards add up to a picture of the period: where the doors are open and where it is better to work more slowly.
How to open your transits
- Calculate your birth chart — the date, time and place of birth.
- In the report, click the «Transits» tab above the interpretation.
- To look at another day, pick a date in the calendar and press «Show».
Next to it is the «Lunar calendar» tab: the lunar day, nakshatra and Moon sign for every day of the month in the houses of your chart. The general timing of the planets' passage through the signs is covered in the article Planetary transits.