Sade Sati: What Actually Happens in Each Phase
Seven and a half years, three distinct stages — and they are not all difficult.
Sade sati runs while Saturn transits the sign before your Moon, your Moon sign, and the sign after. That is roughly seven and a half years, and it is treated with more dread than it deserves.
The first phase
Saturn in the twelfth from the Moon. Expenses rise, sleep suffers, and there is often a sense of being pulled away from familiar ground. This is the phase where people most commonly change city or job.
The second phase
Saturn over the Moon itself. The heaviest of the three emotionally. Responsibility increases, and so does isolation. It is also the phase where the most durable work of a person's life often gets done.
The third phase
Saturn in the second from the Moon. Finances and family come into focus. For many charts this phase is a recovery, not a burden.
Whether it will be hard
Saturn's own strength in your chart decides this more than the transit does. A well-placed Saturn can make sade sati the most productive stretch of a life.