Sade Sati refers to the 7.5 years that Saturn takes transiting around the Moon of a birth chart. Saturn takes 2.5 years in a sign, so counting the sign before the Moon, the sign of the Moon and the sign after we have a total of about 7.5 years. With the Moon being the most personal planet in a chart, ruling our mind and emotions, and Saturn being the planet of karma and the harshest malefic; this transit denotes a challenging time of inner crisis and emotional maturation for a native. For a country, this shows a similarly challenging time.
| Saturn sign | Dates |
|---|---|
| Capricorn (12th from Moon) | 24/01/20-28/04/22, 12/07/22-17/01/23 |
| Aquarius (conjunct Moon) | 28/04/22-12/07/22, 17/01/23-29/03/25 |
| Pisces (2nd from Moon) | 29/03/25-02/06/27, 19/10/27-23/02/28 |
The United States, with a Moon in Aquarius, has been going through Sade Sati since 2020 and will remain like this until about early 2028, when Saturn leaves the sign of Pisces. 2023 is an important year in the culmination of this transit, as Saturn will transit the Moon in its exact natal degree.
Saturn transiting the Moon shows the most intense phase of the transit, when a native feels the most pressure and restrictions. Similarly, a turbulent global situation, with challenges from China and Russia, has been afflicting the US specially hard this year.
| Tr. Saturn conjunct natal Moon |
|---|
| 19/03/23 D |
| 01/10/23 ℞ |
| 06/12/23 D |
As denoted in the table above, Saturn will join the Moon a total of three times in 2023. It is common for slower planets, such as Saturn, to make three hits to a point in a chart, as part of their retrograde cycle. Some astrologers attribute a meaning to each of the hits. With the first one being a warning, or the awareness of issues. The second one, retrograde, showing a crisis or a turning point. The last one showing the conclusion, or finalization, a time where a native learns or adjusts himself to the lessons of that transit.
March 2023, when the first hit happened, was about a year after the start of the Ukraine War. A conflict that, by what both sides claimed at the time, would last no more than a few months. And yet we’ve had the first anniversary, and we are almost reaching a second one.
The second hit will happen on October 1st, so events around mid September to early October will tend to express a turning point for the US. The third hit, on December, will show some kind of shift in thinking for the country.
Predictions
As always, I don’t like looking at things in a vacuum. So putting things into perspective, the last Sade Sati for the US happened around 1991 to 1998. At that time, the US faced terror attacks, the imminence of the dot-com bubble and other financial crisis, as well as conflicts abroad like Iraq. Overall, on that previous cycle, the US faced challenges but came out of it without many problems.
A big difference this time is that the US is going through its first Pluto return. A Pluto return is a transit that no person has ever lived. Pluto takes about 14 years transiting each sign, times all the twelve signs, that yields about 168 years for a return. So Pluto return is something that mostly affects large institutions, such as countries and corporations.
Pluto being the planet of transformation, his return signals a time of strong transformation. Along with that, the US is going through Rahu-Mercury dasha from 2023 until 2026, both planets sitting in the 8th house of transformation. Overall, the trend for the US seems a rebirth or redefinition of the country. A fresh start of sorts being formed between now and the coming years.
So in the longer term, there is a clear transformation happening for the US. New definitions, new ways and new directions will tend to arise out of this.
Looking at the Sade Sati itself, I tend to believe that Saturn in Pisces will be much tamer than Saturn in Capricorn/Aquarius, and even a bit positive for the country. With that, I tend to believe that positive change could arise around 2025.
For the short term, Saturn in Aquarius will tend to be turbulent, specially for the remaining of 2023. Challenges will continue to arise, morale will be low and things will tend towards a downturn.
I still tend to believe that, in the long term, the current challenges and problems faced will lead towards improvement. Even though things might seem down in the short term.