Understanding dashas and transits
Get to know two familiar ideas in Vedic astrology.
STEP 1
What a dasha is
A dasha is a planetary period. In the widely used Vimshottari system, life is divided into periods ruled by different planets, each with sub-periods. Traditionally, the ruling planet is read as coloring the themes of that stretch of time.
STEP 2
What a transit is
A transit, or gochara, is the current position of a planet compared with your birth chart. Slow-moving planets such as Saturn and Jupiter receive the most attention because their transits span months or years.
STEP 3
How to use them in a session
Ask which period you are in and what themes tradition associates with it, then relate that to your own plans. Treat the answer as an interpretive lens for reflection and planning, not as a fixed schedule of events.
Dasha calculations depend on an accurate birth time, since the starting point comes from the Moon's position. If your time is uncertain, period boundaries will be approximate.