Sade Sati API: Saturn's 7.5-Year Transit for Developers

"Am I in Sade Sati?" is one of the highest-anxiety questions in Vedic astrology. Saturn takes ~29.5 years to orbit the Sun, spending ~2.5 years in each sign. When it transits the sign before, in, and after your Moon sign — that 7.5-year stretch is called Sade Sati. Here is how to expose it in an app.

How it is calculated

Sade Sati depends entirely on the Moon sign at birth and Saturn's current position. The API computes this via Swiss Ephemeris — computing Saturn's exact sidereal longitude on any given date and comparing it to the natal Moon sign. The calculation is location-independent (Saturn's sign is the same everywhere), but birth time matters for the Moon sign.

The API calls

const params = new URLSearchParams({
  api_key: 'vai_your_key',
  dob: '01/10/1977', tob: '11:40',
  lat: '11', lon: '77', tz: '5.5'
})

// Is the user currently in Sade Sati?
const current = await fetch(
  `https://vedintelastroapi.com/api/v1/extended-horoscope/current-sade-sati?${params}`
).then(r => r.json())

// Full historical and future Sade Sati table
const table = await fetch(
  `https://vedintelastroapi.com/api/v1/extended-horoscope/sade-sati-table?${params}`
).then(r => r.json())

Response shape

// current-sade-sati response
{
  "is_in_sade_sati": false,
  "moon_sign": "Aries",
  "current_saturn_sign": "Aquarius",
  "phase": null,
  "next_sade_sati": {
    "start": "2034-06-12",
    "end": "2041-10-05",
    "phase_1_start": "2034-06-12",  // Saturn enters sign before Moon sign
    "phase_2_start": "2036-10-20",  // Saturn enters Moon sign (peak)
    "phase_3_start": "2039-02-14"   // Saturn enters sign after Moon sign
  }
}

// sade-sati-table response
[
  { "period": 1, "start": "1977-01-22", "end": "1984-08-18", "moon_sign": "Aries" },
  { "period": 2, "start": "2006-09-09", "end": "2014-02-04", "moon_sign": "Aries" },
  { "period": 3, "start": "2034-06-12", "end": "2041-10-05", "moon_sign": "Aries" },
]

Building a Sade Sati feature

Recommended UI pattern:

1. Status banner — green (not in Sade Sati) or amber/red (currently in phase 1/2/3)
2. Current phase card — which phase, start/end dates, what it means in plain language
3. Historical table — all past and future Sade Sati periods from the sade-sati-table endpoint
4. Next Sade Sati countdown — for users not currently in it, show when next one starts

This is a high-engagement feature — users will check it repeatedly. Consider making it part of a push notification system: alert users when Saturn changes sign and they enter or exit a Sade Sati phase.