SATURN

Like sands through the hourglass, these are the days of our lives.” This is the opening line of a popular soap opera and it feels like a tongue in cheek way to help express some of the energy of Saturn. Saturn is about time and the passage of time, reality, life lessons, constriction, responsibility, the word “no”, focus, discipline, real world concerns, work, effort, structure, boundaries, the need for patience, fortitude, and stoicism. Consider what happens when you set a goal. Let’s say you decide to run a marathon. Saying “yes” to making that an objective means you have to say “no” to other things you normally would have time for.  Chris Brennan refers to Saturn as “surmountable challenges”, so even though you may feel blocked in some way by some kind of reality check, the work ahead is do-able. We may feel a sense of being deprived or depressed as we tackle the job, but avoiding it will often make life harder. 

I had coffee with a friend the other day (who is a Capricorn Sun) and she was talking about the difference between "no" and "know" and how that pertained to Saturn. We often say no to something we have prior knowledge or experience of from the past. We've learned the lesson so we "know" to say "no."

The crow is often connected to Saturn as a harbinger of important insights and wisdom. They can also signify death. Not always literal but a death of an old way of being or doing things. For example, when you have a child, your old way of only caring for yourself has to transform. You need to figure out how to take care of yourself and a child. 

So, Saturn brings a certain sense of sobriety and a need for discipline. Knuckle down and avoid distractions, focus on what’s essential and do the work. It may help to break down the goal into smaller steps. 

Saturn is a planet we can see with the naked eye (aka no telescope needed) and that can signify a consciousness of what is being asked of us that may not be as certain when we’re dealing with the outer planets (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto). The work is hard but we step up to the challenge. 

There is often a sense of ‘it’s time’ to do the work. That can be something like graduating from school and knowing the next step is to get a job. Then it’s to save some money and buy a house. After that it can be a sense of responsibilities for and with others, such as a partner or child. Then retirement, have you saved and set aside enough money to live on? Have you made a will? Have you settled all your ‘business’ so when you die you’ve made amends or reparations? Saturn can speak to a lifetime of goals that speak to a good life over time. Saturn can feel like Christmas future from The Christmas Carol. What would that ghost show you now that you want to address to ensure a different future?

How do you handle responsibility? Looking at that may help you to understand the nature of Saturn in your chart.