Saturn is on the move today out of a conflicted two years in Pisces where its practical, dutiful, rigid approach threatened to get submerged in oceanic, boundary-less, irrational Pisces. At best it could have given shape to Pisces’s dreams of the ideal of a better society, with help for the underdog and the suffering. At worst it produced obsessive worry and paranoia as thinking functions were undermined.
Saturn in Aries for the next two years will have its own mood music – see previous post May 6 2025 – and it also has an effect on individual charts depending on which chart quadrant it moves through.
The 29 year Saturn career and development cycle which splits the chart into four quadrants of approximately seven years gives lays out a pattern for the stages of life.
UPPER QUADRANT: The peak in terms of career and outer ambition is transiting Saturn moving through the upper quadrant (10th to 12th houses) which is a time of hard work and consolidation of the preparations of the 21 years before. Where the groundwork has been laid, then respect and recognition as well as heavier responsibilities come through this phase.
FIRST QUADRANT: When Saturn moves below the Ascendant into the first quadrant (1st to 3rd houses) old ambitions become less important, motivation and energy sag and there is need for a re-evaluation. This the psyche’s hint to wind down and step back for a rethink and a chance to re-balance your life with time for play and emotional matters as well as work. It is also crucially a time to go on an inward journey to investigate what unused inner potential needs to be explored and activated to give focus and meaning to the next long stage of life.
During this time, usually at the start of Saturn through the 2nd house, old unresolved psychological issues surface to be faced and fixed. Money nay be shorter than before because of sagging ambition or less success at work which will prompt a financial reorganisation and perhaps instil a sense that money is not the be-all and end-all. When Saturn moves into the 3rd, the preparation starts for the step up in terms of career visibility coming when Saturn moves across the IC (base of the chart) into the 4th.
Hyper-ambitious ego-maniacs find Saturn through the first quadrant tricky to handle since they live totally for outer achievement and approbation. So they keep pushing on as before and start making mistakes as their psyche short circuits their actions and they find success doesn’t come as easily as it had done in the previous 7 years, no matter how hard they push.
SECOND QUADRANT: With Saturn moving into the 2nd quadrant (4th to 6th houses) across the nadir/IC at the base of the chart there is a step up in terms of visibility in career and outer activities. There will also be an urge to reorganise at home to create a solid base of operations for the future which may involve moving house or renovating as well as sorting out family tensions. The 2nd Quadrant Saturn isn’t necessarily a spectacular success but it is a vital stage of laying foundations for the future. Saturn through the 6th usually means extra hard work with less appreciation than seems fair but rewards come in later years.
THIRD QUADRANT: Saturn through the 3rd Quadrant (7th to 9th house) is rising upwards in terms of outer career and community activities, which requires sorting out and strengthening close relationships or abandoning those that don’t work. Then a hard lesson through the 8th of developing resilience and resourcefulness where money and emotional support are concerned. Saturn through the 9th – rethinking beliefs and attitudes, testing out ideas, being intellectually challenged.
SATURN RETURNS:
The other Saturn cycle to its natal position – of the First Return at 29 and Second Return at 58 and Third at 87 – are staging posts. The First Return at 29 is grow-up-and-get-real-time, the first maturing transit. The Second is about being realistic and planning for the next third of life to come. Those with strongly Saturnine charts tend to find life goes in reverse – they are serious children, mellow through their middle years and become youthful geriatrics.
SATURN’S DOMINION
Saturn is about structure in earthly terms. It plans, prepares, thinks long term to a feasible goal, gets foundations laid, builds slowly and securely so its achievements stand the test of time. The end result is not aesthetic, since it isn’t concerned with cosmetic fripperies, but it is enduring.
Ruling Capricorn, it has the same steady ambition, which is willing to forego instant gratification for long term goals. Like the symbolic mountain goat, it starts in the foothills and works its way up to the peak, along a winding path if necessary.
Saturn restricts, so oversees limits and boundaries which may not feel like fun but are essential, psychologically as well as practically, in life. Neptune dissolves boundaries, Pluto invades across them to grab all the territory, Uranus blows them up, but Saturn stands firm for order, delineation, marked borders. In action, it is like a gardener who prunes plants back, lopping off overgrown branches, to stimulate fresh growth and produce a more manageable shape.
Saturn is concerned with material security and can be less than generous and open-hearted. In close relationships, it can be cold, putting up a defensive wall against any encroachment and is better at ‘doing’ than ‘being’.
The myth of Saturn eating his children depicted in a horrific Goya painting is apt, since it ties into his obsessions with time and mortality. Saturn was scared of being overthrown by his sons so he ate them at birth. Deep down he knows he is going to die and his children represent a future that he can never possess, since his is limited by his mortal span. He both loves and loathes the boundaries of his life, so he tries to over-ride them and stop time.
The mythological Saturn shows his other face at the autumn festivals of the harvest, when the agricultural bounty of the year is brought in and drunken celebrations ensue after the hard work was done. Earthly delights are also his preserve and his reign was seen as one of peace and plenty. He is associated with the flow of the seasons, especially winter when everything dies back to be reborn in spring.
Saturnine Capricorn as a sign is unfairly dubbed as the cold, materialistic workaholic, but in fact has a creative and indulgent side. The old Capricorn symbol was half goat half fish. He operates in two realms – in the watery realm of ideas and visions and then makes them real on dry land. He is the stander on the threshold between the unconscious and the conscious; just as Capricorn stands on the cusp of the year that has past and the year that is about to come. He both mourns and celebrates.
Saturn is a more complex creature than he is given credit for.
The post Saturn – a long and winding road first appeared on Astroinform with Marjorie Orr – Star4cast.
