Saturn’s life lesson and its endless connection with us

Until the end of the 18th century, Saturn was known as the most remote planet in our solar system. As far as 800 million miles away, it was considered as the star orbiting on the edge of the universe. In 1610 by astronomer Galileo Galilei, a bright yellow/brownish belt was confirmed circling its equator like a beautiful glittering gold ring; and in the following 400 years, human-beings have develoed further and clearer understanding about what Saturn is to us, both scientifically and spiritually.

In mythology, Saturn was the God of agriculture. He was revered during the Golden Age—the babylonian time when human beings lived in harmony with the cycles of nature without violence and corruption. As the symbol of this utopian time, Saturn was auspicious and noble. The ancient Greeks also worshipped Saturn’s Greek counterpart Kronos, the patron of agriculture and lord of harvest. People believed that when autumn comes, Saturn appears from the heaven and uses his sickle to help farmers with harvest and clean the field to prepare for the following year. Saturn symbolises the earthy fertility, and he confers the rewards of honest effort only. Agriculture works very much like Saturn’s energy, in the sense that is “you reap what you sow”. We spread the seeds, water, fertilise and care for them, and when the right timing comes, we finally harvest the delicious fruit. On the psychological level, Saturn is the fundamental need for us to create solid foundations and to build strong structures in which life can thrive.

Since Saturn is the coldest inner planet due to its distance from the Sun; it hasn’t had the best reputation in Astrology. I have had clients who read about their horoscopes from time to time, and they fear anything to do with Saturn. It is true that Saturn is always associated with hard knocks and harsh life lessons. It is the planetary symbol of human capacity to survive in an unsympathetic world. Because without its discipline, we remain psychologically infants and would always seek for protection from parents, friends and lovers. We wouldn’t have the basic ability to be responsible for ourselves. Like a sheepish child, when the mother is not around holding its hand, it could never cross the road on its own. Saturn is an old teacher. He teaches us lessons about the necessity of separateness, self-reliance and boundary. Remember, Saturn has a gold ring around, which a symbol of boundary and commitment that we must have as adults. After all, the mythological image of this agriculture God is an old man, a symbol of maturity.

Saturn God of agriculture and time

Saturn is also the God of Time. He recognises patient hard work and brings us exactly what we deserve. It makes us disciplined, goal-oriented and tough with ourselves. Natives who have prominent Saturn influence in their natal chart (Saturn conjunct Ascendant; Ascendant in Capricorn; Saturn conjunct Sun/Moon; Sun/Moon in Capricorn) tend to be perseverent and hard-working. They know “Money does not grow on trees" so they always put in the time to do the hard work in order to create happiness in life. Saturn in the natal chart also shows where our vulnerability/inadequacy is, as well as what our life lesson is. Cultivating our braveness to face our weak points needs a lot of work, but it is also what Saturn will bring us if we do the work first without escaping. I remember a female client who had counselling with me a few years back. She is an excellent dancer. During our session, she told me she actually didn’t have the best physical condition when she started as a child. She was short, stiff (she wasn’t even able to touch her toes when she bent over at the beginning), and she had severe anaemia. If we were the dance teacher, we probably wouldn’t expect her to be the future star in the class. However, she was the most diligent dance student in her class and she would get up at 5:00am everyday to practice, 7 days a week. For the 6 years in her first dance school, she never gave up. I noticed she has Libra rising in conjunction with Saturn. Libra is the sign of justice, and Saturn on Ascendant gives her the discipline and determination to strive for the best. It makes so much sense that after she puts all her work in, at the end Saturn rewarded her fairly (Libra) with all she dreamed of as a little girl.

Now, we have a basic grip about what Saturn is, then how does it work with us during each individual’s life span?

Saturn transit is a very important concept in astrology since it doesn’t happen often and usually has significant meaning. It takes in average 29.5 years for Saturn to orbit the Sun. It is relatively a long time compared to the earth, which only takes 365 days. Saturn transit is slow, usually the effect could last for 3~4 months. Because Saturn is always trying to teach us something, and the way it teaches us is by giving us a harsh lesson, it is inevitably to say that it is not really a happy-go-lucky time to experience. We go through the hardships, learn from our mistakes, reach better understanding about ourselves and the environment, then we can move forward with the right attitude and even stronger momentum. The most important part of a Saturn transit is that we ask "why" when we experience delays, disappointment and fears. Merely wanting a problem to change and understanding the superficial cause for its existance will not make the problem go away. Saturn is practical, realistic and profound. Peeling layers of the fears to discover what is underneath is the way to go. Afterall, Learning through Saturn experience is like a infant learning to walk. You have to fall, and you might have to even bruise a bit first. We get up and figure out how to balance better. But no adult in hindsight would tell you they regret learning how to walk. Why? Because it was worth the pain. We grow and then we flourish.

Under some difficult transit, such as transit Saturn conjunct/square/opposite our natal Sun or Moon, it could inhibit, restrict, delay and cause fear in us. It feels burdening  and usually it is because we somehow are given more responsiblities to bear. Whatever Saturn touches, it urges us to review the related area in our life and to restructure. The God of time Saturn holds a scythe. He cuts the unnecessary out of our lives so that we have space to build a new structure. This process is also called “spring cleaning”. When the restriction and inhibition “attacks” us, we must become more aware of what needs to be let go and what must be ended, especially with the matter we had always known that would not serve us well in the long run. This is not the time to hold on to the decrepit, but to have a total release. When Saturn transits the Sun(ego, will and self), we might be forced to re-establish ourselves, getting rid of old bad habits and work extra hard for the recognition we crave; while when Saturn transits the Moon(security, emotional life), we are being urged to face our long due hidden insecurity, or realise the need for a more independent self. I remember a client I recently had has his Sun square Moon on his natal chart, and he was having a hard Saturn transit with both planets. A lot of things happened to him around that time. He realised some of the friends he has always cherished turned out to be untruthful to him, so he sadly decided to leave that friend circle; in order to open his own business, he left the company which has been his security blanket for the past 10 years; later that year he also decided to relocate overseas due to the non-stoppable social unrest in Hong Kong…Saturn transit can be intense and make us worry about our own survival, but if you just roll up your sleeves and do the hard work, it will always reward you in the end.

In 2020, Saturn will transit between 21° in Capricorn and 2° in Aquarius. For people who are born on the below dates, they will be welcoming the Saturn transit and have the golden opportunity to declutter their current life and restructure for the future. One extra thing we need to know about Saturn is that it carries very conservative energy. Avoid taking any risks such as reckless investment during the transit period . Be grounded and practical, and accept that reward can only be achieved by our diligence and assiduity. This is particularly paramount for those ones having conjunction, opposition and square aspects. 

Birthday 11th~22nd	January	July	April	October	September	May
Sun sign	Capricorn/Aquarius	Cancer/Leo	Aries/Taurus	Libra/Scorpio	Virgo/Libra	Taurus/Gemini
Aspect	conjunction (0°)	opposition (180°)	square (90°)	square (90°)	trine (120°)	trine (120°)

Learning to embrace the god of time and order is not a merry-go-round expeirence.There is no fast track to make friends with Saturn. In alchemy the base material to make gold was lead, which was also named "Saturn" in the old days. Hermetic schools believed that the transformation of lead into gold is analogical for the transmutation of Saturn into Sun(gold). Even though nowadays we know lead can never turn into gold, but on a psychologicla level we know that if we exert every effort persistently, we CAN extract gold  and we will see the light shines at the end of the tunnel, and our golden harvest time will not be far. Saturn will ensure us that the fruit we are going to pick at harvest time is going to taste so much better. 

Letao~the Kingdom Healer

www.thehealingkingdom.com