“When I let go of who I am, I become who I might be.”
― Lao Tzu
The Nature of Saturn
Saturn is a powerful influence on our lives. He is the slowest moving planet, taking 2.5 years to move through each sign. Saturn brings both the blessings and the curses of life- as he gives his wisdom only through the slow ripening of time, effort, suffering, loss and age. It takes time to learn the deepest, hardest and most important wisdom of life. This wisdom has to be worked for and requires effort to receive. Thus, Saturn pays us in enlightenment for the work, effort, steady actions, that we make over a long period of time. If we don’t adhere to his rules for wisdom, he will make us suffer the consequences.
Many people fear Saturn and prefer the the type of rewards the other planets offer. Quick action and reaction from Mars. Comfort, luxury and creativity from Venus. Expansion of knowledge through Jupiter. Quick playful imagination of the Moon. Saturn, however, has different means and ways. He forces us to listen, pay attention, to attend to body, mind and emotions. He gives grief- through loss and endings, through death and dying; he reminds us of what is truly important as a result. What is lasting and what is not. Saturn shows us all that goes beyond the material plane of existence, and the rewards we get for our effective and meaningful actions that are aligned with Natural Law.
Structure is Saturn’s domain- of the physical human form, the muscle, bone and tissues- as well as the universe. He is old, he rules old age, and also that which comes with age. He is vata, air, and dries things out as a result. The absence of water (life) brings death, and when the water of the physical body dries up, we die.
Saturn is a loner, and brings loneliness and separation. He reminds us of what is important as a result. In other words, we don’t get to take anything with us when we pass from this lila- this play of life. Just our karma. Saturn helps us ripen, like fruit on a tree. Once ripe, we loosen our hold and release our connection to the tree of life. This is why Saturn rules fall and winter, when vata increases, when fruit and leaves have ripened, fallen and dropped. The tree becomes bare, empty, and goes into a deep rest phase before awakening with the movement of sap in spring time.
Working With Saturn, Not Against Him
Saturn helps us ripen. He helps everything in our lives ripen. He helps us grow better with age. And when we resist his ways, we suffer. He wants consistency; methodical action. He wants us to be in tune with the cycles and rhythms of nature and the cosmos- not man made cycles and rhythms. (Ayurveda is the premier health science of Saturn. If you want to suffer less in the physical body, study Ayurvedic wisdom and the timeliness of eating, sleeping etc.)
Saturn is a planet of renunciation, hard work, routine, asceticism, old age, the cycles and rhythms of life. (This is why Saturn is the planet of yoga and yoga is a metaphor for Saturn’s ways: your hard work pays off, but it requires consistent practice). Obey Saturn’s disciplined guidelines, and you will be in alignment with him and with Natural Laws, but disobey these Laws and he will make you miserable. Perhaps this is why Libra is such a good position for him. Libra, after all, rules over balance, legal and political ideals and business markets. The overarching ruler of life, however, are the Laws of Nature, not man made laws. Nature’s Laws are karmic. Think: every action has a reaction. This is the domain of Saturn.
Saturn likes hard work, suffering, and has a “no pain, no gain” attitude. Though some of these darker tendencies may be mitigated being in a friendly sign, expect some tears and hardship before happy resolutions. After all, Saturn rules grief.
How will you know Saturn is asking you to re-evaluate your actions? You will feel a pinch, some displeasure, anxiety, depression or grief.
When the pain comes, as it surely will, this is our guide post along the Path; our reminder of where we are clinging and what we are clinging to, what changes we are resisting. If we hadn’t seen the attachment prior to this struggle, we have an opportunity to see it clearly now in the face of tragedy, our tears, our suffering.
As Pema Chodron reminds us in her book Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change: “When we resist change, it’s called suffering.” And when we resist anything, it will ultimately hurt us. Working with Saturn’s ways and not against him will help ease the suffering he brings.
How Does Saturn Effect You?
Looking at your own jyotish chart, see where Saturn sits. What sign is he in? What house? What planets does he sit with, if any? Saturn gives drishti to three, seven and ten houses away from himself. So these areas of your chart will also feel the slowness, the need for balance and age, in order for you to ripen properly.
His effects on the 7th house will create slow ripening in relationships- either with late marriage, no marriage or to an older person. Saturn’s effects on the 10th house will create a slow ripening in the career or dharmic offering. This can effect how you offer your work and who you offer it to. It can also indicate that you are working with the physical body, with the elderly, or that you put in hard work and physical exertion for your career. Saturn connected with the 5th house can indicate having children very late in life, no children, or suffering through the children in some capacity. These are some examples of how Saturn can effect parts of our life based on the jyotish chart.
Saturn transits Aquarius April 28th, 2022 until March 29th, 2025
Saturn doesn’t care for excess and won’t allow it. I usually refer to him as a grumpy old man. His lessons come through time and weathering the storms of life.
There may be excesses and expansion offered as Jupiter navigates his own sign of Pisces, however, Saturn does not tolerate excess. He will bring restraint and restrictions to anything imbalanced. Expect simplification, release, and slowing down- in order to ultimately find a more harmonious way forward. Saturn allows for necessity, but nothing extra. Saturn is a loner, and brings loneliness and separation. He reminds us of what is important as a result.
As Saturn arrives in Aquarius, structures shift and take on new shape for the coming 2.5 years. The impact of this transit on your body and life will greatly depend on your relationship with Saturn.
Understand his impact on your body and life from his natal placement and from a transit perspective.
- Are you in alignment with natural time?
- Are you listening to your body wisdom?
- Are you honoring the cycles and rhythms of your body, the seasons, the Transits?
- Are you balancing work and rest, movement and meditation, silence and stillness?
Remember that wherever you are out of balance with Saturn, he will give you a pinch. Always pay attention when he gives you a small pinch because the more you resist or avoid his messages, the louder he will get. When Saturn is shouting, there is dis-ease already fully established in your body already.
Since Saturn is the planet of grief, he will be asking you to find a new relationship with your grief, emotions and losses in the coming 2.5 year transit.
Aquarius is a sign of duality who requests balance, integration, and harmony between opposites. Although Aquarius and the eleventh house bring gains, it is through initial losses and release that space to receive is possible.
There is a strong theme over the next one to five years of endings and beginnings as Jupiter and Saturn complete their cycles around the zodiac. Rahu, transiting Aries, however, is initiating beginnings over the next year and a half.
As Saturn moves through Aquarius, pay attention to this theme of holding duality simultaneously. Opens and closes, endings and beginnings, birth and death, old and new, loss and gains, summer and winter. These dualities surfacing are a request for more integration and balance in life and body.
Both Saturn and Rahu rule Aquarius. Although these two planets express themselves similarly, Saturn prefers consistency, focus, hard work and effort. As the planet of grief, your effort is required in order for Saturn’s results. Just as your grief work makes space for the new, Aquarius requests loss and letting go, before space for the gains are possible. Rahu on the other hand refuses consistency and denies clarity. He is often confused, forcing deep surrender. Wherever there is gripping or forcing, the wrath of Rahu intensifies.
When Saturn and Rahu collide there is a stormy energy that can be big, unfocused, and destructive. Together, these two planets invite structure and surrender. Both qualities can activate a strength and acceptance found in the expression of the Middle Way.
“Everybody’s middle way is a different middle way. Everyone practices in order to find out for him or herself personally how to be balanced, how to be not too tight and not too loose. No one else can tell you. You just have to find out for yourself.”
― Pema Chödrön, The Wisdom of No Escape: How to Love Yourself and Your World
Aquarius correlates to the eleventh house of gains, older siblings, and friends. It follows the tenth house of the dharmic offering and supports the worldly gains that come with sharing your dharmic gifts, wisdom, and offerings with the world.
Although the eleventh house is considered a house of worldly and monetary gains, it doesn’t happen without loss, release, and letting go. As the symbol of this air sign implies, the pot of water is being poured out. In order to receive the gains that are possible, there must be a death process taking place as well.
Self Inquiry:
- What is in the way of your success, growth, and deepest nourishment?
- What grief needs to be honored, released, or acknowledged so that you have more space to receive life?
- Where are you resisting or refusing to make space for the new?
- Where are you creating hardship, struggle, and pain unnecessarily?
- What is requesting your surrender, acceptance, or release?
Movement:
Saturn transits Aquarius April 28th, 2022 until March 29th, 2025
Saturn retrograde June, 4th, 2022
Saturn returns to Capricorn, July 12th, 2022
Saturn direct on October 22nd, 2022
Saturn back to Aquarius January 17th, 2023
Saturn retrograde in Aquarius June 17th, 2023
Saturn direct in Aquarius November 4th, 2023
Nakshatras:
Saturn in Dhanishta, April 28th 2022 until March 14th, 2023
Saturn in Satabisha, March 14th, 2023 until October 15th, 2023
Saturn returns to Dhanishta, October 15th, 2023 until November 23rd, 2023
Saturn returns to Satabisha, November 23rd, 2023 until April 5th, 2024
Saturn in Purvabhadra, April 5th, 2024 until October 3rd, 2024
Saturn in Satabisha again, October 3rd, 2024 until December 27th 2024
Saturn in Purvabhadar again, December 27th, 2024 until March 29th, 2025
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