| RULERSHIP | Capricorn, Aquarius |
| EXALTATION | Libra |
| DETRIMENT | Cancer, Leo |
| FALL | Aries |
| PLANETARY CYCLE | 29 years |
| TAROT CARD | XXI. The World |
| KEY WORDS | Discipline, Ambition, Hard work, Limitation, Fear, Restriction, Governance, Criticism, Self-doubt, Insecurity, Authority, Sovereignty, Maturity |
Your Drive To Achieve
Saturn is your drive to achieve and to gain a sense of mastery in the world. She’s the part of you that builds, constructs, and carves out space for the exercise of your sovereignty. Your sense of authority (both yours and that of others), discipline, and control are wrapped up in your Saturn. One of the easiest ways to remember the function of Saturn in your life is to consider that Saturn has the most intense orbiting ring system of any planet in our solar system. Metaphorically, the rings of Saturn represent boundaries, order, limitation, structure and form.
The position of your natal Saturn in your birth chart gives you information about where your “life’s work” is – the slow and persistent building of the structure of your life, through both the respect and the dismantling of your fears and imposed limitations. In many ways, Saturn represents what you have to work at, where you need to exercise the greatest amount of self-discipline, and where ultimately you are meant to become the “Great Teacher”.
Typically, we “grow into our Saturn”, and our most maturing life lessons are indicated by Her natal placement, by sign and house.
Take a look at your natal chart. What sign and what house is your natal Saturn in? What does this say about the archetypes you are called to integrate, in order to attain your greatest sense of mastery and achievement?
Saturn in Transit
Saturn is a slow-moving planet, taking roughly 29 years to complete one revolution around the zodiac, and spending roughly 2 1/2 years in each sign, depending on her speed and retrograde cycle.
By transit, Saturn represents the areas of your life that are being tested, in order for you to develop the structure, order and form that allow you to step into greater authority and responsibility. Often, these tests feel like restrictions, delays, rejections or challenges that ask us to seriously consider our course of action, assess the value of what we are trying to achieve, or bring greater focus and attention to that area of our life.
Saturn turns retrograde once a year for about 4 1/2 months. Her retrograde cycles signal that it’s time to restructure or rebuild certain areas of our lives. Subjectively, time really feels like it slows down when Saturn turns retrograde, so this is typically not the time to rush through anything. This is the time to approach your life much more methodically and thoroughly; to consider and weigh the consequences of past actions; and to work through the larger, more systemic issues that have been blocking us from stepping into our true authority.
Take a look at where Saturn is transiting your natal chart right now. What sign and what house is She in? How does this correlate to wheat structures of your life you are being asked to build or rebuild? Where are you being asked to own more responsibility or step into greater authority?