Reimagining Saturn

Chronos and his child by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli, National Museum in Warsaw, 

It began on a Sunday morning, May 7th 2023. My grandfather found my dad passed out in the guest bedroom. We’d only learn later that he had bacterial meningitis. It began one of the hardest week’s of my life. I flew across the country, hoping this wasn’t the last time I’d see my father alive. With great care, he pulled through, and now the only difference in his life is tinnitus and hearing loss. 

A year later, I looked at the astrology for this moment. Two days earlier, we’d had a Scorpio lunar eclipse, exactly on my natal Pluto in the 4th house. And Saturn? Saturn was exactly on my Lot of Fortune in the 8th. It was also in tight trines to my natal Chiron, IC, and the transit south node. I couldn’t deny that this was a Saturn heavy moment.

I’ve struggled with Saturn as “The Lord of Karma” long before my dad got sick. Karma is a concept that is misunderstood widely in Western culture. We often see it like a cosmic justice system. Just think about Chappell Roan’s song, My Kink is Karma, as she relishes the way her ex faces difficulties. When we start to say Saturn is the lord of Karma, we force it into this concept. It makes Saturn a cosmic arbiter of justice, one with a moral compass that rewards or punishes us.

But Saturn is so much more than good or bad, reward, or justice. Focusing on cosmic justice can scare people, especially their Saturn return. I get lots of clients wondering if Saturn is waiting in the wings with judgment ready to fall down like a hammer. And this fear makes it harder for folks to understand Saturn lessons or how to work with it.

Back to basics 

It’s true that Saturn isn’t easy: It’s  one of the two traditional malefics. It deals with difficult issues, especially surrounding fathers. Valens mentions unemployment, sluggishness, griefs, widows, and childlessness.   

Where does it get its associations? Saturn is the last of the visible planets. It’s the slowest and dimmest. So, it represent,s age, limitations, structure or constraints, seriousness, and ultimately time. As the last visible planet, it is seen as a container, the final structure. It’s often associated with structure like skin, bones, even walls. All together, Saturn focus on what is sustainable, endurable. 

Now, I haven’t studied Vedic astrology only some Hinduism and Buddhism. I do see some Vedic astrologers call Saturn the lord of Karma. But once again, Karma seems conceptually different in their tradition. Steeped in the Hindu and Buddhist tradition, karma is that all actions, including inaction, have consequences. This is different from the Western understanding punishment or reward. It's simply the unfolding of actions and consequences over years even lifetimes. 

Saturn return stories are often tied up in what actions are sustainable. My Saturn return was in the 6th house of day to day habits, health and work. I struggled with nerve pain that ran down my arms from poor posture and long hours in the office. Saturn wasn’t highlighting cosmic justice here. It was saying: hey! This isn’t sustainable. So, I had to slowly to overhaul my workout routine, adding in stretching and weight lifting to better support my body. 

In other cases, I’ve had clients with Saturn return in their 7th house of partnerships. They get one of two outcomes: marriage or breaking up. Saturn was once again asking: is this partnership sustainable not just for now but for the long haul? This is an important pivot from karma. Saturn doesn’t ask if you should be in that relationship. It doesn’t see the relationship as a reward or a punishment. It only cares about what can be sustained. 

If I think back to my father, even his medical experience aligns with this. Bacterial meningitis is dangerous because it breaks through the brain's protective barriers. Once again, Saturn highlighted a structural failure for my dad.

Saturn as an opportunity

This pivot from cosmic justice to what is endurable is important for a few reasons. It gives a better paradigm to understand and work with Saturn transits. Removing the idea of being judged or ‘reaping what you sow’ can help people who are suffering. It also acknowledges that some things or events can be beyond our control. 

By moving toward sustainability, more people can have agency. For instance, I see a lot of folks with difficult Saturn in the 10th transits begin by struggling at work. They might struggle with a leader, or the structure of a specific job. In these moments, they start to ask themselves what they want from work for the long term. I’ve seen clients pivot to freelance, or change to a completely different industry. Was the experience difficult? Absolutely. But by thinking about the bigger picture, they found better fits for them for the long haul. 

Saturn in Aries

We need a good grasp on Saturn as it’s about to enter Aries. Saturn struggles here, looking a bit like an old man suddenly forced to go back to high school. If you spend anytime online, people are framing it all sorts of ways. They’re calling it a rebirth, karmic experience, or lessons in restriction. And frankly, some of this can make people really miss what Saturn in Aries is about.  

In Aries, we question our societal norms around wisdom, sustainability, and endurance. This fire sign is about speed, youth, and recklessly rushing in first. Sometimes we have to jump in and create the whole plan later. Sometimes, there’s a wisdom youthful folks have that their elders lack. We can see it in this moment of climate crisis, the only way to sustain the Earth is to rush in and start now. We literally cannot afford to wait anymore.

I think we’ll see a question of age and leadership. Who is an elder? Who is ‘old enough’? Millennials have often been talked about as though we're still young and inexperienced. Frankly, the youngest millennial is now 29 years old. I believe this will only become more prominent as we see a record number of folks wanting to run for office. 

Online discussions have a way of flattening each planet into one or two things. Venus is relationships. Mars is conflict. Jupiter is abundance. It’s important to look and ask ourselves when these shorthands are useful. By calling Saturn ‘Karmic’ we give the planet more power over our lives and miss the lessons about time, endurance, and lived wisdom. 

Want to get a sense of how Saturn shows up in your life or learn more about Saturn in Aries? I'd love to work with you.