Lost. Uncertain. Alone. What do you do next? These are all common Saturn Return feelings, whether you’re facing your first Saturn Return (ages 27-30 or so), or facing your second (57-60), like I am.
So, what’s a Saturn Return?
Clock back to before the invention of the telescope (1608). Saturn was at the edge of the known Solar System. Yes, Uranus was visible, but it was so faint, scientists didn’t believe it was a planet. Saturn was the edge, the boundary. Added bonus, it had rings – even more evidence of containment. From that emerged the mythos of the planet and it seeped into our psyches as the ideas of obstruction, limitation, hard work, details, loss, harvest. The archetypes that emerged were Father Time, the Grim Reaper, the Hermit, and the Wise Elder. Definitely not your party planet racing around the Sun in 365 days. Saturn takes a ponderous 29.5 years to return to the point it was at in the sky when you were born – hence the name Saturn Return.
Our Saturn Returns, if properly used, can enhance our existence. It is a hinge-point in your life history. It can be a time of great awareness and sober reflection on Life. Saturn Return is a metaphor for the sometimes earth-shaking, always marvelous notion that you get to be the author of your own life.
One of the best descriptions of “what’s Life all about” came from a professor I met a few years ago. Each new term, he would ask his students to ponder, “What question are you here to have answered?” That pretty much sums up a Saturn Return. It’s an awesome way the Universe has of having you pause and reflect on, “What question do I want the answer to?” It’s not a time of doom-and-gloom-so-far-you’ve-failed. It’s more a time of, “Hey, remember how you came to get the answers to some questions? Explore a few things you were curious about? Are you doing that? If not, why not? Do you even still want to get the answers? If so, do you need a course correction?” Remember, as the author of your own life, you are in charge of your choices, your decisions, and dealing with the consequences.
Let’s start from the premise that this is a great adventure of self-discovery you are embarking on. How do we do this Saturn sober reflection, discover our questions, explore the answers? This is different for everyone, but since we are dealing with Saturn, we need to reflect back to the mythos of Saturn in our psyche. It is a planet of boundaries – so where can we set good boundaries? It is a planet of organization – are we orderly in our work patterns? It is a planet of endings – are there behaviors we need to change or let go of that no longer serve our vision of ourselves? It is planet of the harvest – what crop have you been reaping up until now? Was it the life-crop you really wanted to plant?
Saturn is trying to lead you towards yourself and your questions — sometimes with a swift kick, sometimes with a dramatic ending, sometimes with a stunning benefit. It’s all useful, even the painful parts, because it can allow you to better know yourself.
Start a journal if you haven’t already – it doesn’t have to be a written one. It could be a video blog to yourself. Make a collage. Make an art project. An Excel chart. Something. Anything. The goal is to help you delve into and explore that inner part of you that knows what you really want to do, have, and be. You know what is best for you – if for no other reason than because you are the one who was born on the planet called Earth to experience your version of 5-senses reality. Go do what you came to do. My guess is, from knowing quite a few of these fantastic people entering their first Saturn return, what you came to do is pretty awesome, life-supporting, planet-enhancing, humanity-enriching, indeed.
So, what’s a Saturn Return?
Clock back to before the invention of the telescope (1608). Saturn was at the edge of the known Solar System. Yes, Uranus was visible, but it was so faint, scientists didn’t believe it was a planet. Saturn was the edge, the boundary. Added bonus, it had rings – even more evidence of containment. From that emerged the mythos of the planet and it seeped into our psyches as the ideas of obstruction, limitation, hard work, details, loss, harvest. The archetypes that emerged were Father Time, the Grim Reaper, the Hermit, and the Wise Elder. Definitely not your party planet racing around the Sun in 365 days. Saturn takes a ponderous 29.5 years to return to the point it was at in the sky when you were born – hence the name Saturn Return.
Our Saturn Returns, if properly used, can enhance our existence. It is a hinge-point in your life history. It can be a time of great awareness and sober reflection on Life. Saturn Return is a metaphor for the sometimes earth-shaking, always marvelous notion that you get to be the author of your own life.
One of the best descriptions of “what’s Life all about” came from a professor I met a few years ago. Each new term, he would ask his students to ponder, “What question are you here to have answered?” That pretty much sums up a Saturn Return. It’s an awesome way the Universe has of having you pause and reflect on, “What question do I want the answer to?” It’s not a time of doom-and-gloom-so-far-you’ve-failed. It’s more a time of, “Hey, remember how you came to get the answers to some questions? Explore a few things you were curious about? Are you doing that? If not, why not? Do you even still want to get the answers? If so, do you need a course correction?” Remember, as the author of your own life, you are in charge of your choices, your decisions, and dealing with the consequences.
Let’s start from the premise that this is a great adventure of self-discovery you are embarking on. How do we do this Saturn sober reflection, discover our questions, explore the answers? This is different for everyone, but since we are dealing with Saturn, we need to reflect back to the mythos of Saturn in our psyche. It is a planet of boundaries – so where can we set good boundaries? It is a planet of organization – are we orderly in our work patterns? It is a planet of endings – are there behaviors we need to change or let go of that no longer serve our vision of ourselves? It is planet of the harvest – what crop have you been reaping up until now? Was it the life-crop you really wanted to plant?
Saturn is trying to lead you towards yourself and your questions — sometimes with a swift kick, sometimes with a dramatic ending, sometimes with a stunning benefit. It’s all useful, even the painful parts, because it can allow you to better know yourself.
Start a journal if you haven’t already – it doesn’t have to be a written one. It could be a video blog to yourself. Make a collage. Make an art project. An Excel chart. Something. Anything. The goal is to help you delve into and explore that inner part of you that knows what you really want to do, have, and be. You know what is best for you – if for no other reason than because you are the one who was born on the planet called Earth to experience your version of 5-senses reality. Go do what you came to do. My guess is, from knowing quite a few of these fantastic people entering their first Saturn return, what you came to do is pretty awesome, life-supporting, planet-enhancing, humanity-enriching, indeed.
