The Saturn Return – Myth and Reality

by Robert Wilkinson

The Saturn return always occurs between the age of 27 and 29, and again from 57-59, seemingly lasts a lot longer, and is one of the most feared and misunderstood points in personal evolution. It is usually a difficult time with a lot of stress and pressure, where things come to an end, hard realizations are faced, and the weight of the world is felt, very acutely. So what good comes out of a Saturn return?

I originally posted this in 2004, and again in 2005. I have rewritten substantial portions of this article, making it more readable and fleshing out some concepts that were a little obscure. In any case, the Saturn Return is one of the most important things that happens in a human life, since those are times when we turn away from what has fulfilled itself and turn toward that which promises a greater wisdom in our lives and a more effective function in our world.

The most important feature of any Saturn return is our ability to choose a different set of life assumptions, where we move beyond old limitations and responsibilities and embrace a different way that promises a deeper and richer fulfillment. It is a time of many opportunities to make important choices and decisions, moving out of unconscious patterns and obsolete conceptions of our purpose into more deliberate and thoughtful expressions of our unfulfilled self.

It represents a time of completing a major life cycle, and because it is Saturn, it shows that we now have completed some lessons about what we can do and cannot do, what we can live with and what we cannot. It is a time where we examine our chains, and lift off the ones we no longer need to wear. It is where we choose behaviors that will lead us to forms of dominion and slavery in our life.

Before the first Saturn return, many values and assumptions we held as set in stone were chosen for us by our elders and our conscious and unconscious responses to those. These became our life patterns and rules we lived by. But at the Saturn return, this no longer holds true.

The Saturn return, whether our first or our second, is the moment where free will works most powerfully. The events that occur during our Saturn returns help us choose a path: to make our lives a grand adventure in becoming our true authorship in the world, stepping into our chosen authority, or perpetuate life habits and fears that enslave us to obsolete crystallized and/or authoritarian patterns.

It is a time of important endings, but also major new beginnings that will affect our lives for many years to come. It is a time where our free will shows us more of our life purpose freed from old patterns we once needed, but do not need to live with any longer.

It is often associated with a time of hardship, difficulties, and major challenges, but these occur because we have resisted or are resisting our own tide of personal evolution, or because we need the skills to deal with these things that will help us reveal our higher purpose in the years to come. During this time of clearing our old psychological refuse, whatever must change WILL change, whether we want it to or not, and whether we like it or not.

It is important to note here that Saturn is not "causing" these things to occur. We are the engineers of our own lives, the determiners of our fate through our free will. As it was said, we are the dispensers of "glory or gloom" to ourselves, and no others.

Nothing external compels our destiny. Since character is destiny, as we make our character we make our destiny. Saturn and its cycles merely indicate the part of our inner nature which must learn certain lessons as a direct result of our own maturation process, and show us clearly the cause-and-effect cycles we have set into motion before this time of radical choices and changes.

The Saturn return is a time when the "chickens come home to roost," for good or ill. Again, this is a time of evaluating what we can live with and what we cannot. It is the most important time for examining what our priorities are and what must be dropped from our lives to allow us a more mature expression of our "dharma," a Sanskrit term approximately meaning "true function" in the higher sense of the term. This is when we learn to make time and experience our ally, and come out of immature ways and lesser ways of being into our greater response-ability.

Saturn again returns to its birth place again between 57 and 59. This is the second Saturn return, where we choose once more how we want to live, this time for what most of us believe will be the rest of our lives. Again we make choices. This time, though, we are challenged to turn away from old limitations, rules, responsibilities, fears, and unfulfilling behaviors.

This is the time when we can claim the wisdom born of our experiences since the first Saturn return through distilling the deeper and higher truths from the realizations we’ve had so far, reflected through the filter of over 30 years of adult experience. The second Saturn return is where we know what works for us and what doesn’t, and we can claim our wisdom and find appropriate forms to express it in our world. This is a time that can show us that we have done exactly what we were supposed to do, and marks the point of embracing a new adventure, having fulfilled the old purpose

The second Saturn return is usually hardest on those who still operate out of immaturity, irresponsibility, or fear. To the extent that we have not learned how to fulfill our higher purpose, or ignored the physical or emotional lessons of the various crisis points between 29 and 58, this is a very difficult time.

Any time transiting Saturn touches any planet in our charts, it indicates a time when all of the above factors are brought to bear on the psychological function of the planet visited by Saturn. That even includes being in the same sign as that planet, even if it’s not within “orb” of a conjunction.

For example, when Saturn conjuncts our Sun, it is a time of receiving rewards for "living our light," or feeling oppressed as a result of past self-betrayals and accepting limitations that weren’t ours to begin with. Saturn in the same sign as our Sun may bring us recognition for what we have accomplished, and where we restructure how we view illumination and the light we give to others, as well as how we live our heart's higher purpose. Things end, but only those things which our light no longer needs.

When Saturn touches our Moon, it is a time of maturing and/or restructuring our feelings, habits, and personality. It is a period of seeing what habits and feelings we can live with, and which ones have become too calcified to endure any longer, or which no longer nurture us. It is a time of restructuring our emotional experience of day to day life. Though it may be experienced as limiting and restrictive, it also brings emotional and experiential rewards as well as a maturing of our inner connectedness with our true nature if we show the virtues of patience, responsibility, maturity, perseverance, self-discipline, and organization.

It’s the same for all the other planetary functions of personality. Saturn restructures whatever it touches, maturing it, disciplining it, and forcing us to see what chains needs to be cast off, and what higher responsibilities we must embrace, as a function of time and experience. With Mercury, our mind is restructured. With Venus, our values and relationships. With Mars, our “fight or flight” principle, and so on out to the outermost Spiritual sensibilities we have.

Saturn shows us the lessons we must learn to grow in our "authorship" in life, regardless of what personal, interpersonal, or transpersonal sphere we move through. The Saturn return shows us how we are or are not exercising "free will," rather than fear.

Saturn is the part of us that has learned to be rigid and authoritarian, but also where we take responsibility for our lives and choices, and come to a genuine life renewal by ending whatever has oppressed us while embracing a more mature sense of self. Saturn may symbolize our limitations, but also shows us the way to the perfection of our personalities so we can live our Dharma, which is our Highest Self.

Though it is not usually a "joyous" time, it can be if we find the right point of view. Though it is not usually an "easy" time, it can be if you are living your higher purpose and don't resist the process of becoming more than we were. We simply must learn what people and circumstances and fears we no longer want nor need, and let go of lesser things.

Taking that response-ability and incorporating it into a life discipline allows us to find a greater maturity, effectiveness, and purpose that enables us to enjoy our future as a grand adventure. Then we cast off feelings of frustration around being unable to stay in childish or unfulfilling patterns of acting, feeling, or thinking.

Saturn periods are times of growth into a greater patience and maturity, knowing healthy boundaries and limitations, and seeing what is no longer viable in our lives. Saturn helps us know when to move on, in an absolute sense. Make Saturn your friend, and time becomes you ally.

Ultimately Saturn can lead us to our primal innocence, where we do what’s right for the greatest good for all, without ulterior motives and controlling behaviors. We just have to learn to be mature, without being old. With the perfection of our Saturn function, we become part of the wisdom of our ancestry, our era, and the holographic patterns of all who share our life lessons.

Our Saturn lessons help us learn and teach the greater way for those who follow us in the portion of the wisdom we are here to learn. The trick to it all is to embrace Saturn and its lessons and not fear that which makes us greater than we could have imagined.

© Copyright 2004, 2005, 2012 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Valerie]

since i'm having my second Saturn return (2º Scorpio), this post is perfect timing and i thank you! i just wish i wasn't so damn poor. unemployed for three years, using up my savings and still looking for my next calling. i feel totally powerless. i don't know if it's part of the karmic plan or the condition of the economy. on the other hand i do have things to be grateful for like my health, my friends and my family. the balance (sitting on the razor's edge) is a very strange and precarious one. SIGH. thank you again... namaste :)

[mike]

My mother and several other elderly folks I know were born in the early to mid 1920s. They're experiencing their THIRD Saturn return, plus transiting Pluto opposed natal Pluto. Gads!

[Debbie]

Just finished the final square before 2nd return and it was tough, but I did do my work and my homework and relieved myself of many false trained ways of being, I actually am looking forward to the return and no I am not being silly and blase, i do feel I have left no stone unturned and did my time battling the dragon to let out the sacred fem from her dungeon and it has been frightening and felt defeated more times than I care to remember, but I do feel I have everything to look forward by the timethe Lord of Karma reaches my natal Saturn at 29 cap :)

[Sherril]

Thanks for this article........
Having my 2nd Saturn return - exact on Dec 14, 2014 - the same day Pluto will be exactly conjunct my Sun. My mantra for the next couple of years will be "embrace Saturn, embrace Saturn, embrace Saturn".

[gale]

Hahaha...Saturn. In the last couple years, Saturn has returned and retrograded passed my natal mars, mercury, neptune, sun, and is hovering over my descendent right now. I'm already on my hands and knees drooling, so I can't imagine what will happen next year when he hits my venus and saturn. Somedays I laugh and some i cry...today I'm laughing because I see I have fellow travelers. thanks!

[caliban]

My second is fast approaching. I am ever so grateful that mercury just retrograded over natal saturn. Quite a process.

[Francis]

Saturn hit my Libra Sun a while back and then Neptune and nothing happened that I can point to. Saturn is hitting my ASC now and on Dec 21 exacts onto my second return. My natal Saturn is also conjunct Mercury and ASC. There is talk at work of lay offs and if I am I will likely retire and look for something to become involved in. Much feels out of my hands on how this can go. Hugs to all you fellow second Saturn return-ers!

[Valerie]

Francis- i can relate to your situation! when my job was eliminated three years ago (Saturn often makes itself felt with an event up to three years before the return) it felt like i was put out to pasture, and ever since i've felt things have been totally out of my hands. i even got a job this summer that disappeared in a puff of smoke before i even started. i seem to have no control for change in my life. it's frustrating. but i'm still here, staying afloat by the grace of God. i welcome other people's testimonials. i hope if you get laid off or retire that you will be in a secure situation and welcome the change. good luck! namaste! :)

[Robert]

Hi Valerie - To address something you said, often we do experience Saturn's lessons well in advance of its exact conjunction with our Saturn. I find its influence begins when it first enters the sign our Saturn is in, or when it comes to within about 10 degrees of our Saturn if it's in another sign. My Saturn is in late Virgo, so mine pretty much began Sep 2007 and didn't begin to let up until Sep 2010. Of course, what we learn in coping with our internal Saturn function lasts for the rest of our lives!!

Sometimes a sense of lack or reality of feeling like we don't have enough challenges us to see what we need to cultivate in our long term best interests. Saturn is involved in "enlightened self interest," since Saturn and the Sun do their own balancing act as rulers of the axis of Leo-Aquarius. When younger, I found that it really didn't matter what I did to make a few bucks, as long as it didn't compromise my integrity. Regardless of what we need to do to earn some bread, we still will always be ourselves. And some things might just be fun, like learning to bake bread or make pizzas or whatever....

Hi mike - Yes, my elderly father (1925) is going through his third Saturn return and Pluto is in fact opposing his Pluto. I figure the third Saturn return makes us exempt from most of what we had to learn in earlier Saturn periods, since either we have it mastered or we haven't by the time we hit 87-88. At that point I would think that being at peace with our wisdom and our experience, finding ways our lives "furthered the Great Work," is about all there is to do. And have fun, of course!!

Hi Debbie - The Saturn return can bring an amazing sense of finality to old chains and limitations. Both of mine brought me a new identity, with major breaks from stagnant systems and people. Turned away from loved ones who had become abusive, left behind an old life and any sense of responsibility to try to dance with jerks. Found I just didn't have the time or inclination to indulge or tolerate some things I did before that period.

Again, it's not that Saturn makes us that way; it's that our inner Saturn function finally realizes, as a function of time and the fulfillment of Dharma, that some things just can't be done any more. No guilt, no blame, no regret. Just a sense of time and maturity having brought me face to face with my ability to be at peace in my own realm without caring about what others thought, and embracing a long term discipline of learning how to exercise dominion rather than be enslaved, mentally or emotionally.

Hi Sherril - You're most welcome. Make Saturn your friend, and time becomes your ally. Pluto on the Sun can be one of the most spiritually transforming times in our life! Since we're here to do what we must to become our Highest Self, as we learn to be Arhats/Paramahansas we find Saturn is our best friend, helping us structure the spiritual energies represented by the planets outside of Saturn's orbit. In any case, it would seem you're preparing for a major spiritual initiation. There are things you can read that will help accelerate the process. Start with Light on the Path, Through the Gates of Gold, Voice of the Silence, and At the Feet of the Master, all linked at the bottom left of this page. I also highly recommend these for anyone seeking to "break on through to the other side." You (and anyone else who wants to approach the Gates of Gold) might also want to get yourself a copy of Initiation Human and Solar by Alice A Bailey. Prepare to fire up and flame on!

Hi gale - So Saturn has been restructuring a whole bunch of you, eh? Congratulations! At least you know what's real and what isn't, and now you're deeper, wiser, more mature and disciplined, even if a bit exhausted by the length and relentlessness of the process. Prepare to rewrite your address book, dropping a lot of people and things that no longer symbolize what you like, what you value, and what you're here to do on Earth. You're not a kid anymore.....

Hi caliban - Yes, Mercury should have given you some good signals about how healthy your inner Saturn is, and some ideas about how to adapt or coordinate your ability to achieve dominion over your affairs.

Hi Francis - I have found that when Saturn touched my Sun, it brought me the results of what I had defined as my light. It may or may not be a "dramatic" event for a person, but it definitely brings something to an end, and begins a whole new cycle based on one's maturity and sense of purpose. I can assure you "something happened," even if you don't know what that was.

Saturn on the Ascendant brings a new learning discipline, a new "rigor," and can bring a degree of power, authority, or authorship if we get into a productive long term groove. Saturn conjunct Mercury challenges us to return to the student state, and study, read, write, discipline the mind and speech so that these express only what is in our long term best interests. So really, whatever ended and began when Saturn hit your Sun will take shape in the form of a self image in the near future.

ps - many feel that things are a bit "out of control" right now. That has more to do with the collective atmosphere than our individual karmas. We're learning to navigate the subtle pulls in this "time out of time," and be more sentient in our experience of the life we're all experiencing simultaneously. Relax, since the intensification of elements going on right now is pushing energy into a future being created as we focus.

We've moving into a groove unknown for many thousands of years, and are the midwives and midhusbands of the advent of the Dwapara Yuga, the Age of Electromagnetic Remembrance. We're all getting a radically different sense of time, partially because the time stream has quickened over the past few years, but also because we are becoming more aware on subtle levels. Enjoy the moment, since events will accelerate from here, challenging all of us to become fearless as we navigate the entry into a new long term era.

[Valerie]

thank you for all the great comments Robert! generally i do agree with your take on Saturn's approach to the return. it makes sense. but recently someone mentioned to me about the three year mark, and something big also happened at my first return at that three year mark in 1979. it was a shock but at age 25 it started me on my spiritual journey. it changed my life. at that time Saturn also moved into my 8th house. maybe there is a connection with the fact that the 8th house is ruled by Scorpio which is where my Saturn is actually located (2º).

now at the second return it's a whole nother ball of wax. the mind boggles with synchronicities. I'm doing a review and trying to apply the lessons I learned then to what is happening now. again thanks for all your great comments. your answers to the other folks are helpful to me as well. namaste! :)

[Valerie]

ps- about the Sun and Saturn... i have Aquarius rising, and the Sun (in the 5th house) trines Saturn in my chart. that's good!

[Nancy Robinson]

Saturn return was a bammer. Split and shattered literally. Gathered pieces together of more authentic self, and tossed other multi-verse selves out to the wayside. Was in a severe car accident, a near death experience, partner abandonment, and a loss of a whole different kind. Glad that relationship ended he was a slime. A blizzard that year,hard to come by resources like clean water and energy. Recuperation on all levels due to a shattered and broken right arm. Dealing with a near death experience that was not understood or even accepted. Raising three young sons also on own. I don't have next Saturn Return for another 12 to 13 years. I look back on all of such, and amazed at how far I have come. And a whole new perspective, and living my Higher Self. Dealt with much of death and rebirth that year. Saturn on 29th degree Pisces here, Chiron conjunct, and trine Mercury Rx,conjunct Sun in Leo.

Thanks for wonderful insights. Great reads you mentioned. Love them all.

Much Love,
Nancy

[sherril]

There's one more little thing about 12/14/14 besides my Saturn return exact and Pluto conjunct Sun exact - it's also the 6th exact square of transiting Pluto and Uranus. I'm wanting a new birthday.......