Saturn, Time, and Maturity

by Robert Wilkinson

Saturn has many qualities to master in the course of our lives. Those who do find an ability to respond constructively to any problem they encounter.

However, that doesn’t mean that Saturn teaches us how to achieve everything our desire nature wants. Saturn teaches us through limitations, as well as triumphs. Saturn binds and focuses Jupiter’s imagination and dreams of endless possibilities. Saturn shows us “the limitations ordained by duty” that we must accept if we are to fulfill our understanding of that experience.

Remember, it is the Ring Pass Not, marking the limits of what we can achieve until we master all that is within that clear limitation. It is the boundary where the known meets the unknown, limited only by the extent of our imagination as it is bound in time. Saturn shows us how to make time our ally, where each step secured becomes the foundation for the next step to be taken.

Our dealings with those things in the realm of Saturn often do lead to a sense of oppression, or sadness, or heaviness, or frustration that we’re not making better progress quicker. Of course, that also is an illusion, since we can lift off those chains any time we choose. Saturn shows us that we do not have to be bound by half-truths based in limited perceptions.

Saturn shows us those experiences that we must learn whether we want to or not. Those are the significant life experiences that make it clear when we must accept, and when we must let go. Saturn shows us that we cannot avoid certain lessons, as well as when time’s up.

Saturn’s transits show us when a long cycle is complete, and another one beginning. Saturn conjunctions to our planets and angles happen about 28-29 years apart, giving us opportunities to look back and see how “we’re not a kid anymore” in the function shown by that planet or angle. Saturn finalizes things that it conjuncts, giving us a chance to reshape that expression based in a greater maturity, patience, understanding, and self-discipline.

Often people are apprehensive when Saturn approaches their Ascendant. Saturn conjunct the Ascendant brings a new learning rigor, as well as the sense that our experience has brought us wisdom, and there's a new Self that stands on its own terms as the author of its expression. Saturn on the Ascendant restructures our self-image and what roles we are and are not willing to play.

Here it’s useful to remember that Saturn spends some time in the 12th house before it moves across the Ascendant. That period (approximately 2 years) brings an end to old motives, where old ghosts, fears, and “self-undoing behaviors” can be seen in the light of a new maturity and a new sense of purpose who why we’re here and what type of role we want to play in the future. The more fearful we are when Saturn is in our 12th, the more important it will be to kill out that fear completely, since it will only hinder the new self that will come forth as Saturn moves across the Ascendant.

It works the same way as Saturn touches the various planets in our charts. Its influence is slow, steady, inexorable, and doesn’t yield an inch of understanding we haven’t won honestly. It closes old ways of feeling, thinking, relating, efforting, and every other life quality, while opening us to newer, more solid and reliable ways of living these qualities. But it never happens quickly.

Those who have an Ascendant or planets in the last half of a sign get advance signals of what Saturn’s influence on those will be when Saturn first enters their sign. So Saturn in Scorpio has been working its influence on those with Ascendants in Scorpio since late 2012, even though Saturn may not have conjuncted their Ascendant until recently. And now that Saturn is in early Sagittarius, its lessons are already being felt by those with Sagittarius rising, even if it’s late in the sign.

Again, though things may feel heavier and slower during a Saturn conjunction, through maturity and experience we learn to adjust to the rhythm of what is, and become clear about what we can influence, and what we cannot. Saturn teaches us “response-ability,” a.k.a. the ability to respond. However, sometimes this means action, sometimes non-action. Sometimes patience with the process, other times leaving the old limitation behind and finding a newer, more appropriate set of responsibilities to fulfill.

While Saturn brings a sense of heaviness and seriousness to all it touches, it also brings patience, wisdom, a sense of healthy boundaries, and a sense of what we can and cannot accomplish in various life areas over time. Then our limitations become the playground where we can know who we are and what we’re here to do.

© Copyright 2014 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[ellen]

Thank you Rober for the wise words about Saturn. I am reminded that deep below the difficulty lies a pearl. Saturn in Scorpio taught me to stop casting pearls before swine. I have had alot of pain to come this far and I sure hope my Saturn through Sagittarius is kinder to me than crossing the ascendant was. It has truly been a rough go of it. I just wish all of it could have been easier but I can see that harsh punishment is how we are motivated to change. Thanks for putting out the positive. Love and peace to you in the coming new year!

[Sherry Katz]

I like your article, Robert.
Having just completed my second Saturn return, I am now in a position to appreciate the lessons of what was in fact a lonesome year in which self-love became my greatest companion. I believe this lesson also came courtesy of Saturn.

I resonate w your phrase of "response-ability", which I feel summarizes the skills a person is able to improve by inching along w Saturn's lessons.

Thank you again.

[Jo Garceau]

Robert, a beautiful article on Saturn! What you say about the impact on the Ascendant is also true of the impact on those with Sun in Scorpio. It's been a rough 2.5 years, and yet one knows this a lesson and an opportunity of a lifetime. For me, the instruction was how to discern the jewel in the surrender. I have natal Saturn located in the last degree of Capricorn, and so I think the lesson in Scorpio went exceptionally deep. Blessings for all of us who weathered that storm! and on to the next. And that means all of us who are readers of your essays.

A blessed new year, Robert, and all you fellow readers.

[Diana]

Don't forget Saturn (and Pluto) can be planets of harvest as well. When Saturn was transiting my 3rd house, I met someone who is now like a brother to me. While in my H5, I had contact with a soulmate who had a profound effect on me, and in H6 I picked up some new clients.

[Nic]

Beautiful post that put things in perspective. It is easy to imagine Saturn as an old wise man that presents us mortals its being thorough discipline, effort, consistency, asking us to release fear and trust what we have achieved. This old man with a severe face can also show us a warm heart that can guide us along our orbit around the Sun.
Blessings be to all