Saturn in Astrology: Work, Efforts and Satisfaction

Saturn in Astrology helps us to focus and enforces discipline to achieve mastery

As I’ve gotten older and—I feel confident to say—wiser, the fear that comes with Saturn has turned into trust. Trusting that the influence of energy at any given period, at any given intensity, is to ultimately establish us into the mature human being we’re meant to be. With all things equal, Saturn’s lessons, trials and tribulations are stages that help us develop into the satisfied growth of old age.

In a general sense, Saturn represents reality, practicality and the limits the planet imposes on us. It’s a reminder of the material form in which we are made and the reality that will eventually fade. Saturn also represents time, and by valuing its ticking hands and being aware of its restrictions, we set out to focus on what is truly important to us and where work is needed to find fulfillment.

One can only hope that on our deathbed, when we look back at the reels of our life, the short time spent on this material plane was ideal. The steps we took and the choices made created fulfilment and inspired others. It is such things which Saturn prepares us under the guise of challenges, restrictions, a sense of inadequacy, fear, and dissatisfaction. We look to the sign where Saturn was orbiting during birth to indicate qualities to work through and the process required to understand the severe and morose tone the strict planet imposes on each of us.

Saturn in the four elements

Earthy Saturn is about material and practical matters, from mundane routines to accumulating resources and learning to build a successful life. Having Saturn in earth signs can limit a way of life and cause a loss of confidence in creating wealth and stability.

In the water signs, a sense of restriction is felt emotionally. A drought undernourishing the desire for deep connections and a lack of being understood internally. It’s a constant thirst to fill up one’s emotional needs. A reservoir that never seems to be filled.

The air expression is, ironically, a non-expression, a muzzle to our thoughts. One can fear sharing ideas, feel socially inadequate and latent in abstract thought.

The fire signs can slow down the fuel of self-expression, an embarrassment to show one’s true light. A fire Saturn can fear those who freely shine in their own light.

The limitations of Saturn create a longing, a hole we instinctively want to fill as we become conscious of it.

Saturn in the Houses

When we add the House position of Saturn, the expression is then shown in functions of life, indicating delays. It is an area in the chart where much effort and work is required and where we can feel an injustice and a continued sensitivity we experience until we learn the lessons of Saturn.

The angular Houses cause strictness and reservations about self, identity, relationships, and how we want to be seen in the world. A delay in gratification in self-expression, security of home, marriage and career.

Saturn in the succedent Houses create delays in resources, wealth and pleasures of life. Much effort is required to acquire material wealth and meet the challenges of stabilizing fortune, fame, and friends.

With Saturn siting in the cadent houses, a person can feel insecure about living life in the everyday, constantly destabilized by the winds of change. It’s a frequent battleground to secure work, an overall path and spiritual belief.

Around the age of 28, we start becoming more conscious of the required lessons. It’s a point when we generally start to question ourselves behind the lens of an adult. When we begin to evaluate our sense of responsibility and if the path we’ve been on can bring stability to our future. A stage when we leave behind our free-spirited 20s and start feeling the austere tones of our 30s as we examine the quality of our current job, existing friends and lovers and their relevancy into the next stage of our lives.

It’s a gradual change of direction, and I’ve witnessed the end of decades-long relationships. Dissatisfaction with a stable job or career can give a sense of emptiness. When large groups of friends thin out to a solid few. The change does not happen in one day; it is a process of getting to know oneself as we take the stage of adulthood and begin our Saturn Return.

Saturn Return

The infamous Saturn Return is when the planet transits back into the same sign it was orbiting in the sky when one first took breath. A blossoming process between the ages 28-34 into the maturation of Saturn lessons. Think of it as a first greeting with Saturn. This is when we develop into our Saturn sign. What was once challenging can now be made applicable and where we instinctively focus on the work and effort needed to release Saturn pressures and restrictions. A process of trials and tribulation to build ourselves to become better and prove our worth. A time when we start to create a relationship of trust with Saturn.

In this trust with Saturn and the hard work required, we gain trust and confidence in ourselves. The Saturn inadequacy, the fear once felt, ideally turns into our highest praise and sense of accomplishment. By the time we reach 34-35, there’s a firm understanding of what we want to do and where we see our life headed.

Saturn and Karma

Saturn is also known as the Lord of Karma. On a mundane level, it’s about the hard work we do or don’t do, reaping what we sow. On a spiritual level, it’s about the redemption of past ill deeds in our current life. Our Saturn Return, on a mundane level, moves us towards maturation, but the lessons of the sign and the significance of the past deeds help us move toward liberation. The functions of the House Saturn that sits in opens in ways it never had before, with the astrological sign aiding the type of expression.

If Saturn sits in Scorpio, one starts to enjoy the pleasure of intimacy and start accepting and understanding oneself and others on a deeper level. If this is happening in the first House, the native begins to sincerely express him or herself more confidently, perhaps through intense sexual power. 

Sagittarius may have a person wanting to explore philosophy and foreign ideas. If this is in the 11th house, paths to meeting new friends of the same interest or starting a group based on Sagittarius interests blossom.

In Gemini, interest in social interaction heightens. Writing may become a potential vocation. If this happens in the 10th house of career, building a career in communication or technology can also start developing.

Once Saturn makes its presence known, the lessons start to unfold more prominently when we become aware of the planet’s significance in our life. I compare the stages of our relationship with our natal Saturn to our general relationship with those who reared us and the apparent clashes of viewpoint we have with them while young and unbounded by life. As time passes and we accumulate experience and create independence, we acknowledge their position and intentions honestly.

What we don’t recognize in our young foolish adolescent years, we start to appreciate down the path into adulthood. What our parents imposed on us can be seen in a better light. It’s a turning point when we see them as equals, no longer in a child’s view. Until we become adults ourselves, when we understand responsibility and hardship, how discipline gets us towards a place of stability, and the satisfaction felt when we maintain a purposeful road, is when we trust in Saturn.

Once we reach the stage when life is at a snail’s pace and our thoughts have become preoccupied primarily with the past — a period fittingly known as Ptolemy’s Saturn stage of human development at 67+, it is the memories that will tell us if we had done our best, made use of our time and if we have achieved an overall sense of fulfilment.

Follow me @astro.wild.child