Talking About Saturn
In the birth chart, Saturn represents authority and maturity; he is the archetypal Victorian father who is stern yet provides for his family and offers security and reliability. His actions are based on his own father's, and he follows tradition and regulations without questioning those higher up the ladder. He can be cold and unresponsive, tyrannical and rigid in his beliefs. Saturn is the god of time; time is your instrument, not your enemy, with all Saturn transits. In the natal chart, he shows us where we need to take responsibility. We can learn harsh lessons from this father if we ignore his call to be more disciplined and conservative in whichever area of life he resides.
The experts reckon that if you honour your inner archetypes, they'll give you less trouble. If you honour one at the expense of another, you will run into problems. In psychological astrology, any planet can represent a complex; when a complex starts to take over, it is often because something is being suppressed or denied expression. It can only get airplay through a weakened personality in mythic displays. Hence the need for our mental illnesses and the like; the suppressed stuff has to come out somewhere, whether we want it to or not. Saturn is never wanted at parties because he's so serious and never has any fun, yet if it weren't for Saturn, we'd have no decent buildings to party in. Life would be chaotic, and we'd have no structure, no concept of responsibility, and no reason to party. It's a cold, miserable and domineering archetype, yet he'll give you the benefits if you work hard enough. In an ideal world, we learn to balance the needs of Saturn with those of the other planets so that nothing gets left out in the cold.
If we look at myth, it tells us that Saturn was the son who managed to overthrow Uranus. The condensed version is that Uranus represents chaos and disorder, Saturn was the one who brought order...and, more importantly, farming. Saturn established routine and structure. He, in turn, tried to kill off his own children, one of which was Jupiter, who ended up usurping Saturn. Psych astrology says this is a generational battle of overthrowing the father to establish one's own ideals and laws and having to be hidden away beforehand so that he doesn't kill you. Does this myth teach us that to survive and ultimately own our power, we must not let the father see us until we are ready to take control, or he will swallow us? Certainly, this may be the only way to survive if you have a Saturnian father. Families can be complex, and Saturn can be heavy stuff. Having a Saturn transit can feel very heavy, and people frequently complain of feeling restricted, depressed or just sat on. I don't think we are just here to conquer our internal father; there are many different archetypes we can carry, and we all have each of these planets somewhere in our birth chart.
Saturn Transits
And what about the transits to your personal planets? How does it feel to have Saturn tied up with Uranus or Jupiter? Or even on Pluto, which many of you do right now or have had during the last few years. I'm getting a lot of stories through my work which tells me Saturn can be especially punishing with Pluto. The whole structure of life is challenged, from work to marriage and everything else we use to define ourselves as an individual. For many, it's a scary time...having the God of karmic responsibility demanding you look deeply at all that has been buried away; a time of forced cleansing and pruning of the deadwood in your life, a time to pay the dues of your own personal Pluto. Neither planet is known for its lightness and generosity! Yes, it will be a challenge at the very least, maybe neither planet features strongly in your chart. Count your blessings. For those who are not so lucky, which is likely to be you because most of the lucky ones would have no need for astrology or any other form of divination, all I can advise is that you get yourself some support psychologically for a while. Pay for support if you need to, and do your best. Be kind to yourself and remember that, like all things, it will pass. Try not to castrate your inner Uranus because it will help you accept change. Don't let too much Jupiter lull you into a false sense of security, but he will help you to keep the faith, so don't shut him out, either. In fact, whatever you consider to be ‘faith’, may well be the key that unlocks the door to freedom.
