Saturn

Key Concepts:

Saturn bridges material consciousness with higher consciousness, as demonstrated by its position between the inner planets and the outer. Through the lessons life brings us, Saturn molds us in order to live in the material world. Saturn forces us to give up the illusions and misconceptions which prevent our liberation and freedom through depersonalization of the self. The rings of Saturn are symbols for its primary function: limitations.

In its skillful expression, Saturn’s energy takes our ideals and translates them into concrete forms and structures that maintain and support our lives; often this takes “time” [another Saturn rulership] and discipline, thereby teaching us patience and perseverance. Saturn teaches that the purpose of life is growth through experience. Saturn’s energy is only experienced malevolently when we refuse to change ~ refusing to raise our level of consciousness and refusing to give of ourselves. Saturn’s rays are a Blessing, for they consolidate truth and eliminate hypocrisy in the individual.

Saturn is much maligned but can be a good and reliable friend once we accept him into our lives and really listen to what he has to teach us. Saturn does tend to be restrictive at times and for those Sagittarius/Aries/Aquarius types who need total personal freedom and unfettered access to whatever it is they want to do, whenever they want to do it, he can be especially tiresome. But, once his lessons are mastered, he is a constant source of real freedom in life on Earth.

From the Soul-centered perspective, Saturn is very energetically related to our Mother Planet as both he and the Earth share the Third Ray of Active Intelligence as their primary line of manifestation. There is an ancient metaphysical dictum that states: Energy follows Thought. The Third Ray is the energy of mind, thus how we think is how we become. Saturn’s laws bring direction, cohesion, structure, and focus into the substance of mind that ~ if left only to Mercury in Gemini ~ would be scattered in many places simultaneously, leaving us with little creative potency other than to create the chaos of multiplicity without structure, order, or purpose.

Saturn is traditionally associated with older people, authority figures, and most specifically with our biological father. As the ruler of Capricorn ~ both exoterically and Esoterically ~ he takes the watery matrix of our inherited and instinctual nature, (Cancer and the Moon), and shapes this foundation so that we may hold a place of individual power in life. Too many people have a resistance to standing firm in the individualized self, preferring to dive and hide within our emotional/astral bodies, allowing instinct to dominate the personality life. This is one of the main reasons why Saturn is said to be in “detriment” in Cancer.

We often reject this state of personal authority because the process of achieving a strongly-centered self, carries the illusion of isolation and separateness, evoking fear and rejection. This passes when we take the next few steps in the development of consciousness, steps that absolutely require the discipline of Saturn. But these are temporary phases within the construction of our place in life. Once we acquire the awareness of Saturn as a Loving Father, then we can more easily incorporate our own natal placement of Saturn into ourselves and not fear the will, power, and authority as an imposition coming from outside of us. This acceptance of Saturn is much easier to do if Saturn is well placed in the natal chart.

Saturn’s position in the chart reveals fears and anxieties that, through negative early conditioning, make us feel deeply inadequate. When we are at our most oversensitive, defensive and when we most fiercely blame others for our shortcomings, we are revealing the side of Saturn which psychology calls our “Shadow.” Saturn imparts worldly wisdom gained through experience and emphasizes the need for structure in our lives. Saturn demonstrates that Spiritual growth occurs through the fulfillment of responsibilities and obligations. Saturn’s position in the chart, by House and Sign, often points to the areas where the feelings of limitation are most strongly felt. Click here for examples.

Symbology:

Saturn’s symbol is depicted by the cross of matter rising above the crescent of the Soul, hence, Saturn governs the need to learn the laws and lessons of the physical plane; Saturn’s most important law, is the Law of Karma.