🪐 SATURN DAY (Saturday)

(Original watercolor by me)

🪐 S A T U R N (has its own emoji)

Our planet of limits, responsibilities, rules, and boundaries.

The personal planet people tend to fear or cringe at. The one after which the fateful Saturn Return is named- that time typically known to be the first time in our adult life when we must confront some serious responsibilities.

Your first Saturn return (and typically the most impactful) happens between the ages of 27 to 31. This is when Saturn literally returns to the same degree of the same sign of the zodiac as when you were born. Subsequent returns happen later in life around the age of 59 and then again at around 89.

In mythology, Saturn was depicted as the Greek Kronos, God of Time and Cycles. “Saturn gives all we have earned and worked for in the fullness of time.” (p.66 Astrology for Yourself workbook). It is the planetary ruler of Capricorn, and fittingly, as we know the sea-goat to be the governor of the zodiac, who prioritizes structure and organization, diligence and hard work. “If Jupiter provides us with the faith that all will work out for the best, then Saturn teaches us how, through our own efforts, we can turn that vision into reality.” So, we could see Jupiter as the Prince of Optimism + Visions and Saturn as the King of Priorities + Manifestation.

In my own experience, my first Saturn return happened not long after accomplishing a childhood dream of becoming a world explorer. I took every opportunity to really seize my moment when the doors were open, BIG Jupiter energy....and then, the return. Literally I returned to the USA and found it so hard to assimilate back into the rhythm of the culture, it became clear that I was not alright. I had to get help, I had to confront some hard shit and I had to grow up. And as far as I can tell, no one is ever fully “grown up” for whatever that’s worth, whatever that even means. We are all a work in progress, we are all just trying to figure out what works best within our means, within our circumstances, within our limits. It is so so so important not to overlook boundary work.

It has taken me 36 adventurous, sometimes dark years to really START to understand what boundaries are and what they can look like. I became a mother by the age of 29, and you can imagine what that looks like in terms of maturity + responsibility.

So, for as much shit as Saturn gets, we really really need it to keep us all in check and to teach us the hard lessons we are here to grow through. May we love ourselves enough to be accountable, be responsible, self-disciplined and STILL hold onto some awesome Jupiter optimism. The balance is tricky!

(Illustration from the book Planetarium, curated by Wormell + Prinja)