On March 22nd Saturn moved from the sign of Capricorn into the sign of Aquarius.
Saturn – the slowest moving of all the planets – moves into a new sign every two and a half years. Since Saturn is the slowest moving of all the visible planets, he spends the longest time in each sign by far, for which reason his ingressions into news signs are very big deals, and herald a lot of change and new developments.
In this article, I want to go through what this means on its own by exploring the essences of Saturn and Aquarius, and then discuss what kinds of developments we can all expect from this new ingression.
Saturn – the Angel of Death
In the cosmology of classical astrology, the earth is situated at the center of the universe, surrounded by the heavenly realms on all sides. Separating us from the heavens are seven concentric spheres, one ruled by each of the seven traditional planets. A soul will descend from the heavenly realms of the stars through the seven realms of the planets, eventually receiving a physical body from the moon and being born into the earth.
Saturn is the furthest visible planet from the Earth, and so his sphere is the furthest away from us. As such, he is closest of all the planets to the realm of the heavens and the other side of the veil. And its from this fact that Saturn receives most of his traditional associations. Saturn is the wild, untamable forces of spirit which tear down structures and individual ego. Saturn is death, and he is the ferryman who takes us from the material world to the empyrean realms. His transits involve a great shattering of one’s reality, and pivot away from whatever what in your life but not in line with the calling of your spirit. Saturn is the dark night of the soul, the force for transformation that, though painful, ultimately leads you to a deeper spiritual awareness.
Many people equate Saturn with structure, since his liminal nature gave him an association with borders and boundaries. In fact, he is more than anything the force that tears down structures, laying waste to whatever kingdoms we have built for ourselves, whether that be our own ego and self-perception, or the way we’ve ordered our life around us. Many people experience Saturn’s motions through their birth charts as a kind of threshing or winnowing, a painful process of letting go. It can also come out as an identity crisis, or general feelings of stuckness and confusion about where your life should be headed and what your purpose is.
For this reason, Saturn is traditionally considered a difficult planet, not because the things he signifies are inherently bad, but because the process of abandoning ego and releasing the structures of life to which we are attached can be painful. But Saturn will always replace what he takes away with something in much closer alignment with our true spirit. This is the gift of Saturn – transformation that, though difficult, is grounded and quite permanent. Sometimes it’s a new skill or relationship or even a new life path. Whatever it is, people generally spend the rest of the life cultivating and enjoying this gift.
The essence of Aquarius
Aquarius translates as water-bearer from Latin, and its classical Greek name, Hudrokhoös, means the same, as is typified by its association with The Star card in the tarot, where a compassionate – yet dispassioned and distant – woman gathers water to be used for healing.
In the cycle of the year in the northern hemisphere where astrology was developed, we enter Aquarius season when we are single-mindedly moving away from the winter solstice, the darkest point of the year, back towards the summer, even though the nights are longer than the days and we are fighting an uphill battle back towards the lightest day of the year.
And herein lies the essence of the sign – Aquarius is objective and high-minded, primarily concerned with ideals, especially the humanitarian sort. Aquarius is most concerned with what could be and even what should be – it sees the ideal, the platonic form, and will communicate this vision to those who can enact it on earth. The desire to heal and purify the world is present, but in a way that is more clinical and detached, and less attuned to the realities of living in the material world.
For classical astrologers and magicians, Aquarius was the daytime home of Saturn. Aquarius represents the part of Saturn that can use this connection to the other side as a conduit and portal for insights, inspiration, and ideals to reveal themselves to us from the other realms. We can enter into heaven – not to stay there, but to bring something back that will heal humanity and move our society forward. Selflessness is a big theme here, as we do not make this journey for ourselves, but for something greater than us and beyond us.
Saturn in Aquarius
At face value, this is a very positive development– Saturn occupies his rulership in Aquarius and so his most positive traits come to the fore. The lofty, idealistic, and humanitarian nature of Aquarius brings out the best in Saturn, where the impulse to break down the self and burn away impurities becomes about as gentle and constructive as it can be.
In this Saturn season, you will be shown the aspects of your personality that are barriers to further spiritual awareness, and any patterns of thinking that keep you isolated and apart from connection with the whole of humanity. Selflessness is an important theme here – surrender your own needs to the needs of the whole, and use this as an opportunity to abandon any imbalanced self-centeredness that you see in your life. Tap into that part of you which came here not just to learn your own lessons and have your own experience, but to liberate all beings from suffering.
Saturn is moving us all back into the heavenly realms during this period. Ideals, perfection, and absolutes will become more important to all of us, as well as finding concrete steps to make them tangible, forming heaven on earth eventually. We may all need to release a great deal in order to achieve this, but we will be rewarded with a clearer vision of The Good and a humanity that works together as a collective, instead of the estranged individuals that we have become.
Take special note of the house into which he has moved in your chart. This is especially easy to do if you use whole sign houses: just count however many signs from your rising sign to Aquarius to get the house number. If you’re a Leo rising, Saturn will be transiting your 7th house; if you’re a Gemini rising, it will be your 9th, etc. The house
If you have a lot of planets or your ascendant in Aquarius or Leo, then this next two and a half years will involve a lot of transformation as discussed. People with lots of planets or their ascendant in Scorpio or Taurus will have some of this, but not quite as much. Events and circumstances will be conspiring around you to begin the purification process of your soul. Though you may feel very stuck at times, and you may feel confused and as though you’ve lost touch with your purpose, know that it’s only a temporary fog that will eventually lift, and when it does your life will have a clarity and meaning that it never could have achieved without this difficult transit.
For those who have lots of planetary energy in Gemini or Libra, this Saturn transit will be more overtly constructive. The questions of purpose and the loss of external or internal structures will still happen, but it will be more conscious and overtly chosen, as opposed to something that compels you from the outside. Take this as an opportunity to really dive in and analyze your own purpose, or consider what things you could release in order to make room for something greater. Also use this as an opportunity to support your brothers and sisters who are having a harder time – you may be called upon more frequently to walk other people through their own dark nights of the soul.
If you were born between February 6, 1991 and January 8 1994, then you are beginning your Saturn return. Congratulations! Astrologically, this is the transition from youth to adulthood. Over the next few years you will have the chance to really look at yourself, and the nature of your purpose in life will become much clearer to you, as Saturn will bring you messages from the other side from whence you came.
If you have any questions about your own Saturn transits, or waht this new ingression means for your own birth chart and life path, I would be happy to discuss it with you in a reading. I am currently offering all my readings by donation. You can email me to set one up, or book one through the contact page.