Saturn's retrograde periods last about three or four months at a time, but the realizations and decisions made during the retrograde period will slowly manifest over a nine month period. I liken it to the germination/gestation/birth process in nature. So during the months Saturn is retrograde, we revisit, reconsider, review, and rework what we've been learning and restructuring in our lives over the past couple of years. Wherever transiting Saturn is in your chart (the astrological house) is the area of your life that you are being asked to become emotionally responsible.

Saturn is all about emotional accountability and reality in the maturing process. For example, one of my clients is experiencing a reality check in her current relationship. She is no longer willing to accept a relationship that doesn’t conform to her real needs. This Saturn cycle is marking the end of her relationship and she’s learned a valuable lesson in being accountable and responsible for her own happiness within a relationship.

Saturn tends to crack whatever is brittle and/or “halfway” committed. Saturn transits can also galvanize long-term commitment in areas already aligning with reality. Saturn wants you to know how hard you’re willing to work for something and how sincere you actually are. The beauty and grace of Saturn is it renders one’s “reality” more obvious. Dreams, hopes and desires are not what Saturn cares about. What is actually happening? That’s the reality of a situation.

One thing I like to do in my astrology sessions with clients is to identify constructive ways to use Saturn retrograde periods. One client is using this Saturn retrograde time to recommit to a weight loss program. In doing this she is disciplining herself and becoming responsible for her long term health. She is finally facing the “reality” of her health, no longer avoiding it, and working actively to improve it. She is learning a new found personal accountability for her eating and health habits. This represents an emotional maturity that wasn’t there before.

Saturn loves choices and statements made about where you stand. What sometimes feels like a “cold, cruel world” is the collective consequences of irresponsibility in its various forms. SOME REALITIES WE SHAPE AND OTHERS WE ARE SHAPED BY. Saturn transits demonstrate the law of cause and effect.

Another client is facing his financial fear and years of financial irresponsibility. He has had to file bankruptcy and is actively working with a financial counselor to create a budget he can live with. In order to file bankruptcy he had to face the ways he had been irresponsible in the past and write it all down on paper. This was a major “reality check” and very painful. However, with the pain came a new capacity to be “accountable” for his future financial life. He also learned that he isn’t a bad person for filing bankruptcy; he is a good person that has made a lot of bad choices.

Saturn brings very relevant inhibitions and limitations for us to experience in order to grow emotionally. The important thing is how are we responding to that fear? Are we ignoring/ resisting the fear or limitation? If so, that fear/limitation has complete control of us. Saturn asks us to respond to the fear--to face it. Growth isn’t about making the fears go away, but relating to the fears. In the process of relating to our fears we learn discipline and emotional responsibility. We become accountable for our fears and emotions.

Saturn’s gift is the conversion of our fears into a commitment to the very thing we’ve been afraid of or that has been limiting us. We need to experience Saturn’s frustration, inhibitions, and limitations in order to grow.

See another of my articles about Saturn here.

If you’d like to find out where Saturn is in your own chart and learn some strategies for working with your Saturn challenges, I'd be happy to work with you. Read about my services here.

To Contact Me: For more in-depth information or to make an appointment, call me at 206-932-8050 or send me an email. Sign up for my mailing list of periodic announcements or new articles here.

CREDITS: This web site and decorative elements were created by Donna Cunningham of Word of Mouth Web Design.
This free java script provided by JavaScript Kit