Hangin' with Saturn

I have an active Saturn transit right now and lots to say about it, but one thing that transits do is bring you people who act like the planetary function specified by your active transit. So, in order to be Saturnian, someone must be one or more of the following:

• Older than you

• Having authority over you (like a boss or group leader)

• Someone you respect

• Conservative in opinion or behavior (not necessarily politically. This can be someone who only crosses the street at crosswalks or doesn’t trust websites with credit card information.)

• Challenging you to act maturely (usually their Saturn will make a harsh aspect to your chart)

I have a Saturnian person in my life (her Saturn is on my Venus) who is younger than me but every freaking interaction with her challenges me to be mature because all of her behaviors make me want to scream. If someone was reading for me, they’d give some lip service to the idea that Ms. Saturn is “offering me a lesson” (Saturn) of “how to relate to others better” (Venus) and I would mentally flip them off. But anyway, this person counts as a Saturnian person because she's a challenge. Also, Venus is what you like, and Saturn in a birth chart is where you tie yourself in knots because you feel incompetent (especially if you’re immature). So in such an interchange, the Saturn person is often someone the Venus person finds rude or distasteful.

Most of the time, though, Saturnian people are older people, since Saturn is concerned with age and time. Last fall, I re-started swimming at the crack of dawn, where I met a fresh crop of Saturnians. Meaning: people considerably older than me. At first, I kept to myself, because the last time I made a pool friend, she started inviting me to things, which is how I ended up at the weirdest holiday party I've ever been to (multiple nuns, strange family members, and a dress code no one mentioned before I arrived, etc.). Slowly over time, though, I befriended most of the regulars at the pool. They respect me (that’s a Saturn thing) because I’m a good swimmer and I respect them because they’re my elders who are active contributors to society and comport themselves with as much grace as possible given that most pool attire is unforgiving.

As you may have noticed, there’s two flavors of Saturn here: pain-in-the-ass Saturn and someone with more life experience than you whose opinion may need to be noted when you find yourself at a crossroads. Often when you have active Saturn transits, you have both heavily in your life. Regardless, in order to function in polite society, you have to deal with pain-in-the-ass Saturns and your elders. But the big question is: when they give you (almost always unsolicited) feedback, should you listen? Here’s how to tell who is who: do you respect this person’s authority in the area they are commenting upon?

At the end of the day, Saturn in your chart is about cultivating your own authority, which I could speak for eons about, but authority includes what you know you're good at *and* where you know you have weak spots. No one is good at everything. A big part of this is knowing when to listen to feedback. If the pain-in-the-ass Saturn complains about something I do, there may be a kernel of truth buried somewhere in her bullshit, but I'm not taking her super seriously, because she’s commonly described (by others) as rude. If an elder Saturn gave me the same feedback, I'd be more willing to listen. It's important to know the difference and not sweat the feedback from the pains-in-the-asses, because Saturnian feedback can often warn you about situations you should address before they get out of control: Saturnians' conservative nature means they are able to see people careening out of control into disaster before the people in question figure it out. If one elder you respect gives you advice that gives you pause, definitely consider it. If MULTIPLE trusted elders give you the same advice in quick succession, fix your life immediately. Then thank them. Speaking from experience here.

🪐 ,J