Saturn in Astrology: The Cosmic Lord of Karma

In Astrology, Saturn is the planet of restrictions, delays, and harsh karmic lessons. Saturn is all about maturity, responsibility, discipline and steady, well-measured progress. 

Known as the Lord of Karma & delays, Saturn demands thorough examination.

Be sure that a quick, surface-level efforts just won’t cut it if you want to achieve tangible, long-lasting results in the area of your chart touched by this malefic planet. 

Saturn is all about physical matter and practical application.

It rules over structures of all kinds, be it the government or our skeletal system. 

Saturn has always been associated with harsh karmic lessons, restrictions, delays, blockages, and all sorts of limitations. 

Difficult Saturn transits have always been feared through centuries.

In Greek Mythology, Cronus (Saturn) was one of the Titans who ate his own children because he feared to be overthrown as the King of the Gods.

Eventually, his wife, Rhea, tricked him into swallowing a stone when Zeus (Jupiter) was born.

However, be sure that Saturn will reward you handsomely if you are diligent, resilient, and hardworking.

Study your birth chart carefully to understand what Saturn really wants you to master on this life’s journey. 

And if the lessons are mastered, Saturn can bless us with the most solid, long-lasting results that even the greater benefic Jupiter can’t always grant us with. 

The Lord of Karma should not be feared but respected, as it’s the Lord of Legacy, too. 

Saturn Retrograde in a Nutshell

Saturn goes retrograde once a year.

Its annual retrograde cycle usually lasts for about four and a half months. 

Saturn’s retrograde gives us an opportunity to reflect on our life path and changes we need to make in order to achieve tangible results.

When Saturn goes retro, it’s a perfect time to step back and have a closer look at the overall structure of your life.

Which areas require major improvements? 

Saturn’s retrograde helps shine the light on the steps we need to take to move forward in a meaningful, practical way. 

The key is not to rush anything during the retrograde period.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Take your time, revise, review, regroup and re-evaluate.

It’s vital not to overlook any important details and double check everything to make sure you are producing quality work. 

One of Saturn’s superpowers it blesses us with during its retrograde phase is the ability to build solid personal boundaries and say a firm ‘no’ to projects, people, situations that no longer serve our highest good. 

Saturn in a Birth Chart

Saturn is considered to be a social planet along with Jupiter, which means its energy has a prominent influence on our generation.

Saturn spends about 2.5 years in a sign, with its approximately 29-year orbit.

That explains why people born in the same year (or couple of years) often have Saturn in the same sign.

 Saturn placement is important in an individual horoscope, but it also represents themes which transcend the individual.

Strong Saturn in a Birth Chart, especially in hard aspects (square, opposition or conjunction) to personal planets, very often signifies a string of karmic lessons and delays on the way to success and self-realisation. 

The blessings promised by a well-placed personal planet or luminary (the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Venus & Mercury) are often delayed and, in some extreme cases, even denied when they are touched by Saturn in a harsh way.    

The colour of Saturn is black.

Saturn rules over Capricorn and is the ancient ruler of Aquarius.

Saturn represents mountains, structures, bones, stones, teeth, skeleton, cold weather, ice; the government, the underprivileged layers of society and the old.

Quite a grim picture… Don’t you think? But one has to agree – these are essential components of a real life that can’t be avoided. It’s not all rainbows and unicorns as they say…

Saturn offers harsh reality checks and grounds us like no other planet.

We will age, we will grow old, we will face responsibilities and restrictions; nobody can stay young and free forever. And Saturn is here to remind us of that.

Saturn Return – Harsh Reality Check

Saturn is here to remind us we have to sober up at some point on our journey through life.

The sooner the better. 

The first reality check from Saturn comes around the time of our first Saturn return (around 27-29 years of age).

Saturn return happens when transiting Saturn comes back to the position it was in your Birth Chart at the time of your birth.

The first Saturn return signifies our real initiation into adulthood.

For many of us, our late twenties can be hard years to master.

Many experience periods of anxiety and uncertainty.

Saturn is demanding to get grounded and build a solid foundation for the years to come, which can be really challenging and difficult to handle at that age. 

Saturn is often associated with authority figures.

From parents and other caregivers in our childhood to the government authorities and employers in our adulthood. 

Saturn and the Moon in a Birth Chart

When Saturn aspects the natal Moon in a Birth Chart, it can create conditions where we feel unloved, neglected, and ignored.

This is one of the harshest astrological influences.

It’s asking us to master the art of self-sufficiency and resilience from a very young age.

Our natal Moon represents our emotional and psychological imprint.

It’s one of the most important placements when it comes to understanding our psyche, instincts, and subconscious.

Our Moon placement is also responsible for the ability to feel and radiate joy and happiness. 

Saturn (especially in conjunction) is starving the Moon and makes it a lot harder for the native to enjoy the simple things in life.

If not managed in a mindful way, it can cause the native to become emotionally unavailable and distant.

They find it difficult to open up to love, which can cause a lot of issues when it comes to building relationships later in life.

Saturn and the Sun in a Birth Chart

The Sun is the core of our Birth Chart.
It represents our identity, our ego, and ambition in life.

Saturn shows energetic blockages, weaknesses, and fears.

When Saturn aspects the Sun in a harsh way (through conjunction, square or opposition) our ego suffers a lot of crushing disappointments and delays, especially during the first half of life.

Sun-Saturn people usually have a difficult childhood.
They learn at a very young age that they can’t always get what they want.

Eventually, Sun-Saturn develop their own identity.
However, there is a never-ending push and pull between a deep-seated need for public recognition and an almost paralyzing fear of the spotlight.

People with a prominent Sun-Saturn influence in their Birth Chart can be hard on themselves.
More often than not, they aim to achieve more than the most.

And very often they become very successful, especially when it comes to career and achieving recognition as a trusted authority.

Saturn is the toughest teacher.

A rough diamond is transformed into a polished stone only under immense pressure. Same applies to Sun-Saturn people.

If managed consciously, Sun-Saturn connection can bless the native with some long-lasting, tangible results.

The physical manifestation of Saturn’s blessings doesn’t usually happen until later in life.

Sun-Saturn people are known to be late bloomers.

Saturn – Uranus Square

The infamous Saturn – Uranus Square is one of the most influential cosmic alignments of the current times.

Saturn entered Aquarius on March 21, 2020 and will stay there till March 7, 2023. 

The planet of disruptive changes, breakdowns and breakthroughs, Uranus ingressed into the fixed earth sign of Taurus back in 2018.

Uranus will remain here till April 27, 2026. It will quickly dip into Gemini from July to November of 2025. The last time Uranus was in Taurus was from 1934 to 1941.

Uranus is the future, and Saturn is the past.
This fundamental clash of the old and the new is here to define our future.

Saturn-Uranus squares happen roughly every 14 years.
It’s a rare celestial event.

The Saturn – Uranus dance began back in January 2020. We all remember way too well what happened then…

We went through a number of tumultuous events, from economic shakeups to the global pandemic, to the sweeping protests and military international conflicts.

People, as a collective, are being locked in heated efforts to change ‘the system’ (Saturn) through uprisings, protests, and ongoing attempts to redistribute material resources, so there is more equality (Uranus).

The infamous square went exact on 3 separate occasions back in 2021: February 17, June 14, and December 24.

An almost exact clash is happening again in 2022 (it will be active between September 17 and October 24, 2022)

The fight for freedom from the outdated, authoritarian rules and regulations is ongoing and will continue long after this powerful cosmic activation we’ve been going through since 2020.

It’s only the beginning of the process of the Great Reset we are going through as a collective.

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Check where this transit falls in your Birth Chart. The house and any personal planets activated by this transit will play a significant role in your personal and professional life. 

Use this free Birth Chart calculator to create your Natal Chart in case you haven’t had a chance to get it yet.

N.B.: Remember that it’s ideal to have your EXACT time of birth on hand. Use 12 p.m. noon if you have no way to get this information. The best option, of course, is to get a personal reading with a professional astrologer who can provide birth-time rectification. Birth time and birthplace are crucial pieces of information for your Natal Chart, as they determine the unique position of the houses and planets that can help you understand transits and their impact on your personal journey.

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