In my view, Saturn is the planet that traditional astrologers understand least. Some spread irresponsible distortions about it.

I won’t dwell on discussing faulty conceptions about Saturn. Even though they are at best incomplete and at worst misleading, they tend to provoke fear even in people who know better.

I will sum up by saying that too many old-school practitioners regard Saturn as the cosmic equivalent of a crabby old tyrant whose intention is to limit our freedom. They suggest that when transiting Saturn conjuncts or forms squares and oppositions to planets in our natal charts, we will endure cramped, depressed periods. Our dreams will be stymied. We must accept less satisfaction and meaningfulness than we want.

But I believe this is a lazy misrepresentation of Saturn. I have mentioned it only to stimulate your skepticism.

Let’s speak about Saturn in ways that are closer to the truth: Saturn the teacher, Saturn the organizer, Saturn the archetype that potentially heralds an influx of creative discipline and clarifying structure.

Here’s a shocker, at least to some orthodox astrologers: In Western Hermetic Qabalah, Saturn embodies the Great Mother, Binah on the Tree of Life. She is an outer signifier of the Goddess who gives birth to every creature—who imparts to each of us our special form and function.

In one sense, we humans are all one: I am you and you are me and they are we and we are all together. But in another sense, each of us is exquisitely special and unique, a miraculous one-of-a-kind character unlike any other ever created in all of eternity.

And from an archetypal perspective, it is the Great Mother, symbolized by Saturn, who gives us our inimitable life. You are you in all your specific, unrepeatable glory, because the Great Mother has made you exactly so.

If there is ever a time when Saturn appears to be a harbinger of frustration and limitation, it is because she is figuratively nudging us to stop trying to be what we are not—and devote ourselves more fully to being who we really are.

Saturn the Great Mother loves us with a sweeping scope that is unimaginable to us when we try to understand from the ego’s viewpoint. Saturn will do everything possible to influence us to live the exact, specific, singular life we were created to embody.

Let’s say you were born with the potential to be a kindergarten teacher who specializes in awakening children to the world’s beauty. If you instead decide—because of bad conditioning you received growing up and your overexposure to the distorted values of mainstream culture—if you instead decide you want to be a rock star or dental hygienist or bookie, Saturn may obstruct your path. She will push you away from being a rock star or dental hygienist or bookie—and in the direction of being a kindergarten teacher.

Here's the fact of cosmic matter: The archetypal energy Saturn symbolizes is your expert servant and kind mentor. She loves you and wants you to be what you were born to be. If she seems to hurt your feelings or prevent you from advancing, it is only and always and absolutely because she wants you to find meaning and be fulfilled by doing what your soul’s code intends.

If you cooperate with Saturn, she will help you own your rightful power. She will strip you of flaky, aimless tendencies and liberate you to be your competent self without squandering your energy on low-priority goals. With Saturn as your healing guide, you will evolve toward being the gorgeous genius you were born to be, unhampered by trivial yearnings and false ideas about yourself.

If you welcome Saturn to work her magick, she will help you add organization to your life, enhancing your efficiency. She will encourage and support you to be more focused. She will direct you to rely less on authorities and take your fate into your own sovereign control. She will marshal you to vigorously translate your potential into practical expression.

If Saturn comes to call and you authorize her to intensify her gifts, frivolous and irrelevant ambitions lose their clench on your imagination. You feel a mandate to stop messing around with time-wasting activities. Abracadabra and poof: you are unburdened of any desires you might have to wander all over the place in quest of nothing in particular. Hallelujah and hosanna: You are delivered from the temptation to frolic along dead-end paths just for the entertainment value of such recklessness.

When Saturn leans into your destiny, you get opportunities to boost your knack for finishing what you start. You find it easier to calm your restless heart and commit yourself to a single choice out of the many options that float into your sphere.

When Saturn becomes available to boost your potency, you may be inspired to renounce mediocre pleasures and misaligned priorities. You will attract assistance, some of it unexpected, as you cease fiddling around on the peripheries and gravitate to the core of the key issues.

Best of all, you will figure out where you truly belong—as opposed to being half-sure of where you sort of belong.

In conclusion, my advice is to respond with grateful enthusiasm to the pressure exerted by this expert servant and kind mentor. The sooner you hone your self-discipline and refine your focus, the less likely it is that you will spend any time writing “I will not squander my riches” a billion times on Saturn’s blackboard.

I suggest that during full moons, you say a reverently rowdy prayer to the Great Mother Saturn, asking her to reveal a vision of how to order your life with just the right mix of freedom and responsibility as you become more of the unique miracle you have the potential to be.

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PS: For the ancient Romans, Saturn’s influence was anything but baleful. As the vine-growing deity who ruled over a golden age, Saturn was synonymous with abundance.

The holiday in Saturn’s honor, Saturnalia, was a seven-day feast of freedom and pleasure. Businesses and schools were closed, enslavers served the people they had enslaved, grudges were forgotten, and parties raged nonstop.