One of my first encounters with Saturn as a child was seeing Francisco Goya’s painting entitled: “Saturn Devouring his Son”. Pretty grim, but I love Goya to this day. Grotesquely captivating. Not wanting to be succeeded or overthrown, the mythological Saturn made an incredibly pragmatic yet gory choice. “Return from whence you came, dear child of my loins – you shall never become a threat to me.”. The HBO series “Succession” really captures this paternalistic obsession with remaining the strongest and most powerful at all costs.

Saturn is the 2^nd largest planet in our solar system, next to Jupiter. It is the most easily identified planet next to Earth, with its prominent ring surrounding it like a suspended hula hoop. That ring is made mostly of ice crystals, peppered with rocky debris and dust. No wonder it gets the reputation for being the coldest, sternest energy in the solar system. It’s like the Night King in planet form, if the Night King were less murderous and more practical. Actually, I guess recycling dead bodies and turning them into armies is incredibly practical, but I digress.

Saturn is mostly comprised of two gases: Hydrogen and Helium.  The sun is also mostly comprised of these two elements. It is 95 times the size of Earth with its core being about 22 times the mass of Earth. Its core radiates 2.5 times more energy into space than it receives from the Sun; but at higher pressures below the surface, these gases liquefy and become metallic hydrogen, much like we see on Jupiter. This drives its magnetic field to be about 578 times more powerful than Earth’s magnetic field.

I mention these astronomical properties not just for shits and gigs– but as perspective for why a planet seemingly so distant from our lives on earth could have any biological or cultural impact on us. The gravitational pull of Saturn affects Earth’s axial tilt, thus changing the way sunlight falls and affects our climate. If Saturn’s orbit were any closer to us, Earth’s orbit might spend much more time each year outside of a habitable zone.

Imagine being outside of Earth’s magnetic field, treading solar wind to witness the magnitude of a planet like Saturn. Einstein’s String Theory suggests that the Universe is comprised of imperceivable vibrating strings unified through electromagnetism. Most astronomers object to the concept of the solar system as a macro view of biological processes; however, the similarity in pattern of electrons following an elliptical orbit around a nucleus (replacing electrons with planets, the nucleus with the Sun) is pretty hard to ignore.

What if we are part of an interconnected series of vibrating grid-like strings, bending and shifting along these elliptical paths, forward and backward, forward and backward, in perpetuity? Or is our undeniable connection to the Cosmos purely metaphysical – like the phantom pain of a severed limb?

If Earth is affected by Saturn’s orbit, not just in our relationship with the Sun but also vibrationally, then how does that manifest for us as humans? Can we actually prove this affects us biologically? There is limited research available to prove this based on materialism, and yet the effects have been observed in astrological texts throughout the ages. Saturn forces us to turn inward to look at both the structure of our bodies and our lives.

In medical astrology, Saturn rules the skeletal system and how it processes calcium and other important minerals for our bones. It rules the gallbladder as well, responsible for our bile digestion, working in concert with our livers by processing fat and protein. The digestive disorders of recent years (with both Pluto and Saturn transiting in Saturn-ruled Capricorn) are most likely gallbladder related, in my humble opinion. Gluten-intolerance is a ruse for more complex digestive issues.

Saturn was named after the god of agriculture in Roman mythology, with the root word of “satu” meaning “sowing”. The Saturn symbol is a scythe or sickle. The Greek name for this god is Kronos (Chronos), which is why it is also associated with time. Agriculture and time are certainly linked, if we consider seasons. Saturn rules Capricorn as well, and with Capricorn residing at the peak of winter (in the Northern Hemisphere, that is), here we see some common themes.

Structure, discipline, planning – before these were part of the human psyche, we simply responded to our environments without interacting with them in any meaningful or symbiotic ways. We scrambled to survive, reacted to stimuli and subscribed to “kill or be killed”. Agriculture, husbandry, housing – these developments allowed us to cease nomadic existence and instead settle down with structure and planning as keys to our survival.  How will you prepare for survival during the height of winter? What structural techniques are in place that you can rely on time and time again to support you? These are Saturn’s gifts.

“Saturday” is named after Saturn, which seems odd, because who can think of a day off that is ruled by structure and discipline? The idea is that you work hard, you play hard.  You spend the long 5-day week grinding away to support yourself and your family, then Saturday you get your much needed rest. It’s a reminder and a reward for how hard you’ve worked.

When Saturn is transiting over our natal charts (especially with the hard aspects like the conjunction, opposition and square), these themes rise to the forefront of our consciousness.  “How am I planning for the future?” “Do I work hard enough?” “Do I live my life with responsibility and structure?” These are serious, even burdensome questions. Capricorn is an earth sign, so naturally these questions are earth-focused.

Material, structural, physical. The stern, disciplinarian is looking over your shoulder, making sure you have done things correctly.  This is why you often see people with strong Capricorn placements in managerial positions or positions of power that require a great deal of responsibility.

Capricorn is also associated with the symbol of the goat, slowly climbing the mountain with sure and steady footing. We could see the cultural effects of Saturn as Pluto entered Capricorn in 2008.

After the gloriously unfettered, expansive years of Pluto in Sagittarius (where we witnessed the birth of the Internet, globalization and the sub-prime mortgage crisis soaring to great Jupiterian heights), 2008 ushered in President Barack Obama, the Wall Street hand-slaps and the loss of excessive and illegal profits from the Bernie Madoffs of the world. And then as Saturn entered Capricorn in late 2017, The Lunar Nodes moved into Cancer-Capricorn in late 2018, Jupiter entered Capricorn at the end of 2019 and with Pluto still in Capricorn until 2024 (officially), it’s a classically Saturnian time in history.

If the positive effects of Saturn are pragmatism, structure, responsibility, paring down to the bare essentials and building things of lasting value, the negative effects we began to see more clearly when Donald Trump was elected. Fascism, chauvinism, endless gentrification and the recycling of old ideas began to emerge. The “Daddy knows best” mentality of patriarchy has shown us that Saturn does have a blind spot, and that is the assumption that the world is run best as a dictatorship.

Saturn was conjunct my Capricorn ascendant for most of 2019.

Freshly laid-off in late December of 2018, this was a transit I was anticipating. So much so that I decided to book my first 10-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat during the first Saturn pass in early February. My partner had done a 10-day at Vipassana (his progressed ascendant and Venus are in Capricorn), as had several other friends of mine, and since I was struggling with some inner issues involving Uranus in Aries transiting my natal Chiron (I’ll address this transit in a different post), it seemed like the time to do it.

And in classic Saturnian fashion, I was the model student. I had no trouble at all setting my alarm for 4 am every morning, doing nothing all day but meditate, bathe and eat. It was about 12 hours a day of meditation for 10 days. The austerity alone couldn’t be more Saturn-approved. You have to check in your cell phone as well when you register, and books and writing materials are strongly discouraged, as is speaking or communicating with anyone.  Saturn lives for this kind of basic structure of responsibility, especially knowing it’s for a prescribed period of time.  Anything longer than 10 days merges into Neptune territory, which can be interpreted both as a desire for spiritual oneness or a total escape from reality.

Saturn is structure and discipline, pure and simple. The rules for one’s life.  Malcolm Gladwell postulated in his book Outliers that there were more great hockey players born in January because of the calendar year try outs cut-off.  That’s only true because Saturn rules most of January (and most of February if you ask a Hellenistic astrologer).

If you look around you, you’ll discover that many of the Capricorns you know have an exceptional work ethic. Not just managers or athletes either.  Many talented and successful musicians were/are Capricorns: David Bowie, Eartha Kitt, David Berman, John Legend, Jimmy Page, Jeff Lynne, Eddie Vedder, Ellie Goulding, Zack de la Rocha, Adrian Belew, Lil Jon, Janis Joplin, Scott Walker, Patti Smith, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Manson, Mary J. Blige and Rod Stewart to name a handful are/were successful Capricorns.