We don’t have to like Saturn

By Jean-Marc Pierson

Symbols are like magical doors…one day Saturn will tell you about skin, bones and joints and another day about boundaries, structures and morality…

Jupiter and Saturn can be seen as two faces of the same coin. Called ‘social planets’ they symbolise the attitudes or values we hold as members of a society with its rules and laws. A ‘code of honour’, a certain attitude towards traditions and customs, thoughts about duties and rights are examples of social values. Venusian values are tastes, likes and dislikes. Social values harmonise more or less easily with individual preferences. Jupiter and Saturn also speak about our religious, ethical or spiritual attitudes in regard to our place in the grand scheme of things.

If Jupiter expands whatever it touches, Saturn does the opposite. Saturn contracts, tightens, structures, tests, shrinks, condenses, slows down…

When it comes to feelings, Jupiter brings about enthusiasm and optimism, and Saturn fear and…let’s say realism!

Saturn was called the ‘Great Malefic’ by traditional astrologers. Saturn brings difficulties. Would you wish a child to live a life without any difficulties to overcome? We are children of Heaven and Earth. They give us Saturn. We don’t like it. We don’t have to.

When Saturn touches Mercury, our mind may become heavy and slow; we may find it difficult to communicate, because of a stammer, or dyslexia, or autism, or shyness…

When Saturn touches the Moon, we may suffer from emotional inhibitions and frustrations. Our mother may have been quite stern, our parents may have been very focused on good manners and behaviour and not very tactile, or just frustratingly absent. We may be very self-contained, or emotionally crushed.

There are of course many more possible interpretations than the few examples I’m giving here. Symbols are magical doors. They don’t always open onto the same scenery, and there is always room for surprise. Life is more varied than the understanding of the wisest humans. All the places a particular magical door can lead you to have something in common, but this common something is from the spiritual dimension, just beyond the grasp of the rational mind.

One day Saturn will tell you about skin, bones and joints and another day about boundaries, structures and morality. The next time you open the Saturn door, all you may get is a great feeling of fear and inadequacy. If you’re courageous enough to open it again, you may find yourself at the top of the social ladder or honoured for your achievements, but then, the day after, you’re a hermit contemplating heavenly sights; and then the following day, you are home, because that’s where your responsibilities are…

All we can do with symbols and energies is to try to understand in spirit. However, if understanding in spirit is reading between the lines, then without Saturn, there would be no lines! Saturn wants a proper formulation.

Saturn is the energy that brings us down from spirit to the material plane; concretisation, materialisation, crystallisation…It’s about taking form and keeping it.

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Saturn’s Greek name is Chronos, which means time. Time is our limit. We can’t do and be everything. We need to make choices and stick to them. This can feel very frustrating. Men may desire to love all the women they feel attracted to, like Jupiter does in his mythical world. That could be a fantastic plan, but in reality, there is not enough time and only a few ladies would consent. Each choice, each commitment implies a renouncement. With Saturn, we need to face reality…

When the potter makes pots, the clay is wet and malleable. Then the pot is left to dry and be cooked, and the form will be fixed until it’s broken; if the pot we’ve made is square, it’s too late to make it round; if it’s round, it’s too late to make it square. This is how Saturn works. Real pots, unlike dreams and ideas, can’t be one day round and square the next.

…When Saturn becomes excessive, there is no capacity left for being emotional or spontaneous, and we end up living in an emotional straitjacket. But without Saturn, nothing in us would be firm enough to keep us standing on our feet.

Saturn brings things which can be painful but necessary. One day the baby has sucked enough milk from mother’s breast. Baby’s teeth are growing. It’s weaning time. These wonderful moments will never happen again. Saturn closes the door and turns the page. Then we keep growing with Jupiter.

However, with Saturn, dreams do come true – not all of them, but some of them. Saturn is both frustration and achievement. Saturn is where we may eventually shine.

In a birth chart, Saturn shows where we will meet fear, feelings of inferiority, frustrations, obstacles and difficulties, when we will be confronted by the necessity to make choices, when we may have to put in of lot of hard work. Saturn wants us to deal with hardcore reality. Saturn shows where we are likely to feel unworthy, incompetent or inadequate. Saturn points out the big obstacles, where the big lessons are and where we may eventually reach mastery.

This shortened chapter extract is taken from Magical Doors: The Symbols of Astrology by Jean-Marc Pierson, published by The Wessex Astrologer.