As 2017 draws to a close, there is a significant changing of the guard as Saturn leaves Sagittarius for Capricorn on December 20.
After wandering through the Zodiac for nearly 30 years, this is the first time Saturn has a home turf advantage. When a planet is in a sign that it doesn’t rule, it has to rely on its host planet. For the last three years, Saturn has been taking its cues from Jupiter.
Recently, I’ve been watching Outlander. If you’re familiar with the series (or the books) you can liken this situation to when Jamie Fraser was hosted by the McKenzie clan. Jamie is still Jamie, but he can only be himself within the bounds of the clan. This too happens with planets. While in Sagittarius, Saturn is tyring to be Saturn while under Jupiter’s hospitality.
Once Jamie returned to Lallybroch, his castle, he was able to take his rightly place once again as the laird of Broch Tuarach. Saturn now, takes his rightful place in the sky and can rule his domain anyway he sees fit.
Who is Saturn?
Saturn is the last planet that can be seen with the naked eye. From our standpoint, he represents the limit and the end.
Due to his distance from the Sun, he’s associated with the cold and dry temperament. Those with classically Saturnian natures are often said to have a dry or cool personality, which generally means they can be an acquired taste, or that you need to warm up to them.
His great distance from the Sun represents isolation and exclusion. This symbolism is compounded by Saturn’s rings.
So back to Outlander for a moment, and the scene where Clare asks the leader of the clan whose castle she’d been living at, if she’ll ever be able to leave. He basically told her while you choose to stay, you’re my honoured guest, if you try to leave, you’ll be my prisoner.
If you conform to Saturn, you’ll be protected and looked after, but if you if disrupt the status quo, you’ll become an outsider.
So, while Saturn’s rings can provide comfort and containment, the security they provide can also become a fortress.
As the end of the Solar System as we can see it, the buck stops with Saturn. With that in mind, he’s attached to topics including structures, responsibility, authority, time, karma, death and reality.
One of Saturn’s key functions is to delineate limits. This is one of the reasons why Saturn tends to function better in the day sect- or those who are born between sunrise and sunset. It is by day that you can actually see where the limits are.
Generally speaking, if you’re born by day, Saturn tends to demonstrate his more favourable attributes of achievements over time, being responsible and delayed gratification.
Those born by night, from sunset to sunrise often experience the harsher realities Saturn dishes out. This can come in various forms such as hardship, lack of discipline and the inability to accomplish set tasks.
Saturn is the taskmaster and the hard-worker. He’s the planet that disciplines us, and is the impetus that makes us do the things we may not want to do, like pay bills. However, though we may not like paying bills, the consequence of not paying them is less preferred.
Saturn is your mother’s voice telling you to do your homework first, then you can go and play outside.
Saturn is also your fathers voice, reading you the riot act if your report card isn’t satisfactory, or giving you your due reward if you passed the test.
With Saturn’s associations with karma, he does reward hard work, only once it’s done. If you’ve been taking it easy on cruise control, Saturn has a tendency to bite you on the bum, eventually.
From Ideals To Reality
Over the last 3 years Saturn has been trying to maintain clarity and status quo in the fiery and instinctive sign of Sagittarius. Imagine an old man, wise with an objective sense of reality, trying to tame a young free spirit, full of lofty ideals and subjective opinions.
Now Saturn is about to return home to Capricorn, which will set the tone for the next few years and bookend this decade. Like Jamie Fraser, who was once outcast, Saturn is now powerful on home territory.
Saturn’s entrance into Capricorn occurs just prior to the Sun at the Summer/Winter Solstice. This will immediately put Saturn not only in domicile (home sign) but also Cazimi the Sun. This brings a double dose of fresh starts and new beginnings for Saturn. Cazimi is a position of empowerment for a planet. Saturn will emerge not only in the sign he rules, but also purified and energised by the Sun.
As I write this, Saturn is at the final degree of Sagittarius, and within the bounds of Mars. Over the next few days, you may finally feel ready to confront and/or sever issues that surrounded the whole Saturn in Sagittarius transit for you.
With a fresh foundation, you can re-build structures within your own life, one brick at time. The relentless and ambitious quality of Capricorn takes no issue with starting at ground zero. Saturn’s associations with time ensures, that you’ll get there, no matter how long it takes.
While Saturn does have positive qualities, his basic nature is malefic. Yes, he’s results orientated and that can be a good thing, though in Capricorn, he won’t care how he gets it. That can be a real challenge if you’re not on good terms with this planet.
Saturn detests laziness, even more so in Capricorn. He demands a solid outcome from the goals and objectives you’ve set for yourself. If you’ve been lazy or resting on your laurels, the next 2.5 years you’ll reap what you’ve sewn.
This is not a time to cut corners or adopt the ‘showing up is 80% of the work’ attitude. Saturn asks you to commit to hard work, persistence, perseverance and most importantly, self-discipline. While a ‘fake it till you make it’ ethos can get your foot in the door, you’ll need substance to keep you in the room.
If you know the part of your chart that holds the sign of Capricorn, that is the area of life undergoing a sobering reality check.
To Saturn, life is black and white, right or wrong, in or out. The lines are clearly defined and there is no grey. Play by the rules, and you’ll succeed.
This doesn’t have to mean submission to authority or fear, but more about the reality of your own truth or karma. There is a distinct difference between doing the easy thing and the right thing. Saturn in Capricorn has every intention on calling you out if you choose the easy option.
The last three years has been a lot of talk, while the next 3 years will be about walking the talk. Are you just talking the game, or are you executing? Again, there is no room for faking it.
This transit can also be uber productive. Capricorn is a head down bum up, enduring and practical earth sign. Cardinal in its modality makes for a brilliant self-starter with the guts and determination to play the long game, and succeed.
If you have some major inroads you’d like to make on a particular goal over the next 3 years, then Saturn in Capricorn can help you get clear. Facing some harsh realities will be very likely, but kidding yourself isn’t going to do you any favours. Short term pain for long term gain is an ethos worthwhile adopting now.
Over the next few days, the decks of the last 3 years can be cleared. Define your beliefs and what is truth to you. This may mean having to cut ties with old befiefs you once held dear. It may mean having to admit what you thought to be true actually isn’t. The easy thing would be to stay in a dogmatic or opinion based reality. Or you could take a leaf from Jamie Fraser’s book, where the right thing is rarely ever the easy thing.
