When we turn 18 or 21 we are considered in many societies to be adults. We make changes and start crafting the life we believe we should live. But then we reach our late 20s and things begin to change. Our carefully made plans, our marriages, our careers and our sense of purpose begin to crumble or blockade us. We begin thinking that perhaps we have not done all we should have or could have done to grow up – now we are faced with the choices we have made. This is all no surprise to an astrology consultant. Why? You see, in astrology this is one of the most important times of your life – your arrival at adulthood, called the Saturn Return. It occurs for everyone between ages 27.5 – 30.
This period occurs when the planet Saturn completes its cycle through your natal chart and returns to the sign it occupied when you were born. You will feel it even more intensely when it arrives at the degree it occupied when you were born. Now you will make choices that bring old situations and relationships to an end and open the door to new opportunities and connections. The U.S. Census Bureau lists the highest divorce rate between as occurring between ages 28 - 30.
Very typically this is a challenging time when things that you realize things you once held dear now have no meaning for you. You may have married in your early 20s and now that marriage no longer works because you and your partner are not the youths you were when you you’re your vows. It is a time of inward examination and reflection. It can be a time of isolation and loneliness. It is also the time when you can steer your course towards the role in the world that you always wanted to have. What do you want, need, and desire? During the Saturn Return you gain clarity about that and take actions to make it happen. Your friends and family may not understand your need for solitude and your more serious nature, but it is quite normal.
You should be aware though, that if you find yourself being depressed and unable to begin to navigate in any direction for an extended period of time, it is wise to seek an astrology consultant, a psychotherapist or counselor. Depression can result form resisting that messages that the Spirit it trying to send you. Your natal Saturn sign and house is an indication of what you must change at this time in your life and what possible challenges you could face as you strive to mature into an adult. This maturity involves defining yourself in your own terms, but within a structure of society that allows you to move forward.
First Saturn Return
It is not surprising that at the first Saturn Return many people divorce someone they wed years before, choose to marry for the first time, have a baby, buy a home, return to school, change careers and do something that is relevant to your sense of purpose, or get serious about saving for the future.
Vincent Van Gogh evolved from a minister to an artist during his first Saturn Return. Sometimes people do not change so drastically, but will undertake a new direction or specialization within a chosen field.
If you have been planting seeds for several years in alignment with your values, the Saturn Return can be a time of reaping the harvest. Your efforts bear fruit. William Faulkner published his first novel at age twenty-nine. Drew Barrymore took a break from acting because she found fulfillment in being a very public political motivator of young adults in a move to encourage them to take on the adult responsibility of voting.
If you have been fulfilling someone else’s expectations and working in a career that has nothing to do with your inner calling, this is the breaking time. Things will begin to feel stagnant and dead. It is not surprising that you may even get terminated from a job before you decide toe pursue your true dream. Becoming an entrepreneur at this time is quite common. This is only a very difficult time if you are resisting and trying to stay stuck in your habits. You will find all that is extraneous to your life being pruned, so that you can grow stronger, live longer and live well. It will take perseverance on your part and no small amount of hard work, but it will be profitable.
Relationship Redux?
Intimate relationships and family relationships are significantly affected by the Saturn Return. Most married people will question their commitment. If a bond is healthy, based on mutuality, interdependence, and honesty, it will likely pass the test and continue for many years. The couple may decide to take on the responsibility of becoming parents. However a marriage begun before the partners knew themselves and their values is likely to end in divorce by the time the Saturn Return is complete. On the other hand, relationships that start during this period may have a "fated" or "karmic" quality about them. In family relationships, if there is a parent-child relationship or sibling connection that is not based on mutual respect for each other as adults, now is when the big confrontation will occur. If the importance of acknowledging each other as individuals and adults occurs the bond is made even stronger; if not, estrangement is likely to occur and may remain this way for decades.
The Heat Is On
You have heard the story about the science experiment where a frog is placed in a jar of water and a flame is lit beneath it, and the water slowly gets hotter. Many times the frog will sit there, not even realizing it is going to die because it will boil to death. Since you were born, Saturn has been slowly turning up the heat. You felt its heat at age seven. Then you felt it again at 14 and 21. Have you been laboring at a “Joe job” that brings you money but no fulfillment? Have you been working in a career that is what your family expects of you but is not the unusual, risqué profession that would bring deep satisfaction to your soul? Are you living in fear and trepidation at the unknown future ahead of you if you change? Well, now at age 28 the water in the jar is about to boil – will you jump out of the jar and start heading in the direction that better suits you? Will you remain in the jar and boil to great injury or death? This is a time of life where disappointments and frustrations are positive indicators of what needs to be removed from your life. It is a positive indicator of growth.
“Who am I?” is what you ask during this time. Anxiety, insomnia, irritability, depression and anger may be on a constant circuit in your life at this time as you try to discern a path. If you stop and realize that you are at a turning point in your life and that it is quite acceptable – no, mandatory – that you are disturbed enough to take extra time to think about yourself and your life and the new way you want to live, you will come out of this time period with much wisdom.
The Second and Third Saturn Returns
Saturn governs responsibility, practicality, seriousness, maturity, limitations, and structures. Integrating these characteristics is necessary for a successful Saturn Return. Resisting and remaining mired in inappropriate relationships, careers and situations can leave one spiritually bereft, psychologically depressed and emotionally hopeless on the other side of age 30. Learn the lessons of Saturn the first time. Should you not, the SAME problems will come knocking on your door during your second Saturn Return at about ages 56 – 58. They will not only knock, they will barrel past you and sit in your living room and you will have an even harder time than you did in your first Saturn Return because now you are stuck in your ways. If you live long enough, you will get a third Saturn Return at age 84-86. Handle it right the first time and this third and final one (given the current human life span) will be a breeze – you will be an incredibly wise person who is valued and sought by others as a teacher and mentor.
