Saturn: Who you´re born to be

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? Shakespeare

Saturn, ruler of the Zodiac sign of Aquarius by day, of Capricorn by night, Exalted by Libra and ruler of the triplicity of air by day is one of the most neglected planets in the solar system.

His traditional rulerships indicate that this planet has most effect and affinity with the air element than with Earth which is generally what the modernists of Astrology regard him as; the block building realist. But not so, Saturn is after all a Gas Giant of the solar system following only Jupiter in Size and mass, with an atmosphere which is quite similar in its composition to the “great benific”.

Saturn´s air makes this planet surely like Venus and Mercury one of the intellectual and social planets, his day time rulership Aquarius gives him the tools and knowledge which imply that he is not “dull” or lacking in potential for either understanding, technological genius, and coherent thought.

Saturn´s “joy” in the 12th house is an interesting fact. Is this because he is happiest in the house of sorrow? A planet of sorrow, like that of the modern planet Neptune? The strange nature of this “joy” for a planet that rules over the sign of humanity Aquarius, is a planet who is happiest alone in the soft and over- shadowed light of the 12th house. Aquarius is the sign of detriment for the Sun, for individual fire, and spontaneous life-force, but Saturn´s exaltation Libra is also a sign in which Sun “falls”.

It´s the sorrow of being human. It´s the sorrow of not being a Sun god, but being a mere mortal, that makes Saturn like to hide away in the 12th house. A lot has been written on the “malefic” nature of Saturn, and in the psychological school on the “experience” or “karma” that the so called teacher of the Zodiac is meant to impart. But this is not the real Saturn.

The real Saturn is in fact the most human like planet of all. Saturn is the human planet because his power is defeated and brought down by his sons. He is the human planet because he is forced out of his place, and forced down, killed off and mortalised by the usurpers. Saturn knows that his time is coming, time of being brought down, leveled, ended, something which the Leo Sun, or the Cancer Moon, Helios and Selene are utterly oblivious of, being true immortals. This is the reason for Aquarius´s refusal to play immortal parts in life, preferring the all so temporary friendship because, after all we´re only here for the day, not staying the night, the night of course belonging to his partner in crime the other malefic Mars and modern Pluto or Hades. A day being equivalent to a life in terms of immortality.

Saturn in the life does symbolise the individual fears, restrictions, and stuff that´s hard, where unprepared for responsibility is forced. But to not become your Saturn sign is to not be fully human. How are we supposed to “be our Saturn”? The nature of the planet is that of accepting not being good enough, like the mythical Saturn, of being allowed only a certain amount of time, in order to be a god, a kind of  mortal god, because to be deposed, de-throned as king of the gods, is death, even for an immortal god, death of self-respect, death of the respect that your sons once held for you and death of those relations and worship that made you immortal in the first place.

Saturn is in fact the Biblical Adam being cast out of the Garden of Eden and forced into living in the Society of Men, (Aquarius) and to work and struggle for food on the desolate Earth (Capricorn), with Eve  the first wife and first to succumb and fall (Libra, fall of Sun).

As planet of the Air triplicity and ruler of Aquarius, Saturn asks why he is alone. He asks why is the land and Earth dark, and in that darkness creates fire, through mental planning, he not only creates fire, something that Leo Sun naturally had, and didn´t need, like a Sahara Lion, but he creates shelter in that wilderness and community, with the first woman, and the sons which are his from that union. Sons that he knows will one day take his place, and probably fight with each other to divide what he has.

Finding Saturn in the natal birth chart is where we will all find exposure like the first man and the first woman. This is the spot where nakedness and weakness exist, but like the first human beings, and like mythological Cronus, we are meant to make the absolute most of before the time is up. Time on planet Earth is under the sole rulership of the planet Saturn, Saturn is where we must ask “there must be something more,” and “there are times when I must try to be so much more alive”.

The Saturn sign is the sign of being human. The Sun sign is the spiritual, the place of God in our lives. Saturn is not the devil, far from it, Saturn is what makes us fragile, where we hide. Saturn in Aquarius is afraid of the friendship of man, feels alone, but is endowed with the purest form of Saturnine air and mental ability to create community, it is up to him to pursue this and become a true Aquarian, in order to be human, and draw upon that pain of being alone to achieve it before his death. Scorpio Saturn is asked to be a strong warrior, he is asked to exhibit the features of Scorpio, to be deep, and passionate, Libra Saturn is asked to be perfect in partnership and to be the perfect Libran diplomat pleasing all and upsetting none.

One great lie of Astrology is ascribing the Sun as the most important influence in the sky. He might be the strongest, the brightest, the most obvious, but it is on the Earth that we live, and in the Air that our existence as human beings is borne out. The most important element in the sky is not the Sun, the undying, spiritual force of warmth, it is the cold ringed planet of sobering and haunting beauty, a silent figure, a figure of insecurity a figure of rage at being out-caste from paradise, a figure sublime in his Aquarian and immensely painful and real state.

Is it consciousness if a being feels nothing but warm Sun on its face? Grass feel this, they grow using sensory data collected from hormones which encourage growth and reproduction. Sentience felt by all creatures are part of the Sun, as well as the Moon. Reproduction is part of the sexual selection as described by Mars and Venus rulerships. Animals share these planetary influences with human beings. But Saturn is the planet who has consciousness. To become your Saturn sign is the greatest challenge that anyone can attempt. The person they are within the human race, the things that they are to be remembered by, and what their children will think of them as is governed by their natal Saturn. This is the real deal. This is your Earth Self, the site where you are a true human being in fault as well as in greatness.