Saturn Turns Direct: "Adulting" is Hard, but Necessary
Saturn Turns Direct: November 4 2023
I remember attending a team meeting with a group of young interns we hired. It was during the pandemic.
I was checking in, learning about their experience at work so far. For many, it was their first job. "Well, I guess that's what being a working adult feels like", said a dark-haired young woman, lighting the Zoom meeting with a smile. "Adulting is hard!" I heard this phrase before, and still it made me laugh. It was so perfectly Saturn.
After 4 ½ months in Retrograde, Saturn, the planet of responsibility and commitment – but also of challenges and restrictions – turns direct on November 4.
When Saturn connects with the planets or angles in your natal chart, that's exactly what it's asking you to do - to become (even) more of an adult, regardless of your age. A visit from Saturn usually brings a maturing experience...
Read This Post If You Are a Pisces, Gemini, Virgo or Sagittarius:
Saturn will often connect with your natal planets three times: when it's direct, then again through its retrograde motion, and one more time when it turns direct and revisits the same degrees of the Zodiac.
Last year, I had an interesting case with a client who lost a lot of money on the stock market, on the investments she made just shortly before Saturn opposed her natal Sun. Saturn turned retrograde several months later, and eventually opposed her natal Sun again. The stock market went up and she was nearly back to her original investment. Had she sold at that time, she would have recouped most of her money. She didn't - and lost some more when Saturn turned direct and opposed her natal Sun for the third time.
When Saturn squares or opposes your natal Sun, it usually brings a life lesson. And, it gives you a chance to correct your course, when it turns retrograde. And when it turns direct again, the issue will come to a resolution (for better or worse).
When it turns direct on November 4, Saturn will first revisit 0 -7° Pisces between November 4 2023 and February 14 2024. If you see your birth date mentioned below, and you've been working through an important issue for the past 4 1/2 months, it will gradually come to a resolution.
- Pisces born February 19-26
- Gemini born May 22-29
- Virgo born August 24-31
- Sagittarius born November 23-30.
Saturn will then keep moving through Pisces until it turns retrograde again on June 29 2024. While in direct motion, it can bring new issues to your awareness if you have the Sun or natal planets/angles between 8-19° Pisces, Gemini, Virgo or Sagittarius. If you're new to astrology, it will be impactful for you if you are:
- Pisces born February 27 - March 11
- Gemini born May 30 - June 11
- Virgo born September 1 - 13
- Sagittarius born December 1-13
November 4 2023 to June 29 2024 can also be an impactful time if you have natal planets or angles between 0-19° Pisces, Gemini, Virgo or Sagittarius.
If that's you, read on...
My job as an astrologer is to let you know how a particular energy can play out in your life - based on YOUR unique astrological chart - and how to best work with it. This is what I can tell you about Saturn's energy:
Responsibilities and Obligations
Saturn’s role in astrology is the task master and a teacher. It puts structure into our life and can bring commitments and obligations, such as family, marriages, jobs, mortgages, or aging parents who need our help. Or babies!
Sometimes we’re ready for these commitments, and sometimes we’re not.
When Saturn visits our natal chart, we’re usually called to take more responsibility for our own life, and for those around us when needed. It's a maturing experience! When we come out on the other side, we feel like we have learned so much about life.
If Saturn supports your natal Sun (forming a trine or a sextile), you will have an easier time to incorporate new responsibilities - if any - or learning that life lesson, whatever it might be!
Hard Work...Why or Why???
If Saturn challenges your natal Sun though, you may experience a period that feels like hard work – and this can last for a good year or two. But, please know that it will pass.
By "challenging", I mean a square or an opposition to your natal Sun.
You may feel unprepared for what you’re being asked to do. I have seen clients needing to look after a family member who was just diagnosed with a long-term illness. Relationships breaking up. New jobs that proved too demanding. Young clients losing a parent who was supporting them, and needing to figure out their new life, no longer sheltered.
And if the "structure" (such as marriages or jobs) has become too restrictive, it can break under a challenging Saturn transit. There can be a divorce or a job loss.
Patience Truly Can Be a Virtue
Saturn also teaches us patience. And so if developing more patience is what our soul needs at this time, it can put obstacles into our path, and bring frustrating delays.
It's Not All Bad! Saturn's Gifts
As with any planet, its energy can manifest in a positive way, or in a challenging way – much depends on what our soul is ready for at this time in our life.
Saturn is also the planet that brings durable achievement. Not just a short-term streak of luck that Jupiter brings. But solid, long-term growth.
I often tell my clients whose Venus (or the ruler of the 7th House of Committed Relationships) is connected to Saturn in their natal chart: “So you may have some early challenges or frustrating delays in the love department” (they usually nod their head). “But you know what? You’re someone who will make a very loyal partner for that special soul that is meant for you. And how lucky your partner will be to have you! Your relationship will come, and it will be long-term, with solid commitment to one another. It just might take some time”.
That’s the beauty of Saturn: it brings us what we want, as long as we’re willing to work for it, and as long as we don’t give up in the process.
Saturn the Teacher
Now, if Saturn sets off a planetary configuration in your natal chart, it can be trying to teach you a life lesson, something your soul needs to learn in this lifetime.
Let's say, you have a T-Square (a tense planetary configuration) that involves your natal Sun, Saturn, and Neptune. You may have a hard time figuring out how to support others without taking on too many of their problems as your burden to carry. Every time this planetary configuration is triggered by a transiting Saturn, a situation might come into your life that teaches you exactly that. And this theme will repeat, roughly every 7 years, until you've learned what you need to learn.
And after, Saturn transits will bring rewards rather than trials and challenges.
Over the years of working with many clients, I've assembled a collection of tips on how to work with Saturn energies. Some of them are based on the astrological experiments I staged in my own life.
And if you want to know how the Saturn's energy will affect your natal chart (and your life), you can book a reading with me.
Remember, when Saturn challenges your natal Sun, it brings a great opportunity to build something long-lasting in your life, but at first it can manifest as obstacles and delays.