Saturn Return Horoscope

Saturn's Promise

An Astrological Analysis of Saturn for

Madonna

August 16, 1958

7:05 AM

Bay City, Michigan

Calculated for:

Time Zone 5 hours West

Latitude: 43 N 35 40

Longitude: 83 W 53 20

Positions of Planets at Birth:

Sun 23 Leo 07 Pluto 1 Vir 43

Moon 11 Vir 33 N. Node 24 Lib 02

Mercury 5 Vir 39 Asc. 8 Vir 15

Venus 0 Leo 32 MC 3 Gem 45

Mars 15 Tau 23 2nd cusp 1 Lib 29

Jupiter 26 Lib 24 3rd cusp 0 Sco 06

Saturn 19 Sag 09 5th cusp 8 Cap 57

Uranus 12 Leo 42 6th cusp 10 Aqu 55

Neptune 2 Sco 18

Aspect Orb in Natal Chart Orb in Saturn Return

Conjunction : 6 Deg 00 Min 5 Deg 00 Min

Opposition : 6 Deg 00 Min 5 Deg 00 Min

Square : 6 Deg 00 Min 5 Deg 00 Min

Trine : 6 Deg 00 Min 5 Deg 00 Min

Sextile : 4 Deg 00 Min 3 Deg 00 Min

Semisquare : 2 Deg 00 Min 1 Deg 30 Min

Sesquiquadrate : 2 Deg 00 Min 1 Deg 30 Min

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Introduction

As they orbit the Sun, the planets reveal the unfolding patterns of our lives. Saturn, with its magnificent rings and multiple moons, acts as a principal timer of events. This interpretation focuses on the structure of your life: from the potential you have at the moment of birth, through the formative years, the productive period, and into your later years, when you become a mentor for the younger generation.

What Saturn Signifies in the Birth Chart

Let's begin at the beginning. At birth you have unique potential to grow to adulthood, fulfill your talents, achieve emotional security and happiness, and to express yourself as a spiritual being. Sometimes you will work hard and achieve more. Other times you will struggle, only to be frustrated in your desires. Frustrations often teach us greater self discipline ... by creating patience, for example. You always have choices along the way.

Saturn's birth potential encompasses these general considerations:

- physical development and health considerations - mental and emotional development - areas of pessimism or limited enjoyment - consciousness of self - career and enduring legacy - your life path in general, from starting point to life lessons to rewards. - potential for wisdom and maturity

One way to summarize the role of Saturn is to look at your capacity for self-preservation. All of the above-listed traits come into play as you seek to defend yourself against perceived attacks, or to go on the "attack" as an assertive, ambitious individual. You develop skills that aid you in becoming a successful, satisfied person. Success depends both on defensive capacity and assertiveness.

These considerations play out in two ways. First, there is the "normal" path - the typical pattern of development that all people follow. This path is true for everyone. Then there is the unique focus you bring to your own life. This is where you reveal your own power and will. The intersection between the typical and the individual is the subject of this interpretation.

Because Saturn moves relatively slowly through the signs, all the people born within about a 2 to 2 1/2 year period share many qualities. Here are some thoughts about your unique potential, as seen in your birth chart. People in your immediate age group share many of these traits.

Part I - Saturn in Your Birth Chart

Saturn in Sagittarius:

At times you suffer from self-doubt. This is because you have such a strong sense of justice, and you apply it to yourself first. Generally you act prudently, considering the larger effects of your actions. When you don’t feel you have enough information, you are inclined to wait, rather than leaping into action without all the facts. Once you get into something, you have logical follow-through.

You are likely to move far from your original home, even to another country. Your career may involve a lot of travel. In the process of moving from place to place, you assimilate the philosophical and religious context of your surroundings, thereby modifying your core beliefs. It is important for you to remain flexible about beliefs, as you will inevitably change to some degree.

You are a good student. Hence you can rise to professions that require many years of education, such as law or teaching at the university level. Your studies don’t necessarily have to lead to a college degree, but they are an integral piece of your potential. Where study and travel are concerned, it is the journey that fascinates you, and not the final destination.

The placement of Saturn in your birth chart suggests that the hips, thighs and thigh muscles are potential areas for physical manifestation of the mental, emotional and spiritual experiences of your life. In medical astrology, these parts of the body are reflected in the sign of Sagittarius.

A good traveler needs strong legs. While any exercise program should balance the upper and lower body workout, you may find it is much easier to build muscle and strength in the thigh area. Horseback riding is a sport you may enjoy. While you are building strength, don’t neglect flexibility, as this is an essential for your mental and emotional life as well as your physical body.

Saturn in a fire sign:

Intelligent activity, by your definition, includes intuition, something that many people barely think is real. Your idealism is tempered by a good dose of caution, but you are able to look past the ordinary and plan for outcomes that incorporate individual freedom and room to act on impulse from time to time. Some people might think this is your selfish side at work - you want something in the plan for you to enjoy. Others see this as a responsible way to approach the needs of other people. Whatever your personal motivations, you are assertive in their application. You want to see the best possible results of your decisions, and you can wait patiently for results when that is required. Creative outcomes work today, and will continue to work tomorrow.

Saturn is 19-20 deg Mutable:

Areas of the body that deserve careful attention include: Third rib, bile duct, right thigh bone, right calf muscle.

Saturn in 4th house:

Throughout your life, family and traditional values are of major importance. Yet this is an area where development may be delayed. This means that while you must take responsibility for your core beliefs and your family relationships, you may not feel you are good at it early in your life. For example, you may have concealed your personal feelings as a child because your parents were inconsistent in their encouragement or punishment of your initiative. Severe discipline was experienced as rigid restraint on your freedom. You may have felt that your mother was absent, or that the adults in your life were cold and uncaring.

Any such harshness has at least one benefit - it teaches you to take sensible security measures. Of course, you may be overly cautious, never testing the boundaries of safety, and therefore also never experiencing the joy of the "chase". Perhaps your most profound life lesson relates to examining the conservative values you learned as a child, and adopting new, more liberal attitudes.

You gain in self-assurance as you make the effort to develop strong relationships outside the family circle. You feel the limitations of co-dependence, and seek relationships in which both partners can stand separately, yet remain together. In doing so, you overcome the fear of being alone.

Saturn in hard aspect with Neptune:

You have to work hard for your success. You may have chronic ailments that demand careful attention. You struggle sometimes between your lower nature and your higher spiritual values.

Saturn in soft aspect with Sun:

You have learned to be firm in your decision-making. You like to be in control of your own destiny, and this can lead to a negative attitude when you don’t get your own way. When you work persistently, even if you must do so alone, you reap the benefits eventually.

Saturn Rx in mutable sign

At birth the infant faces enormous demands. From the first moment, the capacity of the heart and lungs is tested. Breathing and circulation are required for initial survival of the birth event. Very soon the capacity to swallow and digest food is tested. If these challenges are not met within the first week, the infant fails to thrive. Then elimination of toxins becomes an issue. As soon as the infant comes in contact with other people, the immune system is tested. Very shortly reflexes and the development of muscle strength are required. All of these very basic functions fall into three general groups.

With Saturn retrograde at birth you may have faced a delay in development of breathing capacity, reflexes, intestinal function, sleep patterns, or the immune system. While most developmental delays are overcome, you may be able to relate to one or the other of these problems throughout your life. For example, you may have been told that you suffered from colic as an infant, or that you had severe early childhood illnesses. You may continue to have a sensitive digestive system or allergies. You may tend to be a night owl.

Summary

The above remarks indicate both where you begin in life and where you experience change as you go along. They also represent a fair assessment of your potential. You very likely will relate to some of these ideas at the present time, feel that you have already overcome some of the less constructive traits, and recognize that you can strive to accomplish others.

Life Unfolds

All people begin physical life as helpless infants, and all people eventually leave the physical body. Between these two universally shared events, you experience the richness of what life has to offer, and you have unique experiences, based on your own potential. There are so-called "normal" times for each developmental process to occur. The typical milestone period is seven years, four months, and one week. Some of us are ahead of the curve at each milestone, and some of us fall behind. Astrological timing is based upon the average speed of Saturn's motion, compared to what actually occurred for you personally.

For each major phase of your life, you will find information about the associated developmental process and its demands. Then you will find information about how you fit into the typical pattern - early or late, and what you can expect because of the timing. Most individuals have a mixture of early, late, or three chances. Thus, you will not have the same experience every time.

Throughout this section of your interpretation, you will find notes about the date (s) when each Milestone occurs. When three dates are grouped closely together, you have the opportunity to understand a milestone through three distinct experiences. If you have three Saturn returns grouped together, you get three very different pictures. The first two dates help you to address challenges and seek opportunities, primarily for the period of time before the third date. Indications at the third date carry forward strongly for the next 28 to 30 years.

Because of the movement of Saturn, you experience similar conditions and feelings every 28 to 30 years. Early in your life, a difference of a few weeks or months can have a big impact on your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual developmental processes. A month seems like an impossibly long time to a six-year-old, while at age sixty a month whizzes by all too quickly. In addition, when you are older, you will have gained experience from the formative years - experience that enables you to manage events and conditions better.

By understanding the interweaving of planetary influences in your own chart, you gain insight into your life. You make peace with yourself concerning certain times of your life, and you arm yourself with helpful information for future life passages.

Part II - Saturn Cycles in Your Life

Growth - Birth to About Age Thirty

During the first 28 to 30 years of life, you have been building the structure of the physical body, expanding your mental capabilities, learning how to manage emotional changes, developing a sense of values and morals, and entering the working world. You have formed lasting relationships and may have given birth to children of your own.

The demands of the first seven years of life are huge. You learned to communicate through language - a tool that allows you to express your needs, learn concepts in an organized way, and engage in deductive reasoning. You learned to operate simple machinery and use a computer. You developed the coordination necessary for using all kinds of tools. By age thirty you are a fully functioning adult human being.

Saturn builds upon the past. This means that even from birth, you were using what has come before to create structures. Thus the first full period indicates how you take in the familial, social, and cultural information surrounding you. You started out wholly dependent on the people and structures around you, and during the first 28 to 30 years of life you learn how to function independently - you develop a personal perspective on family and culture.

Milestone I - A Sense of Self: Around Age 7

The promise of this first milestone is the development of a sense of "self." Up to this time you are primarily part of a group. You step out of the nuclear family into the immediate neighborhood, meeting other children, relating to caretakers outside the household, and beginning regular schooling. By the time you reach this first milestone, you generally see yourself as separate from your parents and siblings. In fact, at this time you may feel somewhat isolated, while also enjoying the new sense of independence.

A very important transition at this age is the understanding of right and wrong. You come to understand that the rules you have been taught have a systematic structure that can be generalized into a code. You internalize the "feeling" of rightness or wrongness of your actions, and gradually learn to make your own decisions. While a child of two or three looks to an adult authority figure for information about appropriate action, the seven to eight-year-old is learning to look within the self for this information. There is a growing sense of responsibility for your actions, and also a greater feeling of significance as an individual.

Saturn square Saturn in mutable signs on March 4, 1966:

Lessons at this time ideally built upon and support an expansive view of life. You learned to organize the detailed information you gathered into a philosophical worldview. Because of this tendency, you may have appeared more mature than you felt. At this time you developed values that remain with you throughout your life.

Do you recall specific events from this time period? Did you feel growing independence and strength? Did you encounter harsh lessons that taught you to be much more cautious in your decisions and actions? Was there a mixture of both? Whatever your experiences at this age, they were carried forward for at least the next 7 to 8 years, and probably up to the present moment.

Milestone II - Crisis of Puberty: Around Age 14 - 15

The teen years are filled with a sense of crisis for most of us. As you enter puberty, you feel like an adult and have adult sexual urges. At the same time you often feel like a child, helpless to manage the emotions that accompany profound physical changes. Your mental framework is changing radically as well. Ideally you move from primarily inductive thinking toward using the deductive style of reasoning. This provides an opportunity to abandon somewhat unpredictable patterns of thinking and take up a precise, definite, secure mental style. You may come to believe that everything is logical and rational.

Yet you have those unpredictable emotional floods that contradict this new style of thinking. Often you wish you could blame someone else for your difficulties. Your parents or immediate caregivers are likely targets for your negative emotions, while you save your more positive feelings for your peers. You need time to adjust to massive physical changes too. Even though this can be a painful time, it is important to hang out here for a while. For example, rushing into marriage, and the associated adult sexual behaviors and other responsibilities, can deprive you of the time you need to fully understand your own internal processes.

Even though you feel grown up and independent part of the time, you still need the support and boundaries provided by parents, teachers, and rules. Saturn reflects the role of discipline in your life. Around age 15, you still need the discipline provided by family and social systems as you gain awareness of your social position, intellect and future possibilities.

Saturn opposition Saturn in mutable signs on August 23, 1972:

Saturn opposition Saturn in mutable signs on November 12, 1972:

Saturn opposition Saturn in mutable signs on May 6, 1973:

Where you had previously developed a general philosophy of life, and perhaps a somewhat detached view of the events going on around you, at this milestone you were buffeted by emotions that you previously held under strict control. This rush of emotions had the potential of opening up whole new vistas of awareness - you understood that life was not just precise rules, orderly bits of information, and pretty philosophy. At this time you got to see just how messy feelings could be.

If the adults around you acted responsibly, and if they established boundaries that provided support without total restriction, then you came through this transition with a renewed sense of independence and strength. On the other hand, if the authority figures in your life acted from self-interest, you could have suffered deep emotional wounds as you struggled to maintain your own sense of self.

For most of us there was a mixture of good and bad at this time. We tried things, we made mistakes, we had successes and failures, and we survived. We also internalized reasons for being dependent, co-dependent, or independent. Ideally, we learned that we are interdependent parts of partnerships, social circles, and the larger universe.

Milestone III - Legal Adulthood: Around Age 21 - 22

The third Saturn milestone occurs around age twenty-one to twenty-two. Our society labels us as adults at about this time. Generally this transition is made primarily on the mental level. It is a time when you accept the responsibilities of adulthood - legal to drink, vote and marry. Laws in many states and countries apply this label earlier - at age eighteen, for example. Having the legal responsibility and having the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual understanding of responsibility are two entirely different things. You get to audition for adult status before you have all the mental mechanisms in place to do the complete job.

This transition is often accompanied by the desire to "go it alone." Students have gone off to college; others have taken jobs and may move away from home. Many have married and begun their own families. You take on the material responsibility for your life, and presumably you are more thoughtful in your decision-making. You feel alone as you transition from a primary role of junior family member to the role of adult independence. Even if you marry and have children, you are still going through the transition and may feel very lonely as you make important decisions. Yet you need to separate your identity from the peer group, just as you separated from the family, in order to become a healthy individual.

Saturn square Saturn in mutable signs on September 25, 1979:

You found yourself in a physical and emotional "neighborhood" that seemed open and vibrant, but that also seemed very different and challenging. Circumstances demanded that you think clearly and carefully. Your capacity to communicate may have been challenged. If you decided to "go with the flow", you gave up part of your independence. If you decided to say exactly what you thought, you may have met with serious resistance. Either way, life suddenly felt like it was full of obstacles.

To the extent that you met the challenges, you gained a sense of your own strength. To the extent that the challenges felt like defeats, you developed fears that you carried forward from this time. Even though you were no longer answering directly to your parents, you had internalized a parental voice that informed you about your actions. If events were not been favorable, you may have felt guilty about your role in them.

The Productive Period - About Thirty to About Sixty

During this period, you will work with what you have learned in the first 28 to 30 years. You repeat the same Saturn phases, but this time with the benefit of life experience. You now enter the fully productive period of your life, armed with the constructive and not-so-constructive lessons you have learned.

They say that what goes around, comes around, and this is certainly true of Saturn, both literally and metaphorically. The way you handle your experiences definitely affects how you meet each subsequent challenge. The Saturn Return marks the beginning of the most important period of maturity. This is when your productive powers are at their height - a time when you express yourself in the world and are able to achieve concrete goals and make a lasting impact.

Because Saturn has made a full circuit of your birth chart, all possible structural relationships have been formed. This means that all the pieces are in place, for good or ill. For instance, you have achieved nearly complete physical growth. During the next 28 to 30 years, your physical effort shifts away from growth and toward work and maintenance of health.

You are capable of making big changes, but they are dependent on how you view the decisions you made during the first 30 years of your life. You may become more conservative and serious, or you may undertake significant changes in career, spiritual direction, and family relationships. At this time you tend to think deeply about your life, and the direction you want to take in the future. These decisions are likely to have a lasting impact.

The Saturn Return creates a new pattern in the heavens. Although you will always respond most strongly to your birth chart, the chart for the Saturn Return sets the tone for the next 28 to 30 years of your life. Therefore this report analyses the potential in that chart as if it were a birth chart - for the birth of your productive period.

Milestone IV: The First Saturn Return: Around Age 29 - 30

Because we are talking about the Saturn Return, Saturn is in the same sign as it was in your birth chart. However, you have 28 to 30 years of experience building the structure of your physical body, your mental capacity, your emotional tendencies, and your spiritual understanding. Thus the second Saturn passage will be significantly different from the first.

At this time you may review the past, and get an attitude check-up. How are you doing with your material ambitions? Are you on the career track that is best for you? What kinds of changes may be necessary or appropriate at this time, in order to get you moving or keep you moving in a positive direction?

The time of the Saturn return is good for clearing out the dead wood of a stagnant career, old relationships, and other things that are no longer useful to you. This is also a time of beginning. After any repairs to your life that seem essential, you can take off in a new direction. If you like where you find yourself, you enter into life's activities with renewed vigor. Finally, you put down deep roots that support you through the next 28 to 30 years successfully.

During this transitional period you learn a lot about yourself, about the people close to you, and about your long-term goals and desires. You test out the methods you have learned in the past and refine them as you go along. You may find (or recall) yourself looking into yourself . What have you personally accomplished? What have you had to endure, through no fault of your own, but because of circumstances? Where are you in terms of goals you may have set for yourself long ago? Are they even important now?

You may never forget the stress you feel (or felt) at this critical transition time. You could experience physical illness, psychological stress, or a spiritual shift of large proportions. The best bet is to take full responsibility for your life, even where circumstances intervene. You are responsible for how you chose to respond to them, after all.

For the foreseeable future, how you respond to life is what matters most of all. You have the opportunity to choose your associates, choose your career, and choose your belief systems. You are challenged to reach your highest potential in all areas of your life. You are, of course, building on everything that happened during the first period, finding remedies for gaps in your education or worldview, and forging ahead. If there are difficulties, you find that you not only have to face them, you have to sort out issues from the past as well.

Your Personal Saturn Return Chart Indicators

SATURN RETURN on February 9, 1987:

SATURN RETURN on May 22, 1987:

SATURN RETURN on November 6, 1987:

Saturn in Sagittarius

Religious and philosophical ideals remain a strong part of your personality. If, during the first cycle, you have built a structure of prudence and responsible action, you are very likely to continue to add to that side of your personality.

Saturn in Natal 4th House:

You were born with Saturn in the house of family and core beliefs. You will find that your focus, while continuing to reflect the significance of these factors, now turns to other matters.

SATURN RETURN on February 9, 1987:

Saturn in 4th House of Saturn Return Chart:

In the Return chart Saturn is in the house of family and core beliefs. During the next 28 to 30 years, you find that home and family take on greater importance. In addition you discover that your beliefs are up for re-consideration at this time.

You find that your emotions are generally under control. You are somewhat reserved. You may experience difficulty with certain family members. Perhaps you are ready for greater freedom. If you were able to achieve personal freedom earlier in your life, then freedom may not be a big issue. However, if you feel you were not independent enough, the Saturn return may be a time when you set new goals that include much more independence. This could come as a surprise to your closest family and associates.

Any discontent you feel can be channeled into planning for the future. If you don’t like life as it is, you plan to make changes. Only now you are more cautious than you once were. First you take a serious look at your core beliefs. You will be revising them throughout this 28 year cycle, but now is the time when you begin to analyze them. In the process you may develop some defensive mechanisms to buffer yourself from the world. You feel somewhat deprived, or you are much more aware of situations from the past that caused you to feel this way. If so, you work on improving the situation.

You may analyze your relationships with your parents, and how those relationships have shaped your adult associations. You conclude that you need to take a somewhat different direction from here on out, yet it is not easy to dissociate yourself from what you have experienced. To the extent that relationships involve karmic ties, we have to complete them, not cut them off. If we simply cut them off, we find we get to repeat patterns until we learn to full lesson.

Now is a time when you may learn a great deal about emotional dependence. You learn what feels appropriate for you, and you learn when dependence is taboo. You come to distinguish between the essentials of family and clan connections and the "rules" that clan members have imposed upon you. You may wonder, over the next few years, just why so much attention has to be given to family issues, but you still do it.

Saturn in soft aspect with Sun in Saturn Return chart:

During the coming cycle, you have the chance to shine. You may work more independently than in the past, and this gives you full credit for your efforts. You learn to make good decisions and then stick to them firmly.

Saturn in soft aspect with Mars in Saturn Return chart:

During this cycle, attention to career matter will pay off well. You need to look for opportunities, and then put your energy into grasping them. It’s no surprise that you will make the most of career during this period of your life. The surprise is that it may come much more easily than in the past. Destructive thinking is only appropriate of you’re in a demolition business.

SATURN RETURN on May 22, 1987:

Saturn in 5th House of Saturn Return Chart:

In the Return chart Saturn is in the house of the immediate neighborhood in which you live. During the next 28 to 30 years, you find that creative efforts hold your attention much of the time. In addition, children, other people’s or your own, demand that you adapt your environment to suit their needs. Finally, recreational activities capture your attention as well.

During this cycle you will learn to stretch the limits of your creative process. You will discover that you have a number of skills that cross over from one discipline to another. The more evident this becomes, the grater joy you find in trying new activities. You find that ego is not your one best tool, and that relaxing ego controls allows you to see the connections between creative disciplines more clearly.

This is a time to develop more realistic expectations of other people as well. Your partner will thrive when you are able to spend time goofing around together. Your children, naturally adept at messing around, can become your teacher as you remember what it is like to simply waste some time. You can learn, or re-learn, how to play and enjoy yourself, without placing expectations on the value of what you are doing.

Eventually you find that the sticky connections have loosened up a bit. You can consciously choose to remain connected, or to let go of the past. And instead of depending on others for support and encouragement, you find that these essentials are coming from within yourself. You are able to provide for yourself, and you seek a partner who supports your needs and desires. You retain lessons concerning material things that serve you well, and discard those that were never truly comfortable to begin with. Keep in mind that this ongoing process continues for 28 to 30 years, up to the next Saturn Return.

Saturn in hard aspect with Mercury in Saturn Return chart:

During this cycle you work hard and develop better communication skills long the way. It is important for you to be up on the current technology in your field, and you may have to learn a lot more about the mechanics than you want to. Training early in the cycle can set you up for future success, based on a broad range of skills and information.

Saturn in soft aspect with Jupiter in Saturn Return chart:

During the coming cycle you find that patience is richly rewarded. Look for business and financial opportunities. Explore them to assure they are built upon sound logic. Choose investments that promise long-term, steady gain. Develop both long-terms goals and short-term tactics.

SATURN RETURN on November 6, 1987:

Saturn in 10th House of Saturn Return Chart:

In the Return chart Saturn is in the house of career and social life. During the next 28 to 30 years, you find that public matters take on greater importance. In addition you will discover how the right pursuit of livelihood requires your direct attention, and you will learn how to establish and maintain clear standards of behavior in all areas of your life.

During this cycle you learn from experience. You can do everything the hard way, or you can remember the past - you only have to make a mistake once. In fact, if you pay attention to what other people do, you may not even have to do that. This is the time to evaluate the system. Are you on the right career path? If not, take the time to consider your personal goals. You learn the lessons of your successes as well as your mistakes. In the process you find a more stable position, or you take steps to achieve more security in your present career. The key to success at this time is self-awareness. If you listen to your own inner voice, instead of judging situations according to other people’s rules, you find that you are more satisfied with your life direction.

Saturn in hard aspect with MC in Saturn Return chart:

Everything develops slowly - maybe a lot slower than you wish. You feel ill at ease, or perhaps emotionally distressed. In order to make progress, you may have to separate yourself from people and situations that do not allow you to progress and produce.

Saturn in soft aspect with Mars in Saturn Return chart:

Saturn in soft aspect with Jupiter in Saturn Return chart:

Summary

Compare the above thoughts about Saturn to the information about you at the beginning of this interpretation. There may be certain similarities, and there are probably striking differences. Keep in mind that you don't stop being the person represented by your birth chart. However, you are now entering an extended period during which you add nuances to your repertoire of behaviors.

Milestone V - Sense of Purpose: Around Age 36 - 37

This developmental transition gives you get a chance to review what you have been doing since your Saturn Return. This life transition parallels the changes at around age seven. The earlier challenge was to develop a sense of self. Now the challenge is to develop a sense of personal purpose. No longer under the thumb of family and society, you face life's challenges as a true individual.

At this time you begin to sense the empty places in your life. There is a strong tendency to fill them with something - anything. Experience tells you, however, not to fill them with just anything that comes along. There is an intentional quality to your decisions that is thought out more carefully than when you were seven.

Saturn square Saturn in mutable signs on April 9, 1995:

Saturn square Saturn in mutable signs on October 15, 1995:

Saturn square Saturn in mutable signs on December 28, 1995:

There may be an urge to travel at this time. You want to see things that you have heard about. Does travel bring a change in personal philosophy, or vice versa? While you are shoring up your feelings about security and family, you are now willing and even anxious to explore the larger world. You relish every opportunity to expand your philosophical base at this time. You know that as you shoot your arrows into the air, some will stray into areas that do not interest you, and others will strike targets that reveal intriguing new ideas and ideals.

Milestone VI - Midlife Crisis: Around Age 43 - 44

The often-mentioned, much misunderstood midlife crisis is actually a period of self-evaluation that benefits from objectivity. Now is the time to assess everything that has happened since your Saturn Return at age 28 to30. Because you make this assessment yourself, it must be based upon your own values, and not upon some measuring stick outside yourself.

Saturn opposition Saturn in mutable signs on June 14, 2002:

The problems you encounter at this time reveal areas where you have not reached the highest possible maturity of mind and feeling. If you are faced with urges that seem unrealistic, take the time to examine them. Are these desires the reflection of an earlier stage that was never completed in a satisfactory manner? Often you can identify these because your thoughts are accompanied by childlike emotions - emotions that seem childish in the adult you have become.

At this transition, many people change marriage partners, change careers, and change their attitudes in general. Some of these changes are necessary, if further progress is to occur. Some are the result of immature decisions, growing out of earlier failures to complete developmental lessons. Either way, you will be change forever during this time. Roles that seemed to be permanently defined when you were fifteen, now may dissolve or even reverse themselves. Many people undertake the care of a parent at this stage of life, for example.

At this stage of life, most of us find that we are no longer "young". Oh, we may continue to fight the weight, the wrinkles, and the aches and pains. Still, objectively speaking, we know we are not the twenty-one-year-olds we once were. A great many of us are at the midpoint of life, as we can expect to live into our 80’s and even 90’s. A good objective look now can set you on a course for the rest of your life that, instead of feeling like a downhill slide, is more like a contented drive - no longer pedal-to-the-metal all the time, but satisfying nonetheless.

Milestone VII - A Time of Change: Around Age 50 - 51

Similar to the crisis at age 21 or 22, once again you are taking a look at your typical behavior, and you may be deciding to make changes. Your attitudes and values may be pushing you to do more. Some people return to school. Others develop a creative talent. Still others find charitable work. If your own children are grown, and have moved away from home, you may have time, money and energy to spend on travel. In addition, you now must begin to treat your own children as adults, which can be a challenge in itself.

You are probably earning the most you ever have. If you are not satisfied with your career, there can be a major job change. This involves certain risks, and you may have to work through emotional issues from the past in order to be able to make the change.

Health issues could call for a change in lifestyle and/or diet.

Saturn square Saturn in mutable signs on November 6, 2008:

Saturn square Saturn in mutable signs on February 27, 2009:

Saturn square Saturn in mutable signs on July 29, 2009:

Your attitude becomes thoughtful. You examine the available choices rationally and logically, and consider details that you might have missed - you didn’t know about them - when you were 21 or 22. You have been through some emotional turmoil, but at this point you are focused mentally, and perhaps spiritually as well. You find that your work and your immediate environment absorb your time and energy. In this process you feel somewhat alone, even if you have family and associates around you. You are becoming aware that you provide the meaning in your life. You can no longer depend on children, family, or other people to do this for you.

Becoming a Mentor - About Fifty-Nine Years Old

Some time near the 56th birthday, Saturn again returns to its birth position. This signals the beginning of a third life phase - that of mentor. In traditional societies the role of elder is an honored position. Generally the elders no longer participate in many of society's activities. They no longer are the hunters, the warriors, or the hard-hitting business people. Instead they take on the roles of historian, teacher, mentor and counselor, and the wisdom that comes with experience is highly valued.

You have just completed about thirty years of creative, productive work, and there is no need to cut yourself off from that at this time. However, you benefit from turning your attention away from new creative projects of your own, and using your energy to help younger people develop their creative potential. You are able to help them because you have been there - you have had revolutionary ideas, you have changed careers, you have lived the life that they are embarking on.

This transition requires that you make some changes in your thinking. There is a second Saturn return chart that provides a major update. It indicates where you have been, and also shines a beacon on the path that remains before you. Because this third period includes old age, the chart for the second Saturn Return provides indications of what your final years will be like in terms of health, social activities, family responsibilities, and all other areas of your later adult years. Just as you have gathered wisdom along the path, as seen by Saturn's passage through your chart, you now have the capacity to understand issues that have followed you, provide guidance for younger people, and look forward to planting the seeds of your experience for others to nourish themselves.

Inevitably, this is a time of letting go. You are no longer as strong, as energetic, or as interested as you once were. We know that people are often able to maintain robust health well past the age of sixty, so it is not as if you suddenly switch off. You may, however, find yourself making "sensible" decisions, where formerly you could say yes to just about every opportunity, and not worry about rest, diet, and other security needs.

Milestone VIII - Second Saturn Return: Around Age 58 - 60

SATURN RETURN on December 12, 2016:

Saturn in Sagittarius:

As the second full Saturn cycle comes to a close, you seek to consolidate gains in the area of legal matters or philosophical studies.

Saturn in Natal 4th House:

You were born with Saturn in the house of family and core beliefs.

Saturn in 7th House of Saturn Return Chart:

In the second Saturn Return chart, Saturn is in the house of partnership. This area of life takes on greater significance for you during the mentoring cycle. Because you have come through two full cycles, your level of self-awareness is much higher now, and there is a strong focus on using that awareness as the motivation and guidance system for your mentoring cycle.

Saturn in hard aspect with Sun in Saturn Return chart:

Two things happen simultaneously with this combination of energies. On the one hand, you are able to reap what you have sown - you achieve success of failure based on your own actions. On the other hand, you face a new beginning, a time when you will be acting on your own authority. The seclusion or retirement that one expects during this third cycle will suit you well.

Saturn in soft aspect with Jupiter in Saturn Return chart:

You find you are quite patient with your life and what it brings you. You are aware of your goals, and you pursue them with enthusiasm and confidence. You realize objectives that may have eluded you in the past.

Saturn in soft aspect with Uranus in Saturn Return chart:

Because of past experience, you are well positioned to manage difficult problems. You can cope with more than most people, and your endurance continues to be strong. If an acute health problem arises, deal with it immediately.

Saturn in soft aspect with MC in Saturn Return chart:

During this cycle you learn more about yourself than you thought possible. Regardless of how open you have been throughout your life, now you learn about inner motivations and attitudes that were developed early on, for good or ill. And you are able to change.

Summary

At this stage of life, your responses to the energies around you should be more mature, more considered, and more consistent. As you compare the indicators at this point in life with those from age 28 to 30, you can see trends in your life. It helps to look ahead to future energy patterns, and aim for a place that will work with those energies.