Things Going Sideways in Your Life? It Might Be Your Saturn Return!

Have you ever woken up and felt like you’re running out of time? You take a look at your life, your social life, relationships, job, daily routine, and start to wonder who even created this and most importantly why?? Yeah, me too. While of course, there never needs to be a major astrological event to trigger this sort of revelation – it is very common that around the age of 27, this feeling starts to seep into our consciousness and there’s a very good reason for it: Saturn.

It takes this glorious planet around 30 years to transit the sun and when it returns to its position in the natal chart, it inspires us to really take stock and ownership over the decisions we’ve made in life. This Saturn transit is called a Saturn Return and it happens every 30 years. As someone who was unaware of the shockwaves (good and bad) Saturn was about to send through my life, I am super passionate about helping others prep and build the courage needed to minimize the angst that comes with the Saturn Return. New to this concept? Let’s dive in!

Saturn’s Role

If Saturn had a theme song, it would be "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones. Why? Well, this planet is not concerned with the things we think will make us happy, it deals with what we NEED to learn, grow, and mature ... and most of the time we don't love the things and experiences that end up being the best things for us.

In astrology, Saturn represents responsibility, restriction, rules, and all the other "r" words that make us cringe a little bit. While it may be cold and direct, Saturn's energy plays a very important role in our life as it challenges us to consider our place in society and what it means to be part of something larger than ourselves. Saturn governs the structures of our world – think the government, economy, social norms, organized religion, and other institutions. In our physical body, it corresponds to our bones and teeth. It is the framework that holds us up and dictates how we show up in the world.

Throughout our lives, we go through a bit of a push-and-pull dynamic with Saturn as it transits around the sun. It takes around 29 years for Saturn to orbit the sun and along the way it makes different aspects to our natal Saturn placement (where Saturn was at the moment of our birth) that make us question who we are, what's important to us, what rules we like/dislike, and our relationship with the various institutions we've engaged with in life (career, relationships, beliefs, etc). Saturn challenges us to understand ourselves in relation to these structures and asks us to make the call if they are realllllyyyy our thing – or we're participating because that's what others expect from us.

When Saturn makes a trip in your chart, it's pretty common to experience change. From the outside, it can feel like life is unfair and hard things keep happening to you – but from Saturn's perspective, it's just trying to get YOU to see all the ways you are restricting or limiting yourself. Facing these limitations inevitably requires courage, faith in yourself, willingness to "do the work," and taking some risks (emphasis again on COURAGE).

Fun Fact: Saturn plays such a significant role in Human Design and astrology because the average lifespan used to be around 30 years old. When Saturn returned back in the day, it literally signified taking stock of your life and choices. Our life cycles are now more in line with Uranus' returns (~80 years), but Saturn holds important lessons nonetheless.

What is a Saturn Return?

It takes Saturn around 28-30 years to transit around the sun, journeying through all the gates and zodiac signs as it does until it finally returns to the position it was in the day you were born.

Think of it this way. You come into form as this perfectly designed being that is meant to grow and develop, exploring the themes of your unique life path and play out your soul's purpose. From birth, you're learning what it means to exist within the structures of society and your family. There is a very real pressure to conform to these external forces – and it's common to get knocked off our path or distracted as we navigate what it means to be human.

From a Human Design perspective, we're all prone to taking in and amplifying energies and experiences that are not ours and over-identifying with them. We can be taught to act in ways that don't feel correct for us, but if there is no other example or option, we go along with it.

This is where Saturn starts to poke us and encourage growth. It imposes limitations and roadblocks along our path so we cannot avoid areas of growth. Its constriction makes us imagine a way of being that is completely outside of our regular experience, and through the Saturn Return, we start to build a new way for ourselves. Saturn wants us to grow up and take responsibility for our actions and choices – and the only way we can do this in an authentic way is to level with our inner truth and core values. When we hold ourselves to a higher standard, clearing out everything that isn't serving us, we make space for real abundance and joy to come into our lives.

Decoding a Saturn Return

So now that you have a basic understanding of the role of Saturn and why Saturn Returns are (/can be) our friends, let's get into what's needed to interpret your Saturn Return themes.

Your Human Design chart and astrology provide great clues to help you understand the underlying themes of your Saturn Return. Starting with Human Design, you can look at what gate placement your Saturn falls into and how the energy centers play a role. I also take into account the astrological sign, house, and any important aspects that further build out the picture.

There is a lot of information to process as you get into the themes and energies that show up in your Saturn placement. If you are feeling overwhelmed, you are NOT alone. Helping walk people through their Saturn Return themes is a true passion of mine. I cover all of the above points and more in Saturn Return sessions and offer follow-ups to help you along the way!

While it’s best to look into your Saturn Return themes around the ages of 30 or 60 or 90!! – it’s never too early or late to check-in and see how you can bring more ease into your relationship with Saturn … and ultimately step into the power that is waiting for you on the other side. Growth and learning about ourselves are rarely linear processes so it is normal to think you've learned a lesson only to see it pop up again. There is no such thing as perfection, only awareness and self-compassion. Be gentle with yourself and please feel free to reach out – I’m so excited to speak with you.