4 Ways to Be with Your Saturn Transit

Here’s the reality. When Saturn comes around, life often boils down to the necessities. It can feel really unsexy and really small—sleep, eat, work, repeat. If you feel stuck between a rock and a hard place, or like you’re in a holding pattern, you might be experiencing a Saturn transit.

A Saturn transit is when Saturn in the real-time sky comes around and “talks” to another planet or point in your birth chart. The most famous Saturn transit is the Saturn return, but there are a ton of other Saturn transits that are just as pivotal. For example, Saturn can transit your ascendant, your Sun, your Moon, or any other part of your birth chart.

I’ve got to be honest—despite its reputation, Saturn is one of my favorite planets. I know from lived experience that when you work with Saturn, it’ll work for you. Although it may have its fair share of challenges, a Saturn transit can also be one of the most productive cosmic seasons of your life.

Here are four constructive ways to be with your Saturn transit.

Accept Your Limits

Let’s do the most unpopular one first. Our culture teaches us to push beyond our boundaries, to reach higher, and to dream bigger. Under a Saturn transit, sometimes the key is to “dream smaller” in order to achieve what’s bigger later. Yes, I realize how backwards that sounds.

Another way of thinking about this is living within your means. Instead of stretching yourself or taking a risk (which is more of a Jupiter strategy), under a Saturn transit, it’s okay to put your head down and do the responsible thing.

It’s okay to work that less-than-dreamy job because it brings in a steady paycheck. It’s okay to be the mom taxi and put your business on the backburner for a bit. It’s okay to be a beginner again and start from the bottom.

Notice the title of this post is how to be with your Saturn transit, not how to push it away. It’s okay to stop fighting and to let life be as it is for a little bit. Remember, Saturn transits don’t last forever—most last about nine months give or take a bit. See if you can accept the reality of your current life and work within the boundaries you’ve been given. The relief may surprise you.

For example, in one of my more recent Saturn transits, I pressed pause on being an entrepreneur and got a job-job. Did I love it? No. Did I feel fulfilled? No. I may have experienced getting a job as limiting in one area, but it also created the support and steady income I needed to feel free in other areas. The stability and structure actually helped my nervous system feel more relaxed. That “limitation” was exactly what I needed at the time.

Simplify & Prune

But Saturn transits aren’t all about limitations. They’re also about foundations. You can use a Saturn transit to lay the foundation for exponential future growth. You just have to do it Saturn’s way, which as we’ve established, is a little counterintuitive.

During a Saturn transit, you get ahead by cutting back. Pruning a tree not only improves its structure, but it encourages growth. When you simplify or even remove something, you reclaim a lot of energy. All of the effort that was being divided among the many “branches” of your life consolidates and gets refocused on the essentials. The result? Those essentials are nurtured, and over time, become extremely powerful.

One thing I pruned during a recent Saturn transit was my email list. I removed thousands of subscribers. You may think that’s absurd. Aren’t more subscribers better? No. Engaged subscribers are better. I had a lot of “dead branches” on my list, people from years ago who were no longer opening my messages. Those branches had to go so that I could refocus my energy on the people who actually wanted to hear from me. It also gave me a few extra dollars in my pocket—email marketing can be expensive.

Saturn transits may also reveal what’s not working in your life or what needs improvement. Although it may feel uncomfortable in the moment, allow Saturn to give you clues about what’s not feeling good anymore, and then do what you can to begin removing or limiting that thing in your daily life.

For example, I began noticing that offering future predictions in my astrology practice was making me feel unsettled. During a Saturn transit, I made the choice to stop doing predictive work so that I could stay in alignment with my integrity and find something that felt more supportive for me and my clients.

Clarify & Commit

A natural side effect of pruning and simplifying is clarity. Once you prune the fluff, you can see and commit to what’s really important. Saturn delights in discipline and helping you stick with something. Saturn is about mastery. Instead of pursuing five different interests, take one as deep as you can.

The goal under a Saturn transit is to create something that lasts. Crystalize your goals, narrow your focus, and make a sustainable plan for how you’ll achieve them. That usually means saying no to short bursts of unsustainable activity like intense, thirty-day challenges. Instead, opt for slower, more consistent output over longer periods of time.

One of my favorite Saturn planning tips is to make your daily to-dos extremely achievable so that you feel successful instead of like you’re not measuring up. For example, instead of telling myself I’m going to write for two hours every day, I might commit to writing for twenty minutes three days a week over coffee. This may sound really insignificant, but it’s extremely achievable. It’s a goal I can actually meet. And I always have the option to add on more time if I’m feeling good after twenty minutes is up.

Take the Long-term View

Saturn doesn’t mess with instant gratification. It’s interested in things that go the distance. During your Saturn transit, play with taking the long-term view in everything. Here’s a great Saturn question: 

What will saying yes to this look like in six months, a year, five years?

I like to think of this as “playing the whole tape through.” Really take some time to imagine what life will be like if you say yes to this thing. What will your day look like? How will you feel? What challenges might arise, and how will you deal with them? When this thing comes to an end, how will you wrap it up?

Some of those questions may sound negative, but Saturn is a realist. Everything comes to a close at some point, and one thing I’ve learned through some of my tougher Saturn transits, especially in business, is that it’s always wise to have an exit strategy. As odd as it may sound, having an exit strategy allows me to be more confident in the beginning.

Saturn transits often coincide with a time of increased effort or hard work. By taking the long-term view, you’re also ensuring that you’re not efforting for nothing, but efforting for something that will have a future return.

How to Channel Saturn for More Information

Now that you have a good idea of how to be with a Saturn transit, let’s explore how Saturn is actually showing up in your life. Planet channeling is my astrological spin on automatic writing—a practice where you allow spirit to write through your pen. In planet channeling, that spirit is a planet. You can read more about the basics of planet channeling here.

Saturn is an earthy planet, all about solidity and structure. One way to connect with its energy is through a simple grounding practice. If possible, grab your journal and go outside. Put your bare feet on the earth and sink into its support. If that’s not possible, simply plant your feet on the floor and imagine roots growing out of your feet. Hang out here for three to five minutes and just breathe.

Then, begin by writing an invocation. Something like this:

I call Saturn to the page.
Thank you, Saturn, for sharing your wisdom with me today.
Thank you, Saturn, for being generous with your expertise.
Thank you, Saturn, for your clarity.
Thank you, Saturn, for being real with me.
Thank you, Saturn, for writing through me today.

Then, ask Saturn each of the following questions. Write the question out and then let yourself free write for at least five minutes on each. Just let it flow and try not to think about it too much. If you get stuck, you can rewrite the question or even write, “I don’t know what to write,” until something comes through.

• Saturn, what’s the number one lesson you want me to master during your transit?

• Saturn, what can I prune or simplify in order to grow?  

• Saturn, what do I need to keep in my long-term view?

• Saturn, is there anything else you want me to know?

Finish up your session with more gratitude. You can rewrite the invocation statements above or make it short and sweet, something like:

Thank you, Saturn, for showing up for me today.

And I always like to throw in an I love you.

Then, follow the guidance you received. I also suggest rereading this journal entry regularly during your transit. You can make it easy and reread it every Saturday (Saturn’s day), or another regular interval that works for you.

Want more ideas on how to be with your Saturn transit? Book a consult with me.