How To Survive Your Second Saturn Return (age 58-60)!

There are three natural stages in life. They appear in all metaphysical arts, in literature, myth and philosophy. While there is incredible complexity to each stage, they can also each be described with one word: plan, do and teach. Or to put it in more archetypal language: maiden, mother and crone. These archetypes describe the energy we are required to bring into their associated stage of life and have little to do with giving birth. They refer to the role in the world that we are required to fill.

Saturn returns are the doorways through which we pass on our journey to the next stage of life. They force us to look at the reality that we have created and see if it will stand the test of time and whether what we have built has provided us with the foundations and supplies that we need for the next stage of our journey.

It is important to understand these stages in order to truly grasp what foundations are necessary and what supplies we will need on the next leg of our journeys. The maiden (planning stage) asks us to be the novice and to remain open to all of the possibilities of life and to observe the lives of others in order to determine the kind of world that we would like to build for ourselves. We are asked to look at the world with fresh eyes and an open heart. As you can imagine this isn’t a particularly grounded energy, it is a world of imagination, thought and observation.

When we hit our first Saturn return (usually around age 29 – 30) we enter through the doorway into the next stage of life. During this time life presents us with circumstances that crack faulty foundations and force us to look unflinchingly at our plans and whether we truly have the tools and resources to accomplish them. Resource is a big word and has multiple meanings.

In this context resources can be: physical energy, health – physical and mental, financial security, intellectual capacity, integrity, honesty, emotional capacity, creativity, talent or/and ability. So during this time in our lives we are asked to look honestly at what we have planned. Once we have completed this honest inventory of our resources we are forced to assess whether our plans for ourselves are logical, grounded and possible.

We are also required to look at our plans and ask why we have chosen to move in the direction that we have and to ensure that we are following a path that is true to ourselves and our journey. Essentially this is a time where we are redirected when we are on the wrong path and where we are forced to build the necessary foundations to move forward on the right one.

The following stage of life (the “mother” or “do” stage) is the time when we are required to put our plans into action. We build families or businesses or create things that we put out into the world. We are asked during this time to collect experiences, learn from them and from this learning create structures that support both ourselves and others. Everyone does this in a different way but the underlying energy on this leg of the journey is creation and experiential learning. It is important not to get caught up in the idea that building something always means creating something outside of ourselves, often the most profound act of creation is growing and building solid foundations within ourselves and learning how to heal our inner wounds. When we heal within ourselves we are building something that has a profound impact on everyone that we meet.

When we enter our second Saturn return at age 58-60 we are asked to ground the knowledge that we have amassed on the second leg of our journey and find the practical applications of it. As with your first Saturn return as you entered through this doorway you are pushed to enter into the next stage of life and leave the stage you are in behind. This is the doorway to the teaching stage of life and thus one of the most important functions of this doorway to find within ourselves the true teachings of our lives. To filter out that which doesn’t hold weight and to look at what we have really build of value in our lives, what we bring to the world and what we have to offer to the world on the next stage of our journey. We are asked not only to look at that which we have amassed which serves us and the world around us but also to look at that which is poorly build in the structures that we have created.

Let’s examine what “structures” mean in this context. When we talk about the structures that we have built in our lives we are talking about: patterns in relationships, emotional behaviours and attachments, communication style, personal and professional habits, family dynamics, personal care patterns, relationship with self, relationship to work, priorities, behaviours, addictions, values, motivations, intentions, self expression and routines.

So, in this second Saturn return we are required to look at all of the structures that we have built since our first Saturn return and find anything within those structure which does not fit or compromises the integrity of the whole. In order to break down those structures that are not serving us, we will draw experiences during this time that will force us to honesty look at these structures and where necessary, dismantle and rebuild them.

The other important function of the second Saturn return is detachment. We are asked during this time to leave the “mother” stage of life and move forward to the crone stage. We are being pushed to become the advisor and the teacher. Moving into this stage can be difficult in a western culture which in many ways has erased the traditional role of the crone and focuses and rewards the mother and the maiden without acknowledging the incredible power and wisdom of experience. This period of detachment is one of the key functions of the second Saturn return.

Saturn is a stern yet loving teacher, and one of the primary functions that it serves in our lives is to force us to look at truths in a grounded and practical way. When we experience our second Saturn return, one of the greatest truths that Saturn exposes is our aging process and our fears around our own mortality.

In our first Saturn return Saturn demands that we grow up and take our place in the adult world with adult responsibilities.

In our second Saturn return Saturn forces us to see our role as the elder and to deal with our own vulnerability that comes with aging and any fears that we may have around it. Saturn demands that we look honestly at our own mortality and the meaning we have found in our life changes in these moments of raw honesty and grounded, practical perceptions of life. Our priorities shift and our sense of who we are in the world shifts with it. Things that were once very important drift away and things that never held much value for us can sometimes take centre stage. The wisdom of the elder is bestowed upon us at this time, and part of that wisdom is a real shift in our perceptions of the world around us. It was glib to say we lose hope during this time, but in some ways we do….we let go of dreams that aren’t grounded in reality and open ourselves to new experiences and new truths.

But life is full of doors that open and doors that close and with this chapter closing comes many gifts of another, newer chapter unfolding. Although this doorway to this new stage can involve shedding some uncomfortable skin once we have crossed the threshold there are amazing new experiences that will unfold before us. But those experiences are the experiences of the sage, the elder, the teacher. With that in mind, if we open ourselves up to the change in our role there is great work that can be accomplished.

In astrology the 11th house, the house of goals and aspirations is in full bloom once we cross the threshold of our second Saturn return and we will find that projects that we have worked on for years often start to bear fruit. Alliances and strategic partnerships begin to unfold before us and open doorways that were closed to us before. But one of the greatest gifts of this new chapter is a new comfort in our own skin and a new understanding of what is truly important in life, this will grow more and more as we step into the stage of the crone. This is where the teaching comes in, once we have inventoried all the knowledge we have amassed, and assessed what we have contributed to the world and what we can keep contributing to the world and once we have accepted our new role and released that which no longer serves us we are in a position where we can help others through direct teaching and mentorship. However, it is important to always remember that it is the job of the student to seek out the teacher, the teacher’s job is merely to be ready for the moment the student arrives.

Bonnie

Last updated on September 8, 2017 at 8:57 pm. Word Count: 1577