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Saturn in the 1st House

The first house is usually considered to describe the physical body of the individual, the personality with which he relates to his external environment, and on perhaps a deeper level the kinds of experiences which he is likely to attract during his life and which help him to shape and develop a certain set of conscious tools with which to govern his life. There is a two-way flow of energy through the first house of the chart because it is - as has often been suggested - a kind of lens through which the experiences of the environment pass to reach the individual and through which his own qualities must pass to reach the environment. Whatever factors are present within the individual birth chart, they must pass through the conditioning qualities of the first house and in particular the Ascendant before they can be recognized by others or expressed in a tangible fashion. All four angles of the chart are related to this inward and outward flow of the reality of the inner person into the outside world, but the most personal and most obvious of these four points of release is the Ascendant. The entire first house relates to the physical presentation of the individual in a conscious and deliberate manner. Whatever a man innately is, he must express it through a body and according to a body type - which gives the term 'body' a larger framework. The Ascendant and the first house are often equated with the Jungian idea of the 'persona' which, if it is to be a positive and effective medium through which a man may present himself to the world, must be in reasonable accord with the more hidden, unconscious aspects of his psyche.

The idea of the 'persona' offers a considerable amount of insight into the function of the Ascendant, which is often maligned by being considered merely a superficial mask which has little relation to the inner reality of the person. Like the masks of the ancient Greek tragedy, the persona is the person's statement of himself to the world; through this cultivated component of the psyche, he declares his role according to the manner in which he has developed over the years. The persona, like the Ascendant, does not come into full conscious flowering until a certain level of maturity has been reached. Ideally, this role should be a synthesis of what is best in him, and most useful, and should be worn lightly so that the man does not make the mistake of identifying with his presentation. It is very much what he would ideally like to be, or what he is developing into, rather than what he automatically is at any given time. The first house is the most unformed part of the birth chart, for it, even more than the rest of the chart, is in a process of becoming.

According to the strength or weakness of this presentation, and according to whether or not it is crystallized and rigid or flexible and lightly worn, the man is able to stand at a precarious balance point between his outer environment and the world of his unconscious motivations. If he pulls too much toward one, the other reacts; he is required by the tension of the pull to stand at the centre. If he begins to identify with the role which he has chosen, he crystallizes into it and is then at the mercy of the hidden and more treacherous aspects of his own psyche. If he ignores the outer world and attempts to withdraw into his own darkness, he is at the mercy of the environment and is dominated by it. From this viewpoint, the importance of the Ascendant may be inferred, for it would appear that its development needs always to be in delicate balance with the direction of the chart internally for man to be in balance with himself.

Some idea of the effects of Saturn in the first house of the natal chart may be seen if this psychological adjunct to the traditional astrological interpretation is considered. Saturn's traditional associations with crystallization and identification with mundane values suggests that one of the most frequent psychic effects of this position, if left unconscious, is a crystallization of and identification with one's mask, with a consequent inner vulnerability to moods and effects and a great difficulty in expressing the inner person to the outer world. The mask becomes a prison and cannot be torn away; and behind it, the man slowly suffocates.

One of the main qualities which appears to accompany Saturn in the first house is a lack of self-assertion of a positive kind. There is often a need to enforce one's will and to control the immediate environment; but rather than being the spontaneous and self-confident assertion of the individual, this is more of a defensive man oeuvre which sometimes attempts to attack first because it is fearful of attack. Sometimes the need for control is expressed in a subtle and indirect way so that situations are manipulated without any real evidence of aggressiveness. This is the characteristic coupling of need and fear which is so often found with Saturn. The natural shyness and stiff awkwardness of Saturn is expressed more obviously with this placement than with any other, although the individual often learns during life to cultivate a smooth, cool and polished surface.

Saturn conjuncting the ascendant is frequently concurrent with a difficult birth, usually physically but sometimes psychologically as well; and this curious coincidence occurs too often to be a real coincidence. It is, moreover, reasonable to assume that the natural reluctance of the person with Saturn in the first house to expose himself to the outside world might even extend to birth. It is common with a first house Saturn for the individual to learn from childhood that it is costly to get too involved with life; and there is a basic weakness in the persona which causes him to identify both too much and too little with the outward shell of his personality. He is therefore vulnerable to attack and control from the outside, and generally knows it; and much of his life may be spent in devising ways of protecting himself so that the extent of his vulnerability is not discovered. The person with Saturn in the first house is often high in suspicion and low in self-confidence; and he looks out at others from behind an intangible but often very powerful barrier that effectively isolates him from the real impact of life. He may sometimes be burdened with chronic ill-health, particularly as a child when he has not yet learned other means of successful withdrawal from the arena. He often has little faith in himself; but the self with which he identifies is the mask rather than the total psyche. From the deliberate withdrawal from the roots of his own psychic life stems the curious lifelessness and dryness which is so often observable in the person with this placement of Saturn.

Saturn may overcompensate with this placement as much as with any other. Consequently there are usually two distinct kinds of reaction to the struggle between the desire to challenge and experience life to the fullest and the fear of being hurt, dominated, and crushed by the forces of a hostile environment. The man who perpetually effaces himself to avoid a struggle and who backs away from those situations which might call for strength, aggressiveness, or direct confrontation expresses one kind of unconscious Saturnian reaction. He often has no 'temper', and rarely displays anger; but this can be very hard on the physical body because the natural tendency toward irritability is turned inward against oneself. This position is often connected with symptoms of a psychosomatic kind such as migraine headaches, which are often linked with unexpressed anger and frustration. The self-effacement of this expression of Saturn is not truly humility, but it is rather a fear of entering the fight because of the inner certainty of losing it. There is often great emphasis on being 'unselfish', a favorite keyword of Saturn in the first house. But to be unselfish one must first have a self to give away; and the difficulty with this placement is that, in the beginning, until the individual comes to terms with his fear, there is no real acceptance of or expression of the self in the first place.

Saturn in the first house often feels that he is never able to have what he wants, that life is forever thwarting his desires. This is largely because he does not ask for what he wants; or, if he does ask, then it is with the concurrent feeling that he does not actually deserve a reply. The will and the use of the will are often frightening to this kind of individual because he is afraid of his own will and consequently projects what he terms willfulness or selfishness onto others. As he comes to terms with this shadowy and powerful feature of his own personality - for the person with Saturn placed here has a powerful and controlled will if he chooses to recognize and utilize it - he generally finds that along with his frustration, he has also learned control over the desire nature and has shaped his personality into a disciplined tool. The controlled and directed will, coupled with a sense of purpose, is one of the more positive qualities offered by Saturn in the first house.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, the more aggressive manifestation of Saturn in the first house often appears, and this individual may be at first glance rarely distinguishable from the truly fiery type of temperament. No-one is more outgoing than he is; no-one more prepared to take charge or seize control of a situation through sheer force or more subtle calculation. His philosophy is that the best defense is offence, because it has not yet occurred to him that it is possible to control oneself without the necessity of controlling everybody else as well. On closer expression, this kind of individual is often found to be as shy and awkward as his more self-effacing brother. He may find it as difficult to participate fully in life and to experience the sense of richness and fullness which is so characteristic of the fiery personality.

The use of the will is something available to every human being, but it grows in proportion to one's self-knowledge and self-mastery. The natural fear that the majority of people feel about the unpredictability of life is connected largely with the unconsciousness of the majority of people about the resources and richness of the human psyche. Most men feel inadequate when confronted with their own powerlessness. The man who has achieved a degree of psychic integration is far better equipped to cope with life, because he is generally aware of the purpose of his own life in a broad sense, and also more aware of the energies which he can utilize from within himself to carve out a piece of life for himself. Saturn in the first house tends first to emphasize the fear of powerlessness because it suggests a clinging to the more superficial features of the personality and a consequent loss of contact with the richer inner person. Eventually this fear can prod the individual into a deeper exploration of what he considers to be his identity. Saturn in the house of the identity is closely connected with this search, which can help to yield greater knowledge, greater integration, and the greater and more productive use of the will.

Saturn in 1st House: Saturn in the first house is less intense than Saturn conjunct Mars, but it represents the same issue. Personal will must be integrated with the limits of personal will. There is an inherent potential for conflict between our first house sense of our own identity, our right and power to do what we please, and the Saturn principle which represents the 'rules of the game'. The 'rules' include 'natural law', cultural regulations, authority figures, and the conscience. We may resist any limits on our will and fight the world, trying to make our own will into law. Or we may doubt our own power and rights and give up, convinced that if we tried to do what we wanted we would just fail or be put down by the world. To integrate the conflict, we need to compromise so that there is a place in our lives for each of these sides of life. We need to find some things which we want to do and can do which are not in conflict with the rules, so that we have our share of the power in the world.

Saturn is a key to authority figures; and our first exposure is usually a father-figure, which could be a grandfather, stepfather, etc.. In the first house, the parent is a personal role model for the child, who may want to be like the father, or may want to do the opposite. I have seen both extremes - individuals with brutal fathers they feared, and individuals who adored their fathers. Endless variations are possible.

One example of a first house Saturn was a woman whose self-esteem was damaged because her father obviously preferred her sister. Years after the death of her father, this woman was still having recurrent dreams. She would hear her father calling 'Wait. I'm trying to catch up to you'. She would turn in the dream, thinking 'at last, my father wants to be with me'. Her father would see her face, say 'Oh, I thought you were your sister', and disappear.

If we doubt our own worth and power and feel that all the power is outside our control, we may not attempt many things we could otherwise do. In extreme self-blocking, we can shut down our immune system and become ill. No-one can do everything he or she wants; but we had better do something.

Saturn in the first house also shows an identification with a career. Once we have learned the rules which let us survive in this physical world, our skills permit us to cope with the world. They define our role in the society, our status, our share of the power if we develop practical skills. When something is part of our identity, we have to do it or feel wiped out, so people with Saturn in the first house people have to feel powerful through some sort of accomplishment. But at the same time, the first house is demanding that our work be active, independent, varied, and under our own control. This can produce an entrepreneur, a self-employed professional or business-person, etc.. Mechanical skills are possible, which can lead to work with machines or tools, including modern technology, military, or medical fields, etc..

The identification with power and accomplishment may cause problems if such people retire. But a recent client who had been a highly successful business executive has managed it successfully by substituting control over his investments for his former job managing employees.

Part of the Saturn principle is a critical attitude, since to work effectively we have to look for the flaws and correct them. It is possible to so identify with this attitude that we are critical about everything in our lives, or we may just be too self-critical. In trying to handle any combination of two or more of the basic life desires, compromise is almost always the best solution. We have to learn to be ourselves, defend ourselves, and assert ourselves in the first house, but Saturn always reminds us to live within the limits.

Saturn in 1st House: The closer Saturn is to the ASC, the more it suggests we may start off in life with an uncomfortable self-image. An unchildlike uptightness is suggested. We have learned at a very tender age to hold back from taking spontaneous action due to basic insecurities about ourselves. Our instinct is to hesitate rather than self-assuredly mobilize our energies. Cautiousness and an air of reserve are often evident in our youth, reflecting an apparent degree of maturity in at least some of us. But because we naturally consider the consequences of our actions before initiating them, we readily keep most impulses in check. We at least are able to wait until we can calculate a better sense of timing before attempting to fulfill our urges. We seldom assertively or boldly move out into our environment. Patient restraint and a wait-and-see attitude are typical ways we face life.

Some astrologers suggest our circumspect disposition was linked to a difficult birth. Maybe some of us with Saturn in the First House were indeed reluctant to be born, thus making the birth process laborious. Perhaps our soul somehow felt it was not ready to incarnate - a stage fright of sorts. While astrologers cannot easily explain why any soul would think it was not ready to emerge into the world, the sign Saturn inhabits may give us a few clues.

Karmic astrologers would perhaps speculate that our reluctance to be born could be in direct reaction to past life body trauma, severe abuse, or even torture. Imagine if you were burned at the stake of whatever sick reason by a jeering mob of half-wits; would you willingly want to make another début into this potentially threatening, cruel world? At the least, Saturn near the ASC suggests we might have been personally subjugated to physical restraint or confinement of some sort. For some reason, we probably suffered in the hands of authority by trying to simply be ourselves and follow our impassioned impulses.

Those interested in exploring former incarnations by analyzing Saturn's natal position should read Jeanne Avery's Astrology and your Past Lives. Granter, many were confined in the past for a wide range of reasons. Such past life experiences related to Saturn in the First House could now manifest as an obstacle to the development of a secure sense of identity and self-will in action. Our uncertainty about re-entering this world results in a ponderous, guarded nature. We observe our surroundings from a safe psychological distance. We may even tend to frown a lot. Since the First House deals with our body language, we may hold a lot of tightness in our physical frame, making us look stiff.

Our physical appearance is usually a sensitive issue. We don't seem to feel at home with our shape, size, or overall structure. Saturn traditionally symbolizes that which is slim, slender, thin, reed-like, under-abundant, or downright skinny. Those of us who fit this description have unconsciously been bought into the Saturn archetype quite literally. Yet there also are some of us here who struggle with chronic obesity: the dilemma implied here is quite complex.

Self-loathing may actually have nothing to do with why we are overweight. Most likely is that a heavy individual with a First House Saturn is psychologically using excess weight as a way to create symbolic insulation from a potentially harmful, unkind world. The extra fat in this instance becomes a ready defense against pain and rejection. Ironically, we are further judged negatively for such a physique. Society assumes we have gotten so heavy because we really don't care about ourselves: otherwise, why have we allowed ourselves to balloon to such a degree? As the social environment continues to dump on us, we put on more pounds, and the vicious cycle continues.

Whether too fat or too skinny, our outward disposition is rarely vibrant or brimming with liveliness. We may rarely be physically animated, since Saturn can impose a body heaviness (not to be confused with weight) as if we were very much operating under the laws of gravity. Some of us may attempt to resist the pull of gravity by training our body to go beyond average physical limits and restrictions, perhaps by participating in ballet or weightlifting. Graceful lightness or imposing strength thus become physical ideals toward which to aspire. Realize that planet Saturn in the sky is gaseous and that it could float upon water if the Earth had a large enough ocean. Sadly enough, it is human ignorance that creates undue Saturnian weightiness in our psyche. We often make Saturn heavier in temperament than need be.

Due to Saturn's expert talent for self-inhibiting, some of us do appear to be light, vivacious, and even superficial on the personality level - so much so that astrologers are tempted to immediately rectify our natal chart (I'm half-joking here). We can act chipper, as if we do not have a care in the world. Maybe those of us here who express ourselves with an uncommon sense of flair and pizzazz are really trying to distract critical observers from detecting just how much we inwardly feel instead like unlovable loners. It's just that we do not want people to realize we can actually be too easily hurt and made to feel lonely. To avoid public judgment, we try very hard to appeal to and gain approval from anybody and everybody. This becomes our best defense against personal attack. We normally think of Neptune as having chameleon-like qualities. But apparently so does Saturn when under an intense pressure to fit in and be accepted. Remember this when you meet someone with a First House Saturn who instead behaves like a person with Venus or Jupiter rising in a Fire or Air sign.

Because we often perceive the harshness of life's uncompromising realities very personally and directly, we tend to feel it's all a big struggle to even exist. We may also make things harder for ourselves by going down more difficult paths to begin with. Yet maybe in the process we discover we have a keenly ambitious drive to handle adversity and eventually achieve more than was ever expected of us. We have had to continually meet up against many forms of authoritative backlash - from father to boss to our own rigid sense of inner authority. This can be a hardy placement for Saturn, once thin-skinned hypersensitivity has been replaced with unflinching determination and confident self-clarity. Although our actions appear level-headed, we seem to want to prove our inner strength by putting ourselves in situations where we have a chance to mow down obstacles and overcome hurdles.

Our childhood years were seldom free from inhibiting factors. We are most likely to have attracted at least one parent who presented authority to us in a fear-provoking manner. Feelings of personal inadequacy were typically due to some early deprivation. Economics may or may not play a role here (Saturn has traditionally been associated with poverty and physical want); but a greater sense of lack can revolve around the matter of not receiving sufficient personal attention. We may have been ignored too much and not held or comforted enough.

We might grow up much too sensitive to criticism, rejection, or neglect from others (whether real or imagined). We probably also were affected by adult power and its abuse. At least one of our parents (daddy?) was apparently good at showing us all about wielding power at the social level. Authoritarian control, or at least a general strictness, was probably applied to us at too young an age. Whatever the scenario, we eventually learned to become vulnerable to coldness, indifference, or a lack of sympathy from others ¬especially from those who became our replacement authority figures during our adult years. Such surrogate parental types can be our coach, our doctor, our therapist, our business mentor, our employer, even our judge should we have our day in court.

Perhaps we have been made to feel like ugly ducklings while growing up. We could have a lot going for us, but still can get hung up on our appearance. Self-criticism regarding our looks can become a huge roadblock. Our assumption that we are basically unattractive can leave us feeling awkward and undesirable when making physical / sexual contact with others. Some of us may even downplay our physical attributes and shun direct attention from admirers. Lavish praise and enthused compliments can make us feel uneasy. Do we really want to endure an entire life span looking frumpy or even unkempt? Saturn in the First House means our outer packaging can, although functional, be much too plain, like the dull label on a generic product in the supermarket. Maybe we need to hang out with a few Neptunians, who know an imaginative thing or two about make-over magic.

Should our self-concept remain weak and unclear, we may exhibit self-doubt concerning our ability to both give and receive warmth, closeness, intimacy, and basic human connection. Our fear of disapproval may force us to assume a guarded appearance. We become skillful at covering up our wounded inner nature. On the surface, we may appear aloof and independent. This is a guise that can often work well in the professional zone, where we appear to have it all together as a self-made person. But we also need to review ourselves and determine whether or not we physically give off the (mis)impression that we are cool, composed, and a tad too unfriendly to get to know well. Maybe some of us really are indeed this way all the time. But the rest of us can be someone quite different deep inside. It is our self-uncertainty that makes us mistrust the intentions of others. We must learn that we live in a world that is not seeking to put us down or demean us, and that there are supportive people out there who can bolster our identity in life-affirming ways.

Getting to know us will probably take time. Once people attempt to go beyond our sometimes chilly façade - which can be intimidating at first encounter - they might just discover that we have a lot of depth. We give thoughtful consideration to others, and want the same in return. However, we do seem to have a hard time allowing people to penetrate our personality. Those barricades we psychologically construct around us work against us by further increasing our sense of isolation. They will need to be broken down by the power of intimate relationships. One good thing astrologers love to say about Saturn, because it rings true, is that 'Saturn gets better with age'. All is not lost. We simply need those vital lessons only maturity can provide. We with Saturn in the First House need to keep this in mind.

One of the attributes of Saturn in the First House is the ability through sustained effort to convert a frustrated sense of self-will into a more effective sense of self-mastery. We have the strength to transform ourselves into very capable, very adept individuals who can control and manage life quite well. Our inborn sense of orderliness and purposefulness enables us to keep our life active yet stable and productive. When well-managed, this Saturn denotes we can begin new projects with more sure-footedness and single mindedness than most. We are inclined to evaluate all realistic limits involved and make necessary adjustments before or after we've started our project. Our ASC's sign takes on more power with Saturn placed in the First House, even if that sign is not the same as Saturn's. The ASC sign has the responsibility of channeling Saturn's energy out into external experiences, and tends to mature and deepen in its expression as a result.

We are likely to feel more competent regarding worldly matters as we get older. We can become quite solid and grounded as we unfold ourselves and trust spontaneity. We learn to deal with the consequences of our actions courageously. Inner fortification can become well-developed in our old age. The key to much of this is learning not to become so crystallized and brittle that making changes becomes a painful ordeal for us. Keeping flexible attitudes and assumptions about life is the key. We need to continuously moisturize our consciousness with a sense of hope and faith, believing that our rut-bound patters can always be modified, and that it's never too late to inaugurate new beginnings. The reward of a well-handled Saturn in the First House is a well-defined, workable sense of individuality. We can resiliently cope with whatever life presents to us. We can have a lasting feeling of inner security and the satisfying sense that our life is truly significant.

Saturn in 1st House: Those with Saturn in the 1st house are reluctant about approaching life at all. They cautiously venture out expecting the worst, and are invariably worried that they won't meet the mark. And yet they have to challenge themselves. It's like having a little man on their shoulders who repeatedly reprimands: 'I'm sorry, that's just not good enough - you know you can do better'. They imagine that others are constantly judging and assessing them, when in actual fact it is their own self-criticism which gives the greatest problem.

Saturn in the 1st may experience the physical body itself as awkward, gross and uncomfortable. Or they feel that their personalities are inadequate and lacking in social graces. Because of their difficulty in feeling easy and relaxed, they may present themselves in an austere or withdrawn manner. Or fearing that unless they are careful they might look silly, they develop a most dignified stance and posture in all they do. Even if they appear frothy and superficial on the outside, they are likely to be masking something insecure and problematical. Others may interpret their lack of confidence and reticence as cold and unfriendly.

Usually they have (or can develop) a good sense of responsibility and a willingness to work hard in life. This may stem from a need to prove their worth to the world - a desire to receive some sort of collective validation of their 'okay-ness'. For these reasons, they may be ambitious, exhibiting a steely determination to make something of themselves.

Very often, the early life has been experienced as difficult or restricting. They may have felt the childhood environment as unsafe or unsupportive of their free expression and personal creativity, as if they were squashed every time they stepped out of line. Others may have been lumbered with worries and responsibilities inappropriate to their young age. Later on in life, they can usually make up for the fun and spontaneity they missed as a child.

Physically, those with Saturn rising are sometimes on the lean side, and often have a distinguishing facial bone structure. If Saturn is within a few degrees of the Ascendant, the birth may have been a difficult one as if the person was actually resisting incarnation. All new phases in the life may be met with the same degree of caution, trauma and fearful expectation. And yet, if they set their goals sensibly and realistically, they usually manage to achieve their objectives in life.

See also: Saturn in the 1st House;

Saturn in the 1st House: Fred Astaire, Shirley Temple Black, Warren Buffett, Cher, Princess Diana, Mick Jagger, Alex Jones, Carl Jung, Ken Kesey, U.G. Krishnamurti, John Lennon, Karl Marx, Jack Parsons, George Patton, Karl Renz, Swami Vivekananda, Jon Voight, Orson Welles, Brian Wilson, Robert Anton Wilson, AbbieJ, BarryKl, BenT, Collon, Flossie, Lance, Lori, Mick, Mikael, Miriam, Pankaj, Pete, Prabhukar, Shakura


Saturn in the 2nd House

The second house is traditionally that of acquisition and possessions. From it one may assess the individual's capacity to earn a livelihood, his attitude toward those things which he defines as security, and the manner in which his income is likely to be derived. This is a fixed and earthy house; and the emotional need of a secure foundation is suggested, a desire rather than the outcome of desire. All of the houses connected with the fixed signs appear to have some bearing on one's values, on the desire nature, and on instinctual reactions of a habitual kind. They have little bearing on events or objects. If this group of houses is considered as the reflection of man's desire nature, it would appear that greater depth of meaning exists in relation to the second house and that it is not merely the house of possessions. Possessions are merely a simple and tangible form of satisfying desire.

The urge to possess something outside oneself and make it a permanent possession appears to be a collective need whether the desired 'something' is a person, a value, a state of consciousness, or an automobile. It is then man's possession, in a deeper sense than physical ownership, because he values it. It is of worth to him, and therefore it has meaning. That which is desired through the second house only applies to material things if these have value; and although the majority of people at present place the highest value on these things, it has not always been the case, nor will it necessarily continue to be so as the collective consciousness of man develops.

The second house may apply as much to relationships as it does to money in the bank, since possession of a valued object is often closely connected to what we define as love. In the end, however, the possession of worth which is truly a permanent possession can only be a quality within the individual himself. There is nothing else in life which is permanent and unalterable except those attributes which we term spiritual. Everything else may be lost, destroyed, taken away, or devalued. It seems that the desire for values, not only tangible but mental, emotional, and spiritual as well, is more representative of the second house than possession.

It is the definition of value - a nebulous and relative term - which becomes important when planets are located in the second house, for the meaning or expression of each planet then becomes a value. Of all the planets, only Saturn appears to have an exclusively material value; but as we have seen, this is deceptive because his function is to demonstrate the relativity of all tangible values. Through Saturn, everything on the material plane takes on new meaning because it is seen as a symbol for an inner quality or state of being. Security may be defined very differently when viewed in this way.

The simplest reading of Saturn in the second house is fear of poverty; and certainly this placement frequently accompanies a childhood spent in want where the luxuries of material life, and sometimes even the necessities, are lacking. This is Saturn on his most literal level where he denies a material quality necessary to the individual's well-being so that later in life there is a constant need to fill the gap. We have all come into contact with the self-made man who has struggled from the bottom of the heap by his own dogged efforts and has finally succeeded in accumulating some money in the bank, a house, an automobile or two, and other symbols which society has taught him to interpret as security. Saturn in his most unconscious form is eminently conventional in these matters; and Saturn in the second house has a penchant for accepting as values only those which society accepts and therefore makes apparently stable. Yet the self-made man with a second-house Saturn is often so frightened of losing what he has so laboriously acquired that he may not be able fully to enjoy what he has. He may be terrified of loss and display the remarkable facility - because he thinks about it so much ¬of attracting loss through his own bad judgment. He is frightened of the responsibility of ownership because he knows the pain of losing that which he owns, yet he is compulsively drawn toward collecting more and more. No amount is sufficient in the end to make him feel fully secure, and indeed he is not fully secure because forces larger than he can overturn his life and leave him bankrupt. He has invested wholly material things with value because he has never had them before and pays the price of trying to make an inner quality tangible.

There is another kind of pattern with Saturn in the second house which is outwardly opposite yet inwardly the same. This is the person who may have been perfectly comfortable as a child on the material plane, yet who is denied a different kind of possession, a sense of inner values and of personal worth. One cannot blame this, or any other characteristic, wholly on the attitude of the parents, however, for the individual has chosen his environment in the first place and moreover would not be sensitive to certain values and not others if a similar note were not resonated within his own inner structure. So we will often see a person who, literally or symbolically, will sell himself for security because he has no other sense of values and in the end does not value himself. He judges himself and others by how much he has, not by what he is.

This kind of individual is often difficult to understand; for some of the most unpleasant Saturnian manifestations may accompany Saturn in the second house - not because the position is a 'bad' one, but because it tends to concur with obvious, tangible characteristics which are not easily hidden. To an unconscious person with this placement, the end often justifies the means, and avarice and greed may be very evident. The inner strength of self-sustenance which Saturn in his more conscious expression symbolizes here may be apparently quite absent from the man's temperament; and he may lean heavily on others financially - the apparent opposite of our previously-mentioned self-made man who will often rather starve than owe anybody anything. But these two extremes are the same psychological state, for they both embody fear and the characteristic ambivalence of wanting and needing desperately yet attempting to reject the desired object. These states are both, in the end, phases of development, however, for either way the dependency is upon external values rather than inner ones, and Saturn the taskmaster will surely, at some point in the life, accompany experiences which teach the individual to shift his level of evaluation. He attracts these experiences himself because it is the desire of the total self to develop a sense of reality about values which is the intention, on a more esoteric level, of a second-house Saturn.

There is another common manifestation of Saturn in the second house, and this is the individual who has denied all involvement with material things. This is overcompensation at work in a different direction. Like the man with Saturn in the eighth house - another fixed house which deals fundamentally with values and emotional attitudes - who cloaks his fear of deeper emotional and sexual encounter with a moral or religious reason why it would be sinful to do so, the man with Saturn in the second house frequently considers money as evil. He has a dim awareness of the fact that greed is as much as part of his own psyche as it is of others', but he cannot express tolerance toward his own humanity and therefore becomes intolerant of the apparent greed of others. He is frequently not merely content to be austere in his own life style. Instead, he feels that it is his responsibility to criticize others for not following the same path, because he cannot put his guilt to rest but also cannot confront himself. This is classic unconscious projection of the casebook kind: what we hate in others is unconsciously living within us.

This pattern of projection is extremely common with Saturn, for he is the dark shadow of the bright, differentiated conscious personality, and he certainly includes some of our nastier and less attractive human qualities. These, however, are qualities which are not inherently evil; they have simply been outgrown or are not part of our conscious plan for development at any given time. It is only our harsh judgment of ourselves, based on people's morality, that causes us to push these qualities into the unconscious where they form the shadowy figure of the Dweller on the Threshold. Psychic energy does not vanish, but simply takes another channel; and with Saturn it is that of projection - we do not see others as they are; rather, we see in certain of their behavior characteristics the reflection of our own negative qualities.

The sinfulness of worldly goods has always been the prerogative of the devout adherents of orthodox Christianity, which has always had a difficult time in reconciling the opposites in a harmonious and constructive way; however, with the advent of a new age and the consequent emergence of new symbols and a new growth in spiritual and psychic directions, the old values and concepts of God warring with the Devil, Lord of Matter, have appeared in a curious modern form. These values, which when put badly and stripped of their glamour are often of the 'if I can't have it then you shouldn’t either' variety, are now being coupled with political ideologies which have very little connection with the real distribution of resources and opportunities. It would appear that projection still runs rampant among us, and it is fashionable once again to consider worldly goods as being synonymous with evil. It is no longer fashionable to consider sexual expression in this light, because of the advent of psychoanalysis; but we have no similar revelation in the realm of commerce and material wealth. This trend may, however, be seen as the first rough and uncut demonstration of a fundamentally positive change toward a new set of values.

When seen from the more esoteric point of view, matter is an expression of spirit which contains in symbolic guise the blueprint for mind, emotion, and the inner purpose for which the vehicle has been created. This is a more ambiguous but possibly more productive way of looking at matter, and may be applied to the second house. Following this thread is unquestionably like plunging into a labyrinth, for what eventually emerges is that the second house has nothing to do with objects at all. The 'pearl of great price' appears to lie at the heart of the labyrinth; but persistence is required to reach it. The task of this Saturn placement is to find this central and unalterable value whose definition cannot be properly articulated but whose reality, to the man who has subjectively experienced it, is not to be questioned.

Saturn in the 2nd House: Self-worth: Saturn in the 2nd house indicates that good feelings about yourself are necessarily restrained, in order that they may be concentrated and correctly developed over time. You may feel inadequate as an individual, somehow innately flawed; but your work is to build a solid foundation for good feeling. The challenge is to patiently learn the discipline of suspending harsh judgments about yourself, and to move toward costiveness in small steps, sustained efforts that persevere throughout the entire life.

Possession: Ownership is a very serious question, a problem often linked with feelings of shame or unworthiness. You tend to resent the difficulty in acquiring and holding possessions or property. Keep the focus of your efforts on permanence and quality; transient possessions or shabby goods are not worth having. The challenge is to realize that ownership is not a given; in your life, it must be earned and attentively maintained through careful and enduring effort. Build your estate slowly.

Money: You must be disciplined, pragmatic, and patient with regard to money. The issue is not necessarily lack of money, although that may seem the case, but rather the serious responsibilities you must shoulder, however much wealth is produced. Do not spend foolishly; but once the decision is made to buy something, remember to enjoy it. Don't go for the quick buck or the big score - follow through with plans. Sustained application and cautious strategies are the key, with an emphasis on blue chip investments that will be permanent, stable, and solid. Money cannot buy happiness, but disciplined effort can promote eventual fulfillment. Concentrate on the process, the means rather than the end. The challenge is to recognize and deal with the belief that money is more important than it really is; so maintain perspective. Manage your attitudes as well as your dollars.

Self-exertion: You are generally a tireless worker, well-suited for efforts requiring strength, stamina, and perfection. You have the ability to grind away like the mills of God, eventually reducing even the most Herculean mountain to rubble through sustained and disciplined effort. There is often the presence of an inner 'supervisor' whose only job is to push the 'worker' toward greater productivity. Your attitude is 'pay now, fly later'; but too often you pay full price without ever taking the vacation. Duty is formidable and ever-present; and you risk the pitfall of blowout through discouragement. The challenge is to work slowly, recognizing progress, and to reward yourself for effort. Quality is important, but putting in your time also counts for something.

Sensuality: You are so sensitive to physical stimulus that it often results in sensory overload and a blunting of pleasure. You could alternate between denial of the body and an inordinate lust for pure physical sensation. In both cases, you risk being trapped in the pitfall of diminished appreciation. The challenge is to understand that your body is indeed a temple, and to honor the temple through a gradual evolution of mastery and worship, proceeding one step at a time to slowly increase the density of pleasure and the enjoyment of touch. Chew the world slowly, not so much because it's good for you as because it enhances the taste of reality.

See also: Saturn in the 2nd House;

Saturn in the 2nd House: George Bush, Sr., Prince Charles, Milton William Cooper, Clint Eastwood, Jane Fonda, Mahatma Gandhi, John Malkovich, Mickey Mantle, Paul McCartney, Friedrich Nietzche, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Joseph Ratzinger, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Meryl Streep, Mark Zuckerberg, Cheri, ChrisTr, Doug, Erika, Joy, Maitreyi, Phylissa, SFor, Suzanne, TonyC, Yarrow


Saturn in the 3rd House

The third house symbolizes the sphere of the intellectual, of education, communication, and movement. It offers some indication of the kind of mind a man possesses, the manner in which he goes about developing it, how he communicates, and the subjects which provide food for his intellectual nourishment. Gemini seeks information for its own sake rather than for a material end, and is simply curious about life and the diversity of its manifestations. Unlike its opposite sign, Sagittarius, which seeks to correlate the diverse fragments of life and find among them a common meaning which reflects a larger concept, Gemini is content to revel in diversity. The third house reflects this quality of the mind and this tendency to perceive, analyze, differentiate, label, and then move on. In order to acquire the information necessary for this kind of relation to life, communication must be established so that knowledge can flow back and forth and new interpretations can be given to old material.

Saturn in the third house, when he is functioning in an unconscious way, has a tendency to block this breathing in and breathing out; he places strain on the faculty of easy communication, and often produces a fear of that which is new, unexplored, and irrational. The flight of the mind is grounded by the demand for empiric information, for that which has been tried and proven safe. From this we may see some reason for the connection often suggested between Saturn's associations with Gemini, the third house, and Mercury, and diseases of the lungs, particularly asthma, an illness which medical science recognizes as psychosomatic or functional in nature. There appears to be a symbolic relationship between the biological phenomenon of breathing, whereby oxygen is brought into the body, and the psychological need for intake of information about the environment. Both appear to be equally necessary for survival, the former for bodily survival, the latter for psychic survival.

There are various external situations which are often associated with a third house Saturn, but they all tend to reflect this symbolic inability to breathe freely with the intellect. The individual who as a child is denied education, or given a narrow and restrictive education, is common; and this often mars his capacity to approach life with fresh mental interest later because his creative mental faculties have never been stimulated. Equally frequent is the only child who is denied companionship and communication with others of his own age and finds that later in life he has lost the faculty for spontaneous communication. Often there is fear behind the apparent paralysis of the mind which sometimes occurs. The child may be considered stupid because he is silent; or he may have been constantly criticized for his speech and has learned to keep his thoughts to himself; and later on, when there is no longer a disapproving parent or teacher to criticize, he finds that he has lost the capacity to share his innermost thoughts. Speech defects and difficulties also occur frequently with Saturn in the third house. These are often functional and based on fear and insecurity, such as stuttering or stammering. Also common is the individual who simply cannot communicate easily, particularly about those personal and ordinary matters which are the traditional province of the third house. He may display unusual mental gifts, concentration, and depth of thought; but he finds it most painful to participate in the 'small talk' which serves as a symbolic gesture of common humanity. To the man with Saturn in the third house, speech must contain items of serious interest; and he may display an unusually pedantic quality in his speech and his writing, for Saturn dislikes superficiality.

With all of these various expressions, the common thread remains, and it is connected with a frustration of the mind and of communication. There is inevitably a feeling of isolation with this placement because the mind is generally deep and by nature serious, and there is usually some fear of being humiliated or of sounding silly or foolish to others. There is frequently a feeling of inadequacy about the mental equipment, although Saturn in the third house is often a brilliant scholar. The brilliance, however, is rarely from intuition but rather from many long hours of painful concentration and self-discipline. Information must be concrete and provable to be of use to Saturn; and this tendency to crystallization of knowledge is antithetical to the light and purposeless meanderings of the third house. To Mercury, all information is of us, even if it is not the truth.

The phenomenon of overcompensation may also be observed with Saturn in this house. Often the individual may be one of those who 'talks a blue streak'; and this tendency to loquaciousness - apparently in contradiction to the ordinary reading of Saturn here - is also apparent with Mercury-Saturn afflictions and with Mercury in Capricorn. Inevitably the subject of conversation will range in every field except those which truly mean something to the individual. He will say many things but will rarely say what he actually feels. He is no closer to communicating than is the more taciturn individual with the same placement. Saturn in the third house has a reputation for tact, diplomacy, and a canny mind; and this tendency to circumlocution is very useful to a statesman or politician; it is often one of the greatest gifts of a third house Saturn. But this does not ease the isolation of the individual; it only increases it, for he cannot truly express himself.

The more silent type of third house Saturn is a more typical expression. His field of interest may often be an earthbound and occasionally a narrow one, although he will generally be careful, thorough and methodical in his thinking. Sometimes one may meet a kind of thick-headed, obstinate, almost deliberate stupidity with Saturn in the third house; and it is difficult to imagine that this create and the brilliant mental gymnastics of the accomplished statesman may reflect a similar inner sense of fear and inability to share personal thoughts and feelings. But Saturn is rarely stupid. He may tend to cling to that which is pragmatically provable because he feels uneasy in lighter and more irrational realms. Saturn in the third house often underrates his intellectual capacities, and may raise a shield of rather stubborn or dogmatic opinions to protect himself against the onslaught of those he considers more clever than himself.

When this placement is seen from the point of view of the opportunity offered, the sense of isolation and impatience and superficial ideas and attitudes may become an inner striving for truth, insofar as this is capable of perception by the human mind. The individual is turned inward by his circumstances and his fears so that he seeks reasons for things and begins to explore their structure and meaning. The inquiring mind dedicated to the intellectual understanding of those things which are shrouded in mystery, or belong to the realm of the irrational, is characteristic of the man with Saturn in the third house who has accepted his apparent isolation in the face of the more meaningful contribution he is able to make to the sphere of knowledge. Saturn only becomes dogmatic when the man is afraid of the unknown and of his own lack of knowledge and of intellectual training. The suggestion with Saturn's placement in the third house is that the knowledge must be acquired through experience and personal observation, and that the training must be taken from life itself. No other education will suffice, because to the person with this placement, Saturn's inner strength and independence must be applied to the development of the mind.

There is often a connection drawn between accidents - particularly those occurring during travel - and the third house. As this house is linked with mental and physical motion and co-ordination, it is often called the house of short journeys, both of the body and of the mind. It is of some value to explore this idea of accidents and of what is called the accident-prone tendency, as it is often suggested by afflicted planets, particularly Saturn, in the third house.

It is possible to assume a completely empiric attitude to this question and to accept the idea that by some mysterious law, or by the hand of fate, Saturn in the third house precipitates accident - and that if one has an accident, that is one's fate. This same attitude may be applied to many of the darker expressions of Saturn's placements; and this inevitably poses questions which can only be answered philosophically rather than empirically; however, this sort of blind passivity in the face of a totally predestined future is in direct antithesis to any constructive interpretation of Saturn, or, for that matter, of any other factor on the natal chart. If we are indeed circumscribed by the boundaries of fate or our 'karma', we cannot know where this boundary lies in the individual's case until we attempt to pass it. It is very possible that the boundary varies from person to person.

It is apparent that in many instances Saturn in the third house is concurrent with a fear of those things which are new, untried, irrational, or uncontrollable, and which require a genuine sharing of minds on a personal level. Psychology has recognized for a long time that many apparently accidental injuries and illnesses are in reality a kind of arrangement, constructed by the unconscious mind of the individual, to avoid a situation which looms in the future or to achieve attention or power within the personal environment. This kind of situation occurs with some frequency in the case of Saturn in the sixth house, where it is often expressed through illness or hypochondria. It is often expressed as an accident-prone tendency with Saturn in the third house, and it will usually be found in these cases that if the individual's inner life is examined with some care, the motive for the incapacitation will emerge with clarity. This does not mean that all accidents stem from this kind of 'arrangement'. But many do. Sometimes a few weeks in bed, although physically uncomfortable, is preferable to confronting a situation which requires change or a new outlook.

It is inconceivable to many people that a man could deliberately injure himself or make himself sick because he does not wish to deal with a problem in his life. It is not the conscious personality which decides such things, but the forces of the unconscious, which are fully capable under certain exceptional conditions of even destroying the man, physically or psychically - the latter being termed insanity. We know very little about the amount of power contained in the darker portions of the psyche, but we are learning that it merits our respect and our careful handling. Saturn is frequently responsible for the repression of fears and resentments because he is symbolic of the shadow; and the ordinary man does not wish to consider that the qualities he despises the most may exist within his own psyche; nor will he readily admit that his judgment may be in error and that these qualities can be positive, constructive, and of use to him.

The acceptance of responsibility necessary for a comprehension of Saturn is not the mea culpa which condemns, but a recognition that the human mind may have more power over the arrangement of one's outer circumstances than we care to admit, and that there is much that we do not know about ourselves. When this attitude is related to accident-proneness and to Saturn in the third house, it is possible to avoid the necessity of an accident if the unpleasant situation precipitating it is recognized. Even if one considers the reality of karmic obligations, it is unlikely that anything occurs to a human being which is not necessary for his growth or the growth of the group; and the orderly beauty of life as it is reflected by the horoscope scarcely implies that random and senseless suffering is part of that order. Saturn always strives for truth; it is man's fear of this motivation within himself that brings about the catastrophe, for the relentless search for reality as symbolized by Saturn threatens his most cherished illusions.

Saturn in the 3rd House: Outreach: You have a natural eye toward detail, and a particular focus on the structural qualities of any environment. Regulations are an issue of great sensitivity, and you tend to be largely obedient to environmental limitations on your freedom of movement even while you are also frustrated by them. The pitfall involves being too active. Overstimulation blows out your nervous system, causing at least temporary shutdown. So the challenge is to focus your intense nervous interest upon only a small number of activities, and to move on them or with them slowly, completing each step before the next step is taken.

Concrete mind: You have a special sensitivity to the rules of mentality, often accompanied by the disturbing feeling that formal procedures should be followed to the letter. You work ceaselessly to improve the structure of mental machinery, slowly and painstakingly going over the logic again and again to 'debug' the program. The pitfalls lie in being so duty-bound that all the fun goes out of mentality. If that occurs, you can become cold and self-loathing, either rejecting rationality altogether or becoming ambitiously cynical, shooting down others' flights of mental fancy. The challenge is to let your mental skills age and mature like fine wine, until what began as uncertainty and fear blossoms into a marvelously grounded sensibility, a pragmatism that is unassumingly matter-of-fact, yet so strong it cannot be shaken.

Curiosity: You are more ambitious to know than curious in the usual sense. This is quite fine, and well-suited to your temperament as long as the impulses to know are rewarded with a real experience of satisfaction at the end of the quest. Sometimes, however, you regard your own curiosity as if it were the homework assigned by an invisible and strict teacher, so realize this for the pitfall it is. Instead, tune in to the challenge of curiosity, that of providing you with a structure to better secure your world through understanding.

Basic education: Gentle but firm authority and consistent structure are key concepts. If the child's experience of rules, regulations, and hierarchies of power are benign, skills will develop slowly but steadily. Learning can become a life-long ambition, a gradual quest for greater fulfillment. Otherwise, early schooling may later be regarded as a time of trial and trauma. The issue of basic intelligence is serious. It moves along a scale with resistance at one end, marked by fears of mental inadequacy ('I'm not smart, and I can't learn'); and ambition to prove the mind at the other end, marked by determination to master the quest for knowledge ('I can eventually learn everything I want to know').

Communication: You tend to be economical and pragmatic in speech. Less is more here, and you prefer to think things through before opening your mouth. When you do choose to speak, others should listen carefully to the words, for they will be few and prudently chosen. The style of speech with this placement is terse, sometimes slow or heavy, rarely revealing your true inner character. Your speaking voice is a mask: a very important one, but a mask nonetheless. If others seek to understand and communicate with you, they should not listen for emotional clues; none is likely to be forthcoming. They must concentrate instead on the structure and content of what you're actually saying.

Saturn in the 3rd House: While Mercury is the planet that best describes our mind and what intellectually interests us, the Third House describes how we learn to adapt out mental equipment to transient conditions we meet up against in our personal day-to-day world. With Saturn in the Third House, we communicate with our immediate environment with a measure of thoughtful reflection. Our mental processes operate less effectively when presented in a spontaneous, impulsive, unplanned manner. We are better served by learning to be orderly and discriminating in our thinking. We are to carefully observe our surroundings and selectively retain useful data.

Life will teach us to assimilate what our senses perceive with an air of caution and a dose of patience. Due to the care with which we need to digest information, we may start off appearing to be slow, insecure learners. As children, we are sometimes told that we are dumb-dumbs who don't pay attention. Or, as adults, that we don't know beans about what we are saying, that our facts are all wrong. The word 'slow' to us connotes being stupid; and stupid translates as worthless. This is the message we hear and fear whenever we are criticized for our ideas or even for how we try to teach ourselves to do things. It's an issue of being devalued intellectually. Such put-downs can be depressing.

Because knowledge-gathering is actually serious business and a lot of work for us, and because we often doubt our native intelligence, we can be afraid to make even innocent mistakes. For us, to err is not just human - it's humiliating. We may make too big a deal of how awful it is to say the wrong thing, show our ignorance, or simply appear misinformed. Our self-consciousness in these matters can create mental blocks that only further frustrate us. it would be great if some sensitive soul (preferably a parent figure) sat us down at an early age and told us that our mental pace only appears somewhat slower so that we may end up learning things more thoroughly and expertly. We should have been read the tale of the tortoise and the hare, where we learn that the slow but sure approach gets the job done. Another message we need to hear more often is that mistakes made are only stepping stones to true accomplishments. We can learn plenty from not always doing everything right the first time around. Try and try again, practice makes perfect, etc.. Wherever Saturn is in our chart, it symbolizes our search for excellence. So maybe during report card time we could then feel satisfied with the thought that the 'C' we receive in social studies is actually an 'A' in the making!

Another reason for appearing to be a slow learner (aside from actual learning disabilities) may lie in our tendency to resist being told how to do those things others think we already should know but apparently do not. We especially resist when being drilled by irritated, unsympathetic authority figures, when it sounds more like scolding than instruction. It often does take more time for certain information to sink in. Perhaps we unconsciously reject learning such data because it is coming from people we deem cold, perfectionistic, or intimidating. Yet it is often our own unrecognized perfectionism that demands knowledge be presented in just the 'right' way. We can become insecure and even defensive when it is not. That's when learning anything becomes a struggle and an unwelcome chore rather than the pleasant mental stimulation Third House knowledge-gathering can be. Perhaps we end up just like a parent who was unyielding, absolutist in thinking, or just plan negative and pessimistic (a parent of whom we may still be critical). Saturn in the Third House can be quite cranky and fault-finding when stressed out. Maybe we came into this incarnation already armed with an inflexible mindset, and thus instinctively see things as plainly right or wrong, correct or incorrect. If so, we will need to learn about altering our mental rigidity by the time we reach our first Saturn Return ¬the time of psychological adulthood.

Ours is a mind that has a talent for organizing. We can give careful attention to detail, run things efficiently, put things in proper perspective, and in general come up with sound and workable results to problems. We are naturally task-oriented. We can put forth great mental effort in tackling those realistic projects well within our ability to manage and control. Our gift is knowing how to simplify data, weeding out all superfluous material. This is similar to a Sixth House Saturn, except we don't get as frazzled over contradictory material, nor do we work as obsessively. Actually, for some of us, streamlining data becomes a challenge. Saturn in this house can ironically become quite long-winded, though not in the breezy manner of Jupiter. It becomes dry and pedantic, too fixated on the elaboration of minute details no matter how boring or unnecessary.

As Saturn's house position shows us where we set up well-structured boundaries, here it implies we can limit the scope of our intellectual focus to strictly conventional, orthodox approaches even in unorthodox fields of study. Saturn mentality lacks the spirit of invention and risk-taking experimentalism. Even the irrationality of the imagination may prove to be frightening. A lot of things can prove scary to us, or seem just plain crazy, so we may opt for safer routes of thinking. Such conservatism suggests we lean toward a scientific mode of thought rather than a mystical path. We are stimulated by that which has tangible, material application. We also could be the types afraid of losing our minds and going off the deep end; but our clear, sane mentality suggests that's not likely to happen.

Saturn in the Third House means we are very structured mentally and are best stimulated by well-defined concepts of a serious or even profound nature. We seek purposeful information such as self-help books or how-to manuals as opposed to gothic romances. There is little patience for small talk and trivial chatter. The topic we are either talking about with others, reading, or hearing has to have a point and has to be going somewhere important. Otherwise, they've lost our interest.

If you want to drive us crazy, ask us at the next 'no-nukes' rally if we have been aware of the rising price of bananas lately in the supermarket. Don't be surprised if we glare at you. Our heads are often too heavy with weighty subjects. Need our mind always be so engrossed in life's serious concerns? Why must each thought or conversation be something meaningful enough for us to sink our teeth into? Perhaps someone in our family circle made us think early on that communication was never something to be treated lightly, or joyously. We probably were held accountable for whatever we said, and disciplined (maybe too stiffly) when we told untruths. Verbal attention-grabbing on our part was either ignored or stifled (even though a sibling with Jupiter in Leo in the Third House would often get away with it, since our folks at least thought he or she was entertaining). Being ignored, however, made us feel our thoughts were invalid, irrelevant, or unworthy of any serious response from others. Unless we had something really important to say, we learned to say nothing.

It's no wonder that our formative years were associated with an awkward sense of intellectual uncertainty. Later on, we appear reluctant to speak out to others with true confidence or candor. A fear of rejection may make it hard to articulate our thoughts, especially to authority figures. If we block ourselves even further, we may develop speech problems. But our most common speech 'problem' is not verbalizing our real thoughts about ourselves and others, or the world as we experience it. By our own silence, we may convince people we really have nothing valuable to offer.

Learning the art of gab, which works best when light and airy in content, can become almost a mind-expanding technique for us. Speaking can be a form of immediate mental or nervous release. After all, talkative Gemini rules the Third House in the natural wheel, not Capricorn. Those of you with Saturn in the Third House reading this should stop right here. Put down this book and attempt to do your broadest smile in front of a mirror. Do your mouth's muscles feel taut? Do you think your smile looks contrived or phony? Are you showing your teeth while smiling? Your gums? Probably not, since showing gums is peculiarly Sagittarian (think of horses laughing). The more uncomfortable you are with your smile, the more work it will take to overcome tensions in your verbal interaction. Being tight-lipped is sometimes a literal term. Plus, people who smile easily seem to readily accept lightness (even foolishness) in communication. We need to turn any frown upside down.

Overly impressed by what we deem to be rational, we can end up fixated on making the world fit our rather tight and unvarying conception of reality. Our range of perception then becomes too narrow and incomplete. While Saturn can denote an exacting, analytical mind that excels in clear, precise thinking, it also implies getting firmly mired in habitual mental ruts rather than testing out new ways of thinking. Do we find we only change our long-held opinions with great hesitations? Will only indisputable proof convince us that such opinions are no longer valid? Yes. Saturn is impressed only by hard evidence. But we need to avoid falling into the trap of rigid thinking. Viewing matters only in terms of either black or white tends to make the people we are trying to convince see all shades of red. We can seem stubbornly of a one-track mind. It's best we knock off the dogma and assess the facts with a greater reasonability.

We like to view ourselves as practical, grounded thinkers who do not dispense factual knowledge casually; and we don't like to feel we are being superficial in our observations. Remember, our security lies in our comprehensive understanding of facts and figures. Although we are better listeners than speakers, our patience can be taken advantage of by those people who think they are better speakers than listeners. They are thus likely to bore us - no wonder our smile is a bit stiff. Saturn basically likes information that is concise and to the point. It's a little like Mars in the Third House in this respect. It doesn't do well with verbal fluff and intellectual meanderings.

Conversely, some Saturn in the Third House over-achievers can be quite talkative, almost in a manic, compulsive manner. It's hard to understand why Saturn sometimes acts like a high-strung Jupiter, but it does when we're in overdrive. If anything, Saturn is here to teach us about verbal mastery, so that others truly hear what we are saying. Chattiness could be a subtle device we use to distract others from probing into the core of our more intimate, private self. We don't let people get in a word edgewise, and that prevents them from penetrating our thoughts and maybe even reaching our deeper emotions.

Most of us to listen very well because we need to know all about the other person's mental structure (paying attention to his or her weaker points) before we even begin to reveal our own strengths. Our mind is good at creating mental strategies. We also believe in proper timing, and rarely blurt out things before thinking them through. A certain circumspection is typically present. A few of us over-achievers can be blunt and strictly to the point in conversation; but usually this can be a position of diplomacy, although not in the same manner as Venus in the Third House. Venus is sincerely and emotionally concerned with not offending others. Saturn is simply careful not to attract insults, arguments, or bad reviews. Fearing verbal backlash from others, Saturn opts instead to say the 'right thing' for the moment, or sometimes wisely says nothing.

What is usually not emphasized about Saturn in the Third House is that it can be the signature of intellectual ambition. We can try extra hard to surpass others in our educational pursuits. When we have to, we can turn on great brain power in order to learn what we need to become knowledgeable experts in our chosen field of professional work. We can make excellent grades, even under pressure. Saturn is status-conscious and prestige-oriented. We may want to prove ourselves to be smarter and more accredited than others. Saturn-Mercury can also become so motivated. Perhaps an inner dread of being considered mentally inferior goads us to prove we are instead brilliant. We may feel driven to show off and prove to people from our past that their opinion of our 'limited' intelligence was flat wrong. We may even go back to college at a later date to pick up another degree (or maybe our first). We need to feel we have risen above whatever learning handicaps held us back when growing up. When someone with this Saturn placement acts as if he or she should have Mars or Jupiter in the Third House instead, suspect such over-compensation.

We over-achievers are no less vulnerable than are the taciturn self-inhibitors. Nor are we more comfortable with our intellect just because we eagerly and assertively demonstrate our knowledge and impress our audience. We might actually feel more secure and in control communicating to another rather than with that person. We may have become poor listeners - a defense symbolizing 'I don't want to hear the complaints you may have about me, so you don't get to talk too much'. Perhaps what we fear most is another's intellectual authority, that someone might know more than we do. We need to work on such insecurity. Otherwise, communication becomes competitive and less enjoyable.

Saturn in the 3rd House: Saturn in the third house may be originally experienced as doubts about one's mental ability; but once the individual has learned to cope with the world, he or she will often work in a mental career. The father or siblings may play a role in the mental development. One female client with a grand trine to Saturn in Libra in the third house was told by her father that she was stupid. Where Saturn is placed, we have to prove to ourselves that we can cope by doing it. This woman got a BA in mathematics, an MD degree, became a successful psychiatrist, and still said 'I don't have a very good mind'. Where Saturn is concerned, we just have to keep doing it till we know we can. Setting realistic standards may be part of the lesson.

Other individuals with a third house Saturn might have fathers who are equalitarian and accepting, encouraging a sibling relationship; or there could be older siblings who played parent, or younger ones for whom the person felt responsible. The third house Saturn lessons involve developing skill with the intellect and the ability to handle peer relationships. Growth may come through learning to handle a basic part of life which has been neglected, or it may just call for knowing 'when to do which'. When should we be equalitarian and let others do their share, and when should we take responsibility?

Other third house careers may involve dexterity leading to work with the hands. Letter three in our alphabet can indicate skill with eye-mind-hand co-ordination. A recent client has just opened her own hair-care salon, so she is now the boss, but she is recognizing that she can't do everything, and looking for associates who can handle some of the routine details which are less satisfying to her Pisces love of beauty.

Saturn in the 3rd House: This location of Saturn always produces deep and serious thinkers, although they may not always appear to be so on the surface. The mind goes deep, below the surface into the hidden mechanisms of life. In school, they may have been considered slow, because this mind is less interested in answers than in truths. Even so, it is capable of handling a vast array of details, organizing, cataloging, categorizing, putting the world view into perspective, and that includes the humdrum daily regimen. They may drag their feet over details, but are perfectly capable of organizing them once they see a reason for it.

This tendency to go below the surface of facts and symbols gives them much to say, but makes it hard for them to express it. There is a great desire to express the larger realities that they perceive; but ordinary words will not do the job. If they write, they may use poetry in their effort to express what they see, or a very poetic prose. It is a good placement for actors and painters because the added dimensions of physical performance and color give them a broader scope. The deep paradoxes of existence give them a rich sense of humor; and much may be expressed through wit.

Relationships with siblings and other children are often difficult. There may be a great sorrow connected with a sibling, relative, or neighbor child. There may be an intense and difficult relationship with an older sibling. Jealousy is usually the prime factor. This rivalry or sorrow may cause them to leave home, and may affect where they settle down.

They are often overly critical of peers and slow to warm to them, which can put them at a disadvantage. Often, an understanding older person will step in and help them out. There is also the danger of difficulty with neighbors. They are fearful of gossip and inclined to withdraw from the community so as to give their neighbors nothing to talk about; but this actually increases the likelihood that they will become the butt of local gossip at some point. They should find a place they like and then stay put. As time passes and people get to know them, they will gradually get a reputation as a person who can be counted on -someone of value.

There can also be difficulty with short-distance travel; keeping a car functioning may be a problem at times. There will be times when they feel stuck, unable to move. This will be eased when the mind agrees to accept the burden of detail, focusing on what must be done first, second, third, etc., as this one is perfectly capable of handling any type of practical or organizational problem, just inclined to be slow about getting started.

With bad aspects, especially to Mercury, this position can indicate possible brain damage, retardation, etc.

Saturn in the 3rd House: One of the main issues for those with Saturn in the 3rd is expressing themselves to people in a way that can be understood. The early environment may have felt inimical or dangerous to their safety, and therefore not conducive to easy and open exchanges with others. as a result, they may walk around harboring the belief that nobody understands what they are talking about, or hold back feelings and thoughts for fear of being misinterpreted or having these used against them. They might appear shy, aloof, arrogant or stupid when really they are just uncomfortable communicating.

Such insecurities about their articulateness and intelligence have various repercussions. Compensating for a sense of inadequacy in this area, they might try to prove themselves by developing a precise and exact verbal or mental style: Saturn in the 3rd often manifests the kind of serious and orderly thought processes linked to the logical and rational left brain. Others disguise their awkwardness in 3rd house matters by becoming anti-intellectual, and down putting others who are too 'stuck in the head' as uptight or 'pseudo'. They may have great difficulty making 'small talk' or constantly exchange in babble in order to avoid revealing what is really going on inside their heads.

Whereas those with Jupiter in the 3rd operate happily and easily within the immediate environment, eager to see what waits for them around the next corner, Saturn in the 3rd limits a person's free expression of movement. This may stem from an early childhood experience of an environment that didn't feel safe or allow such flexibility. Sometimes they have suffered a crippling sense of restriction or loneliness while growing up. If children are kept too much in harness during certain stages of development (the primate phase), their natural curiosity and desire to explore, imitate and learn skills will be greatly diminished. Those with Saturn in the 3rd may benefit from therapies or techniques which enable them to re-experience the early kinds of movements and mobility denied them for one reason or another.

I have seen many instances of Saturn in the 3rd where a lack of siblings gave rise to feelings of deprivation and isolation in childhood. At the same time, some people with this placement report experiencing their brothers and sisters as burdens and restrictions. In the case of those with Saturn in the 3rd being the older child, they may have been lumbered with the responsibility of looking after their younger siblings or setting a good example for them.

On the basis of any of the reasons given above, those with Saturn in the 3rd may have problems with early education and a difficult adjustment to school in general. For some, the boarding school experience may be felt as a kind of exile or banishment. There also may be delays, obstacles, and challenges encountered on short journeys or in travel in general. While Jupiter will just 'pick up and go', Saturn will want to make sure that everything is booked in advance. Jupiter arrives at a friend's for the weekend to discover a party in full swing. Saturn comes to the same house the next weekend to discover his friend's father has just been taken ill.

Again, the whole point of Saturn in the 3rd is not that one is condemned to a life of inarticulate misery hobbling around on crutches missing trains. Rather, this placement is an invitation to develop the potentials of a deep and steady mind, to refine the capacity to communicate more clearly with others, and to discover the kind of joy that learning about something brings. Those with Saturn well-aspected in the 3rd may naturally exhibit these traits or have fewer problems coming to terms with Saturn than others with the same placement.

Saturn in the 3rd House: Your serious nature is largely the result of restrictive early conditioning, but your introspectiveness has probably made you a fairly good judge of character. A withdrawn individual, you learn as much as possible about your immediate environment. Although you do not learn quickly, you have become a good student, because of your ability to retain information. Those friends you have are mostly dependable, no-nonsense people. Your goals in life are defined; and although your dreams for the future are cautious, you know that you will realize them if you have enough time. Your associates admire your mental abilities, and turn to you for answers to their problems. You apply yourself painstakingly to any subject that interests you; and your mind works efficiently to understand every detail. You respect those you love, and you expect respect from them, especially your partner. Being appreciated by your mate helps secure your relationship.

Not being well-informed bothers you; and you make it a point to find out what you want to know. Your views about your capabilities tend to be negative, and you never forget the reasons for any mistakes you've made. You discuss a subject only when you are thoroughly informed about it, so people often consider you an authority. You hope to make the best of your creative potentials so that your future will be free from anxiety. You expect your children to take advantage of the opportunities you have given them. A true disciplinarian, you treat your children fairly; but they may not realize that you love them, because you don't display your affection. This is also the case with a romantic partner; but when you say you care, you really mean it.

Your most pressing priority should be to get a good education. You respect people who demonstrate their competence; and you should realize that they could not do this without being well-informed. An education will help you develop your mental abilities and derive the most benefit from your ideas. You will understand what is expected of you in your career, so that you can serve others as well as yourself. Being educated will reduce your negative attitude about your chances for success. You can fulfill your creative potentials only if you accept the necessity of painstaking, hard work. The return depends completely on the investment that you make.

Don't try to live up to your parents' expectations and ignore your own dreams for the future. Although you may not complete your tasks very quickly, your superiors will recognize that you are very thorough. Self-employment may be a way to achieve greater personal satisfaction. Your interest might be in economics, education, financial counseling or the law: these will allow you self-determination and enough time to do the best possible job. You are probably not too distracted by physical or emotional needs, so you can devote sufficient energy to your career.

Your early conditioning may have restricted you or inhibited you from becoming more independent. And yet, those frustrations may have been the stimulus you needed to force you to rely on your own resources. Your sense of caution and reserve will help reduce the possibility of financial losses. Your ability to plan will net you optimum results with even the most meager assets.

See also: Saturn in the 3rd House; Saturn in the 3rd House;

Saturn in the 3rd House: Helena Blavatsky, Jim Carrey, Hugh Hefner, Dustin Hoffman, Steve Jobs, Donovan Leitch, Arnold Palmer, Brad Pitt, Elvis Presley, Mitt Romney, Bertrand Russell, Peter Sellers, Sting, Nikola Tesla, Cate, Leif, Prabhuta, Tyler, VinG


Saturn in the 4th House

The fourth house, corresponding to Cancer and the Moon, is the domain of childhood, origin, family, and roots. As the base of the astrological chart, it represents the base of the individual himself both literally - in terms of the home he has come out of - and symbolically in terms of his inner sense of security and safety. This house describes the emotions and atmosphere which surround him before he is old enough to make a conscious and rational choice about whether he accepts them or not. This house may be associated with the Jungian idea of the personal unconscious and with areas of conditioned instinctual reactions imposed by the early environment.

Because of this association with influences that occur prior to the development of the discriminating mind, any planet placed here is highly suspect because it points to something in the psyche which must be first discovered and brought up to the surface before it can be dealt with constructively. The influence of this house lies like a great moving subterranean river beneath the surface of the later personality which is developed in accord with the Sun and Ascendant; and this river may be powerful enough to dominate the behavior without being seen. It is a wholly personal house, and does not seem to have much to do with the larger area of collective unconscious streams which affect the group emotional life. Because it is so personal, it is that much more difficult to approach with a clear and unbiased eye.

The fourth house is generally considered to be the indicator of the father and his relationship with the individual. This is of course subject to much argument; and the only clear statement which has so far come out of the confusion is that the fourth-tenth house axis refers to both parents. In some ways, it is immaterial which house goes with which parent, as problems with one automatically create compensatory problems with the other; however, I am inclined by experience to assign this house to the father as it is he who establishes the backbone of the family, gives it his name, and determines by his presence or absence the security or instability of the child's early life. It is rare that a child loses his mother except by death; but when a marriage fails, or there is no marriage in the first place, it is generally the father who leaves and whose support is withdrawn. The background of a difficult or broken home in childhood is usually coincident with afflicted planets in the fourth house or the fourth sign.

It will be obvious that having Saturn working as an unconscious factor from the plane of the feelings s rather difficult as he is very slippery. He is usually considered, in Cancer or in the fourth house, to suggest conditions of coldness, limitation, authority without love, separation or isolation, and a generally unsympathetic early home life. This is often in a very literal fashion, where the father dies or the parents are divorced or where the father is forced by circumstances to be away much of the time. The isolation may also occur in a symbolic fashion where the father is very much physically present but can offer no love, sympathy, or emotional support - or where he may be loving and kind but is a burden or a great disappointment through alcoholism, sickness, weakness of character, or an emotional pattern which destroys the peace of the home. Or there may be undue emphasis on material development and little on emotional expression.

There are many possible avenues on the mundane level in which a fourth house Saturn may find reflection. The forms are as varied as are individuals. Regardless of which means of outward expression occurs, however, the inner reaction is generally the same; the sense of security, the feeling of protection needed by a developing child as a base on which to build the evolving ego, is denied or frustrated; and the natural expression of feeling which seeks to find unity with family and a sense of heritage is blocked.

It needs little further reasoning to see that this kind of situation, working on unconscious levels, can effectively cripple part of the individual's emotional nature for the remainder of his life if it is not understood. The mistrust of any emotional intimacy, particularly the kind which revolves around a domestic situation, is usually pronounced; at the same time, a craving for something secure and permanent and tangible in the emotional life is also pronounced. It is a rare individual who is aware of this polarity existing within him; he will see one end or the other. He may either be inordinately tied to his family and the place of his birth, or hate them or display coolness and detachment. He is never truly indifferent, however, for something which was necessary for his emotional development was missing, and the entire structure of his psyche has had to develop lopsided to compensate for the loss.

There is often great emotional instability with Saturn in the fourth house; and a definite feeling of having been unloved, unwanted, is common. This may not be wholly conscious, however. Nevertheless it will show, in a very obvious fashion, to the perceptive observer. There is also often resentment toward men in general as the father is the first man or symbol of masculinity encountered by the child.

This can, of course, wreak havoc with a man's understanding of his own masculinity and a woman's understanding both of men and of her own unconscious male half. This is particularly true if the father is actually absent from the home; for then, however justified she may be, the mother must play both roles, and consequently, whether she is temperamentally suited to the role or not, she must become a dominant or authoritative figure. This is as much true of the weak or inept father as it is of the vanishing one. The areas of the emotional life which can be affected in adulthood are much greater than the sphere of the home, for the fourth house is one of the angles and is therefore more significant in terms of the expression of the man on the physical plane.

Saturn in the fourth house is also often concurrent with a compulsion to accumulate land. In this way, the need for some new sense of security on the emotional level is reduced to a physical fact - a common translation which Saturn very often attempts to make. The translation usually fails, however, for material things cannot satisfy an emotional need. But to the person carrying this emotional burden, land is solid and unchangeable, and a home which is owned cannot be taken away in the same fashion that emotional support can suddenly be torn away by death or absence. The unchecked crystallization of a feeling value will eventually, as the individual hardens and grows older, lead to that which has been referred to as a 'lonely end to life'.

It will be obvious from this that a fourth house Saturn can rule the life with an iron although invisible hand by undermining the sense of self-worth and making it difficult for the individual to permit any close emotional contacts. It is the meaning of the position that is necessary if it is to be utilized in a constructive way.

By denying a component which ordinarily comes from the environment, Saturn's influence forces an individual to create that missing component himself if he is to have any peace. He must gradually withdraw identification of the value with the external world and find its reality within himself as a part of his own psyche. Thus the opportunity is offered, when Saturn is in the fourth house, for the person to build an inner sense of security and self-acceptance based on an understanding of his real origin. This solid inner psychic structure cannot be destroyed or shaken by circumstance; unlike the support and confidence given by a loving parent which fosters emotional dependency on others later in life - the worst quality of Saturn in Cancer - this inner strength becomes the inviolable possession of the soul. What begins as an emotional value must remain an emotional value, but the field of its expression is expanded.

This kind of security on a feeling level is extremely rare. The great majority of individuals bear many scars because of the loss of security in childhood, or they are dependent on loved ones for a constant supply of it. Only the individual with Saturn in the fourth house is likely to have developed it on his own; and this because he has had to. There is some amount of trust required in the guidance or wisdom of the inner self who has chosen this particular experience. Without this trust, there is no possibility of understanding the meaning of the experience. Saturn always drives a man to understand the nature of his pain. With a fourth house Saturn, he must understand the vulnerability of his own feeling nature and the needfulness which underlies his apparent coldness toward all family and domestic matters. It is then necessary to accept the experience as a positive means to an end which will be worth the pain and the effort, since the pain is relative to the dependency on others in the first place. The very personal and intimate world of the feelings must be acknowledged and encouraged. This is particularly difficult for men to do; and for this reason a fourth house Saturn is more dangerous on a man's chart; but in compensation, a man with Saturn placed here who has taken the time to descend into his own emotional depths, as do the heroes of mythology into the underworld, will display that rare integration and serenity which comes from a balancing of the masculine and feminine sides of the nature.

Saturn in 4th House: Microcosm: In the 4th house, Saturn reveals the seriousness of self-importance. Privacy is a difficult issue. At times it seems forced rather than chosen, more solitary confinement than secure space, as if you cannot really connect with others. However, at other moments, privacy feels denied by circumstantial responsibilities, and you must steal your aloneness, protecting it jealously. The pitfalls revolve around fear that you may never achieve truly balanced self-centeredness. How can you be the centre of everything, yet remain humble? The challenge is to realize that your personal identity is inviolable, a source of strength buried deeply within the self, like the roots of a giant oak.

Personal security: Security is linked with responsibility, especially the feeling that you must carry on some fundamental family tradition, whatever the cost. You probably believe it would be selfish to do otherwise, even when what you must carry is a difficult burden. You may have trouble realizing the weight of these traditions, bearing them dutifully rather than examining them directly. This is part of your basic conservatism, a special sensitivity toward solid, dependable structures. Though you are cautious, you work like 'the little piggy who built his house out of bricks' to establish a home and family of permanent value. While we all deal with the pitfalls of shame in our families, you in particular must devote enduring efforts toward overcoming any crippling effects from shame-based experience. The challenge is to honor the past without sacrificing yourself.

Emotional imprints: Your family was highly structured, marked on the one hand by solid respect for authority, and on the other by a sense of brittle rigidity. Identifying your role in the family was difficult. You may have felt unimportant, unwanted, or unloved; or conversely, you may have felt far too important, like a bird in a gilded cage. In either case, alienation is a real, if sometimes unconscious, presence. It's lonely both at the bottom and at the top. But you learned how to satisfy your desires and avoid getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar. Whatever you couldn't have, couldn't do, couldn't be is what you most remember and work to achieve.

'Inner-link' parent: What can we make of the father's symbol in the mother's place? It may indeed be that the father is the inner-link parent in this situation; but more probably, it indicates that the mother took over the father's role. She came to represent authority and external structuring power for you as a child. This placement often corresponds with a 'missing' father, someone not necessarily physically absent, but psychologically neutralized in one way or another.

Private intuition: Can you trust yourself? You want aid from your guides, but may be afraid to seek it out for fear you may be unworthy of your own best counsel. The key is self-respect developed over a long period of growth, self-respect that can mature into trust - truly believing in yourself. Honor the justice of your inner guides; they may at times seem stern, cold, even unfeeling, but finally they are on your side, helping you to become strong, capable, and grown-up. Real, honest adulthood is very difficult for all of us. Your guides want to see you achieve that rare state.

Saturn in 4th House: Saturn in the fourth house emphasizes the early home and parents. Children with this position usually learn to work early, though this can be for many different reasons. Life on a farm is possible, with chores for everyone. Help from the children may be needed because of poverty, illness, or just a large family. There might be a single parent playing both parental roles. Guessing details is a futile effort in astrology. When we understand the principles, we can often change the details.

The main issues for Saturn in the natural house of the Moon involve dependency versus power and responsibility. Some people are struggling to do justice to both a family and a career in the world, and they have to accept the fact that we can't do everything well. The answer to dominance/ dependency is interdependency - each person able to give something that others value and can receive. As small children, the power is all outside, and sometimes Saturn in the fourth house shows a truly difficult home life; but as we gain skills, we can create the secure home and family we want.

Fourth house careers can include 'mothering' our own family or the world. We can feed, clothe, house, or comfort the public. An office or business in the home is possible, or a family business which follows in the footsteps of the parents. Family roots, genealogies, antiques, could be treasured. Security is very important, but concerns can range from self-absorption in an insecure person to the urge to protect all of life including mother earth. Some individuals might not have children of their own for fear of 'not doing it right', but they might substitute pets or a garden to satisfy the parental instinct.

An astrological colleague with Saturn in the 4th house says she did not have harsh, punitive parents or a difficult childhood. She and her siblings didn't have to do any work, though their single parent worked hard. Saturn ruled her seventh house, and her grandparent did some parenting. She was aware of 'poverty' in that depression-era messages were received from both her mother and grandmother, so she felt 'poor' sometimes even though she wasn't. She worked from the home, followed parental footsteps in career, and works in a field involving emotional support of people.

Saturn in 4th House: In this house of psychological roots and subjective anchoring, Saturn suggests we may feel a deep lack of inner security due to our early family experience. It may not have been easy for us to digest the general atmosphere within the home during our formative years. Later, we may grow up making a concentrated effort to protect ourselves from whatever we regard as emotionally threatening. Saturn in the Fourth House can be an easily internalized placement. We can become quite adept at constructing defense mechanisms and other psychological barriers that insulate us from experiencing vulnerability in close human interactions, leaving us lonely and cut off from others at a root level of our being.

Some of us work hard to keep our real feelings from being exposed or even analyzed. Perhaps we fear that those we desire to attach ourselves to are capable of wounding us or - even worse - abandoning use in our moment of greatest need, so we may choose to remain impenetrable at the base of our inner foundation. How did we develop such a deep distrust of other people's ability to nurture and support us on emotional levels? Why all the hard-as-steel insulation? People may feel we are difficult to reach. Ever on the defense, we disagree that we are inaccessible. We probably just don't see ourselves like that, and it hurts when others do.

We may have viewed elements of our childhood years in the home as a source of discomfort, denial, pain, and general restriction. It probably made little difference, from a subjective viewpoint, whether ours was an environment of privileged affluence or abject poverty. Any sense of deprivation was more on an emotional level than a material one. We were paying close attention to how well our parents either responded to our original needs or ignored them. Our upbringing and conditioning may have revealed patterns of rigidity, coldness, a lack of color, and varying degrees of enforced discipline and control.

Many of us took all this quite seriously, and seldom without anxiety. We may have been made to feel disliked and unwanted by at least one parent, whom we nevertheless tried to appease and from home we nevertheless tried to gain respect. What we basically wanted from that parent (and maybe from the rest of the family) was unconditional love and closeness - an affirmation that we were lovable for just being our imperfect selves, warts and all. We typically grew up feeling we never got that. The prerequisites for love and emotional nourishment centered on our obedience and model behavior. As few of us were flawless in word and deed, we may not have grown up feeling accepted. As adults, we may distance ourselves from our family at large rather than submit to their critical rejection. (Much of the above is also likely to be symbolized by a very harshly aspected Saturn: Saturn/ Moon/ Pluto conflicts in particular.)

This house puts us in touch with the maternal manifestations at the circumstantial level.

We usually learn about our own care giving capacity through interaction with our biological mother or early mother figure. With Saturn here, we want our maternal figure to be dependable and solid. We expect her to be predictable in her support. We can become preoccupied with this parent's ability to fulfill our need for safety. How well she does can have quite an impact on how we express closeness and intimacy as adults. But astrology wouldn't put the sole blame on our mother if she did a poor job here. We are the ones born with Saturn in the Fourth House, and it is we who are projecting certain unappealing Saturn traits onto our mother. We may have trouble internally reclaiming these projections as we get older, but they will need to be reclaimed as part of our wholeness. Until then, our mother has to carry and act out much of Saturn's darker face.

In actuality, Mom could have been inconsistent or contradictory in her rearing of us, creating mixed messages. She could have been very protective of our welfare while also reluctant to be too warm and demonstrative with her feelings, as if drive more by parental duty than instinctive love. We tend to absorb this same inner complex, resulting in an ambivalence that typically doesn't sit well with the Saturn principle (which would rather opt for clearly defined expression). Maybe our mother was unable to show her love for us because daily survival needs were the number one priority, with little time for tender-hearted moments of maternal affection. Her opportunities to show care may have been limited for some tangible reason. Maybe her career needs were put before our baby needs. How this Saturn dilemma played out could have taken many paths.

It could also be that our mother was emotionally immature at the time, or simply wasn't very maternal at heart. Babies pick up on this quite vividly and can appear constantly cranky as a form of protest for getting the cold shoulder. In a few cases, our mom may not have physically been around long enough (due to abandonment, divorce, institutionalization, or death) to help us structure healthy security patterns during our formative years. Her absence created a void that may still need to be filled.

It is generally considered a social taboo, , so we probably carry some weighty guilt about it, but some of us may grow up disliking or even hating our mother. Maybe we grow up realizing we function best by keeping a safe distance from our mom and her negative impact on us. (Often Saturn/ Moon stress aspects are similar in theme here.) We feel vulnerable around many of our family members, sensing they collectively know how to target our weak spots. But what we tend to dislike the most are the feelings of obligation and duty we may have towards them. Dependency issues unresolved in the past can be associated with an ongoing sense of doubt and frustration.

We may realize that our maternal relationship is neither healthy nor growth-inducing, especially if we do nothing about it but gripe and let resentment slowly build a nest of thorns. At the least, we sense a firm parental grip over certain aspects of our psyche - a power we cannot break away from completely without first learning the inner meaning of that power.

Saturn in the Water houses is more apt to indicate 'karmic' ties than when found in other house placements. With Saturn in the Fourth House, we may feel quite bound to our mother (or the concept of mother), even if we don't like her personally or trust her motives and intentions. But by paying attention to what discomforts us about her, we may learn plenty about what we have trouble getting in touch with when others come into our life and attempt to mother and comfort us, or when they show that feared dark face and deny our needs by turning cold or leaving us.

Some of us with Saturn in the Fourth House tend to block our ability to become emotionally dependent on another. We feel weakened by our own neediness. It is possible that we associate such dependency with loss, restriction, or even harsh criticism. Perhaps our early attempts at securing maternal warmth and affection were unsuccessful. We could misinterpret ourselves as unlovable because of it. Later, in our adult relationships, we may have little confidence in our ability to establish a sound emotional base. We could push off others who need to depend on us on some level. Yet we can deeply feel attached to others. Our degree of linkage can be enduring, but unfortunately we may associate such connection with powerlessness.

If we do not eventually examine ourselves and ask why we are so afraid to meaningfully connect with others, we could end up lonely and shut off from really intimate contact. This can be painfully felt near the closing years of our life (the Fourth House deals with our approach to 'old age'). We need to carefully review our past, studying the nature of parental interaction - and especially that parent we strongly reacted to on the emotional level. Even if we lacked an adequate maternal figure altogether, we are still prone to fixate on the emptiness and hunger such a lack of nurturing could create.

Realize that Saturn in the Fourth House does not exclusively deny us warmth or sensitive responsiveness from others; but still we feel we must work hard to earn and secure such response. We may assume it will involve a struggle. We are as likely to doubt our own capacity to be caring of others (even of animals / plants / the home itself), but in truth we are anything but uncaring and unconcerned at the roots of our being. One important life goal is for us to recognize this. We need to work at accepting dependency relationships and viewing them as redemptive and healing for us.

With a mismanaged Saturn, regardless of house, we often suffer because of our own unrecognized potential, underdeveloped strengths, or untapped capacity for excellence. Saturn in the Fourth House suggests we can convince ourselves that we are somehow emotionally inadequate. Maybe we inwardly doubt our ability to relate to people on a safe, connecting level. We think we do not bond easily.

Perhaps we take the 'family' concept much too seriously. Inside us we crave having Ozzie and Harriet for parents, but in reality we got a less than ideal set-up. Maybe we continued to over-analyze various family members (the Fourth House also describes the 'family dynamic' as a whole) in terms of how they accept or reject us. Do they know we are sometimes full of hurt? Or that we are lonely or scared? Would they even care? Before we drown in self-pity, we need to recognize that our own standards of right / wrong or good / bad behavior for our family can be rigid and unyielding.

Our family unit probably did appear to us as conservative, orthodox, formality-conscious, or bland and lacking in imagination. Everyone seemed to take the safe route of controlled interaction. Structured roles held the family together. But have we committed ourselves to forever seeing some family members in an inflexible manner? If they don't seem to ever change for the better, how much of that is due to our fixed attitudes and lasting impressions? We need to be careful we don't stifle their growth too.

Although our family typically didn't treat us like pampered babies (we certainly weren't spoiled rotten with attention), we may still grow up feeling as vulnerable as infants psychologically. Such emotional hypersensitivity either goes unrecognized by those we try to get close to for support, or is harshly reprimanded and devalued (we are brushed off as too clingy and suffocating). We are accused of always being hungry for unconditional assurance from our mate, our kids, even the dog, and can get very down and fearful when they start to back off and put up a stone wall of separation. Saturn can be tenacious; and the Fourth House can be blind to its aggressive instincts to envelop others in its waves of feelings. We often are too subjectively wrapped up in our reactions to understand that breathing space is always needed in healthy relationships. We are subject to separation to begin with; but at some point in our development we need to consciously allow for independent functioning, especially in the home. The 'empty nest blues' need not be our fate. It would be good to see how well we can live alone and unattached, if need be. Saturn will test our ability to be self-sufficient security-wise.

Economic difficulties in our family when we were young can make us sensitive to future deprivation. We may harbor doubts as adults about not being well provided for on the home front, fearing we won't have a decent roof over our heads. We over-achievers with Saturn in the Fourth House will make sure we have a well-protected home (or homes) that is ours to control (renting is less satisfying than owning for Saturn). But if we block our Saturn needs, our failure to properly self-nurture also expresses itself as a lack of support for our domestic security needs. We can end up living in places that are cramped, unattractive, worn out, or in constant need of repairs. It can get expensive to maintain such a place.

Maybe we also gravitate towards unsafe housing, such as a dangerous neighborhood or living quarters that lack safety features such as deadbolt locks and peepholes. We may live some place with cheap rent, but it may be drafty and a utilities guzzler due to poor insulation. We may even forget to lock our doors or safeguard our belongings in other ways. (An out-of-touch Saturn behaves much like a careless Jupiter or Neptune.) Whatever the case, we need to ask ourselves why we literally feel at home in such substandard dwellings. Don't we deserve a better nest, a safer shelter? Maybe even a real dining room?

Some of us over-achievers react to our anxious feelings of insecurity by doing our very best to build the most solid foundation we can afford. We insist on a sound and dependable home structure. We'd even like to have our own land to build our home from scratch. We also want to be grounded in natural surroundings. Our home must be our sturdy fortress, totally managed by us. (Saturn is very much into protecting territorial rights.) We typically desire fences, walls, heavy shrubbery defining boundaries, and other forms of clear demarcation. We may instead pick an isolated spot away from populated areas. However, we need to be sensible about how far we will go for the sake of ultimate protection. Why do we only feel safe when living in a home resembling Fort Knox?

See also: Saturn in the 4th House;

Saturn in the 4th House: Madonna Ciccone, Tom Cruise, Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, Judy Garland, Bill Gates, Ernest Hemingway, Bill Hicks, L.Ron Hubbard, Marilyn Monroe, Ezra Pound, Ronald Reagan, David Rockefeller, Lynn Forester de Rothschild, Albert Schweitzer, Suzanne Somers, Bruce Springsteen, Gloria Steinem, Elizabeth Taylor, Mother Teresa, Ted Turner, Jesse Ventura, Andrea, Bram, Dewitt, Eva, Kyle, LucJr, Nicole, Robert, RoyO, Sarik, Tom


Saturn in the 5th House

Under the general umbrella of the fifth house are usually included pleasures and amusements, love affairs, children, creativity and self-expression, and speculation and investments. This is a rather large mouthful for one mundane house. As this house is the reflection of the Sun, the symbol for the conscious ego, it might be easier to approach it as the expression of the individual's 'selfness', those areas where he can be uniquely and wholly himself, where he can permeate his feelings, desires, ideas, and activities with his own essence, and where he is completely unimpeded and uncolored by the necessity for compromise. This is the house of the individual identity; and through the affairs of the fifth house one begins to apprehend, through creative self-expression, the meaning of his own identity. Leo and the fifth house have a great deal to do with the recognition of the self both by others and by the individual himself. We interpret it also as the house of love, but it might more aptly be called the house of romance because this also is an area where the individual may express - or project - his own identity without interference; and through the experience of love of this kind he may get a glimpse of his own inner centre. Love in all its meanings is perhaps as much an archetype as is the archetype of the Self; and neither one is discernible on the birth chart; only the ways in which they are likely to be approached and expressed are evident, and they are both connected with the fifth house.

This house, like the first and the ninth, is also connected with the faculty of the intuition and with the individual's intuitive perception of the purpose and completeness of his total psyche.

Expressing through the first, the individual intuits purpose through his interaction with the environment; expressing through the fifth, he intuits his wholeness through reflecting upon himself as he appears in his own creations. This kind of reflection can lead, in the end, to the experience of the 'I' as a complete and unique idea; but this experience is not approached through the intellect. Otherwise it becomes a meaningless set of concepts which only serve to throw up more barriers between the individual and his experience of himself. Through an act of creative expression, he may intuitively catch himself being himself; and the importance of this psychological experience should not be underestimated. It is one of the motives behind creativity.

It is usual to find the Leo personality described as egotistical and self-centered. But it might be more correct to say that rather than being self-centered, he is seeking the self at the centre, and in consequence everything that he does is of dramatic importance to him because somewhere in all of it he sense the possibility of the direct encounter, the direct experience. rather than criticizing him for his tendency to exaggerate his own importance, it is perhaps more helpful to realize that no individual can be of any value to himself or to others until he first discovers who and what that self is. Through the fifth house, the individual begins to glimpse himself through those expressions which contain within them a piece of his own unique identity. This is not necessarily limited to creativity in the artistic sense, although this is perhaps a more direct form of self-expression. Every individual has some area of life where he is seeking to understand his own significance through completely unimpeded self-expression, whether this is an artistic field, an intellectual one, an emotional one, or the creation of a living child.

From this, it may be inferred that the conventional attitude toward the bearing of children is sometimes in need of some further reflection. Often the first half of the creative process is accomplished - the child is born - but the second half, the half in which the education and self-recognition of the creator begins - is frequently neglected because this act requires humility of a kind which is usually absent from the parent-child relationship. Children are, in our society, very much a means of living out vicariously those qualities and expressions which are unconscious or have not been permitted to unfold in the life of the parent. Rather than helping to provide a means of self-realization, they are seen as empty vessels which can be molded, shaped, and filled with any content we choose. An act of creativity can always lead to greater self-awareness when we consider who it is that is doing the creating; but it always involves a gamble because of the possibility of pride distorting the perception. In any painting or piece of music, there is a fragment of the consciousness of the creator; and in the end it is for the greater consciousness of his psyche that he creates, not for his audience, although his audiences may be a part of the alchemical transformation by which he achieves divinity. This may seem abstruse, but we are fond of tossing about concepts such as God's love for his children and the artist's quest for immortality without having the vaguest idea what we are talking about. It is worth some meditation upon the idea of the creative act, and its psychic significance, in order to get fuller understanding of the meaning of Saturn in the fifth house.

When Saturn is in the fifth house, there is a temporary barrier between the person and his self-realization, composed primarily of those shadowy attributes which he will not permit into consciousness. The creative flow is often blocked; or, if it is not blocked, then the experience of self-realization which is the natural result may be blocked. The perfect circle of outpouring and inner transformation is interrupted, and the man often pours his energy out and thinks that he receives nothing back because his own sense of inadequacy prevents him from realizing that it has nothing to do with the audience. This applies not only to creative expression but to romantic love as well. Usually the person with a fifth house Saturn cannot easily find himself among his creations because he has had a minimum of recognition from anyone else. This is the classic indication of the unloved child, the child who may be ignored or treated as merely an extension of his parents, where his own identity and significance has somehow been swallowed up in the trappings of what passes for parent-child love. Children with Saturn in the fifth house are often loved in the sense that their parents love the idea of the child, but they are rarely loved for the unique quality of 'selfness' which is at the base of the individuality. later in life, because these children have never experienced the recognition of self by anybody else, they are hard-pressed to recognize it themselves and often find it difficult to make contact with their own inner significance. The child with Saturn in the fifth house must often pay the later price of intense feelings of inadequacy and insignificance no matter how many gifts or abilities he may possess.

This placement of Saturn often concurs with a reluctance or inability to have children; or the children may bring burdens, responsibilities, or pain. This is the traditional interpretation of a fifth house Saturn. He may deny himself love in the sense that, not loving himself or being able to understand his own value, he is afraid that no-one else will find him lovable either. Caught in his own feelings of inferiority, he may be jealous and resentful of others, ensuring the fact of his rejection by them. There is often a stiffness and lack of spontaneity about Saturn in the fifth house; one has the feeling that the individual is always watching himself watching himself and is rarely able to relax. He strains and pushes in the hope, unconsciously, of getting some glimpse of what he truly is mirrored in the loving eyes of others; but he generally consistently fails when he attempts it in this way. Because he pushes so hard, he often alienates those who otherwise might have helped him. His disappointments may come through many channels; but behind the heartbreak which is often associated with this position lies the individual's inability to love himself, to recognize his own significance, and to find an inner centre which can give his life stability and meaning.

Saturn in the fifth house has a reputation for being cold and heartless; but this kind of face is characteristic of Saturn and should not be taken literally. The heart of stone is apparent in many people who are concerned with protecting their own vulnerability with a veneer of callousness. Usually behind this veneer is a small child who cannot understand his own importance. There is often an intense selfishness exhibited by Saturn in the fifth house, and a desperate need to feel important, admired, envied, and popular. Envy is most typical of this position, for the individual who cannot find his own centre is often deeply resentful of what he thinks are the meaningful lives of others. To the individual with a fifth house Saturn, everyone else's grass often seems greener. Usually he is most envious of those who seem to attract love, friendship, and affection without having to make the strenuous effort at skill, superiority, and dazzle which is typical of the fifth house Saturn. No-one seeks popularity as assiduously as he does, whether this is conscious or not; and no-one is so crushed and heartbroken when he is not accepted. Saturn is awkward in the Sun's sign; and the challenge offered to the person with this placement is a difficult one, for he needs to find his inner centre and identify with that rather than the trappings with which he usually surrounds himself. Without these trappings, the person usually feels naked and vulnerable. The opportunity offered, however, is an important one, for if he succeeds in finding this centre and manages to shift the focus of his personality from the ego to this more meaningful self, he can begin to recapture the naive joy which is apparent only in a child, the joy which comes from an innate trust in life and in the existence of love in the universe. Having once found the secret of his own identity, he can never lose it again; and that natural integrity and brightness which is one of the most endearing of Leo qualities becomes his permanent expression. He is no longer dependent on whether others recognize him or not, for he has at last recognized himself. This experience of contacting the self always seems to evoke the same response in those people who have experienced it: they seem to recapture some of the spontaneous joy, vitality, and innate honesty of the heroes of folklore and fairytale, regardless of the inhibiting qualities of their outer lives. This joy is not unconscious, however, for the process is a conscious one and is not a regression. Somehow the duality of conscious sophistication, or fine discrimination, and unconscious integrity, or the sense of trust, is fused within the personality. This is a great challenge and an important opportunity, and, if taken, certainly balances the pain and loneliness which are usually the initial gifts of Saturn in the fifth house.

There is often an interesting blend of inflation and an intense and often crippling shyness apparent with Saturn in the fifth house. The individual both overrates and underrates himself, but rarely perceives himself clearly; consequently, he cannot see others clearly because he is always projecting his own evaluations onto them and usually does badly in affairs of the heart because of this. He often cannot express overt affection easily, yet at the same time cannot bear to be ignored. Loyalty and honor may become of exaggerated importance to him, for he often tries to crystallize and solidify the love of others through emphasis on the forms and codes of behavior which love sometimes takes as its outer expression. It is not so much love in the affectionate sense as recognition that he seeks; and it is easy to see why this placement is often associated with those in the entertainment professions. The fifth house itself does not need this feedback from others; he simply is, and that is enough. Saturn in the fifth cannot see the 'I', and must seek it in the applause of the crowd.

With this placement of Saturn, the psyche seems to be directed toward a realization of itself, toward a process of individuation as Jung calls it, and will often not permit the conscious personality to find any solace in the usual activities which supply an identity for most people. Thus children, who often provide a sense of purpose and significance to their parents, are a disappointment, or there is no possibility of having them. Romantic love rarely turns out to be the ideal which is expected, because the eyes of the lover somehow never reflect that missing flash which will convince the person of his own value. Creative expression never quite seems fulfilling, and usually misses the mark. The individual usually is driven, in the end, to seek himself within himself, because no other means are left available to him. It is he himself who has set it up in this way; but to recognize the underlying purpose behind these disappointments is the beginning of wisdom and the final taking of the opportunity.

There may be as much overcompensation here as with any other Saturnian placement. many people with Saturn in the fifth house work very hard at never taking life seriously, although no-one is more sensitive, touchy, and serious in matters of affection than the fifth house Saturn. His fears of rejection and insignificance usually lead him to lace the idea of love heavily with concepts such as loyalty, duty, fidelity, and responsibility, although these may be unconscious lacings. He needs structures so that he may be guaranteed a sufficient amount of enduring love. Unfortunately, no matter how many structures he erects, he usually still cannot trust, and the disguise of frivolity rarely deceives anyone after a while although he may continue to deceive himself. The heaviness and needfulness of this placement usually shows through, and because of this the person is often deeply hurt.

If the person does not work with his fifth house Saturn, this is a rather unhappy position; any coupling of Saturn and the Sun carries weight with it, whether this coupling occurs by sign, aspect, or house interchange. All these contacts are connected with the discovery of the self; and this is painful because it involves the tearing away of the veil. We are taught in early childhood that we are many things - our feelings, or beliefs, or bank accounts, or children, or talents, or loved ones - anything and everything except ourselves. The person with Saturn in the fifth house often demands so much from others that he is left lonely and heartbroken. He is capable of much love and devotion, but does not dare to express it without asking for a guarantee back; only when he recognizes this unconscious process of a barter can he begin to free himself of it.

What is often not recognized is that the ordinary man who has Saturn in the fifth house, who has no aspirations to conquer the world, may nevertheless have a small share of this desperate need for importance and recognition, coupled with an acute shyness which leads him to wait in the wings when what he wants most is to be at the centre of the stage with all eyes focused, adoring, upon him. Failing this, he may become a petty tyrant in the home, a hypochondriac, a domestic dictator.

The person with Saturn in the fifth house is sometimes not easy to love because he is like a jug with no bottom and absorbs affection and attention endlessly without being satisfied; however, if he begins to understand that his path is inward toward the self, he may begin to see what kind of opportunity is offered to him.

See also: Saturn the 5th House;

Saturn in the 5th House: Deepak Chopra, Bette Davis, Bob Dylan, Tenzin Gyatso, William Randolph Hearst, Alfred Hitchcock, Aldous Huxley, Helen Keller, Henry Kissinger, Bruce Lee, Shirley McLaine, Jack Nicklaus, George Orwell, Babe Ruth, AndyF, AndySc, Beth, Cesar, George, Jason, JerGar, JerryGr, JRosh, Jyothi, LaurieSw, Lina, PaulS, Roberto, Sky, TomW, TonyO


Saturn in the 6th House

Work, health, servants, and employer-employee relationships are the traditional meanings assigned to the sixth house. From it, one is said to gain insight into the individual's work habits, the kind of situations he is likely to attract into his work life, his attitudes toward routine and toward service, and his attitude toward his body as a vehicle of service. The state of one's health is denoted by this house, and any tendencies toward organic or functional illness are generally reflected by it. This is generally considered to be a 'weak' house, as is the twelfth, because it is cadent, and planets which are placed in it do not appear to express through the mode of events or external activity. The sixth house is in fact often overlooked or considered unimportant. It is possible that we possess very little real understanding of its meaning because we do not understand the nature of the physical body and its link with the mind and the feelings of the individual.

This house seems to be of great importance on an inner level, as is the twelfth house, for it seems to refer to a process of inner synthesis, purification, ordering, or gestation which precedes the external and objective expression of the person into the world of others. We are used to linking the first six signs and houses of the zodiac with one's personal development and the last six signs and houses with one's participation in group life. As a cadent house, the sixth is the inner process of attunement or ordering which synthesizes the qualities developed through previous effort, and forges of them one integrated personality which can then be the vehicle of expression for the self. Work, when it is related to this house, then becomes not only a means of livelihood, or a means of justifying one's existence, but also a ritual or preparation or purification, and assumes importance as a symbol - just as money is a symbol when considered against the deeper meaning of the second house. The body itself is a symbol if this point of view is logically extended; and the health of the body is related to the success or failure of the integration process which is necessary for planets placed in this house.

This may seem an abstruse definition for plain, hard-working Virgo and her plain. hard¬working house. But is we look once more to mythology, we will find that the virgin goddesses of the ancients were virgin not in the sense of sexual innocence or naiveté, for these goddesses were also prostitutes and ruled over the mysteries of sexual union and of birth. Virginal meant whole, single, possessed by no man, and the servant or slave of no husband or lover. The virgin mother goddess was a female archetype who mated and gave birth but who would never be a wife or helpmeet for she was wholly herself, independent, self-contained, integrated, and dependent on no-one for her meaning or expression. It was only later that these goddesses were given to solar deities and were deprived of their autonomy and their sexuality in one clean swoop of patriarchal social development. There may be in this symbolism another key to the meaning of Virgo and the sixth house, for they appear to be connected with wholeness, the synthesis or integration of the various warring components of the psyche. On a larger level, the synthesis or integration of the individual with his physical environment is also suggested, prior to his being able to join with others in a co-operative relationship.

The mysteries of the power of the mind over the body are being tentatively explored in psychology and psychosomatic medicine; and the less orthodox schools of healing, such as hypnotherapy, are perhaps even more aware of the subtle but unquestionable link between one's state of mind - and this includes the feeling nature - and one's health. But we still understand very little of these matters; and, as much as medical science has been able to accomplish since ancient times, the recent exploration of the energy field or 'etheric double' which permeates and co-exists with the physical body suggests that we have only just begun to comprehend the full meaning of the physical vehicle. The ancient science of acupuncture and the esoteric doctrine of the chakras or energy centers are not so absurd or unprovable as they were once thought to be. What we have always believed to be physical illness now appears to be originated from an entirely different level. We have only recently become aware of the concept of the unconscious mind; and prior to the birth of psychology in the 20th century - accelerated by the discovery of Pluto - it was left to the medieval alchemists to make some sense out of man's fantasies and dreams, and this they were never able to achieve fully because they lacked the methods of scientific research. Perhaps we must wait for the discovery of another planet before the sixth house and sign will yield their secrets to us.

Saturn in the sixth house seems to provide an opportunity -often through frustration, disappointment, and ill-health - for a journey into the mysteries of the interconnection between mind and body and the possibility of a conscious and deliberate synthesis of these two, the reward of which is good health and a new awareness of the meaning of the body and of the material environment. Few people, however, are aware of this opportunity, because we are not made aware that there might be a deeper meaning to work and to health. More commonly, Saturn placed in the sixth refers to a state of disease, of discomfort, or of frustration and limitation in one's work situation. The fundamental psychological need for rhythm and ritual, the careful ordering of external life as a symbol of the careful ordering of the inner life which should, and rarely does, parallel it, is often denied in childhood. This need is as valid and as real as the need for security or for achievement.

If Saturn's darker side is considered first, the lack of this ordered rhythm of both inner and outer life will often be felt later as an area of inadequacy and fear. A heavily structured discipline or routine in childhood is common with this placement; but the routine is often lacking in fundamental meaning because there is no effort at inner alignment. Chaos threatens perpetually to intrude on the inner level, for there is little integration there; and an almost compulsive ordering of the outer environment frequently ensues. Saturn may exaggerate the natural love of work, routine, and order until the love becomes a fear of anything outside the known and well-trod path. There is often a deep inner anxiety over physical or mental disintegration; and this placement has been linked with mental as well as physical disorders. It is the outer form of order which Saturn clings to rather than the inner blending of the mind, the feelings, and the intuition through the medium of the body; consequently, he experiences frustration, for once again he has attempted to make tangible something which is essentially an inner process.

The individual with Saturn in Virgo or in the sixth house may externalize his situation so that the adjustment and the frustration pertain to his work life, for in the function of usefulness to the larger group, he expresses the function of his body and its intricate structure to his total psyche. Just as an organ in his physical body may be out of harmony, he likewise may, as an organ of his environment, be out of harmony with the larger structure. It is his task to integrate himself to his world and to his body, for he stands at the midpoint of these two. His body must serve his inner purpose as he must serve the inner purpose of the group.

When the man is relatively unconscious, Saturn may be symbolic of discontent and resentment because he may be aware only of the fact that he is in a rut and that he is imprisoned by circumstances. He may feel that he is capable of better things, and will chafe against the boredom of his endless routine. Yet the meaning of the routine escapes him, because he does not truly understand the meaning of service. The inner serenity which can be achieved through an alignment with the group life by service is rarely achieved in this case. Only the monotony of the outer pattern, repeated over and over again, is apparent. Saturn in the sixth house may suggest that the individual will be drawn toward service; but his conception of service is generally a situation where one does menial tasks for others. It is said in esoteric teaching that service, rather than being 'good works', is an innate quality of the inner man; it is a state of consciousness rather than a planned act. Service of this kind is the result of inner integration, for once the body and feeling and mind of a man are in balance, he can then begin to become aware, intuitively, of the purpose and nature of his inner psyche. He is no longer occupied in reconciling the battling components of his nature, but though an inner attunement ¬achieved through a ritual ordering of his personality - he can listen to his real direction. This is the goal of meditation, and of yoga, and of certain kinds of ritual magic, all of which are given to the sixth house - although the meaning is rarely made clear. Service which is the result of inner balance is the potential result of Saturn in the sixth house when he is expressing in a conscious way; and this placement is common among physicians, surgeons, and those who tend to the mental and emotional ills of others because it is a fulfillment of the inner need of the group.

Service is often seen by the average individual with Saturn in the sixth house as an easy road, because it does not require courage, initiative, or the braving of the unknown ¬qualities which Saturn placed here often has difficulty expressing. Yet he may resent being a servant because of the sameness of his situation and the anonymity of his role. One of the most common reflections of this placement is the individual who remains in a job which he dislikes intensely yet cannot leave. We may hear him complain about it bitterly and about those for whom he works; he may be underpaid and overworked, or at least believe that he is; yet he will generally find excuses for avoiding any confrontation or effort at improvement because if his circumstances are irritating and frustrating, at least they are safe and familiar. If he does attempt to help himself, he is frequently refused because he projects an attitude of self-doubt or because he lacks the skill or qualifications to earn him a better situation. He often misses the need for the development of a skill because this requires an inner purpose for the outer training, and he is uncomfortable when forced to consider inner purposes. He may very neatly lock himself into his own prison without realizing that he still, and always, possesses the key.

There is real administrative or organizing ability with Saturn in the sixth house, and often real healing ability and a fine and subtle insight into the intricacies of the mind; but these must be brought into the light and polished into usefulness. They are rarely available without effort. The man generally finds that confrontation with the shadowy side of his nature, which seeks to avoid the problem of responsibility to the life of the group, is necessary. Humility of a genuine kind, which is one of the more endearing Virgoan qualities, is rarely present by natural inclination when Saturn is in the sixth house; subservience is often expressed instead, and they are not the same thing. The unconscious man with Saturn in the sixth house is like a gardener who loves only the flower, the final result of the process of growth, without understanding that the flower has meaning only against the context of the slow and orderly sequence of growth of the entire plant. The plant does not grow to produce the flower for him; it is only accidental that he is even there to appreciate it, for the plant responds to its own inner purpose. Therefore, when the flower dies, his joy is gone.

Saturn in the sixth house is commonly associated with ill-health as well as with a fascination for the laws of health. There is no reasonable answer to the problem of inherited or congenital disease, for if we seek a cause-and-effect principle, or even a purpose, we are confronted with the philosophical problem of the nature of the soul. There are often simpler principles at work in the case of psychosomatic illness, however, and this is common with a sixth house Saturn. The least glamorous cause of this kind of pattern is a desire for attention, and this is common enough; the individual who completely dominates his household and his family through the demands of his illness is very common. Also common is the desire to avoid that which is unpleasant, either work or the deeper need for ordering which the psyche calls for and which seems an impossible task. The hypochondriac with a sixth house Saturn is not an infrequent occurrence. This is Saturn's method of avoiding the problem of integration, for illness is always a reflection of imbalance - even if we assign it a purely physical origin.

We may also see the opposite extreme of Saturn in the individual who is obsessed with being 'healthy'. This is a much clearer example of the need for ordering which is compressed into a tangible method of expression. But whatever the external manifestation, Saturn in the sixth house reflects an imperative need for inner integration which, if avoided, may produce illness and, if forced into a material channel, may produce inner frustration, moodiness, irritability, and depression. If an individual works consciously toward a practical understanding of his psyche, and of its relationship with his body, and of the relationship of this working unit to the environment of which he is a part, then Saturn in the sixth house can make of the mind and the body not two interrelated things but one thing, a finely balanced vehicle which is then available for the use of the inner man who is no longer confined by his material expression. Toward this end alchemy was directed; and today the process of individuation in analytical psychology is also directed toward this synthesis. It is reflected in the ancient alchemical injunction: 'Thou wilt never make from others the One which thou seekest, except there first be made one thing of thyself'.

See also: Saturn in the 6th House; Saturn in the 6th House;

Saturn in the 6th House: Sri Aurobindo, Warren Beatty, Lady Gaga, Jimi Hendrix, Howard Hughes, Nicole Kidman, Carl Lewis, Willie Nelson, Ramana Maharshi, Cathy O’Brien, Andrew, Clark, David, Farmer, Ivy, Jude, JulieD, Leen, Maureen, Patrice, Ralph, Silas, Supr, Tammy, Zoë


Saturn in the 7th House

The seventh house is traditionally that of marriage and the marriage partner as well as that of open enemies. The characteristics which are valued in others, and which are sought in a partner, are symbolized by this house as well as the characteristics which are possessed by our enemies and through which we are vulnerable to opposition. In the seventh house, the perfect match is represented, the attributes which, when added to the components of the personality of the individual, will round him out and make him whole. The situations which the person is likely to attract in marriage are also represented here; and some indication of what kind of partner the person himself is likely to be.

We have for a long time accepted a rather superficial interpretation for Libra and its corresponding house; and the psychological mechanism of projection is most clearly and obviously displayed by the traditional meaning assigned to this house of the 'other'. For the other is in the end within oneself; and it is a balance between the male and female halves of the man's own psyche which stands behind his balance with a marriage partner. We seek in others what we are not able to express consciously ourselves; and we also hate in others what we are not able to express. No perfect match with another can create inner wholeness. Marriage as it is reflected by the seventh house is a reality only in proportion to the inner integration of the individual; otherwise, it is a charade, and although this view is apparently a cynical or depressive one, it is possible that it is in fact hopeful because it suggests the possibility of something better than what we see around us. The basic psychological mechanism of projection of the unconscious, transsexual half of the psyche - termed by Jung the anima in men and the animus in women - is intimately connected with the qualities of the marriage partner as they are evidenced by the seventh house.

When Saturn is in the seventh house, the opportunity for an inner integration or balancing of opposites is offered, for it is unlikely that the individual will find the qualities he seeks happily expressed by a partner. It is more likely that he will attract to himself situations which involve some degree of pain, isolation, rejection, and disappointment until he begins to re-orient himself toward an inner search. This placement is analogous to the conjunction or mystical marriage of alchemy, which in psychological terms suggests an inner integration which results in a new centre for the psyche and new balance and meaning in life. In alchemical symbolism this marriage is always accompanied by darkness and death previous to the distillation of the elixir; and the darkness which often accompanies a seventh house Saturn is matched only by the brilliance of the gold which is also promised.

The most basic interpretation of Saturn in the seventh house is sorrow, difficulty, or constriction in marriage or other close relationships. Generally these sorrows appear to be the hand of external fate and often do not seem to be connected with any fault in the individual himself. Saturn in this house is frequently in his most elaborate disguise because his action is so completely externalized. It always seems to be the other person's fault. This is characteristic of seventh house planets; and good or bad luck, happiness or unhappiness, appear to come through the agency of the partner or the opponent. We are accustomed to interpreting this house as a symbol of the effects of others upon us without considering that these effects are the direct result of our own inner needs and conflicts projected outward upon others. It is not wholly the partner's shortcomings that are responsible when Saturn in the seventh house does not foster a union of unmitigated bliss.

The restrictions of a seventh house Saturn are often of a very obvious sort. Commonly, isolation or aloneness is one sort of restriction. We may also see the older, more serious partner who, although stable and faithful and perhaps financially solvent as well, dampens and constricts the individual's expression because he does not understand or appreciate his partner's thoughts and dreams. The partner may be ailing or dependent in some way through illness or monetary obligations, thereby becoming a responsibility rather than a companion. Sometimes he is possessive and demanding, or he may be disappointment simply because he is incompatible, or abandons the individual, or causes hurt through emotional or physical infidelity. In situations of this kind, we are accustomed to assuming that it is the person's bad luck in the choice of a mate. Everything is usually all right at the beginning. It all seems to happen later, after the knot is tied. We may then hear the familiar cry, 'I never realized when I met him...'.

There is much that we know about others at the first moment of contact, for we are as sensitive to the subliminal signals given in a thousand subtle ways by our fellows as the lower kingdoms of nature are to the subtle signals of their environment. But these are intuitive realizations; and they are not often welcome if the inner needs contradict the conscious ideal of what a mate should be. It is invariably the inner needs which are expressed, and which are answered, for like attracts like. The fact that someone later seems to be different is due not to bad luck but to a deliberate inner choice which was made at the very beginning. Once again, it is wise to assume some responsibility where Saturn is concerned, for the awareness of these inner needs and the honest sharing of them is very likely to be a prerequisite for happy and productive union when Saturn is found in the seventh house. Although it may at first seem difficult to understand why an individual would choose, consciously or unconsciously, a partner who will hurt, disappoint, or limit him, it is not so difficult to understand that a man may be at war with himself and be compelled by unconscious motives of which he is unaware. His choice of partner is often a reflection of this war.

The consistent thread which runs through the many expressions of Saturn in the seventh house seems to be the successful avoidance of a relationship which might involve real union on all levels instead of merely the physical or emotional. The dangers of dependency or vulnerability are carefully sidestepped by Saturn's action although the man may be unaware that he is doing this on a conscious level. Seen from the viewpoint of the detached observer, relationships formed with a Saturnian influence are often 'safe' in that the partner is himself dependent, weak, needful, and unable to form any kind of threat or support to the individual. The partner may be cold or unfaithful or incapable of establishing a meaningful relationship himself; and this is a neat mechanism for avoiding the effort and responsibility of a fully conscious union while having a scapegoat on whom the failure of the union may be blamed. Saturn in the seventh house does not necessarily describe the failure of marriage because of the failure of the partner; but it often appears this way to the conscious eye of the individual who must project his own inaccessibility onto someone else.

From the point of view of the personality, this mechanism appears to be a depressing one, for it would appear that there is something lying deep within the individual's psyche which will not permit him happiness in union. This is true, but is only depressing when seen out of context. What is really implied is that happiness in union is not possible unless the union is based upon values other than the ordinary superficial ones of appearance, financial status, emotional dependency, and social pleasure; for these causes carry with them inevitably the seeds of failure if Saturn is in the seventh house. He often places great emphasis on the formal structure of marriage while managing to avoid the inner exchange of which the formal structure is the symbol. Saturn in the seventh house tends to symbolize a rather painful arrangement because of the ensuing loneliness. But in the end, the thing which is sought is inner integration, an inner marriage, and inner wholeness rather than dependency upon another person for the centre of one's psychic life. From the point of view of the self, the total psyche rather than of the personality, Saturn placed here offers a great opportunity. There is no suggestion of the necessity of a lonely life; there is rather the inner push to understand the deeper levels of union, the psychic fact of which marriage is a symbol, and the kind of true relationship which stems from two people who have centers of their own and are therefore free consciously to choose.

Patterns of hurt and rejection are common with Saturn in the seventh house. There is often much talk of giving, for Saturn often plays the martyr; yet it is frequently found that the individual who complains the most about having given so much with so little reward has in reality given little that does not have a condition attached. He is frightened of being alone; yet he is equally frightened that he will be hurt; so he tries to follow both these impulses, and establishes relationships into which his inner self does not enter. Often Saturn will overcompensate; and instead of being the one who is consistently abandoned, he will play the Don Juan figure - of either sex - and give the impression of being hard, callous, and unfeeling. This is very rarely the true inner nature of Saturn; but it is one of his most frequent masks. He is more likely to be morbidly sensitive underneath his armor, so he will seek safety rather than the possible pain of a union which might end in his rejection. Sacrificing love for safety, which he often calls duty, he may believe that he has made an advantageous choice and then finds he cannot extricate himself when the enormity of his sacrifice becomes clear to him. The man with Saturn in the seventh house who attempts to make a partnership a material affair generally finds that he must pay a higher price than he intended. This is often the case when Saturn's inclination toward truth and dispelling of illusory values is blocked. It is not necessary to postulate the idea of hell after death when one has glimpsed the inner hell of loneliness which is often the companion of this attempt to distort Saturn's energies.

Saturn in an angular house suggests that events, and direct contacts with others, are involved in the working out of the process of inner discovery. In the seventh, this is apparent in that the marriage partner becomes either a source of suffering or a source of great opportunity for mutual growth. This choice is free to the individual; but he must first realize that he has a choice; if he does not, it is not his bad karma which has brought him suffering, but simply ignorance.

Saturn in 7th House: Saturn in the seventh house indicates the need to learn when to be an equal and when to wield responsible power and when to accept limits. The latter will usually be connected to the rights and power of other people. With integration, we can co-operate with others in marriage and in teamwork in a job, sharing the power and the responsibility.

A seventh house father may be a partner or may be gone in light of the potential for separations in the opposition aspect and the natural opposition of the seventh house to the first house of our own identity. The father may be artistic and pleasant or argumentative and combative. If we learn compromise and co-operation early in life with both authority figures and peers, we will be prepared to enjoy our adult equalitarian relationships.

Often Saturn in the seventh house calls for recognition that a variety of types of interactions can be appropriate, including co-operation, competition, and helping others. We just need to have a place in our lives for each and to know when to do which.

I was initially puzzled by a male client whose chart was dominated by air signs, which are normally equalitarian, but he had both major lesson factors, Saturn and the south lunar node, in air signs. But Saturn was in the seventh house and the south lunar node was in the tenth house, pointing to lessons somewhere in the area of equality and responsible power. I described the issues to the client, and he was able to understand it. He said that he was a manager in his job, responsible for seeing that employees worked properly. He recognized that his tenth house Aquarius was leading him to be too equalitarian with the employees and they were taking advantage of his leniency. But in his seventh house, which was calling for equality, he 'had his thumb on his wife' to quote his phrase.

Seventh house careers can involve all kinds of teamwork, especially counseling or consulting in some way. Fields involving arbitration and law and politics are common choices. Litigation is part of the potential, or other forms of competition. Power struggles are 'healthy' and can contribute to both sides gaining skills if they 'play by the rules', are able to win sometimes and lose sometimes, and keep in mind that it is a game. Remember that until we are exercising our share of the world's power, we still feel that it is in the hands of others. Other seventh house careers can use its potential artistic talent for jobs in the graphic arts such as design, photography, architecture, city planning, and landscape gardening.

Saturn in 7th House: This placement of Saturn can cause a variety of results, depending on the sign it is in and the aspects to it. Relationships are always taken very seriously, particularly marriage.

Requirements for a mate can be very exacting; sometimes so exacting that no-one ever qualifies. The mate is frequently older, more experienced, or more ambitious. These people may marry out of a sense of duty. Sometimes the mate is ill, or so heavily committed to another family or to a job or career that the relationship is not as fulfilling as they might wish. There tend to be difficulties with the marriage, sorrow, loss, loneliness, disagreements, separations, yet the sense of duty and commitment can be so strong that ultimately it wins out over all difficulties.

These people are very exacting of others, but equally exacting of themselves and their duty to those they love. They are always very responsive to what they see as their duty, perhaps to such a degree that it burdens their lives, especially in youth. They are attracted to ambitious people and are very ambitious for those they love and eager to help them succeed. Sometimes they feel a secret contempt for those who seem too lightweight, uncommitted, or free and easy. They tend to be a bit restrictive of those they love, to keep them on too tight a rein, or ask too much of them. If they rise to prominence, it is frequently through the efforts or ambitions of a parent, mate, or patron.

This location of Saturn tends to give physical strength, drive, and stamina, and the ability to overcome physical obstacles that would stop most people. They can work harder, faster, and longer than others, push themselves to break records, push past the herd in a physical sense, and to prove themselves in the eyes of others.

They seem to have more asked of them than most people. Because of their sense of duty and commitment, others are inclined to place heavy demands on them, which they are glad of or resent, depending on other factors, but which they will in any case struggle to fulfill.

Saturn in 7th House: Relationships are not that easy for people with Saturn in the 7th; and yet this is precisely the area through which they will be challenged to grow and examine themselves. Trying to wriggle out of the hot seat, they might complain that the right man or woman has just never come along, or moan that some flaw in the partner is the root of the trouble. However, rather than just blaming fate, bad luck or poor choice it is by searching inwards that they will unearth reasons for the dispiriting state of affairs.

Wherever there is Saturn, there is fear. Very often these people obstruct relationships because they are frightened of becoming too deeply involved with others. They may be afraid of the degree of commitment a relationship requires, and terrified of becoming too dependent on someone else. Dreading and half-expecting to be hurt, they cannot risk the vulnerability of true intimacy. As is often the case with the 7th house, in order to trace the origins of these kinds of complexes, earlier relationships will have to be examined.

Did they open to a parent and then experience hurt, rejection and misunderstanding? If so, they may still anticipate being unlovable or unacceptable to others. Was the parental marriage so atrocious as to obliterate the very idea of a happy union? If so, can they not learn from their parents' mistakes? By seeking answers and solutions to these kinds of questions, they grow wiser about themselves, relationships and life in general. This is the gift of Saturn in the 7th I have seen many instances of people with Saturn in the 7th house who complain that their partners are too limiting and restricting - if it only weren't for their spouses, they would accomplish so much more. Sometimes this is true because they have chosen, unconsciously or not, ostensibly tyrannical men or women as partners. However, the belief that the partner is holding them back is a form of self-deception: in actual fact, what they have done is to project their own internal blocks and fears of stretching themselves onto the partner. Even when they are free of their supposedly restraining husbands and wives, many of those people with Saturn in the 7th will just find other reasons for not venturing forth and expanding themselves. Why not examine these inner obstacles first?

Saturn in the 7th may look for a partner who is safe. Sometimes the least risky ones are those who do not engender an enormous amount of passion. Or as a kind of self-protection policy, they may deliberately choose partners whom they feel are inadequate or lacking in certain respects. Therefore, if the relationship fails, and the other person walks out the door, they can reassure themselves that they are better off without that no-good lame duck. Others seem to select partners who have the same weaknesses as they do, and then proceed to batter the other person for those things they feel unhappy about in themselves.

Saturn in this house also manifests in the search for a partner who will provide security and stability for them. For these reasons, this placement has often been associated with marriage to an older person, or a mother-figure or father-figure. This may work, but at the expense of keeping them small and dependent. Should it fail, it may be a blessing in disguise because they are forced to develop their own inner source of strength and support. While this is not easy, it is invariably a worthwhile achievement.

Saturn in the 7th may marry later in life or not find more complete fulfillment in a union until somewhat older - as if Father Time must teach them a thing or two before a truly mutual and healthy relationship can be formed.

More mundanely, lawsuits may be long and drawn-out, and it might be advisable to try to settle out of court.

Saturn in 7th House: You are cautious and reserved about meeting people, and you don't form relationships with others until you've had time to evaluate their credentials. Your apprehensiveness comes from feeling that they will somehow try to make restricting demands on you. Your negative attitude makes it essential that you get an education to improve your chances in competition, where your credentials are certain to be challenged. While you admire and respect people who are sure of themselves, you fail to take the initiative when you are given an opportunity to demonstrate your skills. You must learn to react more positively in such situations, if only to prove to yourself that you can succeed in competition. Once you realize that you have the ability to win, you will learn to manage your creative resources so that you can achieve your goals.

While you may not like promoting yourself before the public, you will have to if you want people to buy your skills. Fear of ridicule is an unacceptable reason for withholding your talents from those who need them most. When you finally get over this hang-up, you must establish a program to achieve your career goals ethically. It is important to keep your ambitions uncontaminated so you will know that everything you have was gained through honest hard work.

Become as proficient as possible in your chosen work so that you aren't unnecessarily intimidated by challenging competition. Learn about your adversaries' credentials and get whatever additional training is required so that you can meet them on equal terms. You can learn something from every person you meet, socially and professionally, so take advantage of it. Your early environment had some limitations, which may have made it difficult to assert yourself as you should. Once detached from obligations to your family, you will benefit from external social contacts.

You may have to work hard to get patronage for your services, but that can provide you with an adequate and comfortable living. Success feeds on itself, and there is no limit to the goals you can achieve. Until you are confidently established in your career, do only what is required of you in any situation, and set aside some time for rest and relaxation. You have the impression that you are somehow indebted to everyone and that they can demand payment at will. Find out exactly what you must do, such as taking responsibility for your actions, providing the best possible product or service, and managing your affairs according to high ethical standards.

Find someone who shares your ambitions and can give you needed moral and emotional support when there are difficulties. There is no limit to what you can accomplish with someone you love, for you find shared experiences more enriching and fulfilling. Don't worry that people won't accept you, or you may fail to live up to their expectations. If you are properly trained and accept full responsibility for your actions, you will gain acceptance in your own social environment and win the admiration of your contemporaries as well.

Saturn in 7th House: Mirrored awareness: With Saturn in the 7th, it's difficult to understand that the image you see in others is truly a reflection of yourself, for it often appears fearsome and threatening, either demanding or rejecting, and thus it's easier to convince yourself that the other person is emanating these qualities. The major pitfall here is denial, the tendency to want to look away, to avoid real relatedness, since what you may see is so fearful. The challenge is to give yourself time to gradually overcome the intense fear of knowing yourself, so that you can eventually discover authentic self-acceptance.

Equal partnerships: Your relationships with peers have been conditioned by the anxiety that others don't want to know you as you really are. You feared rejection from your father or other authority figures, and learned to protect yourself from it. Even in adulthood, you continue seeking to prove your acceptability to authorities, so you often choose partners who are significantly older or younger, if not in age, then in some less tangible way. The pitfall involves pushing yourself so hard you simply blow out, collapsing in reaction into almost calculated insensitivity or irresponsibility toward your partners. The challenge is to respect your limits, growing through your fears. Discover that you have nothing to prove to yourself or us.

Contracts, commitments: Your anxiety over relationships is never more obvious than with regard to commitment. What if you choose the wrong person? Will you be humiliated if you're not perfect in your performance of the contract? Will the Gods set you up for failure no matter how hard you try? Fear may become self-fulfilling prophecy: you could refuse to make any promises, resulting in painful isolation; or you might close your eyes and plunge into total commitment, hoping that everything will magically turn out all right - inevitably resulting in ruined relationships. The challenge is to learn responsibility slowly by moving through stages of commitment. If you get in over your head, pull back to a lower level. Commitment is not birthed whole; it is built one brick at a time, just like maturity.

Co-operation: You want co-operation deeply, but you fear being abused, and worse, you worry that you actually deserve mistreatment for unknown flaws of character. Why would others want to co-operate with you, especially the powerful father figures to whom you are attracted? There are two pitfalls: first, you may bend so far in accommodation that you harm yourself; or second, you may so far rejection that you refuse to negotiate with a coldly defensive posture. Remember that just because your partner wins, you don't have to lose. The challenge is to learn that you can be in unresolved negotiations safely. You're correct to be cautious in negotiations, but your ambition to achieve full co-operation won't go away; you just have to work at it.

Natural partner or partnership: Your natural partner is one whose maturity and common sense are palpable, a person of achievement and steady endurance. Your natural mate has considerable dignity and psychological strength, with notable restraint that's backed by a clear understanding of responsibility. You must respect your mate in ways that enhance your self-respect.

A natural partnership for you feels very old, rocklike and solid. You needn't be totally secure, but you must feel awe and reverence at a physical level. This relationship challenges you to conquer your fears, but slowly enough that you're not overwhelmed. It helps you feel more adult. The image is a mountain of granite.

See also: Saturn in the 7th House; Saturn in the 7th House;

Saturn in the 7th House: Woody Allen, William Blake, Carlos Castaneda, Aleister Crowley, Johnny Depp, John Dillinger, Melanie Griffith, Bob Marley, OmNi, Ayn Rand, Al, Dheeraj, Dunja, Gabriela, GaryCl, Geoff, Jeff, JerryH, JerryP, Johanna, Ju, Medwick, Nancee, Nirvesh, Olof (end), Q


Saturn in the 8th House

The first sign or house belonging to each element is generally the clearest and most direct in meaning, and relates to the development of the individual personality and its integration. The second sign of that element denotes a point of crisis, for here the individual must take his own experience and integrate it into the group of which he is a part. This is rarely done without struggle, for this too is an expansion of consciousness from the personal to the universal. The third and last sign or house refers to the larger unit of the group and infers the final purpose of the particular level of consciousness symbolized by that element.

The watery signs and houses do not contradict this. In the fourth house a man is subjected to an isolated unit to emotional forces and pressures from the environment which shape his future growth as a personality. He has the opportunity of building a base within himself so that the projection into circumstance is withdrawn and inner security on the feeling level becomes a permanent possession of his character. In the eighth house, the man must take his feeling nature as a channel of expression and contact and begin to function in personal relationships with others. The flow of feeling is not between him and another. Finally, in the twelfth house he has the opportunity of taking the wisdom he has acquired from his experiences and offering it to the group in service for the group development. He is no longer an isolated unit but part of a larger evolving life. This is a helpful way of viewing things which is useful to remember in considering Saturn in the eighth house, for this house is probably the most misunderstood and maligned of all the houses in the horoscope.

This house is primarily described as either the house of physical death - which suggests that it has no value or activity outside that brief moment when we take leave of the physical sheath - or as 'money received from others', a description which is an insult to the complexity and power of the sign and planet associated with the house. Both interpretations are valid as far as they go, but they do not help in an understanding of Saturn placed in the eighth beyond the reading of a death in old age and the denial of inheritance; and both of these readings are frequently mistaken. The interchange of finances between two people in partnership may be one of the by-products of the house; but it is only when the meaning of money as a symbol of emotional values is understood that the more complex meaning of 'money received from others' becomes clear. Death itself does indeed come under this house; but there are many kinds of death, and most of them are not physical; and every death is followed inevitably by a rebirth because it is only the form, and not the life which inherits the form, that dies.

As a watery house, the eighth deals primarily with emotional exchange. As opposite from the second house, that which has physical value and meaning and which constitutes stability and self-sustenance becomes that which has emotional value and which constitutes stability of feeling. It is in the eighth sign, Scorpio, that we may find a clue to the significance of this house in matters of sex, emotional crises, and the death and rebirth of the instincts as purified desire.

This is primarily a house of crisis, and refers to those points in life where the emotional ties to others force a man to the realization of some vital area of his own feeling nature which must be recognized, examined, and purified. Here money becomes a symbol of emotional dependence or freedom, for in our society it buys freedom or bondage in marriage, and our sexual values are largely colored by our finances. So often in the eighth house there exists the enactment of a struggle which appears purely material and which is really emotional in origin. It is no wonder that Freud attributed such significance to money in dreams and why psychology continues to recognize the relationship between monetary and emotional generosity or tightness.

It is common to find the individual with afflicted planets here tied to a difficult financial situation following upon a broken marriage or to chronic problems with partners who take advantage of him financially. This is particularly characteristic of an eighth house Saturn. When investigated, it will often be found that on the sexual and emotional levels there was difficulty in expression; and there is no sweeter revenge for many people than to air their disappointment and frustration in the face of an unresponsive Saturnian partner through material demands.

The area into which this discussion takes us is a prickly one; and this is usual for Scorpio and the eighth house; however, although the previous statement may seem inordinately hard, it is ironic that in our society the prostitute, who is at least honest about the wares that she sells, is despised an generally ends up in jail, while the wife who fundamentally plays the same role and buys her security with her body is glorified because society condones this mask. There are a great many women who trade their sexual favors for a legal tie which promises them financial security; and a great many men who buy these favors in exchange for what have been euphemistically termed 'a husband's rights'.

There is much rubble which must be dug through where our present attitudes toward sex in relation to money are concerned, for we are still following the feudal concepts of family financial structure. In spite of the efforts of more enlightened souls, it will take another generation (as of 1976!) before we can begin to understand that the real nature of sex has nothing to do with the physical world at all but is the reflection of emotional and mental energies - which are in turn the reflection of still more complex energies. Money and sex are still too complex for the average man to understand except in a literal way; and consequently, we have a tremendous amount of confusion to wade through before the alchemical union of two people into one is understood.

The three watery houses and signs represent three aspects of the feeling nature of man. The fourth house symbolizes the nurturing forces which shape his early life. The eighth symbolizes the creative and procreative forces which he wields and through which he contacts others. The twelfth symbolizes the dissipating forces which eventually break down his sense of separateness and release him into group life.

The eighth house is a battleground, the primary purpose of which is self-understanding and self-mastery through constant crises. There is no greater battleground or stimulus to crisis than the energies which are released through the apparently wholly physical act of sex. The union which occurs on the level of the feeling nature produces a flow of energy which takes a man, for a brief moment, 'out of himself' - it is virtually the only time that he can feel himself to be at one with another human being. It is this intimate emotional oneness to which the sexual aspect of the eighth house refers; there is a death of the individual awareness and the birth of a mutual awareness for which reason the Elizabethans called the sexual act 'the little death'. Unfortunately there are many people who are as frightened of the apparent emotional vulnerability inherent in this as they are of death itself. What they do not recognize is that the union takes place whether it is recognized or not, and that on the feeling level it is not possible to totally shut out the partner; it is only possible to believe that he has been shut out.

To consider this point of view is to recognize the real responsibility in a sexual union. This has nothing to do with morality. We have had many centuries of moral teachings which have done absolutely nothing to help us understand the real nature of the mystery. The currents of this great creative force or 'serpent power' - whose cousins we may see as the serpent in the garden, the ourobouros of alchemy, and the plumed serpent of the Aztecs ¬may be released in other ways, but these belong to the sphere of the occultist and the magician, and the average individual knows only one - physical sex. Once set in motion, these currents bind and alter both souls involved. All states of consciousness which involve the 'death' of the personality - ranging from those induced by drugs to certain kinds of religious ecstasy and trances of varying sorts - come under the rulership of the eighth house, for they all refer to this same energy which can separate the self from its vehicles. Physical death is only the last in a series of deaths which begin with birth.

We understand very little about both sex and death at the present time; and this ignorance is more than slightly owed to the confusion of the Piscean era with its pronouncement of sex as evil and of death as the gateway to never-ending heaven or hell. This kind of conditioning runs deep, as it has been with us for two thousand years; and even the more liberal-minded and scientifically-inclined have the same collective heritage of fear, superstition, and fascination about this area of human experience. The individual with Saturn in the eighth house has a double burden on his hands, for he must not only come to terms with Saturn - who is evasive enough on his own - but he must also be willing to make the descent into Pluto's realm if he is to find the treasure hard to attain. It may be said, however, and with no attempt at poetry, that the person who accomplishes this possesses the key to his own immortality.

In a great many cases with Saturn in Scorpio or in the eighth house, the individual's fears or feelings of inadequacy are in the area of sexual expression. This is undoubtedly a symbol for an even deeper fear; but here the symbol is powerful enough in its own right to create great pain in the person's life. The average man who has to deal with this situation will not, however, take kindly to being told this fact bluntly by an astrological consultant. People are as prickly about sex now, when it comes to overt discussion, as they were during Victoria's time. Moreover, the man's inadequacy is not a physical one but rather an emotional one; this is a watery, not an earthy, house. Saturn in the eighth is often linked with impotence or frigidity; but these are also not physical problems, and the physician who attempts to cure these problems through hormones alone is committing a grave error. The difficulty here lies in the fear of submission, or violation, of the control of the partner, and of emotional rejection, for it is the psychic rather than the physical exchange which contains the threat.

It is fairly common to find an individual with Saturn in the eighth who may be affectionate and loving but who, when the last output of separateness is passed in the bedroom, shies like a frightened horse and cannot perform. Or he may overcompensate for his inner fears by becoming the 'perfect lover' on a purely physical level; and he may try to block the flow of energy and emotion to his partner so that he is, somehow, not really there. however subtle this mechanism is, it can be deeply frustrating and disturbing to the partner although it may not be recognized on a conscious level by either person. The individual may not be aware than anything is wrong except that somehow it is always faintly disappointing; and he is never able to achieve the satisfaction his fantasies tell him is possible. It takes an unusual degree of honesty to look directly at the subtle patterns which surround an eighth house Saturn, for there is, at the same time as fear, the overcompensation of great value placed on performance, in our present era. No wonder that these people have such trouble with money during and after marriage; they may easily find themselves under financial obligations concurrent with the amount of frustration they have unconsciously inflicted on their partners.

As with all Saturn positions, two extremes of behavior are possible. The effects of overcompensation can help to produce the overtly promiscuous person who is not truly motivated by physical pleasure but who is truly particularly hard to be 'sexy' because he or she is dimly aware of a fundamental problem in relating emotionally to another person. Here Saturn again tries to make an emotional value into a physical one with little success. This kind of behavior is prevalent now because there is great emphasis on sexual freedom as the reaction to too much restriction in the past. Both are extremes which are part of the natural process of evolution, but which are unpleasant in themselves, for fear permeates them both.

It is naturally wise for the consultant astrologer to express diplomacy when dealing with eighth house matters, for he may be inviting a punch in the mouth otherwise. But with this kind of eighth house Saturn, we are reminded of that wonderful Shakespearean line, 'Methinks thou dost protest too much!' This is reminiscent of the fourth house Saturn who 'adores' his family, who had a 'wonderful' childhood, who had 'no problems whatsoever' with either parent.

On the other hand, the person with Saturn in the eighth may cloak his fears with the garment of strong religious or moral convictions of a particularly intolerant sort, thereby declaring as sinful that of which he is essentially afraid. In these cases Saturn is a prompter toward celibacy, but for all the wrong reasons. The devil, unfortunately, is not vanquished by being told to go away; it is the light of consciousness that he cannot endure.

We may also find that rare individual who is honest enough with himself to understand that there is something within himself that needs development - as there is in everyone ¬and who makes the effort not only to discipline but to comprehend his sexual nature as well so that he can express it in the most positive way. In all cases, however, the fascination with death and with sex is very great although there may be fear or disgust at the same time.

It seems that a characteristic pattern of the person with an eighth house Saturn is to be let down emotionally by others and often in the most intimate and painful way; and it is in this pattern that a clue to the larger purpose of the placement may be found. There is frequently a denial of deep emotional contact in childhood; and as Saturn has some connection with the father, this placement often occurs where the father dies or is emotionally cold. Often the individual grows up in an environment where very little physical expression occurs or where the sexual problems existent between the parents have filled the atmosphere with hostility and fear. There is some link between the father and the sexual energies although this may be very subtle. Often it is not subtle; and beatings or assault occur. The effect, whatever the actual circumstance, is a feeling of isolation and loneliness that no-one can share and whose scars no-one can alleviate. For Saturn in the eighth house carries deeper emotional scars than any other Saturnian placement; and the wounds are slower to heal. People with Saturn in the eighth have a deep insight into nature and human nature and a fascination with death and other states of being. They often have a strong desire to save humanity, or at least some part of it. This position attracts effective advisors. It also tends to be politically conservative.

They can have a certain blindness about themselves and the things or people they believe in, with a set of fixed ideas that can sometimes get in their way. Their usual refusal to see their own stubbornness brings them many losses in life, until they face themselves and can accept the truth about themselves.

They tend to wear well and often gain in attractiveness as they age. They usually have a brush with death at some point that changes their lives - either their own death or that of someone else. They may deal with death, or after-death states, in their work in some way, if there are other factors that confirm it.

These people are often very concerned with money, security, and position, due to a great lack of one or all of these in youth, and will probably gain a great deal of the first two at least, though possibly never enough to satisfy. They are capable of giving gracefully, effectively, and thoroughly, when needed, whether of time, services, or material things. The sorrows of their lives can be transformed into humor; they are usually very amusing people. In youth they are often very attractive to older people who can be helpful to them. With other factors, this guarantees charisma; yet in spite of it they are often lonely. They attract others, but often not the ones they'd like to attract.

Saturn in 8th House: Saturn in the 8th gives apprehensions and difficulties in the area of intimacy, sharing and joint resources. They may feel insecure about what they have to give or experience some difficulty receiving what another is offering. More generally, there is the fear of letting go, of merging and blending with another person. To truly merge with someone else means the death of the self as a separate individual. This is a frightening prospect for those with Saturn in the 8th who want to hold onto what they value and possess. In addition, letting themselves go in a relationship entails the possibility of being overtaken by feelings that they have attempted to keep under rigid control - rage, jealousy, envy and passions of a primitive and instinctive nature. They desperately crave a close union and yet withdraw from it for fear of being overwhelmed by such eruptions. Subsequently they may have difficulty relaxing and being open and trusting with others, all of which could give rise to sexual problems. (In mythology, Eros and Thanatos were brothers, and the sexual union is a kind of death of one's individuality.) Investigating the root causes of inhibitions in this area deepens and enriches their self-knowledge and understanding.

Besides possible sexual hang-ups, there are conflicts pooling resources and making personal adjustments in relationships. The partner's beliefs or values may differ from and contradict their or they may choose a mate who is a burden in some way. And yet, helping out with the welfare of others may be precisely what Saturn in the 8th needs for his or her own personal development. There can be trouble over inheritance, taxation and business contracts, and the possibility of drawn-out divorce proceedings. Some will make a career dealing with other people's money - bankers, investment consultants, stockbrokers and accountants may have this position of Saturn.

Generally, they hesitate to probe beneath the surface of life and yet this is what is needed for greater depth and maturity. Obviously, people who attempt to maintain rigid controls over themselves are likely to be very frightened by the prospect of physical death and what looms in the hereafter. These apprehensions could provoke them to a serious pursuit of more knowledge in these areas.

Saturn in 8th House: In the struggle to gain control over your life circumstances, you are forced to be obligated to and dependent upon others, although it bothers you. When you compare your accomplishments and resources with those of your contemporaries, your self-image suffers needlessly. Gaining personal security is so important that it has forced you to work with others as the one way to become more financially independent. Secretly, though, you aren't always sure that you measure up to the public's expectations, so you extend yourself to remove that doubt. You would be better off working for yourself in your own business, which would eliminate that problem. You are better equipped to deal with the public's needs than you realize, as should be proved by what you get for your services.

After repeatedly hearing how competent you are from those who appreciate your skills, you will finally realize that they are right. Perhaps then you will place a higher premium on your talents, thus letting the public know that you will do what they require but that your services are costly. They also know that they will get all or more than they expect. Once established in your occupation, you invest heavily in time and energy to achieve your goals and objectives. You learn to mobilize your skills and resources efficiently to derive the most benefit with the least effort. Luckily, when you need favors, you can always turn to those whom you have helped in the past.

You might neglect developing the kind of human values that are so essential in your career, especially since you will probably deal with the general public. Don't put all your values in material considerations, because if you do, many people cannot relate to you on a personal level. While you have greater sexual self-discipline than most people, the reason you are conservative in indulging your appetite is because of the cost involved. The chances are you will prefer having a small family that you can manage without being under enormous demands. You are willing to do without some of life's pleasures and direct your efforts toward your career. Because you are easily intimidated by your competitors' high performance, you strive to increase your skills and improve your position in relation to them. You want a career that allows you to grow and expand so you can increase your earnings and public status.

Your wealth of valuable ideas amounts to little unless you work at developing them so they can be utilized in the marketplace. This means that you will have to invest a lot of time and energy to increase your value to the buying public or, if you work for someone else, to achieve greater recognition from your superiors. With your organizational ability, you should be able to mobilize your resources so effectively that you won't have to be concerned about how to earn a living.

Look around for people whose needs or situations require your skills to improve them. You are definitely tied to working with and for the general public. Your partner admires and respects your efforts, although you may think that you can be accepted only to the extent that you provide every possible material benefit. Keep a sharp eye out for clever individuals who try to con you into schemes that aren't within the bounds of legality. You are sufficiently afraid of the consequences that you are unlikely to resort to lax moral behavior or questionable ethical standards.

Saturn in 8th House: Union: Saturn in the 8th indicates a strong sense of responsibility surrounding intimacy. This can indicate a working dedication to achieve lasting intimacy. But it may also reveal anxieties. You could fear being held responsible for every failure in sharing, not only blame for the shortcomings of your partnerships, but for any problems your partners have in their personalities. You may mistrust others' motives, believing that they will reject you once they're close enough to expose your flaws. These worries are not groundless - it's necessary to approach with caution. Make a long-term commitment to union, and move one step at a time. Even when you feel the onrush of intimacy, remind yourself to slow down. The pitfall is wanting from others what you have not given yourself. The challenge is careful selection of partners followed by persevering effort.

Transformation: Temper your sensitivity to others' reactions, your fears that you will be criticized or humiliated for not changing fast or well enough. You know very well not only what must change, but how those changes must be expressed. Do not adhere to schedules or rules imposed from outside; forcing change out of fear of rejection achieves nothing. At the same time, do not refuse to work on changing simply because others seem to be pushing you. The challenge is to take responsibility for where you are, not where you feel you should be. Do so calmly, without protest, while you continue gaining strength through measured steps forward. Your fears of ego death have only the power you give them, so celebrate even tiny victories over inertia. Most of all, be gentle and forgiving with yourself. You can change; time is on your side.

Sexual merging: You want sex to be tangible, not ethereal, but this focus is so demanding that you may overwhelm your own capacity for the experience. You fear that if you truly let go, you will obliterate yourself, so you hold back. The closer you come, the more your own gravity holds you down.

Sometimes you can't achieve release, and you regard this as a personal failure. It's not. It's the result of pushing too hard, of carrying too much seriousness. You regard your beloved's desires toward you with suspicion. This is protection against your rejection anxieties. The challenge is to patiently develop sexual relaxation. Remember, the trek up the mountain is long, to be achieved slowly. Only then will you appreciate the view from the summit.

Focused intuition: You feel it's not enough to merely have intuition; you often demand perfect knowing. This is too much to expect. Also, you fear the repercussions of intuition, believing that others will kill the messenger. Finally, you fear that you may actually be crazy, that intuition is not real, and that you are succumbing to a form of self-delusion. Each pitfall warrants real concern, but none is true. Your challenge is to work persistently to develop your intuitive faculties, constantly checking and double-checking the accuracy of your perceptions, and slowly developing faith that invisible worlds do indeed exist, and can be of great pragmatic value.

Shared assets: Money means responsibility, whether there is too little or too much. There is often delay or disappointment - your reward for patience is not as high as you hoped it would be. Happily, Saturn improves with age, like fine wine, and maturity can bring great common sense. But this is achieved only if you carefully manage the resources available through relationships. Easy money is counterfeit for you, and you must reject it. The challenge is to be like the little piggy who built his house out of bricks.

Saturn in 8th House: Saturn in the eighth house is, like Saturn in the seventh, usually working on issues of power versus equality. As part of our desire for deep lasting peer relationships, but with the added intensity of water, the eighth house can be more challenging than the seventh, where we are usually more consciously aware of both sides of situations and more willing to compromise. Water instinctively seeks fusion, but in the eighth house, as with Scorpio and Pluto, we also want control. It is not easy to be passionately involved with a mate but able to release to allow equality, to control ourselves but not anyone else, to realize we cannot possess another person. Complicating the situation is the Water need for dependence and the Letter Eight fear of loss of control. The prize for success is shared power and shared pleasure with possessions and appetites. We learn self-knowledge partly through the mirror of the mate and self-mastery partly out of respect for the rights of the mate.

In an interview with a female client who had Saturn in the eighth house I was delicately trying to get across the issue of sharing power with her husband without suggesting that there was something 'wrong' with her. She just looked at me and said "Yes, my husband and I do fight a lot. We enjoy it. Then we kiss and make up." So I said "Fine". Usually I advise competing with members of the other team rather than our own. But if you are doing it consciously as a game, it is not a problem. When something is happening in our lives which disturbs us and we are not sure why it is there or how to deal with it, then we need to do some analysis.

An eighth house father may be possessive and dominating if his family is his main or only place where he can feel in control. Or he may be so busy seeking security in the material world that he is rarely home. This combination can also indicate the death of a parent or other important authority figure in the early life, teaching us how to let go. Unless the father is unusually secure, he may feel deeply but seldom express his emotions. Emotional manipulation is a sign of too much insecurity to seek what we want openly. There may be sexual issues, especially if the relationship between the parents is poor. If the father tends to repress his emotions, they may periodically come out explosively or they may lead to illness. He is likely to be trying to learn moderation, when is enough, and how to let go. If the child can learn from the father's example, he or she will be ahead of the game.

We can direct the Saturn drive for power in the world into a career with teamwork. It could deal with joint resources in banking, investment, taxes, insurance, or public funds in government work. Or it could deal with the search for hidden answers through depth psychology, archaeology, detective work, or any type of research. Saturn and the eighth house bring together two of the 'obsessive-compulsive' sides of life, so individuals with this combination are often very good at detail and organization, with phenomenal memories and a strong will. If they possibly can, such people keep on going until they get there.

See also: Saturn in the 8th House;

Saturn in the 8th House: George Carlin, Ty Cobb, Salvadore Dali, Robert Downey, Jr., Sigmund Freud, George Harrison, Elton John, Martin Luther King, Jr,. Maharaj Ji, Nisargadatta, Osho, John D. Rockefeller, Evelyn Robert de Rothschild, Patti Smith, AlexP, Ashira, DonW, Fergus, J, Joze, Kay, Leigh, LucSr, Merrill, Michelle, Molly, Olof (cusp), Raga, Samp, Travis


Saturn in the 9th House

The ninth house is considered to be the house of long journeys, both those made by the physical body and those which increase consciousness and broaden the perspective of the mind. In this basic interpretation, which is traditional, the duality of the Gemini-Sagittarius axis and the third and ninth houses may be clearly seen; for third house movement, related to Mercury, deals with the gathering of information, while ninth house movement, related to Jupiter, pertains to the discovery of meaning which emerges when the information is finally put into perspective. These are, as has often been suggested, the two aspects of that perceptive function which we term the mind.

The ninth house is also the house of law by traditional definition; and just as there are two kinds of journeys - those of the body and those of the mind - there are also two kinds of laws. Man-made laws deal with the structuring of society so that it develops along the most positive lines and offers the maximum of protection to its members. Spiritual laws are not very well understood because they can only be apprehended by their reflection in human behavior; they might in psychological terms be called archetypes in the specific sense that Jung means this word. These laws are simply inherent in life rather than a product of life; in fact they are perhaps, in a more esoteric sense, the reason for life.

Unfortunately all we know of these laws, apart from the discoveries of modern psychology, is that interpretation given by theology which calls these archetypal patterns the Will of God and then attempts to interpret this Will according to a particular dogma or ideology. The entire subject of law, whether it is the instinctual patterning of nature, the intellectual and moral structuring of man, or a less tangible and more ambiguous patterning of life in general, is at best an abstruse subject and not one to be defined in a few paragraphs; it is likely that there is no proper definition. The realm of the ninth house, however, is an abstruse and subtle realm because it is connected with the intuition and with the intuitive perception of the laws of living and being and consciousness; and an understanding of this house, which requires the exercise of the intuition, can provide the key not only to the over-all patterns of humanity but to the meaning behind a single life. Although this is a cadent house, and therefore considered by tradition to be 'weak', the cadent houses are the birthplaces of thought, and the expression of a meaningful life as it is manifested through the Midheaven and the tenth house has its seeds in the level of consciousness indicated by the ninth.

This house is steeped in symbolic perspective which suggests in an interesting manner the meaning of dualism as it is expressed by Sagittarius. From the perspective of the Sagittarian temperament, nothing is taken at face value whether it is a person, a thing, or an experience; it is always a symbol for a broader, more basic experience or archetype, and this perpetual dual awareness of seeing the larger reflected in the smaller, of searching for cosmic meaning in the least of things, is a basic quality of Jupiter, of Sagittarius, and of the ninth house. Jupiter is a symbol for the intuition as Jung describes this function of consciousness - the means of perception whereby the intrinsic meaning of a person, a thing, or an experience is seen instantaneously, without analysis, against the broad framework of the meaning of life as a whole. This is a more modern way of interpreting the ancient Hermetic axiom of 'As above, so below' - an expression which is worn through misuse but which still yields increasingly complex meanings with each successive look.

Understandably, as the ninth house is connected with the intuition and the perception of meaning, the broad areas of religion and philosophy are usually associated with it, and on the individual birth chart the ninth house will generally suggest the quality and amount of involvement which the individual is likely to have with what is loosely termed 'the Path' ¬toward individuation or broader consciousness, in a psychological sense, or toward initiation, in an esoteric sense. It is probable that these two are connected in spite of the difference in terminology and viewpoint; and once again the duality of the ninth house is evidenced, for the two worlds of psychology and esotericism, ordinarily considered poles apart, are brought together under the umbrella of the search for meaning.

Through the medium of this house and sign, Saturn tends to have a pronounced effect in coloring the individual's overall view of life and his capacity to find meaning in his own life. Whether we assign Saturn a psychological meaning and associate him with the shadow or 'trickster' archetype of the unconscious or whether we assign him an esoteric meaning and call him Lucifer, the behavioral patterns which seem to be concurrent with Saturn in the ninth house follow the usual path of constriction, overcompensation, disillusionment and pain, searching, and eventual inner realization and control. The kind of pain which usually accompanies this placement is loss of faith; and the search is generally for a new framework of spiritual and moral values by which the life may be given structure and meaning. The opportunity which Saturn offers here seems to be connected with a potential for direct intuitive perception of the wholeness and meaning of the psyche; and this perception comes through what depth psychology now calls a peak experience. This kind of experience is the goal of the individuation process as Jung structured it, and is also the goal of many later developments in the field of depth psychology; it is also, under a different name, the goal of the discipline of certain schools of meditation and yoga. Whatever the experience is, and whether it comes in one brief and overwhelming flash or is pieced together over a period of time by an increased flow of the intuitive function, Saturn in the ninth house is connected with the possibility of this kind of experience. This does not mean that only those individuals who have Saturn in the ninth house (or Sagittarius) are likely to experience this influx of intuitive perception; however, it is possible that those individuals who have these placements, or have Saturn and Jupiter in aspect, find that it is more necessary for their psychological growth to pursue this kind of perception. It might be said that the psyche aims toward this more urgently because Saturn in the ninth house suggests that the more superficial values and the theological offerings will not suffice. The man with Saturn in the ninth house is driven toward a direct experience of what we choose to call God.

As usual, Saturn may disguise himself; and one of his favorite presentations when he is in the ninth house is the individual who believes in nothing. This kind of rather compulsive agnosticism or atheism is rarely the outgrowth of logical analysis and a naturally pragmatic or earthy temperament; it is usually linked with fear and a rebellion against an inner urge toward things of a more abstract nature.

Sometimes this kind of orientation is linked with an early upbringing of a dogmatic nature and a subsequent disillusionment. Saturn in the ninth house is often connected with a finely-tuned sense of justice and a great sensitivity to the plight of humanity as a group; but there is often a tendency toward depression and lack of hope with this placement, particularly hope in the individual's own future. He may find it difficult to make contact with the flow of his over-all self through the intuition, and is consequently left with a sense of futility and often with a fear of the future. The man with a ninth house Saturn often finds through hard experience that faith in someone else's interpretation of life and of justice does not suffice, and it is difficult for him to accept any authority, temporal or spiritual, other than himself, because he has been severely disillusioned by such authority in the past. This is the first stage of the process of disillusionment and rebuilding connected with Saturn in the ninth house; if the individual persists in his growth, the development of his intuitive perception into the world of meaning guarantees him a much more direct and meaningful authority - himself.

There appears to be a definite link between Saturn in the ninth house and an early exposure to religious teachings of a dogmatic kind. Generally this exposure ends in disillusionment later in life. The individual will often follow the characteristic pattern of attempting to crystallize values of an essentially inner and subjective nature into the formal ritual, structure, and uniformity of orthodox religious ceremony. This becomes his spiritual security; and he relies on this structure for his sense of meaning, rather than on any real perception of his own. The higher authority - whether a church or a father ¬offers a formula by which the rules given form the structure of life, and the individual is expected to cling without question to these rules rather than initiating an inner search whereby he can apprehend the laws of life by his own inner authority. Someone else's sincere but often narrow vision becomes his opinion, and he is trapped within the prison of his own narrow-mindedness. Generally these opinions in the end fail him for they do not stand up to his own life experiences. He is thrown back on his own resources and must begin again to build a different kind of framework for his beliefs.

Saturn appears to have affinity with certain of our western religions, or at least with particular aspects or interpretations of them - in particular Catholicism, Mormonism, and Judaism. it is not that these paths are to be criticized, for the outer form of religion is created by man in response to an inner need and perception, and any form created is necessary for a period of time. These paths become problems when they begin to crystallize; and this is often due to their interpretation by well-meaning but unimaginative individuals. What Saturn in the ninth house suggests is not that there is anything fundamentally wrong with one's religion, but rather that there is some degree of crystallization in the interpretation; the form has outlived its usefulness. Saturnian orientation in a religion inclines toward much emphasis on law, structure, guilt, punishment, and the unknowable Will of God, with little emphasis on life, quality, inner meaning, or individual growth. It is often the parental interpretation which is the problem. A childhood steeped in the Saturnian kind of morality and belief can be a fruitful source of guilt. It can help to create in the individual a doubt in his own right to decide for himself the inner or spiritual meaning of his life. This is destructive because it stifles growth. This if often the goad which drives the person with a ninth house Saturn deep into the realm of philosophy or psychology so that some kind of solution can be found for the riddle of one's existence. The prison of a ninth house Saturn is a subtle one, but it is built through loss of hope and faith and an inability to establish the meaningful subjective contact upon which real vision is built. By the denial of this basic need for hope, Saturn suggests the necessity of the individual's finding the needed experience first-hand, without the help of dogma, of groups, guides, or gurus. Nothing except direct experience will suffice. It is in this direction that the opportunity of a ninth house Saturn lies.

The entire spectrum of Saturnian camouflage may be observed with Saturn in the ninth house, ranging from the complete skepticism of the rational thinker through the narrow vision of the fanatic to the disciplines and probings of the practical occultist, and finally to the muddled and well-meaning gullibility of the man who is willing to believe anything as long as it will give him back his faith. Behind all these costumes stands the inner urge toward a direct spiritual experience and a direct personal acquisition of knowledge which will throw light on the more ambiguous areas of human existence. This is quite a long way from 'conflict with the law', and yet the phrase applies. It is perhaps descriptive of the man who is engaged in a struggle between his own inner convictions and the beliefs and formal trappings which have been handed to him by his environment. This kind of struggle between inner values and outer opinions always applies to Saturn's placement on the birth chart; and in this position the struggle lies in the realm of the ideas which, when colored by emotional values, become translated into ideals. The Sagittarian temperament must have an ideal by which he can life; without the dream or the vision at the end of the climb, he cannot find the necessary one-pointedness even to begin. The same situation is true of the person with an emphasized ninth house, and it is particularly true in a specific way of the person with Saturn in the ninth. He must also have an ideal by which to life, but he must also understand the idea behind it, which lies beyond the plane of emotional aspiration and is more purely a product of the intuition. Without this kind of direct understanding he loses hope and plunges into the kind of depression which is so typical of this Saturnian placement; or he may seek to escape by one of the various expressions of overcompensation.

Saturn in the ninth house is often referred to as concurrent with a profound and penetrating mind. The more conscious individual will generally express this quality to a greater or lesser degree. He generally arrives at this point, however, by the long circuitous route; and it is only after he has experienced the opposites that he can be truly free of the crystallizing effect that Saturn has on the mind. He has the possibility of finding some very valuable answers to some very broad questions; but he must find them himself without help. Saturn will tolerate no-one else's authority. The man with a ninth house Saturn usually finds that he has to be his own priest, pope, and savior, because all moral and ethical values lies within him. It is the fine tightrope between the opposites which he generally is required to walk with an acute sensitivity to the fact that all moral and ethical values are, in the end, relative and yet that the universe is intrinsically moral in an altogether different sense. While he realizes that all ideals and concepts are relative because they are only a part of the whole, the responsibility still lies on his shoulders to act in a fashion which serves the growth of the whole. This is a tightrope in a very literal sense. On one side lies the grey purposelessness which usually exists side by side with the relinquishment of one's dreams; on the other lies an incessant struggle with anything which symbolizes authority. At the end of the rope, successfully crossed, lies a kind of freedom which usually is experienced with the quality that the Sagittarian expresses most easily: joy.

Saturn in 9th House: Saturn in the Ninth House of collective inspiration and broad social awareness may urge some of us to direct our quest for ultimate meaning toward more practical, workable explanations. Universal ideals and religious concepts need to be well-structured and made real if they are to provoke any sense of true belief for us. For those with orthodox views, God must forever prove His Almightiness in clear, black-or-white terms in a world where true believers get healed and sinners get punished for transgressions in this life as well as in the hereafter. Viewing God as a stern judge who rewards the obedient and the righteous may be appealing for some. Others of us, less connected to mainstream religious tenets, may have an ambition to thoroughly understand heavyweight life principles and profound theories. We can be deeply philosophical and contemplative, with a scientific bent. While we may also take religion seriously, we do so cautiously; much the way religious scholars do as they try to differentiate accurate scriptures from corrupted texts. It is important for us to have clearly presented knowledge devoid of cultural bias, which is very difficult to find in the field of religion.

Our earnest need to be exposed to Truth is mixed with skepticism regarding the human proclivity for misplaced faith based on ignorance and superstition, so our ability to appraise the world of 'higher' mental pursuits is put to the test. What seems to be a common challenge here is the need to sort out 'the God issue' for ourselves, one way or another. Where are we to put our ultimate faith and trust? This Saturn rarely feels gullible or emotionally blinded regarding its belief systems about how divinity and the universal process works; we feel certain we know the facts, based on reliable established authority. When mismanages, such a conservative Saturn leans toward a strict, dogmatic mindset more motivated by the fear of God without than an acknowledgement of the God within. Our vision becomes narrow and rigidly applied.

Saturn in the Ninth House denotes the appeal of religious traditions that have proven the test of time, or ancient spiritual practices that have survived throughout the ages. Saturn trusts anything that endures over long periods. Some of us may depend on a religious structure that proclaims its core doctrines to be infallible, and, by implication, unalterable. That can make believing easy and uncomplicated. We put an unerring, unchanging God on a cosmic pedestal in a way that always keeps things absolute and unambiguous. Such a God may express idealized father traits that we otherwise had (or have) a hard time experience with our real father , who may have seemed remote and far away from us on some level. In contrast, we believe our God to always be very close and reachable, and that our personal relationship with Him will remain intact as long as we abide by the instructions laid out by His holy words in sacred bibles, tablets, scrolls, etc..

Adherence to these rules and rituals provides true believers with a safety net that is very important, considering Saturn's need for security and predictability. Saturn can be a planet comfortable with solemn ceremonies. It can also depend on rituals using the physical objects of faith (crucifixes, prayer shawls, mandalas, rosary beads, Menorahs, altars, pentagrams, Madonna figurines - all types of religious artifacts).

Following traditional procedures becomes important. Even Tarot card readers with this position probably are good about keeping their cards wrapped up in special silk cloth to protect their vibes. Eastern religion meditators will always want to light those time-honored sticks of sandalwood incense (not that fake strawberry kind). Catholics will give their prayer beads a workout while counting their 'Hail Marys', and Jews will be mindful of the Sabbath and the dietary restrictions of their faith. Our willingness to unconditionally accept any such rituals depends on an unquestionable belief in the rightness of what we are doing. We approach our rituals with much respect, reverence, and dignity - but maybe a little too sanctimoniously. We need to not confuse religion with religiosity.

Saturn in the Ninth House, due to a harsh and sometimes scary introduction to religion in our early years, suggests we can be blocked about the concept of God. If God has been presented to us as judgmental and exacting in His punishment of transgressors of His law, threatening fire and brimstone as eternal punishment in hell for temporary sins ion Earth, this is going to seem unjust to Saturn (although 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth' may sound a bit more fair in theory). We don't want any part of a God like this. We don't wish to surrender to any power higher than our own conscience. We believe ourselves to be the final authority concerning our own proper ethical conduct and morality. Defensive Saturn suggests we resist giving in to any outside control as pervasively intruding as the strict, omnipotent God of fundamental faiths. The same applies to our intellectual assumptions regarding society, the government, humanity at large, and even the universe. We do not want to be led by the nose according to any general consensus of opinion or mass indoctrination. We want to make our own rules to live by.

Some of us may also wonder why, if there is a just God, innocent babies can suffer cruel fates while the truly immoral are permitted to prosper and live to a ripe old age without even getting their comeuppances. It's this paradoxical inconsistency of divine 'justice' on earth that probably troubles the Saturn principle within us the most.

Agnosticism and atheism can result. We can pull back from the faithful herd and remain separative from this collective experience. As a result, we may also feel like outsiders, cut off from the support of those strongly held suppositions about God that seem to give so many others peace of mind about this life and in the afterlife. There is a vexing dichotomy here, as one part of Saturn would welcome a total guarantee of certainty that God exists and that we are part of a master plan, but the 'doubting Thomas' side of Saturn will only accept solid, irrefutable proof that continued consciousness awaits us after we die. Of course, such objective proof is not currently possible according to the rigorous standards an unconvinced Saturn demands.

Politics is also part of the Ninth House experience, as are any 'isms' that involve how the rights of a society impact on the personal liberties of the individual. Politics is a good example of social belief systems in action, whether we favor them or not.

Saturn in an earth or water sign would want to preserve the status quo, supporting the same political agendas decade after decade with only practical adjustments allowed to fit certain cultural changes. Nothing too radical here; no toppling of The System, and definitely no flirting with social anarchy. Saturn in air tends toward liberal policies, but only those well-thought-out and fair enough to satisfy a diverse constituency (with the exception of Aquarius, which is fixed and surprisingly dogmatic at times). But Saturn in Fire can be willful and passionate in its political persuasions. If fundamentally conservative, we can be dramatically and emphatically so. If we are discontent and disillusioned, or if we have political axes to grind and are angry with government power, Saturn in Fire can want to shake things up and push for quick, urgent reforms - a 'throw out the bums' attitude. We are open to fresh leadership, as long as promises of change made during the campaign trail are delivered.

A few of us could even make a career in politics, though our overall tendency in most cases is simply to be responsible citizens who feel obligated to vote, do jury duty when asked, show civic pride, defend our country, wave the flag, and be upstanding and law-abiding.

But some of us can hold the darker attitude that governments are fundamentally oppressive, playing too much the restrictive 'big daddy' role and trying to run everything related to our personal lives. Think of Saturn in Scorpio or Aries in a conflict aspect to Pluto or Uranus - this doesn't sound like someone who would feel safe and secure with powerful governmental structures. We don't trust that people in key political positions will look out for our welfare. We can be resentful about their authority, and may not want to be part of this collective framework. We feel very critical of federal policies or even laws handed down from the higher courts. We may project that politicians are selfishly ambitious, greedy, and over-controlling. We liberals may even think we see the dangers of unchecked patriotism very clearly; and it can scare us. But whether we battle God or the Feds, the deeper issue is probably our fear of bowing down to any supreme authority, since a lesson of Saturn in the Ninth House is to recognize the spiritual power of our own inner authority regarding personal Truth.

Saturn is usually a homebound planet, not often filled with travel fever. It has no big urge to play the role of intrepid world explorer. Saturn prefers the familiar, while wandering too far away can put us in touch with the unfamiliar, creating culture shock. Thus anything foreign, exotic, international, or ethnic is not warmly embraced. Much of this could be a matter more reflective of our own early cultural background (like a lot of our Ninth House matters), especially due to narrow attitudes adopted by our family. Maybe we heard too much bad stuff about 'those people in Asia' or 'the Mexicans' or 'the crazy Catholics in Italy' or 'them sodomites in San Francisco'. It probably was pretty offensive material that was broadcast within range of our sensitive ears - sweeping and unflattering generalities applied to large groups of people. For some reason, a few of us were taught to either fear or loathe anything or anybody different or foreign. We may have been told not to trust folks from abroad - not their culture, not their religion, and certainly not their weird food! The implication was that we were to always stick to the ways of our own country and 'our own people', meaning those who are as exactly like us as possible.

This is a sort of mind control that can last a lifetime for some. It's a sad legacy that goes completely against the wide-angled scope of the Ninth House, a house of universal proportions needing lots of room to spread out. If we have Saturn here, we will need to overcome our provincial, xenophobic ways and enrich our awareness of global reality. It's a big world we live in, and we need to understand more about it.

As we get older, we will have opportunities to mingle with those whom our parents warned us against (perhaps a college roommate who is of the Hindu faith, or a business associate from Denmark). Little by little, life can usher in people and situations that educate us about realities quite different from anything in our upbringing. We may learn to slowly appreciate those diverse elements that hold the world together. We may even someday get to write home that 'New Yorkers ain't so bad after all', to the dismay of 'our own people'. It would be good to take courses in comparative religion or French cuisine, and even subscribe to The National Geographic just to give us an education as to what's out there. If all goes well, maybe we won't wish to cancel that trip to Bora Bora we won on 'Wheel of Fortune' (not to worry, it's a round-trip ticket).

The Ninth House is an area where we can learn to feed our minds as much as it can take. Traditionally, it's the house of extended education, which can mean a stubborn case of University-itis for some of us. We over-achievers can't help but take courses, pass exams, give dissertations, and collect our degrees and diplomas. Saturn here can take schooling all the way, since it has great patience and endurance. We probably figure we're only going to get older anyway, so why not older and smarter and armed with academic credentials? Often, we may not have been able to complete our schooling in our early years due to economic hardships, bad grades, or simply an urge to drop out; but we can make up for lost time once we have matured a bit and are in better financial shape. We also have a much better idea by then what we want to get a degree in.

We approach higher learning almost as if it is our duty to keep our mind working like a finely calibrated tool, well lubricated by knowledge. But the knowledge we expose ourselves to cannot be trivial or superficial in content. We gravitate toward subjects that are broad in their application or universally experienced on the mass level. Degrees in science, mathematics, engineering, and other technical fields could be a possibility for some of us. Saturn and the Ninth House also favor the study of history. Whatever we choose, our aim is to excel in our studies. We have the ambition to do something effective with what we have learned. We usually do not study out of boredom or sheer mental stimulation (that's more a Third House issue). We instead want to embrace knowledge that is far-reaching. The desire to keep on learning all we can may become a lifetime aspiration.

Morality and ethics are part of the Ninth House life department. When masses of people congregate and form cultural norms regarding appropriate conduct, a result is the broad acceptance of certain socially sanctioned behaviors or actions that uphold high community standards, whether on religious grounds or due to civilized, democratic principles. We are not to rob banks, because it harms people's securities directly and can later injure the economy, harming even more. The 'head' tries to prevent this by enacting laws with penalties to be suffered, but the 'heart' enforces inner law through morality, using shame as its tool. Saturn in this house can be very guilt-ridden, acting like a model citizen for fear of social condemnation - or it can resist such moral indoctrination and only life by its own code of ethics. It's an issue we may ponder on a large scale.

Saturn in 9th House: Saturn in the ninth house connects our beliefs about the world with the physical reality of its laws and limits. Beliefs can range from the materialistic atheism of western science, which can only maintain its dogma by ignoring most of human experience, to the equally dogmatic and equally narrow beliefs of a variety of fundamentalist religions with small gods presiding over small and exclusive heavens. To stay in good standing, you have to follow the rules: 'don't look, don't question'.

It does not take much knowledge of astrology to demolish both of these extremes. Astrology shows that we live in a world that is inherently meaningful, not a world of random chance. It is not chance when a newly discovered planet (asteroid) is given a name which describes its meaning when you observe it in horoscopes. It defies logic to claim that a single universal God can have chosen one group of people or one leader or one holy book to favor, while everyone else is condemned.

An effective synthesis of the principles of Saturn in the ninth house calls for a realization that Truth is a goal we never reach but the journey can be a marvelous career. Plus, with Saturn, we can and should test every new idea, note the consequences, and keep enlarging our understanding. We don't even have to totally deny the ideas which don't 'work' as we thought they would. They can be put on the shelf. They might work at a different time under different circumstances. The Cosmos is almost certainly bigger than our current mental capacity.

See also: Saturn in the 9th House;

Saturn in the 9th House: Ursula Andress, Kim Basinger, Al Capone, Charlie Chaplin, Dick Cheney, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Queen Elizabeth II, J.Paul Getty, Michael Jackson, J. Krishnamurti, Timothy Leary, Terence McKenna, Meher Baba, Jack Nicholson, Robert Plant, Ramakrishna, Paul Simon, Frank Sinatra, Ludwig van Beethoven, H.G. Wells, ChrisC, Dipesh, DJenkins, Duane, Elijah, Jane, JJ, Marcy, Seligma


Saturn in the 10th House

The tenth house is Saturn's own, and in Capricorn he is dignified so we may therefore expect a 'purer' manifestation of Saturn in both an ordinary and a more esoteric sense. This certainly seems to be true from the mundane point of view as the tenth house is traditionally associated with achievement, honor, ambition, and authority, and the cusp of the tenth house by the quadrant systems - the Midheaven - is symbolic of the image which one projects outward to society as well as the image which is held inwardly by the person of his 'role' in life. It may be assumed that Saturn in the tenth house refers to limitations, delays, and difficulties in the achievement of one's goals and in the successful expression of the self outward to the group as well as intense ambition frequently unconscious - and a determination to succeed whatever the cost.

This is the interpretation generally given to Saturn in his own house and sign, and it is generally true as far as it goes. Much information may be obtained from the tenth house about the person's role in society, the way in which he appears to the group, and the purpose he identifies with when he considers the deeper reason for being. Although the precise nature of one's profession is impossible to determine from a birth chart, the lines of least resistance or of likely expression are often suggested, and the tenth house with its occupants and its ruler is one of the best pointers if not to the actual work then to the inner goal or meaning of that work from the point of view of both the individual and society.

So far so good, and this interpretation of the tenth house is familiar ground to most astrological students. The association of the tenth house to the mother or father is also important, although less frequently stressed, particularly in view of the ambiguity surrounding the fourth-tenth axis. Whichever parent is represented by this house, it would seem to be the one who has had the most to do with shaping the social attitudes and ethics of the individual, for these standards are reflected by the tenth house with its connection with structure, tradition, and exemplary behavior. It is generally the mother who infuses the child with her social values, partially because it is she who spends the maximum amount of time with the child and has therefore greater access to his apparently unformed mind. For more subtle reasons than this I am inclined to assign the tenth house to the mother. It is no piece of new information that ambition runs later in life in direct proportion to the suppression of identity in early life. By ambition I do not mean the inner need to achieve, which is characteristic of the cardinal signs, but rather the need to prove this achievement to others, which is characteristic of the man who has never been considered an individual in his own right. One has only to look at the uniform history of those who have achieved prominence through personal ambition to recognize the familiar pattern of family rejection and isolation. Of course suppression of the individuality does not create ambition by itself to this degree, nor does it create success. It is, however, an important component to be reckoned with and follows the psychological law that if psychic energy is denied an outlet in its chosen direction, it will return with doubled force in another, compensatory direction. This is the psychological interpretation of the kind of ambition which is often found concurrent with a tenth house Saturn. The more esoteric interpretation would not contradict this but would suggest that the important factor is the achievement because this is needed to precipitate some kind of change in society, in response to a collective need or following the purpose of the soul or inner self. It is then necessary or reasonable to choose a childhood and a vehicle which will provide the right psychological effects and the subsequent ambition needed for the personality to make the achievement.

The psychological interpretation of this situation postulates a cause-and-effect principle over which the individual has little control. The second interpretation is rather abstruse and is of the nature of an arrangement, filled with purpose, by which the man himself, functioning as a total unit, chooses to fulfill a function needed by the group of which he is a part. It is possible that both these ideas are correct.

The concept of self-determination as it is postulated here is a very ancient one which places the responsibility of the choice of earth plane circumstances in the hands of the self. It is one worth considering with an open mind, whatever the labels are to describe the situation, because it sheds some light on the deepest meaning of Saturn himself. He may be seen, finally, as the instrument of opportunity through which the person comes to understand the nature of his free will. It is certainly evident that those with a prominent tenth house, and particularly with Saturn in this house, often have the role either thrust upon them or seek it assiduously - and these are probably the same thing - of effecting some kind of change in the structure of the group, or of holding authority, or serving as an example of achievement. The inner sense of purpose, drive, and responsibility is often very strong when Saturn is in the tenth house, particularly if he is conjuncting the Midheaven. There is frequently a strong sense of fate with regard to the role in life. Often sacrifice is required and a long, arduous process of building and preparation, where the personality with its desire for recognition drives the man on until he has achieved some degree of notice or responsibility. It is generally only later that, as the integration occurs which allows him to understand himself and his inner motivations better, the larger reason begins to emerge as to why he has done all that work.

One of Saturn's main characteristics is his duplicity, and one of the characteristic duplicities of the tenth house is that all the individual accomplishes through it - and this can be great - is apparently done for the satisfaction of his own personal ambition or for the fulfillment of a personal goal or idea. If the individual identifies with this area of personal ambition, he is likely to see his accomplishment as a means of gaining control over his environment so that it cannot control him - a Saturnian self-defense mechanism on a large scale. When viewed in perspective and from a safe distance, however, it may often be seen that the man has really been working for others; for he will frequently immolate himself, deny himself any spontaneous enjoyment or relaxation, and sacrifice all to the achievement of his goals - goals which have a very brief life-span, being a reflection of the life-span of the individual. The effects may in the end be historical ones, and even in a small area the person who is expressing to the fullest his tenth house Saturn may create long-lasting changes in the structure or organization of his particular corner of society. It is only when he realizes the nature and meaning of his work on a deeper level, and when he begins to co-operate consciously with his own inner blueprint, that he can truly enjoy the fruits of his labor.

Saturn in the tenth house is generally considered to symbolize ambition, a slow climb to power with many setbacks and delays, and, if he is afflicted, a subsequent fall from power. The overused examples of Hitler and Napoleon are usually quoted to demonstrate this pattern, which certainly applies to them both - along with the emotionally impoverished childhood. There are, however, many people with Saturn in the tenth house who never attempt to conquer the world; many of these are women who have never attempted to conquer anything more vast than the kitchen sink. This does not negate the meaning generally given to Saturn in the tenth; but his penchant for overcompensation and for projection of values onto another person must be considered. We must also consider the fact that the chart can only map out a series of potential developments, but the individual must be able to meet the challenge of these developments if they are to express this in life.

It is of interest to consider the relation of the tenth house to the mother, for the development of the potential of Saturn in the tenth often sticks here. She is usually the dominant parent when this placement of Saturn occurs, although this may be because of the death or absence of the father rather than a temperamental bias. This dominance may be of an obvious kind and may be expressed in stern, authoritative behavior which is lacking in warmth or empathy. There is often a preoccupation with rules of conduct, propriety, and what the neighbors think, and an emphasis on material rather than emotional values. The dominance of the mother may equally often be reflected in that kind of instinctual woman who carries an unconscious and powerful ego drive beneath an apparently passive exterior. Sometimes the mother is a burden because of ill-health or dies young. In all these situations the seed is sown for a powerful influence on the psychic level which must be dealt with by the individual before he is able to express his full potential. He must symbolically cut the emotional umbilical cord, which generally remains well into adulthood.

There is a rather disturbing frequency of tenth house Saturns among the charts of homosexual men. This does not of course imply that Saturn in the tenth house causes homosexuality, and we are moreover not dealing with a strictly cause-and-effect principle but rather with an arrangement of circumstances which contain a purposive direction; however, if we relate the tenth house to the mother, then it is conceivable that some difficulty in relating to women may be one of the by-products of the rather powerful mother figure suggested by a tenth house Saturn. Difficulty with women can, of course, express through many forms of behavior only one of which is homosexuality.

Emotional rejection, or a suppression of the will or identity, by the mother, is common with this placement; and the man who has experienced this in childhood may find that he does not trust women later in life. A woman with a tenth house Saturn may have equally serious obstacles to overcome, for women must learn from their mothers the means and ways of femininity, and if a mother's nature is symbolized by Saturn, it is unlikely that the feminine principle will be the primary thing expressed. It will be more likely to be power. To this a woman may react by becoming feminine in the socially acceptable way, saying the right things and cooking the right meals, and simultaneously attempting to live a frustrated need for self-expression through her husband or lover. OR she may become consciously aggressive herself and reject the feminine principle within her own psyche. In all of these cases the first job confronting the individual who seeks to understand the inner potential of Saturn in the tenth house is a coming to terms with the mother and a re-evaluation of the male and female roles. Although the fourth and tenth houses are rarely considered when problems of a sexual nature are considered, they do in fact have great bearing, indirectly, on the area of masculine and feminine roles.

An intense self-consciousness and great sensitivity to public opinion are common reflections of Saturn in the tenth house, as well as a fear of failure and a propensity to attract situations which are publicly embarrassing in some way. These expressions are all connected with a basic sense of inadequacy. Dealing with Saturn in the tenth house, where he displays some purely Saturnian qualities in the most difficult sense before he begins to yield his gold, requires considerable self-honesty. It is, however, difficult to achieve objectivity in questions which deal with male and female roles and equally difficult to be detached when considering one's mother. A considerable amount of sentimentality must be waded through on the subject of motherhood and many centuries of rigid sexual roles which have taken their toll on the collective human psyche.

Sensitivity to one's image is the next step on the ladder; and Saturn is inclined in this are to focus on material values as he usually does. It is often terribly important for the individual to be important; and his definition of importance may be strongly colored by material advantage and social status. There is often a fear of public humiliation, which inclines toward shunning the limelight, yet there is also an equally strong urge for exposure. In group situations this is a very self-conscious placement although in individual relationships this tendency may not be apparent. Saturn in the first house may be intensely self-conscious in a personal situation yet will deal well enough with a distant public. It is the image which is important with Saturn in the tenth. The person is likely to be conservative in his approach to social values because he does not wish to compromise his position. When this characteristic exists in combination with other, more adventurous factors, a considerable amount of inner friction may result.

When a broader perspective is taken of this most interesting placement of Saturn, it often happens that the sensitivity, the self-consciousness, the attention to public estimation, and the constant effort to demonstrate usefulness and value through achievement all conspire to prepare an individual in a very helpful way to dealing with the great responsibility of holding authority over others. He may find when he reaches the top that he has learned diplomacy and statesmanship along the way as well as a sense of compassion for those whom he is attempting to teach or structure.

Professionally the person with Saturn in the tenth house is generally successful, largely because he tries so hard and is so persistent. He does not work well under others because although he may for a time be able to present the smooth surface of humility which is such a gift of the Saturnian personality, his own ambition and love of success will eventually push him out on his own. His problem does not lie in the achievement of success once he has begun his climb. It is getting started in the first place which is the initial task and which involves his overcoming a fear of failure which may lead to inertia. The remainder of the task is to establish a definition of achievement which is not based on purely external values. It is difficult for a person intent on a mountain climb to comprehend the fact that his climb is meaningless, and the reward of the summit is illusory, unless his success serves as a demonstration to others that the summit can be achieved. It is usually the work of Saturn in the tenth house to give structure and form to some group idea. If an individual refuses to accept the offer of this opportunity and attempts to live his task through another person, he generally must accept the price of frustration and a sense of purposelessness. If he accepts the challenge of his own inner self, then he himself can become Saturn the teacher in his most beneficent form.

See also: Saturn in the 10th House;

Saturn in the 10th House: Muhammad Ali, James Dean, John Dee, Albert Einstein, Sally Field, Art Garfunkel, Uri Geller, Georges Gurdjieff, Adolf Hitler, Michael Jordan, John F. Kennedy, Groucho Marx, Paul Newman, Vaslav Nijinsky, Al Pacino, Pablo Picasso, Wilhelm Reich, Will Rogers, Susanna Arundhati Roy, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Oprah Winfrey, Malcolm X, Arrow, DavMcC, Erin, Jean, Jen, JonathanG, Judin, LouG, Mark, MFor, Michael, Paulo, River, ScottS, Shiloh, Suji, Tara, Virginia


Saturn in the 11th House

It may be difficult for you to get along with groups of people your own age. You tend to be a loner who prefers to be by yourself. You feel that other people's interests are opposed to yours or that others demand of you far more than you get from them.

But you benefit from associations with older people, often quite a bit older. Your serious attitude makes it easier for you to understand older people than people your own age. Although you have ideals, they are very much suppressed by your need to be practical and realistic.

You may not have many friendships in your life, but the ones you do have will be deep and long-lasting. Not especially social, you are much happier with a small group of dose friends than in a large group. In fact, in a crowd you are likely to feel much more lonely than when you are really alone. You tend to view the people in crowds as possibly hostile strangers.

When you are older you may act as a teacher to your friends. This can be very con¬structive, but you should be sure that it is not merely a way of putting some distance between yourself and others. It is difficult for you to be intimate with people on an equal level, but you need that kind of exchange very much, and when you get it, it does you a great deal of good. Seek to overcome your feeling of distance by finding out what you and others have in common and emphasizing that.

Hard to obtain goals and objectives but they can be attained if the person will be patient and willing to work. Have to earn everything with this position of Saturn. If it is done the rewards are great, and life gets better as it advances. Many acquaintances, but few intimates. An unrecognized fear of the demands made due to friendship. Attracted to older people. The type of friends sought will be of great importance for if they be the wrong type great difficulties come to the one who has Saturn in this house. Saturn delays but does not deny objectives.

Saturn in the Eleventh House indicates a sense of responsibility con¬cerning friendships and group associations. Saturn here makes one seek to know important and influential people as a means of advancing one's own status and career.

If Saturn is afflicted in the Eleventh House, the person and his friends may use each other for reasons of personal gain or ambition. If Saturn is well aspected, loyalty and good advice are exchanged among friends, who can also provide the native with opportunities for knowledge and in¬tellectual growth. A well-aspected Saturn here gives the native a sense of justice, which is manifested as a recognition of the need to help others advance their interests equally with his own.

If the principle of equal justice for all—represented by Saturn exalted in Libra—is brought into play in friendships and group associations, every¬body will receive equal benefit from group cooperation and organizational structure.

People with this position are likely to establish friendships with older, serious, career-oriented people who will have a maturing influence on them. Natives can have karmic associations with those they have dealt with in the past.

Saturn in the 11th House: It has been said of Aquarius that everything may be seen in the shop window but nothing is to be found in the shop, and it is easy enough to draw this conclusion when confronted with the textbook descriptions of the sign and the association of the eleventh house with hopes and wishes, clubs, and societies. The immense depth and wisdom which are revealed by a study of astrology are not so apparent in this rather incomplete interpretation of the eleventh house and sign. With Saturn and Uranus as its rulers, Aquarius is perhaps entitled to a more complex meaning, and it is possible that the eleventh house is also more complicated and more abstruse than it is traditionally considered.

The tenth house is both the high point of achievement for the individual and his place of burial, for it symbolizes his deepest immersion in the material world and demands of him the sacrifices of his private and personal desires in order to obtain his goal. If the circles of the twelve houses is seen as a cycle of progressively more complex steps in the enfoldment of the individual's outer life, the tenth house, which belongs to Saturn, may be considered the end of the climb of the personality. In the remaining two houses, both of which are connected with the 'higher octave' planets and therefore with states of consciousness that are collective or transpersonal rather than personal in nature, the individual loses himself in the group and shoulders his responsibility as a cell in the larger body of humanity. His tests have been met, he has developed personal integration to the point where his mind, emotions, and body function as a disciplined and finely balanced tool to serve his inner purposes, and he is now free to join in the larger task of group integration and development. The passage from Saturn to Uranus marks the transition from the supremacy of the personal will to the development of group consciousness. Group consciousness is not mass consciousness for with the former the contribution is voluntary and the worth of the individual is not lost. This may appear to be a rather esoterically inclined interpretation of what is apparently a superficial house and sign. But if we are ever to make any sense of Saturn and his houses and signs from any viewpoint other than a fatalistic one, or are ever to understand the real nature and extent of the individual's free will and purpose, it is possible that in the esoteric tradition of Saturn some information may be found which helps us to live freer lives.

People who are strongly Aquarian or Piscean in temperament, yet who have not yet developed a purpose which permits them participation in a larger expression, are often lost creatures, and it is perhaps more difficult for this kind of temperament now because the idea of group consciousness is not yet a reality. It is reasonably common to find the average Taurean personality concerned with his security for this is his natural outlet of expression - or for the average Libran to concern himself with his personal relationships, or the Geminian with his education. But the Aquarian and Piscean temperaments have no personal concerns. And if they are not yet sensitive to the more universal concerns which are the natural expressions of these signs, they are left with no concerns at all. It is small wonder that so many alcoholics and drug addicts are strongly Piscean or Neptunian by temperament and that so many of the mentally ill must cope with Aquarian or Uranian energies. To balance this, it must be considered that we owe some of our greatest scientific and psychological discoveries to the Uranian type and some of our greatest poetry, music, and spiritual vision to the Neptunian. It is somewhat easier to understand the great potential and the great failure of these two types in light of the urge toward group involvement and contribution which motivates them both.

If we then look past the level of clubs and societies when considering the eleventh house and apply the idea of group in this area as a possible additional meaning for this house, more insight may be gained into the meaning of Saturn's placement here.

The more ordinary meaning of the eleventh house is often in evidence with its connotation of friendships and social acceptance; and Saturn in the eleventh may display his usual aloofness and isolation and thereby mark the individual as a 'lone wolf', one who somehow does not fit into the group. He may find difficulty in making casual friendships and in functioning at the more superficial social level which, in our present society, is considered of such value. He may feel himself to be an outsider, and will often behave as one; and his separateness is deeper than a mere inability to conform to popular standards of behavior. The group which is presented to him as the 'acceptable' one - those people whom he meets through family, business, religion, or interests - rarely receives him warmly; and he rarely feels himself to be a part of any artificially structured social unit. He is looking for another kind of group, a deeper group; but he rarely understands that the binds which link this more abstruse group are of an inner, not an outer, nature.

Saturn is often painfully self-conscious and hopelessly inept at the social graces, but he is always the enemy of superficiality when he is expressing his true nature. His presence in the eleventh house is made doubly difficult because the nature of our present ideas about friendship and group activities can be eminently superficial. Saturn may often feel awkward and uncomfortable as he often indicates an introverted and shy tendency. Thus the usual effect of Saturn in the eleventh house is a deep, although often concealed, feeling of loneliness. He may want badly to feel himself a significant part of a larger whole, to be released from the burden of self-consciousness and 'differentness'. Yet he is often unable to express his need, and will sometimes not even admit to it himself.

We consider man to be a gregarious animal, a communal creature rather than a solitary one; and the man who spends long periods alone or rejects the opportunity for social intercourse is somewhat suspect to the average individual. We are brought up to believe that there is something neurotic or unwholesome about aloneness, yet it is probably far more painful to carry the sense of separateness into a crowd than to be physically alone yet experience a sense of belonging. The man with Saturn in the eleventh house is often compulsively driven to be alone, and he may draw back from friendships because he is afraid he will not be accepted. It is frequently necessary for him to balance this fear and sense of inadequacy with a need to glamorize his uniqueness so that out of pride his separateness is demonstrated to be a virtue rather than a shortcoming. It is probably neither a virtue nor a lack, but the unconscious man with Saturn in the eleventh house is not aware that he has more choices than this. So one of the most typical reactions of an eleventh house Saturn may be demonstrated: he must be superior; he can have no equals. Just as Saturn in Leo finds it painfully difficult to express his uniqueness in an open way, Saturn in Aquarius often finds it painfully difficult to express his ordinariness, his similarity with every other human being - although it is this ordinariness, this blending with the group, which he desires the most. Saturn in the eleventh house is often interpreted as giving few and faithful friends; and it is the quality, rather than the quantity, which is important.

Overcompensation is often expressed by this Saturnian placement; and it is common to find the individual who crams his life full of social activities so that he scarcely has time to be alone. He will often fill his time so that he rarely needs to have personal confrontations, and it is often so important to him that he demonstrate his belonging that he will subdue his own individuality in order to cater to the standards and ideas of the group. So Saturn in the eleventh house may become a follower rather than the leader which he essentially needs to be. His own ideals, his wishes, and his dreams are worthless when compared to the final and inexorable word of the great They. Saturn in the eleventh house may sometimes symbolize this kind of social butterfly in the same way that Saturn in the third house may suggest a chatterer and Saturn in the seventh a perpetual Don Juan. But this butterfly often has wings of lead. He remains as essentially isolated and apart, as if he were alone, because inwardly he seeks a deeper and more meaningful sharing. But the work involved in achieving that deeper level of interchange would lead him into himself and into a search for a different set of social values as well as a deeper understanding of society itself and its purpose.

The opportunity which is offered by Saturn in the eleventh is not easily utilized without the kind of broad view of human oneness and gradual evolution and enfoldment which marks the truly progressive mind. This has little to do directly with political involvement although this area is a natural adjunct to the kind of vision which is often found in the Aquarian temperament. But Saturn has little to do with theories; he offers his wisdom through the more difficult but more meaningful channel of personal experience and realization; and the understanding of the psychology of the group and the direction in which man's consciousness is slowly striving is an understanding which can be the inner illumination of the individual who has Saturn in the eleventh house. Esoteric literature speaks repeatedly of 'the Plan' for man, and this plan must remain in the realm of the theoretical and the visionary for the majority of people. To the discerning eye of an eleventh house Saturn, it is possible that the reality and nature of this plan may become visible if he seeks long enough and deeply enough the inner group which means so much to him.

If he permits his vision to narrow, Saturn will rarely find the solution to his isolation, and we may then observe the fulfillment of the prophecy of hard luck through friends which is said to accompany this placement: for one who sets himself apart to such a degree, and who feels such mistrust of others, is bound to attract something similar in return from his fellows. Like forever attracts like; and the bristly defensiveness which may often be seen in an eleventh house Saturn - even in those who have polished the surface of social charm until it shines but who cannot permit deeper friendships - usually attracts defensiveness back.

Each individual contains the potential of the higher or more universal meaning of the eleventh house to unfold along with the more personal. Few people are conscious of this potential because a more careful investigation of values and a more inclusive interest in humanity is generally a prerequisite for its enfoldment; however, the eleventh house is present on every birth chart, and the challenge of finding meaningful expression for the urges which are symbolized is present in every life. This becomes more urgent a task for the person who has Saturn in the eleventh house, because as with any other Saturnian position, second choice is not acceptable, and with this placement the sense of commitment to and participation in group life must be real.

Saturn in the 11th House: Saturn in this house has a basic fear of the potential chaos large groups of people can cause. Mobs running wild or anarchists on an uncontrolled path of destruction could be two of an Eleventh House Saturn's worst nightmares. There is something about unregulated group energy on the move that repels this planet. We could at least get claustrophobic in crowds. The Eleventh House is where we find people coming together to support progressive and even futuristic ideals. Large groups of individuals get to pool their energies, form powerful alliances, and operate as an even greater social force, for better or worse, than any one person could alone. Saturn, looking at this complex of egos fortifying each other's power and will, starts to panic. That's because Saturn is such a separatist at heart and is not eager to lose its identity to any group. It will not surrender itself unconditionally to any abstract cause, especially when in this house. Total, unquestioned loyalty is not what Saturn is willing to give (although Saturn / Neptune patterns might). Yet there are many others facets of the Eleventh House experience that can help Saturn feel connected to people in a broader and more purposeful sense.

While it's probably true that many of us with this position feel uneasy in crowds or being around throngs of people, we seem to be very observant regarding our peer group dynamic, starting as early as preschool or kindergarten. The Eleventh House invites us to participate in activities where we work together as a controllable unit with everyone on equal footing, no one with greater privileges. But Saturn doesn't buy this 'all for one and one for all' approach, and we find ourselves wanting to back away from too much team involvement (even though no-one on the team was all that excited to pick us anyway). We either reject or are rejected by the group, the clique, the membership, the gang, etc.. We over-achievers usually don't like being rejected at all; and, determined not to be excluded, will try to prove our worthiness by doing whatever it takes to fit in and be accepted. But what the group may not realize is that we may also harbor ambitions to later take over the leadership role and be in control. Conversely, we self-inhibitors may take not being included too much to heart, feel crushed, and learn to resent anything dealing with groups, teams, networks, and other such alliances.

It is unlikely that we stood out among our peers as being highly popular and sought after. One reason, especially in our youth, is that we felt older and more mature than many others our age. This was very apparent in high school, when we probably were studious and conservative while many others were rowdy and unfocused. Yet it is ironic how some of us studied those wilder kids that both fascinated and scared us. There is something very alluring about those free-spirited ones who break the rules and still do not get struck by lightning (the way we assume we would if we stepped out of line). And so, a dilemma occurs: whether to conform to social standards, ensuring our safety and the approval of authorities, or to flirt with experimental behavior and be like those who thumb their noses at convention in favor of more original and defiant social expression. Saturn often feels caught in the middle of these contrasting urges when in the Eleventh House.

It would seem most likely during the school years that we were very picky about who we hung out with. Quality friendships are what we sought then and now. We may claim we have only a handful of real friends that we really can count on and who know some of our deeper facets.

The types of friends represented by the Eleventh House are not the same shown by our Seventh House, who are more our bosom buddies - those best friends with whom we have established intimate, personalized relationships. These are our loving, long-term companions with whom we share so much of our real self. Such unions become a marriage of sorts. But such intimacy is not part of the Eleventh House or Principle Eleven in general. When people claim to have invited about 100 of their 'best' friends to their wedding, you know they are coming from their Eleventh House experience, not their Seventh.

Our Eleventh House friends are more correctly described as acquaintances. They can also be people we congregate with in structured group settings like clubs, monthly meetings, associations, political fundraisers, and even bowling teams (group therapy is more a Twelfth House issue). These relationships have an element of friendly impersonality that is nevertheless very enjoyable when everyone is networking smoothly. We just know enough about one another to keep things sociable and upbeat. Saturn needs to be exposed to such group harmony to know it is possible to achieve. But Saturn will not get chummy with anyone it still regards as having 'stranger' status. Saturn realizes there is something about all group arrangements that lends itself to strictly surface interaction, where nothing gets too deep or too real, and the associations seldom remain permanent. Eleventh House people tend to come and go, replaced by new faces.

Saturn, not being a natural joiner, approaches these social setups with caution and reserve. We probably would like the secure structure of a well-defined group that has been established for some time (no crazy anarchists here!). We may feel safe with all those familiar faces we get together with on a regular basis. It will take us time to warm up to all these new but seemingly interesting people; but at least they believe in the preservation of the blue-throated mountain swallow or red-spotted river chipmunk or are working to support serious social issues. Such activist groups calling for responsible action are appealing to us. If everyone gets together to fulfill a worthy purpose, rather than just wasting time casually mingling, this would justify our membership or participation.

Saturn could be drawn to volunteering time and energy when needed since it has a serviceable nature and likes to be put to good use. We might even sign up to head certain committees when asked, especially when others sense our above-average organizational abilities and our willingness to work hard for an important cause. But we really have to like and trust the group we serve before we let things get this far. We are not under Neptune's spell here, so our sense of service is tied in with our sense of realistic limits. The group has to make sure it doesn't push us too far with its demands, and most importantly to never take us for granted! We may look like we are humble; but inwardly we crave recognition for our good works, loyalty, dedication, and overall perseverance. The fact is the Eleventh House is not a zone where people get sentimental about things or huggy-kissy, especially with Saturn positioned here. If we do things just to get a special warm response from fellow members, it may not be forthcoming (unless we also have the Moon in the Eleventh House, but in a different sign and not conjunct Saturn).

Still, we could take on a dutiful parental role in those groups we do relate to. Many will depend on us to keep things afloat and bring order to the way things run. But again, if we are over-achievers, we may like controlling the show too much and others may sense we have a problem being truly democratic, or even flexible. Why should little changes in the club's monthly procedures bother us to much? There is something spontaneous about the way things like to go in the Eleventh House, but we have to be careful not to bring our own Saturnian rigidity to these experiences. Self-inhibitors may feel guilty not wanting to volunteer, but we either do so reluctantly or are pushed into it by others who try to pump us up with confidence or assurance that we can do tasks required. If we don't undergo a real attitude adjustment, we later may complain about how we are carrying too much of the load and not getting the right kind of team support.

Again, it's a feeling of being used without being appreciated by people who are somewhat detached from the sacrifices we undergo to fulfill our role. Some of us might simply quit the group and not seek similar involvements again for a long, long time, if at all. It seems the lesson here is not to drop out, but to establish clear boundaries and let other members realize what we need in return for all the work we do. It's not selfish of us to ask for co-operation. It's sensible. We are only being unreasonable when we expect everyone to be mind readers who should already know when they are imposing on us, or pressuring too much, or piling on too many responsibilities. All they do know instead is that we seem to take on all the little jobs they shove our way and not gripe about it. If this scenario is not suitable, then Saturn says we need to squawk about things politely but firmly, and not just retreat and get our feelings hurt. Saturn can be such a touchy planet sometimes!

Saturn gets too easily unnerved by people who look too unusual or do things that go against tradition (think of the conservative bent of Saturn in Taurus, Cancer, or Virgo). The Eleventh House is one life department where we have an opportunity to meet a wide range of people from all walks of life (the United Nations is an Eleventh House organization, although ideally its politics are Ninth House issues). This house challenges us to readjust our thinking about finding security only through people who are familiar to us (that's why it quincunxes the Fourth House in the Natural Wheel). We have the potential to embrace a larger 'family' of friends in the Eleventh House. Saturn actually is no big embracer of anything, but in this house it often hungers for solid connection with members of society. It doesn't want to feel like an outsider who observes groups only from a safe distance, not daring to participate. In fact, Saturn can be a loner, but it doesn't always like being alone when in this house. It's a contradiction we need to work out.

Many of us will probably find we have adopted certain assumptions from our parents (maybe father more than mother) that anyone who is different is weird, and that weird can be dangerous. We are not supposed to trust strangeness in any form, much less allow ourselves to associate with it. There are many Uranian elements of the Eleventh House that Saturn finds both fascinating and disruptive. It's a house of anti-Establishment activities and protest movements that defy the cultural status quo. Even defining what is normal becomes a big question for the Eleventh House. Saturn always thinks it knows without a doubt what 'normal' looks like when it sees it, but the Eleventh House is where our culture has a chance to re-invent itself and try out new ways of looking and behaving. Ironically, what is called bizarre today may be passé a few decades later. So we with Saturn here are going to be getting an eyeful and an earful of what a progressive society can look like and sound like; and a lot of it will go against what we have been taught to reject while growing up.

The challenge is to find value in people and things different from ourselves and our background. We need to be more socially experimental in the Eleventh House. For example, if we have the chance to either go to an out-of-state university versus a local college only twenty miles away, we should opt for going out of state, because that might ensure that we get to have the culture shock needed to help us alter any rigid social assumptions. Even if we did choose to play it safe and stay local, the universe may surprise us by picking a room-mate who comes from the opposite side of the country, has slightly magenta-hued hair, loves exploring virtual reality, or even was raised by a parent who is gay (Uranus could be transiting our Saturn at the time). The point is that if we need to be exposed to different realities out there in the big world, the experience will come to us somehow.

Once we continue to have repeated encounters with unusual types with far-out views of living more freely, we get to listen to our inner critic who has so quickly sought to judge and condemn people who don't fit the mold. A lesson in true tolerance is to be learned with an Eleventh House Saturn; but it's a tolerance based on a deeper understanding of why certain people dare to live the ways they do. What Saturn can offer us here is real objectivity, where we play the social scientist who observes and records the unlimited variations of human behavior. We simply take it all in without feeling like we have to protect ourselves from such exposure. It would appear that the more we continue to educate ourselves and exercise our intelligence, the better. People with lots of planetary focus in this house (similar to the Third, Sixth, and Ninth Houses) usually want to feed their minds new data. Saturn may be challenged to do so to avoid being too narrow-minded to appreciate current social overviews.

Saturn in this house literally means old friends - as in the elderly, the aged, those advanced in years. Actually, older associates might be a more accurate term in most instances (people about seven or more years older than us). We might befriend such people because they represent for us stability, maturity, settledness, experience. We gravitate toward those who have been successful with their material objectives or have made a name for themselves in society. Maybe we have a few old famous friends. We feel safe relating to people who know where they are going in life and who don't waste their time or ours with nonsensical behavior. What may make these relationships work best for us is when both sides know their boundaries and observe considerate behavior. These would be people who just don't pop over for a surprise visit. Or ask us for inappropriate favors. Or talk about us behind our back. We need to trust that our friendship will be honored and respected.

Actually, much depends on our Saturn aspects as to whether such old friends are to be a source of security for us or a burden. Saturn / Moon or Saturn / Venus stress aspects do not sound like we are dealing with older people who are also self-reliant or confident in their outlooks. They could drain us with their sad stories of how life doesn't give them any lucky breaks. Of course, we could attract someone of any age who could sound like a bowl of sour grapes. So it's not as much a matter of old friends as it is a case of friends whose life patterns start to get old on us after a while. We take on some of their chronic problems and it can exhaust us. This could be a test of learning to be more selective in choosing acquaintances. With the right choices, our lives can be quietly enriched.

Saturn in the 11th House: Like Saturn in the tenth house, Saturn in the eleventh house is another common pattern in the charts of people who seek careers in public service. The eleventh house deals with more equalitarian organizations and with the expansion of knowledge, with humanitarian issues including equality and freedom, with casual friends and the legislature in a democracy. Where Saturn describes the limits, the eleventh house seeks to go beyond the limits. Where Saturn is the epitome of hierarchy, the eleventh house demands equality. Where Saturn insists on staying grounded, the eleventh house builds rockets to go to Mars and beyond. Saturn is the law; and the eleventh house rebels against it.

Obviously, Saturn in the eleventh house calls for integration if we want to avoid constant inner conflict. But what a great team they are when they work together. It takes the innovation and the willingness to take risks of the eleventh house to build rockets, but it also takes the understanding of gravity and other forces in our physical universe. The practicality of earth and the abstract intellectual skills of air are magnificent when they work together. Once we accept the necessary limits which let us survive in and cope with a material world, we can be free to do what we please. We can choose any career which expands or disseminates knowledge, and, if possible, lets us be our own boss working with peers.

Eleventh house fathers can be Aquarian in many ways, from intellectually brilliant and verbal to defiantly different, from being a friend with their children to being cool, indifferent, and sometimes just physically gone or emotionally unavailable. The father may be theoretically learning to be equalitarian, understanding, and accepting, the air principles, but may actually still be dogmatic or controlling. He might also just be unpredictable or rather strange. Whatever his version of the principle, the child has a chance to learn what to do or what not to do.

See also: Saturn in the 11th House;

Saturn in the 11th House: Lucille Ball, Ingrid Bergman, Marlon Brando, Johnny Cash, Wilt Chamberlain, George Clooney, Bobby Fischer, Charles Manson, Barack Obama, Dolly Parton, Edouard de Rothschild, Donald Trump, Vincent van Gogh, Robin Williams, Stevie Wonder, Tiger Woods, Paramahansa Yogananda, Abbe, Antonio, BenSt, Bobbie, Carolyn, Donny, Ellen, Fisher, Jamie, JT, Judi, JudyPl, Lorraine, Marie, Marybeth, Ricardo, Steve, Sugeet, Victoria, VinCal, VinCar, Zeno


Saturn in the 12th House

The twelfth house, as the last in the circle and lying hidden behind the Ascendant or outward behavior, symbolizes both endings and beginnings. It is the end because it represents the sacrifice which must ultimately be made of the conscious personality as a separation unit. From a more abstruse point of view it represents the beginning because it refers to those causes from the past which, operating from birth and below the level of consciousness, draw to us those situations which require that we lose ourselves and die to be reborn into group consciousness. From water all life comes, says the Koran; and this house, reflecting Pisces and Neptune, the ancient god of the waters, suggests that plane where life, undifferentiated and without individuality, first sprang, and where, wise with the lessons of individual consciousness, it must eventually return. Even shorn of its more esoteric associations, the twelfth house refers to isolation and submission, and to the dissolution of the personality.

This is often called the house of karma, based on the idea that planets found here are in some way denied normal expression and are often operating as unconscious rather than conscious drives. It is also called the house of self-undoing because isolation, incarceration, helplessness, and bondage are often the lot of the person with the heavily active twelfth house - literal or symbolic - and it is his own actions which draw these conditions to him. Whether a long past is considered or not, the inference is certainly present that the ego, built through the efforts of the previous eleven houses and signs, must eventually be laid on the altar of sacrifice so that the man may become a functioning part of a larger whole and give of his wisdom and energy for the good of the group. For the man who refuses to comprehend this, it is the house of hospitals and prisons, for only through the loss of individual power can a man realize that he himself is nothing without a link to the rest of life.

This is always a difficult house, unless the path of service is pursued. Somehow the release of energy in this way alleviates much of the frustration and loneliness which accompanies twelfth house planets, and makes the required sacrifices bearable. Great pain often occurs through the twelfth house, for the loss of the will after so much careful building is a great blow to the man who has come to identify himself with his personal desires. Yet loss of will is the price which all planets pay when found in this house, although the finding of inner serenity is often gained in exchange.

As the last sign of the watery triad, Pisces symbolizes the completion and fulfillment of all emotional strivings - unity not with another person but with life itself. This is the mystical marriage, and is most difficult for the average man, centered in his personality, to deal with. There is no battle required; only acquiescence and devotion. It is almost impossible to make any sense of the twelfth house from a purely mundane point of view, for, even more than the eighth, this is a non-material house and pertains to matters which bring a man into closer touch with subjective reality. Any planet in the twelfth is subject to the dissolving and transmuting influence which blocks the ordinary personal expression of the planet and forces its energies inward and upward. That which occurs here occurs in secret like the gestation of a child. Only when the term is complete can this facet of the individual unfold like a newborn baby into external expression; and by then it is changed.

Saturn in the twelfth house, and to a lesser extent in Pisces, is difficult from the point of view of the personality because the Saturnian energies, geared initially toward self-protection and defense against the environment, are rendered ineffectual. This may in extreme situations be through hospitalization or imprisonment for a period of time; and the man may learn through his own helplessness how ultimately impotent the personal will is against the forces of his own past which he himself has set in motion. The feeling that one is helpless and must submit to something larger and greater is frequent with this placement of Saturn, although it may occur on a very subjective level. This is a cadent house and refers to states of mind; and Saturn here often generates a vague fear that someone or something, a misty or generalized fate or destiny, is going to destroy him or control him. He may isolate himself and attempt to shield himself from contact with others at the same time as he is weighed down by an oppressive loneliness and sense of powerlessness.

The sacrifice of one's material ambitions is often concurrent with a twelfth house Saturn; and this is also one of the commonest significators of the child who dedicates his life to the care of an ailing or helpless parent at the cost of his own development. This is often done not because it must be - there are always alternatives - but because there is an intense feeling of guilt, obligation, and an instinctual understanding that he must make some sacrifice or pay some debt. It is also often the reflection of a fear of confronting external life and a sense of impotence in being able to handle practical affairs.

Guilt looms large with this placement of Saturn although it is generalized rather than specific guilt. It may cause a man to seek penance through solitude, or there may be religious penance in the literal sense resulting in the monk or nun. It may be apparently involuntary penance as is the case with incarceration; but the man himself chooses this course although he may not consciously believe he will have to pay. It may result in sickness or withdrawal from conscious awareness through drugs, alcohol, or insanity. Or it may be much more subtle and less drastic, as in the case of the man who is always alone and always feels separation from the rest of humanity and the rest of life, no matter how many people he surrounds himself with.

Typical Saturnian ambivalence occurs with a twelfth house Saturn too, and there is both a compulsive fascination with and a great fear of losing one's identity and individuality. But whatever the specific mundane situation which is reflected, the individual is generally called upon at some point in his life to endure helplessness and aloneness and the sacrifice of his control. When this occurs on an inner level, the individual is frequently unable to communicate his feelings to others, which only increases his sense of isolation. He does not understand what it is that he is trying to protect himself against, any more than he understands the abyss which draws him with such fascination. He only knows that he feels powerless, and may overcompensate for this feeling by attempting to prove that he is totally master of his life. This may land him in hospital or in jail without his understanding the inner motives which have brought him there.

Saturn is representative in his disguised and baser form as the most personal kind of power, that which a person seizes for self-protection through manipulation of his environment. It is man's defense mechanism which is necessary for a long time while the unfolding of consciousness needs defending; however, when Saturn is found in Pisces or in the twelfth house, the time has come for the scaffolding to be taken down, for the inner structure is nearly complete, and stripping this away is initially like stripping off one's own outer skin and exposing the raw and tender area beneath.

As opposite to the sixth house, the twelfth disorganizes that which the sixth has put in order, and offers chaos instead. This is not the chaos of sickness and madness, however; it only seems so to those who have built their conception of reality on a mundane base.

Understanding the meaning of this position takes us beyond the field of orthodox psychology, which has certainly mastered the fourth house and some of the eighth but is lost when confronting the mysteries of the twelfth. Recognition of the urge for evolution, for meaning, for the spiritual side of life, as a valid psychological drive in man, is now becoming widespread, however; and when it is understood that this is perhaps the most basic and most important instinct in man - although an instinct of the psyche rather than of the body - then it will not be such a painful experience for a man to sacrifice his personality to permit his total self-expression. The real potential of Saturn in the twelfth house is unfortunately only available now to those of a mystical bent who are inclined toward the path of inner contemplation. To them it is the final sacrifice of the sense of separateness, and is willingly undergone because it is the last door between man and his freedom. It depends in the end on one's perspective. Trying to hunt Saturn down through the mazes of the unconscious is difficult enough in the eighth house where there are still some personality links; but the twelfth is wholly of the soul, and analysis does not help understanding unless it is backed by a knowledge of man's innately spiritual nature. The gold available from a twelfth house Saturn is the power to serve, not to 'do good' - which is not service at all - but to experience the sense of unity which the mystic is forever seeking and the sense of responsibility and detached love which accompanies this unity. This will, of course, make no sense to the earthy man, and may offend more pragmatic astrologers; but the fact remains that the twelfth house has not yet been satisfactorily explained any more than has the nature of man. It may be that as scientific evidence piles up, slowly but surely, in demonstration of the occult teachings of the past, the interrelationships of all living things and their essential underlying oneness will be a fact on the objective plane as well as a subjective experience on the part of the mystic.

Saturn in the watery signs and houses is worthy of first place because it is in this area that he displays his greatest ambiguity and also his greatest emotional suffering. As man is only now beginning to learn how to think objectively as a group, and as the majority of people are still polarized in their feeling natures, Saturn in water is responsible for a great deal of the loneliness and isolation so apparent at the present time. It is of some help for the individual who has Saturn in a watery house or sign to recognize that his potential in terms of inner peace, understanding, and wisdom is as great as his potential for despair if he will only turn inward to the realm of the feelings and of the unconscious.

Saturn in 12th House: It's well established that the Twelfth House is the perfect place to retreat when we want to get away from the bustling, hectic world and find a little tranquility. Peace and quiet are what much of this house is about, even though paradoxically the Twelfth House also drums up nightmarish images of bedlam where the insane howl and the disoriented abound in a hellish place of jarring noise and chaos - and that's just of our own inner demons! But for Saturn, it's the silent places of the soul that are most sought after. Neptune in the Twelfth House is much like this too, except that Neptune has a special talent for zoning out - meaning it closes its eyes and flies at the speed of mind to other dimensions where time and space pose no barriers, perfectly unaware of its everyday mundane surroundings. Neptune is quite a trance-maker.

Saturn can never get that far away from its ability to be aware of form and limitation. Saturn retreats to the Twelfth House to deeply contemplate why things turn out the way they do. Saturn will dig deeply to understand the purpose behind the endings of situations and relationships, especially when they've ended badly or without sufficient explanations. The Twelfth House is where we hide a lot of our loose ends, but Saturn always finds them and gets very anxious. However, its strong point is organizational power, which is no easy feat in this house of formlessness and anti-matter. What could be suggested is soul structuring, where we learn to build consciousness carefully on our most internal levels. Saturn is learning not to fear the limitless world of the spirit within. By establishing a meditative atmosphere where stillness is emphasized, we can learn to recognize the reality of our spiritual self and feel its constant, protective presence. Saturn always wants a solid connection wherever it's located; and in the Twelfth house, we have an ability to bring more of our Higher Self into earthly manifestation, perhaps through the power of visualization. But first we have to dissolve a lot of barriers that block our path to such self-awareness.

Some of us may have to deal with burdensome situations as part of our karmic plan for growth in this incarnation. We can suffer in solitude - at least, our pain is invisible to those we deal with in the day-to-day world. We learn to become excellent concealers. But since this is the house of behind-the-scenes activities or hidden circumstances, we are reluctant to come out and expose our more serious problems to others without feeling inexplicably guilty or more embarrassed and humiliated than is reasonable. A few of us opt to lock away and guard our troubling fears (Saturn rules locks and bolts), while moping around like a martyr or victim of fate, figuratively wearing a 'kick me' sign.

Maybe we don't even mope, but instead show a false self-assurance and an assertive drive to accomplish that keeps others from prying into our hidden parts. We over¬achievers may try to conquer the hypnotic pull of the unconscious by putting all our energies into establishing ultimate values of the earthly kind. Winning the game of material life is then the ideal we put on a pedestal, while our soul needs are little understood or woefully neglected. It's not a common manifestation, but it can occur. Actually, Saturn does call for a sensible embrace of both spirit and matter. Making peace with being in the world while doing what we can to bring peace would be a goal to envision, but Saturn needs to know how far it can realistically fulfill this dream to avoid disenchantment.

Retreating for purely escapist reasons, to avoid people contact rather than to confront the Great Oneness of life, can be the unwise way Saturn deals with anxiety. We can be hyper-vulnerable to our own crippling doubts or plagued with self-pity. We hardly want to realize that we are so fearful, much less have strangers or loved ones know this about us. We will need to do some honest self-confrontation to determine if we are allowing imaginary limitations to hem us in. Are we assuming certain negative Saturnian responses from others ("they loathe me... they really loathe me!") while being too chicken to get the facts straight by being direct and addressing certain issues face to face? If so, we choose to remain blind to the real truth, and thus hurt ourselves. Being in the dark about anything is not what Saturn's all about; but the Twelfth House can symbolize covert enemies, and that includes engaging in hidden self-destructiveness.

See also: Saturn in the 12th House;

Saturn in the 12th House: Ammachi, Alan Arkin, G.W. Bush, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Isadora Duncan, Robert Hand, Angelina Jolie, Joni Mitchell, Benjamin Netanyahu, Robert Redford, O.J. Simpson, James Taylor, Mark Twain, Gore Vidal, Joanne Woodward, Arine, BPoe, Cynthia, Flickinger, Gina, JBLight, Keith, Komala, PapayaJ

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