I think I have a handle on Saturn in my chart. That I understand what it means to have a retrograde Saturn at zero degrees of Cancer in my 10th house: Restriction, responsibility, hardship, and lessons that come with time. I know it speaks to the emotional distance I felt as a child, to the fact that I never felt at home, or comfortable in my world. To how, while I may not have let it show, I always felt alone. Unseen. My thoughts and feelings hidden beneath a tough outer shell of independence and self reliance.
But today, when a fellow astrologer asked me how it has translated in my life, I wondered.
Do I have the answer to this question?
I do have some more answers: I’ve faced restrictions in my freedom to choose a career. To begin with I didn't have strong feelings about it. My deepest desire, had I been equipped with the emotional intelligence back then to express it, would probably have been to thrive in the steady and duty-full position of stay at home Mum. To work at building a structured and secure home from which to raise my large family: the four or more kids I'd always wanted.
If I'd been forced to choose a job, then it would have been focused around my love of books and my unquenched desire to immerse myself in lives that bore no resemblance to my own. An editor at a publishing house perhaps. Or maybe the idea I'd left University with, with my very average 2:2 BA (Hons) in Psychology & Sociology in hand, to gain some much needed life experience before training as a Psychotherapist (I'd never have presumed I had the necessary depth of wisdom to impart at the tender age of 22).
I'm fairly confident I would never have chosen where I've ended up, working for 20 years in the same lower management grade as a Finance Analyst, within the local government finance team that supports Older People's Social Care. Though perhaps, on reflection, that's exactly the type of job that Saturn in Cancer points towards?
There is an overwhelming weight of restriction, limitation, and an enduring sense of being stuck, perhaps even imprisoned. By the circumstance of being single parent to my two children since they were very small, a choice I made when the confinement of a difficult relationship became too much to bear. And within the job itself; the quiet weight of doing an effective job in a position that doesn’t allow for much upward movement.
But I think the real answer in how I perceive my Saturn placement depends on the moment I am asked. Perception matures as more of the symbol unveils itself. Things start to make sense, but just when I think I’ve grasped it, more of the mountain is revealed.
Take now, for instance. What does that Saturn have to say about my intentional structured study in astrology since 2020? About the deep inner work I steadfastly committed to when transiting Saturn opposed my natal Saturn 7 years ago? Where is Saturn leading me? And does that change how I perceive His presence in my life?
And what of my home and family? They are my driving force, which makes sense, given my Sun in Capricorn in the 4th. This placement speaks of that, too. Not to mention my Venus and Jupiter in Aquarius in the 5th. My limited experience of romance, of carefree love. How does that fit into the picture? It’s something I have yet to know in this lifetime, despite it being all I’ve ever hoped for and desired. The grand love, and my lack of it. Is that my retrograde Saturn in the 10th house in Cancer?
Is all the challenge and restriction an illusion to break through? Could what seems like a boundary actually be a stepping stone to what lies beyond?
Symbols
We like to believe symbols are fixed. That once we define them, we know them. But symbols are not meanings to decode, they are living presences that shift, expand, and reveal themselves in layers over time.
Take The Snake, for instance. A healer, a destroyer, a guardian, a threat. An agent of death and rebirth. The Devil himself. The same snake, yet cast in countless roles. Our astrological placements are no different. The moment we think we’ve grasped their meaning, another layer unfolds. Astrology, like The Universe itself, is a conversation, not a conclusion. And if we are willing to engage with it as something alive, rather than something to define, it has the power to transform not just our understanding, but our experience of life itself.
The Mystery of Saturn
Saturn in my chart isn't just a symbol to decode, a door to unlock what restricts me, or where my challenges and limitations lie - Saturn is alive, pulsing, breathing, shifting.
Holding onto the mystery rather than reducing it to explanations allows me to stay in a state of wonder, connection, and openness. It frees Saturn to teach me what I most need to know in the moment that I ask. And reminds me that it's in that mystery, in the not knowing, that majesty lies.
And that may also be a reflection of Saturn's place in my chart. Perhaps Saturn in also my inner mystic? Not the one who floats above the world, but one who has grown wise through endurance. The mystic who finds freedom not from restriction, but within it. Who climbs the mountain not to escape, but to see beyond it.
Astrology
Astrology isn’t about pinning down meanings but about deepening our conversation with the cosmos. The Gods, like The Snake, aren’t just symbols to interpret; they’re presences that move through our lives, continuously shaping and speaking to us in ways that go beyond language.
There’s something profoundly humbling about this approach. It asks us to step back from the desire to control or define and instead listen - to The Snake, to The Gods, to the unseen forces that weave through our reality. It’s a shift from knowing about something to being with it.
Astrology, like The Universe itself, is an endless unfolding. There’s no final destination, no point where we can say, 'Now I understand it all'. It keeps opening, revealing, and expanding, just as we do. The more we engage with it, the more it reveals, and yet, it never stops being mysterious. That’s the magic.
Our chart is alive, evolving in meaning as we grow. A transit doesn’t just mean one thing, it meets us where we are, shaped by our lived experience, our personal mythology, our way of seeing and feeling the world. Just like The Snake, astrology isn’t something to be mastered but something to be lived with.
Rather than something to pin down, our chart is something to be in relationship with, allowing its meaning to unfold over time.
So when a fellow astrologer asks me how Saturn has translated in my life, maybe the better question isn’t 'Do I have the answer?'
Maybe the real question is: 'What is Saturn speaking into my life now?'
Saturn speaks to each of us in different ways, shaping our journeys through time, challenge, and quiet revelations. What is Saturn speaking to you? What mountain are you being asked to climb?
If you feel called to explore your own chart - your own unfolding conversation with the cosmos - you can learn more about my work and book a reading with me here.
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A note on AI & my writing:
I use ChatGPT as a writing assistant—not as a writer. These are my thoughts, ideas, and words, shaped by my lived experience and deep love for self-work, self-awareness, the spiritual journey, and astrology. AI helps me refine, structure, and occasionally nudge me toward better phrasing, but the voice you’re reading is mine. I use it as a tool to help me put into words everything I believe is valuable in sharing my insights. Honesty matters to me, and this is simply one way I bring my thoughts to life.
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