by Erik M Roth, Shamanic Astrologer

The essence of the human element is born from the cosmos (stars, planets, moons, etc) and right here on Earth our relation to the ebbs and flows of the seasons on the surface and the celestial objects above is of great importance.   Astrology came about from our relationship with the seasons and the cosmos.  The Sun, Moon, planets and other stars guided human civilizations throughout time.  Our ancient ancestors recognized the usefulness of this relationship with the sky and found each planet or “wanderer”, as the Greeks called the planets, helpful in understanding the chaos around them.  These ancients found order, patterns and linear time.  From this, cultures were developed and with that, knowledge was passed down through generations and laws were brought about to promote order, security and growth.  Since those ancient times, the planet Saturn was seen as the holder of that knowledge, order and time.

The name, “Saturn”, was only the most recent incarnation of a deity or archetypal energy (recognized in the ancient skies as the ringed planet) that was responsible for creating time and matter, measures, the mill (representing world ages).  Going back to Greece, Saturn was known as Kronos/Cronos and in Assyria Saturn was known as Ninurta or Ptah in ancient Egypt or even Enki/Ea in ancient Sumer (according to Hertha von Dechend of Hamlet’s Mill pg 133-136, 148). In ancient Greece, Cronos created time and matter while his partner, the goddess Ananke, weaved the destinies of souls but also brought about free will to those same souls.

In our modern times, Saturn has taken on the rules and laws of the cultures in those times.  In Shamanic Astrology, we return back to Saturn’s origins as a teacher informing the present.  The ringed planet, like all of the outer planets, is a planet of strategy, navigation and initiation in Shamanic Astrology.  It orbits around the Sun fast enough that we all experience a plethora of Saturn cycles or initiations in our lifetime.  In fact, it will go into conjunction, square and opposition with our natal Sun, Venus, Mars, Mercury, angles, lunar nodes, Moon and Jupiter 2 or 3 times each in our lifetime.  In addition, it will also transit a person’s natal Saturn 2-3 times as well (conjunction, Square and opposition).

As Liz Greene writes in her book, Saturn a new look at an Old Devil, that in “traditional astrology, Saturn is known as a malefic planet. . .  He is usually considered the bringer of limitation, frustration, hard work and self-denial (pg 10).  Traditional astrology holds judgments around all of the planets and signs in its regular interpretations and Saturn being portrayed usually as the villain in the script of life.  But that view is not in keeping with how Saturn was viewed prior to the onset of the combination of monotheistic religions and patrilineal descent.  Greene shares that, “This rather depressive evaluation remains attached to Saturn despite a most ancient and persistent of teachings which tells us that he (Saturn) is the Dweller at the Threshold, the keeper of the keys to the gate, and that it is through him alone that we may achieve eventual freedom through self-understanding.” (Saturn, pg 11)

In Shamanic Astrology, the judgment around planets or aspects (conjunctions, squares, oppositions, etc.) are completely done away with and replaced with intent.   In Saturn’s case, the intent is “growth through limits and boundaries.”  Saturn pertains to the rules/laws, the structure of life and the operating manual.  Essentially, Saturn is about ‘getting real’.  It’s about facing the burdens we carry and letting go of those burdens that no longer serve us.   When a person is experiencing a Saturn Initiation, it requires a person to, “make a significant change, to take responsibility, and make decisions about what does or doesn’t work in their life.” (Daniel Giamario, The Shamanic Astrology Handbook pg 99).

With Saturn in the picture, the Universe is asking us to pay attention to the bones of our lives, the underlying structure or foundation that has served us in our lifetime.   Saturn asks us to grow up, to mature in alignment to what our purpose is all about.  What can we do to better ourselves for our own healthy future?  How will those decisions impact our soul’s intent?

Whenever an image comes into form, there are rules and laws surrounding that image, even as it shifts and changes over time.  Our own image or form shifts over time as we grow and evolve both the mind and body.  Saturn is one of the better ways to track and honor ourselves as we mature over time.  There are Saturn Initiations that happen to everyone at certain ages.  These initiations are maturity markers and windows of time in which to invest in ourselves at a higher level.

Saturn Orbit Highlighted

The orbit of Saturn is what produces the initiations as described above.  The turns of Saturn and what they mean:

• ¼ turn around the Sun – 7.375 years (rounded to 7) – First Quarter Square of Saturn
• ½ turn around the Sun – 14.7 years (rounded to 15) – Saturn Opposition to itself on Natal Chart
• ¾ turn around the Sun – 22.125 years (rounded to 22) – Last Quarter Square of Saturn
• Full Turn around the Sun – 29.5 years (rounded to 30) – Saturn Return to itself on Natal Chart

NOTE: About every 7 years, the human body recycles all of its cells

In Shamanic Astrology, we measure the Saturn initiations akin to the gestation of a human baby, between 9-10 months.  The growth and focused intent of the birthing process (from the first fertilization to cell division to the baby through the birth canal) shows, in a symbolic way, what is happening to a point in the soul’s journey as we mature through specific phases on the timeline of life (Shamanic Timeline).

(Saturn Orbit Highlighted – picture used from Wikipedia)

I have highlighted the ages in which these timeline Saturn initiations take place beginning with the First Quarter Square of Saturn on a person’s astrology natal chart and ending with the 3^rd Saturn Return on the natal chart.

As one can see, Saturn plays one of the biggest roles in a person’s life phases, especially as it concerns participating and owning up to one’s life choices and responsibilities.  Saturn’s influence is not there to specifically make life harder (for the sake of just making life hard), but to provide a focus toward being responsible for one’s life path, which can result in highly challenging life choices.  The Saturn initiation forces a person to see what is right in front of them, the weigh the consequences of their actions and opportunities to decide the life that is aligned with their path.

Saturn Initiations with Other Planetary Cycles

Saturn initiations take place in linear time and are about our consensus reality or structure of life.  We in the Western Culture think much more in linear terms than any other way and Saturn does support that in our physical realm.  However, a Saturn Initiation typically does not operate without any other planetary cycles (initiations) taking place within the timeframe of the cycle.  And some of those planetary initiations are considered ‘outside of linear time’ by Shamanic Astrology standards.   In fact, time as whole, can be looked at in a broader way as a “space-time continuum” or just “space-time.”

While Saturn plays a big role in space-time, other planetary initiations take place in non-linear space-time, like Neptune and Uranus or Pluto.  Non-linear space-time is where assemblage points shift, unexplainable synchronicities take place, detachment, primal energies transform us and the pregnant void of all possibilities exists.

In a general comparison to linear and non-linear (or Saturn with the non-linear), author Taylor Ellwood wrote about what “Zero” means energetically in his book, Space/Time Magic.  In this concept, Zero represents “all possibilities and none, because you are faceless.”  Ellwood goes on to say that “once you have chosen a probability to manifest, you are no longer Zero” (pg 118)[1].   In essence, Zero becomes One once a probability or possibility is chosen.  The number One, in my view, is akin (in this example) to a Saturn Initiation in that a decision has been made and a path chosen.  It’s time to commit to the choice and take responsibility for it.  So when planetary initiations of solidity and linear time (Saturn) and non-linear time and a field of all possibilities take place together, how does one manage a Saturn Initiation during a time when reality becomes formlessness?

On a fundamental level, one has to be aware that all possibilities exist around them but to find a way to make a decision(s) that brings one or more possibilities into form.  For example, if one is experiencing a Neptune Initiation and a Saturn Initiation at the same time, the pregnant void of possibilities (Neptune) can be challenging due to intent being to detach from commitments and be continually open.  But with Saturn, the instructions are to make a commitment.  One then can make a major decision but is recommended to remain open to all options and not become overly attached to the decision.  In Shamanic Astrology, this goes into the level of bringing “spirit into matter” with the combination of those two planets.

The New Operating Manual

In this period of time we call the “Turning of the Ages”, where events take place an accelerated rate and the collective soul (and our own individual souls) is evolving into a new state, we are being given the opportunity to come up with a new ‘operating manual.’  This operating manual would truly work if it served the next seven generations and beyond and aligned with the intent of the collective soul.

In order for humanity to create one, we have to shake out the old paradigm in which we have been operating for the last couple-thousand years.  From what we see in the world around us, the old operating manual is not serving us very well for the majority of us.  Individually, we have to make choices that are aligned with our soul’s intent and this is where Saturn can assist us.

Saturn helps us become aware of the structures we’ve carried since childhood, the judgments, the guilt, trying to be ‘perfect’, the archetypal imagos (powerful unconscious images) of our parents, school teachers or other similar figures.  Saturn is here to assist by acknowledging the rules and structures of our past and building a framework to serve and create our new story, individually and collectively.   Saturn is also allowing us to see the wisdom of the original archetypal pattern of Saturn before it became a malefic planet and the scapegoat bearing our burdens.  The wisdom of which I am speaking comes from the many ancient cultures that inhabited the planet many thousands of years ago.  Saturn was part of the whole, a navigational tool to  allow the soul to experience the density of this world, to create within the flexible rules, to do the work that must be done so that not only the collective can benefit but each person individually as well.

“Although Saturn represents the operating manual, or the law, it does not say specifically what the content  of that law has to be.  That can, and has changed collectively throughout history.” (Daniel Giamario’s The Shamanic Astrology Handbook – Updated in 2014 pg 99)

Saturn Moving Forward

As of this writing, Saturn is moving into the latter degrees of the sign of Scorpio and will enter Sagittarius on the morning of December 23^rd.  It begins a transitional phase of Saturn moving into one sign for a few months, then retrograding back into Scorpio, and then moving forward into Sagittarius for good on September 18^th, 2015.  While I will write more about this passage of Saturn into Sagittarius at a later time, I will say that this marks a focus toward working constructively with our own explorations, truths, new territories and opportunities.  It is a shift from the deep water of Scorpio to the fire atop a mountain, marking that light in the distance, which in turns shows us the truth of our path.

– Erik Roth, Shamanic Astrologer

[1] Taylor Ellwood was writing about the “The Invocation of Zero” from a near death experience he had.  The concept of Zero came to him “through the writings of William Gray . . .” (pg 118).

Resources:

• The Shamanic Astrology Handbook (2014 edition) by Daniel Giamario with Cayelin Castell
• Space/Time Magic by Taylor Ellwood
• Hamlet’s Mill by Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend
• Saturn: a New Look at an Old Devil by Liz Greene
• Solar Fire Gold v 9.0 astrology software