The Second Saturn Opposition
In The Thick Of It
Saturn takes roughly 28.5 years to transit the Zodiac. With each hard transit (conjunction, square, opposition) to our natal Saturn - roughly every 7/8 years - we’re asked to restructure, or take stock of the structures that define our lives. Often what surfaces feels out of our control, as if we’re being tested, or challenged in some way.
The first Saturn Opposition occurs in High School, at the age of 14/15. We’re exploring our social identity, starting to find our way in the world. Depending on the sign, placement, it’ll of course affect us differently, but the universal quality of this transit reveals a significant rite of passage.
Just shy of thirty years later, in the thick of our generative years, we experience our second Saturn Opposition. This often comes shortly before or after our Uranus Opposition. These transits, collectively, are known as the Midlife Crisis Transits.
I’ve recently completed my Uranus opposition and am just beginning my Saturn one. In my case, with my Sun conjunct Saturn in my Natal Chart, it’s packing a punch - and it’s only just begun.
The North Node, which heralds destiny’s call, yanking us from our comfort zone, has been traveling closely with Saturn in late degree Pisces, bringing many of us into deeper reflections on faith and our relationship to the mystical, unseen world. It may also be bringing forward reflection on our addictions, or modes of escapism, where we submerge ourselves - for good or ill.
Transits rarely present themselves in expected ways. In the case of an opposition, we’re looking at outside forces (or people) forcing our growth. Sometimes it involves one pass, other times three (once forward, another retrograde and another forward again). In any case, the opportunity is there and the challenge is to meet the moment.
It’s fair to say, this is not what I thought my middle age would look like: living in Tennessee country with a New Zealand creative and our three rescue dogs.
When I was 29, during my Saturn Return, I enrolled in a MA program in Spiritual Pschyology. During those years, I would write - so intentionally - about where I saw myself. The gulf between that life and this one is quite large. That, though, in itself, is a gift. My imagination was limited back then, limited by conditioned restraints, belief. What I wanted, I now realize, was an idea. What I’m living is a life.
Saturn governs aging, the limits of mortal time, consequences, maturation. With Saturn on my Sun and Saturn ruling my Moon (Capricorn), Saturn transits can feel like a coming home, a rooting back in myself, my backbone. How have I veered from myself? To what or whom I anchoring - and why?
I’ve been quiet on here. Something in me in changing, but I can’t quite articulate what, exactly, the change is. Saturn will oppose my Sun until February, but the first pass - in my experience - is the question mark. The answers come later. I’m letting it be messy. Because it is and fighting it feels unnecessary, unproductive and frankly silly. I’m old enough now to know - the clarity comes when it comes. No use attempting to rush it. It’s a futile exercise. Be open, I remind myself, to whatever wants to work its way into your consciousness. It’s likely to surprise.
The start of 2025 has been wobbly to say the least. The Pisces Stellium has finally broken up. Saturn and the North Node, though still conjunct, are moving in opposite directions, loosening the karmic grip.
Saturn into Aries on May 24th will herald a new chapter. More decisiveness, more clarity. The fog of confusion of the Piscean era evaporating.
Often clients come to me in trepidation of a Saturn Transit. “I’ve heard they’re really hard.” But as with everything, how we relate to the issue is the issue. I welcome the contraction, the stillness, the wall I’ve been presented with. It’s life. And like anything, this too shall pass.
We have a Scorpio Full Moon on Monday, May 12th. The Sun will be conjunct “expect the unexpected” Uranus. This feels like an excavation, an unearthing, catharsis.
If you’re seeking counsel, my books are open here
xxD