Transcendental
Saturn
Eternity is in love with the productions of time.
To create a
little flower is the labor of ages.
Prisons are
built with stones of Law, Brothels with bricks of religion.
–William
Blake, The Proverbs of Hell.
Nature
does not manifest her laws bit by bit, an inch of gravitation
today and another inch tomorrow. No, every law is complete. There
is no evolution in law at all. It is given once and forever …
There may be a hundred thousand laws and man may know only a few
today. We discover them–that is all.
–Swami Vivekananda, from a lecture given in San Francisco
in 1900.
Core meaning:
Saturn
rules the systole or
contraction of elemental energy, corresponding to the notion
of a shrinking, imploding universe. It symbolizes the crystallization
of energy into specific, material forms. Saturn stands in direct
polarity to Jupiter’s diastolic
energy: the phenomenon of an expanding universe and the spread
and replication of life forms. While Jupiter rules the domination
of the life force over matter, Saturn rules the opposite principle:
the dominance of physical matter over an animate but ephemeral
consciousness. Yet, these two opposing principles work in unison
and depend on each other to achieve mutual expression. While
Saturn organizes Jupiter’s energy, Jupiter animates
the soul of mere matter. Saturn permits Jupiter’s “higher
consciousness” a means of incarnating into durable, visible,
material forms. It “fixes” the ever-expanding tendency
of Jupiter into a specific shape, permitting its physical expression
and structure, while Jupiter infuses mere matter with an immaterial
consciousness and meaning. Saturn provides a structure through
which Jupiter expresses a visionary consciousness.
Saturn portrays
the cosmic “law of limitation,”1 e.g., the limits
imposed on the individual in the form of collectively agreed upon
rules and socially accepted norms of behavior. It symbolizes the
“just so” nature of reality: that water freezes at
precisely thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit; that light travels at
299,792.5 kilometers per second; that argon has an atomic weight
of 39.948. (It’s “just so.”)2 These immutable
natural laws govern our universe. Saturn rules the mysterious
process through which reality is “fixed” at such predetermined
levels.
As experienced
in everyday life, the Saturn principle is often felt to be unfairly
restrictive or even depressing in its tendency to organize, regulate,
and structure. This is so especially during adolescence: a period
marked by fluid states of consciousness and by emotional upheaval
and growth. During this time, when we prefer to express ourselves
in manners that challenge socially condoned constraints, Saturn’s
positive function may be misunderstood. (This is especially the
case when a younger generation is confronting older people who
have unconsciously identified with Saturn and who act out its
rigid forms of authoritarianism.) As we age, however, Saturn consciousness
may become more clearly focused and its larger purposes may be
better understood. Unless it is properly integrated, however,
it will pose an obstacle to the expansion of personality, now
favoring a fixed social role (persona)
or a form of self-identity that is no longer open to development.
As discussed in the previous chapter (see “Transcendental
Jupiter”), the archetypal figure of the senex
(Old Man)3 personifies this rigid, authoritarian aspect of Saturn.
Improper manifestation
of the energy:
•When
Saturn is hyperactive, it is experienced as a fearsome, claustrophobic
sense of “harsh reality”: a fear of being “orphaned”
in a “soulless” space and time (e.g., “separation
anxiety”).
• When Saturn is hypoactive, it produces a sense of not
“fitting in” to concrete reality: a lack of discipline;
an inability to structure (especially the structured use of time
and space); or a lack of “apprenticeship” in learning
the “skills of daily living” (e.g., archetypally symbolized
as an “absentee father”).
The evolution
of yang consciousness begins with the Sun’s development
of the self as an “ego-identity”; continues with the
Martian interactive self as a dynamic (or aggressive) interplay
with others; and culminates with Saturn’s realignment of
the personality to suit the needs of the social-collective organization,
which is composed of many other “selves.” If one appropriately
expresses Saturn’s energy, one is properly related to the
collective through the ability to effectively produce work and
to accomplish tasks that fulfill broader social needs or that
maintain institutions or organizations.
When inappropriately
expressed, the demands of the larger society (which may condone
only narrow, limited expressions of the identity) will eclipse
the personal needs of the self (Sun). Therefore, the self is not
allowed a proper, healthy expression.
Because Saturn
represents a channeling of energy into socially productive tasks,
we must examine the abstract notion of the society itself (especially
as it functions as a censor and control mechanism) in order to
understand the dangers represented by a mismanaged Saturn energy.
The “eclipsing” of all that is idiosyncratic about
the self is one of the primary dangers of an overactive Saturn
principle (in a personal horoscope or in the horoscope of a nation).
An unquestioning belief in authority or in behavior based on rigid
notions of “acceptable,” status quo lifestyles will
result. For example, in late twentieth-century North Korea or
in Chairman Mao’s China, we have examples of societies that
were dominated by overbearing authority figures who continually
emphasized collective needs over those of the individual (the
latter was even characterized as the “cult of the individual”).
Self-identity (Sun) was usurped by a collective self (Saturn)
to the extent that the notion of collectivity as something
composed of individuals almost becomes heretical. Certain
aspects of American culture in the 1950s also reflected this phenomenon.
This period exemplified challenges for individuals throughout
the world. It was symbolized by the square between Saturn and
Pluto in the mid-1950s (an angle of separation of 90 degrees),
leading to the Saturn / Pluto keynote: “social institutions
/ dominated by ‘invisible’ control-figures who willfully
exert mass-manipulation through fear tactics” and through
“institutionally maintained social / surveillance techniques”
(Saturn / Pluto).
When someone is
overidentified with the persona or social mask, we may assume
that Saturn has run amuck and has usurped the proper functioning
of the individual self. The persona is related to the Ascendant4
or “rising sign” in the horoscope, which represents
a personally tailored and meaningful expression of persona. For
example, our “professional mask” or “work persona”
is forged through a personal decision to pursue a particular profession:
ideally, one aligned with our aspirations, talents, abilities,
and goals. This is different from a distorted self-expression
that results from an inappropriate or socially imposed (Saturn)
persona. When the state usurps an individual’s decision-making
process and imposes a role that runs against the grain of the
personal self or that severely inhibits self-expression, then
the mask or persona is pressing into the face of the personality
and distorting it. As the scholar Joseph Campbell pointed out,
this results in the unhappy faces that we see all around us, exemplifying
Saturn’s usurpation of the personal soul.5
Many societies
continue to maintain excessive institutional control-mechanisms.
These are personified by so-called “beneficent” authority-figures
who, nonetheless, ruin the lives of innovative culture bearers
who are no longer permitted to make unique contributions to society.
Whether in the role of rigidly programmed authorities or in the
form of authoritarian governmental institutions, when such control
forces are empowered by planetary transits (e.g., the above-mentioned
Pluto-Saturn square) then the analysis of personal astrological
patterns no longer suffices to answer questions pertaining to
such widespread social problems. The social collective is then
exerting a force over the personal life that distorts the individual’s
“true face,” i.e., the appropriate expression of the
horoscope or “planetary portrait.”
This reflects
an aggregate result of generations of those who have remained
unconsciously identified with Saturn and who have maintained a
disproportionate belief in authoritarian control over personal
life. Then an awareness of Saturn’s appropriate role in
individual life is lacking, and it needs to be cultivated in the
society-at-large.
(For example, the knowledge that fixed cosmic laws provide a practical
means of individual growth and challenge one to greater accomplishment,
ultimately providing stepping-stones that lead to concrete means
of self-liberation.)
Symbolically speaking,
it is for this reason that Saturn precedes neighboring Uranus,
the ruler of individual freedom and liberation. By working through
Saturn’s laws and by channeling Saturn’s consciousness
into everyday life, we learn to gradually transcend the limits
of a “fixed” reality. Through the effective structuring
of our time, through the informed manipulation of matter, we actualize
a real accomplishment: one that strengthens character and that
effects positive, tangible results in the lives of others (i.e.,
the society-at-large).
Conversely,
an unconscious identification with Saturn leads to a myopic focus
on the “work, discipline, and hardship” quality of
this energy, to the extent that these become goals in and of themselves
and result in the exclusion of other planetary principles. When
this occurs, such restrictive, life-limiting patterns are elevated
to a sacrosanct level. A crypto-religious approach to duty, sacrifice,
and organization will result in a distorted view of material reality.
For example,
Saturn may usurp the spiritual impulse of Neptune, resulting in
a “spiritualizing of matter”: a belief in work as
the highest function of mankind. Or some other planetary principle,
which no longer functions properly because of Saturn’s general
usurpation, will cryptically manifest (e.g., “philosophizing
about” (Jupiter) discipline or “romanticizing”
(Venus) hardship). This cryptic, subliminal functioning represents
the distorted expression of one planetary energy through the dominating
lens of another. It occurs when a single function usurps the general
psychic energy available for the other functions. When this occurs,
eventually there will be a revolution or reversal (Uranus) of
libido that leads to extreme shifts of behavior, as the psyche
furtively attempts to energetically realign itself. (See my essay,
“Transcendental Uranus.”)
Transcendental
potential:
While
the restrictive quality of Saturn (with its emphasis on fixity,
law, duty, and responsibility) will generate fear in those who
have not properly integrated it, working consciously with Saturn
results in dramatically shifting one’s perspective so that
a more positive view of the energy comes into focus. For example,
if one has already experienced the imprisoning effect that results
from a lack of Saturn’s
discipline, organization, and planning, then a reassessment of
one’s relationship to the energy will provide one with an
ability to restructure life and to actualize one’s potential.
Effectively managing a social role and achieving goals in a realistic
manner are keynotes that are catalyzed through a conscious integration
of the Saturn principle. Saturn rules the impulse to “sit
down and get things done,” especially something that has
an impact on the broader society.
Relocation to
a foreign land may force the issue of “fitting in”
(a fundamental keynote) or may render the notion of ‘responsibility”
as being something desirable, as the perceived “dreariness”
of Saturn’s “realistic, day-to-day, routine”
quality is now balanced by the exotic experience of encountering
an unknown set of social conditions and mores. In this sense,
we are given the ability to start afresh with Saturn, to experience
a new approach to structuring our day, enduring hardship, and
reaping a reward.
Under the Transcendental
Saturn locale, we may make contact with those who assist us in
developing self-discipline or in realistically planning and structuring
daily life. A properly integrated Saturn will enhance professional
advancement and lead to a collective recognition of achievement.
We may also develop positive relationships with authority figures
(particularly through professional contacts), and such encounters
will “humanize” the Saturnian energy, in the sense
that developing a relationship with authority will transform the
foreboding image of Saturn into something more humanly approachable
and real. In turn, this will enhance one’s ability to realize
inner authority and control over one’s life.
Personalities with Primary
Transcendental Saturn:
Ethel
Barrymore (the “first lady” of American theater, whose
“disciplined approach” to acting was exemplified by
her statement: “We became actors not because we wanted to,
but because it was the thing we did best”); Otto von Bismarck
(German ambassador to France who provoked the Franco-Prussian
War of 1870 and who later dictated the “constricting terms”
of peace to France, whose Primary Saturn runs directly over France);
Sean Connery (actor whose Primary Saturn is located over his birthplace
in Edinburgh, Scotland; known for portraying “stoic”
characters bearing “serious social responsibility”
and for enunciating with a distinctive “voice of authority”);
Simone de Beauvoir (with Sartre, promoted Existentialist philosophy,
which was characterized by a “somber, severe appraisal
of reality” and which evolved out of a postwar sense of
“alienation, hopelessness, meaninglessness, and despair,”
which envisioned humanity as existing in a “soulless universe”
bereft of absolute values, and which posed personal “responsibility”
as an alternative to such despair); Emily Dickinson (poet born
directly under her Primary Saturn in Amherst, Massachusetts; remembered
for the unusually “restricted lifestyle of self-imposed
exile and deprivation” that characterized her biography
and that engendered the major themes in her writing); Jeane Dixon
(born near the line of her Primary Saturn in Medford, Wisconsin;
“professional” psychic whose most memorable prediction
foretold of John F. Kennedy’s imminent assassination; whose
Transcendentals describe the “concrete manifestation / of
occult forces” [Primary Saturn / Secondary Neptune]; who
worked with the FBI in a “propaganda / and control”
[Neptune / Saturn] program to influence public opinion; F. Scott
Fitzgerald ([with Pluto] whose novel, The
Great Gatsby, portrayed a man who “achieved great material
success / but who destroyed himself and others in the process”
[Saturn / Pluto]; Jim Morrison (“depressed and tormented”
singer-songwriter obsessed with “authority figures,”
who relocated to his Primary Saturn in California, where he “accomplished”
his greatest work; often remembered for his aphorism: “When
you make your peace with authority, you become an authority”);
Vanessa Redgrave (actress who assumed a “grave sense of
personal responsibility toward the “fate of the social collective”;
remembered for aligning herself with causes often considered
radical or innovative [with Secondary Uranus] and for the “severe,
authoritarian manner” she used to communicate the “seriousness”
(Saturn) of such causes; best remembered for her role in promoting
the rights of the Palestinians, whose homeland is located under
her Primary Saturn); Eleanor Roosevelt (one of the most “hardworking”
of the presidential First Ladies, who held many “positions
of responsibility” and who regularly took “refuge
in labor,” saying, “If I feel depressed, I go to work”);
Harry S. Truman (American president whose Primary Saturn runs
from southern Japan to northern Korea, the location of his two
main interventions: dropping the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
and the Korean War; remembered for his “caustic, tell it
like-it-is,” “just so” style of communication);
Woodrow Wilson (whose second presidential term was focused on
directing the Allied victory in Europe, where Primary Saturn forms
a Transcendental Midpoint-Field with Secondary Neptune; like other
American presidents born with a Primary Saturn, through the office
of the presidency he experienced a powerful form of “responsibility”
to the “social collective”).6
*
* *
Keynote
phrases for Saturn:
•Understanding and working with the “laws of limitations.”
Using such laws to actualize goals and adapt to reality.
•The ability to crystallize or “make real” a
potential form.
• In its most sophisticated form, Saturn is the magician
who incarnates beauty (Venus), inspiration (Jupiter), intuition
(Uranus), vision (Neptune) etc., into the
three-dimensional construct that we collectively refer to as reality.
•The image of God as a cornerstone. The notion of creation
as a blueprint. The concept of relationship as fulfilling responsibility.
The goal of action as accomplishment. The channeling of energy
into discipline and socially productive work.
•The accumulation and accretion of yang energy into physical
matter.
•The progressive evolution of yang, unfolding from an interactive
self-identity (Mars) to a collective spirit expressed in the social
organism (Saturn).
•In Indian astrology, Saturn corresponds to “prudence,
frugality, self-control, loyalty and steadfastness.”7
•Yang expressed as collective identity and collective self.
1. “The Saturn glyph reveals one of the most important aspects
of terrestrial life: the law of limitation ...” Oken, As
Above, So Below, p. 297.
2. An expression coined by Rudyard Kipling, frequently used in
a more psychological context by Carl Jung. These “just so”
statements are a paraphrase of Jung’s work.
3. “Saturn ... is the mysterious and sinister Senex (Old
Man).” Jung, Mysterium
Coniunctionis, p. 224.
4. The degree of the zodiac that is rising at the moment of birth
and that designates the cusp of the First House.
5. See the widely acclaimed Power
of Myth interview with Bill Moyers.
6. Saturn and Pluto appear as the least aspected planets in the
horoscopes of many American presidents. Including George W. Bush,
the 42nd person to hold that office, there were 9 presidents with
least aspected Saturn [21.4%]; 4 with second least aspected Saturn
[9.5%]; and a total of 13 [30.9%] with Saturn as either least-
or second least aspected. For more presidential statistics, see
Part II, chapter III, “Transcendental Biographies.”
(Although George W. Bush is referred to as the “43rd”
president, one president, Grover Cleveland, served two nonconsecutive
terms (as the “22nd” and “24th” U.S. president.)
See my essay on Saturn and Transcendental Nations, below.
7. Dreyer, Indian
Astrology, p. 94.
Additional
Saturn quotes:
Laws
made clear uphold the city [...] / One’s bearing / shapes
one’s fate.
(Heraclitus.)
There
is a limit to everything.
(Proverb.)
