Francisco Goya’s horrific paintings of Saturn (Kronos), the Greek god, eating his children get to the heart of his astrological meaning, highlighting his obsession with time and mortality. Scared of dying he knew his children represented a future he can never possess, since his was limited by his mortal span. He tries and fails to abolish the boundaries of his life.
Saturn is essentially about facing reality, which presents in many forms involving practicalities, structure in earthly terms, duties and responsibilities. At its starkest it involves acceptance of death.
It plans, prepares, thinks long term to a feasible goal, gets foundations laid, builds slowly and securely so its achievements stand the test of time. The end result of its endeavours is not necessarily aesthetic but it is enduring.
Saturn restricts, so oversees limits and boundaries which may not feel like fun but are essential, psychologically as well as practically, in life. It stands firm for order, delineation, marked borders. In action, it is like a gardener who prunes plants back, lopping off overgrown branches, to stimulate fresh growth.
In Roman mythology, he was a god of generation, dissolution, plenty, wealth, agriculture, periodic renewal and liberation. Saturn’s mythological reign was depicted as a Golden Age of plenty and peace. He showed his positive face at the autumn festivals of the harvest, when the bounty of the year was brought in and drunken celebrations ensued after the hard work was done. Earthly delights are his preserve and his reign was seen as one of peace and plenty.
Capricorn, ruled by Saturn, has this duality marked as the two-headed god who looks back to the past year and forward to the new. He both mourns and celebrates. The old Capricorn symbol was half goat half fish. He operates in two realms, arising out of the watery realm of ideas and creative visions to make solid achievements a reality.
Not that Saturn is a delight at close quarters in intimate relationships. It can be cold, putting up a defensive wall against any encroachment, tending to put things above feelings, and is better at ‘doing’ than ‘being’.
Having Saturnine parents means facing two things – their envy and their ability to induce misplaced guilt on their child. The Saturnine father pushes and pushes his children to be a success, being excessively critical of any failures, making them feel they never achieve enough to satisfy him, so damaging the child’s self-esteem though it can helpfully induce a driving need to be a success. But deep down the father’s fear is that they might outdo him, become more successful and outlive him. It’s difficult to cope with since if the child-grown-to-adult became successful, the father would shrivel, feel worthless himself and be consumed with envy. So it’s a no win situation, until the child/adult separates enough to understand it’s the father’s issue, not theirs.
The Saturnine mother on the other hand insinuates into the child a sense that they are responsible for her depression; and their role in life is to look after her and make her happy. She makes an under-nurturing mother but expects her offspring to give her the caring she never gave them.
Successful people tend to operate in a Saturnine way. Maggie Thatcher with Saturn on her Ascendant pursued a career which moved to the transits of Saturn – into the Cabinet when tr Saturn moved up across her Descendant into her third quadrant, became PM when tr Saturn moved across her midheaven. She ignored its hints in the latter years of her tenure as it moved into her lower-profile first quadrant, when she should have been winding down. Her ego got in the way and she was ejected when her Solar Arc Saturn was exactly square her Sun. Saturn can raise to great heights through excessively hard work, but it is a hard taskmaster when lessons are not learned.
Richard Nixon on the other hand was forced to resign facing impeachment charges when tr Saturn was moving through his 10th (supposedly the peak). That was when Saturn’s iron rule ‘you reap what you sow’ came into play, and Nixon’s chickens came home to roost. The god of the harvest knows that only careful preparation at the right time, clearing the ground, sowing seeds, tending to the growing crops, sticking to the rules, will provide the cornucopia. If you don’t put in the sweat and planning and try to bend the rules, it brings retribution.
On my own chart tr Saturn was conjunct my Sun when my mother died and years later when my stepmother died. An inbetween tr Saturn conjunct my Sun came when I left (by choice) a long-running job which was quite a wrench though the right move.
My mom died during my 2nd saturn return! Sun leo, moon & saturn in asc pisces. Venus in virgo 7th house. I finally grew up.
Nice explanation of the Saturnine parents. Would love you to explain Goya’s astrology, not just in terms of Saturn but his very negative view of humanity. Also, how can it be that Raphael Sanzio born March 28, 1483 could be so different in viewpoint?
Goya had Venus, Sun, Mercury in Aries, all of which opposed Saturn in Libra. These placements were part of a T Square on Moon, Neptune in Cancer. For the dark nature of his work, he had Mars in Aries quincunx Pluto in Scorpio, fitting for an artist who created the ‘Disasters of War’ series of engravings as well as his witch paintings.
He’s one of my favourites.
Saturn is one of the most misunderstood planet in the Zodiac, every time one mentions that, that person will have a Saturn return, you hear someone saying ‘Oh they are about to have a tough time in their lives’ not always the case. Saturn is not all that bad, it depends on the placements and aspects with other planets. Some lucky people like Sir Paul McCartney has his Saturn conjunct his Midheaven, that is why he has had such a successful and long career. Others have their Saturn on 7th house of marriage, partnerships and contracts, one example is Oprah Winfrey who has never married in her life, and her Saturn has also formed a hard aspect with Venus. On the positive side of that placement is financial dominance for her, as Saturn also rules authority and dominance. Lucy Liu is one example with Saturn square her Venus and has never married in her life,. Venus Williams also has the same aspect and surprisingly she got married last year, though her marriage does not look like a marriage that is based on love, it looks more like a transactional marriage, and its not going to last. Saturn rules Capricorn, and some figures with the Capricorn Moon always find it difficult to settle in one marriage, they marry late or have multiple marriages, others never get married at all, same like people with Saturn hard aspect to Venus. Examples are Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Arnold Schwarzenegger. But the positive side of a Capricorn moon is assets accumulation and wealth, especially if it is placed in the second house. Since Saturn is the career indicator, it enforces law and order, it has both good and not so bad sides.
Marjory,
You just described my mother to the letter. One thing l would add, she’s more prone/softer with male than female. She’s a libra Moon, and would put up with any nonsense from her brother and his male kids, that would never be the case with me – daughter with a Cancer Moon conjunct Saturn.
Fun fact is that l love Caps and in general Saturnian people.
As every planet, it has positives and negatives n both extreme. Saturnians extreme negatives r seen in hearing loss to knee issues so inability to walk,in later years which also is result of emotional stubbornness. Positives r long ,healthy, working till last breathe or having a routine like youth as work is worship and best exercise.
Saturnians never come out of rainy days so their inability to give up material pursuits which also shows in their controlling partners of their offsprings to ensure the clan remains, financially safe…thus, fear of anything shocking but life likes changes so they often don’t live long after such shocks from loved ones, seen as betrayal
Saturn was conjunct my Venus+Pluto in Virgo when my mother died, and Saturn was opposite my Venus+Pluto when my first serious, live-in partner broke off our relationship (which was for the best after all). Saturn transits to my Sun and Saturn returns have not been bad at all, but I have natal Sun square Saturn so perhaps I’m just used to it – if anything they’ve been positive, maybe the rewards aspect after the hard work.