Saturn in Virgo

Part I: Introduction

Saturn is our symbol for limits, boundaries and definitions. Literally, it refers to anything that outlines space, time, objects, or anything else. This includes definitions and names, because they outline meaning and identity.

Saturn is strongly linked to issues of maturity, because our personal limits change as we mature. The link to fathers is that, traditionally, fathers set and enforced limits for their children. Today, in natal charts, Saturn describes the Authority Figure of our childhood, whether it be Father, Mother, The Church, or, occasionally a grandparent. S/he is the final authority and often the family business manager as well–The Boss!

At one time, Saturn was the outer limit or boundary of the Solar System. As such, it acquired some of the negative vibes of Satan. Beyond it lay darkness, the unknown. Saturn often represents the point beyond which we cannot or will not go.

Most of the difficulty we experience with Saturn’s transits is derived from our resistance to change and growth. The strength of that resistance is related to the predominant element and mode of the chart. The most difficulty is usually experienced by those with a predominance of natal Earth and/or Fixed signs, for these tend to have the most difficulty with change.

This transit of Saturn through Virgo should prove particularly memorable because Virgo is (IMHO) in a transformational phase of her own, as natives move from the old rulership of Mercury to the new rulership by Chiron. The last transit of Saturn through Virgo fell soon after Chiron’s discovery in 1977. Since Chiron was new on the scene, it had little obvious effect on Virgo at the time. Now, 30 years later, Virgos worldwide are evolving. With hands on their keyboards, they are reaching deep into the polarity, drawing intuitive answers from their Piscean Internal Internet. For many, Chiron has become the Modem which connects us to our internal Universal and Eternal Web. This transit of Saturn through Virgo is on a significantly higher plane than the last.

How interesting that this transit was immediately preceded by the Saturn-Neptune opposition! It is our perception that oppositions are like marriage–the two must either learn to cooperate or they will constantly argue! Those who have taken the challenge to make their boundaries transparent, have made great progress on the upward path.


Part II: The Transit Across Virgo

The clearest and simplest meaning of any Saturn transit is that it times a need to redefine the area of its transit. More than ever before, it times a need to redefine Virgo, in the general consciousness. Simplistically, this is a change from servitude to service.

The greatest burden that tradition placed on Virgos were the words guilt and duty. These are particularly Saturnian words, because they limit our freedom, our creativity, our very lives. All too often one or both sap our very life energy, as we struggle for a perfection that others demand from us, sometimes out of ignorance, sometimes with manipulative intent.

This can take the form of being required to earn Heaven/eternal life, or being required to make Karmic payment, using a form that continually acquires more Karmic debt.

Although often justified by religion, such demands are designed to prevent our recognition of a higher truth. Worse, nearly always they come from people who will never be satisfied, no matter how perfectly we meet their demands. Old-school critics did not believe that any human could ever achieve perfection–and if it took changing the rules randomly to prove their point, they did so. In one way or another, the belief in the imperfection of humans has placed Virgos in servitude. Only in reclaiming our innocence, can we entirely throw off the chains of the past!

Consequently, in 1977 the discovery of Chiron became a symbol for a great healing in humanity. It offers us a new way to handle and use our lives, through realizing that choosing different beliefs leads to different experience. By reconnecting us with our divinity, our soul-wounds are healed. Gradually we realize that their only reality was derived from belief systems that required us to earn our freedom.


Part III: Analyzing Virgo
(A selection from Principles of Astrology)

Perfection is a constant Virgo theme, often misunderstood. Virgo is born perfect. It does not need to be made perfect. At Virgo, we are whole, perfect, and complete, having attained full physical size and a basic education. Adolescent spirits, we require only practice.

The Virgo level of human development is a point of high potential. Virgo is meant to teach us to function efficiently within the constraints of physical reality and the general consciousness with which it is surrounded at our particular point in time and space. Its psychological correspondent is adolescence, a phase caught between childhood and adulthood, when we are simultaneously learning to adjust to an adult body and preparing to find our place in adult society.

Virgo is sometimes called the Virgin, but if we are to continue the practice, we need to analyze the term. To be virginal is to be untried. It has nothing to do with abstinence, sexual or otherwise, even though the word virgin is rarely applied to anyone before puberty. Like adolescents, Virgo planets and points are untried, innocent, uncontaminated. Virginal and pure, they are nothing but themselves, still lacking the polish or social conditioning which older beings have. Teen-agers of the Zodiac, they are preparing to cross the Libran bridge into society, where they will practice new capacities, sometimes making mistakes or errors in judgment. A great lesson of Virgo is, "If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again." In modern lingo, "No pain, no gain," expresses a similar idea.

Virgo’s only lack is lack of experience. The Virgo phase of spiritual development is designed to give them that. From this comes the idea of learning by experience, of apprenticeship, of service. Virgo does serve, according the purpose for which it was designed. It is not about being a slave, or sacrificing the self on a cross of dogma, religious or otherwise. Your service may be anything, from farming, waiting tables, healing, managing a corporation, being a movie or sports star, to being a famous or powerful presence on Planet Earth.

Part IV: Returning Saturn

If your natal Saturn is in Virgo, you will experience a Saturn Return. These returns move us into a new phase of human development. The first Saturn Return is the astrological coming of age. Most of us individuate somewhere around age 21, but between that period and our thirtieth year, most still give allegiance to the rules and methods taught us in childhood–sometimes by compliance, sometimes by rebellion. At about age thirty, we are spiritually authorized to develop our own style, methods
and morality.

The second Saturn phase is a largely social one–often committed to the social mandates of career, marriage and parenthood. Graduation time for this phase is age fifty-nine. At that time, we may retire. At a minimum we give up the climb to the top, allowing younger people to pass by, while we turn at least part of our attention to post-retirement plans. Some may lay the groundwork for a second career, which should be about enjoyment. At such times, many rely on retirement income while they pursue the thing they have always wanted to do, when we have the time, the money, etc.

The phase change is from social to spiritual, and your new designation is as Consultant, Wise Grandparent, Crone, etc. The third, and all succeeding phases, are intended to be free from responsibility for/to other people. Responsibility shifts to our selves, our true beingness, our God/dess.

And then, for those who stay around, at about age eighty-eight, we move into a phase of full freedom. Ninety-year-olds are generally allowed by society to be as eccentric as they like!

Part V: Some Personal Saturn Transits

For those who have Planets in Virgo, as Saturn approaches them–usually from about three degrees before and one degree after–you will be asked to redefine specific planetary symbols.

Saturn conjunct Sun, is asked to redefine one’s core being–literally the spirit of your life. A common event marker is changing one’s name.

Saturn conjunct Moon, is asked to redefine your needs. Occasionally, this transit removes something or someone that you think you need, allowing you to see your own strength and courage.

Saturn conjunct Ascendant, is asked to redefine your self-image. You may wish to change your look under this transit. If you have been defining yourself by your job (A common Virgo trait), it is time to get a new and more complete vision of who you are.

Saturn conjunct Mercury is asked to redefine your perceptions. Often this involves changing your attitude. Mundanely, it could include new eyeglasses or hearing aids.

Saturn conjunct Venus is asked to redefine your values. Get a new sense of what is good for and about you. Occasionally this will remove some of your critics from your life.

Saturn conjunct Mars is asked to redefine your desires. What do you really want–not what you should want, but what you do want? Does this match what you value? A biggie here is that it is hard to get, and even harder to keep, things that have no real value to your true being.