Astrology
Saturn Return: The Reason Your Late 20s Are So Challenging
Everything you need to know when your Saturn returns
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What is a Saturn Return?
The late 20s can be especially difficult, and that's mainly because of the planet Saturn. It takes about 29.5 years for Saturn to return to the place it was at the time of our birth. We all experience our first Saturn return, or what’s more like an early life review between the ages of about 27 and 30. At the time of our birth, Saturn stays for a while, helping us lay the foundation for us to live the life we came here to live. The universe gives us all we need to succeed, but life doesn’t always go as planned and we find ourselves on a path that doesn’t serve us.
Saturn in astrology is the strict disciplinarian who wants nothing but to see us achieve all our goals and fulfill our life’s purpose. When Saturn returns to where he left us, and we aren’t fulfilling our purpose, he makes us see how our current situation isn’t working and he pushes us to make the necessary changes. Saturn returns to make sure we haven’t been distracted, and if we have, the influences of the transit help us get back on our life’s path.
This is a great thing, but change isn’t always pretty. In fact, when we are comfortable in our ways, change can be very hard and painful. When Saturn returns, it brings a period of reckoning where we are held accountable for our actions. Saturn’s return often creates a crisis that puts us face-to-face with our mistakes, fears, and responsibilities. It causes a mini earthquake and a breakdown of the foundations we have set in our lives that aren’t supporting us. This return is often marked by tons of upheaval and triggering events like breakups, divorces, accidents, near-death experiences, job losses, career changes, and becoming aware of what’s just not working anymore so we can make a plan of how to move forward.
If we’ve spent our early twenties living a messy life that isn’t in alignment with our soul, Saturn returns right before age 30 to help us clean up the mess and if there are consequences to our actions; he forces us to see them, learn from them and learn to live with them. After the first Saturn return, if we are blessed to see our late 50s, there’s a second return or what will most likely feel like a midlife crisis if we aren't on our life’s path. For those who get to live much longer, there’s a third Saturn return and what will probably be a final life evaluation beginning in the late 80s. Saturn returns to usher us into a new phase of our lives.
Saturn returns manifest as a wake-up call, a reckoning, or a spiritual awakening of sorts that forces us to wake up and grow up.
What Saturn Represents
In astrology, Saturn notoriously represents responsibility, discipline, boundaries, restrictions, structure, patience, and maturity. Saturn aka karma frowns on irresponsibility, immaturity, impatience, shortcuts, and temporary pleasures. Saturn is known as the great malefic, meaning he’s capable of causing harm and destruction to old and outdated structures. Because of this, Saturn’s transit is often met with dread and fear, but unconsciously we only fear the change and wisdom that comes with age because as we age we may have to change the ways that aren’t serving us.
In mythology, Saturn is the God of Harvest, and during its return, we reap what we’ve sown. If by the time of Saturn's arrival we've sown no seeds, then there will be nothing to reap and lots of seeds to sow, meaning lots of hard work and sweat. If we've sown seeds but our crops are unhealthy, Saturn prunes and cuts the unhealthy branches so that new growth comes in. This pruning process can feel like death itself, but rebirth always happens, and the outcome is always good and healthy. If we've sown seeds and our crops are flourishing, we reap everything we've sown. We are rewarded for our hard work, efforts, and dedication.
Why The Saturn Return is Necessary
There is always some form of death and rebirth, endings and beginning that takes place during a Saturn return. This can be confusing and uncomfortable because you are aware of the fact that something has ended, but you have no idea what is coming next. Saturn’s return is a good time to revisit your past and your goals to assess whether the life you’ve lived is helping you accomplish those goals. If you learn nothing during this time, you keep going down the wrong path, and the second Saturn return might be even more challenging than the first.
Your Saturn return will be some of the hardest times of your life, but the transit can help you get your life in order.
Saturn returns to show us our weaknesses so we can work on improving them. We are shown what we’ve done and what we’ve done wrong. We are shown where we messed it all up. We see our shortcomings very clearly, and we may even get angry at ourselves for where we find ourselves. Saturn returns to make us take responsibility and accountability for our actions. If we’re living life in a way that’s inauthentic or misaligned with our higher self such as staying in a toxic relationship that’s making us miserable or a dead-end job that’s draining our energy, we must work with Saturn to co-create a life that’s more in alignment. When Saturn returns, we quickly realize that playtime is over and it’s time to grow up. If we refuse to grow up, we repeat the same patterns over and over again, trapping ourselves in a vicious negative cycle.
How To Cope During Saturn’s Return
Saturn is strict, but Saturn isn’t an enemy. Saturn is the father who wants to see us reach our full potential. Saturn returns to usher us out of childhood and teach us lessons about maturity. This transition is all about tough love, bringing growing pains, and we must first learn to see it that way. It’s the same way a child fusses and cries when her teeth are coming in. She’s growing new teeth which is painful and uncomfortable, but the result is always pearly white.
It’s normal to feel lost, scared, confused, and disoriented during your Saturn return. If you’re finding life too hard to cope you must immediately learn the art of letting things go. Things that hold you back will be taken away. Things that don’t serve you will be left behind. The harshness of this can make you feel sad, but it is a very important time for liberating yourself from all kinds of things that hold you down so you can start anew with a clearer sense of who you really are. When you learn to see it that way, you release all resistance against the universe that is only working to help you reach your full potential. Resisting this transition makes the process longer and causes you even more pain and misery because the more you resist and repress, the messier it gets.
Saturn's return is a great time to embrace solitude and take the time off to be with yourself so you can reflect on your life without outside influences. It is also a good time to learn to cultivate love and compassion for yourself because self-care and self-love are things that will make this transition a bit easier.
Not all life falls apart. Some grow stronger during a Saturn return.
How Saturn’s Return Help You Evolve
Saturn's return isn’t always destructive. When Saturn returns and you’ve been doing what you came here to do, he rewards and empowers you. For such old souls who knew what they were doing from childhood, this passage is a time when they get confirmation and signs from the universe to keep going on that path. If you’re taking charge of your life and you’re doing what needs to be done, then there’s nothing better than Saturn returning to bring the help needed to move you forward into the next phase of your life.
Saturn only causes destruction and breakdown of the old and outdated, so we can rebuild something bigger and better that leads to our breakthrough. Saturn knows that it’s only then will we learn the true meaning of life. Saturn returns to help us see the path that leads to our healing, transformation, and also to ourselves. It pushes us to take charge of our lives and whatever we have to offer the world, Saturn enables us to bring that vision to life. Saturn as the planet of responsi-bility helps us respond to our abilities.
We all have a calling and a distraction. Saturn returns to make sure we are heeding the call, starving the distractions, and not letting our gifts and talents go to waste. Saturn knows it’s never too late to be who we are meant to be, and its return helps us remember what’s truly important and ensures we’re on the path to becoming the best version of ourselves.
Saturn's return is no doubt a difficult period, but if you trust the process, you’ll come out the other side with a new sense of freedom, wisdom, confidence, and trust in yourself.
