Saturn enters Aquarius 2020: The Collective Responsibility
On Dec 16th, 2020 Saturn moves from Capricorn into Aquarius ushering in a new energy for all of us and providing a path forward when the world so desperately needs it.
Saturn rules our commitments, time, responsibilities, governments, rules, and laws. Needless to say, Saturn is not the life of the party. Saturn, though, also rules karma and faith. Not the kind of faith that is governed by Jupiter which is more happy-go-lucky, but the type of faith required to walk through the fires of our life. Saturn asks us to commit to a course of action and have resounding faith in it, even when it becomes unfathomably difficult, full of hardship and even heartbreak. This type of faith has no guarantee or evidence, making it even harder to follow, but all that more powerful. Saturn, fortunately, gives us the energy and the willpower to get through the hard times, and even makes the tougher roads a bit smoother. Saturn, simply put, makes the hard tasks easy and in turn, motivates us to keep pursuing them.
Saturn also reminds us that our choices and decisions have consequences. Everything we do affects our tomorrow. In many ways, Saturn illuminates the butterfly effect. Not only do our choices impact tomorrow, but they also impact everyone’s tomorrow, and really the rest of history. It becomes easy to see why Saturn is linked to our governing bodies and laws, both moral and political. Furthermore, we can see Saturn’s relationship with karma. Saturn teaches us that every action has an impact. We may not feel the effects of our choices until later in life, or even the next life. Karma, though, is not just a cause and effect mechanism. Karma also ties us to other people. It is common to say “I have karma with that person” meaning something in this life, or last, energetically connects you two and until you “work out” your karma, you will remain connected. Saturn helps us work out our karma with others and often is responsible for people resurfacing in our lives, or cycles repeating themselves until they are resolved. If we think we’ve escaped a situation without having to pay our dues, Saturn will bring that scenario back to us so we can step up to the plate, be responsible, and resolve our karma.
Saturn just spent the last three years in Capricorn, where it entered December 2017. In Capricorn, Saturn was home. It made sense there. It brought us focus and reminded us to work hard on our life’s mission. It maintained the status quo in our systems of government with an emphasis on the individual thriving in their career. If you liked your job, this was a wonderful time. If you didn’t, then boredom and the inability to focus quickly surfaced. Saturn met Pluto in mid-January 2020 in some of the final degrees of Capricorn, causing a catalyst for great change and transformation through hardship. Pluto, the ruler of the underground, energetically puts us through hell so we can transform into our next selves. When Saturn and Pluto collided, the world took notice and suddenly evolved into a self-quarantined state, as new laws and limitations (Saturn) were placed on us and we transformed (Pluto) through pain and hardship. We, as a community, have to keep the faith that the global pandemic we are all wrestling with will lead us to a new world that will heal the heartbreak it is causing. Enter Aquarius….
When Saturn meets Aquarius, the focus moves to the collective. Aquarius is the forward-thinking sign, who’s main concern is humanity. We’ve all heard of the Aquarian Age- a time when concepts like peace and unity reign and the individual is always thinking about the greater good of the whole. With Saturn in Aquarius, we have the opportunity to actually manifest the Aquarian Age in reality. It’s not a total shoo-in, though. The cosmos gives us the energy and support, but humans always have free will. We can either take the opportunity provided to us by Saturn in Aquarius or we can squander it until they meet again in 29 years.
Saturn in Aquarius asks us to look at every choice we make and asks how it affects the collective at large. This includes not just our individual lives, but the world. Furthermore, this extends to our laws and our government. Saturn in Aquarius asks us to shake up our legal and political systems to set new precedents for how we come together as a global community. With Saturn running the show, the big decisions will take resounding faith and may not always seem like the right thing to do at the time. The powers that be will need to think outside of the box and come up with unique solutions which will take everyone into account. It seems fairly lofty, even reminiscent of John Lennon’s Image, but remember Saturn makes the hard things easier. So can this ringed planet make it easier for our governing systems to shift laws that include initiatives to help everyone? Can we use our unique individual expression to come up with progressive solutions that benefit the collective?
One thing is for sure, Saturn in Aquarius will keep reminding us that our choices impact everyone around us. It is of no coincidence that this transit is occurring at the height of social distancing, which is intricately linked to altruism. Altruism is behavior that is done for the good of others, often with no benefit to the one doing the behavior. Certainly sounds like Aquarius- and who’s enforcing it? The government, Saturns' main ambassador. While we’re already aligning perfectly with Saturn in Aquarius, let’s open ourselves up to the possibility of this global, heart- wrenching crisis leading us to the highest energy of this transit: a world where everyone takes care of each other, because at the end of the day everyone on this planet at this time is karmically related. We all are connected and Aquarius is here to remind us we all breath the same air.
For those of you in your Saturn Return, you will feel the energies of Saturn in Aquarius most intensely, and in many ways, it’s up to you to remind the rest of us of how important they are to our life right now (no pressure). Read more about Saturn Return on this blog.
Learn about Saturn's conjunction with Jupiter in the Capricorn Workbook.