Everything You Need to Know About Your Saturn Return – and How to Survive It

Most people have heard the phrase “Saturn return” before. Usually, it accompanies a story marked with both terror and bliss, detailing general upheaval and major life-changes: marriages, divorces, relocations, career changes, babies, property purchases – you get the idea.  

For this reason, many tend to fear this remarkable transit.  But, if you think about it, some of our greatest transformations occur thanks to our most emotionally and spiritually challenging time periods.  

What is a Saturn Return, Anyway?

The phrase “Saturn return” refers to Saturn’s return to its exact placement at the moment of your birth. Because Saturn takes 27-30 years to make full rotation around the sun, a Saturn return happens no more than three time in a person’s life.

Astrologers pay close attention to Saturn when looking at a person’s natal chart.  Often called the planet of karma, Saturn is also known as the taskmaster of the zodiac. If the taskmaster shines his energy in certain areas of your natal chart, you should be prepared to learn from them.

Find out where Saturn was at the exact moment of your birth!

During your Saturn returns, you will experience a great deal of pressure to step up to challenges, let go of anything that no longer serves you, and step into the magic that awaits you.

Depending on how well-aligned you have been with your intentions leading up to the point of your Saturn return, the planet of karma can be a kind, uplifting cheerleader… or a stern father with a whip, daring you to step out of line.  

Your First Saturn Return:

Age 27 – 30

Welcome to adulthood! Many astrologers believe that a person is not truly a grown up until they have experienced their first Saturn return. It also lines up with the dominant cultural paradigm: when you’re almost 30, we can all generally agree that it’s time to get your shit together.

Most often, this transit starts out like a quiet whisper letting you know that you’re ready for the next step.  Perhaps someone mentions something to you that resonates with your heart and you find yourself really pondering the direction of your life path. You’ll more than likely find yourself asking some really important questions, among them:
Who am I?  Am I on the path I once dreamed about as a child?  What missteps have I taken that can be corrected? Am I being authentic?  Am I happy with myself? Do I love where I live? Does my job bring me joy?  Am I ready for marriage and children? Do I want marriage or children?

Your Second Saturn Return

Age 54 – 60

Ok, so you’ve been adulting for a while now. But, are you the person you thought you would be?  

Your second Saturn return serves as a check up as to how you’ve progressed since your last return. Similar to your first Saturn return, your second will find you asking you many of the same questions, just more evolved versions:
Am I happy in my relationships?  Am I loving people unconditionally?  Am I owning up to my fears? Am I being authentic?  Am I balancing my own self-care with the care I provide to others?  Am I happy with my career? Am I doing things that bring me passion?  Have I surrounded myself with people who love and support me? Am I making the most of the time I have left?

Your Third Saturn Return

Age 81 – 90

Since it has only been in the last century or so that so many people are living to experience this transit, it is less clear as to how it manifests. However, most agree that, similar to your second Saturn return, your third is a check in on the progress you’ve made since you last return.  The major difference is that it is even more so a push to let go of things that no longer serve you – especially any ego attachments.

Saturn’s goal is for you to be your best and most magical self.  At this point in life, it is becoming more apparent that time is limited in this particular lifetime. A the ruler of time, Saturn will do all that it can to ensure that you are making the most of every single moment. Some questions you will address are:
Who am I spending the most time with?  How effectively am I managing my time? How much karma have I healed? What lingering karma am I holding on to? Who do I need to forgive? What do I need to let go of?  How am I treating my body? What will I carry on to the next lifetime? What legacies will I leave behind?

5 Tips on Surviving Your Saturn Returns

Now that you know pretty much everything there is to know about your Saturn returns, here are the top 5 things you can do to survive them.

Listen to your heart.

This is by far the most important tip we can offer you. You have all the answers inside of you. No guru, astrologer, sage, parent, best friend, or lover call tell you more than you already know inside.

Of course, sometimes it’s really hard to hear our heart, especially when our minds are screaming. This is why you must find ways to connect with your heart. Develop a relationship with it.  

You can do this in so many ways, including journaling, accessing your creativity, developing an intuitive practice, using a pendulum, or meditating.  Just give your heart a way to speak. Then, trust yourself enough to listen to it.

Cleanse your energetic field.

Saturn has a habit of bringing a lot of repressed emotions or feelings to the surface. This is to help us heal these wounds and finally let them go so we can move on with our lives and start creating new, healthier patterns and habits.  

But, sometimes letting go of these emotions is not particularly easy. That’s when energetic cleansing comes into play.  

Try burning sage, palo santo, or lavender in your house, asking to let go of all that does not belong to you.  Salt baths or meditating with some clear quartz or black tourmaline can help with this as well.

Try to make some time once a day, week, month or whatever suits you to cleanse, cleanse, cleanse.

Don’t let fear control you.

Fear is big piece of the Saturn return, as Saturn rules our fears. Fear is the number one thing that holds us back from truly stepping into our magic and aligning with our truest and best self.  

There is a great acronym for fear, False Evidence Appearing Real. It’s so powerful when you think about it. Our fears are nothing but a collection of thoughts based on perspectives and self-defense mechanisms we held in childhood to survive.  

Even more, most of our fears aren’t even our own. As children we tend to adopt the fears of our parents or caretakers because that’s what we were taught.  

Do not allow your fears to control you. When they come up, write them down. Identify them.  Make friends with them. Understand them. Then hug them and let them go. Spending your time doing this will allow you to finally get out of your own way.

Designate a Battle Buddy.

In the military, soldiers have battle buddies where both people are responsible for watching each other’s backs. They protect each other, root for each other, and confide in each other.

Find someone who you truly deeply trust to be this person for you. This can be anyone that you know will can cheer you up when you are down and call you out on your crap when you aren’t thinking straight.  

Let them know when your Saturn return is coming up and that you would appreciate if they could be there for you and hold you accountable for the things you set forth to change about yourself.  

If there isn’t just one person you want to give this responsibility to, then assign a few. Just make sure you have someone you can call on when you’re having a hard time. Saturn is notorious for throwing in a few ‘my life sucks’ days during the course of the return, and it is important to have a trusted friend to hold space for you in these moments.  

Seek professional help.

This is probably one of the most common astrological time periods that people start to seek a doctor, therapist, life coach, or counselor – and it is probably almost one of the most productive times to do so.  

Saturn returns will bring a lot of change. Having someone trained to help you get out of your own way is beyond helpful. It can even make the whole experience more transformative. They will help you see your blind spots as well as help you see the ways you don’t love yourself deeply enough. Having someone to talk to and bounce ideas off of that’s not involved in your daily life is also incredibly helpful.

What You can Learn From Any Saturn Return

Now that life’s most important questions that have been whispered, you get to decide if you will take heed or not. If you chose to start exploring the answers and making changes or adjustments to accommodate the answers you know to be true, then Saturn will cheer you on.

Of course you may feel the pressure to accomplish it all very fast, or even all at once, but for the most part, Saturn will support the changes that align with your higher self.  

However, if you choose to ignore the whispering, then don’t be surprised when the whispers turn to screams. Those screams will quickly become circumstances and situations very soon after.  

Remember, the universe gave us all unique and magical gifts to share with the world, and it wants us to actually share those gifts. If you are in a situation or circumstance or place that is not suitable or conducive to sharing those gifts, the universe will fight for your attention.

This is where the sometimes painful parts of Saturn returns happen, when we refuse to let go of things that do not serve our higher purpose. But, the craziest part of it all is that, when you finally let go, you realize that the universe knows best.

You got this!