It’s official, as of today, Saturn enters Libra. There were some signs of this activity even a few days before (something to be expected when we observe big planets transits) but mathematically speaking, it’s only today that Saturn enters Libra. How this will affect us? I have no “one size fits all” answer to this, that I can tell you. But I have some bits and pieces which could prove helpful. Some of them are from my personal experience, some are just intuitions.

Without further ado, let’s do it:

Relationships Challenges

Most likely, this transit will challenge relationships. Libra is about relationships, about marriage and balance. Those areas of our life will be scrutinized by Saturn and many things which were hided, ignored or avoided will be uncovered. One thing to notice though is that in this sign Saturn is in exaltation, which will most likely make those challenges a little softer. It won’t be like the last transit through Virgo, where Saturn wasn’t feeling quite well.

If you’re in a relationship there will be some sort of slowing down and reflection. If you’re not in a relationship, chances are that you will start pondering getting into one. It won’t be a romantic impulse, but rather an analytical choice. You will start planning or will be hit by other’s plans about forming, restructuring or strengthening relationships.

It will be essentially a bad time? I couldn’t say that. It will be a time of attention, patience and reflection, rather than impulsive activity. At time there will be restraints and some of the relationships could turn into some sort of coldness. But most of the time this will be like a balance for some sort of exaggerations or even errors related to that specific relationship which are now cleaned and the relationship put back on the right track.

Saturn Transit in Libra through Houses

Depending on your personal chart, your Libra sign stretches over a specific house. This transit will influence that specific area of your life.

1st House

A little bit of patience and analyze will take place here. You will start pondering your own intentions towards your relationships: what you expect, what you give, what you can build. This transit will make you more cautious than usual and perhaps a little bit outside the social circle.

2nd House

Some more tests concerning your material possessions, especially joint possessions. Delays, riddles or unexpected shortages may occur at this time. You will find it hard to acquire or apply new skills, as well as getting what you need in a timely manner. If properly handled this will leave you after the transit with bigger value than you had when you entered.

3rd House

Communications and short trips impediments. You will have to be more careful about your words and the way you initiate communication all together.  You will find limitations on how people understand you and sometimes on how you can understand and relate to other people needs.

4th House

Your role as a family member is deeply challenged. If you are a caregiver there will be more asked from you. If there are roles inside the family that you avoided so far, you will have to get on that track. A sense of discipline and hard work will emerge out of it.

5th House

No more play like it used to be. There will be much more dryness than you used to have in your relationship. If there was fun before, now it will be only business. Your capacity of taking yourself seriously inside a relationship will be deeply challenged during this transit.

6th House

Your work colleagues will get the front page somehow. The 6th house is about the public service and how you cope with that. Saturn places some limitations or coldness around so you will have to do some extra work in order to identify and reach out to people who need you, regardless if you feel the need or not.

7th House

There will be some serious shaking over partnerships here. Being them marriages or business partnership, this transit in the 7th House will make them almost useless. Subsequently, if properly handled, this transit in the 7th House could bring you some long lasting relationships, provided that you enter them in a very open and honest way.

8th House

Things will come to an end somehow. Or, in much better wording: things will be drastically transformed. There is some old order which needs to be eradicated now for the new order to take place. This will challenge your ability to let go of things or relationships which are no longer necessary.

9th House

It may be that you will acquire some sort of knowledge in regard to relationships. You will start to understand why you chose – or get chosen by – specific relationships. It might be also that you will do some sort of long distance travel or even a temporary relocation in this process.

10th House

This could be a time of achievement as well as a time of decay. Saturn will test your public image during this transit. If you’re having gaps in what you present to the world, hidden spots or events, Saturn will bring them to the light. Remember, the goal is not to make you ashamed of them as it is to learn the associated lessons and move on,

11th House

Your groups and friendship connections will be strained. There will be pressure coming from this area, usually in the form of tests: trust, honesty and discipline will be at stake. If there are hidden reasons for your friends to be around you (or for you to be a friend of someone) those reasons will be brought to light.

12th House

Unexpected events will take place, usually emerging from your unconscious realm. The 12th house is the house of reclusion and karmic debt, so be prepared to meet some people from other lives or to pay some debt you may not even know you had. Perhaps this is the house which will benefit most from this transit.

Personal Story

The last Saturn transit through Libra took place for me about 29 years ago and caught me between my 4th grade and my 5th grade. The involved house was the 9th house (same as the current one, obviously), house of long distance travels, learning and communication.

At the half of the transit something really important happened: I changed schools. The 4th grade was the last year spent in my neighborhood school. After that, I applied for the best college in town, which was outside my neighborhood (at that time, for a kid, that was like moving to a different country ). I started to go to that college for the 5th grade. I completely changed friends, local environment and I was exposed to a flow of new information. The 5th grade was a very different approach: we had teachers for any topic we studied (until then we had only one teacher), we started to have mid -trimester tests (called “thesis”) and I had to review my entire relationships approach. The change was so big and powerful that I can barely remember how was in the 4th grade. It was like reaching a completely new level. Almost totally unrelated to the level I enjoyed before.

I have very good memories about that time, it was an easy, fulfilling and, almost all of the time, careless period. Hopefully, this transit will have the same effect.

Starting October 30th, Saturn will enter Libra, after almost 2 and a half years spent in Virgo. As any other Saturn movements, this transit will be a major one. I’m not going to talk about it, though, as I am still pondering my how’s and when’s, but I’ll give my Saturn in Virgo experience. It was a fantastic time and a I learned a lot out of it.

The Lessons of Saturn

Saturn is the teacher of the zodiac. It points out areas in your life where you have work to do. You have a choice: either move on and solve it, either move on with the flaw. Saturn will not do anything to stay in your way. I know this is somehow opposed to the general understanding of Saturn, but that’s my personal experience. I feel the pressure more from Pluto than from Saturn. Whenever I experience an important Pluto influence I feel like I don’t have a choice, like I’m giving away control. While during Saturnian influences, all I feel is a clear indication on how to do things: this is what you have to do, get on and do it. If you want. If you don’t, that’s ok, will talk about it again in a few years…

What are the lessons of Saturn in Virgo?

For me, those lessons had to do a lot with money and leveling up things in this area, with health and relationships.

Business Clearance

During this transit several important business contracts came to a (successful) end, including selling my 10 years old online business. It wasn’t an easy process. In fact, it was a rather hurtful one, with long and difficult negotiations, with sudden changes and a constant pressure to do things right. The smallest glitch in communication had fantastic consequences. Several potential buyers stepped off and in the end I had to actively seek a buyer.

But all this surface trouble was nothing compared with the deep meaning of the whole situation. It was more like an ego trouble, an unconscious effort to resist change, either by fear, either by lack of self-confidence. Saturn “told” me: get on with your business life, clean it up, sell what you have to sell and start from scratch what you have to start. I sold the online business, which basically dried up in terms of personal growth and started a personal development blog. And the end result, both in terms of personal growth and financial compensation was great.

Personal Achievements

Saturn is the ruler of my Ascendant, which will be Capricorn, of course. It’s also positioned on my fourth house, in Taurus. Every major Saturn transit scratch a little bit on my natal Saturn, that’s for sure. So, one of the things I had to finally come up with was to settle for a better home. During Saturn transit in Virgo I bought a house, together with my wife. It was a huge step from living in the block apartment. Again, it wasn’t easy to take the decision, but once we agreed, it took only 3 weeks until we were moved.

Health Issues

Saturn in Virgo points your wrongdoing by letting you get ill. That’s his sign. During the process of selling my business I was getting so ill that I had to decide a quick way out of it. I had to let go all my ego and settle for the best deal I could get. History (Saturn being the master of time too) proved me to be incredibly right. Only 3 months after I sold my business the crisis hit hard.

Another way of Saturn expressing in Virgo was my raw food diet. Last year, starting from August, until March this year, I kept a raw food diet. I find it extremely easy to do and had no pressure whatsoever to do it. I kept this diet including New Years Eve, including some of my trips to Thailand or New Zealand, and felt fantastic. It was an incredible cleansing process.

Relationships Lessons

There was a constant rubbing on the surface of my relationships during this transit. Nothing too deep but enough to get me thinking. Most of the time the rubbing came in the form of domestic challenges. Had a really hard time to identify and express my role in the whole domestic area. A lot of pressure coming towards me from that direction. It wasn’t until recently that I started to clearly express my place and position, especially keeping in mind that after selling my business I decided to work from home.

All in all, this transit helped me unload a lot of trash from my relationships, even if sometimes I had to do it in a rather violent way.

General Saturnian Traits In Virgo

Saturn is feeling rather uncomfortable in Virgo. Its indications here are direct and strong but not flashy. Saturn is sober and demands respect. When it comes to health, Saturn works by applying restrictions but in a rather gentle, or at least bearable form (I didn’t feel deprived during my raw food diet, on the contrary). When it comes to money, demand absolute trust and total submission.

The rewards you get when listening to Saturn are incredible. Far more enjoyable compared with the pain Saturn may inflicts at times, when the lesson seems too difficult, too unpleasant or just inappropriate.

These are exciting times! We’re going through a major opposition, between Saturn and Uranus. I wish I could explain it better than this small video, but I really can’t. It’s the first video of twitter user @kathybiehl a fresh and enjoyable voice speaking about astrology. Some key points in the movie:

• Saturn represents the status-quo and the rules
• Uranus represents the revolution and disruption
• The opposition betwen the two is quite a challenge
• There is a big opportunity for growth here

Enjoy!

Many people misunderstand Saturn. Traditional astrology used this good / bad planet dichotomy in order to describe planets and somehow, this dichotomy passed to modern astrologers too. Nothing is good or bad in itself. Everything is a function of your consciousness.

Among all the bad planets, Saturn has the reputation of being the worse. If Saturn has bad aspects in a chart, the regular interpretation is that that person will have a very difficult life. Wrong again. Difficult or easy are again functions of consciousness.

Retrograde Saturn In Taurus

In my natal chart, I have a retrograde Saturn in Taurus, in the 4th House. There is also an opposition aspect between my Saturn, and a stellium formed by Sun, Venus and Jupiter, in the 10th House in Scorpio. And my Ascendant is Capricorn, which will make Saturn the ruler of the chart.

Almost every astrological interpretation told me something really bad about this aspect. Sadness, melancholy, difficult tasks and inhibitions. Most of them were accurate, but at a potential level. I admit I had some inhibitions and also some very difficult tests during my life. But I don’t think I’m the only one. Everybody have those at some point.

Since I learned astrology, several years ago, I focused a lot on my natal chart, trying to learn as much as I can. And slowly, I started to take some distance from the established astrological interpretations and start my own, based on my own personal experience.

Saturn in Taurus is an extremely careful observer of your general wealth. Even since I was out of high school I was very dedicate to work. I had this need of being on my own, independent. I started to work from the first day I was out of home, while doing my studies. I was disciplined and ambitious in work. Slowly, in the last 20 years, I accumulated far more than I ever imagined.

During this period, I was rather melancholic and modest. Although I had some money, I was always shy in spending it. I also had difficult time to adjust to a wealthier lifestyle: a new house, a new, luxury car, etc. But I did it. So, the interpretation is: you may feel it will be difficult to acquire wealth and financial security (Saturn inhibitions), but if you stick to it (Saturn tenacity) you’ll do it extremely well (Saturn, the reward maker).

That is something that worth a second look: Saturn – the reward maker. A lot of astrologers are thinking at Saturn as the test maker, which is of course true. But they are ignoring this side, which is also part of it: the reward maker. if you passed the test, you’ll receive a reward, right. In this regard, Saturn is by far the best thing that can happen to you. It’s not the jovial expansion of Jupiter, nor the energy of Mars or the luxury of Venus. It’s plain good stuff, constant and solid. You just have to pass the tests.

Retrograde Saturn In 4th House

4ht House is associated with roots, parents and family (in the sense of older members of it). Having a Saturn there was a difficult situation, especially when I was a child. I always had this feeling of not being loved, of being ignored or having too many restrictions. It was not a feeling, it was a reality.

I had a difficult teenage period, far more difficult than any other teenage (now I’m complaining, and making it bigger than it was, another Saturn effect ). But it served me well. I developed a sense of inner stability and independence. Another aspect in my chart favored the choice of unfit partners in my love affairs. It was a karmic aspect, something that I expected to do in this lifetime. Every love affair I was involved in had a deceptive aspect, usually extremely powerful.

Saturn in the 4th house made it easy for me to find inner stability. After each of these experiences I grew up stronger and wiser. I can even have glimpse of the current development of any potential relationship, thanks to the experience transcended by Saturn. I can predict that I am attracted to trouble makers and I know how to avoid that. And I can also spot fruitful relationships and pursue them, but with the sense of discretion and diplomacy that Saturn imposes.

It was hurtful? Yes, it was, and sometime still is. But I have the power to endure and to learn. I am grateful that I was exposed to such difficult experiences because out of those experiences are coming my best life lessons.