Words for the People

Saturn in Virgo, 2007-2009: Meaning for the Sign of Aries

Saturn remains in your 6th House through October 29, 2009, and that means your lesson for this year is: Develop a warrior's mentality about your health, schedule, and willpower. The 6th House is know as the house of work and service, and Saturn's presence in this house means it's time to clean up your act in this area. Saturn demands that we take full responsibility for ourselves, and in 2008-2009 that means becoming a warrior where your physical and mental fitness are concerned. A chief concern of Virgo is restoring balance to the four-body system. The four bodies, from most dense to least dense, are: the physical (Earth), the mental (air), the emotional (water) and the spiritual (fire). As an Earth sign ruled by mental Mercury, Virgo is specifically concerned with the mind-body connection. One of Saturn's key lesson this year is that you can't be on top of your game mentally if your body is in poor shape and you can't stay in top health as you age if you have a lazy, undisciplined mind.

In his wonderful astrological primer Astrologik, author, playwright, and subversive utopian Antero Alli notes that Saturn operates on a trinary cycle of fear, duty and mastery. "By facing the fear, specific knowledge is revealed to support the kind of duty required to take full responsibility for our lack of development in that area. With persistence of commitment, our duty can establish for us enough command to manifest increasing degrees of mastery."

We aren't often willing to put in the hard, persistent effort Saturn requires of us without first becoming aware of why that work is needed. As Alli points out:

Saturn represents an area that stays undeveloped as long as we show little or no accountability for ourselves. The first thirty years or so of our lives many of us remain as children, psychologically speaking. We still seek approval from parental figures or play grown-up by replicating adult roles; start a business or get married....When Saturn is integrated, we produce tangible results and, it is almost always specific to who we are.

In other words, you can either take care of yourself this year, or Saturn will make it clear to you why you need to take care of yourself. This could range from a series of minor aches, pains and accidents to broken bones or serious illness. I don't want to scare you, but I do want you to be aware that Saturn means business. You might also visit the dentist if you're overdue for a check-up, as Saturn rules teeth as well as all the other bones.

Saturn doesn't come into our lives to punish us; despite his grim reputation, he is actually the force that helps us to manifest material success in our lives. If you've ever played a competitive team sport, you probably remember times when you hated your coach for bearing down on you in pre-season conditioning drills, making your run wind sprints or do squats or push-ups until you felt like you wanted to die. But when the season kicked in and you were able to perform at the highest level because your body had become a well-honed, smooth-running machine, you thanked that coach for his or her tough love. Look at Saturn in your 6th House as the tough but ultimately loving coach who wants to make sure you are prepared to take advantage of the stunning opportunities for success Jupiter and Pluto will bring your way in the coming years.

The best way to look at a Saturn transit is as a test of your reality structures. If the structures you currently have in place are appropriate to your life and your current evolutionary needs, then Saturn will help you build upon them to achieve success. But Saturn will also show you the weak links in your life, giving you the choice of fixing those weak points or of watching your structure tumble down under Saturn's rather relentless pressure.

I like what Robert Hand has to say about this period in his classic book Planets in Transit:

Your effectiveness as a human being will be tested during this time. Therefore, you should try to get your performance into shape in many areas, especially work and professional matters. Later you will be in a more public position, where it will be harder to make necessary changes.

Conserve your energies now in order to devote yourself more efficiently to whatever must be done. If you scatter or waste your energies, you will not have enough. And if you try to compensate with an extra burst of energy, your health may suffer. [...] Treat your body as a tool that has to be well cared for in order to achieve its desired purpose.

Hand touches on one of the key signatures of Virgo energy. Virgo values discrimination, knowing what is important to the task at hand and what is frivolous or wasteful. Saturn in Virgo is going to push you to tighten up how you spend your energy; if you succeed at this task, you will be a major force to be reckoned with when Saturn enters your more public 7th House in 2009-2010.

One pitfall to watch out for: Virgo is a very demanding sign. It wants everything to be in its proper place and to function with maximum efficiency. But Virgo energy can quickly turn judgmental and self-negating when its standards aren't being met. Remember that this is an endurance sport, not a track meet. You have 10 more months of Saturn in your 6th House to get your game in shape, so don't beat yourself when you fall short of your goals, fall off your diet or miss a week of workouts. Saturn is all about pacing yourself and being steady and consistent. True, this is not how hot-blooded Aries likes to attack life, but that's all the more reason you need to be patient and kind to yourself. Just as you wouldn't expect to be in game shape on the first day of training camp, you shouldn't expect yourself to breeze through every responsibility this year. You should always give your best, but remember that guilt, shame, and self-criticism don't make you stronger.