Saturn Transits Only Hurt When You Resist

Saturn is the most fearsome and daunting planet in astrology. Saturn is known under the title greater malefic, which means Saturn is the astrological body that brings the most destruction and malice into our lives. Saturn represents many of the most horrifying themes that we encounter throughout our human experience—death, maturing, aging, responsibility, karma, time, and commitment. Saturn embodies the idea of growth through pain and he puts us through the suffering that shapes us. Yet, Saturn doesn't have to be scary, he can be transformative. The key to understanding this, grasping this, and integrating this comes down to ritual, remediation, mental reframing, and contemplation.

Earlier this month, Saturn stationed into Aires, where Saturn will remain, roughly, for the next 2.5-3 years. This means that a new crop of people have begun the process of their Saturn return, and everyone, yes everyone, will have Saturn crossing into a new house. Saturn is going to be on all of our minds and we will all be forced to reckon with him. The thing is, while there is no way around suffering with Saturn, that suffering can be something healing, not suffocating. This is how you can make that difference and turn Saturn into a planetary ally, not a foe.

First, you need to know what Saturn is doing in your chart at any given time. Saturn moves slowly, meaning that wherever Saturn is, he will remain there for a long time. To find out where Saturn is, remember, as of February 2026, Saturn is in Aires. If you are reading this at a future date, you will need to check the chart of day to see what sign Saturn is residing in. Regardless, once you locate that sign (for now, Aires), look across the wheel, and see the number next to that sign, that is the house. The themes of that house are the themes that Saturn is currently impacting the most. It is critical to reflect on this themes in great depth, do some extensive journaling and tarot work, and locate what is weak around those themes, what is lacking. Where within those themes do you lack discipline, maturity, and responsibility? Those deficits are where Saturn is going to strike.

The critical thing you must realize about Saturn is that Saturn does not destroy for no reason. Saturn destroys what needs to go, what must be razed. For this reason, Saturn placements often become kinder and more balanced with age. Saturn rules over old age, the later portion of our lives, after all. Saturn’s job is to heal us, to show us what needs to be done, in order for us to mature. On a symbolic level, most of the imagery of Saturn devouring his son actually represents Saturn’s connection to time. Saturn devours youth, removing our childlike inclinations and immaturities, transmuting us into mature adults. If we recognize this and take action on it, Saturn works best.

A key mystery of Saturn is that of surrender, of release. Binah, the Qabalistic sphere associated with Saturn, holds within it a secret feminine form. This feminine form, often called Babalon by the Thelemites, but acknowledged in every occult system under some name (such as Sophia or the Ghanariq), is this aspect. These feminine forms come to us and force us to dissolve ourselves, to surrender. Thelema has a powerful image of the mystic bleeding out, every last drop of his/her blood, into a holy graal. They die into the cup and are reborn. After this, they are guided to the supernals, to divine union. This divine union cannot happen without this surrender, this release. All Saturn transits and experiences behave like this, and require this type of surrender, though often on a much less extreme level. They mandate surrender, through resistance is where suffering is created.

In my book, “Planetary Theurgy”, I use riptide imagery to explore this Saturnian surrender. When you encounter a riptide in the ocean, as a swimmer, you cannot swim against it. If you trash against the current, you will lose control and drown. To survive a riptide, you need to stop swimming, and give into the riptide. The riptide will rip you away from the shore, and you will be forced to watch as civilization becomes distant, pushing down any anxieties or fears you may be faced with, and you must let go. Release. Eventually though, this outward pull stops, and all you have to do is swim parallel to the shore, then come in, once the current pattern has been passed. Dealing with Saturn is like this, you surrender, then you find a new way out. You die, then are reborn, and are listening to a new part of your soul, a part you may have just missed noticing before. Let this truth imprint deeply into your psyche and you will discover that this malefic is a liberator.

To cope best with Saturn transits through magickal means, you can do two processes: planetary remediation or ritual. Planetary remediation is essentially a process where you embody a planet, and do things ruled by the planet, to heal your relationship with it. Planetary remediation can be many things—it can be mundane actions (such as setting a boundary with a toxic coworker) or simple spiritual actions (such as saying The Orphic Hymn to Saturn every Saturday morning). If you do a Saturn remediation, once a week, every Saturn, during a Saturn-ruled planetary hour, you will integrate Saturnian mysteries at a fast rate, and be viewed in a more favorable light by Saturn himself.

In terms of ritual, a helpful approach can be to do a ritual based around transmutation. Essentially, do some sort of ritual built around an intention that relates to solving the problem that Saturn is currently facing in your chart. For example, if Saturn is in your seventh house (the house of marriage and long-term commitments), do a ritual based around the intention to be more steadfast in your promises. In this ritual, use Saturn imagery and invoke Saturn’s power in some way. This focuses Saturn’s energy during the transit and keeps you aware of what Saturn is doing. It makes you actually want Saturn to shake up that part of life, instead of actively continuing to resist it.

If Saturn is too foreign and fearsome of a power to start with such a specific ritual, you may want to, instead, do a general Saturnian initiation. For this, you can do a pre-written ritual (I have one in Planetary Theurgy), or you can construct your own ritual. This ritual can be as intensive or as mild as you please. You could invoke Saturn’s power, The Conjuration of Kronos by Frater Achad is particularly beautiful. Or, you could invoke the feminine form of Saturn, such as doing work with Babalon. If invocation is too much, try simply inviting Saturn in through more subtle means. You can carve the astrological glyph of Saturn onto a candle that you burn down during a Saturday Saturn hour, as you chant “IO SATURNUS” 333 times. If that is too much, you could perhaps try crafting a mandala, and gazing into that Saturnian mandala, as you enter into deep meditation. The possibilities are endless, but you need to invite the Saturnian power in, in some way, if the whole set of themes are too much for you. As daunting as it sounds, the reality is that you will never make peace with these themes, so long as you avoid them.

Running from Saturn is the surefire way to make Saturn transits as miserable as possible. Saturn may be slow, but trust me, he will catch you. This is why we face him, so we do not have to deal with that fate.

-GR