Intergenerational Healing and Saturn
I've been trying to find the words to communicate what is coming into my awareness these days, and I realize that the subject is so large and my experience feels so meaningful that I could write a book. And I might. Why not?
I've been thinking a lot about intergenerational healing...people of different ages gathering with a willingness to listen and learn from one another. This morning as I went to the gym with my workout partner, a woman who is 14 years my senior...I felt so incredibly grateful to have her in my life. I listened to her parenting advice and I could hear a voice within me saying, "Listen to her, Allison. This is one of the ways your future self communicates with you....through others."
Over the past couple of months, I've had the pleasure of working with people ranging in age from 15-72. And at first, when each person contacted me, I hadn't realized there was an overarching connection between all of them. I poured over each person's birth chart, the way I always do...looking for the most impactful thing I could share with them, the thing that would most open their perception to the Universe's guidance in the coming year. After about the third or fourth person, I realized that it was Saturn. Every one of the charts I was looking at...each person coming to me for astrological advice was going through a significant Saturn transit.
Traditionally, Saturn is a planet that teaches us about the kind of commitment, boundaries and discipline needed to really mature in the world. As with all things in astrology, a lot depends on how Saturn shows up in your birth chart...but in general, Saturn is a strict teacher that says, "You might not like this very much, but it has to be done, and once you get through it, you'll be stronger and wiser." Saturn is full of grit. It's tough. It shows you limitations. It makes you work inside of clock time and calendar time with practical honesty...and it makes you grow through experience.
Below are three images depicting the movement of the Saturn cycle through a lifetime. Keep in mind that planets orbit at different speeds so they do return to their original position at the time of your birth at a specific time in your life. This is a CYCLE. It repeats...and yet, each time it is unique. There are important themes and lessons to integrate from each transit in order to make the next transit a little easier. The first time around the cycle is usually the most challenging because youth does not often allow for very much agency over one's life circumstances. However, as one matures (and remember, maturity is one of the major themes of Saturn), the cycle becomes easier as many of the hardest lessons and experiences are now behind you, and there is a movement towards a level of mastery over your destiny. Saturn is a master teacher.
**Please note that all ages provided above are approximate and only an in-depth look at the birth chart can provide exact timing of Saturn transits
Depending on whether you were born at night or during the day, Saturn can be more or less challenging. For those of us born during the day, Saturn is a little less challenging, and for those born at night, Saturn can be really quite challenging. Saturn is a somewhat cold, stark planet to begin with, and the coolness of the dark night sky exacerbates this tendency. The Saturn Cycle is one of the major life classrooms for those who have a night chart.
You can take some time to look at the ages inside of the images above and consider what major life lessons you were experiencing at that time. This can be a deep dive into life lessons and soul purpose, and if you need a counseling astrologer to talk to, I'm here for you. I also offer a Saturn Return coaching package that has been very helpful to my clients.
As is oftentimes the case, this is something that is being mirrored back to me because it is something that I am working through in my own life. Right now, my 15 year old child (who was born at a little past midnight) is in the middle of their Saturn opposition, and I will also experience my own Saturn opposition in early 2021. I learn best through experience. While there has been a lot of understanding arising around the challenges present, there has been also an incredible amount of grace and guidance. I can look at astrology charts all day long but what matters most is how these energies show up in everyday reality.
What I'm experiencing in my professional work currently feels both humbling and empowering. I'm walking beside people at different phases of their maturation cycle, and pointing out certain guideposts along the way. I can see so clearly how a 31-year old person has a wisdom and a maturity that a 28-year old person does not yet have...simply for the fact that the 31-year old person has completed their Saturn return training and the 28-year old is on their way into the classroom, so to speak.
Along those lines of thinking, a 72-year old woman who has so much life experience and so much to offer to any conversation is a gift to the community. In a world, where our elders are not revered in the way that they should be, we need to change the narrative around the value they bring.
The way I envision it in my imagination, I see myself linked arm in arm with a circle of women in my community. Inside of this circle, there are women of all ages. There is the 72 year old woman whom I recently did a reading for, 
who is currently exploring the next chapter of her life as she moves through a Saturn opposition right now. Then, there is a 58 year mother who is in the middle of her second Saturn return as her child prepares to graduate from high school and leave for college. There is me (and many of my friends) at 44 years old...perhaps, the most middle aged of all of us...looking both forward to my elders for guidance and support, while also linking myself to the younger generation to help pull them forward into their highest selves as they have their first experiences with Saturn. There are a few women in their late 20s/early 30s who are all currently either on their way into or out of their first Saturn returns. Each one is inspiring in her own unique way and each one is growing through such significant life-altering change that they need the support of community, both young and old to help stabilize them. There is a 22-year old recent college graduate, unsure of her next steps in the world as she faces a Saturn square...and then, there is my child at 15 years old who is experiencing their first Saturn opposition along with all of their friends and peer group.
I can really sense and intuit the power of our interconnectedness and the possibility of intergenerational healing that comes with the maturation process of Saturn. There is no one of us that leads all of the time, however, leaderships naturally flows across generations and ideas are shared openly so that we can learn from each other.
What would you say to your 15-year old self? What would she say to you?If you could have a conversation with your 72-year old self, what would be said?What if these opportunities are presenting themselves all of the time in our relationships with other people? We just need to see it that way.
I can feel the importance of how the time we share, the conversations we have, the real life experiences we bond over...allows each of us to see (and love) both older and younger versions of ourselves.
We all need gentle but powerful reminders of both our potential and our progress. I would even go so far as to say, we have a responsibility (another very Saturn word) to connect and link our hands through time, gifting each other with the insight of both future and past. And we need these mirror experiences to happen inside of a safe container of community where feelings of belonging and acceptance are at the core.
Again, if you are interested to learn more about Saturn and want to talk about how Saturn is showing up in your chart/life, I am a counseling astrologer and I'm here for you.
In the meantime, keep linking hands through the timeline of generations. I'm there with you.Blessings,Ally