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The Saturn Cycle

Alexander Ruperti

Every individual has antecedents in the form of family, racial and, at the limit, human heredity. Thus, each newborn infant is a synthesis of collective elements, as well as - if one believes in reincarnation - the end product of an infinite series of manifestations as a divine soul. Astrologically, the symbol of this collective past is Saturn. The position of Saturn in a birth-chart thus indicates how history will condition the individual’s future life development. Saturn defines the individual starting point - the universe has come this far before one arrives, and from this point one must move on in their own way. Saturn does not rule the future, but rather defines the past, the background and traditions, both racial and cultural, into which the native is born. The beginning of a cycle does not absolutely and unavoidably determine its end. There is in every cycle a middle point - the ceaseless Present - which symbolizes the creative power of the individual, the unpredictable factor in all life processes. The creative element is, however, only a potential and is not necessarily operant in a particular man or woman, since it can only operate when an individual becomes a relatively complete and integrated personality. When such an integration does take place, the individual remains a passive specimen of his or her race, community and culture. For the creative individual, the present moment is always more than a mere result of the past. The Saturnian present moment takes on the visage of a taskmaster only to a person who is not individualized. In that case, one feels their individuality bound by routine; their aspirations are leveled to the collective norm, and their actions are based on precedent and are therefore devoid of creative, and thus free initiative.

In the natal chart Saturn brings energies to a focus; where Saturn is found by Sign and House there is some knot of destiny which is unavoidable. When Saturn forms conjunctions or oppositions to other planets in the birth-chart, some of the most basic secrets of that individual are revealed. Saturn conjunctions show the nature of a new situation confronting the incarnating Self, or a new relation to the family tradition, which will deeply occupy one’s consciousness. It will be a binding situation; and, because new and unfamiliar, it will require the person’s entire attention during a great portion of their life. The basic experiences will stem from the planet conjoined to Saturn, and an understanding of these experiences may consume much time and energy, and may necessitate many repetitions. The person’s task will be to detach from those experiences so that they will eventually lose their compulsive character. When transiting Saturn opposes the natal conjunction, the person will have their best opportunity to reach an objective understanding of the condition and thereby be free of it. Such freedom, however, can only come through fulfilling the task to which the conjunction points. Secondary moments of deeper awareness of the meaning of the conjunction can come when any other planet, or the Sun and Moon, opposes it. Again, however, it must be pointed out that awareness is only possible PROVIDED the native gives their conscious attention to the task.

Natal conjunction with Saturn are often the source of psychological “complexes,” especially if Saturn conjoins the Sun or Moon. A Saturn-Sun conjunction relates specifically to a father- complex. This may have come about either through some misunderstanding between the father and child, or through the loss of the father at an early age. In any case, the native may feel the loss of the father’s example and presence during the formative years when such an example if most important psychologically. The Sun-Saturn conjunction may also indicate too close a psychic link to the father. The first major opportunity the person will have to resolve this complex will come at the onset of puberty (at approximately the age of 15) when transiting Saturn makes its first opposition to this conjunction. At this time the problem may manifest as one of sex identification or rebellion against parental authority. The second major opportunity for resolution will come at the onset of middle-age (at approximately age 45) with the second Saturn opposition. At this time the person may themselves have a teenage child going through the trauma of puberty, or they may be experiencing a second puberty, or they may experience an awareness of their father’s mortality. If the person has not resolved their father-complex by the time of the final Saturn opposition around age 75, they will have another opportunity at that time.

There are however, in the intervening years many secondary opportunities for such deeper awareness. The Sun, for example, will transit the opposition will transit the opposition to the natal conjunction every year, giving the person a chance to reevaluate the father/authority-figure in the light of their own solar purpose, or “true nature.” Monthly the Moon will transit that position, heightening one’s instinctual awareness and the possibility of taking action to clarify the solar purpose. The annual transit of Mercury indicates a time when a person may use the principle of intellectual interchange to clarify their understanding. Intellectualizing the problem and giving it verbal expression can help the individual become more objective. With the transit of Venus every 12 months (approximately) the person may draw upon their basic values to find inner meaning in this life-conflict. The transit of Mars occurs every 2 years and will give the opportunity for outer expression of the father-complex. Directing the energy outward will further objectify it and free the individual from its compulsive nature. The transit of Jupiter to this opposition point every twelve years will provide a chance to place this problem in a larger frame of reference - to view it from a social standpoint rather than a purely personal one. Only once in a lifetime will Uranus transit this point. At this time a true integration may take place, provided Uranus is victorious over Saturn. How the individual will choose to use the Uranus energy will greatly depend on their age at the time of the transit.

A Moon-Saturn conjunction in the natal chart often indicates a mother-complex. The person may feel that they are an unwanted child, thereby building up a resentment toward the mother. This generally comes from the experience of a lack of maternal loving and can express itself in later life as either an insatiable need for mothering, or as an inability to express the mothering quality. This is often a difficult aspect, especially for women, since the Moon in a woman’s chart also refers to her view of her own femininity. Thus, the resentment can be not only against her mother and women in general, but against herself as a woman. The natal configuration of Moon conjunct Saturn can manifest in a much more insidious manner than the Sun-Saturn conjunction because it often operates on an emotional or subconscious level in the form of depression. Like the Sun-Saturn conjunction, the opportunities for objective understanding will come when the opposition point is activated. In this instance, however, particular attention should be placed on the transiting Moon, especially in a woman’s chart. The periodic discomfort often linked to the menstrual cycle (which is also a 28-day lunar cycle) may be closely linked to this configuration. If this is a problem, the individual may choose to use this lunar energy consciously to draw attention to their own feminine nature, accepting rather than denying their biological function. It is interesting to note that the first opposition of transiting Saturn to its natal position in a woman’s chart corresponds to the onset of menopause. Thus, a woman’s childbearing years are bordered by the first and second Saturn oppositions.

A natal opposition of Saturn to the Sun, Moon or planet can be an easier aspect for the person to deal with, since the configuration itself inherently symbolizes the possibility for objective understanding. Moreover, transits will activate it by opposition twice as frequently - the Sun twice a year, the Moon twice a month, etc., allowing twice as many opportunities for objective awareness and understanding. In the case of Saturn opposing the Sun or Moon, the influences of the past, the family and especially the parents can be more easily synthesized. Rudhyar has observed that the natal conjunction of Saturn with the Part of Fortune is a strong indication of basic introversion and a tendency toward pessimism and self-pity. There is a curious sense of fatality, or of being compelled to act according to some dominant purpose imposed from without. This may isolate the person and make them feel heavy with the burden of the world. There are, of course, many possible modifications indicated by other astrological factors, so any natal Saturn conjunction must not be interpreted outside the context of the chart as a whole.

The Generic Cycle

Two distinct cycles of Saturn occur simultaneously in every life: the generic cycle and the individual cycle. The experience common to all human beings, the experience of age, is symbolized by the transit of Saturn to its natal position (the generic cycle). Allowing for variations because of retrograde motion, Saturn’s sidereal period is approximately 29.5 years. Thus, in a life spanning ninety years, Saturn will transit the entire birth-chart three times. Each of these transits is a complete Saturn cycle, beginning at its birth position and ending with its return. These three cycles indicate turning points in the gradual unfolding of destiny and character and correspond respectively to the PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE.

The First Cycle - Saturn the Past

This cycle begins at birth and concludes as the person approaches their 30th birthday. Here Saturn is expressed in terms of the collective past, that is, the heredity and environment into which the individual was born and out of which they must emerge in order to fulfill their birth potential. The bonds of Saturn, first experienced as the father-figure/authority figure, then later as the strictures of family and social traditions, must eventually be broken. If they are not broken during this cycle, they will carry over into the next, manifesting in far more negative ways. Every child begins life as a totally dependent being, incapable of even the most elementary assertion of their own volition. As transiting Saturn moves away from its natal position, the child becomes progressively more independent and better able to divorce themselves from their birth conditioning, thus gaining perspective on their parents, their dependency and all family patterns. Throughout the first cycle this separation frequently takes the form of rebellion; and, although much bemoaned by parents, it is an important step in the growth process toward individuality.

The Waxing Square

The first “crisis” occurs near the age 7-8 as Saturn squares its natal position. Such squares, according to Rudhyar, often assume the character of a critical Mars aspect. At this waxing square there is the first attempt to emphasize the “I” against the pressures of the family and the environment. The child is said to have reached the “age of reason” and no longer responds to “because I said so…” For the first time they question the God-like authority of parents and teachers. They will begin to express a desire to choose their own clothes and the foods they wish to eat. If an established bedtime has previously been enforced, they will often make this an issue in which the child will attempt to assert their own volition. This can be a time of a great conflict of wills as the child looks for more and more means of asserting themself. They want to establish themselves higher up on the pecking-order, to be an authority figure. Realizing they have an advantage over someone smaller, they may become bossy toward classmates or younger siblings, and if they have no younger brother or sister, may ask for or even demand one.

A common brush with Saturn (the strictures of society) experienced at this age is being caught stealing. Before this age, when a child took something it was because they could not differentiate between other people’s property and their own. By age seven, however, the concept of ownership is clearly defined, and the child knows that taking what belongs to someone else is wrong. What they are doing is testing the authority of society. Eventually the child will be caught, and they must be adequately reprimanded. The lessons of the first Saturn square, if not learned at that time, will carry over into anti-social adult behaviour. A parent must realize, however, that in a seven-year-old these are merely lessons to be learned as part of the natural growth process.

The Opposition

The crisis at or immediately following puberty (approximately age 15) corresponds to the opposition of transiting Saturn to its natal placement. This entire period is characterized by drastic swings between childhood and adulthood. One minute the individual is too young and the next they are too old. As the emerging individual makes their first attempts to fly on their own, they find that being grown-up isn’t at all what they thought it would be. With freedom comes responsibility, and the greater the freedom the greater the responsibility. Although the problems of sexuality and pairing relationships seem paramount during this period, they are only part of the crisis. The mind is also developing its objective faculties and is used as a means of critical evaluation, this is the real turning point of adolescence - not merely a biological awareness of sex and relationships - but much more deeply a confrontation with and objective evaluation of the family, all authority figures and society itself. In our society, this also includes the media and government.

In their attempt to separate themselves from the strictures of parents and family, the teenager frequently adopts an attitude of overt rebellion. The poor parents cannot do ANYTHING right. They object to everything, from the food they eat to their basic moral values. The peer-group replaces parents, teachers and sometimes the laws of society as the final authority. They adopt a “siege mentality” of us-against-them, and popularity among their peers is the ultimate goal at this time. The emerging individual will adhere to their codes of dress and behaviour with an almost religious fervor. This is a natural step toward full independence, but until one can move beyond this dependence upon group approval, the ego will not continue to develop in a creative sense. Evasion of responsibility is another natural phenomenon of this age. Usually it appears as an avoidance of household chores, but sometimes it assumes a far more drastic and potentially damaging aspect - early marriage. Most marriages that take place early in this cycle are doomed to failure since their purpose is not to establish a relationship, but to run away from home and parental restriction. Prematurely detached from their peer-group by selecting a single mate, the individual may feel as though the ground itself has been pulled from under them. The reaction is often to run from the marriage, and once again the find themselves “running away from home.”

If Saturn (the laws of society) did not come down hard on them when they stole that first piece of bubblegum at about age seven, then the teenager may again test the system with further theft. This time it may be with cooperation of their peer-group. Each time they get away with it, the object becomes larger or of greater monetary value. Just how far can they go? Sooner or later Saturn will catch up with them. Through this period it must be remembered that the teenager needs some established authority to rebel against. If no disciplines have been placed on them, they will go as far afield as necessary to find an outlet. Parents who provide their children with total latitude are doing their offspring not favour,no matter what some books may say. This is the true meaning of “spoiling a child.”

The Waning Square

Whereas the crisis at the waxing square (age 7-8) is primarily one of action, the crisis corresponding to the waning square at age 21-22 is essentially a cerebral one, a “crisis in consciousness”. This is the time when the bonds of dependency upon the parents can finally be broken. The individual is recognized by society as an adult with all the attendant privileges and responsibilities. They can drink, vote marry and sign contracts without parental permission; if they break the law they will go to jail. By this time they are often completed their education or apprenticeship and are ready to embark on a career and be self-supporting. Now is the time that they can move out into the world without running away from home. The parent-family bond, which has been diminishing since the age of seven, should not be of major concern at this time. The problem now is that the individual must finally separate themselves from the peer group and stand alone. There is a strong awareness that true “individuality” is mental rather than physical. The person may at this time, become a loner, isolating themselves from the group. THis can be a highly analytical time with much energy spent on philosophical questions.

The severance from the past should also include breaking the bonds of old attitudes. Once having freed themselves from the dependency on parents and peers, the individual is ready to establish a one-to-one relationship and take their place in the social scheme. Breaking with the peer group does not necessitate becoming a hermit, for the only true freedom is in the mind.If the individual still carries a dependency need, they will marry a mother or father no matter what age they are, and will never be able to establish a truly adult relationship. If they cannot break away from the peer group, they will never establish true friendships and will forever be “keeping up with the Joneses”.

The Second Cycle - Saturn the Present

The new cycle begins just before the 30th birthday, as Saturn returns to its natal position. This is often a year of choice which determines the direction of the life, the type of associates one values, and the profession or business activity they adopt. The second cycle is an antithesis of the first - it is the cycle of potential productivity. Throughout this cycle as one struggles to make a living and produce something of value within the community, Saturn manifests primarily as the task master. The individual is obliged to act according to principle, fulfilling a definite function or role in society as significantly as possible. Here Saturn is the force which constrains and steadies the present through the compulsive routine of existence;

Personal development through the second cycle is, however, totally dependent on the growth and degree of maturation achieved during the first cycle. If, at the end of the first cycle, one has emerged as a creative individual ready and able to use their full potential, then the second cycle will be one of ever-increasing creativity and productivity. On the other hand,if one has not emerged from the first cycle as complete and whole individual, if they remain bound by the strictures of society, the demands of their peer group or a dependency upon parents and family, then the second cycle is likely to to be warped or inverted repetition of the first. This is not to say that if the challenges of Saturn aren’t fully met before the 30th birthday that a person is doomed to a meaningless existence, bu only that they will still be resolving conflicts at the age of 45 which they should have resolved when they were fifteen. There is always another chance, but the second time around, the patterns are more deeply entrenched and their resolution more difficult.

As the new cycle of Saturn begins, the individual finds himself confronted with new situations and new limitations which condition and define their destiny (the pattern of their consciousness and character) for the coming thirty years. This is a psychologically critical time since people are acutely aware that something has ended yet barely aware of what lies ahead. There is a tendency to evaluate the past cycle, not in term of its value as a learning experience, which is what it is meant to be, but in terms of productivity, which is what the following 30-year cycle is supposed to be. At the time of the waning square (age 21) many people set goals related to their 30th birthday. “If I haven’t made it by thirty…” is an oft repeated phrase among people in their twenties. The unspoken implication is that one will give up if they have not achieved their life-goals by that time. What they will do with the rest of their life if they do “make it” is not considered. Fortunately, since most people do not “make it” by age thirty, they still have another full Saturn cycle ahead of them to achieve, to grow, to accomplish and to fulfill their creative potential. The return of transiting Saturn to its natal position affords an opportunity to reevaluate the dreams and goals of youth in the light of maturity. Many times the ambitions which seem meaningful at the age of twenty-five appear markedly shallow at thirty. This is a time to stop and take a careful look at one’s life before plunging on.

 The Waxing Square

The actional crisis in this second Saturn cycle, paralleling the childhood crisis at age 7-8, occurs near the 36th year.At this time the individual should be well along the road to maturity, and their basic reactions to life should be clearly evident. The primary question here is whether or not they become self-evident. Before being able to use their full power, the individual must finally separate Self from what society has told them is or should be. This is a period of digging around for one’s own roots, of finding one’s own foundation. The sense of “I” is strong, but where do I belong? Though this period the individual may thus experience a strong feeling of isolation. In finally releasing the past one may feel that the pins have been kicked out from under them. In this they will experience true freedom only when they acknowledge that they themself, pulled the plug, thus truly accepting total responsibility for one’s own life. There is an acute awareness at this time of empty spaces, and the individual may attempt to fill them either with people or with material goods. The understanding that space is a necessary precondition for growth may come hard, yet until it does, one will become a consumer stuffing the empty corners of their life with possessions. The urge to own property at this time is an expression of the desire to establish a permanent foundation. It is the outward manifestation of the foundation being established within. Both the waxing and waning squares of this cycle, according to Rudhyar, partake of Jupiter’s characteristics. Jupiter being the polar opposite of Saturn, is capable of compensating for Saturn’s restrictions with financial rewards and social success.

The awareness of age, which first appeared at the time of the conjunction, begins to be a definite issue. In a youth-oriented society the individual suddenly finds that they are being judged “too old”. Many job opportunities are closed to applicants over thirty-five, and although one may be in prime physical condition, there is growing awareness that the body will no longer take the punishment it once did and bounce back as readily. One’s contemporaries always remain the same age, but the person watches their children and their parents growing older almost before their eyes. An awareness develops that if unresolved differences still exist between the person and their parents, they must soon be resolved. One’s parents are no longer immortal, as they seemed when they were seven; and, if they do not lose a parent at this time, they will experience the death of their parents contemporaries. Time is growing short. One knows that they no longer have forever to make things right between themselves and the parents. This can be an especially critical time for a woman, since thirty-six marks the beginning of the final quarter of her fertile years. Even to a woman with several children. Even to a woman with several children there comes the knowledge that if she is going to have another child it had better be now. To a woman who is childless, this issue can be a source of great despondency. It may have once seemed that she had plenty of time to think about children later, but at age 36 time is running out. It will be interesting to observe the generation born after World War II, who are now approaching their Saturn return. A disproportionately large number of these people have opted, for one reason or another, not to have children. When these women reach their mid-thirties, will there be another baby-boom not unlike the boom which produced them?

The Opposition

A crisis of revaluation occurs at the time of the opposition (age 44-45). It is an assessment of all that one has built as an individual since the age of twenty-nine. The keynote here must be OBJECTIVITY.The evaluation must be made according to one’s personal values, rather than the expectations of family, peer group or society in order for the individual to find true meaning in their existence. Although a period of crisis, with a clear objective understanding of their life-purpose the creative power of the individual can fully emerge. This can be an experience of real illumination - the gateway to an individual’s most creative and productive period - age 44-59. If problems are encountered at this time, one may be certain that the root of the trouble lies in the fact that the person has remained immature, inwardly uncertain and frustrated in some important direction. An awareness of this may lead one to try and make a new start before it is too late, to experience at 45 what they had failed to experience in the past. If the gap between the ideal and the reality, then the sense of frustration failure and impotence can force one to give up the struggle toward individualization, and he will eventually resign himself to a personally meaningless existence according to the collective norm.

The problems of the second opposition can closely parallel those experienced at age 15 during the first opposition. Once again problems occur in the area of sexuality and pairing relationships, and these are compounded by hormonal changes which accompany menopause. A woman is at or near the end of her child-bearing years, while a man sees his sexual potency greatly diminished. Both feel their physical desirability ebbing away. The signs of ageing are clearly visible; and, according to the collective values of a youth-oriented society, this is a tragedy which must be avoided at any cost. The dues for membership in the “Pepsi generation” run higher and higher - hundreds of millions of dollars for cosmetic surgery, hair dye, vitamins, hormone therapy, weight reduction, and a myriad of goods and services which promise eternal youth. The emotional cost cannot even be counted. For many it is a bottomless well of frustration and anger, and death becomes a fearsome reality as one chases their lost youth. For the first time the native experiences their contemporaries dying of so-called “natural causes”.

At this time one frequently experiences the death of a parent. They may, on the other hand, find the teen-age situation reversed as they assume responsibility for a parent who can no longer care for himself or herself. If a parent-complex remains, it will generally transfer to the native’s relationship with the boss, corporation or marriage partner. The avenues of rebellion are , however, limited. One is usually too old at forty-five to change jobs, so divorce becomes a viable alternative. In fact, divorce is seen as the solution to many problems at this time, if the marriage is now judged responsible for all the problems that one blamed on his parents when they were a teenager. A new mate will reaffirm one’s sexual desirability, regenerate one’s empty lifestyle, revitalize one’s sagging career. Just as many teenagers run away from home to get married, so many so-called adults are doing the same thing. They are literally running away. Peter-Pan like disappearances at this time are not uncommon.

The Waning Square

The crisis in consciousness which comes at the age of fifty-two (with the waning square) parallels the crisis experienced at age 22-23. Once again the individual is faced with the need to sever themselves from their established patterns of behaviour, feeling and thinking. At this midpoint of one’s most creative and productive years, one is challenged to take a chance and to try something new. When one accepts this challenge, the Jupiterian character of the square becomes most evident. LIfe expands in a social sense as one attempts to broaden their horizons. At this time many people return to school and find that new interests begin to open to them. Personal satisfaction can be found in creative expression - painting, music, photography and gardening to name but a few. There is also an urge to get out into the world and make a contribution to other people. Freed from financial responsibilities toward their children, many people use this as an opportunity to travel - to take the dream vacation they have always planned but never really thought possible.

These are the peak earning years. Unfortunately, one also realizes at this time that they have risen as high as they will go in the hierarchy, and for someone in a low-level position there may seem to be nothing left but to wait passively for retirement. In this case a sense of defeat can take over, and life itself becomes meaningless and futile. For others, however, this may be the time of a major job change. By taking a chance and trying something new, one can vastly expand their creative potential. However, in order to do so this one must first free themself from the hindering memories of past failures, especially those linked to the experiences which occured at the opposition (age 44-45). If one indulged oneself in juvenile in the mid-forties, then this square signals the time when the piper demands to be paid. If the health has been abused, then problems may occur in that area. Such problems may be severe enough to demand a forced retirement, but generally they are merely a warning that one must change one;s lifestyle. The body is not longer capable of absorbing punishment without showing ill effects.

By this time the “children” are adults in their own right and must be recognized as such. This necessitates a revaluation of the parent-child relationship. One must finally let go of their children and accept a position of zero influence. The reward for this can be grandparent-hood. A responsibility free relationship in which one is able to lovingly indulge the grandchildren without the necessity to discipline. For many this is the greatest of all Jupiterian rewards. However, the parent who deserted their children at age 44-45 may now find that their children want nothing to do with them. Such revenge is often expressed by withholding the grandchildren. Just as the parent-dependency bond is often forcibly broken by death at the time of the opposition, the peer-group bond begins to be dissolved by death at this time. The realization that one is ultimately alone, that you cannot depend on parents, children, mate, friends or career to provide your life with meaning and creative satisfaction will drive some people to despair, while it brings others to the peak of their individual potential.

The Third Cycle - Saturn the Future

Just before the 60th birthday Saturn returns to its natal position for the second time, and the final cycle of life begins. Here Saturn tries to gather the essential meaning of the life into a form of consciousness or seed-symbol which can guarantee immortality. The psychological crisis which occurs at this time parallels the crisis at the first Saturn return. Once again the individual is acutely aware that something has ended; however, in this case the awareness is that their youth is gone, their vitality is diminishing and their productive years are nearing an end. There seems to be nothing left but to wait patiently for death. The real challenge at this time is to see that there is yet another cycle of life which is only beginning.

In ancient times, sixty was considered to be the age of philosophy, of wisdom, because only through wisdom is it possible to integrate significantly the individual contribution with the real needs of the race. Rudhyar has pointed out that a creative mind - artist, scientist, statesman, writer - usually do not leave their mark upon their time before reaching the age of sixty. The works they performed during their second Saturn cycle impress themselves on the generation born at the time the works were produced. This impress is the foundation of the socio-cultural immortality possible to the creative mind. It is proof of the successful synthesis of individual purpose with the collective needs of the race. This is the goal toward which every creative person should work after the Saturn opposition of the forties. In such cases, Saturn symbolizes the seed, and its third cycle refers to the gathering in of the harvest of life. The seed, which will be bequeathed to future generations for them to plant and harvest, is an individual’s immortality. The tragedy of contemporary society is that the end of life is not regarded as an age of wisdom. Elder citizens are not expected to play a creative role, and therefore it is most difficult to give a positive meaning to Saturn’s third cycle. If there are so few spiritual leaders in the world today, it is because or society does not really call for spiritual leadership. People have placed their faith in production and technology, and so we have great producers and eminent technicians, products of Saturn’s second cycle. The collective consciousness is stuck in the second cycle and will remain so as long as the cult of youth is glorified and only productivity is worshipped. In trying to prolong the period of productivity and avoid the reality of age, we are avoiding wisdom as well. Perhaps unconsciously we fear to seek the wisdom which age can bring, because if we were wise we might have to change some of our cherished ideas concerning productivity.

The fear of age cannot be blamed solely on society’s lack of reverence for the wisdom and strength of their senior citizens. It is more profoundly a fear of death. As long as an individual feels that society expects them to keep on producing or to get out of the way and make room for the younger generations, this negative attitude toward aging will persist. If, through a knowledge of the meaning of Saturn’s three cycles, more individuals will try to grow in wisdom and so become wiser in their human relationships and understanding of life’s problems, then it is possible that their light will eventually be recognized. Society may then slowly learn how to entrust to its elder citizens some of the functions now inadequately performed by younger minds still filled with the fever of productivity and ruled by ambitious egos. In furthering humanity’s spiritual future, one is furthering their own future, and that future extends beyond the crisis of growth which we call death.

The Individual Cycle

In addition to the generic cycle of Saturn, which produces its critical turning points at approximately the same ages for everyone, there is an individual way of measuring Saturn’s impact, relating the transits of Saturn to the Houses of the birthchart. If the birth-time is unknown, significant data can also be found in noting Saturn’s transit through the solar Houses. The starting point for the individual cycle is the conjunction of transiting Saturn with the natal Ascendant. This will occur at some time during the first twenty-nine years of life and signals a time when the native will be able to begin working with Saturnian energies Ascendant, the easier, relatively speaking, it would be for one to use Saturn in an individual manner. In such a case a person is potentially able to mature earlier than the person whose Saturn-Ascendant conjunction occurs in their twenties. Here, however, it is important to note the age factor (see Chapter II). This information will give a deeper understanding of the basic Saturn problem in the life. The astrologer must consider the seven-year period in which the conjunction occurred, and also the specific year of that period during which it was exact.

In one example, transiting Saturn conjoined the natives Ascendant at the age of 4 and 1/2 (in the fifth year of the seven-year period). At that time she was diagnosed as having a heart murmur and was confined to bed for several months. During that period she had no one to play with, she had not yet learned to read, and, since it occurred before the advent of television, she was left with only her imagination to keep her company. The age factor in this instance corresponds to the Organic Level, in which both the physical body and the psychological faculties are being formed. In this case a life-pattern was established. Every major aspect of Saturn which followed was marked by a period of illness. As it occurred in the fifth year of the seven-year period, creativity and self-expression were intimately bound up with the problems of health. It as not until she recognized this link and began to deal with her necessity for creative self-expression that the health problems could be resolved.

In another example, the Saturn-Ascendant conjunction occurred in the third seven-year period (age 14-21) and, because of retrogradation, in both the second and third years of that period. On the basis of the age factor an astrologer can conclude that the basic problem for this individual was in the area of psychological development. The second and third years suggest strong conflict (especially emotional conflict) followed by a decision which was then acted upon. Before this person could truly individualize, they had to become consciously aware of the dominant influence of the family tradition and especially the father.

When Saturn comes to the Ascendant, the seed of that planet’s cycle is sown. At that time some decision is made, either consciously or unconsciously, in freedom or in bondage to fate, and the direction and significance of the new cycle is established. The subsequent transit through the first quadrant (Houses 1,2 and 3) is a period of maximum subjectivity in terms of Saturnian activity. Outwardly, the fruits of the old cycle dominate, while the person tries to develop inwardly a new type of ego-consciousness. The success of this process will depend largely upon the individual’s capacity to assimilate the fruits of the old cycle without letting them dominate their consciousness. They must learn to see the results of outer social experiences (related to Saturn’s transit of the upper hemisphere of their chart) as a foundation for some new trend. New responsibilities enter the life, and this will progressively modify the new pattern of destiny. The task now is to grow in essential being and to reconsider many things which the conscious ego had taken for granted up to that time.

This period of Saturn’s transit often coincides with what seems to be an eclipse of the individual’s objective success. Because the accent here is on subjective development and the capacity to meet new responsibilities, the person’s attention will not be drawn to the outer life. This is as it should be, for if at this time the person tries to maintain their outer power, they will be doing so in terms of the old attitudes which it is now their task to modify and renew.If they act in their habitual ways, the new opportunities offered by Saturn’s new cycle will not be grasped, and instead of growing the individual will merely repeat what they have already learned.

One must consciously focus one’s attention on the experiences of the House in which Saturn is transiting. If one is truly attentive to the type of experience symbolized by this House, then they will find the best opportunities to develop their sense of Self and their sense of responsibility. This does not mean that life will be easier, but that the experiences during the transit of that particular house will provide the person with what is most necessary for them, even if the experiences are difficult, in order to grow and mature. Of course Saturn’s transit through a House, especially if it simultaneously conjuncts or opposes natal planets, will always compel the attention in some way.If one concentrates their attention elsewhere at that time, then what Saturn asks them to do will be an unwelcome intrusion into their plans and they will tend to meet the confrontations in a negative instead of positive manner. What must be learned is to give full attention willingly and readily to what Saturn asks and to accept the new responsibility it entails. After having evaluated clearly and correctly the implications of this new responsibility, one must assume it without reservations. The crux of the Saturn problem is always is always a matter of recognition, clear realization and adequate formulation - it is a test of courage. The challenge is to the individual’s capacity to adjust his outer life and behaviour to the new field of responsibility - to the new NEED of the conscious ego.

Saturn Transits the First House

The best opportunities for inner repolarization are possible during this transit, since nature, society or perhaps health problems will in some way challenge the individual to reconsider their attitude toward themselves. During the first twenty-eight years of life, the Saturn transit of the First House specifically symbolizes the influence of the physical father, the development of a consciousness of one’s place within the family structure, and incidents basic to the biological development. It will measure the type of security and awareness of one's place in the world which are normally provided by the father's influence (or lack of influence, for one reason or another). It relates to an individual's consciousness of their roots - racial, ancestral and personal. Saturnian action during this first 28-year period of life is usually based on family and cultural traditions. Even if one rebels against it, tradition still dominates the consciousness. The Saturnian experience of these first twenty-eight years make the person acknowledge that they must fit themselves into a specific group or community, thus enabling them to play a definite role in their particular society. Saturn forces one to realize that they were not born in a vacuum, that they can never fulfill their creative potential except in relationship to some greater whole (community, society or universe). This relationship will giving coherence, direction and purpose to life.

The first time Saturn transits the First House, the ego is given it's first chance to renew itself at a new level of individual selfhood. This will manifest through certain destiny-making experiences. Life will appear more serious, and events will test the moral strength of the character. A good deal of self-discipline may be demanded, and it will be much to the natives advantage even though they may not altogether like it. In order to gain a more concrete and precise understanding of oneself and of the purpose of one's life, it may be necessary to learn the lesson of conformity to certain social and traditional standards. On the negative side there may be a tendency toward gloom, depression and lack of self confidence due to feelings of inferiority. A reaction against such tendencies in the form of blustering and aggressiveness is merely the reverse of the same coin. Either way it manifests, the purpose is the same - to learn greater stability in one's individual behavior and a deeper sense of personal responsibility and integrity.

The same transit occurring later in life accentuates the need to assert one's individuality, either through or against the social conditions into which one was born. The goal should be to gain stature and esteem in one's own eyes through self-discipline. Such discipline may be self-imposed, or by accepting inwardly a discipline imposed from without. One must remember that much of what happens at this time will be the result of the way that one has related with the world, professionally, socially and personally, during the past fourteen years (since the time Saturn transited the Descendant). If one's social ambitions have been realized, he will know that his work will have been worthy of reward. This transit will prove the worth and the value of the principles by which one lives. If, on the other hand, the individual has failed to make any visible gain or if loss and trouble dog their footsteps, then one must conclude that there is something basically wrong with the way they have been living. It becomes imperative now to deepen one's sense of self and to undertake some fundamental change of attitude. Perhaps the individual has set themselves impossible goals or has proceeded on false premises. During this First House transit one may analyse the path they have followed in the past and rectify what mistakes they can.

Above all, one should not have Saturn leave this house with the idea that the world is a cold and dreary place where no one appreciates them, for the attitude adopted here is likely to persist through the subsequent phases of Saturn's personal cycle. Even if individual success has been achieved, one should not expect an easy life. The tendency now will be toward added responsibility - extra demands of all kinds on one's energy, time, finances and patience. The most important thing will be one's attitude toward what is demanded of them. One must remain positive and centred even if things appear dark and foreboding - and even if life seems littered with the very obstacles one has been trying to escape. One is meeting their ‘dweller on the threshold’, their shadow, and they must recognize it as such before they can can overcome it. The Saturn transit of the First House therefore presents us with what Rudhyar has called the ‘test of isolation’. Here one must face every experience with the conviction that through it they will be able to realize more deeply who they are as an individual. In order to do this, one must not identify themselves with the experience itself. What is needed is a conscious adjustment to it, but without any loss of one's personal integrity; not a constant and rigid way of responding to life, but the capacity to make ever more distinct the expression of one's true identity through the Saturnian structure of the conscious ego.

Saturn transits the Second House

Here the challenge of Saturn along the road to personal maturity will be how to use one's possessions to express that new facet of one's true identity, which one has theoretically come to know during Saturn's transit of the first house. The deeper understanding of the basic problem of destiny revealed in the first house demands now a review of the means available - both inner and outer - to solve this problem. Either these means are, in themselves a limiting factor, or the individual is not sufficiently aware of the tools at his disposal, of the innate powers and faculties with which they were born. One must therefore become more objective towards their assets, both material and psychological, and realize that they now have a chance to use them in a more conscious and responsible manner. In order to so use those possessions, however, one must have become aware during the First House period of the need and purposes which demand such a responsible use. This need or purpose is different for each individual and can manifest on different levels of being and awareness. During youth this purpose may be simply the challenge to incarnate more fully into the physical body and psyche, and to assume responsibility for the correct and purposeful use of all one's faculties on all levels of consciousness. At this stage it becomes necessary to realize that the eye “I” is distinct from the physical body and the feelings and thoughts through which the “I” expresses itself. It becomes necessary also to take responsibility for the misuse rather than ton believe as so many do today's, that such misuse is due to factors outside oneself.

Assuming responsibility for one's own body and it's instincts, and for one's feelings, emotional impulses and complexes means detaching the “I” consciousness and evaluating them objectively. The beginning of all true spiritual living is the detachment of the “I” from its vehicles of expression - the body and psyche - and also from the collective social values which dominate one's particular life situation. This means that in the first two phases of the Saturn cycle the “I” must realize as clearly as possible that it is distinct from the body and psyche as well as from the individuals heredity and environment; at the same time it must establish a responsible relationship with these elements. Without this distinctness and objectivity it will be impossible to meet purposefully and intelligently the needs of either body, psyche or society.

The Second House transit is the time to look at one's body, to go over the way in which one has been using it in the past, and to decide what changes in this use will be necessary if one wants to be a fit vehicle for the particular task or lifework to be performed. Now is a also the time to review all the facts and ideas one has accumulated, to review all the established values which make one see certainty things as good and worthwhile and others as bad, worthless or dangerous. One must discover whether these values were established on a personal foundation, or merely because one's parents, family or society have made their impression on them.

If an individual finds that they have been using their assets in the traditional manner, spending or wasting what they own according to the custom of their social class or the dictates of temporary “fashions”, afraid to be different from the average man or woman does or thinks then now I the time to transform this inherited sense of values. Saturn transiting the Second House makes one realize that the purpose of possessions is to provide the means by which he may give substance and weight to what he is. The individual can only become aware of what he is by using what he owns. At this time a person must prove what they are, to themselves and to the world, by their individual and responsible use of their ancestral inheritance and of what possessions they have acquired. This means that, if necessary, one mud be prepared to transform their possessions to fit the new purpose of their true self. This also means orienting their use so as to be able to enter into fruitful relationships with others. Even more, this Saturn transit challenges the individual to come into full possession of their unique powers and faculties. Such a mastery of one's means can only come can only come through significant, purposeful and creative use. One will never be able to experience and then reveal their real self unless they use their powers and faculties to that end.

Saturn Transits the Third House

This is the time to act into the environment according to the new purpose revealed in the First House transit and with the means developed during the Second House transit. As the individual tries to act in a new way in reference to their everyday relationships, he will meet varying reactions, some favorable, others limiting or even hostile. Whatever happens exists to demonstrate the quality of one's purpose and the degree of mastery over one's powers and facilities. Through these Third House experiences, the individual is meant to find out how much is illusion or ideal and how much is real in their estimation of Self and their powers. Experience during this transit will show one the best way to relate one's new sense of Self to people and things. One must dare to experiment with ideas, feelings and various ways of doing things, do in this way they will discover their limitations and what actions will be necessary to overcome them. The challenge here is to develop the capacity of conscious purposeful adaptation to the requirements of the environment. This is another way of saying that one must now deepen their intelligence in relation to the very practical, concrete and immediate problems which are met in the Third House. One must search for the deeper meanings of such problems and test the efficacy of their faculties. Saturn will set limits which will oblige one to focus their energies in well-defined areas; therefore it will be important to recognize just what these limits are and accept them, before one can work to transform their potential into effective power.

On more mundane levels, this will force one to deal constantly with the petty problems of daily routine. Discord may arise with the people that one meets everyday - family, neighbors, tradespeople and fellow commuters. All of these people may become boring or irritating by upsetting one's routine, or by making greater demands on one's time and perhaps also on one's purse. Inanimate objects may also seem to take an a almost fiendish delight in wrecking one's plans - the tire goes flat just as your pulling out of the driveway late for an important engagement; household gadgets refuse to function or develop a habit of disappearing just when needed; papers get mislaid. As the mountain of petty annoyances grows, one is apt to wonder if that world is taking its spite out on them personally. And yet Saturn has a method in this seeming madness. If the daily routine has been disrupted, one must be at fault somewhere. Perhaps good use has not been made of one's time, or it may be that one runs their life on a helter-skelter basis with no order whatever. So along comes Saturn and binds one to a routine, like it or not, until the value of time and the desirability of order have been learned. One may have liked the the people in their neighborhood as long as they made no demands, but now is the time to learn the mutual nature of such obligations.

Such things will happen, especially if one has made no conscious effort to deepen their sense of self and the value of what is their's, both materially and psychologically. If an individual has made positive efforts to contact the self in depth since Saturn crossed the Ascendant, then the problem of the Third House transit is that of objectively recognizing the limitations which life imposes on their efforts to prove their personal worth in everyday relationships. These limitations need not be understood as being inimical, but should be seen rather as necessary to growth. Limitations will enable one to define move clearly their real character and the resources at their disposal. Outer defeat may be just what is needed in order to discover oneself in an inner way, to learn a necessary lesson, to clear up some karma. The experiences of this transit should be used to test, one by one, all those powers and faculties which one has decided to use during the Second House transit. The person may even choose the environmental situations which will enable them objectively to test their strength, endurance and capacity to respond or adapt to change.! Voluntarily they can test the quality of their sympathy, helpfulness, love and cooperation. Such deliberate training of self and it's power would the most positive to use Saturn's transit of the Third House.

The negative implications of this transit wild occur only when the individual has no such positive attitude, and, rather than consciously choosing to act they wait for things to happen to them. However, a negatively oriented person can can be helped most of this time by an astrologer who explains that the purpose of present difficulties is to enable them to discover their limitations and to force them to find new ways of being themselves and using their resources. They must use thought and develop intelligence by trying to relate to all the facts of their daily experience. An integrated personality is the result of a healthy and significant relationship between all the parts of one's nature - physical and mental, internal and external. Where integration is lacking, Third House experiences teach us our lack. Balance is reattained by acting out what one thinks is right. Actual experience is the teacher at this time.

Saturn Crosses the Nadir and Transits the Fourth House

This starts a new lap of the path toward personal maturity. The new trend begun when Saturn crossed the Ascendant should now show concrete results. One has, theoretically, established a new attitude toward their destiny, and has worked on both their material and psychological resources in such a way as to be able to fulfill their destiny in a more conscious and purposeful manner. Finally, in the Third House they have tested in actual daily living the efficacy of this new use of resources and know what they really have at their disposal and in what direction they must go. Now comes the time when one must establish a new base of operations, the new foundation from which one will go forth to challenge the world in order to realize this new objective. Whatever changes may come when Saturn later crosses the Descendant and then the Midheaven will be extensions or expansions of the projects begun when Saturn entered the Fourth House. Therefore, here one should concentrate on the strength and stability of one’s foundations, as one’s future success - particularly for the coming fourteen years - will depend on them.

In any decision made at this time, this long-range perspective must be taken into account.There may be a change of residence, the establishment of a new home, marriage, business, professional position, or even a new outlook on life. Whatever it is, and usually with this transit there are many opportunities to step out of the usual pattern of one’s life - one must bear in mind that what is started now will have to be worked at in a personal way until Saturn reaches the Descendant, and then in a social way until Saturn comes to the Midheaven. One should therefore choose something related fundamentally to the deeper needs of their true self and destiny. One may choose to break away or cut themselves free from old ties, old habits, old localities or positions. Young people may want to leave their parental home, while older people may decide to go into retirement. In other cases, the decision may not rest in the individual’s hands - life may force them out on their own in spite of a desire to cling to old ways. The changes characteristic of this transit are seldom comfortable at the time. In order to use this transit positively, one must establish first of all the long-range objective in terms of Saturn’s transit of the first three Houses. They must be willing to sacrifice those aspects of their old lifestyle which the achievement of their objective makes necessary. They must stand on their own feet, secure in their own truth and ready to accept new obligations. At the same time, however, one will have to distinguish between those obligations which are rightfully their responsibility and those which could be more correctly termed impositions. Finally, plans must be adopted for a slow start. In spite of the chaotic quality which may often create a false sense of the need for speedy action, the rate of progress is not likely to be rapid.

This transit also raises the question: On what basis shall I make my decision, and to what purpose use the knowledge acquired in the Third House concerning myself and my abilities? All depends on whether what has been learned and experienced since Saturn crossed the Ascendant now enables one to establish a new sense of power and security, or whether the efforts at incorporating this new destiny have brought only hurt and defeat. In either case, the individual must now relate what they have discovered to that in their own life which they consider to be absolutely basic, sound, solid and stable. For the immature individual, the Fourth House transit is not easy, particularly for young people living in the cities. The frame of reference constituted by the family, religion and social conditions is no longer stable. Youth are subjected now to so many conflicting points of view and values, both within the home and without, that is practically impossible for them to feel that they have a solid and trustworthy foundation and a valid frame of reference from which to evaluate and understand their experience. Not being able to find stability outside themselves, they are obliged to find it within. This is a new trend in evolution. Instead of seeking outer stability - a permanent home, a permanent job - a person today is constrained more and more to seek stability within themselves. They are urged to reach toward their own center, which is at the same time the earth center. They are asked to build a “global personality”. They must work, especially during these Fourth House periods, steadily toward inner harmony and integration, toward becoming master of their own house, capable of acting from their own center.

Saturn transits the Fifth House

Here the feeling of what you are and who you are has to be acted out for the world to see. What matters now is how the individual releases the power of their personality. The capacity to act out what they truly are as an individual (Fourth House experience) and to fulfill the purpose of their life without doing harm to anyone is now tested. One must be prepared to allow others to experience them as they are through their actions and creations. The quality of one’s self-expressions is here the important factor. If the feelings expressed now as emotion are purely egocentric, based on possessiveness or fear, then the individual is not acting, but rather is being used by the negative energies of human nature - pride, anger and lust. Whenever the Fifth House is accentuated, one must question whether their expression aims at expansion of self, as a conscious ego, or expansion through self of a purpose to which they have dedicated their personality. Through bitter experience one learns here that the urge to personal expression in terms of purely personal desires and needs - the desire for progeny, the yearning for fame, the projection of self into the beloved - never produces the desired results. He individual must adopt here what Rudhyar calls the “transpersonal way”, the effort to build the personality as an engine so that through the individual something greater than the personal self may manifest. He will be no less an individual, but because they understood that they partake of a greater life in the company of other individuals , the power of the universal whole will be able to create through them. The resulting creative accomplishment will them have meaning and value for that part of the world which they are able to make contact. Any form of self-expression which does not take into account the needs of others or society is doomed to failure.

Fifth House problems derive from exaggerated self-consciousness. As one is continually preoccupied with the impressions they feel they are making when they act or create, they become over-independent, wanting to force their way of doing and feeling on others. On the other hand through the lack of Fourth House equilibrium they may become more and more suspicious of other people’s motives. Acting in a hesitant manner, unsure of themselves, they can become prey to feelings of inferiority and rejection. Instead of taking offence at the slightest provocation or insisting on what they consider their due, the individual should try to give of themselves without counting the cost. Therefore, when Saturn comes to the Fifth House, there are basic choices to be made in relation to how one would release the powers of their personality. Will they act now simply to make their mark upon others or upon society, to have their own way in everything, and to prove the strength of their ego in a battle of wills; or will they become a pure channel for more-than-personal powers according to the part they could play,together with other individuals, in the greater whole?

Truth, spiritual identity, dharma: are various words to define moral selfhood in effective and adequate act. The truth of an individual consists in all the activities necessary for the complete and correct performance of their life-purpose as an incarnate self. All that is necessary; nothing that is not necessary. In purity and in truth, freedom and necessity become identical. The individual is spiritually free as they fulfill their essential purpose, and in no other way… For the individual to be free to do anything, they might wish to conceive has no meaning in itself. The only freedom is that of performing all the acts that are necessary for one’s inherent spiritual purpose. (Rudhyar, Triptych - The Way Through)

On a more mundane level, the test of the Fifth House is the degree of mastery of the energies of human nature. This mastery will enable one to act in terms of their true individual purpose. As long as the ego identifies itself with the energies of human nature, the latter will tend to use them. When the ego gives way to anger or lust, the true individual identity has abdicated before the power of an emotional impulse which makes the ego act in a compulsive manner. The instincts of human-nature are only concerned with organic satisfaction, self-defense, and self-aggrandisement. If they dominate one’s actions in the Fifth House period, it will be because one’s true identity was not established within an integrated personality in the Fourth House period. What is expressed in the Fifth House will then be the manifestation of one’s weakness and frustration, their lack of roots and stability; in short, their feelings of inadequacy. If conscious attention is paid to the manner of personal expression as well as to the quality of what is being expressed, a great lesson can be learned from Saturn’s transit of the Fifth House. In trying to become an ever-purer channel, the meaning inherent in one’s true individual identity will emerge.

Saturn Transits the Sixth House

Here we come to the final phase in the effort to improve the technique or expression of one’s individual identity. Having released the powers of the personality on the basis of one’s personal feelings and will to self-expansion during the Fifth House transit, one will find that the results of this self-expression usually lead to a crisis. The more ego-centered one has been, the more likely one has to realize that now something must be changed in one’s attitude. The ego must become consciously aware of it’s limitations and it’s mistakes. It must now decide that its way of expressing emotion is wrong if it brings pain or suffering, that the feeling must be subjected to some form of discipline and must be directed to new values which are less ego-centered and more universal.

As Saturn transits the Sixth House, one is forced to realize that what they do, feel or think has not come up to the First House ideal of behaviour, achievement and success. The individual becomes acutely conscious of a lack, of a need for improvement either in being or doing. Perhaps egocentricity and selfishness have led to defeat in one’s attempts to prove oneself through relationships both with individuals and with society in general, in spite of one’s talents and mastery of objective techniques. This precipitates a crisis, because suddenly one realizes that they must somehow transform their personal attitude to life, themselves and perhaps even toward God. This crisis may take the form of the need to serve and obey, to adapt one’s efforts to the needs of some revered person or cause which seems to embody those qualities to which the true self aspires. One may be placed in some subordinate position, such as the armed forces, or perhaps be loaded with thankless petty jobs which give one no chance to shine. Circumstances can pile a mass of detail work before one to impress on them the need for organization and adequate preparation. There may be a growing dissension around them which forces them to make adjustments in their everyday relationships. In short, life will call for a maximum of adaptability, patience, and a willingness to assume one’s own share of the weight.

Service has been described as the willingness to recognize that the individual is but one cog in the machinery of life. It is a first lesson in learning that the whole is greater than any of the parts. All of one’s relationships with other people will run smoothly only if each helps the others and all work toward some common good. With this Sixth House transit, the individual becomes a member of the group, with the special task of helping others. They must subdue their personal desires rather than make the futile attempt to force life to meet their private demands. Circumstances can now place a heavy load upon one - more work, especially insignificant routine tasks which repay in small coin compared to the time and labour involved. Illness in others may require that one shoulders their tasks as well as one's own, or event take on the actual job of nursing. Personal relations will demand the utmost tolerance. There may even be personal illness through which the soul may try to impress upon the body the need for a revision in attitude. Illness may, on the other hand, simply be the result of the defeat of one's vital energies which are unable to cope with the challenge to grow stronger or to transform one's way of life.

The deepest aspect of this transit is what Rudhyar calls the "test of suffering",....suffering is a sign of human greatness not yet fully realized, or wantonly wasted...Suffering can never be a be a goal or have a value in itself. It is a training in objective understanding and emotional severance; a test in endurance of our will and our faith.....Suffering is the condition for breaking one's identification with the "less" as he climbs on his way to the "more". It is the pressure of one's greater destiny upon their attachment to lesser goals….Here, the great andsubtle lure which distracts many a soul is: self-pity. " Why has this happened to me?"

To this, there are various metaphysical answers. The one practical reply, however, is "Because you do not know yet what your full power and essential goal are." Not yet. Not yet. (Rudhyar, Triptych the Way Through) If one finds oneself confronted by some crisis of transformation, one must discover to what extent their natural abilities have been twisted by the pressures of family, religion or the moral attitudes of society. They must be very sure that they are not facing the present crisis simply as a member of a group, allowing other people's ideas to condition their present response.

Saturn Crosses the Descendant and Transits the Seventh House

Here begin a new social emphasis in life. During the past fourteen years, the individual has been challenged to reconsider their attitude toward self, to deepen their contract with their true identity and to improve or renew their technique of expression. Now, and for the fourteen years to come, one must broaden their base of operation with the aim of stamping their image and purpose upon society and assuming a greater public responsibility. As transiting Saturn moved from the natal Ascendant, through the six Houses below the Horizon to the natal Descendant, everything that one has son has proceeded from the self. The individual has been trying to learn more about themselves and how best to express themselves significantly and harmoniously. At the Descendant there is a basic change of emphasis. Here one leaves the sphere of personal being to meet the test of human relationship. One's inherent purpose and destiny, as well as what or who one feels they essentially are as a person, can only be revealed or demonstrated as one acts them out in relation to others within a greater sphere of activity.

The transit of Saturn through the Seventh House will force one to realize that they must change their self-image as they move into the objective world of things and entities outside their personal control, but with which they must establish a relationship. The question each individual must answer for themselves is “How must I act in relation to other individuals and to the larger whole of human activity in order to reveal and demonstrate, to myself as well as to others, the essential purpose of my existence such as I am able to understand it at the present moment?”

Most people are conditioned by their personal point-of-view or biases, not seeing things and people as they really are, but as they appear through the glasses of revered traditions, education, personal desire or precious memories. Saturn will now reveal the degree of one’s conditioning, one’s fear of change or of experiencing the dynamic transformations continually necessary in a life of human relationships. If one refuses to change, then they also refuse the possibility of significant participation with others in the life of society. Individual selfhood and purpose of destiny need not change, but one’s relationship with the world must change continually. One’s own needs and those of their partners must fit harmoniously together so that these mutual relationships may be constantly adjusted to the requirements of the group, business or society within whose framework these relationships have their meaning. What must now dominate the consciousness is the effort to establish a significant participation in the life of society, not only as an individual self, but also as a creative partner of others. This participation will become concrete if all goes well, when Saturn reaches the Midheaven.

In terms of the more intimate relationships to which the Seventh House refers, Saturn’s transit here emphasizes the need to assume such relationships on a basis of equality, objectively and with open eyes. Any association which is based on the psychological projection of an Imageonto the other person is actually based on self-love, and will reveal either it’s inadequacy or the need for personal transformation if it is to endure. A Seventh House relationship must serve some purpose as a relationship. It must exist within some larger framework, be that racial, social, cultural or spiritual. As Saturn transits the Seventh House the individual may discover that the function, life-purpose or group with which they have identified themselves is now alien to their deeper nature or to the new facet of their destiny revealed since Saturn crossed the Ascendant. If this is the case, then the transit will help one find their true function in society. Experiences of frustration or hostility, or even a crisis of separation such as a divorce, may be necessary to lead one to this discovery of self. It may seem a rocky path through a landscape of emptiness and isolation, but such experiences must be accepted objectively as necessary to the end-goal of self-knowledge. It is through the results of their relationships that one must prove, both to themselves and to the world, the validity of the function they have chose to perform.

Cooperation must be the keynote of this Seventh House transit. Having emerged from a fourteen-year period during which personal problems were related to one’s individual development, one will attempt to control the world around them as they have during the last fourteen years. This attitude will not work now. If, however one has mastered the harder requirements of work and service during the Sixth House transit, then the lesson of cooperation should be simpler. In any case, an individual can control circumstances now only by cooperating with them - it will be no use trying to pit one’ strength and ego against the world. Often the transit of Saturn through the Seventh House elicits a view of the world as a gloomy, cold and hostile place, bristling with enmity on all sides. This immediately places one on the defensive, encouraging one to strike first for self-protection, or to attack life with a battering ram because they are sure success must be wrested from the world by force. Life, however, is the stronger, so the individual will find themselves slapped down time after time. This can happen when an individual has not realized that they must fit their selfhood into the structure of society and cooperate with others for mutual progress and protection. The anxiety and resentment come from a fear that one’s individuality will be submerged, that relationship will negate itself.

In the Seventh House one should decide to meet life half-way, to recognise the rights of others if they wish to maintain their own rights. One must come out of themselves and become more objective toward others in their environment. Marriage problems can arise because one has never really seen the partner as he or she really is, having been too preoccupied with themselves. Business problems can arise simply because one has never really tried to understand other people’s needs or to adapt what they have to offer to the common good. The lesson to be learned is that nothing in the world of relationship can remain static. Most problems in this sphere arise from a tendency to crystallize one’s attitude toward others or the world at large in terms of accepted standards of behaviour, official titles and traditional contracts. One must now learn to meet others with an inner freedom which permits creative transformation.

Saturn Transits the Eighth House

One must now focus their attention on the fruits of their relationships, both with other individuals and with the outside world. The quality of these fruits will depend on one’s capacity to relate capacity to relate significantly as an individual to intimates, business partners, social groups and to the work of the world. It will depend also on the degree of one’s conformity to established patterns in social attitudes and activities. Having related according to a presumably new understanding of one’s life-purpose and individual identity (since Saturn crossed the Ascendant), what is now being tested is the concrete way in which one will act to realize this purpose through their relationships. The individual must concentrate their attention on the practical working out of their ideals of relationship, love, and conjugal happiness, as well as on their plan for business profits. Plans and ideals must now become social realities through constant effort and perhaps prolonged or repeated activity. The social-cultural order, with its particular rules and customs, will inevitably impose modifications on one’s ideals and plans. The problem is how one will react to this outside framework. Will they conform utterly to it’s dictates, or will they strive to defy convention for its own sake? Between these alternatives is a path of compromise. Whatever one experiences now as they try to remain true to themselves, while at the same time relating in a creative and free manner with others, will reveal the degree of personal maturity they have achieved, as well as the quality of their sense of relationship.

At issue here is the use to which the individual will put their sense of individual identity, so that their relationships may produce both value and ”wealth”. It is no longer a question of using their physical, material, and psychological assets to make their individuality a concrete reality, but rather of orienting what they themselves have established (in the Fourth House) toward the most complete and harmonious participation in some activity of the greater whole. What matters now is the quality of those shared experiences, as it is the sharing itself that creates social consciousness. Although one may have a steady purpose behind their relationships with reference to the social whole, they must keep them dynamic and creative, adjusting them constantly to the needs of the moment. A dynamic relationship must continuously meet the ever-changing requirements of each participating individuals growth, as well as the demands of society. In the Eighth House such a relationship is now challenging the separative tendencies of the ego. The process of shared participation in a social organism demands that much which belongs to the personal life must now “die”. Much must be given up, often including the outer means upon which one has relied to insure personal security. “Shared participation” will now demand a deep modification of one’s long-cherished individual “sovereignty”. The native may have to transform the “master” concept, change their notion of ownership into managerial ability, and realize that they have developed their individuality in order to participate in some vaster organism of being. One can now create through their relationships.

Problems related to material security in partnership, finances and business may occur during this Eighth House transit. The person may have to face much necessary reorganization in these spheres and, in fact, in everything where intimate relations are concerned - marital or business partners, parents or other relatives who may be contributing to a common domestic fund, clients whose money they handle, or the public (in case the native is an accountant, cashier or auditor who handles public funds). Problems may arise in relation to money or objects which have come to the native unearned. These include legacies, dividends, payments of debts, prizes and gifts. Problems of security may also arise at this time for people who have retired, especially if they are dependant on a pension or income from investment. At this time, the first step toward freedom from financial worries is to establish a stable economic base. This may entail refinancing and starting anew if debts have piled up, or simply reorganizing one’s business or domestic budget along more conservative lines if accounts are running above income or if one needs to live off capital. One should not be afraid to accept partnership experiences and opportunities opened during Saturn’s transit of the Seventh House. If one has learned to see the world and their relation to it in proper cooperative perspective, they should not experience severe problems now. To be on the safe side, however, one should make precautions against future need a part of their present program. Moving along well-tried, familiar lines, one should become more conservative in their business propositions. Saturn conserves as well as constricts.

Saturn transits the Ninth House

Here understanding must be born. Whatever results have come from one’s efforts to meet the implications, the new vistas and the challenges of the life of relationship must now be understood. During the Eighth House transit, what is important is the amount of benefit or loss, pleasure or pain, experienced in relationships. In the Ninth House period, the question arises HOW and WHY these relationships have lead to the kind of results one has experienced. One must also try to understand the purpose and the value of these results, both in terms of their overall destiny and also in relation to their society. The Ninth House deals with those facts and lessons of experience which derive from the effort to understand and come to terms with the ceaselessly expanding vistas of human association and human commerce. It refers to philosophy, to the abstract mind, and to the law, and is also related to long journeys, foreign affairs and contracts, diplomacy and higher education. Additionally, it is the field of religion and mystical or prophetic experiences and dreams.

According to the nature of the Eighth House fruits of one’s relationships and participation in society, one will now be involved in one or more of the activities symbolized by the Ninth House. If one has had problems with relationships or contracts, they may now be involved in law-suits. If they have been repeatedly frustrated through conjugal, family or social pressures, they may try to compensate for this through religious or philosophical study. Psychology, philosophy, religion, and the study of law and custom are means to attain knowledge and understanding when facing problems in cooperation or love. They also help one to understand the place they can occupy in the world and how they can orient themselves more consciously toward activity in society. They help one to know how and where their various relationships fit into the larger pattern of the everyday world, and how, with their associates, one can benefit from current social trends. In any case, this is the time to learn how to use intelligently the tremendous energies generated by human cooperation and production, whether in business or the realm of culture. The individual will grow to maturity to the extent that they are willing to assimilate what is unfamiliar or distant, to include what at first sees alien, disturbing or seemingly unusable. This can lead to greater understanding, greater love, and eventually enable the person to fulfill the greater destiny which awaits them at the coming Midheaven transit.

The task as Saturn transits the Ninth House should be to enlarge one’s vision and understanding of the place they wish to occupy in the world, and so to fix their attention on a firm purpose and the means necessary to attain it. One must remember that they can only attain that place and that success which one can clearly visualize. This may necessitate gaining a new perspective on the world at large and on one’s possible place in it. The aims, however, must be clarified, made practical and sound, and must be based on one’s actual qualifications rather than an ideal, dream or vision or impossible things. Such a vision of one’s potential and their place in the world may develop through traveling or working in a foreign country. The person should do all they can to increase their contacts, study worthwhile subjects and learn languages as a means to expand on a mental plane. One must be prepared to exert oneself in these directions, for understanding does not come without effort and without the sacrifice of many previously held conceptions, limitations and habits. For those who did not cooperate with the trend toward regeneration begun in the Eighth House, this Ninth House transit may have to teach its lesson through suffering and deprivation.

In the deepest sense, Saturn’s transit of the Ninth House presents a test of significance of one’s relationships, both with others and the world at large. They must ask themselves if what they are doing and producing is really filling the needs of their true self and society. They must make an effort to understand the real meaning of what has been happening in their life, especially since Saturn crossed the Descendant. They must try to understand why their intimate relationships have lead to the present situation and be ready to renounce the unnecessary and the unattainable.

“The test of significance is the challenge to any man and any association - whether in marriage or in business, in politics or in cultural fields - to accept no participation that cannot be significantly defined as to its character, procedure or purposes. To be significant is the requirement of any relationship, and significance is the crowning and soul of mutuality; creative harmony, the formulation of effective and productive love.” (Rudhyar, Tryptych - The Way Through)

Saturn Reaches the Midheaven and Transits the Tenth House

Here the person comes to the crowning moment in the Saturn cycle, when all they have strived for since Saturn crossed the Ascendant (and especially since the transit of the Descendant) will be judged in terms of its social value. The person will now learn what the world thinks of them and the values they present. The individual begins to prove their worth when Saturn crosses the Descendant. They learn to adjust their activity in accordance with the activities of others, adding something of their own to the effort, and in return, receiving something new from them. During the Eighth and Ninth House transits, one becomes more deeply concerned with common forms of shared participation. They learn from precedents or they reject them, study laws and customs regulating social intercourse, and perhaps expand their understanding of people, cultures and religion through study or travel. Now the person must prove themselves and the value of their actions by taking a public or professional stand.

Confronted by this “test of position,” one must demonstrate their capacity to assume the responsibilities of their personal or professional influence or authority. Under the best circumstances, the position in society achieved at the time of this transit should be the proof and the consecration of what one has achieved as an individual. The manner of fulfilling one’s tasks, rather than the nature of the tasks themselves, is what is important. The attitude toward one’s work and the way it is performed will determine one’s true individual status, both social and spiritual. It should not be forgotten that the manner in which one participates in the work of the world is first conditioned by their early home life, by whatever complexes and fears they may have developed then, and most importantly by their revealed capacity to reach personal maturity. Because of this, one’s present success or failure in reaching a position of relative social power and prestige is deeply related to the character of their relationship with their parents. The individual now gives to society whatever they have succeeded in building into themselves from those ancestral and racial gifts which their parents bequeathed to them.

This transit will mark a test of the strength of one’s public standing. In matters of prestige, authority and profession, one will see their greatest triumphs or defeats during this time. No matter where one stands on the social scale, their standing in the professional sphere, in matters dealing with superiors or the public, or in the realm of culture will now be in the limelight. Saturn in the Tenth House is a time of harvest. One collects the fruits of their labors at the jobs, projects or relationships begun when Saturn was transiting the Seventh House. The nature of this harvest will depend on how much has been extracted from one’s opportunities and on the amount of honest effort the person has put forth to attain their ambitions. This Tenth House transit is, however, likely to be accompanied by some form of restriction, either on one’s time (due to added responsibilities) or on one’s professional scope, authority or income, if the trend has been negative. Whatever happens, the important thing now will be the individual’s attitude toward events and their willingness to adjust to circumstances. At this time, it would be wise to strive for security and to consolidate one’s position, rather than to seek further expansion along established lines.

Saturn Transits the Eleventh House

The results of the public influence achieved since Saturn crossed the Midheaven will confront the individual during the Eleventh House period. Having struggled eagerly and perhaps persistently for many years to achieve something in the world, one should now have what they thought they wanted. The problem of the Eleventh House transit is what to do with the success or with the concrete outer situation in which the individual now finds themselves. Whether the goals have been trivial or have been of true social significance, one has had to participate in the activities of society. They are now confronted by either positive or negative results. All that matters now is the use that one will make of their success or failure. Success must be used wisely, imaginatively, consciously and purposefully. Failure must be met with courage and its causes sought so that the lessons learned from it will become a springboard to new achievement in the future. This is the only way to avoid falling into some form or social servitude.

Whatever the results now, their cause will be found in the way in which one sought success, in the methods used and in the spirit behind them. The search for success is not only an outward-directed effort; it is also the attempt to give meaning and value to one’s ego. The sense of who or what one is obviously is linked to the awareness of the place one holds in society. The way an individual meets the test of the Eleventh House will depend on whether their ego has experienced success or defeat in the Tenth House. If they have experienced success, then they will naturally want to enjoy the fruits of this success, to show their friends and the people with whom they are professionally related what a fine person they are. They may want to enjoy with them the profits of their business and the wealth which came through the partnerships established during the Eighth House transit.

If on the other hand one has experienced failure, then the tendency will be to protest, to show resentment and to try to revenge oneself on those whom they consider responsible for their failure. There may now be an effort to transform the conditions which brought about this failure or loss of ego prestige; however, if the ego is not strong enough to react positively to its failure, then there may be negative or even violent manifestations during the Eleventh House transit. When one meets the outer world in too egocentric a manner or with fanatical discontent, then the Saturn transit can bring feelings of social isolation and friendlessness. One becomes bitter, despondent and filled with feelings of “what’s the use”. There is a price to be paid for overly- reckless gestures against society. One’s greatest tests are met in the succedent Houses. In the angular Houses the individual comes to experience themselves, their private and public status, and other individuals; however, in the succedent Houses the individual must decide how to use these experiences and energies made available to them. The way in which they carry out these decisions is what tests and proves their individual worth. The strong individual must dare to challenge the past, the status quo in themselves and in society. Refusing to conform to decadent patterns of social behaviour and with the faith and wisdom necessary to stand alone, one can become a chanel for creative “divine discontent”.

To the average person, attaining high social position, fulfilling the responsibilities of that position as best they can and enjoying the fruits thereof, is seen as highly desirable. Saturn introduces into this vision a feeling of emptiness and discontent by making one realize that the cycle is not yet finished and that many things that they wanted to do at the beginning of the cycle (Saturn in the First House) have not been realized. The Eleventh House transit should make one aware of all that is missing from the Tenth House accomplishment so that one may orient their attention to some new adventure of the spirit.The individual is asked to develop a new vision, new ideals and concrete plans for social or professional improvement, and to work towards them. Quick recognition of these efforts should not be expected, since one is in the final phases of the Saturn cycle and all that has gone before weighs heavily upon them. What is necessary, above all, is the attempt to extricate oneself from the social pattern to which one has for so long conformed. Then, when Saturn returns to the Ascendent in a few years time, the individual will be ready to break free and set out in a new direction.

Saturn Tranists the Twelfth House

In the last stage of the cycle one may either consolidate their past successes into a seed which will lead to a new cycle of growth in maturity, or meet the accumulated results of their failure to reach the maturity possible during the closing cycle. Actually, both success and failure become unavoidable confrontations at this time, since no life is all success or all defeat. However, these confrontations are usually on a psychological level in the form of conscious or unconscious memories, some giving hope to the future, while others take the form of frustrations, fears, or the denial of life itself. All those wrong things one did in the past and the right things one did not do, return to haunt them. What is important now is the courage to face this compound entity made up of one's past, to understand it, and to emerge free from its oppressing influence by the time Saturn reaches the Ascendent. Much depends on the Eleventh House experiences which the individual has just lived through, for now they meet the results of either their passive conformity to the social pattern or their rebellion against it. Either the social trends which they have blindly followed will influence them - whether they like it or not - or society will try to punish one for their "anti-social" behaviour. If society refuses one's efforts to bring about some new vision, they may decide to bare it courageously.

This is the time to try to give some new and individual direction to past conditioning, environmental and hereditary. One must use the past and synthesize it into some revealing message which will give a creative meaning to the closing cycle of activity. This is the time to question the value of one's life, and of all one has done, felt and thought. Once this is clear, the person may then decide what new value they will be able to offer the world in the coming Saturn cycle. On a more mundane level, one now meets the results of their social and professional failures or frustrations, as well as their successes and wealth. Social rewards for past services or work - academic degrees, prizes, political "plums", and social honors - can all come as Saturn transits the Twelfth House. More importantly, however, one meets here the less obvious results of the methods they have used to gain their Twelfth House accomplishment. The individual will now be reminded that certain kinds of success give rise to enmity and resentment or may have caused suffering to others. Here they will become aware of the negative as well as the positive results of their successes.

The confrontation with obstacles born of one's past deeds is always strongest when one tries to make a new start. All sorts of ghosts and fears appear and inhibit the individual from taking the new step ahead. This is the Twelfth House crises. The real battles of one's life are fought and decided within oneself. In this the individual is completely alone - with no one to hinder or to judge; one must answer only to themselves. Everything that has gone into making the character what it is can be found in the Twelfh House - courage and fear, faith and suspicion, self-knowledge and self-deception, self-help and self-destruction, self-interest and self-deprecation, creative abilities and phobias - all these are stored in this House waiting to be called into use in time of need. At this time, responsibilities and problems are of the most personal nature, perhaps invisible to others. Little or no help comes to them from outside sources, and they can make little progress toward worldly goals. If one confines their aims to things which are measured by the personal satisfaction they can give, then they can accomplish miracles in the way of becoming a bigger and more able person. If, however, they persisit in fighting against the current, striving for public recognition and making efforts only where they think they will bring material rewards, they are moving towards trouble in the form of frustration, ill-health and loss of self-esteem.

The first line of defense should be honest self-analysis. One must look at themselves critically and then decide where and how they can improve what they see. Study of any kind will help, and what is studied does not matter much. It may be study to improve oneself professionally, artistically or spiritually, to develop a latent talent if only for diversion. The real benefit comes from proving to oneself that the thing can be done. The tendency to defend oneself against oneself should be avoided. If there is fear and suspicion, they will be products of the individual's own lack of self-assuredness, and no alibis will change the fact. Distrust of others can lead to a loss of friends, business losses or actual thefts. Imaginary wrongs and fear of deception may bring these very things into being; self-pity can cause more responsibility and work to be piled at one's door; and last but not least, all the unhealthy thoughts and feelings can bring on real ill-health. Therefore this House has been called the dumping ground for experience. The function of this phase of Saturn's cycle is to weed out the wrong ideas of Self and to strengthen the right ones before the new cycle begins.

Transiting Saturn and the Progressed Moon

Although this book is devoted to a study of transits, Saturn and the Progressed Moon both refer to the urge to be a particular being different from all others; therefore they must be considered together. An astrologer must, in some way, take the Progressed Moon's cycle into account when attempting to find out what, at any moment, is the basic challenge on the path to personal fulfillment and maturity. Saturn and the Moon together establish the structure and the quality of the conscious ego. Saturn gives to the ego both its form and its distinctive qualities. It therefore refers to the manner in which each person tries to be different from all other people. The Moon refers to the quality of the ego's adjustments to other people and to the environment. Harmonious and mature living depends on an individual's capacity to maintain a flexible equilibrium between their effort to be a distinct individual and their need to adjust themselves harmoniously to changing outer circumstances and the crisis of inner development - that is to say, maintain a balance between the Saturn and the Moon.

While the Saturn transit cycle lasts 29&1/2 years, the progressed Moon cycle lasts 27&1/3 years. Thus, ages 27-30 and 56-59 are especially siginificant for - as discussed in Chapter 2 - these age periods potentially refer to the most important readjustments in the lives of each individual. It is because the motions of transiting Saturn and the progressed Moon describe cycles of approxiamately the same duration that Rudhyar has suggested that the astrologer should study these two cycles together. However, while it is logical to emphasize the movement of Saturn through the Houses, since Saturn and the Houses are "structural" factors, Rudhyar has shown that the Sign position of the progressed Moon is of greatest importance. The position of transiting Saturn by House and Sign enables the astrologer to know where and how to act any given time. The Sign and degree (especially the symbol for that degree) of the Progressed Moon indicate those faculties, qualities of character and kinds of energies which should be used in order to meet the challenges of life successfully.

As an example, let us examine the case of Jimmy Carter, 38th President of the United States. He was born on October 1, 1924 in Plains, Georgia at 7:00 AM CST according to his birth-certificate. This puts 29 Cancer on the Midheaven and gives an Ascendant of 26.06 Libra. The last time Saturn came to the Midheaven by transit was May 1976, and at the time of his election it was intercepted Leo in the 10th House. The progressed Moon entered Libra at the time of the election. According to the humanistic approach, the Midheaven begins the quarter of the chart which represents "growth in influence". Since we are dealing with Saturn, and especially because Saturn is the rising planet in his birht-chart, close to the natal Ascendant, it can be said that Carter identifies himself personally with the Saturn trend toward personal maturity and responsibility. A new cycle of responsibility began for him in 1953 when Saturn crossed the Ascendant. At that time he was a naval officer serving aboard a submarine. He might have continued as a careet officer in the Navy; however, in 1953 his father died and he left the service to return to the family's farming interests. Thus, during the autumn of that year his life set into a new pattern - the seed of a new destiny was planted.

In 1961, at the time transiting Saturn crossed the IC he was elected to the Georgia State Senate, where he served from 1962 to 1966. Then, as Saturn transited his 5th House in 1966 he made an unsuccessful and perhaps premature bid for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Georgia. Almost immediately after the prmaries began he began quietly to build a political base on which to run again in 1970; and in 1969 he announced his candidacy. At that time transiting Saturn was crossing his Descendant. Saturn's transit of the Midheaven, which signals, which signals a possible time of public recognition, was in Carter's case the high-point in his effort to attain personal maturity and to assume social responsibilities. The fact that he was elected President of the United States shows that his growth as an ever more mature personality since 1953, and particularly since 1969 when Saturn reached the Descendant and the opposition to its natal place, has made it possible for him to become an instrument of national destiny. A new period of world responsibility now opens up for him. Between 1976 and the end of 1982 (which will be the middle of his second term, should he be re-elected) when Saturn crosses the Ascendant and returns to its natal place, his influence on a national and global level can grow and be consolidated.

Now what does the progressed Moon add to the meaning of the Saturn transit? The progressed Moon entered the sign Libra in June-July 1976 at the time of his nomination (which has also been called a "coronation") by the Democractic party. It also entered the 12th House according to the Placidean House system. Carter's natal Sun is also in Libra and in the 12th House, a position that Gandhi also had. During the Libra phase of the progressed Moon cycle, the personal self is asked to adjust more completely to the life of some greater social or spiritual whole. The goal is to free oneself to be an integral and significant part of that whole, and thereby to be able to participate fully and consciously in its activities. This Libra phase often coincides with an individual's finding the real work which they were destined to do. There is also a danger of losisng oneself in things too vast for one's personal capacities. In any case, since the summer of 1976, life has demanded of Carter that he fully display his natal Libran qualities, especially since both his natal Sun and Ascendant are in the Sign. He has had to represent a greater social and spiritual reality in his person; he has had to show publicly that he was dedicated to human society, ready to defend human qualities and values and to fulfill human needs.

In the Sagittarius rising chrt for the United States on which Dane Rudhyar has written extensively, the sign Libra is on the Midheaven. The accent on this Sign in Carter's natal chart, and that his progressed Moon was in Libra at the time of the election, links Carter strongly to the U.S. chart. This may be interpreted as a national feeling that Carter was a representative man for the nation's ideal effort to establish a new society. The fact that the progressed Moon (with the natal Sun) was in the 12th House at that time is also significant. The 12th House is the final phase of the House cycle of experience, but it is also the gestation phase of some new venture. It would seem that Carter's administration will focus its attention upon the development of some future new condition. The new administration inherits a heavy burden from the past, and only time will show whether Carter is able, through a persoanl victory over the pull of the past, to shape the national conditions which his administration has inherited toward new and more harmonious ends.

The student will find it worthwhile to study the symbols for the first five degrees of Libra (the degree of the progressed Moon at the time of the election) is especially significant. The symbol reads: "A man revealing to his students the foundation of an inner knowledge upon which a 'new world' can be built".* An Astrological Mandala Rudhyar interprets the keynote for the symbol as follows: "The necessity for the youthful spirits to learn from a Teacher who through his long expeience has been able to reach solid and illuminating truths, i.e. 'seed ideas'. In earlier commentaries, this symbol suggested: knowledge and experience being put to the test; proof of works; greatness calling its own to itself; and positive transfiguration of the consciousness of personality by the new Eon (Age). In the week following his election, Carter's progressed Moon entered 6 Libra. The symbol for the degree reads, "A man watches his ideals taking a concrete form before his inner vision.". The keynote is "The need to visualize clearly one's dreams or ideals in order to make them truly effectual". Other commentaries include; confrontation with one's goals, inevitable confrontations with the results of one's ideals, lessons to be learnt from these, and willingness of heart. When Carter began his administration at the end of January 1977, the progressed Moon was in the 8th degree of Libra. The symbol for this degree is "A blazing fireplace in a deserted home." The keynote is the need to realize that even through the most empty hours a spiritual power is ever ready to welcome and warm up the wayward consciousness returning to center." Other commentaries include: constant presence of the unseen, sustaining agencies in every worthwhile activity, great depth of initial effort, social sustainment, and the ever-renascent HOPE for a re-beginning. This example is meant to show how revealing it is to take transiting Saturn together with the progressed Moon in order to understand the deeper implications of "events' in the life.