First Tastes of Saturn in Sagittarius

1.12.15


In honor of Saturn's arrival to Sagittarius late last year (Dec 23), I'm trying something new here.

Ever since completing another mammoth year-ahead forecast, ASTROBARRY'S 2015, I've struggled with sitting myself down and writing even more for you (not including the weekly horoscopes, which still bring me great satisfaction).

A big part of my problem, in case you haven't noticed, is that I tend toward wordiness… turning what ought to be a quick jotting-down of the main thoughts into an uneconomical expense of energy. So, as I write this you, dear reader, I've put a time limit on how long I'm allowed to sit by my keyboard and type away at this first article of the year. Thankfully, this fits perfectly with the symbolism of Saturn in Sagittarius, which we're just beginning to get a taste of now, but which sticks with us through the end of 2017 (minus a brief dip back into Scorpio from mid-June through mid-September).

Saturn directs us to what we most urgently need to work on. In Sagittarius, our job is to properly focus ourselves on that which matters most, promises the greatest learning experience or the grandest eye-opening adventure, and best aligns with our life's driving purpose and principles. Sagittarians aim their arrows at the bull's-eye, straight to the heart of what's most interesting or important. Saturn in Sagittarius urges us not to become distracted by the boring, meaningless, or routine. If we believe strongly in a certain ideal, affiliation, or endeavor, this Saturn wants us to take action toward maximizing its role in our lives… to cut through the bullshit that keeps us talking but not moving, to put our money where our mouth is, to make the most of our limited time here on earth. Sagittarius is anything but patient.

In ASTROBARRY'S 2015, I wrote at length about the palpable 'what's next?' feeling engendered by Saturn's transition from Scorpio to Sagittarius. This particular shift is especially pronounced, due to the striking qualitative difference between Scorpio and Sagittarius. In the cyclic progression of the zodiac-signs, Scorpio represents our deep dark plunge into the 'underworld'… a no-holds-barred confrontation with the less-polite strains of human nature, the psychological drives and complexes which often unconsciously underscore our behaviors. Upon reaching Sagittarius, we propel ourselves up and out, from the bottom of the psychic barrel to loftier heights… a distance which allows us to integrate what we've learned from our prior descents into a broader philosophic perspective, to realign ourselves with the interests and ideals which we consciously value, and to follow our journey onward to somewhere more freeing.

If Scorpio is where we dwell in the depths, to wring the most concentrated emotional passion and potency from our circumstances, then Sagittarius is how we move beyond there to another adventure, to expose ourselves to more of those most compelling and/or meaningful experiences our life promises. Sagittarius has little time to waste in its quest for more momentous moments.

Yet, due to the tremendous psychological relief we experience by getting out from under Saturn-in-Scorpio's thumb, we also flirt with going too far too fast in our understandable drive to 'move beyond' our recent confrontations with the underworld. Though it may press us to move meaningfully onward, Saturn in Sagittarius simultaneously warns us against making hasty decisions, skipping important steps, handling the details sloppily, or proceeding too blindly on faith without balancing it with reason. Saturn always asks us to strive for the responsibly appropriate middle-ground expression. In Sagittarius, it urges us: Get on with what really enthuses you already, but not so quickly or carelessly that you neglect other important considerations, let practical needs dangle unresolved, or create avoidable messes by not thinking things through first.

Now in Sagittarius, Saturn joins both Jupiter and Uranus in fire signs (Leo and Aries, respectively), a combination that makes it likelier we'll act on impulse, with the instinctive belief that any motion is better than stifling stasis. This fire-element emphasis continues unabated through the first half of '15, until Saturn sneaks back into Scorpio midway through June. It's more important than ever, then, that we not forgo pragmatic reason, interpersonal respect, or our own subtler emotional needs, just to hurry into the heat of excitement. Saturn does lay down consequences when we overreach on its watch. In the case of Saturn in Sagittarius, such fallout might include promising starts which sputter into dead-ends, fast-action commitments which demand far more of us than we'd initially understood, grand visions which cannot sustain the weight of what's required to enact them, and/or relationships which suffer from our not following through with what we said we'd do.

Sagittarius is also a sign typically associated with single-minded ideologies, philosophies, and religious beliefs… the ways in which each of us cohere and universalize our disparate experiences behind a bull's-eye-type focus, so we can instantly assess whether what we're doing is right or wrong, meaningful or pointless, black or white. As such, Sagittarius can sometimes be guilty of oversimplifying complex, nuanced issues and circumstances. On one hand, such broad-stroke judgments help us save time and energy, so we don't invest ourselves in that which is inappropriate to our interests and values. On the other hand, they inhibit our ability to learn more about what we're missing, to better refine the ins and outs of our beliefs, and to connect with those folks who may differ from us in certain critical ways.

Saturn in Sagittarius brings us face-to-face with how our worldview may block us from experience or connection, due to the crude lines-in-the-sand we draw and/or our restless inability to listen to alternate stances or narratives. Even as Sagittarius claims to want greater and greater exposure to the world's vast stores of knowledge, Saturn suggests that too sharp or narrow a focus on what we already believe, in fact, prohibits us from ever reaping wisdom anywhere outside our predetermined field of what's true, proper, or correct.

Turns out, under the pressure to write as much meaningful material (Sagittarius) as I can under certain practical limitations (Saturn), I'm successfully riding a wave of productivity—without having to sacrifice the much-needed trip to the gym, which I've now been able to carve into my schedule. Plus, I can tell you right now that this single burst of Saturn-in-Sagittarius verbosity will not exhaustively cover all the angles we must explore. Let's pull our patience levels together, Saturn-in-Sagittarius-style, folks. This will have to emerge over time, more modestly, if we're to preserve this writerly enthusiasm for our designed purpose.