The Joys of Saturn: Why Aging Is Easier for Saturn and Capricorn People
There’s this saying in astrology that Saturn and Capricorn age in reverse. People born under the influence of these archetypes are born serious, and they learn playfulness and joy as they get older. I think it’s because they spend their youth learning about limits. By the time they’re old, they’ve learned to dance between the lines.
People born under the influence of Saturn and Capricorn are here for Saturn school, and Saturn school is all about boundaries. Your boundaries. Other people’s boundaries.. How to respect your own boundaries, even when others don’t. How to keep other people’s lack of boundaries from pushing you over your limits.
Saturn school is full of hard lessons. I have Saturn opposite the sun, and these are lessons I know well.
In Kindergarten, it became apparent that I had a physical disability that kept me from running around and playing with the other kids. There wasn’t a name for my disability at the time, but it’s since been recognized as one of the sub-types of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. I experienced a lot of pain growing up with EDS. My body ached. I was diagnosed with arthritis as a teenager. I struggled to walk, so I spent many gym classes and recesses sitting on the sidelines.
For most kids, I think that growing up with EDS would have been torture, but I was a child of Saturn. My parents said I was born three years old, and adults often said I was “wise beyond my years.” I wanted nothing more than to be grown up, so I learned at an early age that if I listened quietly, adults would feel sorry for me, and I could sneak a seat at the adults table.
There were many years of frustration, waiting for the grownups to take me seriously, but I’ve spent almost 4 decades in Saturn school, and I’m finally starting to see the benefits.
Saturnine people shine in middle age and beyond. Aging is much easier for us. Because we are already so used to dealing with limitations, we tend to approach the limitations that come with aging with a sigh and a few adjustments. Astrologer and tarot reader Psyren calls this “Saturn’s promise.” She says that Saturn is tough on you when you’re young, but Saturn will “make sure your heart and looks are renewed like a child as you age.”
My favorite example of Saturn’s promise is Ray Bradbury. He had a Capricorn AC and Saturn conjunct Venus in Virgo. He was a super serious young man. He spent his life clawing his way into the publishing industry, literally paying his dues on a typewriter he had to pay to use at the library. Ray Bradbury always knew that he wanted to be a writer. He was a disciplined professional who wrote every day, but he was 30 years old when he started writing his bestselling novel Fahrenheit 451. It wasn’t published until he was 33.
As Ray Bradbury aged, his saturnine dedication to his work never left him, but he became more playful. When his stories were turned into the TV series Ray Bradbury Theater, every episode began with a view of his office, which was filled with model dinosaurs and toys.
By the time he died at the age of 91, he had a wide smile and eyes that sparkled.
“I want you to envy my joy,” he said. And it’s difficult to imagine anyone who wouldn’t.
When Saturn people reach middle age, we suddenly find ourselves in a better position than people we’ve spent our lives struggling to keep up with. People who haven’t learned Saturn’s lessons can get into their 40s and 50s without having a serious encounter with limits. There are people who find it easy to work with authority and manage to avoid sickness and disability. They learn that overcoming obstacles is just a matter of discipline and working harder, which makes it easy to believe that every obstacle will be overcome if you just put your back into it.
In youth, it can seem like Saturn has given them the better deal. The truth is that everyone has hard limits, and Saturn comes for all of us eventually. While Saturn’s children dance through old age, people who are meeting Saturn for the first time really struggle.
Lessons can be harder to learn when you’re older. People facing Saturn for the first time have often spent a lifetime building the habit of fighting harder when they don’t get what you want. For most people, pushing on in the face of adversity is a virtue. It’s called grit, and it’s a virtue American culture especially loves to applaud. Better yet, without Saturn’s restraining hand showing them their limits, people with grit often have a lot to show for their efforts.
Habits are hard to break, always, but they’re even harder to break when a good habit becomes unhelpful. When Saturn is in charge, grit is not a virtue. Learning how to recognize your limits, stop, and reassess is one of Saturn’s tests, and the consequences of failing Saturn’s tests in middle age can be severe. A hangover that used to last for 20 minutes can last for three days. Trying to take stairs two at a time can smack you in the face.
Were you a kid who sat on the sidelines? Have you spent your life feeling like a broken record that only plays, “I can’t…”
I see you. I see Saturn’s promise in you. Your joy is coming, and if you stick around long enough, everyone else will see it, too.
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