The Sun moves into a conjunction with Saturn at 27°44’ Aquarius on the 16th of February 2023. This annual event brings together the symbol of our seasonal fuel (the Sun) and a middle world planet that assists us in growth through limits and boundaries. Saturn at this time is not visible and is directly on the other side of the Sun (meaning that the Sun is between Earth and Saturn).
Saturn’s transit through Aquarius, the sign, is nearly at an end. This has been about the growth through limits and boundaries of our expansion in consciousness, technology, and ideals. We’ve seen the limits and groundwork that is needed for us to thrive in the long-term. Experimental tech that can only go so far without breaking down or collapsing due to a lack of foundational strength. There has also been a major theme of ideals and equality with Saturn in Aquarius, especially with justice. This has spurred on more radical ideas, revolutionary thoughts and sustainable social movements.
The conjunction with the Sun is a last “check and balance” of the Aquarius experiment in this age before its next stage of maturation. Saturn’s limits will be experiencing a death/rebirth into something new. This can be seen as Saturn paving the foundation prior to Pluto’s entry into Aquarius for the first time since the 18th century beginning on March 23rd.
In traditional astrology, Saturn was looked at by astrologers and others in a negative light, called malefic. As the Roman god Saturn having been exiled by Jupiter (equivalent to the Greek Zeus and Kronos), it continued to receive a very negative view during emerging time of Christendom in the Mediterranean region. In fact, some scholars have shown that Saturn, in part, became the Devil due to its connection with horned goat imagery and paganism.
This set a tone of increasing negative views of Saturn in astrology, particularly with transits and hard aspects in the natal chart. Mythologically, though, it was not always experienced in negative terms, especially if one goes back 4,000 years and more. Across many ancient cultures, the “Saturn” figure of many names was a deity who walked the Earth and taught humanity civilization (the groundbreaking book, Hamlet’s Mill provides deep insight into this figure). The actual planet of Saturn has been tied to this figure for millennia.
From this we can draw in a different perspective without judgments upon Saturn that is “bad” or the “Sun-Saturn” conjunction is also “bad”. As an astrologer, I’ve looked at Saturn as something constructive, helping us get serious with our lives and in particular, our life path. It helps us invest time, money and energy into our long-term future. It can assist us in focusing on what is needed in terms of our own resources, be they within ourselves through knowledge and wisdom or outside in terms of money, community and planning what to do.
This Saturn-Sun conjunction in Aquarius can help us orient ourselves to something new, planting the seeds for the ideas we want to manifest and how to go about it. This conjunction is also about Saturn’s rebirth initiation as well since it is not visible in February and the conjunction marks the center of the death-rebirth initiation.
We can ask ourselves what limits and boundaries have we placed on ourselves and how we work with the limits to co-create a sustainable future? What needs to be let go in order for the new story of our self to blossom? How are we utilizing new technologies? How much is it used for practical purposes or is it simply distracting us from our path and maturation?
On March 7th, Saturn ingresses into the sign of Pisces, ending its time in Aquarius since 2020. Saturn won’t make it back into Aquarius until January 2053. We say goodbye to Saturn in Aquarius with this Sun-Saturn conjunction representing the last major aspect before it goes into Pisces, we can meditate on those questions above.