Even the best-managed Saturn transit can be a bit gnarly and they usually evoke a desire for more structure. So the question posed by Wandering Scholar is super-interesting: Is Saturn transit travel a good idea or trouble in waiting? Can you live adventurously and deal with saturnine seclusive urges? Read on for the full question and my answer!
Dear Mystic,
I have a query for you… I’ve been thinking about it for a few weeks now, and I can’t seem to settle on a solution.
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I have Neptune/Rising/Sun conjunct in Sagittarius. Six months ago, I had no job and was living with my parents, while in a terrible (nine years!) relationship with an Aries that had gone well past its expiry date. My relationship with my parents was awful. Everything sucked. Most of all, I needed a space of my own. I was SO desperate to get out of my folks’ place.
Anyway, in mid-December I found out I was accepted into a PhD program, with a full scholarship. About 4 days later I had found a house and on Boxing Day I moved in. It was exactly what I needed, and what I had craved for so long. Less than a month later, Aries and I finally ended the quagmire our relationship had become. Uni started happening, and I am super excited about my research, which is essentially about movement (I’m in the field of sustainable transport) and perfect for this Sagittarius woman.
Can Saturn Be Happy In Motion?
In the weeks before the last eclipse it started to occur to me that I didn’t need to be paying rent in this expensive sharehouse any more. All I need is a backpack, a suitcase and a laptop, and I can be anywhere in the world so long as I’m still producing work. This feels right.
It also feels terrifying to be stepping towards living my dream. I have a lot of Saturn influence in my chart, in addition to Neptune rising. So while I feel so at home in the midst of a journey, I am worried about my Saturn side (in the 11th House) feeling unsettled. I burn myself out seeing people – even good friends! – and being “on”, and inevitably have to retreat from the world.
In different ways, info keeps coming to me about changes to my home, about improving it somehow. I see this as making my home on the road, but I’m wondering I guess if there is a feng shui for travellers?! How can Saturn be happy in motion? I’ve travelled a lot, but I’ve always been “away” and coming “home”. Now I want to blend the two, and make everywhere and nowhere my home, without stirring up Saturn anxieties.
I’d love to know your thoughts on this.
Best wishes and thanks,
The Wandering Scholar
Dear Wandering Scholar,
This is a magnificent question! I could see Saturn being satiated as long as your journeying was a tax deductible expense lol.
But seriously, you’re not going on a junket – this is a quest. Saturn square your Ascendant, Sun and Neptune feels more like the sharp realism that compelled you to confront the dead weight of your previous relationship and assess the dynamic with your parents.
This Is A Quest, Not A Junket
You were stuck – as you say – and with a mighty effort you’ve erupted out of that swampy rut. Of course you have to keep moving – and working – so whatever that was does not reclaim you.
The kind of travel that fits poorly with Saturn vibe is feckless or delusional. Like when you fly across the continent to see if the internet lover you have the hots for is real/married/an A.I. or skip off to a consciousness raising weekend to avoid dealing with vexations.
Neither of those are you. You confronted the crap, performed a daring heist to win yourself back and now you’re cleverly putting some distance between yourself and the scene of the crime. Additionally, you’ve found or created the ultimate Saggo vision: a work-sanctioned excuse to roam and gather knowledge.
You’ve Created The Ultimate Saggo Vision
The 11th house natal Saturn does need periodic retreat and silence – yes. So you could calibrate your wanderings to include just that.
You know your own rhythm better than anyone and Saturn transits reward planning – why not factor in parts of your schedule that are designated for solitude, contemplation or heavy research-editing and let the rest be more loosey-goosey Saggo mutable?
Any step-up toward a deeply felt goal is exciting and with that comes apprehension, like the stage-fright that can overwhelm even the most talented and well-rehearsed actors. The only way to avoid is to congeal. I think you’re doing magnificently!
mega inspiring!!!
Brilliant, & totally inspiring. As someone currently in said quagmire, I look forward to 6 months’ time when I will officially be Saturn’s bitch (saturn return) & LOVING IT!! Best luck to you Wandering Scholar.
Seriously I have wondered this too – torn between my restlessness & strong desire to travel & my desire to build my own space (Pluto in Scorp in 4th). Hmm.
Further thoughts on reading your story.
Saturn might be sated by ensuring (as someone else mentioned) that you are always working on something related to your goal(ie excellent PhD). Also, in that 11th house, cultivating friendships and mentors, networks, a wider audience, while you are ‘out in the world’ , but not indiscriminately. As a sadge that would be pretty easy I think 🙂
I am going to assume you have various friends where you are going, or within a short flight away. So if you needed a friendly face or some familiarity, perhaps schedule in a week long visit that is more about cosy , cool chats at their house rather than hitting the nearest vodka bar or something (I mean, unless that’s what you need to do to decompress).
Congrats on such a rapid turnaround in your life!
As a Sag I say big resounding YES’s to your choice of PhD, your modus operandi, your prof’s philosophy AND MM’s fab blog idea!!! You go soul sista.<3
I have a Kataka Sun and Saturn on my 4th in Taurus. Supposedly I should be an uberhomebody, but I went nomad some years ago and love it. You get plenty of time to yourself, no need to burn out. My Saturn in the 4th house/Taurus demands that I not live in a flop house or in any kind of sketchy environ. I need to be comfortable, feel safe and be able to settle into being “at home”, and I take all those needs seriously when arranging my living situations. I don’t compromise on certain things.
I balance having a very social life, meeting new people, etc., with periods where I am completely alone and can integrate and recharge. No problems with that, and it’s not so hard to balance it.
So that’s my Saturn. Certainly not adverse to travel at all, especially when you mix work with nomad life. Let the excitement and inspiration of your different “homes” feed your creativity and work. Saturn will be perfectly content.
Oh, and some things I always have with me:
Silk pillow case
Fresh lavender sachets
Tekkite (you can use any grounding stone)
Small orgone generator
I have with me a small vial of essential oil, one of lavender and the other varies according to my mood. Often it is rose or jasmine. I put this in my bath, my shampoo and my hand lotion. I buy candles for each new home, and put out a small bowl of sea salt near my bed. I also buy fresh flowers for the flat, and cook in it. Cooking feels good!
Mystic, and everyone else, thank you so much for you thoughts and encouragement!
Like I said in my email, it all feels right. But there is something essentially terrifying about stepping into the kind of life you have always wanted. It is always, in the immediate moment, less scary to be living a slightly (or wholly) unsatisfying life. So… to keep Saturn happy, I will be writing almost all the time, either on a blog or on one of the 6 papers (!) I need to produce in the next 3 years. I am actually very confident about my ability to do this. I have a great team behind me, and all these recent changes have reminded me what I am capable of. So, dear Mystic, you are most right about my need to be keeping MY qi high. To sustain this wild life, I will just have to keep checking in with myself about how much introspection time I need, how much I love what I’m doing, where I’m at, who I’m with.
Thank you everyone for being part of the journey!
XxxxxxXXxxxxxX
Great to read all this. I’m going through a very similar thing of hitting the road – and around 6 months ago too. I also realised I didn’t need to be home to do what I do which is write.
I actually don’t know much about astrology but I also have Neptune in Sagg – maybe that’s the common denominator?
Good luck!
if you have sagg, you need to exercise it. or you will go mad and die. well done on the life change. all the best xx
While living on the road I always carried some raw amber a small bag of hooch and some music burnt on disc. The amber to smudge wherever I slept, and myself, the hooch to share with a companion and the music to relax or motivate.
Amber is a comforting and reassuring perfume for yourself and others near you. The hooch is like your peace pipe so strangers become friends, smoke attracts the gods they say.
Music can sooth the most savage beast.
Oh yeah! ‘smoke attracts the gods’ or just a drunk gemmy barista looking for a good time ehehe. Btw, have we met davey? 😀
Ha xx
Your in London Ms ? On my wanderings there I only knew one person and even them not very well. We met at a cafe. He was quite down and it was cold and raining. As we walked up Portobello rd. I heard a familiar sound … I turned around and there was this rasta guy smiling… Knowingly … Within 3 secs we bonded and I had bought a quarter of an ounze of hash.
My friend didn’t even notice. As we strolled up the road I said, hey let’s go for a smoke at your place. He says sadly, I don’t have any, I smiled and showed him my little prize. Within a half an hour we were at his with about 10 others turning up for a smoke … I ended up with a place to stay and lots of new friends. We laughed a lot that day.
The knowing smile of hash dealers 🙂
good story. Yes still in London
In recent travel shenanigans I went to Amsterdam. Was adopted at least twice, once by a lovely brazilian tattoo artist, another local gave me a bike to ride and showed me the city on various eves and met an astrologer who wanted to do my chart, asked him what he did for a living. owns a hedge fund. bought me a book said my chart is good for gambling and gave me his tips for divine money numerology since jupiter will be hitting my 2nd house in June.
Never had a dull travel moment ever.
Amber hey, you must have smelt damn good, its my favourite 🙂
That’s awesome. I love amber. It’s so woodsy warm.
Beautiful suggestions! Wade Davis has a story about sharing coca leaves on a train in Peru with an old man… it was always a way for him to connect with those around him. I was just speaking with a friend (likely travel companion too!) about the importance of having some kind of prop while you travel. In our case we were talking about hula hoops, but a hacky sack or a guitar (or hooch 😉 can play the same role I think.
Wow, that’s cool. I guess – I have Uranus in the 4th but I think my Sun in the 2nd is stronger being Leo.
Feng Shui for travellers I imagined being more like:
Noting the directions for best sleep.
Enhancing abilities at picking the best vibing hotels/people to stay with.
Having your own pillow slip (which you wash at 90 deg) always!
Own pillow slip is a great idea 🙂
I have never been able to figure out if natal PLuto on my Libra IC means I see family and home life as a stifling veil over my freedom, identity and independence, OR, if it signifies that I need autonomy and total control / ownership / privacy / elegant beauty in my domestic inner life. OR knowing Pluto, if they are two sides of the same coin. power / submission / freedom / control / control by relinquishing / not so much cede power as dissolve the perception that these are separate elements.
how to do that.
living completely on the road unnerves / puzzles me. in spite of my wanderlust 9th house sun/mind, “wherever I lay my hat” doesn’t quite resonate fully for me. I am grounded/earthed by Place and some routine, but need to set myself free on a regular basis. So the pluto as source of power, a la maison? power with not power over is the trick. how to… how to. hmm
Reminds me a bit of the Saggo lady parachutist who lived out of her car so she could pursue her lifestyle of paragliding all over Europe. I think MM did a post about her a couple of years ago.
It is so much easier these days to do work from all over the place, when doing my masters I set up camp at 2 different uni libraries, and have sent graphic work files from all over the place, but I do need a nest to operate from (Cancerian 10th H).
Cancer in the 10th. Ha. I just got an image of Jason recliners in the rec room and the smell of warm tea. The doilies I’ll wipe from the image 🙂
The Doilies (sp?) are getting individually dipped into an organic starch and will be transformed into Art. Or crafty thingies at least.
The Jason recliner is a southeast- Asian variation which belonged to my grandpa with a cane back, but definitely has extended arms to put the feet up on. And always, plenty of tea! 🙂
it reminds me of the poem the Scholar Gipsy by Matthew Arnold
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/172862
I feel the need to chime in here. I spent most of last year wandering and working at the same time. I sold most of my stuff, put a few possessions in storage and worked while travelling. As a freelance writer, I can do this without an office. All I had was a bag, a laptop and a clunky old Nokia phone. I lived in…wait for it….: Melbourne, Sydney, Antarctica, Chile, Argentina, Falkland Islands, LA, Oregon, Nashville, Memphis, Chicago, Big Sur, Joshua Tree, and Boston.
I want to present a very, very clear picture of the “other side” of extreme wanderlust, the side effects so to speak. Yes, I saw, experienced, felt and communed with people and nature and things that I will remember for a lifetime. I can scarcely even do this time of my life justice with words.
But I also came back a complete wreck from being ‘on the road’. Never experienced such terrible fatigue from time zone changes, sleeping in different beds all the time, not having access to my own kitchen to cook nutritious food etc. It’s taken me many, many months, but my health still isn’t where it was, or should be, despite my very best efforts. Once your adrenals are shot, they are hard to fix. Treasure them.
This may not be the case for you, or anyone else. I am only sharing my story. I have Sun/Moon/Mercury conjunct in Taurus, also with some heavy Saturn influences. Your Sag-ness might thrive off the adventure. But for me, I paid a heavy price with my health (not to mention finances and relationships with people back home).
Without being a killjoy, think hard about the logistics and the ripple effect that not having your own space will have on you, and your study. I didn’t, and like you, am often overwhelmed by people and being ‘on’.
You absolutely *can* do this mega-jaunt, just make sure you look after yourself in the process.
Best of luck Sag!
Thank you 🙂 drooling at your list of places!!
I was ruined after 7 months travel in South America, but this is a bit safer from a health perspective at least (Europe, Australia, North America, mostly) and I’ll be making mini homes here and there for a few months at a time… So hopefully I can get my cooking fix and make a cosy place to study when I need it. For once I’m travelling with a constant income, so this makes it MUCH easier to facilitate what I need. I hope anyway 😉
I’m also a PhD person. It’s good to know that your life is not just your PhD, and to keep moving and discovering.
But it’s also good to draw a line when you need to make your own space and study quietly. Personally, I *need* a quiet, established nest to study in. Travel for me is great for gathering ideas, but not for drafting and doing the hard work of refining messages.
My point is that if you become very stressed, you need to be honest about circumstances and do whatever it takes to calm down again. Do not believe that PhD students need to be stressed and poor. To paraphrase Mystic: “That’s vibing too low.”
Good luck!
Yes to vibing high! I am refusing to buy into the notion that PhD students have to be stressed and poor. I’ve spent far too much time doing that anyway.
A lot of the moving around will be for data collection – I’m intending finding places to bunker down for a few months at a time to do the analysis / drafting / writing up stages.
GOOD – you sound pretty realistic and sorted.
Maybe you could even search for future writing residencies that are broad-minded and do not require artists’ reports etc at the end.
There are cheap ones about that you pay for and you just hunker down and do your quiet work, yet these places are not about collaboration or other people seeing what you’re writing, ie: perfect for someone writing their thesis.
It’s all possible. 🙂
Love it. It’s also very Lee Marvin in ‘Paint Your Wagon’:
“Do I know where hell is? Hell is in hello.
Heaven is goodbye forever – its time for me to go
I was born under a wandrin’ star
A wandrin’ wandrin’ star”
I had a different reaction to the letter. I think you may need to think about your priorities as a lot of what I read in the above was simply a reaction to your previously constricting circumstances. How did you get into them in the first place? Choices that involved not having much money so that you lived with your folks or choices that meant initially you were independent but then further choices meant you went back to live with them? If you travel without adequate financial support, will you be repeating these choices in more exotic locations?
To some practicalities: You might just want to check with your University as to whether you are required to be in attendance. The first year of a PhD is tricky as you narrow down your question and really map out the research you need to do. I note you are probably about 5 months into your first year. It would be unusual to do field work straight up because that fieldwork has to produce the data for your research questions. You can probably also get $$$ to support your fieldwork so travels are funded and you are not just living off your scholarship $$$ to live and fund fieldwork. In the field of sustainable development, there would be $$$ to be had for travel, so why not identify and use these sources to supplement your scholarship.
If you want to write a book and a blog about your adventures – go for it – but PhD scholarship is to produce a PhD and a book and a PhD are not the same thing. Having done all three, I speak from my own experience. All take a fair amount of discipline to produce.
You are still looking for that comfortable place to be. It’s a lifelong endeavour, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it along the way.
I agree with you K-Gem, particularly with your first paragraph. I think The Wandering Scholar has made some exciting life changes, but have they now jumped from the frying pan into the fire? My first impression is that they’re a bit immature. But obviously that is based on the short query I’ve read above and the point of view I’ve formed from it – I could be completely off base.
I am a Sun/Neptune conjunct Sag with strong Saturn as well (it’s square my Sun & Neptune and conjunct my moon) and am 34. I work full-time and study part-time (love school). It’s tough at times but I love my independence and being able to support myself. Sometimes I crave a bit more adventure but really I prefer having a solid home base (Mars/Jupiter conjunction in Virgo in the 4th, cancer rules my second house). That’s my freedom.
Wandering Scholar, so hi-Qi you’ve made me smile 🙂 Yes! to blog on sustainable transport with PhD worthy geek out notes salted in the awesome location pics and travel stories. Fun, inspirational and intellectually nutritious.
“intellectually nutritious” – I love it! I’ve been using the word juicy a lot lately to describe my most favourite articles. Definitely think I need to blog this whole thing. I can use it as a text too for the autoethnography component!
Yes
Yeah, like Mystic says, a strong Saturn is fulfilled by meaningful work. I don’t think that Saturn needs to stay rooted in one place unless it is in Cancer, or the 4th house, or maybe conjunct the Moon. I mean, I have Sun conjunct Saturn in Cancer and the idea of being rootless does fill me with existential dread – but that is a Cancerian thing. Saturn is supposed to be what you need to feel secure so you would need to look at the sign and house to see what that is for you. In the 11th I guess you need a strong social network, real friends you can rely on.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/
Fantastical !!
Might i suggest the above site for interesting off road places ?
might be worth searching for libraries in towns/cities/places too.
All the very bestest Madam Sag.
And a Blog sounds brilliant.
What an excellent read.
Library/Atlas Obscura suggestion in case you crave peace and the security of knowledge in books !
This is ridiculously exciting! I want to read your blog!
To the Wandering Scholar:
Hell yes! How wonderful!
Also do you know if your Neptune is in your 1st house or the 12th. The Neptune influence is supposedly stronger when it is in the 12th house.
It’s in the 12th, just barely. I can totally see myself become a crazy old witch in my old age 🙂
Wow, I have a question: are you going to get the PhD while traveling? Don’t you need to be settled in one place, e.i. near the school? I feel like I misread this somewhere because everyone else is like ‘omg awesome’ and I’m just confused. (But then, I have saturn in Sagg, lol).
Anyway my practical saturn side would also be screaming to have a place to call my own. Why not downsize into somewhere smaller and cheaper so that you can travel AND have a place? If you feel like you’ll need to retreat, don’t ignore that. I lived and worked in South Korea for 8 months and on the weekends I’d spend entire days locked in my studio apartment to recharge.
It sounds like you’ve made loads of awesome changes in the last few months and that’s awesome. Things are changing quickly for me too. Only I came BACK from traveling and had to move back in with my parents…which does suck but it’s only until I finish school in a year, and I’m finally really happy with the career path I’m on.
My PhD has (intentionally!) a big fieldwork component, where I get to hang out in a few different places to do my interviews and, erm, autoethnography of cycling. My supervisor thinks it’s a great idea, and a friend who is with the same group but at the end of his PhD said if I want to become an expert it’s not going to happen sitting at home reading journal articles, you become an expert experiencing this stuff for real. And this is definitely true of my (very well regarded) professors – their lectures are basically snaps of urban design (ie pics from beautiful cities in Europe and North America!). I am very lucky, but I have also deliberately chosen this group and to do my PhD in a way that is most exciting for me, as I’m the one doing the work! As for being tied to the school – seeing they don’t even provide me with a desk and I’m already working from my bedroom and cafes, I can’t see the difference being in a different city.
As for “moving into something smaller”. Ha. Well, I live in what has become one of the most expensive cities in the country, and the world for that matter, and a third of my income goes on renting a room in a house I share with 2-3 other people. Moving into something smaller is, well, a suitcase 😉 I am hoping though that at the end of this process I will be able to move onto phase 2: having my own place that I can leave from to go on my adventures, and come back to (I have to keep all those textiles somewhere after all…).
My best friend wrote a PhD on transport in a cafe in Chang Mai….. 😀
Have you considered Southeast Asia ? Lots of bicycles….
He has to go across the border to Burma once every three months to get his Passport stamped, but apart from that its sweet.
Wow. I’m totally getting your vibe and MM’s response is so encouragingly awesome. I’m on the Eurostar – back from 2 days and a night in fabulous Paris.
I’m just so fuqin glad I did this. I was scared but it was the right thing to do. I feel happier than I’ve felt in ages and yes. I kind of met a dude who yes I kind of really like. Not in a silly crush way and nothing happened. Except a kiss on a bridge. It was so much fun I feel like a kid again so free so happy. So ME
Very cool Lady.
I have had similar feng questions (my auto type fang! haha) for travellers wanders and gypsy types. I’d love to fang (fuck it, it keeps choosing to be fang so be it) my life but share houses and suitcases are not so easy.
Having said that i’ve ben living here for a little while now but for years I had thought about this.
You sound like you did all the right things though. Kudos.
Thank you xx
Wow yes! Higher learning and travelling – Sagg to the max TICK. I’d say it’s Sagg Neptune rising that gives it almost a sacrificial / divine offering feel too? Kerouac’s on the road could be rewritten by you, but in the same kind of spirit. Go burn your karma up! LOVE
Ah fellow Saggs,she is our muse! Puts a big smile on my face and a warm glow in my heart :-D:-D
You are a rockstar. Taking your show on the road, literally!
Feeling very eclipse-inspired by this post to shake out all the dust and get a move on, myself.
Every bit of Sag in my chart is shouting yes, yes to this. Bravo Wandering Scholar, bravo indeed.
This is completely inspirational!
Time for me to roll-up my sleeves and get rid of all those ghosts posing as nostalgia and ‘stuff’.
Wishing bliss and luck to The Wandering Scholar!