Your Second Saturn Return

By popular request – my take on the 2nd Saturn Return. Disclosure: I’m not there yet but I can sniff it on the breeze and I’ve been researching this phenom for ages.

There are some posts about or mentioning this phenom already on site but the requests – or, more accurately, pleas – are for something directional. 

I get it – when times are turning screw or you’re still scrambling to pull s**t together post-pandemic, the last thing you’re in the mood for is a ‘maturing growth passage’ or more fuqing accountability.

So if this is your 2nd Saturn Return or you’re gliding toward it, you’re Generation X. Not only that, you’re the classic, hardcore Gen X with your natal Saturn opposite Uranus + Pluto and maybe Mars in Virgo.* 

(Note: if you want to determine exactly when your Saturn Return is or what house/life area it is influencing, please get a Year Ahead report.)

 You’re Generation X and you don’t want to read dewy millennial takes on their Saturn Return or boomer-esque aging tips. You’re too seasoned for a ‘manifest your desires ‘ romp through anything involving Saturn and you don’t need instructions on ‘adulting.’

Yet nor are you (generally) able to relate to the vibe of the Pluto in Leo people born the generation before. This year’s second Saturn Returners aren’t getting ready for a mellow retirement, they’re getting ready for a coup.

*Mars was in Virgo from November 6 1964 until June 30 1965. As Uranus and Pluto were in Virgo then, this meant multiple Mars-Uranus and Mars-Pluto conjunctions over that nearly eight-month long phase. 

And the Saturn-Uranus opposition was in effect from 1964 until 1967 so if you’re having your Saturn Return in the next two years, you’re also having Saturn opposite your natal Uranus, thus activating a core ‘persona pattern’ within your psyche.

As this is a blog post not a book nor even an essay, let’s just call it ‘a rebellious tendency’ – many Gen X people thought of The Matrix as a sci-fi docudrama more than a sci-fi.

Read this evocative poem and then get down with some pithy Saturn Return tips.

A Buddhist Poem For The 2nd Saturn Return

(1) CONTINUUM

For real insights, get across seven year cycles. Saturn doesn’t simply hide out in between Saturn Returns – Saturn squares and opposes your natal Saturn in approximately seven year increments. So Saturn was last in Pisces in 1994-1996.

The 2001-2003, 2008-2010 and 2015-2017 phases were all super-intensive Saturn development years. The actual orb of influence will be more narrow but you get the idea. Think of this as a continuum, not some crazy ‘oh no not again’ ambush. And while you’re in this mode, remember to take stock of your accomplishments as well as defeats or regrets.

Or simply stay in analytical mode – from the saturnine perspective, guilt-tripping or stalking yourself down the corridors of your past like a fury is utterly unproductive. You have accrued timeless wisdom with every year, some of it with ease and some of it painstakingly put together to save yourself.

Your second Saturn Return can also confirm the old Mark Twain axiom that history doesn’t repeat but it sure does rhyme. For example, Courtney Love and Keanu Reeves are both having their second Saturn Return this year. Courtney Love is putting out her first album in over a decade. One of the themes is her emotions around the tragic death of her husband – Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain – in 1994. That was her first Saturn Return – Kurt passed in April of that year.

In the lead-up to his first Saturn Return, Keanu Reeves was grieving River Phoenix and getting a crash course in Buddhism courtesy of playing Siddartha in Bertolucci’s Little Buddha. Now, with this second Saturn Return imminent, he’s just angered the Chinese government by reciting Beat poetry at a benefit to raise money for the Dalai Lama.

(2) NOSTALGIA CAN BE HAZARDOUS

Any Saturn transit can make you hyper-conscious of age and time – even when you’re 15. It’s annoying but it often does spark improved productivity and awareness – so go with it. Timeline things and recalculate metrics for new insights. But the age-awareness of a Saturn Return in your 20s is naturally a different creature to that of your Fifties.

You are definitively older and the you of your first Saturn Return would probably screech at your hair or physique and taste in fashion/bedmates etc. Then again, the you of back then would also be in awe at the coolness with which you handle so many situations – professional and personal.

It’s interesting to think about on occasion but have you noticed how some people talk – and presumably think – about the past a lot? Nostalgia can be therapeutic – sharing ludicrously amusing anecdotes with an old friend or a lucid new take on a particular passage of your life – but it can also be hazardous.

Nostalgia can congeal, take up valuable headspace and set your psyche in a mode that thinks the most intriguing part of your life is done and dusted. Your second Saturn Return is also a time when you accept that certain mysteries from your past cannot be ‘solved’ as such and that with some people, there won’t be a ‘last word.’

Old maps are fascinating but they’re not navigation tools.

(3) PHYSICALITY

There are two stages of a Saturn funk – the first is when you read or hear about something unpleasant associated with age and google it with intent to freak the fuq out. It can be confronting when you go to a doctor for a check-up, they’re apparently born around the time you got your first divorce or something and they airily cite “at your age…”

But stage two of the Saturn funk is when you say ‘fuq that’ and do a quality risk assessment/action plan. By the time you’re in your Fifties, you know a fad, marketing ploy or outdated info when you see it.

And even if you don’t, your hyper-genius research skills will root out relevant info. Nearly everyone born in the 1960s has Uranus and Pluto in Virgo, which could well account for the classic Gen X cynicism. 

Twyla Tharp’s book Keep It Moving is fantastic inspo for the physical dimension of your second Saturn Return and beyond. As a dancer, she became intimately acquainted with time, gravity and the spectre of injury well before even her first Saturn Return. She completely reinvented her business at the second and is now just a few years off her third.

Keep It Moving has unique, brilliant moving meditation/exercise sequences that seem to work and straight-up stoic  advice. “We don’t lose youth,” she writes. “Youth stays put. We move on.”

And while her various suggestions are anti-aging in the sense that agility offsets saturnine creakiness or rigid joints, she disdains talk of ‘turning back time’: “Time only moves in one direction – forward.”

Alogn with chronological consciousness, Saturn Returns highlight skeletal you. However you do it or whatever your dietary and health philosophy is, this is a good time to strengthen tooth and bone. Fact: Every Saturn transit seems to involve kettlebells.

(4) MAKE YOUR OWN WAY

Yes, I know life can bring limitations and once you’re in orb of your second Saturn Return, you’re aware of the shortfalls of politicians, communities, governments etc. However, where-ever you have agency, do things your way.

There is no invisible arbiter with insider info of the ‘right way.’ Take informed input but the core protocol is DIY – you invent it.

Graphic novelist Jennifer Hayden pulled off a fab Chiron Return switch-up that put her on track for an epic second Saturn Return this year. Her secret? Not going back to school or signing up for something self-development-ish even when everyone was pushing it as the done thing.

Her advice: “You already know what you have, you already know what to do so speed it up – don’t slow it down.” In a similar vein, the musician Kim Gordon says her anti-aging secret is “not conforming.”

One Of Marianne Williamson's 2nd Saturn Return Realizations

54 thoughts on “Your Second Saturn Return”

  1. The fire itself emerged from an ageless place. That blew my mind! I have just begun my Saturn return. My birthday was August 27. I turned 58 and I feel like some piece of me that fell asleep just woke the fuq up! Thank you so much for your post. I am grateful and excited to continue following you!

  2. coming out of 2nd on Thursday when Saturn moves to Pisces. First time was a difficult pregnancy, caring for a newborn, having my female parts all removed when baby was 9 months old, trying to work and keep the home fires burning while healing. Second return was the disappointment and stark reality that my career has come to an end – the likelihood of ever being hired as an over 60 woman in my field has definitely been heartbreaking and a real grief process. Throw in a spinal disk fusion surgery on my neck that came on suddenly after a trip to the dentist and there you have the Saturn bone & teeth link. Also told some close family members I was f*ing DONE. I tried to be thoughtful this time around. Brought my better coping skills, some stoicism, tried to be dispassionate and more of an observer this time around. I’m not pissed that I’m older – I’m pissed at the limitations imposed. Heart is willing but the body won’t cooperate etc. as always, you nailed it. Thanks for the many moons of advice Medusa ❤️

    1. Wish Upon a Star

      Take it easy on yourself please. Try to relax and let your body heal. What can you do to stop your mind turning? Even if its aromatherapy to soothe your senses.

      I hope this helps. I wish you loving healing vibes and please take your Saturn time with it.

      x. 🙂

  3. Also wonderful, Jennifer Haydens philosophy ‘Not going back to school or signing up for something self-development-ish even when everyone was pushing it as the done thing.
    Her advice: “You already know what you have, you already know what to do so speed it up – don’t slow it down.” ‘ I still have more than 2 years to go before it will be my second Saturn return, but this is valuable advice

  4. I love this paragraph, ‘You are definitively older and the you of your first Saturn Return would probably screech at your hair or physique and taste in fashion/bedmates etc. Then again, the you of back then would also be in awe at the coolness with which you handle so many situations – professional and personal.’ This statement is SO TRUE and gives me a lovely new appreciation for the decades I have spent developing professional and personal skills 🙂

  5. With Saturn in the first degree of Pisces, I am in the queue for my second return. I don’t think I have ever quite got the hang of Saturn in Pisces, the nebulousness of which has been increased by its being in my 8th house. I am quite envious of my sister’s Saturn in Capricorn, with her ease at setting goals and boundaries, but do enjoy the creativity of my own watery-misty vibe.
    Thanks MM as always!

  6. Mars, Uranus Pluto square NN Gem and Saturn/Chiron Pisces Xer here. How to maximise on the tricky Pisces placement? For the last seven years I have been benched and focussed on healing and hiding. I’m ready to bust out but nothing I do is progressing for this rebel Aries :/

    1. This 7 year time frame and theme resonates for me too in a way. Big change on all fronts that swept in and just kept rolling and a couple of my core strategies have been those two. Ironically snuggled up against show up and deal, hack a new path and find something new to appreciate in a landscape that felt unchanging and never ending. That last point is obviously false (there has been loads of change) but feels true. Mars Cap 8 has particular gifts I have learnt to work with more harmoniously but there is a tirelessness to this vibe that in the end can become suprememly tiring without awareness.
      I feel the not quite as distant vibration of Saturn lumbering up the road to meet himself again. Despite his recent visit to my MC I don’t have to roll out the welcome mat just yet. True to Saturn styled themes I have time….

      The Saturn opposition just feels normal and that’s the difference between natal and transit. Even if its agitating its normal and in most cases we develop strategies to repurpose the rub.

      I think an X-decamp has been underway with more to come. Certainly the case for me. The bust out opportunity will present itself. Aries will need to use enough energy to remain still and chill but preserve enough to remain interested and alert to a glimpse the shimer that reveals a hidden door.

      Edit – just occured to me it is a last quarter square vibe … should be obvious right!

      1. Wish Upon a Star

        Hey it feels great to be in the company of Gen Xrs. Being hardcore is something I don’t want to lose.

        The last 3 and half years have been like gold in the healing space. A rebirth after a cancer diagnosis, blade to cut out the poison. And the healed wound a constant reminder of what extreme emotional pain can do.

        The healed scar and going into remission a reminder to look after myself, cry, scream and ask for help when needed.

        Finding joy and the inner child again. She gives me a look of approval.

        🌸

        1. That’s the way to do it. Through the eye of the storm. There is no going around. Well…there is always other paths but detours are just that and sometimes they are more treacherous and I think mostly they send you back or get you deeper in the forest.

          Yep, I know a thing or two about scars and their layers. In another dimension I might share…

          You won’t loose being hard core. X has had to earn it one way or another so whilst it wasnt a birthright its a bit like skin now.

          I think you have a point around the return of joy. I definitely sniff its return in the winds more broadly 🌿

          1. Wish Upon a Star

            Thanks Centaurus, your words are like manna from heaven.

            Scars and their layers, I understand that you are more private about it.
            I treat this site a bit like a journal. I’m not really into traditional journal writing. But I do write my prominent pshycological dreams.

            I find this site stimulates writing for me because there is a prompt. One day I will go thru all my comments and probably laugh at the nebulous times. But I will also see turning points.

            Cheers to the return of Joy on the Global Winds.

            1. We all have our way and that’s alright by me 🌱 I think its also the way I work with the energy of something but yes 7th house Scorp is probably typically quiet amongst other things.

              I have dream journals spanning decades. Lots of things have been revealed amd I map to astro as wrll. Also have prophetic dreams but they are not always discernable from other dreams until I arrive at that moment or place and think – ah, I dreamt that. Also not recent enough to go find them…they can be from a long way back.

              Ive had my more active times on the blog and been around for a while. Too much outer planet shizz this last 7 years (which is a Saturn square number) but not Saturn to Saturn aspect so I need to probably look at my own version of what I suggested for you. Saturn has just gone over my MC so I might start there.

              😊🌿x

  7. Next week’s full moon pings off my Gen X Uranus-Pluto conjunction JUST as Saturn sashays into Pisces. I am still in my peri-Saturn Return (although I am mercifully now fully post-menopausal) and am very grateful for this advice, dearest Mystic!

    1. Wish Upon a Star

      Me too. Thank God I’ve got my moon report.
      Same for peri Saturn return. My Uranus/Pluto conj is in Virgo 7th house. It has a trine with Neptune in Scorpio 9th house. Close conjunct Vesta in Scorp. I am a Pisces Rising. The sun has just crossed my Ascendant. Look out!

      But a square to My Gemini Sun in the 4th house. Can anyone give me some helpful tips?

      It would be appreciated.

      🙏😊🙏🌟💖

      1. I have a natal square. Not sure there is a 25 word or less reply. Its the widest square I count because I’ve learnt I need to factor it in. My experience is different house and sign and factors the nodes. I think you’ll have enough time in the square to feel into it. You could look at the previous square but that would be like a different era. What I might look is the journey from conjunction to square. Sounds like the 3rd quarter square so the previous aspect between these two would have been an opposition?

        In case I’m not making sense there..

        Saturn conj Sun
        Saturn sq Sun (first quarter)
        Saturn opp Sun
        Saturn sq Sun (third quarter)
        Saturn conj Sun

        You can check trines or other aspects too but squares and oppositions can be distinctive sign posts. If you see a theme emerging then you may also have some insight into what this cycle is about. I would look at these before other aspects.

        Nothing in a chart operates in isolation but sometimes we need to drill down into one theme before zooming out …sometimes it works and sometimes we cant see it until we see it in 3D. Life. Rear view does tend to work for Saturn because in the moment can feel too grinding and the pay check too relative to the grind. It isn’t always but it usually quite valuable, well earnt and not something you’d easily trade.

        You mean sextile for Pluto/Uranus to Neptune yes 🙂 but Neptune transit might be trine Neptune natal.

        1. Wish Upon a Star

          Yes I do mean a sextile for P/N to Neptune. Sorry the rest is way over my head.
          But I appreciate the effort you put in.

          🙂

          1. How about from this perspective…

            Assumption – your sun is early degrees Gem.

            Saturn conj Sun April 2001 with a hint in August 2000.

            First square to the Sun in this cycle was Srpt 2007.

            Opposition to Sun Dec 2014 then on from Oct 2015

            This last quarter square now.

            Then Saturn will conj the Sun again and that cycle is complete.

            All – ish… without degrees.

            Think on whether there was an event that has continued to evolve or the theme has continued. It doesnt have to be the same event continued rather the same lessons or the same themes or the same road blocks etc. Squares bringing opportunities but can feel imposed on us and challenging. Oppositions are similar but tend to be reflected at us (optical illusion – we’ve drawn it in) by others or circumstances so they initially feel external and out of our control – iys the other person not me. This last quarter square is writing the final chapters to this cycle.

            What is the natal placement? Saturn square Sun?

            1. Wish Upon a Star

              Yes Saturn square Sun. Omg I am just processing this info mentally and more to the point emotionally. I do know and feel I am getting to the end of cycle. Thank you for this information, it makes so much sense. “We’ve drawn it in” makes sense. I forgive myself for this and having loving compassion. A bit of a breakthrough, a moment.

              Thank you Centaurus.

              x.o.x.
              🙂

        2. Wish Upon a Star

          Oooops, I just realised they are natal placements. I just got a bit confused.
          But it was a joy to find my 1 Year Report grew into a 2 Year, thanks Mystic.

  8. Geez how I love this post.
    I’ve been back over my love and creative life from the 90’s. Adore both Kim and Courtney for their unique styles and life journeys.
    What I find frustrating is the yardstick of the generation eras change, depending where you look. I’d really like a definitive answer on this one. I feel like a Gen X but maybe I’m a Z you know that subgroup because I don’t fit the classic Millennial mindset either.
    Something I’ve been wondering, does you birth due date and actual birthdate have an impact on your lifetime. As I’m starting to wonder why I get information beforehand. Could this be the reason?

  9. Thanks for that Mystic my second Saturn return was just awful I would love to explain it but Iam still suffering 7 years later.

  10. interesting, my second Saturn Return coincided exactly with the pandemic. I have let go of so much that is no longer important to me. I am focusing on the people and practices that are most healthful to my life going forward. Strength and suppleness matters. I have recommitted to my yoga practice, athletic pursuits, and to the people I love the most. Of course, I still have to work, but it is not the center of my existence. Funny, I don’t feel old (inside feel as if I’m 30) I am looking forward to seeing how this all turns out

    1. Same. Born 3/1962. Coming off 2nd Saturn Return in Aquarius. It’s been something with the pandemic and leaving the workforce. Def a period of very weird relief/grief regarding retirement.

  11. Boom!!💥💫
    This smacked me right between the eyes, MM, when I read it as soon as you published it… Needed some time to digest and marinate all the intel, but there is no adequate response to brilliance – all I can say is keep striking your gold coins MM (per Lysohorsky poem). (I read it and slowly nodded .. Ok. But of COURSE you have Saturn in Pisces*..? But OF COURSE!!😄🎏✨) Xx
    *As in, it explains the brilliance!!☺

    1. (Also full disclaimer – forgot to add, am not of the 60’s Uranus & Pluto in Virgo gen, BUT this has soo helped me understand my much adored, beloved cousins of that generation. They were movie stars in my eyes, no matter what they did – and maybe it was my naive perspective from being ten years younger, but it seemed they carried the weight of the world, and parental expectations, on their shoulders – the pressure to “succeed”, or “make it”, was intense, and I really, felt for them. They were all about honestly paying their due, but so much so they couldn’t believe in themselves, beyond 80’s metrics. “Life begins again” at 40/50/60 is such a tired old adage, BUT I so hope it holds true for these Gen X-ers..)

      1. Wish Upon a Star

        So it wasn’t just me who was told “carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders”.

        Your words are helpful ESstar. How are you.

        1. Corduroy jeans

          Hi Wish. Ah you a 60’s child as well, honey?? Far out – I don’t know how you all coped. The pressure. The pressure..💖 Whereas (in comparison) for us 70’s kids, the opening riffs of any of Nirvana’s or Pearl Jam’s songs basically popped that gigantic leaden balloon of pressure to “be something” in milliseconds, leaving us to “come as you are” (Mr Kurt Cobain) as we came of age… Obviously a crude and oversimplified reduction, but – I really saw a difference (even if we 70’s kids still felt the overwhelming need to also pay our dues, do something worthwhile/altruistic, and to work hard).
          More to the point – how are you??? Do feel Saturn in Pisces gracing your art and dreams as yet..? Or Pluto in Aqua glorious trines to Gem Sun?? Luv E xx

          1. Wish Upon a Star

            Hey C J. I am good. A trine to my Gemini Sun sounds good.

            Your words about us Gen X has had a positive and quite impactful effect on me and I am still processing it. I do get psychological insights from intelligent peeps on this sight. And I am grateful. I trust your words because you are sensitive and smart.

            The pressure, the pressure. I was in a career in Melbourne for most of my life and I hated it. As I awoke this morning the penny finally dropped emotionally: be gentle and kind with yourself. And take it slowly. My Taurus Moon will appreciate that.

            Thanks again Corduroy jeans.

    2. Wish Upon a Star

      Oh Mystic has Saturn in Pisces. So good for my Pisces Rising.

      Explains why her writing feels like the missing link in my sometimes very nebulous world.

  12. I feel that Generation X knows that retirement won’t be a thing as experienced by older generations. My ultra sensible Capricorn Dad was a self funded retiree under the generous old Australian public service Superannuation package. He retired to the day at age 65 minus his accrued LSL, so approx 63 and half. Meanwhile, I am trying to reinvent and find something that I will happily do until the moment I drop. I expect “retirement age” will be 85 by the time I hit 65.

    1. If working with something you love, you never want to retire.
      The age was set when we only lived on average for 10 years afterward, now we are living 20-30 years extra, it’s a long time to finance yourself in the manner you prefer.
      Worked until i was 70 & would have gone onto 80 if not obliged to stop due to running out of puff, literally.
      Many fell a loss of identity once retired it is said.

      1. Pegs my beautiful Sagg moon stepmum worked until she was 80. She always had everyone easily fooled that she was 6 yrs younger, my sis and I only found out after she passed, looking at drivers licence and birth certificate!

        I only found out she was Saggy moon after re doing her chart, she was cancerian sun, but everything else fire with some gemini thrown in. Explains a lot, she was an intrepid traveller throughout her life, took my young nephew on some memorable adventures.

  13. I wrote to MM about what I thought was an anomaly, the triple pass retrograde Saturn return. But she assured me it was very common. Just wondering though if there is a pattern with these. Is an single pass return full on and the retrograded version 1/3 strength each pass? Am I overthinking this? Probably. My natal Chiron is at 25 Pisces and Saturn 27 so the fun and games wont actually be exact until APRIL 25, Rx Oct 25 and final sweep Jan 26. BTW I had the very first retrograde at 4 months old and 9 months old. I am planning to pre-empt the flexibility/agility thang now!
    (ps I know how, I just don’t- yet)
    Pps Natal Venus 13 Aries under the current Jupiter Venus Conjunction, Uranus, Pluto, Isis and Pandora all at 15 Virgo 8th H (15 30′ -15 50′) Aqua Rising Taurus Stellium XxXx

    1. jacqui, re multiple passes my astrology teacher taught us that the effects of the transit tend not to repeat themselves – meaning that during each pass the planet will show one of its facets, or if there’s a receiving planet it will affect a different area of your life symbolized by it. hope it helps.

  14. Bravo. Wise words and sagacious insights. Mystics’ magical words does it again.
    I am keeping some of those quotes in my artillery for life advice in general. Happy Venus/Jupiter weather fellow stargazers. Zippidee do da!

  15. wonderful, mystic! thank you! my mars is not conjunct with pluto and uranus, but my moon is. I’m finding the quotes particularly relevant, esp the last one – I do resonate with the fact that the fire is still there, just temporarily smothered by physical and emotional fatigue. thankfully I’m about to enjoy the only pluto-sun trine I will ever experience in my life, and I’m already feeling more energized and yearning for freedom. also, I’ve been wanting to do weight training for some time now but it’s not possible yet.

  16. This. Is. Me. Saturn in Pisces opposite Mars-Pluto-Uranus conjunct in Virgo. Making my bid for freedom as you wrote this #newjob #newhouse #new town

    1. Yes this is me as well! Mars Pluto Uranus tightly conjunct in 12th H. After I finish clearing and sorting out a whole lot of physical possessions (not mine but I always seem to be clearing other people’s) I feel there will be kettlebells in the near future.

    2. I am dating a 64 Eclipse season Sag with last degree Saturn Rx in Aqua but Mars-Pluto-Uranus tightly conjunct opposite Pisces Moon and square Sun. Also Venus-Neptune conjunct in Scorpio trine Moon. He also has an Earth trine. Every time I look at his birth chart, it reveals something else. He’s a quiet, super smart powerhouse. He is a astro sceptic, but I am getting the popcorn out to see what Saturn return exact is going to do next week.

    3. Me too. I’ve got Saturn-sun conjunct in my seventh opposing Uranus-Pluto conj in Virgo in the first. Considering reinvention even as I get bombarded with condescending ‘retirement’ messages both at work and in the general culture.

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