It may sound trite but perfecting your sleep practice is a fantastic way to get aligned with Saturn. Initiate Power Sleep today! Whether you’re Saturn-ruled, Saturn-phobic, or Saturn Returning, this will help.
When Saturn is in play, you cannot manage time via your usual perceptions or tactics. Quick fixes become slow restoration jobs. There are no tricks of the trade – there is only trade-craft.
Remember, when Saturn is active, it forces a reinvention of the basics. And what is more basic than sleep? Yes, you may think sleep is the realm of Neptune or even of Hypnos, the ancient God of Sleep.
But sleep is Saturnine in that it rejuvenates, it allows us to time travel (Saturn is God of Time), and is a potent, primal health modality that – like walking – is actually free. You need no equipment, no money, no booking in, no training. Its simplicity is stark.
So, for an extra edge, next level, get your sleep game. You know the drill. No late-night phone googling benders that (1) fill your mind with extraneous material and (2) beam light straight into your Third Eye/Pineal Gland.
Yes, to the simple sensual pleasure of clean sheets. A nocturnal concoction to inspire restorative dreams an hour before bed. A pre-sleep ritual to suit.
Even if you don’t think sleep is vital to restore your astral persona, you know it is considered essential to cognition and mental health by totally Muggle scientists. Its beauty lies in its accessibility. It is illogical to skimp on sleep but spend excess money or time on a ten-day retreat or meditation instruction.
‘Sleep first’ makes sense. It is also sensationally Saturnine in that the optimal number of sleep hours is said to be eight hours. Eight is a Saturn number. And power-sleeping is a Saturnine weapon against all the forces that would drag you down and disempower you.
Image: Pauline Bewick – Their Cat
I don’t think I’ll have a problem with this…. I love sleeping
Leo sun and asc… Cappy moon
I love the fact that I lie down to sleep and wake up exactly 7:5 hours later.
Except for Saturday – then it’s 10 hours.
For those times when I do wake up – a Lana Del Ray album or Louise Hay Meditations.
Buona note’ everyone.
I sleep a minimum of 8 hours night, without it I cannot function at all. My vice is going to bed late though. Having more structured job hours is helping.
I also sleep on my back with just a folded up towel as a pillow now. It has done wonders for my neck pain! We have an epidemic of forward head posture and sleep on these tall pillows that just exacerbate the issue, I can’t believe I didn’t figure this out before…
This reminds me of one other brill sleep aid I’ve started using that I think is very Saturn — a sandbag over the hips for a sense of grounding.
SUPER feeling this post.
One interesting sleep hygeine thing is the theory of the meridian clock in Traditional Chinese Medicine — I’ve found that if I get to sleep before 1am (or 2am during Daylight Savings Time) — the time for the liver meridian to recharge itself and for one’s shen to wander in dreams — I sleep much more deeply.
That said, in theory it’s best to be sleeping during gall bladder time (two hours earlier) which I tried last night — only to wake up at 3am and have an impossible time getting back to sleep till dawn, which I find often happens if I try to get to bed too early. So it’s a tricky balance.
But over the next couple months I may be embracing some upheaval — the Cap and Aqua scopes emphasis on moving apartments is very apropos — and this post has inspired me to shore up my sleep practices and prioritize them even more than I do now to not just withstand but flourish amidst the change.
While I have great respect for the TCM knowledges I think they have to be adapted for 1) the times and 2) the geography.
Thus, myself, living in a subtropical zone , that precious and vital 8 hours might not happen in one long continuous night sleep. Especially nearing the full moon and during the heat of summer, it makes way more bio-sense to rest, preferably on the Earth, during the heat of midday and early afternoon and have a two or three sleep night. I read somewhere that having 2 sleeps per night, interspersed with some light or meditative activities in the dark night hours, is quite natural for the brain and the bodyand that the 8hr marathon sleeping was designed by slave owners to basically put their human-tools aka prisoners away during the dark when they didn’t want them to revolt.
I have no idea of the merit of that theory but having done live-in work with older folks it seems very normal for the body which is unburdened by work schedules to rise and rest in smaller chunks. Same with children, obviously.
Saturn’s my ruler and I struggle a lot with feeling like I don’t have enough time, time is passing too fast, etc.
The best thing anyone ever said to me to get me to prioritize sleeping is “Don’t steal tomorrow’s work from yourself today”(he was the son of a roofer who taught him this, to start work early and end before dinner), it helped me to realize that when you cut into sleep time you are literally sapping the next day’s energy.
Now if only someone could tell me how to not feel like there’s a beautiful party I’m missing out on when I go to bed before 11 in the summer when the days are so gorgeously long and the nights are full of magic.
Having Polyuria during the night = all dreams remembered as woken every 3 hours…lol.
Sleep? Very good at it and in unusual places, like on my feet waiting in a queue or is that meditation.
pegs you’re still cool and beautiful, love that hat and your vibe. 🙂
My love, acupuncture can fix excessive urination <3 Seriously, between this and the mouth-related stuff, it’ll get you fixed right up if you’re game. I’m severely needle-phobic but tolerate it very well so long as I keep my eyes closed and don’t watch – my acupuncturist uses the Kiiko style needles which are significantly thinner. You don’t even feel them, even in the feet!
If you don’t care for needles, know that I’m so irrationally phobic myself that a good 95% of the time I get blood drawn I cry, whimper, and/or pass out. 🙂 Pretty sure I either OD’d or was killed by some kind of lethal injection in a past life. No other explanation for it – I have no fear of blood or carnage, can watch surgery on TV all day long w/o a problem, but dear god don’t let me see them start the IV. Needless to say, I never saw Trainspotting, LOL! But the benefits of acupuncture are so enormous I manage to override this automatic response by sheer force of will alone – can’t recommend it enough!
My partner’s the same – he actually did get the intracardiac injection routine when he was 11. (Doctor omitted to check whether he was allergic to penicillin, administered some & a few minutes later he just collapsed & heart stopped). He has been known to faint when seeing IV being prepared & once he just bolted out of the clinic when getting tetanus shot, lol. But he doesn’t have a problem with acupuncture – such are the benefits that like you, he just overrides the trauma response.
Our TCM doctor also practices Korean Hand Acupuncture, which he sometimes uses in conjunction with traditional acupuncture for extra oomph – but also on its own, which for me has worked really well. It’s a lot less invasive, obviously, and uses much smaller needles – you hardly feel them.
and the less booze in your system, the more dream cycles you’ll have, the more rested you’ll feel, the better the quality of the whole thing. in fact, no booze at all is best – a good time to give the stuff up for good. perhaps? i did as it’s the single worst thing for menopause and my sleep got SO much better. hard to do, but worth it – that sounds like saturn work to me 🙂
No booze, and for me (a slow metabolizer of caffeine), no black tea or coffee (green tea seems to be just fine). I watch tv before bed with my boyfriend and I know that will have to go too, I sleep fine but my dreams aren’t as vivid.
Gosh, so spot on – the night before last, I stayed up later than normal, watched tv with my family (an interesting non crappy show on kids with autism) – and then realised I was not wound down from my day (a new, very stimulating media job), and was now unable to relax and getting more anxious and uptight by the second. I had to do a full 30 minute meditation to calm down. So last night, I declined tv, lay on my shakti mat straight after a shower, played relaxing music, and slept like a baby :). It was interesting that I had to make a firm decision to honour an evening wind down process, because that isn’t usually an issue for me.
Funny, I am a cap rising and Saturn is my ruler and I just bought a couple sets of high dollar sheets. I am of the opinion that my sheets are an investment to me and I want the best quality for the best night sleep so I bought the expensive 1000 count sheets (on sale of course) because I want only the best for my sleep. I already sleep like crazy, if I don’t get enough hours in a night I am literally in a zombie dazed funk all day. On the weekend, I can literally sleep ALL day. I have to make myself get up.
I’ve also hung a nice decorative clock in my bedroom and I fall asleep to hearing it go “tick tock, tick tock, tick tock” with precise rhythm and sound.
<3 to this! Yes! Thanks for the license to SLEEP! 😉
I love sleeping and it's been a secret weapon of mine forever for my health, mood, rejuvenation, etc. I think being a good sleeper has been one of the key reasons I still look quite young for my age, too.
Conversely, it is so noticeable to me when I don't get enough sleep. I feel and am wretched. I'm a Vata type in Ayurveda and I think with this constitution and keyed-up nervous system, we lose our sh*t and go down fast if we don't get rest.
I've had a couple boyfriends over the years who had wicked insomnia problems and I saw the hell they lived in……a very unfortunate affliction! Made me not take for granted that I can sleep with ease…. sheesh!
I'm Aqua Sun in the 8th, and more of a Saturnine Aqua than Uranian, I think. My Saturn in Aries in the 10th sextiles my Sun and squares my Crab Asc. I also have Venus in Capricorn in the 6th exact sextile my Pisces Moon in the 9th.
O m g, this Merc retro, tho…. >.<
It's been awful from the get-go, can't wait until it has passed….ugh!
Everyone is different for bedtime concoction….I don't often need one but will take something if I'm stressed in general or had or anticipate a stressful day.
If I have anything with too much liquid it will make me get up in the night to pee, so that's counterproductive. I like to use Motherwort tincture, which reduces my stress and helps me wake up happy, too, and also curbs hot flash/night sweats which I only get very occasionally, like once a month… motherwort can be a slight diuretic, so I just take a small amount.
I’m Vata-Kapha so yes have to protect that sleep but the Kapha makes sure that I do sleep when I do. Like I have all sorts of stresses but I see my sleep time as MY time that nothing can mess with.
Please detail bedtime concoction!
Well i like Reishi or Tulsi but lately Ovvio Number 41 – Nights. It is lavender, Chamomile, Hops and something else – it is magic….And smells sensational.
their tea is really nice. I used to drink their peppermint / vanilla stuff: heady and delicious. Proper vanilla too, which is why it tasted good. Like Mint Slice biscuit in tea form.
(Sometimes I add vanilla essence to my hot drinks too 🙂 )
Is there a website where I can buy these things?
For Miss Dee. If you live in Italy, you can just go to a herbalist store & get them to make you up a sleeping blend. The following blend at this ratio was the one that helped me:
Amapola Californiana >50
Manzanilla >25
Passiflora >25
Humulus Lupulus>25
Make an infusion & add honey
to taste if desired. I’m sure they’ll be able to advice you on quantities or other herbs that you can experiment with. You can also get them to make up a tincture which is easier to travel with. But i find that making the infusion with the lovely herb smells is a very satisfying and nice part of the winding down routine.
Aaaargh… Amapola californiana (again Spanish) is Californian poppy
Yogi Tea “Stress Relief” tea is similar – lavender, chamomile, Rooibos, lemonbalm, and others. I drink it (or Kava Kava) nightly. Used to drink their Bedtime tea but either the scullcap or valerian was giving me nightmares.
https://www.swansonvitamins.com/yogi-tea-honey-lavender-stress-relief-16-bags-s?DFA=1&UTM_Medium=Shopping&UTM_Source=GOOGLE&UTM_Campaign=SWAN_National_Gen_Shopping_Null_Null_All+Products+4055-01+Stress+and+Mood&UTM_Content=PRODUCT+GROUP&SourceCode=INTL4061&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIivnc3YSk2gIVQUsNCh3WdQgzEAYYBCABEgJKt_D_BwE
Uhm sorry I didn’t understand the recipe 🙁
What is “warn2hot” water?
You mix water and apfel cider vinegar and you drink it and that’s your dinner?
I am Vata and I know a practitioner. I only used her help for supplements, not for meal. But I’ll ask her more in details. Thanks a lot for your advices. 🙂
Google kitchari 🙂
Yes!
Read this last night and got myself into bed early. Am vowing instead of caffeinating myself to the gills in order to get everything done to take naps instead. I feel so much more grounded and mentally healthy when I am well rested.
This is timely. No pun intended. My sleep patterne has been out of wack since December. I have missed out on my vivid and inspirational dreams because of the lack of sleep. Noted, I will establish a sleep routine.
I wish I could sleep properly. No hard time in falling asleep, actually I can’t usually keep my eyes open past 10 pm but come uber early morning I wake up and then fall asleep and then wake up again and I am never well rested when I get up.
I remember the few times when I actually closed my eyes and opened it 8 hours later: my mind was crystal clear, my mood was great and I was in top shape. But last time I think it was some 10 years ago maybe?
I’d love to find a tip (simple and basic stuff a-la Saturn) to apply and get results.
Read the power of when! Lots of tips and data for a persons specific “chronotype”. Realizing that I’m a wolf was so affirming
He has lots of recos for ppl with insomnia, what he calls dolphin type sleepers
ah time…I have been learning how to be more accurate and responsible with my time management.. So often I tell myself I can “make up time” in various ways, especially on my commute. These past few months I’ve been living in a new place – so I am adjusting from being near the subway that comes every 5min, to being near a commuter train which comes every 1/2 hour during peak times. So it’s much more rigid and I have had to learn to be waaaaay more precise with my leave time in the mornings. It’s been quite the adjustment lol, and I thank Saturn for teaching me these things. Funny thing is, I’m hardly ever late anymore!! In terms of sleep, I feel like I’m finally getting back into a good place with it after lots of 2, 3 and 4am wake ups. Recently I discovered Reishi mushroom extract to help me with deeper sleep, and I feel so rested afterwards. Reishi helps one to get back into sync with their body and be more grounded…seems pretty saturnine to me.
+1 for Reishi!
I’ve been really into quality sleep since approximately 3rd pass of Saturn conj my natal Neptune, about 4-6 months ago. After a lifetime of being a 5 hrs of sleep a night person I started being aggressive about sleep hygiene (no screens in the bedroom!), laying down at the same time (9:30 no exceptions!), stretching before I lay down (tight hams and hips contribute to nighttime leg pain and waking up mid-sleep!), and a sleeping concoction of 10mg of melatonin + 1000mg of valerian root. It’s probably the melatonin that ensures I clock out by 10:30pm but all the other steps seem to ensure that I stay asleep until the alarm goes off at 6. I’ve actually started waking up before the alarm now, as in fully cognizant natural awake not grumpy mean hating the world jerked out of sleep.
Very interesting take! I see Saturn more as representing the second level of Maslow’s Hierarchy (safety and security) rather than the first, though, which IMO seems more Plutonic in nature. Yes they’re still no-frills basics, but they don’t quite put you in the dire circumstances the way the lack of those Plutonic baseline needs will. A lack of the first will kill you; a lack of the second – though uncomfortable and difficult – would render one stunted yet still able to survive. For reference, I lived a considerable chunk of my young life without those second level needs being met so this probably what informs my view on the matter.
That aside, I know it’s boring and unimaginative of me but personally I’ve always seen sleep as Neptune. It’s an entity so ephemeral and elusive for many that I have a difficult time associating it with the solid and tangible form of Saturn. And like Saturn, Neptune is presently dignified through its occupation of its Pisces domicile so in my view it would present an equally valid haven; one that lasts even longer (2025) than Saturn’s 2 ½ year transit through its Capricorn home turf. Saturn to me represent basics, yes, but more within the context of the “adulting” lifestyle; following a consistent regular schedule, not eating like crap, working out, staying clean and sober, going to bed and rising at reasonable hours, working in a productive job that gives us a sense of purpose, and having long-term goals to work toward…all the boring stuff that comes with being an adult that nobody gets particularly excited about but that will keep you squared away and out of trouble. Just a different POV – all this Capricorn energy doesn’t play nicely (it doesn’t play *period*, LOL) with a good chunk of my chart but for now restorative, restful Neptune in Pisces affords some temporary respite by complimenting my Water placements. I think it’s always good to have options 🙂
You have an interesting take too :). I think Saturn and sleep in this context is just making sleep part of that adult behaviour you described, rather than as something that you sacrifice as part of adulting. As for neptune, whenever it’s aspected, I can feel it, because I feel like I’m stoned – heavy, sleepy and slow. I definitely sleep more and heavily, but it feels like a departure from adult behaviour if you get my meaning.
TY! There are people who do sacrifice it as part of “adulting”, though – see the workaholism and “There’s not enough hours in the day” facets of Saturn. For some sleep is a necessary evil rather than an opportunity for restorative (IMO Neptunian) rest and relaxation. Can’t relate; my dreams are such an important part of my spirituality and who I am I would be so depressed if I didn’t sleep. Gotta have balance (says Libra, LOL)!
Love this picture of the conch shell, like she’s dialled into another dimension.
Sleep is tricky for me, I get too much or too little. Kids are still needing a parent at bedtime etc. due to shared room + different ages cognitively and otherwise. Staying asleep is an issue with hip pain.
Find the best way to get me to sleep currently is a tiny Mary Jane in the moonlight. It makes the phone seem abhorrent & the sleep more attractive while calming pain.
Really hated reishii, made my dreams baroque horror films..
I want to grow an angel trumpet tree and put flowers under my pillow like is done for toddlers in a village I lived in once upon a time.
I love that idea.
Me too! How beautiful
YES!
Just spent some days with my Scorpio Mother. I am in a massive transition (had to leave job, financial crap, new health regime, own business phantasies, shitloads of terror from ex working environment/qi vampires), restless and insomniac, having massive trouble dealing with/fencing off the negativity that is being projected onto me.
Her words, with scorpionic intensity and underwordly gaze, when we said Goodbye: “Sleep! before you start doing anything new, you have to sleep. sleep at least 8 hours per day, try to take naps. once you have slept like this for a week you will start to see what to do next and how.”
Her natal Capricorn Saturn trines my Sun.
A fun fact I just discovered: Her Uranus is conjunct my Moon.
Yes, if you don’t mind my saying from experience, we become sort of energetically “porous”, like a depleted bone, when we’ve struggled with negative energy. I may be Piscean with strong twelfth house, but I also have strong planets in all the Earth signs, though not lovely comfortable trines, generally squares and opps.
I notice it takes me a long while to process the toxic energy, and step by step re-build good body and etheric strength after an onslaught. The best restful sleep gets quite broken by mental anguish processing, and also the actual physical effects of cortisol, pain and tightness (this affects organs i’m sure as well as musculature).
Sweet rest is the first thing both the bod and soul cry out for. Your Mum is correct in that, and i found that where night sleep was short, naps are just golden. I never ever used to nap, and only do when my energy makes it happen. Sometimes the drop into a deeper sleep would startle me awake, like i didn’t want to process any more neg shit. It was all too much.
If you can’t comfortably nap, try a timer for laying down rest break, and find a guided body smoothing audio or a little class to train yourself in it. My Sag quad found that helped, but even more so when i stopped trying to nap, and my spiritual astro patterns found the audio/classes great when my mind just freaked trying it alone.
Great tips for good sleep hygiene all about Mystic’s blog, and here from amazing hard-yarders, who’ve lived this journey. And your amazing Mum. She’s so right. Sleep well, and find your beautiful self. Capricorns are truly wise when allowed the space to be xx
I wish my mother was a health-aware and physically oriented scorpio, instead of an introverted airhead uranian
I’ve just taken my grey sheets away, and have rebooted the deep blood red ones Oooo they feel good
Yes, glorious sleep. This last Full Moon completely screwed up my sleep. I think i only slept about 10 hrs in 3-4 days. Finally slept for about 8hrs last night, and when i arose this morn i swore i’d get my act together regarding sleep habits – then i see this post.
Love the top picture – nothing like a large horse conch shell on your pillow … the original sleep app.
Weird Mind immediately agreed that a horse conch shell trumps a horse head in the bed any day.
Saturn Mind gave side-eye, but could not really argue.
Minds came together and decided it was a good metaphor for overblown fears, caused by not paying down debts to Saturn and Capricorn properly.
Sick of fearing & heeding Saturn (& I may really regret this) – so Sod you Saturn! I’ve had enough. I figure it owes me big-time on this second return – NOT the other way round – or i’m taking this to the & Astro Arbitration Committee for Unfair Labour Practice …ya hear?!
@ Uranus opposite Asc & 5th Jupiter Return.
I hear you!
Just begun my second Saturn too…
I’ll come to The Committee with you
Is there a karma protest committee?
Thank-you Gwendolyn, always appreciate support. But as a karmatheist i can’t help you there – as i believe that karma is a construct of Saturn to con us into working overtime for no pay.
*Face Saturn front on. Like a dingo survives a bushfire.*
I am framing this.
I changed my bedsheets over from nice dark smoulder-y charcoal grey (which I still like) to white, and hung all the clothes that were on the front of my wardrobe, in the actual wardrobe. I took off the overhead lampshade so I could change the crappy dead globe to a brighter one (helps that it is not one of those blah fluorescent energy efficient coils) and discovered that the room felt bigger with just the spartan shining globe sans paper lantern. Which was also dusty, so I cleaned that off too and left it in my “cbf dealing with this rn” basket elsewhere. Thanks to the wonders of basic interior design principles, my sleeping space now feels bigger and brighter and there is less to crowd my pre-snooze processes.
now I just have to get to bed before 11 pm. I’m learning that the only way to stay off phone-internet is to turn the wifi off at the box. Otherwise I’m like a 6 year old in front of a bag of lollies
Haha, I feel you here!! I just changed my sheets from patterned grey to all white, it definitely doesn’t let me have any excuses for skimping on washing… It’s so easy to see, very clearly, when the sheets need a good washing!! I came home from work early yesterday, and gave the sheets a good hot wash with some bleach. Simple, and they came out beautiful and ready for bed. Sleep hygiene has massively gone up for me, buttttt I still struggle with staying up WAY too late lolling about with my laptop and phone. I’m so bad! I fall asleep playing Netflix in the background, and Candy crush on my phone. :’)
netflix and candy crush, that’s like a gemini lullaby isn’t it though ? :}
oh look! it’s 2.10am hahaha ok internet OFF
Shortly before reading this post, I had just told a lover that I was just going to sleep tonight instead. And that we’d have to rebook. Currently drinking a cup lavender/hyssop tea and popping a ‘Cortisol Manager’ vitamin from my lovely naturopath for my once upon a time insomnia. Hitting the hay before midnight. Xx
omg, what was the secret product? i missed it!
all for it. love sleep, love my bed.
just bought more lavender oil as the other bottle disappeared.
wanna get a new bed tho.
my base is in two halves, which is terrible feng shui.
need king size tho. how do people share in a dbl? theyre tiny!
love sleeping on my own aswell. im too tetchy to sleep with my partner!
King size is the only way to go when sleeping with a partner, especially when you get to the age of hot flashes! You need to be able to move out of the wet spot…
oh crikey! the day is not far away…..thats if we ever share a bed together lol
Yes, same. Ha!
Sleep and saying no to things I don’t feel like doing feels like the Saturngeist.
NOTED!
I use the Smiling Mind website as a sleep hack. It’s basically a free meditation site for people that don’t dig all the crap that usually goes with meditation. It’s mindfulness for the new age atheist.
And yes definitely no heavy convos or caffeine a few hours before bedtime. A small carbohydrate snack with some fats and protein can aid sleep for people who struggle with anxiety and can’t actually stay asleep. Also I’ve heard that Melatonin works a treat, but only at higher doses made at a compounding chemist – not the stuff you get on the PBS.
And of course exercise … oh lovely exercise.
I scared the begeezus out of my young daughter when she heard a different mans voice in my bedroom one night. Smiling mind “just relax and let everything go. Breathe deep into your core” she came running in looking wild eyed. Couldn’t relax for laughing
LOL … hmmm maybe earplugs for your ever vigilant daughter with excellent hearing? 😉
Yawning from reading the word y a w n !
Excellent. Read this while yawning at 11pm and thinking about going to bed early. You’ve convinced me! xoxo
Holy heck YES sleep hygiene is an incredible focus of my routine at the moment. Such an important health staple that does wonder for everything else.