Transits & cycles

Saturn return

Also known as: Saturn returnsreturn of Saturn

A Saturn return is the moment transiting Saturn comes back to the degree it held at your birth — first around age 29 to 30, then around 59 and 88.

Saturn goes round the zodiac in about 29.4 years. On average the first return comes at about age 29.5, the second at about 58.9 and the third at about 88.3. The real dates differ by months, and when Saturn’s retrograde motion falls near the natal degree the return has three exact passes and lasts like a window, sometimes for most of a year.

On the way Saturn forms squares to its natal position (on average around 7, 22, 37 and 51) and oppositions (around 15, 44 and 74). Western astrology counts the Saturn return among the important life themes: testing the choices made so far, maturing, responsibility and putting in order what is meant to last. It describes a theme for the time rather than announcing particular events; it is often lived as demanding, and also as a time of standing on one’s own feet.

The Saturn return is often set beside the Jupiter return: Jupiter speaks of expansion and meaning, Saturn of structure and limits. In Vedic astrology a similar role is played by Sade Sati, Saturn’s passage through the signs around the natal Moon.