University Of Life - Professor Saturn
On your unfolding journey, the most important transit is the one happening to you right now and the choices you make in response.
Wolfram
Professor Saturn is dark, serious, humorless and demanding! He is the professor everyone hopes to avoid and you certainly do not look forward to his classes with joy! In a similar way, the transits of Saturn feel heavy and limiting and demanding!
Once you sign up for Professor Saturn's class, you recognize it is a lifetime enrollment and he will be closely watching year after year. As the Lord Of Time, Professor Saturn is in no hurry. The subject matter he teaches is foundational and necessary for a stable and content life. He seeks to instruct and judge how maturely you are approaching your life and becoming your own authority.
Professor Jupiter encourages us to develop our own philosophy and to be inspired to create a vision for our future around that philosophy:
Professor Saturn does not care about your vision if you have not tended to the foundation of your life in a mature way.
When you have tended maturely to your foundation in life, he supports your vision and works with Professor Jupiter.
In this, we can see a glimmer of how Professor Jupiter and Professor Saturn work together to support your unfolding journey.
Professor Saturn gives a lot of examinations at the University Of Life.
Brush Up Exams: Your Day To Day Functioning.
Along the way, Professor Saturn will give you a series of minor Brush Up Exams to test if you are acting maturely in the world or if you need to make adjustments. These exams test your day to day functioning in life.
These Brush Up Exams come in the form of transiting Saturn conjunct, square and oppose the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto. Professor Saturn is a stickler for details so that he can make sure you are paying attention to the important aspects of life represented by each planet.
For example, a transit of Saturn to Mars will test your will to take action. During the transit, your efforts might get blocked in some way. How maturely do you respond? How well were you prepared for this setback? Do you give up? Or, do you make adjustments and keep on going?
A transit of Saturn to Mercury might cause a key communication channel to break down. Are you prepared to respond maturely? Do you have a back-up plan? Do you become defeated?
These are NOT major exams, but tests of your day to day functioning that result in two types of grade: ‘good job, keep up the good work’ or ‘no problem, but take responsibility for your world next time’.
Mid-Term Exams: Your Overall Path.
Since Saturn has a 29 year cycle, about every 7 years transiting Saturn makes a square or opposition to Saturn and the Sun, or a conjunction to the Sun and Ascendant. These Mid-Term exams of Saturn occur roughly once every 3 ½ years and these exams are more important because they are tests of your overall path in life and your efforts to bring your plan into reality. This is the exam that you dress up for a bit to make a good impression.
If you pass the mid-term, you pat yourself on the back and know that you are on track to passing Professor Saturn’s Final Exams as you are demonstrating you are acting as the authority in your world. This feels good and you are confident to continue on your journey. How do you know this is the result? If you are not knocked off your course, you passed. It is really that simple. If the transit ends with no fallout, good job!
If you do not pass the mid-term, first, you pick yourself up. Then, you would be advised to become more determined in your efforts to become the authority of your world and to not repeat this mistake again. An example might be getting hit with a bill you had ignored that derails your plans in some way. You must deal with the consequences. If you have real financial pressures, something must be adjusted. Professor Saturn will demand that you become the authority of your financial resources and he will keep pressuring this aspect of life until you do. Making adjustments prior to Final Examinations is important.
Again, Professor Saturn does not care about your vision if you have not tended to your foundation for life in a mature way. I call this the process of ‘Making Friends With Saturn’ in life. In life, we need a strong foundation so that we can bring our visions into reality with our mature efforts.
If we fail too many of these ‘mid-term exams’, we might become fearful or filled with doubt over time. Professor Saturn does not want us to be fearful, but that can be the result if we keep failing his mid-term exams over time. We might begin to think we are fated to fail, which is not true at all. The path to success requires that we let go of unhelpful images of who we are that act to prevent us from being the master of our world. If you are passing his mid-term exams, you should live without fear because you know your foundation is strong. If you are failing his exams, you should also be without fear because that is not helpful, but not without the determination to adjust. Your course must be adjusted.
Saturn reveals the truth to us.
While Saturn has many faces, he reveals the light of truth to us so that we can accept reality, accept what is and take action based on that.
In this way, we release the fear, we release the doubt.
For example, if you are experiencing financial pressures, what authoritative action must you take to change this? Options might include getting a job that is not ideal so you can pay your bills, or reducing your living expenses, etc. If you are waiting for money from something like an inheritance or lawsuit, but are broke right now, Professor Saturn is asking that you assess how you are responding right now and to look at the larger picture of your life. Again, his course is a lifetime curriculum and he knows the overall path is about more than the present moment. He might ask you to consider if your foundation supports you now and into the future.
It is important to remember that the goal of these mid-term exams is to be prepared for Professor Saturn’s final examinations: Saturn Returns.
Final Exams: Your Saturn Returns.
In your lifetime enrollment, Professor Saturn wants you to be content in your world and, once every 29 years, you experience the important final examinations from Professor Saturn.
Your first final exam occurs at your First Saturn Return (age 29) when you are an “undergraduate” in the school of life. Then, 29 years later, you have your second final exam at your Second Saturn Return in life’s “post-graduate” studies. These exams occur only once every 29 years and they are the most important and powerful tests of both your path in life and the quality of your efforts.
With a Saturn Return, you know with certainty if you failed or passed. How? Well, like the analogy I like to use from the children's story of the Third Little Pig, if your house is still standing, you passed.
If the windows are blown out or you are standing in rubble, then you have work to do and the next chapter starts now! Adjustment can lead to greater stability.
The Keys to Professors Jupiter and Saturn
Jupiter sparks inspiration on your soul’s journey and asks you to take action and build momentum.
Professor Saturn wants you to build a solid foundation for your life and to demonstrate you are taking mature action by passing his Brush Up, Mid Terms and Final Exams.
Professor Saturn does not care about your vision if you have not tended to the foundation of your life in a mature way. When you have tended maturely to your foundation in life, he supports your vision and works with Professor Jupiter.
May Professors Jupiter and Saturn be your guide to a joyful and content future as you continue your coursework at the University of Life.