Saturn in Sagittarius: The Skeptic, the Architect and the Luddite

“I don’t believe in astrology; I’m a Sagittarius and we’re skeptical.”

-Arthur C. Clarke ((Ratcliffe, Susan. Oxford Dictionary of Quotations by Subject. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2010. 348. Print.))

Saturn entered the tropical sign of Sagittarius on December 23rd 2014. It will briefly regress back into Scorpio on June 16^th 2015. It will re-ingress into Sagittarius on September 18^th 2015 where it will remain for about 2 years until it enters Capricorn on December 21^st 2017. What does Saturn in Sagittarius mean and what kinds of things should we expect to happen?  This is the question which I hope to answer with this article. First, let us consider the most commonly held meanings for the planet Saturn and the sign of Sagittarius.

Saturn in astrology is considered a malefic planet which signifies among the following:

• Limits, obstacles, responsibilities, discipline, hard work, ambition, hard-fought rewards, maturity, foundations, long commitments, seriousness, depression, doubt, fear, darkness, corruption, loss, exclusion, rejection, separation, punishment, sacrifice, regulation, order.

This is where the word “saturnine” gets its meaning. The planet Saturn’s prominent rings also evoke its associations with confinements and restrictions. As Saturn passes through the zodiac, it brings these significations to bear on the topics associated with each sign. Saturn takes approximately 29 ½ years to go around the zodiac, so Saturn is in roughly the same sign every 30 years. When someone reaches approximately 29 ½, 59 or 88 ½ years old, they experience their Saturn Return.

Sagittarius in astrology is a mutable fire sign which has the Archer as its symbol and is ruled by Jupiter. The Sun’s apparent transits through the mutable signs of the zodiac occur when the Earth is in between seasons. Not quite one season, not quite the other, hence the term ‘mutable’. For this reason, the mutable signs represent transitions from one “season” to another, areas of life between the material and temporal.

Since Jupiter is a diurnal benefic planet which offers its significations to Sagittarius, these areas of life include:

• Acquisition of wisdom, higher truths, ethics, philosophy, religion, law, justice, higher education, publishing, indulgence, excess, celebration, optimism, travel, the broadening of one’s horizons, the exploration of new frontiers.

The symbol of Sagittarius is the Archer, a half-beast half-man, a centaur. This represents the dual nature of the sign, specifically humanity’s transcendence of its primal animalistic nature through the acquisition of knowledge, demonstrated by the ability to use tools (the bow and arrow). To give yourself an idea of the Sagittarian ethos, the Sun’s apparent annual sojourn through Sagittarius coincides with Thanksgiving and the Christmas season, the epitome of Sagittarian indulgence and joviality.

When Saturn passes through Sagittarius, it puts the topics associated with the sign on trial. It is an architect for difficult and ambitious projects that take people across great distances. It appears to be coincident with times of great fear and ethical concern at the frontier of knowledge and exploration, like a luddite or a conscientious objector. It is critical, skeptical and corrupting in the realms of knowledge, of religious, philosophical or political beliefs. These different roles of Saturn in Sagittarius are not entirely disparate and often overlap under a broader principle. What follows is my examination of these three main ways Saturn appears to operate in Sagittarius.