And Now, In Aquarius, Saturn Returns.

As myself and the millions of other Saturn in Aquarius babies born between Feb 1991 and Jan 1994 (save for a little break between May - June 1993) stand upon the precipice of astrological adulthood and the first Saturn Return, I have been pondering what exactly we stand on the precipice of.

Because not only does a Saturn Return impact the individuals experiencing it - it also deeply impacts the society they are “graduating” into.

A Saturn Return is the moment between age 28 and 30 when transiting Saturn comes back to the exact spot it was at the moment you were born. As Saturn is a generational planet and stays in the same sign for 3 years, each member of your age group will experience this transit together. Where it falls in your chart, what planets it touches, and your level of willingness to listen to the lessons Saturn is trying to teach you: that is going to impact exactly what your individual Saturn Return involves. But we still see some of the same “lessons” expressing in many different ways, all throughout the generation.

As Aquarius is a sign that is square (90 degrees from) Scorpio, this particular group is a sub-generation of the Pluto in Scorpio generation (born between 1984 and 1995) who happen to have a natal square between Pluto (death! detruction! evolution! transformation! obsession! power!) and Saturn (rules! laws! the societal conditioning we are born into!). Pluto, the Soul’s urge for evolution and Saturn, the conditioning of the Social Collective, are at “war” inside each of these charts.

I think of any square as something that “corners” another part of us. They are at odds and maybe unwilling to look at their similarities - too focused on their differences. This is a sub-generation whose desire for Evolution and to move beyond normality and to reclaim their personal power has always felt cornered by the collective conditioning.

Of course, some in this group will have the square more prominent in their charts than others - the closer that the degree of the two planets are to one another, the more intensely this particular energy will be felt. Mine are quite loosely connected - my Saturn is at 11 degrees of Aquarius, and my Pluto at 22 Scorpio. But every person in this sub generation has what we call this “sign based square” - the two energies are not communicating super well.

Cue Saturn Return, the point in our lives where it is Time to work out our Saturn shit.

Pluto in Scorpio generation humans want to be the wrecking balls we are, breaking down the collective conditioning and all the systems and structures that have been totally corrupt and sour for far too long. Pluto in Scorpio are the Souls who are not afraid to go there, to uncover everything lurking below the surface.

And yet, the folks with Saturn in Aquarius have felt in some way cornered and trapped by authority, trapped even by our own distate for authority. A sense of powerlessness (Pluto) in the eyes of the Social Norm (Saturn.)

“I know what I want to do, but I feel powerless inside this world as it stands to do it”.

As we astrologically come of age over the next three years and fully release the final shackles of childhood, I am expecting to see many of my peers making peace between the society we live inside and the urge to individuate and evolve and tear everything apart. And I get the sense that for many of us, what Saturn Return will bring is opportunities to change the social conditioning so that it isn’t something that future generations have to have this internal struggle with. If you want to be the oddball, the weird one, the different thinker, if you want to in some way individuate from the dictates of your society - Saturn in Aquarius is going to make worlds where you are free to be who you ARE without feeling shackled by the expectations of who you are dictated to be.

Saturn in Aquarius wants liberation from the confines of normality.

Aquaurius is the sign of the forward thinker, the slightly off centre, the mad genius, the ahead of their time. Up until this point there has not been room in “regular” society for us. Those of us with the urge to break chains, break open, and destroy to pave a path for a better humanity have been relegated to the outskirts.

Social conditioning dictated that those who believe in unity conscousness, or looking out for the good of the community, or heterarchy over hierarchy - healthy Aquarius themes - were perceieved as the strange hippies smoking too much with their head in the clouds.

The social collective conditioning had not been adequately broken to make space for these strange futuristic ideals to take root yet.

Fortunetly, this breaking apart has been taken care of by our fellow Pluto in Scorpio friends - the Saturn in Scorpio generation and the uncovering of shadiness in the systems, the Saturn in Sag generation and the insistence for more Truth & freedom in the systems, and the Saturn in Capricorn and awareness bought to just how broken the system is, as they all travelled through their Saturn Returns over the last decade or so.

Do we live in the same world we lived in 10 years ago? No. Because the Pluto in Scorpio wrecking balls have been graduating (Saturn-ing) and doing the work they came to do.

And suddenly, enough people see the gaping holes and problems with what is. And as the Saturn in Aqua babies set their roots down in the world for this next three years, it seems enough people are finally willing to open their minds to the alternatives.

Written by Heather Mann

Instagram: _@heathermann
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