The Saturn in Aquarius Generation.
Saturn spends about 2.5 years moving through each sign of the zodiac - meaning that a group of people born within a 2-3 year period will have the same Saturn sign.
And so while each individual within your generation will have Saturn in a different house/aspecting different planets in their chart - you are a part of an entire generation with Saturn in Aquarius. Every person born in the 3 year period will share similar Saturn lessons. There are certain qualities and life lessons that you share with your generation- that you have been learning throughout your entire lifetime, and that you are here to be the embodiment of - to teach the rest of the Collective what you have learned in your Saturn school studies.
So - what are some of these common themes in Saturn in Aquarius, that I have seen come up time and time again in clients and friends (and myself, as I am also a part of this graduating class!)
While there are some generalizations that can be extended to other Saturn in Aquarius generations too, for the most part in this section I am referring exclusively to the generation of the early-mid 90s, who also have Neptune/Uranus in Capricorn and Pluto in Scorpio; and experienced the same themes of their childhood/ adolescence.
First and foremost: Saturn in Aquarius is a life lesson in fitting in.
Or, more accurately - the journey of feeling like you will never really fit in.
Sure, everyone feels like they don’t belong anywhere at some point in their lives. But for the Saturn in Aquarius generation this has been more or less a constant state of being.
You were born at the time when the world was literally on the precipice of unprecedented change. You share your Saturn Return with the world wide web - yes, not just people have Saturn Returns. The internet also was ‘born’ during Saturn in Aquarius in the early 90s. The dawning on the internet meant life and the world would quite literally never be the same.
Among many other things, Saturn in Aquarius and the internet brought a place for us to meet like-minded people, on any topic, even if there was no one in your immediate community who liked the same stuff that you do.
So a lot of Saturn in Aquarius kids have - at certain points - had two different social lives. One, online, where you can be exactly who you truly are. Where you are free to love what you love, talk with likeminded people about who you are and how you feel. And then, the social life with people in your everyday life - where maybe you have had to pretend to be someone else in order to fit in.
This has created a feeling of disconnect in a lot of this generation. Having safe spaces where you can be yourself, and talk about the things that genuinely interest you is amazing. BUT: it means that you have probably experienced the heartbreak of trying to share the exciting things you deeply care about with people in your real life, and having it met with confusion, disinterest, or even “damn that’s weird” by the people in your ‘real life’.
And that? The rejection of something/s you care deeply about, that you try to share with people you love? HEARTBREAKING. Soul- shattering. A lot of people in this generation have astrology chart signatures of being ostracized from society for thinking differently (Uranus in Capricorn and Saturn in Aquarius both show this signature) and so when rejected by people you love in this life - alllll those past life memories are reignited.
And so, very early in life this generation learned one of two coping skills to deal with the feeling of isolation/not fitting in.
Either we made “nobody understands me” our entire personality. Remember the early to mid 2000s, the emo movement? The “it’s not a phase, mum?” The astrological signatures of the late 80s to early-mid 90s (Saturn in Aqua, Uranus/Neptune in Capricorn, Pluto in Scorpio) were responsible for this movement. Seeking an outlet for not liking “society”, much of our generation rebelled by - making hating society and everyone in it our entire personality.
OR, we did EVERYTHING in our power to change our personality in order to fit in. We wore the correct clothes, tried to talk about what everybody else seemed to care about, carefully cultivated a personality we thought would make us liked. And yet, almost every person in this generation still loved most being recognised for the tiny little quirks we did allow ourselves to flaunt in public: the socially acceptable quirks like a rogue band that everyone knows we like, a funny/cute keychain, ‘weird pants Wednesday’ (this was my socially acceptable quirk 😝.)
The truth is, though we have become masters of pretending like we do - nobody with a strong Aquarius signature in their chart feels like they fit in anywhere. And here is why: because the true nature of Aquarius is to stand out. To rebel against the rule-affirming nature of Capricorn, the sign that comes before it. Your very purpose on this Earth - your deepest lesson in life- is to be the embodiment of Rebellion.
I’ll come back to that in a minute, but first let’s talking about one of the hardest things that Saturn in Aquarius and a life lesson in “not fitting in” brings:
Loneliness.
The last 3 years of your Saturn Return have likely brought up the sensations of loneliness.
You might have been surrounded by people, or you may have genuinely been all alone and isolated at certain points. Whichever it was, the deep icy cold realization of “oh my god. I am nearly 30, and I STILL FEEL LIKE A TEENAGER TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHERE I BELONG” probably chilled you to your bones at some point.
It showed up in different areas of each of our lives. Maybe career. Maybe a relationship (or lack thereof). Lack of meaningful friendships. But the sensation of not belonging is lonely. While your generation is designed to not fit in - while your generation was literally handmade to ‘rock the boat’: you still have the pure human craving for a feeling of belonging. Belonging is a feeling of being Home in yourself and in the world - like you are accepted unconditionally wherever you go. Fitting in the act of changing yourself in an attempt to achieve acceptance - but that can never be unconditional, and will never nourish your Soul.
So what to do with this loneliness?
The first step is to remember the true source of the feeling of loneliness. It is there because in some way shape or form, you don’t feel safe to fully embody the full spectrum of who you really are in every area of your life. Loneliness is a sign that we are rejecting some part of ourselves- we are hungry for connection with ourselves.
How can we expect other people to accept all of us - even the weird things that were rejected in childhood, that we are terrified to show - if we don’t accept them in ourselves?
Part of your Saturn in Aquarius return journey has probably involved slowly revealing more details about yourself to people you love. Sharing your more unique interests. Maybe you really got back into an interest or hobby or passion that you had when you were younger, but you had stopped because it wasn’t “normal” - and started talking about this with people in your life.
And maybe, the somatic memories of being rejected for ‘being different’ were triggered. Ooof, the cold fear that takes over your body when your body remembers being isolated.
But. Again. The more that you accept and embrace every part of you, the less and less that people in your life can question it and thus make you feel like you need to hide it in order to receive love. The first time you speak about a unique passion, or belief, or part of you - your voice shakes. And you aren’t fully embodied in it. And so people can weasel their way in with their doubts. But as you continue to do this thing you love; and as you continue to care about it loudly despite the feedback from others - at some people simply accept it as you. And then, you work on integrating the next part of you that you had rejected in order to appear ‘normal’.
Why? Because when you wake up one day and you realize, suddenly, that there is nothing you could authentically do/say/be that would shock or be rejected by the people you love: you realize you are finally free. You are finally free, to fully be yourself. The ever changing, unique, weird, human you. AND STILL BE FULLY LOVED AND ACCEPTED.
This is a massive part of the Saturn in Aquarius generation journey, and a huge part of the lessons that the generation is here to share with the collective. That loneliness is a feeling stemming from rejection of some part/s of yourself in an attempt to fit in - and attempt to fit in, robs the world of your unique Genius.
Your purpose is to be, and to be loved for all of that.
Embracing Genius.
Another big theme of this generation, with Uranus and Neptune in the sign of Capricorn (another sign that Saturn rules) - is embracing the possibilities of the human creative potential when allowed to think outside of the box.
Capricorn is a sign that (in this context) represents the status quo, the way things are, the limitations of society.
Uranus is a planet of creative, crazy genius and thinking outside the box.
Neptune is a planet of dimensions/worlds/dreams beyond what we can see with our two eyes.
Your generation is literally here with a theme of expanding beyond the limitations of society using the mind (Uranus) and the imagination (Neptune).
The world we live in - the world that is so determined to view life in terms of the status quo and nothing will ever change is a deep source of frustration for early 90s Saturn in Aquarius people.
This function is also something that was often shut down in childhood/adolescence - once again, in order to ‘fit in’. And so, a part of the Saturn Return journey (and life journey - it’s not too late!) for this generation is reclaiming a) your unique, outside the box way of thinking and b) your capacity to use your imagination to go way beyond what exists on this Earth right now.
Genius is the combination of creativity/imagination (Neptune), and a mind that refuses to accept anything is impossible based on perceived limitations. (Uranus)
Do you give yourself permission to daydream? To imagine? To innovate?
Mature Rebellion.
That brings me to the next big theme of your generation.
Saturn, as the planet of aging, represents an area of life we mature in over time. When you were younger, maybe the Soul-urge toward rebellion was more immature. Fighting against authority for the sake of it, without intention. Or, the silly quirks example - while cute, and an important part of an Aquarian journey - letting yourself collect quirky keychains to release some of that deep need for rebellion is not going to create the massive shift in the world that your Soul craves.
Give yourself your little quirks, but you also have to do the mature rebellion too.
What do I mean by mature rebellion?
Our generation is here to assist in the destruction of the existing systems that have created a hierarchy where most are struggling, and a few thrive. This is really represented by Pluto in Scorpio square Saturn in Aquarius in our charts. Pluto represents the urge for destruction in a generation, and Scorpio is a sign that pushes toward death and total annihilation if something is not quite right. Pluto and Saturn are in a sign - based square (an astrological aspect of tension) in ALL of our charts. There is a natural tension within each of us between the “rules of society” (Saturn) and the urge for destruction (Pluto).
And so, one of the big lessons we are learning, through the tension of this point in our charts - ideally - is that simply fighting, fighting, fighting a system will not change it. BECOMING a Master of Embodied Rebellion (big theme for our generation) is a signature of our generation.
Embodied Rebellion means quite literally, BEING the change you want to see in the world. Saturn, in medical astrology, represents the BONES of the body. So, what are the bones holding up an existing society? The people within that society. When the people within a society refuse to play by the rules of the existing society, the bones crumble and society falls.
With Saturn in Aquarius, you are here to let your rebellion sink down into your bones. If you don’t like the way something works in this world (i.e. capitalism, pollution, the education system, take your pick) - how can you, in your human form, become the representation of someone who has broken outside? Like - buying only from small businesses? Being kind? Growing your own fruit and vegetables? Studying herbalism to keep your family healthy? Reclaiming birth, pregnancy, studying women's health? Homeschooling, or sending your kids to a school whose philosophy you agree with? Traveling? Living in a tiny house, or a van? It will be different for everyone. But if there is a thing you care deeply about, and you wish would change - how can you BE that change?
While our Pluto in Scorpio urge is toward destruction (whether self-destruction or destruction of others) - we are most fulfilled when BUILDING THE NEW BONES OF SOCIETY (very Saturn in Aquarius).