November / December 2009 Venture Inward • 13
Saturn’s Increasing Influence
In previous columns I mentioned that
three planets (Pluto, Saturn, and Uranus)
are entering Cardinal signs during 2008-
2012. The Cardinal signs are pivotal points
in the zodiac. When the planets involved are
collective planets – those outer planets that
influence large groups of people – it symbolizes
a pivotal time for all humanity.
Pluto moved into Capricorn in January
2008. Saturn’s influence has increased since
it moved into the cardinal sign of Libra at the
end of October, 2009.
As Saturn moved through Virgo, work,
jobs, and health care have been in the news.
Saturn in Libra symbolizes issues in relationships
and partnerships. This will affect everyone,
more or less, depending on your personal
horoscope. Collectively, it affects nations’ relationships
and partnerships with other nations.
A major theme in Saturn’s mythology is “overthrowing
the father.” This translates to the idea of a changing of the
guard. The old way of being ends and a new way begins.
From Saturn’s influences we find changes, new experiences…
and the old order often passing away. 1293-1
Every astrological influence can be used constructively
or destructively, depending on how you use your will.
Used constructively, Saturn reflects focus, self-discipline,
fairness, flexible structures, appropriate use of authority,
and healthy governments and businesses. It leads to
spiritual influences manifesting in everyday life.
Used destructively, Saturn represents a critical, demanding,
authoritarian personality that is unbending, or unfair
and heavy-handed toward others. There may be an emphasis
on earthly pursuits instead of a spiritual life.
The Cayce readings speak of Saturn’s influence as follows:
This would mean change, or the entrance into material
from the spirit realm. 288-50
The question becomes, how do you live a spiritual life in
the material realm? How is the connection made between
spirit and materiality?
The Cayce readings suggest that Saturn’s influences represent
the need for a spiritual ideal to be “earthed” – brought
into materiality. If you have worked with an ideal, as the
Cayce readings suggest, you will know how difficult it can
be to apply that ideal in your everyday life. It takes hard
work (Saturn’s specialty) and a constant application of your
will. If you have an ideal in your head, or even on paper, but
don’t apply it in your life then you haven’t
“earthed” it.
In alchemy, the earth element is represented
by the coagulatio operation. This is
where a liquid or gas begins to solidify and
take on concrete form. It begins to have
substance. Saturn influences the development
of substance in your life. You take
action on your ideal. You make something
solid in your life.
Often the experience of Saturn or coagulatio
feels limiting. Saturn is associated with
depression (as in being saturnine). When
you take action, you sometimes experience
a loss because you eliminate all other possibilities.
You limit other job possibilities
when you take a new job. Coagulatio is frequently
the final operation in alchemy that
makes the gold. Earthing your ideal is the
final step in the process of expressing spirit in the earth.
If you haven’t used Saturn’s influences constructively,
then you may have creative ideas but have trouble bringing
them into materiality. You may have wonderful dreams for a
book but never write it. Sometimes this issue shows in your
horoscope when there is an imbalance in the earth element:
too little or too much. You may have difficulty taking action,
or may appear flighty, stuck-in-the-mud, not appropriately
grounded, or earthed!
If you’ve dealt with Saturn’s influences well, then you
are able to make your dreams a reality in your life; you have
the appropriate structure for the expression of your creativity,
you’re dependable and a person of substance.
Taking action on your ideal(s) is vital because it enables
you to do your part in helping humanity cope with the inevitable
stressors of this pivotal moment. Earthing your ideal
belongs to the realm of Saturn and increases in importance
for individuals, and also for humanity at large, as Saturn enters
the cardinal sign of Libra.
Man can only begin, then, within himself. And as he applies
that he knows, that he understands of God, in his daily life, so
may there be given him the next step to make. 3976-23.
A major theme in
Saturn’s mythology
is “overthrowing the
father.” The old way of
being ends and a new
way begins.
RAYE MATHIS, MSW, LSW, has been an astrological counselor
for over 40 years. A former A.R.E. board member, she currently
serves on the faculty of Atlantic University where she mentors
a distance-learning course, “Introduction to Transformational
Astrology.” Call 800-428-1512 for information.