A large number of people, are undergoing their second Saturn return, all those who are about 57-58-59 years old.
Many of us were born with Saturn at the last degrees of Virgo, especially those born in 1951, but as from August 1951 Saturn traveled through Libra up to October 1953.
There is a difference between these two positions, as Saturn expresses its energies different in each sign.
In many cases, at this age, women have already gone through menopause and men through their andropause (male menopause).
Unfortunately, in most cultures, this is an age in which we are “officially” “old”. It’s the first real confrontation with what society calls “the third age”. First third?
The last third?, the third opportunity? I prefer to see it as a new opportunity to do what we have really come to do and be in this lifetime.
Fortunately, today, the “60s″ are almost like being 40.” Even so, our body begins to show the way we have treated through out our life. Those of us who have had more years of living healthy than not, we find ourselves with all our physical strength and mental capabilities, those who didn’t, will now be suffering the consequences of this.
By now we should know, that the worst abuse that one can commit against oneself, is to ignore who we actually are, going through life being a cultural puppet, saying and doing what is expected of us, without the courage to take the great risk of being oneself.
The secret revealed to us at the end of our 50s, is the need to put all the attention on being true to ourselves, especially if we have spent our life meeting the needs of others and vice versa, if one has lived obsessed with oneself, this is the time to meet the needs of others.
Carlos Castaneda in his “teachings of Don Juan” said that the “wise man” after fighting all his life against the natural enemies of man, such as Fear, Clarity and Power, should be then confronted with “old age”, which made us feel tired.
Still, I prefer to see this process as The Great Opportunity. At 60, we also experience the 5th return of Jupiter, and as it happens on each return of this planet, doors open to new dimensions. “Each time” the return of Jupiter happens, every 12 years.
Between 54-55, we also go through the second Lunar Return, by progression, as the first Progressed Lunar Return(at age 27-28) also coincides with the first return of Saturn, this is without a doubt a true rite of passage of a State of consciousness to another. Our childhood and youth, are instinctively reviewed and deeply understood, sometimes for the first time we get to see clearly the source of our problems in life.
A profound sense of freedom occurs, when we become aware that there is nothing we can do to alter the past, but that there is much to do about what remains of life.
Once again, great courage is necessary, to get back to the challenges of life rather than remaining inactive, feeling that is too late for change, for ever regretting the mistakes of the past.
Since we are talking about Saturn, there is some professional element in this crisis (crisis = opportunity for change). If since your first saturn return, you’ve been doing what your soul asked you to do, this may be a moment of great harvest, where the Cosmos gives back, for the efforts made in the past. If on the other hand, you’ve spent all 28-30 years doing work that did not voice your soul, then this is the great opportunity for you to give yourself this benefit and right, of being able to give form and expression to who you really are.
NEVER too late for this. Even if it happens 5 years before you die or the last year of your life, this gives meaning to your existence, and there is no age or time limit for it to happen. Yes, there is, what the Greeks called KAIROS, or “the right time”. And we all have our Kairos, it happens when it should, when we are ready.
According on what house in your birth-chart, you experience your Saturn return, you will know where you have this opportunity to restructure your life, free yourself from family and culture conditioning, so you can close this chapter and redirect your personal energy towards your own truth.
When the return happens in Virgo, it has more to do with the awareness that the actions in our lives should serve others, our community, people in general. In Libra, however, the lesson is in human relations.
What have our personal relationships been like? What have been our expectations? our mistakes?, our successes? our responsibility for failure and success in the relationship of our lives.
Still living in an addictive, destructive or simply unhappy relationship? Have we waged too fast relations which did not meet our expectations? What do we want today of a relationship? Which are the lessons in them? These, are all issues we confront at the second return of Saturn in Libra.
A deep sense of loneliness is common in these moments, the children have grown, possibly you are divorced, or you are widowed, but the awareness that universal love, is not only possible, but an important part of our development, is very helpful.
Great time to study that subject you loved all your life but never had time to do. Start Yoga o Feldenkrais, Tai-Chi or any other physical exercise like walking, to keep your body strong and flexible.
The cultural voice that says, it’s too late to start that sort of thing, must be discarded. It’s never too late if you are alive.
Each decade in our lives has its lessons and it’s our obligation to discover them.
In Greek Mythology, it is said that if a simple mortal ignores the wimps an desires of a God, will pay for it with his life or eternal suffering, that was called HUBRIS. Translated to everyday life: ” all those parts of your psyche and your soul that you ignore, will haunt you for ever from your unconscious, where you keep them locked”
The process of freeing and expressing these parts of ourselves is often tortuous and painful, but infinitively liberating. Use this important astrological moment of your life, to redirect, recreate your life, to listen to the voices that are calling you from within the darkest areas of your soul. The prize: FREEDOM.
