By Elizabeth Smith, Master Astrocartographer
When people talk about the astrological New Age, we almost always site the influences of the planetary ruler of the sign Aquarius, Uranus.
We hardly ever speak of the influence of Aquarius’ co-ruling planet, Saturn.
Saturn just doesn’t have the same glam appeal.
Although given the position of co-ruler, we forget that until Uranus was discovered not too long ago on March 13, 1781, Saturn was the sole astrological ruler of Aquarius and that it has been since antiquity.
Uranus is responsible for speeding your life up. But rarely mentioned Saturn, the Lord of Time and karma, does just the opposite. He slows things down.
Uranus releases old ways of thinking in order to bring in new thought and ideas. Saturn holds tenaciously to the structures of the elders, the past, the traditional and fights change to its last breath.
Uranus is a forward thinking progressive, energy that idealizes equality. Saturn is a conservative energy that values holding on to the way it’s always been done in patriarchal terms.
While Uranus brings in constant change and a restless spirit, Saturn is right beside him working on developing our character through forcing us to overcome the impulse to constantly entertain ourselves with new experiences.
Saturn denies our impulses to embrace the new and forces us instead to cultivate patience, to overcome short attention spans with fortitude, and above all, to transcend our youthful demands for personal ego affirmation by cultivating humility.
Uranus is like the Disneyland parent who gets the kids love and admiration by constantly exposing them to exciting new rides at the theme park.
Saturn is the parent who is back home holding down the fort, being there when the going gets tough and enforcing much needed structure and discipline when things are going well.
We need both to turn out our best selves.
So the next time you hear someone talking about how revolutionary the next few thousand years are destined to be, remind them that, while that may be quite true, there is also a stabilizing force that is not going to go away anytime soon.
Saturn is our root. It waves a banner that reads “The more things change, the more they stay the same.“ Nature loves balance. She knows it breeds longevity. And so it is as it should be.
May the force be with us all.