Saturn is the planet of Time To Grow The F*ck Up, with the “Saturn Return” as astrology’s second most-popular concept in the non-astrological mainstream (after, of course, Mercury retrograde).
Of the planets visible from Earth without a telescope, Saturn is the furthest out and slowest moving, and was long considered to be the boundary of our bit of the cosmos. “Boundary” is probably the most comprehensive keyword for Saturn: it represents limits, from age to rules to physics to skin, and the ultimate limit of all, death.
As a planet of boundaries, Saturn brings us face-to-face with reality. That’s where the Saturn Return often gets a bad rap -- if you haven’t already stepped up to what adulthood truly means for you in this lifetime, your first Saturn Return in your late 20s will bring you up to speed pretty quickly, often with a hefty side of metaphorical & metaphysical bruises.
Saturn’s influence goes far beyond age 28, though. Whether or not you’re within your Saturn Return, you’ll experience some Saturnian lessons every year of your life.
Like every planet except the Sun and Moon, Saturn spends a portion of every year in a retrograde phase*. This year, Saturn’s retrograde began on April 30th, and it ended on September 18th. One way to bring some rigor and discipline to your life — attitudes that Saturn will reward with gifts like greater perseverance, wisdom, skillful long-term planning, and stability — is to consider what has shifted for you during the Saturn retrograde period, and then to devote yourself to applying whatever you’ve learned going forward.
This particular Saturn retrograde had some extra intensity thanks to the Moon’s South Node. In a nutshell, the Nodes of the Moon are where eclipses happen; the location of the South Node specifically points to where some deep emptying-out is occuring. Saturn holding hands with the South Node for the entirety of its retrograde phase ramped up the Saturnian themes of belt-tightening, superfluity-erasing, and reality-emphasizing, all while bringing us face to face with the consequences of historical immaturities at both the personal and collective levels.
For some folks, this retrograde phase was extremely challenging as limits were reached and found to be impassable. For others, it was extremely liberating, as old limits were revealed to be no longer relevant. For still others, it was somewhere in between, with difficulty dancing along with the relief of unburdening.
Wherever you fall on that spectrum, this astro-tarot spread is designed to help you concretize what you learned and make the results of those lessons as beneficially tangible as possible. As usual, if you use it and share it on social media, feel free to tag both @hauswitch and @ddamascenaa! If you’d rather keep any sharing private, you can also DM or email me <3
LEARNING WITH SATURN
This is a nine-card spread, but each row’s trifecta can be used as a separate, 3-card spread if nine cards feels like too much!
(1) What was uncovered by the retrograde
(2) and (3) What removed to allow for that uncovering
(4) What was refined during the retrograde
(5) and (6) How it was strengthened
(7) The wisdom that is now available
(8) and (9) How to apply that wisdom
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*A planet is “retrograde” when, from an Earth-bound perspective, a planet appears to be moving backwards in the sky. This is due to the astronomical phenomenon of all of the planets orbiting the Sun at different rates. The Sun doesn’t ever appear retrograde because it’s the center of the solar system; the Moon doesn’t ever appear retrograde because it orbits the Earth, not the Sun.
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Diana Rose Harper is a wanderer, tarot reader, astrologer, licensed massage therapist, and Reiki Master. Born under a New Moon, her life is filled with intention. Find her inspiring writings, posts, and stories lifting up amazing POC and BIPOC folx on Instagram at @ddamascenaa, support her on Patreon, and sign up for her newsletter to stay in touch. Diana conducts astrology, tarot and astrotarot readings via Zoom call and can be reached here for booking inquiries.
