by HausWitch Assistant Manager/Art Witch Brenda Roswess
Saturn went back into Aquarius in December, and plenty of millennials have just started or ended their own Saturn return. Folks have their first Saturn return between ages 27-31, their second between 56-60, and a third between 84-90. The first Saturn return is a big level up into cosmic adulthood because Saturn is the disciplinarian. Saturn wants you to get real and get more comfortable with doing what you don’t want to do, but NEED to do. Saturn is our celestial Daddy (or Mommy, or whatever guardian figure feels most supportive). Personally I’m all for Daddy Saturn because the silliness lightens the load of the serious work of the Saturn return.
If you’ve dug around for information on Saturn returns, you’ll see plenty about how intense they are and how some people have experienced the worst events of their life in that time. That is a lot to take in, especially for something we all have to navigate for years while Saturn is in our natal sign; but truthfully, plenty of those Saturn return horror stories end with folks taking radical responsibility and maturing through the difficulty. Saturn wants us to do a good job self-parenting, and if anything needs to improve we'll be presented with challenges and opportunities to grow. If it feels hard, that’s because it’s supposed to sometimes, but it’s so SO good for us.
So what does Saturn have to do with setting intentions? Well… everything. Anything we wish to manifest takes a little bit of elbow grease in some form or another. That could mean holding space for feelings that make us uncomfortable so that we can grow past where our desire for comfort has kept us stuck. Or literally doing the work in the mundane world to get closer to what we want: we all want prosperity, but making budgets can be boring, and sticking to them is hard. But we know that’s the real work that it takes. You can look to the house that your natal Saturn is in for information about where in your life this leveling up needs to take place.
Manifesting takes resilience, and that can be hard to maintain, so I want to offer a supportive intention-setting spell in the spirit of the Age of Aquarius, which combines technology with magick.
Sigils are symbolic representations of the desired outcome of a spell. Like a sigil, we’re going to use a digital image file as the container for all the energies that we want to manifest, through adding our own words and additional images to the image code. Lots of people make sigils and burn them, and try to detach themselves from the sigil as a way of releasing the intention into the universe, but another way of working with sigils is to turn lots of focus toward it. We’re going to do the latter but with glitched images, that we’re going to craft on a computer (I don’t believe it can be done on mobile, but if someone knows how please share).
A glitched image is technically a somewhat “corrupted file”, that stays just functional enough to work, but is altered by tech wizardry. Here’s how you hack your magic:
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Select an image file that you want to work with as your base image. It should be something foundational to the intention you’re setting. I chose to make an image for energy clearing as I’m an empath that doesn’t always have the best psychic hygiene. .jpg works for sure (.gifs and .png I’m not so sure on) Whatever image you use, download it instead of taking a screenshot. I’ve found that screenshot files are less stable for some reason and result in files that get too corrupted to view almost right away.
I chose this image of some Elbaite on white Albite from one of my favorite instagrams @aesthetic__minerals:
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Gather any text or additional image files that you want to add into your file cauldron. I added the image below, as well as this repeating text: energy is everything and everything is energy energy is everything and everything is energy energy is everything and everything is energy energy is everything and everything is energy energy is everything and everything is energy energy is everything and everything is energy energy is everything and everything is energy energy is everything and everything is energy energy is everything and everything is energy energy is everything and everything is energy energy is everything and everything is energy energy is everything and everything is energy
- Delete, add, and copy any parts in that file to mix it all together. The beginning and end of image file code is usually pretty important so avoid putting anything right at the beginning or end of the file.
- Now re-re-name your file BACK to a .jpg and check it out. If you want to do more to the image keep switching back and forth between text and image file until you’re happy with it. *Remember to make copies of versions you like because you can always end up breaking your file beyond repair*
- Now put it to use as your phone or desktop background! Spend some time just gazing at it. Print it and put it on your altar, try to paint or draw it. Use it however you feel called to.
