The Accidental Saturn Return By Gayle Geffner, Secretary, NCGR-LA

By Gayle Geffner, Secretary, NCGR-LA

A return of a planet happens when that planet reaches the exact sign and degree it was in your natal chart. For example, your solar return happens each year when the Sun reaches the exact degree of your natal Sun. Saturn returns happen every 27 to 28 years, marking phases of our lives.

Saturn returns tell us whether we have done our homework well and are ready for the next phase of our lives. If we have not, we may flounder and have to make up for lost time, and hopefully will get back on a track that is right for ourselves. I have heard some astrologers say that the Saturn return brings honor or dishonor depending upon whether we have done our homework right. Often we do not even realize that we have done well since our progress is slow and steady, and often we feel we are making no progress at all. Whatever the case, Saturn itself is never accidental but we often go into our Saturn returns, especially the first one at age 27 or 28, in a haphazard, accidental way.

As children, we are not consciously working toward this first Saturn return and most children do not know what a Saturn return is. As astrologers, we may begin working this return in our late teens or early twenties, once we learn what a Saturn return is, and try to play catch up ñ but maybe not.

As I review either family charts or charts of people whose lives I know quite well, I find that although we may not realize we have worked toward this first Saturn return, we have probably done so on a core level. As difficult as times may have been, Saturn has guided us and if we follow that little voice inside us (and not fight it with outside logic) we come into our first Saturn return pretty well ready to work toward the second Saturn return.

Since Saturn often suggests blocks and difficulty, it is apparent why we do not feel we are necessarily working toward our Saturnian goals. In fact, we often feel we are blocked from what we should be doing or want to be doing. Most of us will have three Saturn returns in our lifetimes. I hope by the third one we are cruising.

A good example of the accidental fall into a good first Saturn return is John, whose chart is in my book Astrology For Career Success. Just before his first Saturn return John got his first job as a counselor working at several schools, all at once, in his school district. He felt he was spreading himself too thin and not accomplishing what he wanted to accomplish; then, during his Saturn return, he was hired at the permanent high school counseling job he still holds today.

When John started college, like so many teens of his generation, he took a few classes, changed schools, lived out of the country for an extended period of time, etc.; not a likely candidate for his first Saturn return success. However, since John was a young teenager, he worked with children and always knew this is what he wanted to do. Despite all of the starts and stops, traveling in between, when John reached his Saturn return, he had done his homework well and was in a position to begin his chosen career. His starts, stops, traveling and experiences in life also molded him into the adult he was to be, not just his formal education.

Adults/parents may not always recognize that the child is working his way toward his goal, and the child may not realize it either. Somehow if the child follows his heart or his core being, it happens. That is why I call it the accidental Saturn return. Although, it really is no accident. The accident happens when the child does not work, experiment, and find himself or herself. That is when the Saturn return is not reached and life has to be sorted out before beginning the next Saturn phase.

Another interesting example of the accidental Saturn return is that of Laura. As with many of her generation, Laura had numerous jobs, started and quit college many times, moved many times, actually modeled for two major modeling agencies in California and New York, and finally finished college, receiving a degree in business ten years after high school graduation. It would appear that college graduation would be the time of her Saturn return since the Saturn return usually occurs at age 27 or 28, but at that time Saturn was retrograde a lot in Aries and did not reach her exact Saturn degree in Taurus until almost two years later.

During that two-year period she had a six-figure job with a major, publicly traded corporation but left because it did not suit her individuality and was not what she really wanted to do. She was working on her teaching credential at the time of her Saturn return but this was not her cup pf tea either. While she was getting a credential and teaching part time, she worked form home on trade shows. She had a real talent for the trade shows and shortly thereafter started her own very successful business which dealt with selling fair trade products through trade shows, festivals and parties, helping those in third world countries establish cooperatives, receive fair wages, not work in a sweat shop and develop their own products.

This is where her Saturn return led her. Her 10 years of life experience while sometimes getting a formal education, her degree in business, her experience working for a major corporation and her part time job for trade shows led her to her Saturn return. None of the jobs were related to each other but each played a part in her career path and all were incorporated into her being able to run her own business. Each step of the way she was following her heart and listened to her inner voice. As with most Saturn happenings, the road was bumpy but worth it. Also, Saturn sits in her fourth house and she has been working from home (except when traveling) with her business ever since her first Saturn return.

Another example of the accidental Saturn return is my own chart. I finished college and decided I did not want to teach. What could I do with a history major? Fortunately in high school, I had listened to my mother and had very good secretarial skills. I liked my college elective class in business law and got a job as a legal secretary trainee to see if I liked working in a law firm. I did enjoy legal work and went to school at night for two graduate paralegal degrees.

In 1978 during my Saturn return, I had a fender-bender and decided to look for a higher paying legal job while I was taking time off work to recover. I was interviewed and hired by the man who would become my husband (I met him that day) and this is the job that I have today.

I did not begin studying toward this career either in high school or in college, but it happened along the way. Not only did I fall into the right career for me, I found my mate. Working for my husband has also enabled me to continue working as a professional astrologer for all these years, taking time when I wanted to work outside the office. As an aside, our composite Saturn return was in September, 1976 and this is when I began paralegal school. My paralegal degree is why I was hired. We had not met yet, but our composite Saturn return was working even then. Also, the composite Saturn is in my seventh house of marriage. I view Saturn as a strong planet of karma and this reinforces my belief as to how strong Saturn really is in the chart. The composite Saturn return sits in my husbandís first house. I guess I was working toward marriage as well as career. Who knew? Accidental Saturn may not be such an accident.

"You may reach Gayle Geffner at ggeffner@aol.com"