How to Survive Your Second Saturn Return

We all know about Saturn's first go-round, but what about the cosmic taskmaster's 2nd spin? Never fear: Astrologess extraordinare Celeste Brooks joins your MUTHR with some solid sign-by-sign advice.

I’m a total astrology nerd and have been since I was a wee teen, when people would shame you to filth for giving credence to such esoterica. Back then, if anyone asked what your big three were, the appropriate response would be to list either your favorite bands or preferred recreational substances in alphabetical order.

Anywhoodle, a big astrological shift just occurred and that’s Saturn—the big daddy disciplinarian of the zodiac—sashaying its way into Aries. Saturn shifts into a new sign every 2 1/2 years or so for approximately 29 years, eventually landing back home to where it was when you were born, otherwise known as your Saturn return.

With the advent of this transition, so many astro pundits have started sharing their two cents about what it means and how, if it’s your first Saturn return, it can affect you. But no one is talking about what to do when, thirty years later at around 57-59, Saturn comes around again and threatens to kick you in the cooch if you don’t behave. So, I reached out to my kind and knowledgeable pal, Celeste Brooks of Astrology By Celeste, an astrologer, astrology instructor, coach, and intuitive, for some down-to-earth guidance about how to navigate through Saturn’s Debbie Downer-esque hijinks as grown-ass people.

Let’s first get into what the hell a Saturn return even means. Saturn and Jupiter are the teachers of life, explains Celeste. During its first go ‘round, Saturn returns teach us how to adult through tough love and hard lessons, but it rewards you if you do the work. “Jupiter is the kind, benevolent teacher who sprinkles blessings, while Saturn is the stern, harsh teacher who smacks your wrists with a ruler when you do something wrong,” she explains. “At 29, we set off on our adult journey. We start asking ourselves the hard questions about what we want the next chapters of our lives to look like. Everyone has a story. People might get a big job, partner up, have a child, buy a home, or move, or lose a grandparent or parent (ed. note: I lost a beloved grandparent). You’re faced with duty, responsibility, and maturity, and situations that involve struggle.”

It also shows you, without a fathom of a doubt, what is and isn’t working for you, and what you’re made of. Between the ages of 28-30, my first Saturn return inspired me to completely transform my life. I left a dead-end job and a dead-end relationship, and sold everything I owned to start over in the city I'd always wanted to live in. Once I figured out the logistics of work and where to live, I carved out a life all my own in a place that I chose, doing what I’d always truly wanted to do where I finally felt I’d belonged, made friends, and met my life partner.

Saturn checks in with us every 7 years, asking us the hard questions about aspects of our life and how we’ve been living it, depending on the astrological house of your chart it’s cruising through, says Celeste. At around the age of 44, Saturn opposes your birth Saturn (your Saturn opposition), forcing us to reexamine the structures we set up when we were in our first Saturn return. “Karmic tests come from outside of ourselves to see where we are in our journey. What of what we wanted during our first Saturn return do we realize we don’t want anymore? There are themes of separation. Sometimes people get divorced or lose a job,” Celeste says. “Over the next 15 years, until your second Saturn return, it’s make it or break it.” As for me, Saturn rules the father, and I was around that age when I lost my dad.

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Celeste describes our second Saturn return, usually between the ages of 57-59, as “a legacy lookback,” where we take stock of our personal and professional accomplishments and consider how far we’ve come, what we have yet to do, what we’ve built, which direction to go in, and what to leave behind. “It’s a time to evaluate the structure of your life, career, and health—a lot of times, Saturn will bring up chronic illness. Saturn’s pull becomes most evident when it comes close to the same degree as it was when you were born (for about a year or so). If you recognize it and work with energy, it can be helpful for you.” She adds that it’s a time to also examine relationships and our inner sense of authority, think about retirement, and whether our health is good enough. It can also be a time of harvest: “Do you feel like a failure or is this the moment you’ve been waiting for?”

Saturn, the stern disciplinarian, is supposed to be at odds, or ‘in its fall,’ in independent, youthful, impulsive Aries. It’s kind of the John Bender of astrological placements—think the face-off between Bender and the Principal in The Breakfast Club. “Saturn rules fear, and Aries is courage, challenge, and conflict,” Celeste explains. “It can be a time when people are feeling like authority (Saturn) is in fall (not meeting their needs), so how can you become your own authority?”