context for surviving thriving during Saturn’s transit through Aries.

When a planet doesn’t have access to its preferred resources, it has to find another way to do its job. It has to break its own rule, bend its preferred paths in order to get where it needs to go.

Over the years, I’ve written many pieces that incorporate the concept of planetary dignity and debility. Mostly I have focused on zodiacal dignity, as this is one primary way of assessing whether a planet has the resources it needs to do its job. Zodiacal dignity simply indicates that we are paying attention to the zodiac sign in which the planet is placed. Here’s a brief refresh:

Dignity

Dignified planets have noteworthy access to the kinds of resources that planet prefers. There are two types of zodiacal dignity.

Planets in domicile are at home. When you’re in your own place, you generally have what you need because you’ve set your space up to have it and you know where and how to get it. The spoons are in the silverware drawer, the soap is in the soap dish, the remote is next to the tv, the towels are folded just so, and your bed is made or unmade just how you like it. Domicile planets know where the toolbox is kept and how to fix that one cabinet screw that often comes loose, or not let it bother them.
Exalted planets are lifted and therefore have the resource of visibility. They are “elevated,” and therefore “looked up to”, admired, respected. Exaltation is a kind of resource that has to do with social capital. It’s much easier to ask a question in class in the front row where the teacher will definitely see your hand. Being uplifted poises a planet to receive special information, gifts, and other tools or assets. Being seen might aid in being understood - even if that planet doesn’t get exactly what they would choose for themself, they are still equipped with offerings to help them on their way. And when a planet is lifted up, it also don’t have the responsibility of taking care of its place of exaltation the way a domicile planet might. In other words, it gets the rewards without having to do much, if any work. As you might guess, yes, sometimes this can be incredibly unnerving for the other players in the game. I digress…

Debility

Debilitated planets on the other hand, usually struggle with resources. There are two types of zodiacal debility.

Planets in detriment (antithesis) tend to have ill-fitting kinds of things for what they need to do. Its like being chilled to the bone and needing to warm up but only having access to a cold shower. Those planets have to find other ways to meet their needs than the rational and easy fix. They might need to do some jumping jacks to get blood circulating. Detrimented planets have to put forth extra effort to figure out what can help with a thing they would normally address easily if they just had the right tool. And there’s also usually effort required of them to learn how to use the inept placeholder tool. That said, detrimented planets get really good at doing things in unusual ways.
Planets in fall might have resources but the ability to reach those resources is often blocked. It’s sort of like calling for help but the telephone line gets cut. The issue isn’t necessarily a lack of resourcing so much as finding oneself in a situation where those resources are particularly difficult to get. Planets in fall also have a tendency to literally fall into certain traps. This quality opposes exaltation in that these planets are looked down upon. Rather than being lifted up (elementally air and fire are higher and faster), planets in fall get stuck in the ground (elementally associated with water and earth which are slower moving). Fallen planets have to figure out how to get out of the hole, or preferably, learn how to avoid the trap entirely…if that’s even possible.

For reference, planets in zodiacal fall are thus:

Moon in Scorpio
Sun in Libra
Mercury in Pisces
Venus in Virgo
Mars in Cancer
Jupiter in Capricorn
Saturn in Aries

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: having a planet, or two, or a few in fall does NOT mean you are doomed to failure for your entire life. I know plenty of successful people with planets in fall. I have a planet in fall and in many ways, I am currently thriving. I also have a planet in detriment. It’s okay to have debilitated planets. It’s good to know how to take care of them too.

In some client sessions I have noticed, it can be very validating to learn you have a planet in fall. Like “wow I didn’t realize I was set up for this challenge, now I don’t have to feel like it’s all my fault that this situation keeps happening.” This can be a beautiful experience for anyone who has an inner monologue that likes to dish out blame because it can aid in relieving misplaced responsibility for situations we didn’t cause. The clarification can also help us be more agentful in claiming certain aspects of responsibility for situations in our lives.

As a reminder, I don’t believe natal astrological placements are a reason to avoid doing the work we each need to do in our lifetimes. Trauma is not a reason to avoid doing the work. Privilege or lack thereof is not a reason to avoid doing the work. And yet, confronting all of these realities can aid us in outlining where our work begins and ends. Regardless of our astrological placements, it is up to each of us to choose how much we participate in ameliorating our personal situations and collective contributions. Sometimes participation looks very capitalism; pick yourself up by your bootstraps, yada yada yada. Sometimes that work is literally learning to rest and receive. It really depends on you, what cards you’ve been handed, and what you are choosing to handle, learn, unlearn and grow.

Back to the astrology…

Learning about a planet in fall can help us understand and describe a very particular type of challenge that seems to repeatedly arise.

This precision is helpful because it paves the way for us to consciously discern what is in our control and what is not. There are elements of the repeating situation that may still occur and others that can be prevented. The situation might keep happening, but our way of dealing with it can change and/or become more detached.

Planets in fall are generally very good at some things that are often not the things that are normalized, conditioned and rewarded culturally. Their skills and struggles also tend to concentrate in the specific area(s) of our lives where that planet has power and presence (aka: the house(s) which that planet rules and the house where that planet is situated).

Because exaltation and fall have to do with our access to resources, specifically as it relates to visibility and social capital, planets in fall are often primed to be scapegoats in moral quandaries.

Planets in fall express themselves through blame, being looked down upon, disrespected and, more often than not, misunderstood.

When we know that questions of morality are at play, we can consciously examine our beliefs with curiosity. Questions to ask when dealing with subjects that concern a planet in fall:

Why do we do this thing in this way?

What values are guiding or underlying our methods?

In what situations does our idea of how things should be, not actually apply?

Does this belief about what should be happening apply to everyone or just some people? Why?

Does the belief at play reinforce the underlying values or negate them?

What do we need to change about our actions, in order to be in right relationship with our beliefs?

There is usually nothing wrong with the planet in fall. However, the environment in which it finds itself is not conducive to meeting the planet’s needs. For example, most of us have heard the story about the poor dispossessed man who stole bread to feed his family and ended up in prison for stealing.* Is the man wrong for stealing or is the whole system wrong for allowing people to get to the point that they are so hungry, they’d risk arrest to eat? I’ll let you decide the answer to that.

[Side note: Les Misérables was published on March 31, 1862 and the planet Mercury which rules writing, is in fall in the publication chart. Sometimes we find planets in fall overcompensate, which explains why this piece is actually comprised of five volumes, forty-eight books and three-hundred and sixty-five chapters (write much?). It is also known by at least seven different names and has been retold in various other forms, including being made into a musicals and play.]

Interestingly, in the preface, Victor Hugo virtually delineates the quality and situation of fallen planets in the following very famous quote:

“So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation, which, in the face of civilization, artificially creates hells on earth, and complicates a destiny that is divine, with human fatality; so long as the three problems of the age – the degradation of man by poverty, the ruin of woman by starvation, and the dwarfing of childhood by physical and spiritual night – are not solved; as long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other words, and from a yet more extended point of view, so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be useless.”

Planets in fall are socially asphyxiated. Smothered. Constricted. And so they have to acquire very specific skills of calling attention to their plight in order to get seen.

Thus, planets in fall are often extremely proficient disruptors. They are strategic in their own way. Sometimes they intentionally excel at getting caught. They are organizers and revolutionaries with stories to write. They are activists with points to prove. They seduce us into a trap of seeing things from an under-resourced place so we can confront what it is to need, to ask for help, to rely on queerer perspectives and strange allies. They tempt us to break the rules and bait us to rewrite them. They are tricksters and when they are at work, they lure us to rethink the status quo.

While we can have planets in fall in our natal chart, we can also experience planets in fall by transit. We live this every month for a couple of days while the Moon is in Scorpio. We encounter this every year for about a month while Mercury is in Pisces or Venus is in Virgo. We just contended with many months of Mars retrograde, in fall, in Cancer. Planets in fall will fell a veil of pretending that a situation is okay so we can work a scene we actually believe in.

Saturn in Aries

This Saturday, on May 24th, Saturn will enter Aries, the sign of its fall. This is a particularly important planetary ingress because Saturn moves slower than any other traditional planet. While me might experience the Moon in fall frequently, the emotional turmoil of the Moon’s transit is rarely a lasting affair (though the recent Full Moon in Scorpio was quite the illuminating doozy!). Saturn however, endures. And Saturn is only in fall once every 28-30 years. Saturn will be in Aries for the following dates:

May 24th - Sept 1st, 2025
Feb 13th 2026 - April 12 2028

During this time, we will become intimate with the special traps and skills of Saturn in fall.

Saturn is the elder. The adult. The responsible one. The embodiment of time, endurance, devotion and commitment. Saturn is labor and effort and hard-earned rewards. Saturn likes taking things slow. Saturn is foundations built to last and irrigation systems clear of debris. Saturn is strong bones and tough skin; clear structure and good barriers. Saturn’s temperament is cold and dry - aloof and detached. Saturn is the edge and occupies the limit; the quiet observer, the mature gnostic, the master chess player.

Nancy Graves in her SoHo loft with the sculpture *Variability of Similar Forms,* 1970 and the painting, *Incre*, 1977. Graves has natal Saturn in Aries. The work on the left plays with large scale replica bones (Saturn) of camel legs, propping them in seemingly impossible positions. During her first Saturn return (1967-69), Graves created a series of works replicating parts of the camel to explore notions of representation vs. symbolism, primitivity and religion, fragmentation and wholeness. See *A conversation with Nancy Graves* in Art Forum.

Saturn is in fall in Aries. Why does Saturn not like this realm? We must look to Mars, who domiciles in Aries and also to the Sun, who exalts there.

Mars is the god of war. War is not meant to last but to destroy. In war, homes are built on the go. Tents for right now, lean-tos for a little bit, then pack up and move, carrying as little weight in your bag as possible. In battle we must shift swiftly, think on our feet, make decisions about surviving and winning. There is very little time in this place to contemplate an enduring future. Only contest and feat. The connections we make during war may tie us together for life but they are often hard memories and the bonds can be traumatic.

Mars uses force, while Saturn prefers a rooted pause. Mars confronts while Saturn waits.

The terrain of Aries requires energy and vigor, strength and courage. Saturn does not take risks easily, preferring to weigh the consequences of each decision. Therefore, in Aries, one of Saturn’s special traps is not enough time. And the others who do well in this place look down upon Saturn as if to say can’t you just hurry up and get on with it already?

Richard Serra,*The Matter of Time* , 1994–2005, Weathering Steel, Dimensions variable, Guggenheim Bilbao Museoa. Richard Serra also has natal Saturn in Aries, and this renowned work positions the viewer in a dizzying experience of time and space. Elements of this piece were created while Saturn was in Aries from 1996-1998.

The Sun is the king of the celestial sphere. Not the king in the way we might think of a ruler in a profoundly hierarchical feudal system. But a king who is setting the example of pace and directing the cosmic dance (literally using gravity to wrangle all of the other planets into cadence). For more on this, see Kristin Mathis’s translation of and commentary on the Orphic Hymn to Helios.

And yet, the Sun is related to visibility, loftiness and warmth - is it not so lovely to bathe oneself in the Sun’s mid-afternoon rays? The Sun is the center and likes being in this place of profound belonging where it can see and be seen by all the moving cosmic parts. Saturn however, lives at the visible edge of the solar system. Saturn likes being the faint fly on the wall. Saturn is accustomed to being cool and dark, a bit mysterious. Saturn works on the systems, in the gears and the underbelly of the cosmos and consciousness. Saturn has friendship with the Sun by sect (they are both diurnal) but that’s about where that ends. The two are diametrically opposite energies. They both govern, but from completely different places.

As Aries is the domicile of Mars and the exaltation place of the Sun, it is extremely hot terrain. It is fiery and flameful and vibrant. Planets in Aries therefore tend to take on a radiance that makes them visible, whether or not they want it. And Saturn, of all the planets, would prefer not to be seen. Because Saturn knows it is much more difficult to do the dirty work that Saturn does, when everyone is looking. Because Saturn feels that it is much more challenging to take a risk on Saturn’s long-term goals when an audience is involved. Because Saturn is a planet of responsibility and pressure, spectators tend to sharpen Saturn’s already hard edges. So Saturn’s other trap in Aries is visibility. They would rather just not.

This can play out in a few ways while Saturn is in Aries. Depending on where this transit happens in your natal chart, you might feel the enormity of pressure to be visible. You might feel the magnitude of pressure from the fact of having visibility. You might notice the pressure of visibility is considerably weakened. You might notice that you have visibility and you just don’t care.

The BRONZE lining

Planets in fall are not all bad. There are some rules that need to be broken. There are some things that we would really rather not endure. For example, if the government has to be torn to bits, maybe all the better that it happens quickly, no? Saturn generally would disagree. Slowing things down tends to lend dignity to situations.

And yet, sometimes, over-preparing is a waste of time. Sometimes we prepare for the wrong thing and we would have been much better off making the most of living instead of preparing for something that didn’t happen after all.

Saturn normally has a treasure chest full of cool detachment. But in Aries, Saturn must make use instead, of passion. Saturn here is forced to become strong in physical ability. Is compelled take on qualities of courage. Usually Saturn leads humbly and quietly. But in this place, Saturn has heart and vigor. In this place Saturn may make a rookie mistake without learning from it. But Saturn here may also be okay with not conforming or getting it right.

Saturn in Aries may attempt to bring maturity to the party and get a door slam in the face. But Saturn here is an elder whose regret is fuel for the fire. Who practices beginning again. Who is eventually obliged to play. Who may decide valor is actually worth something and the that the weight of the world is not a concern. In other words, Saturn, who is normally our cosmic rule-maker, kind of says to hell with the rules. Saturn, who normally has ideas about what regulations keep us safe, finally acknowledges the rules that are holding us back and begins to break them. Saturn in Aries remembers they are the rule-maker, and decides when and to whom they don’t actually apply.

Judy Chicago (American, born 1939). *The Dinner Party*, 1974–79. Ceramic, porcelain, textile, 576 × 576 in. (1463 × 1463 cm). Judy Chicago has natal Saturn in Aries. This large scale installation, which lives permanently in the Brooklyn Museum, was crafted to bring visibility and honor women who have been erased from history and time throughout millennia.

While we might experience any of the above in micro ways, it’s important to understand that Saturn, as an outer planet who will spend about two and a half years in Aries, will take this time to break down all the rules. May be tempted to make new ones on the fly and will likely break and destroy those too. This moment can feel collectively more than a bit chaotic. It is an extended time of trying on organizational guidelines that will likely not endure. It is a time of concerning ourselves with the giant shitshow of heart and zeal that should probably somehow get hammered into our structures. It is a time to learn to move without foundation but with all the maturity of centeredness, with the speed of devotion, with the responsibility of passion. It is a time to detach from what is crumbling while still holding on tight to your comrades. It is a time to break the rules that don’t make sense and to make sanctuaries for the small pauses amidst the rush of change. It may not be a time to last, but it will certainly be a time to remember.

ON RULE-BREAKING: SATURN IN ARIES