Saturn in our natal chart represents a place where we can feel limited, painfully inadequate, fearful, or experience delays. But there is a purpose behind Saturn’s seemingly negative effect on our life: Saturn wants us to grow up, take responsibility, and develop our inner authority. If we are willing to face ourselves and do the work to overcome our fears, we develop the strength and power we wanted all along.
We have a page about Saturn if you want to learn more. I also highly recommend Liz Greene’s book Saturn: A New Look at an Old Devil, which is the basis for a lot of my thoughts on Saturn.
Saturn in Leo in the Natal Chart
Core Conflict
Vulnerabilities
- blocked creativity or creativity that feels empty
- a childhood of feeling unloved or unseen as an individual
- intense feelings of inadequacy or insignificance
- jealousy or resentment of others success
- inability to relax
- selfishness
- a need to feel admired
- loneliness
- disappointment in what most people find meaning or identity in
- reluctance to have children or disappointment in one’s children
Defenses
- seeking external validation from audience approval or romantic connections
- pushing to be seen or loved
- envy of what others have
- constantly seeking popularity
- an inflated ego combined with intense shyness
- demanding attention & affection but not returning it
- over-emphasis on outer forms of recognition
- demanding loyalty (as a substitute for love)
- pretending to be easy-going or frivolous
- megalomania
The Work
- engage in self-discovery
- develop self-relatedness and self-love
- learn to recognize and find significance in oneself without needing to dazzle anyone
- develop your own identity and sense of self-worth
- practice self-validation and self-valuing
- connect to your heart
Transformation
- reclaiming of childlike joy
- trust in life
- natural radiance from within
- spontaneous joy & vitality
- natural sincerity
- living from an open heart
The Saturn Growth Journey
The Saturn journey involves a coupling of need and fear. There can be shyness, stiff awkwardness, and/or emotional coldness and a sense of inadequacy in an area where we badly want to feel confident and capable. And we just don’t. Where others experience ease, we struggle. Where others find things obvious, we have to painstakingly puzzle things out. Where others dance, we stumble. That’s just the way Saturn feels.
If we can’t face our pain, we can end up projecting our unowned negative qualities onto others, or trying to satisfy emotional needs with physical ones and replacing inner work with outer achievement. We look outside ourselves for what we need to develop within ourselves.
Eventually, we realize there is no shortcut. The only way to our goal is to just do the work, by ourselves, for as long as it takes.
