What Does Saturn in Retrograde Mean for You? Find Out with These Horoscopes

Saturn returned to its home sign Capricorn on December 20, 2017, where it will stay until 2020. Saturn in Capricorn is about the duties and privileges—as well as the privilege of duty—that we face in an area of life. During this transit, we may be slowly stretched to inhabit a more mature, rounded understanding of this part of our chart. Read me: Planets In Retrograde: Meanings & More

Inevitably, this may include meeting our personal limits, re-negotiating boundaries, or facing stiff denials. Seriousness and steadfastness are the order of the day, while any residual immaturity or desire to shirk off our responsibilities will be meet with stern rebukes during Saturn’s transit in Capricorn. Although the lessons often feel harsh with Saturn and his transits (some even refer to him as the ‘Lord of Karma’), ultimately, he is a fair teacher.

Relatedly, Saturn retrograde transits are excellent periods for assessing our progress. Saturn’s pressurizing manner is generally less intense during its retrograde transits; with some of the heat off, we may feel more enabled to face the challenges of these transits with new eyes.

Saturn retrograde in Capricorn may have all of us particularly focused on meeting exacting standards and acting with integrity.

HOROSCOPES FOR SATURN RETROGRADE IN CAPRICORN 2019

These Saturn retrograde insights can be read for both your sun and ascendant sign.

Aries (and Aries Rising) Get ready for your close-up: with Saturn transiting your tenth house of careers, honors, and reputation, you’ll be under pressure to put your best foot forward. As part of this transit, you may also put a foot wrong (or two) and learn some much-needed lessons about taking the slow, baby steps towards your goals that Aries usually attempts to sidestep. With time the result will be an inner peace which blooms from within only when we act with integrity. During Saturn’s retrograde in Capricorn, take time to meet with your brand management, even if that’s just a party of one, to set out an action plan that will make the angels weep. Visualize where you want to be in two years’ time; work backward from there.

Taurus (and Taurus Rising) If you have any designs on higher-minded pursuits, now is your moment. Saturn transiting the ninth house of your chart, a lofty, otherworldly place filled with dreams and visions, foreign travel and higher education, may nudge you toward taking journeys of soul and spirit. For some, that may mean returning to school; others may find themselves taking a pew or studying the stars. As part of this process, you may hit the wall with different systems of beliefs or be pushed to walk your spiritual talk. Either way, you’re in for a trip. During the Saturn retrograde in Capricorn, you may take yourself on an internal trek to meditate on where you want all this wandering to lead. Focus on only the beliefs that continue to serve you, and feel free to cut cords with any which are past their sell-by date. Gemini (and Gemini Rising) Just when you thought you were off the hook, Saturn entered your eighth house of death, shared resources, and financial obligations. True, too, that this part of the chart holds some of our darkest demons. Fear not, however: Saturn’s transit here will help you both rationalize your fears and ration your riches. Part of this transit may involve mucking into how power is divvied up; this may involve managing inheritances, investments, or spending increased time with your tax accountant. When Saturn retrogrades in Capricorn, you’ll have ample opportunity to revisit the financial structures underpinning your partnerships. Money being a close cousin of control, you also may end up exploring how these two concepts intertwine within your psyche.

Cancer (and Cancer Rising) As Saturn transits your seventh house of partners in business and marriage, take heart in remembering that even Bey has had marital hiccups (remember that elevator? that bat??). Part of Saturn’s presence in this delicate part of your chart might entail getting seriously committed – putting a ring on it, for example – but for other folks, Saturn’s entry here may make us say sayonara to that special someone. Before you make a hasty exit, though, try a little patience: Saturn’s not trying to ruin your love life, he’s only aiming to inject it with a dose of reality. The Saturn retrograde in Capricorn is an opportune moment to reflect on the level of responsibility you bring to relationships. Too much, and we feel burdened, too little, and our partners feel neglected. Somewhere in the middle, à la Goldilocks, things are just right; use the retrograde period to find that happy, healthy medium.

Leo (and Leo Rising) Leo’s natural affinity for integrity will come in handy as you tussle with Saturn inhabiting one of the less pleasant parts of your chart: the sixth house of health (or lack of it), routine, and service. Positively, Saturn here may force us to face up to our health and make necessary adjustments, all the better, of course, if you can aim to make such changes voluntarily and not only when your hand is being forced. There may also be a need to chop wood, carry water in pursuit of honing your skills. During the Saturn retrograde in Capricorn, you may be reminded that wellbeing won’t be attained by one-off juice fasts or gimmicky short-cuts; real health is the balance of body and mind, brought about only by small, incremental actions made on the daily. Health challenges, if any exist, may relent during this period, giving you an opportunity to investigate their source more deeply.

Virgo (and Virgo Rising) Saturn is currently in your fifth house, which encapsulates all pleasures of the fleshly body, whether that be via romance, children, or retail therapy. Saturn here may very well constrain our access to the kinds of indulgent feel-goods associated with the fifth house, but he’s just as likely to bring us into better, healthier relationship with them, too. If our boundaries to lovers or luxuries have kept us in a state of disarray, Saturn will ensure that we find a way to enjoy ourselves without devolving into destructive habits. You’ll likely be on board with this agenda, seeing as Virgo loves nothing more than self-improvement. Use the time of Saturn’s retrograde in Capricorn to discern – one of your many talents – where the boundaries currently sit, and where they really ought to lie. If any rifts with lovers exist, the retrograde transit will supply you with the time and tone for righting the ship.

Libra (and Libra Rising) With Saturn newly in your fourth house of family, childhood home and houses, there may be a dearth of new responsibilities cropping up amongst you and yours. Some of you may be focused on buying, renovating, or even downsizing a home (Saturn loves a contraction!), while others may head back to the mothership to take care of family matters. Recent transits instilled you with a growing sense of who you are and what you deserve; the Saturn retrograde in Capricorn is the perfect time to bring that rhetoric home to roost. Faced with a shifting foundation in-house or home, as well as added responsibilities, reviewing your boundaries with family may become all-important. Use this time wisely to meditate on how you can best support your loved ones without losing the plot.

Scorpio (and Scorpio Rising) Grab your pen, Scorpio, it’s time to start taking notes: Saturn in the third house may have you writing, speaking, or communicating as if your life depends on it. Part of this will be ensuring that you recognize the enormous responsibility of carrying messages out into the world. It hardly matters whether this communiqué happens in our living room or across radio waves – if we say it, we need to be able to stand by it. This transit also has to do with being a part of a community and striking the right tone as a matter of true respect and not just paying lip service. During the Saturn in Capricorn retrograde, eek out some mental space to sit down and grade yourself on your progress thus far. Writers and communicators can use this time most beneficially to edit manuscripts, proposals, and pitches, ensuring that anything with your name on it meets the highest standard possible.

Sagittarius (and Sagittarius Rising) Things have been looking up for Sagittarians: you’ve been happily released from the indentured servitude from Saturn, who occupied your sign from mid-2015 until late 2017. With a world of useful wisdom acquired during these transits, there are new lessons appearing on the horizon as Saturn travels through your second house of earned income. It’s time to get serious about your source of funds, pronto. New pressures may have arrived, constraining your earnings, or you may be slowly building towards new ways of making it rain. Whichever scenario applies, Sag is uniquely positioned to use the Saturn retrograde in Capricorn as a review of all things finance: dollars, dineros, bitcoins – if you can name it, it’s time to count and account for it.

Capricorn (and Capricorn Rising) The pressure’s off, for now, dear Sea-Goats. With Saturn transiting your sign, and your first house, you may have been feeling the cold burn of Saturn as he compressed your vitality and forced you to face up to uncomfortable home truths about who you are (versus who you wish you were). The good news is that with a little bit of elbow grease and a dash of humility, this transit will fortify your sense of self and set you up for success, especially in the face of adversity. Now that Saturn is in retrograde, it’s as if he has back turned to you. Though that may feel like the cat’s away and the mice can play, in reality, mean-daddy Saturn has a set of eyes in the back of the head. Whatever you do, don’t lose focus now; while Saturn’s power is on the wane, let your self-stewardship take an even more serious turn.

Aquarius (and Aquarius Rising) The part of your chart currently hosting Saturn, the twelfth house, is sometimes jokingly referred to as the dustbin of the natal chart. That, however, quite significantly underscores the seriousness of this part of the chart, which can deal with acts of self-sabotage, retreat, isolation, and the murky waters of our subconscious. With Saturn here, you may find yourself withdrawing from external life or knee-deep in serious self-study. As part of the Saturn in Capricorn retrograde, you may reconsider the different coping mechanisms you have in place to deal with the ups and downs of life. If you have any doubts about your style of self-soothing, the best bet would be to find a reliable guide to help you on your way – all the better if this person is Saturnine: serious, accomplished, and paternal.

Pisces (and Pisces Rising) All levels of your personal connections are about to get a once-over under the watchful eyes of Saturn. As he entered your eleventh house of friends and groups late last year, you may have found yourself weighing up the value of certain friendships. Some likely feel more parts burdensome than bountiful, or you may find yourself retracting from group settings altogether. During the Saturn retrograde in Capricorn transit, revisit the privilege of human connection, and decide which ones are worth the work, and which are on their way out. Equally, if you define yourself in any way with a collective effort, there may be a powerful revisitation of your attachments and responsibilities to the group, whether those be political or personal.

By Lee Coleman Art by Lori Menna