Mentoring with Saturn: Lessons from Conjunctions with Sun and Moon

In March of 2020, Saturn entered my 3rd house and began to transit and conjunct my moon and then my sun in Aquarius. On March 7th, 2023, Saturn exited my 3rd house and is now making it’s way through the sign of Pisces. While Saturn entering a new zodiac sign effects all of us collectively to varying degrees, this means that any of you that have planets in the sign of Pisces will be experiencing a conjunction between Saturn and those planets over the next 2.5 years. In this post, I’m speaking to specifically to those individuals experiencing transiting Saturn conjunct their natal sun and/or moon.

Please remember as you move through this post that astrology is a complex system with many types (ex. Vedic and Western), iterations, and interpretations. Even the most masterful astrologers will be studying astrology the rest of their lives. I consider myself a baby amateur astrologer only starting to truly study astrology in 2020 with Grace Harrington Murdoch (see credits). Also note, that for specific readings you’ll need to find a professional astrology who can look at your natal chart. This post contains general hopefully helpful guidance most especially for those who will be working with Saturn over the next 2.5 years as Saturn transits your Pisces moon and/or sun, but the guidance is generalized for anyone who will experience Saturn conjuncting their moon and/or sun in any sign.

I also want to name that my experience with these transits was absolutely compounded by the pandemic, and that must be named, but I do feel I would have experienced everything I did… maybe with less intensity? But, honestly, it’s hard to tell. A transit is a transit.

First, here are the associations with Saturn:

Obstacles, limitations, ethics, morals, values, boundaries, safety, agriculture, focus, tenacity, karma, justice, patience, sacrifice, rules/law, discipline, liberation, time, building, structure, containers/ing, bones/teeth, skin, earth, cold, dry, gallbladder, parathyroid, Aquarius zodiac, Capricorn zodiac

Second, here are the associations with the Moon:

Mother archetype, emotions, nourishment, creation/fertility, instincts, spirituality, subconscious mind, protection, habitual behaviors, intuition, water, cold, moist, receiving, reflection, reaction, fluidity of emotion and motion, body fluids (lymph system), Cancer zodiac

Lastly, here are the associations with the Sun:

Father archetype, broad personality, ego, “being”, purpose, conscious mind, willpower, immunity, spirit/essence, life force energy, soul, heart, fire, hot, dry, awakening, animating, temperature regulation, sight, Leo zodiac

Next, lets address ways you can work with the energy of transiting Saturn as it conjuncts your natal moon...

2020 was a deeply spiritual time in my life. It started with an incredible trip to Bali in February with my spiritual human mentor, Asha Ramakrishna (see credits). Bali taught me the art of daily ceremonial practice before I knew just how much I was going to rely on it as an emotional container. Three weeks after my return, we were asked to go into quarantine due to COVID-19. Everything we knew had changed in the blink of an eye. I began daily morning ceremony asking the universe to help me hold my grief.

Trust your intuition/instinct (moon), during this transit. I knew I needed to go to Bali. There was no question. Now I know why I was being called there so intensely. Bali and it’s people gave me the spiritual structure (moon/Saturn) to weather the impending storm.

And just as it was spiritual, it was also profoundly emotional. The tears I shed in 2020 were unlike anything I’d experienced in the past. I wanted nothing more than a hug from my mom during a time when hugs felt/were potentially dangerous, and that was heartbreaking. The collective grief was at all time high and the emotional (moon) containers I once I had were suddenly exceedingly limited (Saturn).

I was asked to create new emotional containers. To take a hard look at what I no longer had access to, and think about what I did. My partner and I began zoom dinners with my parents, and take out move night on Fridays.

We also began getting up at the crack of dawn and making our way to the local reservation with our dog and walking every morning. For me, during quarantine, this felt expansive and reminded me of the vital cycle of death and rebirth. It allowed me to be with those energies in nature and learn from them during a time when so many people were transitioning to the spirit realm and people were making drastic changes in their lives. I grieved with the owls and communed with the fungi. It was my emotional container. We continued that ritual almost every morning of 2020 until Summer of 2021.

I also went to my own therapy more frequently, engaged in more self-massage using a foam roller (lymph drainage), took more baths full of Epsom salt (water), and didn’t hold myself back from crying (water). I went to the beach every chance I got— many times by myself, which helped me reflect and took a journal. I also leaned on my community more than ever for emotional/structural support by joining a business mastermind, studying astrology and reaching out to friends and family more often.

Note the themes of grief, water, emotions, receiving from community, and reflective time here.

As I look back, my biggest encouragement when it comes to Saturn conjuncting your moon is to revamp and/or create new emotional containers.

More than anything, I want you to know it’s okay to fall apart during this time. And, having a container helps the pieces of our selves not be so scattered that it’s hard to put them back together again. Like I often say, I may not have my ducks in a row, but at least they’re in the same pond.

Finally, lets address what might be helpful for you as transiting Saturn conjuncts your natal sun…

As Saturn began it’s transit to my sun, a lot came up for me in my professional life. Not everyone’s professional life will be effective, but I believe mine was because my profession is directly connected to my natal Sun. I began to feel the obstacles (Saturn) of my profession as a therapist and the limitations of my training more and more, and as a humanitarian (Aquarius), I kept asking myself: How can I help people heal even more, even deeper? And I often contemplated the “true” meaning of “healing” and “healed”.

Around this time, I was reading more and more research on Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy and I began to see the love of all my teaching merging— ceremony, plant/fungi medicine, altered states of consciousness, and healing. I also had to learn A LOT about the gray area of “being in ‘right’ relationship”, ethics, boundaries, and legalities of this work. Many medicines are not legal, how do we do this work consciously, etc.

In the fall of 2021, I experienced my first Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy session and it was absolutely life changing for me. And, so began my journey into becoming a Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapist… fast forward, I’m now trained in three different models using two different legal medicines and grappling with the gray area ethics of this profession.

I’m shining my light in new and different ways that excite me, but I did need to work through my own obstacles first. I needed to feel my way through a new layer of my own healing to hold space in a new and different way for others. Obtaining these trainings also took a lot of time, money, focus and dedication and asked me to really look at who I am as a person and how I want to show up in the world. The prefect meld of Saturn and the Sun.

So, I encourage you, as Saturn begins to transit your natal sun, to get curious about where you’re finding your excitement and curiosity. Where are you feeling expansion in your life force energy? When are you “lighting up”, and what for? Follow those breadcrumbs. And then make a decision to fully commit, focus, and potentially sacrifice.

While it was hard work and I needed to sacrifice certain things to get it done, it was worth it. The dedication I gave to these trainings has put me light years ahead of the therapist I was. Not better than— but for sure an evolution of my skills and the ways in which I can hold space.

And, so as we come to a close, you may be thinking… any other words of wisdom?

Yes. Yes, there are…

Look at the aspects of your body that may be effected during this time and take good care of them.

I ended up with the worst tooth infection (Saturn) and needed an intense root canals in the Summer of 2022. I was in excruciating pain, and needed to advocate for myself quite proactively otherwise it could have been much worse.

Saturn conjunct the moon (emotions) and the sun (heart) is also a great time for heart-centered personal practices, such as compassion meditation, and somatic therapies that help open up the heart. Simply take time to drop in for a moment and notice when the energy of your heart feels restrictive verses expansive or somewhere in between. Inquire within about what this information is teaching you.

Don’t ignore warning signs that your heart and bones, etc. need extra TLC during this time. Be as proactive as you can to avert more imminent crisis.

Recently, my friend sent me a podcast episode on Saturn, which I loved and will reference in the credits below. One of the women during that episode said, “Saturn teaches us about the illusion of safety.” That resonated so deeply when I heard her say that. It rung very true for me.

I found myself telling one of my clients about this episode last week, and I added that I feel Saturn asks us to replace “safety” with “bravery”.

The reality is that there is no such thing as safety— no space that is always inherently “safe”. Of course, we can work towards that and always check in about people’s sense of safety. We don’t want to disregard safety entirely. However, safety is on a spectrum just like everything else.

Y’all, none of this felt “safe” for me. Even the trip to Bali. While wonderful and magickal, I went with a group of people I mostly didn’t know, was in a foreign land, and needed to endure the longest flight of my life to get there. I don’t have a fear of flying, but other trauma I’ve experienced cause that to be a difficult flight for me. Psychedelic work didn’t feel “safe”. My personal sessions were hard and intense, but the freedom on the other side was rewarding.

What I will share is that these experiences, thankfully, were not more traumatizing, and I think that’s because of the alignment and bravery I felt amidst the fear. I also trusted the pilgrimage leader and my psychedelic assisted therapist because they showed up in their integrity, which helped me feel another layer of bravery. This also reminded me about the importance of interdependence.

Saturn showed me that just when I felt things were “safe”— they were not. And, it taught me to show up bravely despite the sense of instability, uncertainty, anguish and even panic at times.

Saturn taught me how to live more courageously from the heart.

With that being said, I encourage you to replace “safe” with “brave”— allow your being to feel the difference. What do you notice when you think of the difference between “safe” and “brave”?

Finally (for real this time), there were LOTS of starts and stops, beginnings and endings.

I let go of my first office in 2020 due to the pandemic. I signed a lease for a new office in Dec. of 2021 only to lose that office to a building sale in Dec. of 2022. By February of 2023, I was in my third and current office in 2.5 years. Talk about transitions!

I started a book and stopped writing. I started a podcast and stopped podcasting. I started a this blog and stopped posting.

In thinking about these starts and stops the other day, it became clear to me. Every time I felt ready to be the teacher, something would become an obstacle, and the energy would dissipate. I got down on myself and often wondered why I was struggling to follow through— not the norm for me.

Here’s what was hard for me to learn… Saturn kept asking me to be a mentor, to be the student. And, every time I stepped into the teacher role, Saturn would say, “Not yet. Be patient.”

So, get super comfortable and make peace with being a student. Learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

As these transits finish for me, I became eager to write this post. Thinking about doing so really lit me up! Stepping into teacher mode, this time I hear Saturn sayings, “you’re ready.”

May this post serve you ever so much during your Saturnian mentorship!

And, if you’ve mentored with Saturn, I’d love to hear what supported you during these times. Drop a comment below.

Sending warmth and gratitude…

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Credits

Pilgrimage Leader and Spiritual Guide: Asha Ramakrishna, www.ashaisnow.com

Astrology Teacher: Grace Harrington Murdoch, www.flowersandstars.org

Book: Body Astrology by Claire Gallagher, https://www.clairegallagher.co/

Podcast: Embodied Astrology, season 6 episode #72 w/ Sherri Taylor and Renee Sills