Saturn generally gets a pretty bad rap. As a planet, a significant part of its essential nature involves limits, boundaries, and endings. It reminds us of our mortality, of our weaknesses and insecurities, and of the failures we experience that are both our fault and of no fault of our own.
But beyond all of that, Saturn’s essential nature is also deeply concerned with responsibility, legacy, structure, and endurance -- it’s invested in building things that will last. What’s more, Saturn understands that longevity doesn’t just happen. Rather, it requires judicious awareness of what harms and what helps, as well as meaningful effort to ensure true integrity over time. Saturn can help us better perceive and work with the structures that form the foundations of our existence, and as we do so, we’re in a better position to contribute to legacies old and new.
In our individualist society, it’s often easier to tend to our own lives. In fact, we are culturally oriented towards thinking in terms of personal actions, prioritizing those things that bring benefit to ourselves most of all.
But if we take a grander, more Saturnian view, we’ll see that the world we exist within is fundamentally interconnected and enmeshed with literal and metaphorical traditions, constructs, and structures, all of which are far larger than our individual lives. And although those things are bigger than us, we have an innate responsibility to engage with those structures as best we can, to maximize benefits not just for ourselves, but for everyone who is in this society with us.
Responsibility isn’t supposed to be sexy. It’s simply what must be done.
Here in the United States, one small but crucial way to uphold our responsibility is to vote. Voting is a key structural component to democratic governance, and in order for democracy to live up to its potential, it requires as many people as possible working to not just maintain, but improve our society by actively engaging with a government that directly influences our lives. It’s been said many times before, and it will be said again: if voting was not so hecking important, why would the power-greedy spend so much time and money on thwarting voter access? Stricter voter ID laws, shady redistricting, fewer polling places, and the outright sabotage of the USPS and therefore the reliability of vote-by-mail, are all efforts to undermine one of the most important political participation structures we have in this country.
The erosion of structure is the opposite of what Saturn wants. Consider Saturn correlating to both the bones and the skin of the body: our inner structure and our outer structure are both required for us to move through the world. Voting serves a similar role, in that it helps construct the inner workings of our local, state, and national governments, while it gives us, as citizens, the protection of our collective power.
Voting in and of itself is not a cure-all, just as a house is more than its foundation and a body is more than its bones. And as we strive to create a historical legacy worthy of admiration, voting may not feel cute or fun or sexy.
But as Saturn reminds us: Responsibility isn’t supposed to be sexy. It’s simply what must be done.
Diana Rose is an astrologer, tarot reader, writer, & educator serving clients all over the world through the magic of the internet. She is deeply invested in the power of asking better, deeper questions towards a more ferociously loving and compassionately honest state of being. You can find her on social & Patreon as @ddamascenaa.
