Saturn, Karma and Astrology

SATURN, KARMA AND ASTROLOGY

by Laura Poggiani & Riccardo Sottani

In accordance with the theory of reincarnation, during our present life we have to face problems and situations originating from the mistakes made in other lives, which we now have to get over, as an act of appeal, since we have failed on the first trial. It is obvious that all these trials will be connected to the field where we have accumulated errors of choice or of behavior.

Therefore, through our natal chart, it is possible to realize not only the behavior and lifestyle we had before, but also the extent and the nature of karmic debts we have accumulated, which we should pay during current life so as to proceed correctly in the evolutionary way.

For this purpose, in addition to the position of Lunar Nodes and Retrograde Planets, the planet Saturn is of the main importance as it is able to express properly the meaning of "karma", because of its symbolism related to trials, obstacles and deprivations we undergo. The Saturn position in the natal chart will then provide important indications about the best way to follow, in order to get out of debts taken by each of us during previous lives.

Let us now consider the detailed meaning of Saturn positioned in the twelve Houses.


FIRST HOUSE

The position of Saturn in the first House shows how difficult it is to achieve full autonomy because of continual and numerous external interferences (family, job, and so on). Therefore, we may have difficulty in taking care thoroughly of ourselves and our aspiration, resulting in a continuous condition of impatience and discontent.
In previous lives, people with this Saturn placement might have prevented others, on purpose, from expressing their personal freedom, compelling them to act in compliance with their own affairs instead of letting them express their desire.
Moreover, the first House is related to the physical appearance and often gives rise to persons who do not like themselves. This shows that in the past we may have misused our own charm, even going too far in narcissism.
The aim of present life is then to help others, as it is the only way to fulfill ourselves.


SECOND HOUSE

People with this planetary position are completely engrossed in the desire of achieving financial security and material comfort, by developing a kind of heartfelt link with things owned and persons loved. Unfortunately they do not realize they have previously made the same mistake.
The excessive attachment to the material aspects of life and people could have taken our mind off other things and other important aims and could often result, during the current life, in periods of great financial sacrifice, lacking in precise reference marks.
So it is necessary to give less weight to the material sides of life and to support, conversely, the spiritual ones. This way, we will be able to find the most important confidence, self-confidence.


THIRD HOUSE

Present life appears to focus on a close relative (brother, cousin) who is continuously causing cares and worries. On the contrary, the lack of a near relative may cause an unhappy state. This occurs because, previously, not enough importance, respect and love have been given to this relationship.
For this reason, now we have to sacrifice ourselves and give the most importance to the relationships with close relatives, trying to get along well together. Moreover, the symbolism of this House emphasizes interrupted studies, precarious and short-lived relationships and diseases of limbs, respiratory tract and ears, coming from previous unsolved situations.


FOURTH HOUSE

The payment of preceding karmic debts occurs through family, possibly by the deprivation of one or both parents or even by a bad relationship with them. This placement of Saturn also emphasizes a really hard childhood, full of loneliness and deprivation. It probably denotes the redemption price of a previous situation where love towards our own family was missing. Alternatively, we could have displayed ungenerous affection towards our children, so as to determine in the current life, for a female subject, conception problems or pregnancy problems.
However, the recovery will be possible during the adult life, provided that we adopt an attitude opposite to that of previous lives, specifically laying emphasis on the family part.


FIFTH HOUSE

Parenthood is a very hard task, mainly when children give rise to suffering and disappointment and for this reason it is impossible to establish peaceful relationships with them.
This may occur because children were not held into great consideration. So it is convenient to realize that children are in need of autonomy and freedom, which are to be respected, avoiding dictatorial behavior.
Love affairs, related to the fifth House, might not have been very happy, possibly because they were too superficial in the past and playful flirts were promoted to the detriment of lasting liaisons. Nevertheless this position denotes that we are able to get as much love as we are able to give.


SIXTH HOUSE

Certainly job is the critical item, since the position we have does not fulfill our expectations or it is extremely hard and without great satisfaction. This occurs because, during previous lives, we did not exploit appropriately the power achieved, even obliging others to be subject to our needs, with no consideration of theirs.
This is the reason why now we should take our current job philosophically, even though it is disagreeable and, indeed, we should manage to help other people with a sincere attitude of participation.
Our previous attitude of harshness towards sick people might have generated troublesome health problems, so it is advisable to devote ourselves to voluntary service, without any thought of self, possibly giving assistance to people suffering from the same diseases.


SEVENTH HOUSE

Relationships with other people appear to be questionable, as they are often burdened with conflicts resulting in breaking off and separation. Probably, during previous lives, we have not been open-minded with people who needed our help, mainly our spouse, while we were receptive only with people helpful to us.
By this placement of Saturn, we could have caused, directly or indirectly, other people's sufferings, mainly in personal affairs. This is the reason why we often go through long periods of loneliness.
We should be less egocentric in our personal relationships and should open our mind and heart to other people. This way, our relationships will be improved and become more rewarding.


EIGHTH HOUSE

This is a planetary position where we happen to put an end to situations which appeared never to come to an end, so that we can begin all over again. This occurs since the "payment formality of karmic debts" provides for dying and then for being born again, in a continuous cycle of transformation, difficult but necessary to improve our situation in the evolutionary course.
Probably in our previous life we have done enough to improve ourselves, but we have not given much weight to introspective insight, for fear of facing our inaction, so this attitude made somebody else unhappy.
On the contrary, now we should discuss and examine ourselves whenever life wants to do so, but we are confident that, like Phoenix, we will be able to rise from the ashes to begin a new cycle of life, morally richer than before.


NINTH HOUSE

Certainly, in the preceding lives, we have not appreciated our roots and people near to us, fond of us. Thus in our current life we are obliged to leave beloved persons and places because of many reasons (for instance, a job) or, on the contrary, we cannot go far away and are doomed to stay in hateful places, together with persons we dislike, or even we see that any chance to move and make a long journey is barred to us.
We should then appraise again our origin, trying to approach it with love.
In the past, we also could have not succeeded in exploiting our knowledge, so now we have to resume our studies.


TENTH HOUSE

In this position, we desire to aspire to success and self-fulfillment, but we meet with many difficulties in doing so. This occurs since during previous lives our aspirations and ambitions were highly exaggerated and we did whatever was necessary to achieve them.
So we have neglected our family and consequently it will be a serious obstacle to the realization of our hopes in the present life.
We have therefore to work with much sense of responsibility, even waiting a long time before succeeding in our object, but never forgetting beloved people and giving them appropriate importance.


ELEVENTH HOUSE

Apparently, friends are the critical point of our life! How many sorrows and disappointments we have gotten from them! We just trusted some of them greatly and they let us down! This occurs because in previous lives we were not able to appreciate the worth of friendship, denying our support or taking advantages of friends, opportunistically.
We must change our attitude and rediscover the value of friendship, which has to be offered not for personal gain. As time passes, we will succeed in getting lasting and rewarding relationships.


TWELFTH HOUSE

When placed in the section of "trials and afflictions", Saturn denotes that current life does not give free gifts to anybody. Any goal may be attained only at the cost of huge sacrifices, patience and exertion.
This is because we would prefer to take a short cut, even illicitly, if only we could reach our goal. This may have caused loneliness in our life, but also we should not forget that this placement of Saturn results in a tremendous inner strength - we should put it out to the service of other people, in order to lighten the burden of our karma, taking care of them and sharing joy and sorrow emotions.


KARMIC ANALYSIS OF TWO FAMOUS EXAMPLES

The world of top models is charming, mostly for men, but even for young girls dreaming to live the glamourous life. Yet, behind this fleeting world, full of wonderful ladies, we find stories, which are very interesting to astrologers following the theory of karma.
We will examine the cases of Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer.


NAOMI

Apparently she has a very rich karma to resolve, with fully five retrograde planets (Mercury, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto).
The Moon positioned in the 9th House makes her a globe-trotter, impelled by necessity, while Venus placed in the 4th House makes her be bound to the family-of-origin and wishing to have her own family. Moreover, planets placed in financial sections (the 2nd and the 8th Houses), together with Uranus and Pluto in the 7th House, make her potentiallly single for life. We have a case of the classic refrain: "Naomi is a girl with a graceful carriage, everybody wants her, but not for marriage".
The karmic analysis puts into relief the position of Mercury in the 2nd House. On the basis of the number of days it remains retrograde, since the birthday, it denotes the number of years Naomi's family has been worried by financial problems. In this case (just one day), she was not affected too much.
On the contrary, Jupiter is retrograde in the 8th House, which makes her a potential heiress.
Uranus and Pluto in the 7th House, combined with the North Node in the 1st House and the South Node in the 7th House, make us foresee the unrelenting decline of her relationships and provide this lady with hopeless chances to get married. Alternatively, the marriage will end up in a little while either in widowhood or in divorce followed by a huge request of alimony (see Jupiter in the 8th House).
At last Neptune in the 9th House provides Naomi with an interest in profound subjects, but she should pay attention to deceptions and empty promises that other people will make to her. (Shouldn't she have shot a film with a well-known Italian movie producer?). Those promises will be a source of disappointment to her, as well as a source of - hum! - hurried concessions which will be of no benefit to her.

CLAUDIA

She is a myth and she is so even more, since she does not have even one retrograde planet in her natal chart, which denotes she has very little karma to resolve. Obviously, in the present life she has taken a little rest. Lucky her!
Anyway, a North Node lies in wait for her, in addition to Saturn in the 7th House and Sun-Mercury-Neptune in the 10th House - such a combination will make her leave this life with no regrets, for she has fully obtained all she wanted and needed to obtain, as the excellent Virgo that she is.