A return is when a planet rotates around the zodiac and returns back to its original position when you were born. This takes approximately 29.5 years, so your first Saturn return will be around your 29th birthday. Depending on where you were born, the exact return could happen anywhere from your 28th year to 31st birthday. The second Saturn return occurs when you are about 59.
The first Saturn return is an important time in your life. Great changes are about to take place but how it happens depends on what you have been doing with your life in your early to mid-twenties. The question to ask is whether you have been living as you feel you should or as you think others want you to? If you have not been following your wants and needs, even if they are unconscious, this Saturn transit will have a greater impact on you.
The year before this transit many aspects of your life had begun to change. Relationships could have ended, you may have moved house or changed jobs. There is a sense of urgency within where you feel that if you don’t do everything you have always wanted to do or felt that you should, you will never have another chance. If you have been tolerating something in your life you will be looking for changes that will give you more rewarding experiences.
You may or may not be conscious of the reasons for these urges. You just know there is a push for something else. It is often felt as a growing-up period. You were in a state of being a teenager, your early twenties were fantastic, lots of parties and not much responsibility. Then all of a sudden your attitude changes and you are wanting to make your mark on the world.
Consciously or unconsciously you are pruning your life of everything that is not relevant to what you really are as a human being. Remember Saturn is about getting you what you want and showing you who you are even if you don’t know what that is. So if you are not
consciously moving with these changes, you may be experiencing a sense of loss for the elements of your life that are coming to an end now. There may be a sense of panic because this loss may seem out of your control. Don’t dwell upon these losses for they are necessary in order to clear the decks for a major period of action in your life. Take a few deep breaths and roll with the punches as they happen and try to voluntarily let go and allow the changes. This is a time of endings and new beginnings. A crisis feeling will come if you are in a situation that is inappropriate for you. But if you’ve been doing what you should in previous years this time will mark a time of solidification and the beginning of new phases of activity.
An example of how this first Saturn return is experienced I can draw on my own life. I divorced at the age of 28, bought my own house at 29. I took my first major overseas trip to East and West Europe at the age of 30. And after many years of being very happy with my work life and where I lived, at the age of 31, I took a major promotion to a fantastic position within my company and moved towns. I was comfortable where I was and had no ideals of pushing my career. However, I remember feeling like these changes were something I had to do or my life would stagnate, and the ease and speed in which they occurred surprised me.
The first Saturn return is a coming of age, a springboard into maturity and making your place in the world. You can’t avoid it so you might as well go with the flow of the force instead of fighting the inevitable. It's likely you'll be glad you did.