Do you have experience with Saturn conjunct Descendant?

wan

Well-known member
Hello my fellow star-gazers: Just wondering whether you have any experience with Saturn conjunct descendant. Whether it's in your own chart or someone you know.

I have Saturn conj. descendant extremely closely, less than 1 degree. My Saturn is practically sitting on my 7th house cusp. It's in Virgo. I have observed that I have great difficulty maintaining emotionally close relationships with people. I have a friend that I have known for over a decade, and we go out for lunch every now and then, but I don't have any meaningful attachment to her, meaning that if she dropped dead tomorrow, I would not feel particularly sad. Besides her I don't have any friend at all.

I just wonder whether the big baddie Saturn sitting so close on the beginning of a house that's very relationship-oriented could be causing this distant-ness that I feel. I have little need for socialization and I seem to have trouble forging meaningful emotional bonds.

What has your experience been? Let's share our thoughts.
 

conspiracy theorist

Well-known member
No personal experience as I have it in a different house. You've shared about your highly independent lifestyle, and I wonder if it has to do with the Leo stellium that you have. Sure, you might not fit the stereotypes, but with the way you speak about your life it is not obvious that you lament being largely on your own. The self-containment and what seems to me to be deep self-acceptance I see as an underrated aspect of Leo energy or fire energy in general. I remember encountering what one astrologer noted about the highly fiery people that she had experience with - the majority of them were surprisingly quiet and not at all the attention seeking personalities that is often spoken about when fire energy comes up - those people with one or two fire planets were the more stereotypical cases.

Then your Leo energy is filtered through a Piscean ascendant - the more in-drawn, "spiritual" and introspective manifestations of Leo energy may be more apparent.
 

greybeard

Well-known member
You must look at the chart as a whole.

That said, Saturn is strongly angular and therefore a dominant force in your life. So seriousness, isolation, melancholy and other Saturnian traits will be prominent.
 

wan

Well-known member
You must look at the chart as a whole.

That said, Saturn is strongly angular and therefore a dominant force in your life. So seriousness, isolation, melancholy and other Saturnian traits will be prominent.

Aye, Grey. Indeed I have always felt quite isolated, especially when I was younger. I also do take relationships seriously. If a guy shows interest in me (doesn't happen very often), my thoughts immediately jump to marriage. I would evaluate his suitability as a husband almost right off the bat.

Very spot-on.
 

greybeard

Well-known member
In any chart, any planet close to (conjunct) an Angle is said to be "Accidentally Dignified" and has a (very) powerful influence over the life.

The orb of aspect used will vary somewhat from astrologer to astrologer, and from chart to chart. Any planet inhabiting an Angular House, or within about 15° of the Angle if on the Cadent side, should be seen as a powerful influence, perhaps dominating the life...depends on the chart.

In personal usage, I judge the power of aspects roughly as:

*Partile or within 60' of perfection.
*Within 3°-"exact"
*Within 5-6°-"close"
*Within 6-10°-"in aspect"

The Angles are usually ranked for power as 1,10,7,4. If only one of the Angles is activated, then the affairs associated with that Angle (its house) will be a dominant theme in the life.

Although the process continues for a very long time, the developing human psyche is pretty well formed by the age of 7 or so. This means that any planet within 7° or so of an Angle will come into conjunction by direction (progression) with the Angle and represents an Accident (old English meaning an event or incident) that is formative of personality and life course.
 
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greybeard

Well-known member
If the planet is cadent, read it as such. That is how it will act. It will simultaneously express the qualities of the Angle.

Angles are "critical" points. They generate critical events in the life. They also mark a house cusp, and carry the meaning of the house.

Say Moon is 4° from the MC (a critical point, generates events or conditions that are "turning points" in our lives), cadent in the 9th. This means that Moon comes conjunct MC by direction at age 4, also opposes 4th cusp of "home". Good chance that at age 4 native changes residence to some distant place [Moon in 9th, opposition = separation...from native land], which for reasons the chart will explain, is a watershed for the child (Angles activated).
 
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helike13

Well-known member
What if it's a slow planet like Jupiter or Saturn and it's retrograde.... Going away from the angle.... So it will never hit the angle by progression.
 

kimbermoon

Well-known member
In my case, Saturn lies astride my Scorpio Ascendant. I do resonate with your sentiment “I have little need for socialization”. Strangely enough I have recently been contemplating my own isolationist tendencies: is it good or bad...

It wasn’t always that way, but now that I am a widow in my 60’s, I find that I can easily be on my own without feeling weird / concerned about it. Saturn does square my Leo / Venus, which has made for many difficulties / disappointments in personal relationships through my life, but I am not totally anti-social. Saturn rules my 3rd H, and I now enjoy the freedom of when and with whom to communicate with.

Yet I also have a Pisces Moon [ need for exploring the inner depths of my own reality], with Neptune/Libra in the 12th H; Neptune rules my 5th H. Still I also have the benefit of a grand trine between Saturn/Moon and Sun/Jupiter, and I assume that helps to balance out the long term effects.

Still my Saturn returns have always been admittedly quite intense.

I would say that much depends on the depth of your own inner life, as to whether it will be burdensome, or cause great loneliness. I believe there is a great difference between being alone, and feeling lonely.

If you enjoy being alone, I would say go with it and don’t worry about how others might judge you.
 

greybeard

Well-known member
What if it's a slow planet like Jupiter or Saturn and it's retrograde.... Going away from the angle.... So it will never hit the angle by progression.

It hits it by direction. Retrogradation is ignored. It is the primum mobile that is directed, not zodiacal motion.
 

PurpleReign

Well-known member
I have it in the 7th and my experience has been the stereotypical Saturn-in-the-7th stuff — very few relationships but am attracted to serious, mature, responsible, and dependable types (who sometimes tend to be older than I am). I also have Venus trine Saturn, which also delays relationships but I think keeps me from rushing into relationships that may not be good for me because I do refuse to be with anyone for the sake of being with someone. I don’t even entertain the thought of dating someone unless they’re “Capricorn-like” (again, responsible, mature, etc.).

It can be tough sometimes, but generally I like it because I feel like it helps keep my standards high and therefore I’m less likely to get involved with fickle or immature types.
 
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