My first Saturn return started in November and admittedly I'm not sure how long the effects of it are supposed to last as when it first happened, things were pretty okay and quiet but a month later was when **** really hit the fan in my life
Saturn is technically in my second house but it's so close to the cusp of my third that I'm pretty sure that's most of what it impacted. I actually went out of my way around that time to be extra good with my money to make sure I don't run into any hard financial lessons (which I've had to deal with in the past) and nothing happened. However, communication and being direct with communication became a massively unexpected lesson I've been needing to learn and am still learning. Understanding your Saturn return is one of the few times when i will say it's better to go by Whole Signs as that seems to be more reflective of what house it'll actually effect.
I ended up cutting a few people out of my life because the strain was so heavy on me. I has gone through a very quick, slightly unexpected break up the month prior of a four year relationship(looking back now, the reason why I hit the last straw was because communication was so bad that he was outright avoiding me!!), And that kind of started a trail of burning Bridges with other people I was experiencing this with.
It made me take a step back and think of how authentic a lot of my connections were. Was I holding onto bonds with people because of convenience or because of a sense of duty or was I actually holding onto them because they enriched my life and provided me with a better sense of security and understanding of both my life and myself.
I just found myself at a breaking point. There were people who were overstimulating me with how the conversed. A lot of spamming and oppressive communication that made me feel heavily bound to them and was forcing me to continually put my own needs and thoughts aside to cater to them (both Saturn and Uranus square my Sun so HEH). And then there were people who I literally heard nothing from unless they needed something from me. But the common thread with everyone was that the communication wasn't authentic. It was selfish and one sided. It was causing me to actively put aside my own needs to cater to their own thinkings and interests and, well, I guess Saturn made me realize I had enough.
Ultimately, none of these break offs were surprising. They were strained connections for a while, and admittedly burned bridges I saw coming from miles and miles away. It was just difficult for me up until that point to take the initiative to draw a clear and unwavering line. My Saturn squaring my Sun up until that point kind of made me loyal to a fault. My sense of self was heavily wrapped up in feeling like I "owed" people everything because I felt very alone and had low self-esteem growing up. Post Saturn return I just.. kind of had a self-esteem blow up
It probably helped that Jupiter had also recently passed over my Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury AND was conjunct my Ascendant by the time this had happened so yeah, my sense of self became rather intensely defined, including what I wanted, needed and how/where I wanted to direct my energies.
I'm still dealing with the remaining strings of the fall outs (A lot of learning that I need to stand my ground and be unyielding in my demands), but I definitely agree that your SR will be easier if you're doing the work before hand. If you're constantly working on self-improvement and self-awareness, chances are whatever your SR will bring you won't be that big of a surprise. It's not to say it'll be easy, but it does mean that once it happens, it'll be easier for you to figure out what's going on and bounce back.
I've had friends who have had VERT brutal SRs. One friend has their Saturn in their (whole sign) 12H in scorpio/11H. That year they struggled aggressively with alcoholism. The people they surrounded themselves with were in two camps. There were those who actively enabled this behavior and there were those who were trying to help him get on the right track. Well. His Saturn return came in 3 attacks. Once when it was direct in scorpio, once when it went retrograde (which is his natal station) and the last when it went direct again. I didn't look back to the previous passes but I'm pretty sure they fall in line with the times he tried to stop cold turkey. The friends who wanted to help him were highly encouraging, while the second camp just slowly helped him slip back into his habits because "One Beer Can't Hurt". Well, I'm here to say that this third pass of his Saturn was absolutely RUTHLESS. He ended up getting a DUI. He managed to walk away with a slap on the wrist essentially since it was his first offense. He started counseling but didn't keep up. Six months later? He got a second DUI. The police were immediately camped outside of the bar he was at and the cop who arrested him that night? The same cop that got him the fist time. He's now facing charges and jail time.
So I guess these are two rather extreme camps for how a Saturn return can crop up. I think Saturn returns definitely come with a warning so it's better to heed them when they come. Sometimes they can manifest in subtle ways while others it can be pretty in your face flashing red lights.
