Saturn is on the Move, What Does it Mean?
Om Sri Shaniswara Bhagavan!
Hail to you Lord Saturn, Dark One, Beautiful One.
Seated in a restful asana, riding with the crow...
Worshiped in the Universe, Celestial firefly...
He's a blissful One carrying a dark blue parasol,
Praised one…Lord Saturn, Lord of all.
Tamasic one, sober one, smeared with dark blue paste.
God who is the lord of the beasts, he is the God who flies,
He's the lord of all creatures that travel in the sky.
Lord in the form of duty, granting wealth and peace.
He's infallible, immovable, contemptible and cruel,
God in the form of knowledge, and of ignorance too,
Destroying the root of ignorance,
All lives he does transform...
Giving whatever is desired, a giver of dispassion,
To those whose minds absorbed in him express their great devotion.
I bow down to you, Great Lord, shadowy Sun...
Om Sri Shaniswara Bhagavan!
Saturn or Shanidev as he is known in Vedic cosmology is the Lord of Karma and Time, 2 major boundaries that restrict material reality. Saturn is attributed with qualities of cold, hard, dry, relentless and slow moving. As with all the Archetypes embodied in the Nakshatras or star constellations, his energy must be acknowledged, respected and mastered sooner or later. Procrastination is the antithesis of Shanidev’s imperative. Pay your dues. Learn your lessons. Evolve to your highest potential of divine embodiment and surrender to the inevitable forces of time exemplified by taxes, family obligations, wills, natural law, fairness, justice and duty to man and womankind and the earth and her creatures.
Shanidev epitomizes the archetype of the servant. In Vedic tradition he is revered as the most powerful and important of the planets, though he is often shunned and portrayed as negative, dark and even satanic. His color is dark blue or black, his bird is raven or crow and his gemstones are onyx, lapis lazuli or amethyst and you can be sure if crows are gathering frequently around you, there is a lesson coming.
According to the most revered book, The Greatness of Saturn, it is of utmost importance to the health of the soul to pay him respect, which represents respect for discipline, duty, honor and accountability in life. To ignore this aspect of life by ignoring Shanidev is to invite loss and misfortune. He is the great teacher. To embrace his lessons is to eventually reap great reward and respect. He is not a teacher the gives immediate satisfaction. With slow, steady, faithful, respectful and consistent effort, he eventually bestows his students with great boons and yet, that cannot be the goal.
Saturn stays in a sign (rashi or heap of stars) for approximately 2.5 years and he is making his ponderous move from Aquarius in to Pisces on March 29. This represents a monumentous shift. No doubt all of us will feel this shift as it approaches and long after it transpires, depending on your birth chart and how Shanidev aspects your other planets and houses. He can also impact us significantly when we are in a Saturn return (every 12 years) or in Vedic astrology , Sadhesati, which means 7 years of Saturn. Sadhesati occurs approximately three times in an average lifetime and can be experienced as a death and rebirth. The most intense period of the seven years as the planet traverses 3 signs is the middle sign in Saturn’s journey.
As an example, I am in my third Sadhesati currently and Shanidev has been sitting in the middle of these 7 years in my 10th house in this case, Aquarius when viewed from the Ascendant position or in my first house if counted from the Moon. Both are important perspectives in Vedic astrology. To understand this in my life I combine the 1st and 10th house meanings, with the meaning of Aquarius and how Saturn can impact all of these dimensions.
The 10th house represents the culmination of personal dharma and career and how we present ourselves to the world. The 1st house represents the self and the soul imprint from past lives. My Moon here as the 10th house or first house planet embodies my emotional expression and he sits in the very eccentric and highly spiritual nakshatra of the hermit and the renunciate, called Purvabadrapada. Purva means one who committed a profound sacrifice in a past life and came into this one with positive karma and boons and yet the Purvabadrapada is mysterious and disciplined, as well as devoted to the evolution of man and womankind. Shanidev has been sitting in this nakshatra, magnifying its energies even more. I can say that this presence has shifted my work away from egoistic career development intent on worldly success, to service to the earth and its beings. It has been a time of major relocation and deep internal work, much alone time and inner transformation. As Shanidev moves toward Pisces, my 11th house, I can feel a shift toward renewed connection to community and a new and refined expression of my work. Aquarius is the humanitarian and spreader of ideals, ruled by Shanidev and Pisces is the most spiritually evolved sign of collective consciousness and ruled by the Guru of the planets, Jupiter. 11th house represents community, foreigners, assets and accomplishments. Shanidev here will ask us to spiritualize as a world community, face and release our shadows and inner demons and come together, as individuals and the collective to find solutions for peace and harmony in the world.
His mantra would be beneficial to chant 108 times daily through this period and especially on Saturdays. It is also auspicious to acknowledge and feed to crows and all black birds.
OM SHAM SHANNAI CHARAYA NAMAHA!
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Much love
Neva