Saturn in 6th house

[ariesmoon]

I'm seeing Saturn in my 6th house so clearly, so quickly.

Saturn is about testing - asking us to step up to the plate in whichever house it's transiting. And to extend the baseball analogy (and this is from a Brit!) throwing us a curve ball every so often to see how we handle it. And if we face those tests, I'm certain, it rewards us, turns the lead into gold.

I've never been so tested in my current job as I was today. (And it is a job - however much I love it, I don't see it as a career, not just yet anyway). Real, tough stuff - and I handled it. And not only that, my boss made sure I knew I'd handled it. She's added something recently to our monthly staff reporting session which mirrors Saturn through the 6th exactly. It's about positive and negative learning from experiences, by which we mean what we've learned we can do well and what that shows about our strengths, and what we've learned we would do differently, and why. So whenever I handle something from now on, I'm thinking "and what did I learn from that? And there's always something.


With Saturn in my 10th, its important to me that people see the Saturn in me - the calm administrator, the mature, responsible adult, the one who knows what's going on. That was important today. And that's being tested too - perhaps people also need to see (when it's appropriate) the big loving kid inside me too (Saturn directly opposite Venus in Leo!)

[Aphrodite]

That is wonderful! I am really proud of you and so glad that you are my friend. Yes, you are calm, mature, responsible and caring. You are always right there for your friends and your comfort and strength is such a blessing. Thank you so much for that!

SATURN AND PLUTO...

I am having an opposite, yet similar response to this transit... Saturn bringing order to my 12th house. With the help of Pluto (aspecting Saturn) transiting my 3rd house now, I can sift through the psychic garbage that obscures my sight: Saturn making it real and Pluto allowing me to interpret. Mars in the 10th transiting my NNode opposite Saturn encouraging me to extend myself, to stretch and grow. I emerge to find that I have the experience to use the real and tangible gifts that lie beyond my hermit shell. It was a bit of a surprise, at first. Then I remembered (and you help me remember!). Now it seems I've always known.

"And if we face those tests, I'm certain, it rewards us, turns the lead into gold..."

Love and light to you,

Aphrodite

[ariesmoon]

Hi Aphrodite that's wonderful.

I forgot to mention yesterday too that my father is ill again (all those aspects to my Sun - Saturn squaring, Pluto opposing, and Uranus moving inexorably towards Aries, where it will complete a cardinal grand cross ...

And I had a golden day today - several lovely new families coming in to use the children's centre, lots of joyful play (the kids and me! ;D) and lots of glitter everywhere (well it is coming up to Christmas!) What I've started doing when I leave every day is saying thank you for the blessing of working there and of knowing the people I know, and of meeting new people every day.

There are more tests to come - I know that, I've got a big 6th house, right up to 25 Scorpio! And thinking ahead, Saturn through one house isn't just testing you in that house, it's preparing you for when it moves to the next house. So I know I've got big relationship stuff to come, and this is about crystallising where I am, and who I am, in the world.

[ariesmoon]

I've just remembered. No wonder this Saturn transit is so important. Saturn has just passed the position of my draconic Saturn (at 0.57 Libra) so it's a sort of "Saturn return" as well.

[ariesmoon]

I'm discovering a trick for managing Saturn transits. Ask it what it wants, and just do it. In the 6th, it wants me to get my house in order - literally! It wants me to get real on the realities of day to day life, for example:

I spend more than I earn and don't open credit card statements until weeks later;
I file papers and shred the rubbish about once a year;
I remember to take my (essential) supplements about once a week;
I leave washing up until I've run out of plates and cutlery;
I'm happier spending hours indoors planting on a virtual farm in the ether than I am planting the real bulbs I bought weeks ago;
I don't drink nearly enough water (strange that, with Neptune here!)
I buy expensive body and face creams, then dust the (unopened) pots a few months later ...

I could go on but that's more than enough evidence of an overworked Neptune in the 6th ... there's lots of good stuff about that placement too - I respond very positively to holistic healing, I use my intuition and sensitivity daily at work (for my local health service), I'm blessed to have very spiritual mentors who guide and support me, and I make time to stop and listen to birds, talk to cats, and smell flowers on my way to work!

Saturn in my 6th is already about redressing the balance (well it is in Libra, intercepted in my chart, which explains why I've always found it so tough to find balance in my daily life). It's saying "get a grip" on all those day to day things which I usually let slip through my fingers. By organising my finances this weekend (and demystifying them in the process!), by using a gorgeous body lotion, and by starting to take my supplements again, I'm already feeling more nurtured.

I won't get all of this right in a weekend - Saturn's in my 6th for some time to come. But as one of my lovely mentors tells me, "change is a process, not an event"!

[ariesmoon]

It just occurred to me today that the only routines I have are those bordering on OCD - for checking doors, lights etc. That's clearly my 6th house being bordered by Virgo on one side (5th) and Scorpio on the other (7th house cusp). I have no routines for the important stuff like diet, skin care, budgeting, food shopping, housework, anything. It's all hit & miss and I've existed up to now by drifting through everything.

Saturn is clearly highlighting all this for me. What a wake-up call!

[ariesmoon]

Saturn's visiting me at work. Three women in the last few weeks, all expressing the shadow side of my 10th house Saturn - fear of making mistakes, anxiety about what people think of them. And two of them dressed entirely in black. This happened with my Pluto transit too - people came to my door who expressed Pluto exactly to me. I'm seeing the symbolism very clearly and very quickly. Both turned up on days when I had been so proud of how organised and meticulous I'd been. Their anxiety just filled the room, and infected me. Both days were turned upside down.

Oh and today? Dental check-up, and there's work to be done. Not only on a filling, which I suspected, but also on getting x-rays of how deep the roots go on a wisdom tooth, as it may have to come out. Saturn in my 6th squaring Pluto/Capricorn!!

[ariesmoon]

The more I'm dealing with at work, the more I'm asked to deal with. It seems to have exploded in the last month! I'm well aware that being asked to deal with more is a compliment, it's also testing me to care for myself and not to fall back into the trap of working myself into the ground and collapsing. Been there, no wish to go there again.

As if to remind me, after 5+ years of being in the normal range, my thyroid blood test levels have dropped like a stone. So I'm trying a new dose, beefing up my supplements, and teaching myself to eat more regularly and more healthily.

Saturn the taskmaster? You bet!

[tom]

Hey Ariesmoon - And the 6th is where we can learn to discern just how much we should do, how much we are or should be responsible for. Sounds like you're right on track with watching the invitations and lessons!
Peace,
Tom

[ariesmoon]

Oh boy Tom does that ring true. I obviously hadn't learned all the lessons as I took responsibility for something today which I needn't have done, out of trying to "do the right thing", and had a fall because I was tired, not looking where I was going, went to ground with a thump and badly bruised my leg. Saturn all over. What did I say earlier about working myself into the ground and collapsing? And that I didn't want to go there again?? Knock knock, anyone home ...?

[ariesmoon]

Saturn has gone Rx in my 6th house - which has coincided with a massive exercise in mental and literal "house cleaning" and "getting our house in order" at work, in preparation for an annual inspection which could happen any time from next Monday. This is our chance to shine, and to be recognised and rewarded for the fantastic work we do. Our manager has gone through the place like a dose of salts and no stone has been left unturned - which means I've come home tonight feeling like I'm carrying a sack of stones (additional responsibilities).

On one level it's so great - a small, dedicated, talented, supportive team, of which I'm a part, all pulling together and pulling out all the stops to make sure we're running at optimum level and that we present the very best picture of the great work we do. And on another level I'm scared that I'm the one who might let us all down if I can't keep up.

And in my personal life, my father is bedridden, with no end in sight, and my mother is facing a narrower and narrower existence in caring for him. She never gets to go further than the local town, and has 6 hours a week to herself. That's it. The restriction in movement, and the fear accompanying it, are manifesting themselves in my health too - sciatica, and very painful leg muscles. It's hurting me so much to walk that I don't really want to go anywhere. It's just occurring to me that subconsciously I've taken on the pain that they are both going through.

We all know Saturn is a taskmaster - and I also know that I wouldn't be given all these these tasks if I couldn't handle them. This is turning out to be the ultimate "step up to the mark" transit, constantly demanding more of me. And constantly demanding that I take better care of myself, give myself a break (literally and figuratively). And it's only at the beginning!

[ariesmoon]

I'm on a roll so bear with me for another post on Saturn!

It's come to me with blinding certainty in the last half an hour that Saturn's rulership of my 9th house has much to do with how Saturn is now manifesting itself by transit. I meditated on it, and decided to write down the messages I'm giving myself. It reads like some ghastly set of rules on a Victorian workhouse door, or the words of a fire and brimstone preacher.

It's so much the extreme dark side of Saturn - the lead - that I immediately wanted to look for the gold in response. In seeing the dark, I began to see the light.

So, the list:

Always put others' needs and agendas before your own
Deprive yourself of nourishing food, and gorge yourself on sugar, fat and caffeine
Forget to take tablets and supplements which you need to be healthy
Dehydrate your body by not drinking water
Strive to be perfect at all times lest you cause anyone embarrassment or pain
Tear yourself apart mentally at the mistakes you do make
Exhaust yourself making an effort for everyone else so you have no energy left for yourself
Feel guilty if someone pays you a compliment

Quite a list. And I do all of those. Why? Because, I imagine, sometime in my past (Saturn tightly conjunct my South Node) I did something dreadful - and public (Saturn 10th) that I wasn't punished for. And so I'm spending this lifetime punishing myself. I now have a manager who accepts mistakes and actually says she loves them because of the learning that comes from them. To say that puts me out of my comfort zone is putting it mildly!

But - that's exactly the point. My comfort zone - my inextricably linked Saturn/South Node. The unforgiving God of a 9th house Capricorn.

What's the path of gold? Well - let's revisit the list:

My needs are equally important
My body deserves nourishing food and water
My body deserves the right medicines and supplements to support its healing
I am human, and therefore imperfect. The only perfection is Divine perfection.
I need to welcome mistakes and be open to the learning they give me
My body needs and deserves physical exercise, rest and nurturing.
Take compliments with grace and gentleness, and bask in them

This post and the earlier one have been by way of catharsis - there have been a lot of tears in the last few days. But what wisdom has come. I detect Chiron here, as well as Saturn, and I think it's no coincidence that I was reading Martin Lass' book about Chiron when these insights were crystallised.

[ariesmoon]

Saturn is bringing me to a standstill - literally. The worst bout of sciatic pain I can ever remember. To the point where I don't know where to put myself - sitting, standing or laying down. And crying with pain - something I haven't done in a while. Body work (osteopathy) seems to relieve it, temporarily. It's about a trapped nerve so, what is getting on my nerves? Why don't I have anywhere comfortable to put myself? These are all questions that are coming to the surface.

[ana]

Hi Aries Moon
Just read all your Sat 6 posts in one, some for the second time though.....I just looked up Sciatica in Your Body is the Anatomy of the Soul by Annette Noontil and it diagnoses it thus: You are disregarding your own wants. You are not communicating to yourself or to others what you want. . Leave that with you as I am sure you know what to do with it....... as always your posts are interesting. Hope the pain is on the wane.............x

[ariesmoon]

thank you Ana! That does make much sense. My own wants have been trapped, like the nerve.