Astro 101: Calling all Saturn Transit experiences

[airedale]

Hello Everyone,
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I’m delighted for the opportunity to join you all in your forum!  I am new to astrology and 
I'm working to understand the bare-bones basics.  Right now I am trying to put a face 
on Saturn transits for myself – so any and all input is very much appreciated!   
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Based on what I’ve been reading my current understanding is that… 
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1st – Saturn transits provide energy that is:  compressive, constrictive, tightening, limiting, ...
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2nd – Saturn transits function to EXPOSE both lead and gold.
        1) Lead - things that weigh us down & hold us back
            * rigid beliefs
            * self-limiting beliefs
            * fear-based beliefs
            * wrong thinking about our inherent goodness/perfection
            * absorbed or inherited beliefs that aren’t really our own
            * inflexible/inauthentic habits, situations, and thinking of any flavor
            * any 'junk' that fails to serve our higher purposes
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        2) Gold - things that elevate us EVEN under Saturn’s compressive forces
	* proven truths
	* beliefs & actions aligned with who we really are
             * beliefs & actions aligned with the knowledge that we hold all the power
             * things we truly value i.e. our exercise routine; time with friends;
                                                  working on a project; playing with the dog/cat; etc. 
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3rd – Saturn transits offer us an opportunity to 'turn lead into gold' and 'make more gold'.
        1) Lead --> Gold
            By working on newly exposed rigidities, we get to remodel our thinking and 
            FREE ourselves from our own limiting beliefs, thought patterns, and 
            structures.  Woo hoo!!!
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       2) More Gold! 
           We get the opportunity to consciously put more attention and energy 
           into the ‘elevating’ beliefs, actions, & values that have been newly 
           exposed by Saturn's pressures.  
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My Question:  HOW DOES THIS PLAY OUT IN ACTUAL LIFE EXPERIENCE?  
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  1) I’d LOVE to hear about everyone’s experience of their own Saturn transits of any 
      kind - into houses, planets, angles, anything.  How did the ‘compressive’ energy 
      manifest?  What rigidities and/or values were exposed?  
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  2) I’d also GREATLY appreciate corrections, refinements, enhancements to my current 
      concept of the energy & function of Saturn transits.  
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Thanks to everyone contributing to all the threads.  This forum is rich with nuggets of 
insight thanks to all of you.  And, an additional thanks to Kim for hosting and moderating 
this forum.   
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Airedale

[Juliet]

Your concept is very complete! Thanks.
I can be very short about the actual life experience: it has always forced me or either made me stay true to my own values, needs and wishes, explore my talents, despite fears and selfdoubt. It has taught me not to hide, dot.
That, and sometimes straight discipline, like when Saturn hit my 8th, and I had to go and do something about my debts... I sometimes ignored the lessons of Saturn and then nasty things started to happen, as a reminder.

Some experiences:

- Saturn through 4: my Son moved out, I moved house, to a city where I fit better, but also: my ex stalked me in my own home, and that taught me to stay true to myself, not be so scared of him and hide away, but take the necessary steps to protect myself, to develop internal security, another attitude, and it stopped.

- Saturn through 5: I started painting in earnest and had a wonderful and close time with the two kids that still lived with me. I started getting interested in theatre. I had a love affair with a guy I fell very much in love with, which inspired me a lot in creative growth.

- Saturn through 6, I got sick a lot, I believe now because I hid away from what I really wanted in daily life, hid away from my real ambitions and continued translating behind a computer, which is awful for me being the social animal I am.
But when Saturn went direct, I met a guy who worked in a theatre and I started working there and it turned out to be an exhausting but wonderful time! My health restored quickly.

- Saturn through 7 proved difficult! I had to let go of the guy I fell in love with in 2000, and I had a really hard time with it, I really was desperate sometimes and could not let any man come close. Things quickly got better when I started meditating in 06 and started to find real joy and peace in myself (doing the first house stuff) . Soon after I met my bf and I had a good and very homely time, I really enjoyed being together with someone (and him in particular) again.

- Saturn in 8 now, so I bet it's my time to learn all about deep intimacy, shared money. I did the debt thing. The thing is I have no clue yet about the emotional stuff, but that's Saturn for you. Also the 8th house is the most difficult house for me to grasp, might be because it is quite a crowded place for me: all personal planets there, except for Moon, that's on the cap ascendant. It's right under my nose, but I can't quite grasp it.
My bf broke our relationship off last Friday, after a week of threats to do so from me, and I feel that was was supposed to happen. I have to be honest, I do not know yet of we are really through. I have great fear of abandonment (he too, and we can really push each other over the edge with it) so that might be 8th house Saturn trying to do its work, to force me to really do something about that fear.

Hope I helped you some, I enjoyed it...
Juliet

[ariesmoon]

Thank you, you've really made me think about this and I've gone back a few years to look back at transits. What I can say about the houses:

Through the 1st and over my ruling planet Mercury - coincided with a double promotion at work, into a position where I was conscious of needing to be seen to be authoritative and self-disciplined, but at the same time I was feeling increasingly like that wasn't "me". I was also, and didn't know it, becoming more ill with a thyroid condition that began to slow me down both physically and mentally.

I had a year off sick, returning to work as Saturn started through my 2nd, where it crossed my Sun in Cancer. By that time I was completely reviewing my values - I no longer wanted to be in a position where I earned good money, but was exhausted and fraught and which left me with no energy to enjoy life outside. I didn't care what others thought about my wanting to leave it - it crystallised very quickly on my return to work. It took the illness - a very Saturnian experience, as it was so limiting and exhausting - to see that.

There then followed 2 years of Saturn in my 3rd, when I worked part-time and did some of the best structured thinking of my career on a project for which I had total responsibility, and where I produced something lasting (Saturn) and of value which wouldn't have been done otherwise. I'm more proud of that than of almost anything else I'd done before. Redundancy finances were finally sorted out, and I left just as Saturn moved across my IC in March 2006.

The period from then until September 2007 was very much a time of "inner working" - Saturn through the 4th - gradually shedding the weight of my previous life, whilst trying to ensure that I gave myself proper credit for the real achievements I'd had in a long career. I also got to enjoy much more time at home, with family, realising how much I'd neglected both whilst pursuing my former career. Some of that is tough, as you can't get the time back - so there was some deep thinking there about what I'd missed (having children for one) and reminding myself what gifts I have (a lovely family and friends who stayed with me). I travelled a lot too, a kind of precursor to putting down stronger roots.

Saturn moving into the 5th, where it still is, saw me starting to structure my learning around the creative arts - particularly theatre, and now painting and drawing. And beginning to find out what I'd missed out on in love and relationships. I'm also realising how rigid, self-protective and fearful of intimacy I've been - I've kept people away deliberately. That's breaking down now with Saturn transiting 5th house Pluto! I'm finding different people attractive - men with very strong Capricorn/Saturn signatures in their charts, men who may not be older than me but seem to be, or in positions of authority. My love nature is becoming clear to me for the first time ever (I'm finding the gold!) - I'm finding I love the Saturn values of faithfulness, loyalty, and hard work, and a dry, quirky humour!

Thanks so much for posting this, I enjoyed it too!

[airedale]

Juliet & Ariesmoon - thank you soooooo much! I am going to start 'digesting' right away!