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This symbology converges in the astrological lexicon, to render Saturn rulership ... indicates how the Soul's demands for personal responsibility, maturity, self ...
4th International SoulCollage® Facilitators Conference (September 8-11, 2011) Nurturing our Souls: SoulCollage® Through Life’s Seasons  

GROWING UP OLDER & WISER: Mapping Life’s Cycles with Astrology & SoulCollage®

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aturn was the Roman Deity of Time. His Greek counterpart, Cronus or Kronos, means time, and is the root of such modern words as chronology and crone. Saturn morphed into both Father Time and the Grim Reaper. He wields a sickle, shaped like the crescent moon, the tool by which life is cut down at harvest time. It is symbolic of the cyclic rise and fall, the unrelenting flow of time which, in the end, cuts down all things. Father Time is often depicted with an hourglass. As it empties, the loss of vitality in his body is balanced by the increasing spiritualization of his mind. His white beard represents serenity and wisdom, attainable only through the experiences of a long life. Thus, Saturn rules time and maturity. This symbology converges in the astrological lexicon, to render Saturn rulership over the cycles of life. The position of Saturn in the birth chart, and the house and sign it occupies, give the astrologer information about life lessons facing a client on the road to self-mastery. Saturn indicates how the Soul’s demands for personal responsibility, maturity, self discipline, good boundaries, routines and structures need to be met. Saturn cycles are the astrologer’s way of marking major periods of growth and change. Saturn holds domain over maturation, aging and the accumulation of wisdom, as one moves through the Seasons of Life. Saturn takes 30 years to complete an orbit around the Sun. Therefore, in 30 years it will transit (move) completely around one’s astrological chart and return to its natal (original) position. (This return is called a Saturn Return.) Each of these complete cycles marks a distinct period of growth and maturity. The first Saturn cycle, up until age 30, can be considered the formative years, the second, ages 30-60, are the productive years and the third, ages 60-90, are the legacy years. Each Saturn Return is an initiation into a greater level of authority. Saturn symbolizes authority. Saturn asks that you author your life, make it grow, take responsibility for controlling your own narrative. The first Saturn Return at age 28-30 constitutes our entry into cosmic adulthood. We have spent this first segment of life experiencing, testing the waters and for the most part, living our lives at Workshop: Growing Up, Older and Wiser: Mapping Life’s Cycles with Astrology and SoulCollage® Presenter: Judith Goldberg, MFA [email protected] Page 1 of 3

4th International SoulCollage® Facilitators Conference (September 8-11, 2011) Nurturing our Souls: SoulCollage® Through Life’s Seasons  

the effect of other people and circumstances. At the Return, we assess how well we are doing relative to both our own and societal expectations, and compared to the accomplishments of our peers. We are rarely satisfied and usually resolve to accomplish more in the future. Now, we are expected to parlay our youthful energy and burgeoning maturity into building something—a stable relationship, family, profession. The great struggle for achievement begins. We grab the reins and begin to take control of our destiny. At age 44, the Second Saturn Opposition—equated to the mid-life crisis—life often turns around 180 degrees and heads us in a new direction. Changes made at mid-life can dominate our life narrative for the next 15 years. The Second Return, age 58-60, is a time of blossoming and culmination, when we have access to greater levels of accumulated wisdom. Now we have more perspective and experience; our own ambitions and society’s expectations are very different. We need to surrender the struggle for achievement and allow ourselves to enjoy what we have already accomplished. When we resolve our major conflicts, we learn from them and can offer that learning to others. Thus, we begin to create a legacy—to pass the torch to the next generation. To help this learning process advance, approximately every seven years transiting Saturn makes a challenge aspect to its natal position. Co-incidentally, many spiritual traditions honor seven year cycles. At these junctures, individuals experience a growth crisis or life turning point— which, if successfully navigated, may lead to life altering changes and new opportunities! EXERCISE: Using your SoulCollage® deck to map your life cycles Divide your current age by seven. (Example: if you are 50 your answer will be 7.) Take as many pieces of blank paper as the number in your answer, plus one. Begin labeling the papers in this order: Birth, First Square, First Opposition, Second Square, First Return, Third Square, Second Opposition, Fourth Square, Second Return, Fifth Square, Third Opposition, etc. Lay the papers out in a straight line on your table. Then, using the handout, find your natal Saturn placement by locating the span of years that includes your date of birth. Saturn’s 7 year cycles are marked by its movement through the four corners of a cross. There are 3 crosses in the chart; one in the Cardinal Signs, Aries, Libra, Cancer & Capricorn, one in the Fixed Signs, Taurus, Scorpio, Leo & Aquarius and one in the Mutable Signs, Gemini, Sagittarius, Virgo & Pisces. After you locate your DOB, the very next date spread on that list will be your First Square, followed by the dates of your First Opposition and so on. Enter your DOB and the sign of your Saturn on the first blank page, and then on the second sheet of paper, enter the next date spread, your age and the given astrological sign. Continue until you reach your current age. You have now created a timeline, and are ready to trace your life journey through your entire cycle of seven year challenges and Saturn Returns. By casting an astrological chart, we can more precisely identify the times at which you would have experienced major shifts. Nevertheless, we do know that these shifts occurred within or very near to the beginning or end of these time slots. Search your memory for significant events in these periods. The pattern is thus—a crisis always precedes transformation (with a void period Workshop: Growing Up, Older and Wiser: Mapping Life’s Cycles with Astrology and SoulCollage® Presenter: Judith Goldberg, MFA [email protected] Page 2 of 3

4th International SoulCollage® Facilitators Conference (September 8-11, 2011) Nurturing our Souls: SoulCollage® Through Life’s Seasons  

between). What breakdowns or circumstances were catalysts for change? What breakthroughs or new directions can you identify? Make notes about these on the appropriate pages. In service of time, you may want to focus on only those times you consider to be most significant. Using cards from your decks, place them on the timeline, to represent events, people, places, psychological aspects and personal choices that influenced the direction of your life at these key junctures. Later, you may also want to fill in cards between the dates. In this process you are honoring the emerging Self, your learning experiences and growth opportunities, and gaining an appreciation for the rhythm of the life cycle. Don’t have a card for every important transformational event? Make one! At the conclusion of this exercise we will each share with a partner and/or the group. SATURN THROUGH THE SIGNS: Some of your life lessons and challenges may be in these areas. Remember Saturn wants us to tear down old unworkable structures and build new responsible ones. Another hint—Saturn holds sway over our relationships with the important men in our lives—fathers, lovers, husbands, bosses, our own inner male, etc. Read the list for your natal Saturn sign, make some notes on your first paper and then look for patterns and connections. Summarize your findings on page one at the conclusion of the exercise. ARIES: Responsible use of personal will; personal identity; our social mask, how we are perceived by others; Ego; self assertion & absorption; anger; action; adventure; personal plans TAURUS: Self worth; personal values & resources; attachments to money & possessions; earning power; material security; fear of change; sensuality; laziness & comfort, conservatism GEMINI: Appropriate communication, gathering & disseminating information; dishonesty, duality, cognitive skills & disorders, education, our immediate environment, short trips, siblings CANCER: Home & family, mother & child, ancestors, dependency, co-dependency; emotional security & foundations, tradition, clannishness, patriotism, food prep, inner child, counseling LEO: Self actualization, self-confidence, inspired leadership, creativity, generosity, need for love & approval, status consciousness, entitlement, need for drama & to be center stage, children VIRGO: Health conscious, service, work & detail oriented, efficient, productive, workaholic, analytical, critical, animal lovers, employees & servants, workplace & daily routines. LIBRA: Responsible relationships, partnerships, beauty, balance, the arts & culture, negotiations & mediation, peace at any price, difficulty with anger & decisions, overly accommodating SCORPIO: Right use of power, money & sex, shamanism & the occult, death & transformation, taxes, other people’s values & money, shared assets, phobias & addictions, abusive relationships, paranoia, karmic guilt, stock markets, hidden agendas, manipulation, wallows in suffering SAGITTARIUS: Love freedom, travel, nature, education; truthful to a fault, philosophical, big picture oriented, religious or spiritual questers, dogmatic, commitment-phobic, polyannish, CAPRICORN: Responsible exercise of authority, career issues, professions, reputation in the world, father figures, the government, big business, the Patriarchy, wisdom, the elderly AQUARIUS: Honoring individuality, unconventional, humanitarian, cause oriented, rebellious, group conscious, future oriented, friendships & associations, science & technology PISCES: Spiritual connection, compassion, imagination, art & poetry, intuition, idealism, escapist, mysticism, martyrdom, victimization, alcoholism & drug addiction, unconscious mind, karmic memory, imprisonment or confinement, seeks forgiveness & redemption.

Workshop: Growing Up, Older and Wiser: Mapping Life’s Cycles with Astrology and SoulCollage® Presenter: Judith Goldberg, MFA [email protected] Page 3 of 3

4th International SoulCollage® Facilitators Conference (September 8-11, 2011) Nurturing our Souls: SoulCollage® Through Life’s Seasons

SATURN IN CARDINAL SIGNS 4/26/37-10/18/37 & 1/15/38-3/20/40 - ARIES 6/21/44-8/2/46 - CANCER 11/21/50-3/7/51 & 8/14/51-10/22/53 - LIBRA 1/6/59-1/3/62 CAPRICORN 3/4/67-4/29/69 - ARIES

SATURN IN FIXED SIGNS 11/21/32-2/14/35 AQUARIUS 4/21/40-5/8/42 - TAURUS 8/3/46-9/29/48 - LEO 10/23/53-1/12/56 & 5/15/56-11/10/56 SCORPIO

1/4/62-3/24/64 & 7/17/64 – 12/16/64 AQUARIUS

8/2/73-1/7/74 & 4/19/74-9/17/75 & 1/15/76-6/5/76 - CANCER

4/30/69-6/18/71 & 1/11/72-2/21/72 – TAURUS

9/22/80-11/29/82 & 5/7/83-8/24/83 - LIBRA

9/18/75-1/14/76 & 6/6/76-11/17/77 & 1/6/78-7/26/78 – LEO

2/14/88-6/10/88 & 1/13/88-2/6/91 – CAPRICORN 4/8/96-6/9/98 & 11/26/98-3/1/99 - ARIES 6/5/2003-7/16/2005 – CANCER 10/30/2009-10/4/2012LIBRA

11/30/82-5/6/83 & 8/25/83-11/17/85 SCORPIO 2/7/91-5/21/93 & 7/1/93-1/28/94 -AQUARIUS 6/10/98-1//25/98 & 3/2/99-8/10/2000 & 11/17/2000 – 4/21/2001 TAURUS 7/17/2005-9/2/2007 – LEO

SATURN IN MUTABLE SIGNS 2/14/35-4/25/37 & 10/19/37-1/14/38 – PISCES 5/9/42-6/20-44 - GEMINI 9/30/48-11/20/50 & 3/8/51-8/13/51 - VIRGO 1/13/56-5/14/56 & 11/11/56-1/5/59 SAGGITARIUS 3/25/64-7/16/64 & 12/17/64-3/3/67 PISCES 6/19/71-1/10/72 & 2/22/72-8/1/73 & 1/8/74-4/18/74 – GEMINI 11/18/77-1/5/78 & 7/27/78-9/21/80 -VIRGO 11/18/85-2/13/88 & 6/11/88-11/12/88 SAGITTARIUS 5/22/93-6/30/93 & 1/29/94-4/7/96 - PISCES 8/11/2000-11/16/2000 & 4/22/2001- 6/4/2003 GEMINI 9/3/2007- 10/29/2009 VIRGO

Workshop: Growing Up, Older and Wiser: Mapping Life’s Seasons with Astrology and SoulCollage® Presenter: Judith Goldberg, MFA [email protected] Page 4 of 4