This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s summer editorial intern Emma Zumbo. Find her on Instagram at @emmarzumbo. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
It’s no secret that your early 20s are a time of great confusion. Whether you’re graduating college, trying to find your first footing in a new career, or navigating changing relationships, the first few years of adulthood can feel overwhelming. I think many of us in our early 20s, on particularly challenging days, find ourselves at times looking forward to the promise of our 30s, when we will have figured everything out and will be living our best lives with nice dishware and a newfound knowledge about insurance deductibles. It’s bound to happen, right? Right?
Well, maybe, to some extent. I’m sure many of the challenges that seem insurmountable in our early 20s will be handled by the time we enter our 30s, but the time for great change and big decisions never really ends. In fact, the end of our early 20s might be greeted by even more upheaval than we realize, since it marks the time of what is known as our Saturn return. This astrological concept has seemingly gained more notoriety in pop culture recently, with artists like Ariana Grande and Kacey Musgraves making mention of it in new songs, and with publications like Vogue and Cosmopolitan discussing it in recent pieces. But while it may have entered the cultural lexicon, if you’ve never heard the term before, you might very simply be wondering, “what does a Saturn return mean”? And what significance does it hold in our lives?
What Is A Saturn Return?
Every planet in the solar system orbits the Sun at different rates, with the planets further away from the Sun having a much longer orbit than those closest to it. Earth, the third planet from the Sun, famously completes a full orbital cycle in about 365 days, while Pluto, the furthest planet from the Sun (yes, I’m choosing to count it as a planet), takes around 248 years to complete its revolution around the Sun.
In astrology, a planetary return marks the moment when a planet returns to the same exact position it was in the sky at the moment of your birth. These moments hold great weight because they offer an opportunity for reflection and change – think of a planetary return as an “astrological homecoming” – it’s as if the planets in your chart are returning home after a journey, ready to teach you all that they have learned along the way. Your Saturn return occurs when Saturn re-enters the same zodiac as when you were born – Saturn takes around 29 years to complete its orbit, and, because its motion is relatively slow, it will spend around 2-3 years in the same zodiac. This means that you can expect your Saturn to make its first return between the ages of 27-30.
Every planet has a return (your birthday, for instance, is also known as your solar return), but the Saturn return is thought to be of particular significance because Saturn is a planet of notable importance in astrology.
Why Is Saturn So Important?
In Roman mythology, Saturn was the god of agriculture, harvest, and time, and father to other gods like Jupiter, Pluto, and Neptune. He is commonly equated with the Greek god Cronus, ruler of the Titans. Because of these mythological associations, Saturn as a planet in astrology is thought of as the “whistle-blowing taskmaster of the skies” – it’s a planet linked with wisdom and restriction, that reminds us of the demands of time and of our responsibilities. Saturn can offer us guidance and a bit of tough love, but it also inspires us to work hard and set our ambitions high.
Since Saturn holds such a powerful role in astrology, its return can manifest as a time of real growth. Coinciding with the end of your 20s and with the entrance into your 30s, your first Saturn return can be thought of as a true marker of adulthood.
What To Expect
Your Saturn return can be a life-changing time. Saturn’s homecoming might force you to reevaluate many aspects of your life, including your career, relationships, and identity. It could make you realize where your true responsibilities lie and what commitments in your life actually align with your values. You will be asked to take the time to reflect on what you want the next phases of your life to look like.
Saturn returns can be tumultuous and challenging periods, but they will feel rewarding in the end. Most people report coming out of their returns with a much stronger sense of self and with renewed confidence in their own desires and aspirations. Like any time of growth, the road might be bumpy at times, but by the end of your Saturn return, you will likely have undergone a transformation and will be able to proceed in your life with greater wisdom and maturity than before.
When Will Your Saturn Return Be?
You can prepare yourself and find out exactly when your return is scheduled to begin using online tools such as this one. The process essentially involves looking at your birth chart (be ready to input the exact time and location of your birth for accurate results) and seeing where Saturn was when you were born and when it will be in that zodiac again. Because of retrograde planetary motions, there are some gaps in the dates of different returns. For example, Saturn is currently in Pisces – it returned to Pisces in March of 2023 and will be there until February 2026; if you were born between May 21, 1993 to June 30, 1993 and January 28, 1994 to April 7, 1996, you are currently in your Saturn return (how’s the view from over there?).
If you’re like me, your Saturn return is still a few years away, and you’re likely still in the midst of the perhaps less mature turmoil of your early 20s. As challenging as our early 20s are, there’s a distinct sense of freedom that is felt during these years that might, as we have seen, be reined in by growing responsibilities later on. It’s tough to feel lost and confused during this time of our lives, and some days I definitely find myself wishing that things felt more settled, but, for now, I”m also going to tell myself to take advantage of my not-fully-developed prefrontal cortex and my unreturned Saturn and try to find some fun in the chaos. We can do so knowing that we are still due for a time of reflection and development, and that another coming of age is on the horizon – it’s nice to have the knowledge, after all, that we never really stop growing.
How do you feel about your Saturn return? Excited? Nervous? Let us know!
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