Chart Synthesis  ✦  Dawn Bodrogi  ✦  The Inner Wheel

We’ve all been there. It’s that feeling of same old, same old — where the sense of same is particularly oppressive. Things aren’t changing. They feel like they never will. It might be okay if we could pinpoint and name these things. To name a thing is to own it.

But often, we can’t. When it gets really bad, the lack of growth starts turning inward. We begin to blame ourselves. We grow bored with ourselves and our lives. Whatever we’re searching for is just beyond our reach. A leaden weight settles over the heart and a dark shadow over the head. Our days become a round of torture where simply getting through is the limit of winning.

The Dark Season of the Soul

This feeling can go on and on, or disappear overnight on its own. The cause doesn’t really matter, because the feeling of oppression is overwhelming. The best thing someone can say is, “It won’t always be like this.” But nothing really matters when we feel like the walking dead.

This death in life is inherent to the human experience. People call it The Dark Night of the Soul. I’ve never liked that title — it implies the feeling lasts just a night, but most who are afflicted are in it for the long term. The term also implies a crisis with a resolution. That is often too optimistic. I prefer the more fitting: the Dark Season of the soul.

Saturn’s Touch: Transits and Personal Planets

Many people blame Saturn for these states, but it isn’t so simple. Transiting or Progressed Saturn on any of our personal planets can be a real downer — it demands that we slow down, take a few steps back, and both re-think and re-feel things.

Saturn/Sun can feel as if our life-light has been turned off. Saturn/Mercury stifles, restricting movement and thinking. Saturn/Venus makes us feel unloved and incapable of loving — we lose appreciation for things we once loved and can’t find substitutes. And Saturn/Moon can be particularly difficult, creating an emptiness and a lack of lunar belonging. The Paul Simon song America comes to mind: “I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why.”

Saturn’s Deeper Purpose

As bleak as Saturn can be, its reign by transit is usually short-term. I think people make too much of Saturn transits — I find them unusually clear and straightforward. Instead of indulging in the downing, we should ask what Saturn is asking of us. Where have we remained immature or stymied? What in our lives needs to go?

Wherever Saturn is, we must take responsibility for others and ourselves. Saturn wants us to master the house it resides in. The planet guides us to become wise, with our feet on the ground and our heads full of plans. Saturn transits are an opportunity to take stock of our journey forward.

They usually have a practical side, not just an emotional one. With Saturn/Venus, for example, we may long for love — but perhaps we are also overspending on baubles. Maybe we aren’t putting enough aside to secure the future we’re dreaming of. Saturn wants us to achieve and accomplish. We ignore him at our peril.

The Mystery of Progressed Saturn

Saturn by progression is a more profound and mysterious experience. A progressed planet will first hit a natal position and then move on to hit the progressed position of another planet. This is why I mainly focus on progressed-to-progressed positions — this is where the action is.

A faster planet will come along and hit Saturn’s natal position, initiating the aspect. It will then move forward to hit Saturn’s progressed position not long afterward, initiating the big changes. The entire cycle may take years to complete. A progression of Mars to Saturn lasts about 4-5 years. Progressed Venus to Saturn slightly less than three years. A Progressed Sun to Saturn aspect will be in orb for three years.

The Alchemical Blackening: Entering the Nigredo

In our Alchemy groups, we have been studying the three stages of The Great Work: Nigredo, Albedo, and Rubedo. The Nigredo, our first step, is all about the blackness and the living death. Alchemy is the philosophy of change and how it relates to authenticity. We always begin with the blackening.

Go deeper

The Foundations Book by Dawn Bodrogi

For a deeper understanding of how Saturn, progressions, and the full architecture of chart synthesis work together — Dawn’s Foundations Book is the essential companion.

→ The Foundations Book — all ebook retailers

To name a thing is to own it.