When the Sun squares Saturn in the Natal Chart
Sun square Saturn
Sun square Saturn
With the Sun square Saturn in your natal chart, you may feel that others–and perhaps life itself–demand too much from you. However, this aspect also holds the potential for significant personal growth and self-awareness. You often seem to have taken on more responsibility than the average person, but this can be a catalyst for your journey toward self-discovery. Watch for self-limiting behavior. Something has convinced you that you deserve less, which can lead to many problems if part of you believes it deep down. Recognizing and challenging these beliefs can be a powerful step toward your personal growth.
It’s true that you face a fair number of challenges in your life, especially in the first half of life, when your attempts to express your will often seem thwarted. However, it’s important to remember that these challenges are not insurmountable. There can be a persistent feeling that you don’t get what you want more often than other people around you. You might feel unlucky. Trying to control your environment can be a reaction.
You might fear your own feelings of inadequacy! We all struggle with feeling we’re not good enough, but you don’t even want to go there. You want to be considered accomplished and important, and when you face obstacles, you may not realize you can be your own worst enemy. Even with this fear of failing, you can harbor a fear of success simultaneously. You take failures and minor setbacks to heart, and loosening up those high expectations is critical. Fortunately, you learn to do this as you mature.
Self-awareness to the point of real self-consciousness can be a theme. Consider that no one holds a microscope over you the same way you do. Aim to avoid overanalyzing a little setback or faux pas. You likely didn’t make a spectacle of yourself when you made a mistake. Aim to avoid worrying about always being right or appearing suave and accomplished. When you ease the pressure you put on yourself, you’ll probably find you don’t face as many brick walls. It is very much about what you feel you deserve. Deep down inside, if you let yourself truly believe you deserve happiness and peace of mind, you’ll more likely find it. This belief in your own worth and potential for happiness can be a powerful motivator on your journey of self-discovery.
Self-censoring is a habit with this aspect in your natal chart. You could feel that you shouldn’t want too much. When you express egotism of any form, part of you feels guilty. As the Sun rules our conscious mind, it does enough censoring on its own. It is the “adult” within us. Saturn, on the other hand, is more like the “parent” within us. We need parents to guide us when we are children and, to some degree, as adults, but for the most part, we don’t need to be censored indefinitely–something that seems to be the case with Saturn-Sun hard aspects, except that the censoring and parenting come from within.
Ultimately, you’re learning that the standards you set for yourself are too high, which can be one reason you seem to hit ‘brick walls ‘, metaphorical barriers that prevent you from achieving your goals. You begin to recognize that some restrictions you face in life are self-created, born of a defeatist attitude. It’s best to be aware of the tendency to choose the hardest paths to travel and/or to deny yourself some of life’s pleasures. Working on recognizing and managing these tendencies will help you avoid the pitfalls of this combination.
You have a sarcastic sense of humor, a keen intelligence, and the ability to apply caution and strategy when others are going overboard. Sometimes, your vitality suffers, and troubles with the bones, teeth, and circulation may surface.
With time, you embark on a transformative journey, treating life less as a trial or test and more as a journey. You are talented at creating your own opportunities, and you put in the work. You know how to make a lot out of a little, and your sense of duty is powerful.
Notes on the square aspect:
The square, semi-square, sesquiquadrate, and opposition are also called “hard,” “challenging”, or “inharmonious” aspects.
The square aspect is 90 degrees. In other words, if two planets or points are 90 degrees away from each other in a chart, they are said to be “square” one another. They are also said to “form a square.”
However, it’s rare that points are precisely 90 degrees apart. Astrologers allow orbs that help determine if an aspect should be counted as a particular aspect. For example, if we allow a 7-degree orb for a square, any two points falling in the range of 83 to 97 degrees away from one another would be considered a square. The closer they come to 90 degrees, the smaller the orb and stronger the square. The further apart they are from 90 degrees, the greater the orb and the weaker the square.
The square indicates great tension between the planets or points involved. Tension can stimulate action but can also translate into stress.
The planets involved in a square are acting at cross purposes. In this case, when pursuing the goals and expressing traits of the Sun, Saturn energies and objectives can clash or disagree.
With squares, we may overdo it and run into countless obstacles before we “get it right.” However, squares force us out of complacency and get the ball rolling. Squares are often more problematic when we are young, as these aspects force us to grow and learn our lessons.
The Sun rules all that is “light” – the rational, conscious mind. The Sun is noble and righteous by nature. Clashing with Saturn, it can have a hard time accepting the responsibilities and limitations put forth by Saturn into one cohesive whole. This is the challenge that people with the Sun square Saturn face.
Some Famous People with Sun Square Saturn:
Squares between the Sun and Saturn (signs listed in order of Sun and Saturn):
Aries/Cancer: Gregory Peck, Ed O’Neill, Pedro Pascal, Eric Clapton, Glenn Howerton, Fergie, Zach Braff
Aries/Leo: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Woods
Aries/Capricorn: Erich Fromm, Kristen Stewart, Emma Watson, Brenda Song, Matthew Healy
Taurus/Leo: Ann Boleyn, Liberace, Iggy Pop, Steve Winwood, Jason Biggs
Taurus/Aquarius: Salvador Dali, James Brown, Bing Crosby, Natasha Richardson, Miranda Cosgrove
Gemini/Virgo: Phillip Mountbatten, Venus Williams
Gemini/Pisces: Josephine Baker, Lenny Kravitz, Wynonna Judd
Cancer/Aries: Pamela Anderson
Cancer/Libra: Papus, Vahina Giocante
Cancer/Scorpio: Machine Gun Kelly
Leo/Taurus: Martin Sheen, David Crosby, Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Leo/Gemini: Gene Kelly
Leo/Scorpio: Billy Bob Thornton, Hugo Chávez, Taylor Schilling
Virgo/Gemini: Julio Iglesias, Kaia Gerber
Virgo/Sagittarius: Tyler Hoechlin, Gloria Estefan, Evan Rachel Wood
Libra/Gemini: Jenna Ortega
Libra/Cancer: Divine, John Entwistle
Libra/Capricorn: Jason Alexander, Brie Larson, Dakota Johnson
Scorpio/Leo: Sally Field
Scorpio/Capricorn: Sylvia Plath
Scorpio/Aquarius: Carl Sagan, Tatum O’Neal, Pete Davidson, Charles Manson
Sagittarius/Virgo: Jeff Bridges, Don Johnson, Ozzy Osb0urne, Ian Somerhalder, Nelly Furtado, Tom Waits, Adam Brody
Sagittarius/Pisces: Jane Fonda, David Carradine, Ben Stiller, Kiefer Sutherland, Woody Allen
Capricorn/Aries: Norman Reedus, Dave Grohl, Jason Bateman, Jon Voight, Marilyn Manson
Capricorn/Virgo: Henry Miller
Capricorn/Libra: Eliza Dushku, Catherine, Princess of Wales,
Aquarius/Taurus: Virginia Woolf, Eva Braun, Neil Diamond, Michael C. Hall
Aquarius/Scorpio: Oprah Winfrey
Pisces/Gemini: George Harrison
Pisces/Sagittarius: Frédéric Chopin, Sidney Poitier, Sharon Stone, Harry Belafonte, Grimes
General discussion of Sun-Saturn aspects.
Alternate interpretations:
Sun square Saturn:
KARMIC LESSON: Fear of expressing what one truly is; fear of criticism, of being wrong, or inadequacy often leading to inhibitions. One must take risks in self-expression or new modes of life in order to truly realize what one is capable of doing. One’s self image must be transformed, rather than reliving past errors, faults, or limitations.
PATHOLOGICAL TENDENCIES (rare): Lowered vitality and resistance; spinal disorders and subluxations with middle and low back pain; poor healing of broken bones; immune deficiency; asthma; bone disease; disease due to anxiety and nervous breakdown; weakened digestion; weak eyes; poor blood; bad breath; a cold constitution; susceptibility to parasites; skin
problems – psoriasis, dry skin, tendency to sunburn easily due to lack of vitamin A; arthritis and rheumatism due to inadequate exposure of sunlight (vitamin D); hypothyroidism; insomnia; heart problems, congestive heart and atherosclerosis.
NUTRITIONAL ASPECTS: Deficiencies of vitamins A, D, C & P (bioflavonoids); mineral deficiencies – calcium, magnesium, iodine.
BENEFICIAL FOODS: Carrots, squash, green leafy vegetables, citrus fruits, broccoli, strawberries.
— Interpretation sample from the Body & Soul report.
“This challenge is to overcome their self-criticalness. These individuals have a very high standard of what constitutes achievement and perfection which they want to live up to and which they, also, want others to live up to. Since this attitude is totally unrealistic and impossible to obtain, they suffer greatly from internal stress.
Because of this stress, they may feel that others are working against their achieving this perfection, when in reality, it is their soul which is attracting inefficiency around them in order to force them to stop judging themselves and others. They may suffer from inner distress over their children, their lovers, their creative endeavors, those who work in their professional career environment, society in general, and/or their parents (especially their fathers).”
–From A Spiritual Approach to Astrology book by Myrna Lofthus
Sun square Saturn:
You may feel less than you are, especially if you’ve given too much control to others. Your self-will is frustrated by a feeling that you are inadequate through the influence of your Sun in square aspect to Saturn. Even as a little girl, you may have felt required to meet impossible or difficult demands.
This influence could also represent great self-restraint and a tendency to limit your own opportunities, especially if you are constantly undermining your options by failing to take responsibility for yourself. It is quite conceivable that you feel saddled with too many responsibilities, or that you have difficulty saying no because you do not want to be rejected or limited.
In order to fully claim the part of your masculine psyche, you must accept yourself and break the habit of negativity. It is also important to address your fears and to confront the fact that you may simply be afraid of allowing yourself to have the respect you deserve. Once these self-limiting attitudes are addressed, you can concentrate on dealing with life’s challenges from a much better perspective.
— Interpretation from the Profile for Women Report.
You perceive the structure of your life as restrictive unless you can infuse spiritual values into all your activities. Early on you resent the authority of the church or teacher, but later you come to appreciate the ritual patterns of prayer, yogic practices, circle work, focused meditation – all life experience, in fact. — sample from Your Spiritual Path.
“You have ambition strongly marked, a sense of your own dignity and worth, and a determination to make the world recognize you. You have a tremendous inner drive, together with a well-formed purpose. In a man’s horoscope especially, this will meet with a high degree of success in the material world.
You do best when working independently, away from the place of your birth and the home of your parents. So long as you stick closely to home and mother, or the hereditary pattern, responsibilities will weigh you down, and obligations will be foisted on you which impede your material progress though they strengthen your ultimate purpose. But as soon as you are on your own, among strangers, your rise begins, and it usually goes on steadily till you stand at some point of importance. You create your own opportunities. You take advantage of every twist and turn of circumstance. A sort of shrewd hardness develops with the years, and the way of the world is an open book to you.
You are steady, calm, persistent, wary, suspicious, and skeptical. You know which side your bread is buttered on, and how to get the butter. You are capable of living a very austere life if it suits your purposes. No personal matter is likely to interfere with your ambition, and you gain a reputation for being machine-like in your precision and purposes.
This is a somewhat Machiavellian position. The danger is always that pride and an inability to flex with later circumstances will cause your downfall. You stick to the ship till it sinks, less from principle than from pride, and go down with flying colors, arrogant and defiant to the end, and still conscious of your own worth and right.
In a woman’s horoscope, these same qualities appear to some extent with less aggression and more tact, and they do not make for the same progress in a woman’s chart, nor for the same high achievement. Restrictions and responsibilities are likely to hem you in, for you are strong for duty and obligations and stick with an admirable adhesiveness to any task which life sets you.
Also, in a woman’s chart, this means early trouble through men, frequently starting with the father, who may be poor and unsuccessful, and continuing with difficulty in one form or another through sweethearts or husband. This aspect gives you fortitude, philosophy, and the ability to see through the difficult experiences which life may offer.” — sample from the classic and older Heaven Knows What report.
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Interpretations written by Annie unless otherwise noted.
