No mud, no lotus.
Everything you want is on the other side of fear.
Sometimes I wonder: Why is the reward always on the other side? Why do I have to navigate the blocks and the obstacles and the walls?
This is life.
We have the things we want to do and a timeline on which we want to do them. Instant gratification is rewarding, motivating — and rare.
Life doesn’t happen on our timeline. Healing doesn’t happen on our timeline.
Life tells us: Check your ego at the door, get to work, and you’ll get rewards.
Eventually.
Twice a year we get reminded of this lesson when the Sun and Saturn form a square — an aspect of friction.
With Saturn newly in Aries, this semi-annual ego-check is now happening in the cardinal signs of Aries and Cancer.
It’s about the friction between initiating and nurturing, the tension between risk-taking and emotional security, between taking the leap and seeking protection.
Saturn in Aries
Saturn represents things we manifest over time. It’s old age and the wisdom that accrues with experience. Saturn is boundaries, limits, and restriction. It also represents fear. It says no.
Aries is the first sign of the zodiac. It’s a place of initiation, starting new things. Aries is a sign of independence, youth, and sometimes the naïveté that comes with that lack of experience. In Aries, a sign ruled by Mars, things move fast. In Aries, we are inclined to act without considering the consequences.
Aries leaves the consequences to someone else.
If Saturn sounds incompatible with Aries, that’s because it is. Saturn in Aries is in the sign of its fall — a place where it struggles. Saturn’s conservative, restrictive nature is at odds with the “move fast and break things” nature of Aries.
Saturn in Aries is the block we encounter when staring a new project. It’s the obstacle at the starting gate, the administrative hurdle to starting your next entrepreneurial venture.
That’s not to say it’s all bad. Saturn can be a tempering influence to the irreverent style of Aries — like an experienced leader brought in to steer the ship of a young start-up.
At its best, Saturn in Aries encourages us to take a calculated risk: to use the wisdom of our experience and consider the consequences before we act.
On the other hand it can also lead to avoidance of risk: slamming the brakes to paralyze action just when it’s go time.
Sun in Cancer
The Sun is the ego. It’s our light leader. How we shine. The Sun represents our essential nature. It’s what we desire, what we strive for, what fuels us.
In Cancer, the sign of growth and emotion, the Sun wants to nourish, nurture, tend, and feel. Cancer is sensitive — meaning its senses are attuned. It’s aware of the emotional landscape in which it operates.
Cancer also has a protective quality. It has a radar for threats, and its response to those threats is to hide under the cover of its shell.
Cancer is a sign of initiation, but the Sun in Cancer wants security and alignment before exposure.
Sun in Cancer Square Saturn in Aries
As the Sun forms a square with Saturn (June 22, 2:35 pm ET 1°35’) it brings to the surface the tension between our innate need to express ourselves vulnerably and the fear of consequences for doing so.
When it comes to moving forward, the biggest restriction isn’t our mobility or strength; it’s our fear. Fear can shut down the nervous system, cause our muscles to tighten and our joints to stiffen.
When paralyzed in this way, we feel incapable of taking risks, of being vulnerable, of moving forward.
Just as Cancer can scurry away in fear, Saturn in Aries can slam on the brakes. This can leave us without any outlet for moving forward, a recipe for frustration.
Finding Commitment From Constraints
The obstacles that Saturn presents can be irritating, but they can also be fortifying. Saturn is the planet of commitment, and it’s only by facing the obstacles in our way that we can deepen our commitments to what matters.
Cancer is a place where we instinctively care for others, but that process must start with committing to our own care and nourishment.
When we summon the courage to tend to the deep wounds under our fears, we uncover new aspects of ourselves. We shine a little brighter.
Through curiosity, self-compassion, and self-acceptance we can nurture the resilience to move through or around the obstacles.
The risks of expression are real, but through awareness and wisdom we can take calculated risks that allow us to move forward. This moment teaches us that authentic emotional expression (Cancer Sun) requires courage to face fear (Saturn in Aries), not avoid it.
The Rewards Are On the Other Side
When we give up the ego and embrace patience through the process, we discover that the rewards for our efforts are inevitable — even if they aren’t coming on our preferred timeline.
This moment sets the stage for the upcoming new moon in Cancer, a fresh start that will be blessed by Jupiter, planet of abundance.
The rewards really are on the other side.
[…] Sun in a square to Saturn represents the visible obstacles. Saturn is the last planet visible with the naked eye; it’s […]