The Wisdom of Saturn

The stories we hear often contain delightful reflections on how the planets can express in our everyday lives. To capture some of these examples, I’ve created this occasional column Analogies where I use an example from something I’ve recently heard or read and transfer it on to a planet’s significations.  

  • Source: Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
  • Planet: Saturn

Wiser than Me podcastI’ve recently begun listening to Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s light-hearted and soulful new podcast “Wiser Than Me”. 62 year old Dreyfus understands older women are a treasure trove of life-earned wisdom. She wonders why we don’t hear more about and from them. So she created this podcast to glean the gold women over 70 have accumulated throughout their years. Immediately I thought of the wisdom Saturn offers when we alchemize our experience from adversity to maturity.

Each episode offers gratifying conversations where Dreyfus gets schooled by women that are wiser than her. She asks questions like What would you do differently? What’s your biggest regret? What advice would you give your 21 year old self? What’s sex like at your age? How do you feel about aging? The answers are sincere and unapologetic. These older voices speak with a gravitas that takes years of living to acquire.

How does the podcast relate to Saturn? Saturn represents time, wisdom, maturity and deep learning. Saturn transits often bring duty, hardship and heaviness. Yet, through these times we learn to take responsibility for the changes we wish to see in our lives. In this process, we develop wisdom. We mature. We grow into ourselves. Listening to these interviews feels like auricular pieces of art sculpted by Saturn.

Here are some examples:

  • Saturn represents boundaries. Jane Fonda offers this recommendation to Julia as helpful piece of advice: No is a complete sentence.  There’s no need to amplify the reason why we’ve chosen no as our answer.
  • Saturn transits have us face our fears. Food critique Ruth Reichl shares a story of the fear she grappled with when writing a negative review for a prominent restaurant. The piece of wisdom she offers is that when something frightens you, you must do it.
  • Saturn reveals actions have consequences. If you reap disharmony, you will sow it. If you are generous throughout life, others will be generous towards you. Isabel Allende speaks to this Saturnian tenant and ponders why people who have been cold and boundaried their entire life would expect companionship and someone to care for them in old age.
  • Saturn cultivates strength when we stay in our integrity. Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg relays, “The only thing you have complete control of is your character. You could lose your health, your wealth, your job, your husband, your family, you could lose everything. But you never lose your character. And that character is the little house inside yourself that is called strength.” It’s also where wise elder Saturn lives.

Saturn’s Natal Promise

Dreyfus herself has a prominent Saturn with Saturn at 21° Capricorn next to her MC at 22° and Capricorn Sun at 23° (see her chart). It’s fitting that she brings the topics of age and wisdom to the forefront, especially in regards to women with such a dignified Saturn in its nocturnal domicile.

Dreyfus launched Wiser Than Me back in March 2023, just as Saturn entered Pisces. Her exalted Venus lands at 9° Pisces. Dreyfus has used the co-presence of Saturn and her Venus to celebrate our women elders and to share their wisdom with the rest of us as her natal Saturn promises.

If you listen to podcasts, I highly recommend this one. Maybe it’s Saturn transiting over my own stellium in Pisces, but I think some hard earned advice from our long lived sisters is always a good thing.

Image made by me in Midjourney