Those 7-Year Cycles in Your Life

An Inadvertent Astrologer Falls in Love with Saturn as Our Ultimate Teacher

Raise your hands, astrology skeptics in the room! 

Okay, I see you! I AM YOU.

And yet…

A recent lunar cycle study with my dear friend Patrick (from Truth Takes Time) led to remarkable insights. You’ve heard of how 7 year cycles seem to show up in our lives? Now I’m starting to understand why. 

When I mapped life events to astrological house placements, I noticed a complete disintegration at the first Saturn return (aka: the time the planet returns to the place where it was at our birth, about 29-30 years). I had to know more. A burning desire lit within me to better understand the Saturn cycles.

Two friends are in the midst of their second Saturn returns. We are all noticing some fairly dramatic ways that the planet appears to be “speaking” to us. By speaking, I mean intuitive hits and life changes that suddenly make sense. It’s astonishing. My own natal chart began speaking to me after November 2022, my first natal reading with Patrick Geary.

Astrology is a language of archetypes, not necessarily literal in translation. Yet the literal nature of patterns I keep finding blows me away. Can this be a key to understanding struggles I’ve had during my life? It certainly de-personalizes the times I felt I’d failed in some way. 

I reflected on this during a conversation on the Somatic Wisdom podcast with Jenny Blake of the Free Time and Pivot books and podcasts. Of course we maintain discernment around what these planetary messages have for us. But there’s also too much synchronicity to be ignored. 

While working with Patrick in three separate lunar cycles over the past 7 months, I observed how each lunation moved through my chart. Both literal and archetypal synchronicities showed up prominently. This might be confirmation bias, of course. But it was thrilling how much more easily my life flowed when I paid attention to the lunar themes as they shifted every 2.5 days.

To me, astrology’s great gift is in the weaving together of the energetic and rhythmic cycles in our lives, and creating coherence to our experiences. It can have predictive value. Even more though, it helps reconcile our psychological and spiritual development, with life events often providing the friction for growth. 

As a person with neurodivergent wiring (characterized as giftedness in 2^nd grade, thankfully) my cycles are a little more dramatic than the neurotypical individual. I’ve learned to embrace this, especially within the last ~20 years since my first Saturn return and diagnosis. It hasn’t been an easy road, and I’ve had both successes and failures. 

I am also determined to advocate for those who are less inclined toward punishing work schedules. We often have periods of great creative generation, followed by deep needs for rest. These creative cycles aren’t necessarily tied to a 40 hour clock or a weekly steady state.

Cycles have seasonal variations and somewhat predictable lunar arcs. And of course, planetary influences have a magnetic and energetic quality to how they interact. This feels like Somatic Wisdom in its most elemental form.

Photo by Planet Volumes on Unsplash

Saturn is in Pisces right now, and it’s a wonderful time to explore its role in our spiritual lives. Patrick and I experimented with a practice of Letters from Saturn to explore this dynamic and to invite guidance. (It’s not unlike the Letters from Love practice I have been doing along with

Elizabeth Gilbert

since September.)

What emerged was fascinating, supportive, and deeply loving. We are still in the process of absorbing the wisdom of these letters. I intend to share a few next week on Substack, and I plan to publish Our Somatic Wisdom weekly in Q1 of 2024.

***

The wisdom of Saturn may feel subtle at first. It’s a slower-moving planet so it stays in each sign for about two and a half years. In Greek mythology this sky god was known as “Chronos.” He was Lord of time, generation, dissolution, abundance, wealth, agriculture, periodic renewal, and liberation. In Vedic astrology Saturn rules karma. Your every karmic action produces a reaction you must eventually experience. (Svoboda p. 281)¹

Saturn is often cast as a “malefic” in traditional astrology, a negative connotation. It is the bringer of consequences, the teacher who may be harsher with discipline when we get something wrong. However, during our Letters from Saturn experiment, I experienced so much love. Saturn supports the guidance of my intuition and setting boundaries when appropriate. That’s not easy!

Saturn has been with me when I ignored my intuition and followed the crowd instead. There were gentle course corrections along the way, and some less gentle. When we interpret these course corrections as something we did wrong, they often cause suffering. However, the we see them as necessary lessons, and ways to learn discernment, we grow. 

In a similar way to positive psychology, a field which aims to help all humans grow, not to “fix” diagnoses (necessarily), positive astrology can guide our development. It provides archetypes to help access deeply embodied wisdom while affirming the layered complexity of the human psyche. 

After years of identifying with a diagnosis and studying its implications in my life, I now commit to exploring the gifts and strengths revealed in my chart. With Saturn as a guide, this feels possible. Rather than the inner critic or the part of me that is never satisfied, I am sensing a more patient teacher. The red pen has transformed from critique to careful guidance.  

Saturn allows me to let go of the ego-centered notions of who I am and why I am here. And it feels like its plan for me is far greater than I would have imagined. 

In this spirit, I am honoring the gift of this knowledge by creating online tools and experiences to help friends and clients consider the role of cycles in your life, particularly those that last from two to eight years.

Passages of time in lunar cycles can be a wonderful initiation to this process. I highly recommend Patrick’s next lunar change circle on the moon and money in January if this appeals to you.

As you gain mastery over signs and archetypal meanings, you will be well-equipped to map out the Saturn cycles in your own life. If you already know your rising sign and/or your birth time and place, you might be able to locate where Saturn is on your chart using online chart software. If not, please feel free to reach out, and I can help you do this.

Stay tuned for a special event around February 28^th during the next Saturn and Mercury Cazimi. Cazimi is a term for when a planet intersects with the Sun from an earth-based perspective. This will be a discovery session to access your intuition, and affirm your inherent worthiness to receive. Click here to join the wait list to receive details as soon as they are finalized if you’re intrigued.

Until then, wishing you the very best for 2024! 💥 🎉

May you find the right mentors and teachers to keep you poised on that sweet spot of your growth edge.

Thanks so much for reading and supporting Our Somatic Wisdom on Substack in 2023. I’m deeply grateful for this space to share, grow, and learn from each other. 

1. The Greatness of Saturn: a Therapeutic Myth by Dr. Robert E. Svoboda (1997)