Facing Your Saturn Return
“Embracing your Saturn Return as a reminder of life’s cyclicality.”
Every twenty-eight to thirty years, your Saturnal orbit opens up a portal for change as the planet returns to the position it inhabited when you were born. Saturn gets a bad rap — as a planet, it is the sign of hard-edges and taking responsibility. When it returns to the sign the planet was in when you were born, this energy transmutes to all aspects of life.
This means your late twenties, mid-fifties, and early eighties are ripe with questions meant to interrupt your every day with that which can no longer be ignored. What goals have you put off out of fear? Is this partner, friend, or community really fulfilling you or are they attachments to a more juvenile part of your life? What are you ready to outgrow to meet yourself? It can be a lot (we recommend this calculator to help plan when you can expect these shifts), but Saturn’s taskmaster energy can bring hidden gifts, too. Like with all change, moving through these periods of life comes with challenges but, hopefully, when met intentionally, you can find clarity, renewed purpose, and growth on the other side.
This self-evolution doesn’t happen by itself. It takes sitting with yourself, your life, and deeply considering who you want to grow into through this transitional mark. We often find in these times of uncertainty that books and films are welcome guides. So for when the going gets rough, here are recommendations from our team to accompany you on the journey, complete with a playlist to get you through.
books
The Sun My Heart by Thich Nhat Hanh
recommended by the passerby team
Integral to transitioning through changes is harnessing a practice of mindfulness. The Sun My Heart is one of Tich Nhat Hanh’s most widely loved books, and he draws on sources both based in Buddhist psychology and contemporary literature. Noted as a companion guide for all kinds of meditators, this book offers practices to ground your mental attention and personal intentions during these mutable times.
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
recommended by the passerby team
Grief and loss are perhaps some of the most acute emotions associated with change, challenging us to dig into ourselves and deepen our inner work. Michelle Zauner writes about the weight of what grief has to teach us in her memoir, delving into her mother's terminal cancer diagnosis when the author was 25. She investigates what this grief taught her about their relationship as mother/daughter and growing up Korean American in Oregon.
Letter to D: A Love Story by André Gorz
recommended by the passerby team
In Letter to D: A Love Story, Andre Gorz speaks to how the cyclical deepening of the love you can have for a partner over a lifetime is always tinged with the knowledge that this version of life together will, in fact, end. If we are lucky enough we will experience a few Saturn Returns in our lifetime. While each brings about its own set of challenges, we can hope to be loved through those close to us to emerge with a deeper intimacy with ourselves and those we love.
How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti
recommended by the passerby team
Following the lives of two young women who are both artists, How Should a Person Be? is an experimental novel delving into the many questions of life. Often during a Saturn Return, we can't help but wonder if we've made the right choices as we face dissatisfaction and inner tension with our surroundings — is this it? This book can get the conversation started as to where we attribute worth and purpose in our lives and how we can make our own meaning.
The Three Ecologies by Felix Guattari
recommended by the passerby team
In this work, Guattari expands his definition of ecology to include both social relationships and our human subjectivity as sites of concern for our current ecological crises. As periods of change can push us to reexamine our role among a network, this book is a critical guide to understand how we can emerge with healthier relationships with the multiple ecologies we inhabit.
films
Le Rayon Vert (1986) dir. by Éric Rohmer
recommended by the passerby team
A film centered around a young woman's longing for connection, Le Rayon Vert follows the story of Delphine as she stumbles through singledom before finding an unexpected partner with whom to view the elusive meteorological event. This film serves as a reminder that the companionship we hope others will provide us is often what we long for most from ourselves, and that ambling toward strange promises of discovery can lead us to what we actually need instead.
Women Without Men (2009) dir. by Shirin Neshat
recommended by the passerby team
Set against the backdrop of the 1953 CIA-backed coup d’état in Iran, Shirin Neshat’s film tells the story of three women whose lives are brought together at an isolated yet beautiful orchard. Like many of Neshat’s works, the magical and real are woven together and the women’s evolutions into independence, friendship, and self-realization inspire attention to the intangible lessons in times of profound transition.
Goodbye First Love (2011) dir. by Mia Hansen-Løve
recommended by the passerby team
This film follows the adolescent romance of Camille and Sullivan as they grow into adulthood. A sticking visualization of the small ways we grieve and change as time passes, Goodbye First Love is a reminder that though it takes time, the heartaches necessary for growth bear many truths if only we are willing to sit with them.
The Before Trilogy (1995, 2004, and 2013) dir. by Richard Linklater
recommended by the passerby team
A trilogy that disrupts common understandings of linear love and time, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight are each set ten years apart, illuminating that even as the circumstances of life change, we never lose the versions of ourselves we once were. An especially pointed reminder in times of transition that we are able to hold the lives we've lived close while appreciating the need to move on to arrive at who we are now.
Nomadland (2020) dir. by Chloé Zhao
recommended by the passerby team
Chloé Zhao's award-winning film tells the story of Fern, who loses her job shortly after the death of her husband. Fern embarks on a new chapter of life by purchasing a van to live out of as she travels the U.S. searching for work. The film brings together fictional and real-life nomads and offers a look into the connective fabric binding these communities through solidarity and tenderness.
Reality Bites (1994) dir. by Ben Stiller
recommended by the passerby team
For a lighter note, Reality Bites follows a friend group coming of age in the early 2000s as they navigate what they want from their careers, friendship, and love. Even if self-reflection is important to your practice of navigating a Saturn Return, know that you're not in it alone and can even have fun in times of uncertainty.
other materials
Moon Lists by Leigh Patterson
recommended by the passerby team
Since periods of transitions can feel nebulous, structured check-ins can bring comfort and clarity on how far you've come. Leigh Patterson's Moon Lists provides just that with writing prompts and invitations for mindfulness according to the patterns of the moon. Practicing self-awareness as you shift and grow can feel like a gift, especially in these moments.
Ways of Seeing with John Berger
recommended by the passerby team
John Berger's short lecture series (also collected into a series of essays) on perception is a lovely pairing to the heavier work of the Saturn Return. Exploring painting, photography, and seeing as a concept, Berger offers another entry point into the experience of changing one's orientation in the world.
Alice Sparkly Kat’s Saturn Return Worksheets
recommended by the passerby team
Sometimes you just need to sit down with all the pieces of your life and ask what fits and what you have to let go of. While this process can seem daunting, worksheets like this one by one of our favorite astrologers, Alice Sparkly Kat, can break the task into smaller pieces to help you see the next step to move toward the self you're becoming.
Educated Messes’ “WTF Am I Doing With My Life?” and “Why is it so Hard to Make Friends?”
recommended by the passerby team
Educated Messes dives right into the big questions of life — how our friendships evolve in our mid to late twenties, how to start figuring out what we're passionate about, and why it's important to reaffirm that we can change our minds about everything, anytime in our lives. While the language in these episodes is perhaps geared toward folks going through their first Saturn return, the reminder that reconfiguring your life is possible continues to be relevant as life goes on.
Saturn Return Survival Guide by Lisa Stardust
recommended by the passerby team
Part of what can make the phases of one's Saturn Return daunting are the subtle shifts into and out of the experience. This survival guide breaks down what the Saturn Return is, when to expect these shifts, and offers intentional reflections for each star sign. This guide is a partner that assures that this too shall pass while gently guiding you to understand your cosmic relationships.
Words by Claire Dauge-Roth