The planets of the solar system fall into 3 different categories. The first 3 planets, which are Mercury, Venus and Mars rule our day to day lives, the things that shift and change regularly. These are the planets that spend just a matter of weeks in each area of our chart, sometimes less than 3 weeks for Mercury, around 4 weeks for Venus and 6 weeks for Mars. So their influence, although significant at the time is transient, not usually staying around long enough to create major change, unless they retrograde and stay longer or unless you're at a point where you're so close to a tipping point, that they tip you over the edge, giving you a push start.

The next group of planets is Jupiter and Saturn. These two planets influence the direction our lives are taking at any given time and you couldn't get two planets that were more different. The last group are the 3 outer planets - often called the 'new', 'modern' or 'generational' planets. The inner 5 planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn can all be seen with the naked eye and before the invention of the telescope were the only planets visible. So these 5 planets are known as the 'old', the 'ancient' planets or the 'personal' planets. The 'new' or 'outer' planets are Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, were only discovered in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, after the telescope was invented and in so called modern times. Because these planets are so far out, their orbits are extremely long, sometimes spending decades in one sign. Because of that their influence is more global than personal.

Saturn belongs in a group that is comprised of just him and Jupiter, so whether they like it or not, they have to co exist. Saturn takes 28 to 29 years to orbit the Sun and stays in each Sign and in each area of our chart for around 2 1/2 years. Where Jupiter expands, Saturn restricts. Where Jupiter wants you to move forward, Saturn wants you to hold back. Just as we need both night and day and both a brake and an accelerator in a car, so to do we need both Jupiter and Saturn.

Our natal Saturn is said to show where our deep fears, inhibitions and challenges lie. It is where our natal Saturn is that we're most likely to find our blocks. As Saturn moves through the Signs, he provides the opportunity to heal these fears and because he knows our potential and what we are capable of, he pushes and challenges us. Saturn is the planet that requires us to learn and grow and he does that by forcing us to take responsibility, to become accountable and to learn from facing consequences. Saturn pulls us back, urging us to take the time to do things properly and he won't let us take short cuts in the area of our chart he's patrolling. It's by slowing us down that we get a chance to deal with things that once dealt with, become lessons we won't have to learn again, in other areas of our life.

Saturn also ensures that we don't sweep things under the carpet and where he is in our chart, at any given time is where we are likely to be having difficulties or problems, yet Saturn doesn't create problems, he simply draws attention to them, won't let you hide from them and uses them as an opportunity to grow and evolve. If you use a Saturn transit wisely and can see that the tests and trials are all for a reason, then it is a chance to grow and overcome obstacles, so that you're free to move on. Saturn brings us our wake up calls, the kind that we can usually ignore or pretend they're not there, except when Saturn is involved.

Because Saturn is so tough on us, he's often given a hard wrap. Remember that feeling when you were a kid and you had to go to the dental nurse, or to have your immunisations, or worse still, had to eat your vegetables? They all seemed like cruel and awful punishments at the time, but there was just one end result in mind - our own benefit.

That's exactly the role that Saturn plays in our lives. He may seem gruff, unforgiving and coldly unrelenting, but he is our protection, against ourselves. We all bemoan the bank manager that won't increase our credit card limit, but can you imagine if he said yes to everything we asked? We'd be in debt up to our eyeballs! We need the safety fence around our lives that Saturn provides.

Next time you come up against a brick wall or you keep repeating the same lessons over and over again, chances are Saturn's trying to tell you something.