Hey people,

My intuition says Saturn in the 1st by transit is worse, since Saturn's joy is in the 12th and also in electional astrology we'd like to place malefics in cadent houses.

Still, a modern-psychological point of view may say that Saturn in the 12th is a period laden with loneliness and full of retrospection and self-reflecting thoughts. A balsamic phase for the individual, sort of.

Saturn in the 1st is from the one side, limitations on action and limitations on major projects. From the other side, Saturn in the 1st can be a mega project for the individual which lasts for 2.5 years or so. OR maybe an individual concentrated on career, heavily.

What is it from your experience (personal and via giving readings)?

Thanks!

Hi Dima - I think it depends on the nature of Saturn in the natal chart and also the contact Saturn makes in the natal chart. I remember someone with natal Saturn in the 12th and their Saturn return in the 12th was when their father went to prison (much deserved). It was a difficult time for them but also brought some clarity/conclusion/ending.

A lot of transit astrologers have info on the cycle of Saturn and what it means as it goes through the houses. Most might call the 12th the conclusion period of a cycle, so you might be dealing with the ending of certain things, and maybe starting to transition into the new cycle and what that brings, which can be good or bad. Normally with Saturn, the ways you experience more positive results is when you approach the transits with maturity, caution, strength, working hard at the matter, etc. In the 12th that can deal with introspection and the subconscious. Some would say it also deals with the past. I think how we handle that depends a lot on how much we already deal with that house and that subject matter on a general basis. If it is an area we tend to sweep under the rug a lot, it might be that we are forced to deal with it more. I find Saturn tends to bring forward things we need to work on.

In my own chart I generally notice Saturn transits more on angles or when they make contact with my inner planets, especially the luminaries. If Saturn made contact with a luminary while in the 12th I could imagine that could be emotionally rather difficult or very isolating too. I see Saturn in the 12th as more difficult when we cling to things that are not working because it tends to show a time where we don't have as much control, and endings might occur. How we handle that depends on the natal chart as a whole. Some people handle uncertainty and endings/conclusions better than others.

In the 1st, we might deal with issues related to our own self worth or even our health. It is also often a time when we might start making plans and actions towards different goals in the Saturn cycle around the chart. Saturn in the 1st can show a time where we are also lower in energy or feel old even if we aren't. Depending on how you deal with it you might walk away with more self confidence and/or health or it may exacerbate those areas if you ignore them usually. Saturn can show a time where something you have ignored is now something you have to face.

Hi Dima/Tanit
I have often wondered over a chart of an individual who has been ill & unable to work for over 20 years, but somehow soldiers through his adversity.
He has a Capricorn ascendant with Saturn Asc ruler retrograde in his Joy 12th house, opposite a dark moon before the crescent appears in Cancer ruler of his 6th house. The chart is nocturnal so Saturn is out of sect it doesn't receive any assistance from the benefics he is in his own sign of Capricorn within a 3-degree orb of the Ascendant,& he also rules the 12th house, I think it was James Braha who said too much Saturn can ruin a chart. Triplicity rulers Mars Venus angular moon cadent It the last third of life that problems occurred.