This is not an exercise in mundane astrology, nor a set of banal observations about what “Saturn in Aries may mean for the you and the world”, relying on the worst habits of psychological astrology. This short article concerns the ousía, the essence of the planet itself, its proper substance, and the way that substance is altered according to the sign in which it is placed. The difference between what Saturn is by nature and how that nature is respected or corrupted.
So, what is the ousía of Saturn? Saturn is the greater malefic. There is no point in resorting to modern catechisms about karma, nor to the sanitised image of Saturn as a harsh father or a tutelary authority. Saturn ages. Saturn sickens. Saturn restricts. Saturn uses time as an instrument of death. This is its essence. That is why stands as the final gate before the fixed stars, before the Ogdoad. It is the last threshold in the soul’s ascent back towards the One. The ousía, the intrinsic nature of Saturn, is to limit and to kill. If there is any silver lining in this is that Saturn is also the planet capable of liberating the soul from the body’s imprisonment.
When Saturn is in signs that suit it, such as Capricorn, Aquarius, or Libra, this killing function is conducted with more order and restraint, less brutally than we may otherwise expect from its nature. Even then, it must be located in a house oriented towards life, such as the 2nd, which nourishes and sustains the 1st. If Saturn is placed in the 12th, which is its house of joy, it operates directly against the life of the native, since the 12th is cadent from the Ascendant. So, again, Saturn has its joy in killing.
When Saturn enters Aries, its ousía is corrupted. Let’s consider this in elemental and temperamental terms. Saturn is cold and dry. It favours winter, the season that kills what was born in spring. Its temperament is melancholic, pessimistic, introverted, inclined towards fear, anxiety, and contraction. Nothing in Saturn is life-affirming.
Aries is hot and dry, associated with spring, with the increase of light, and with the resurgence of vitality in nature. Although dry, it is choleric, and the choleric temperament is the direct opposite of the melancholic. There is a fundamental difference between what a thing is in its substance and the manner in which that substance expresses itself when placed in a hostile environment.
Saturn in Aries continues to age, to decay, to sicken, and to kill. But it does so in a corrupted way. The choleric temperament of this martial sign forces Saturn into a mode of operation alien to its nature. The consequence is a spasmodic aggression, abrupt movement, an inflamed dryness. The cardinal fire introduces haste and frenzy. Saturn cannot endure this. He is slow. Its malefic and lethal nature becomes harsher, less contained, less silent, more abrasive. We prefer to have this killer moving slowly than quickly and is the only planet that, when analyzing its speed of motion, we do not like to see it speeding itself up.
Saturn is exalted in Libra because Libra provides the instruments of judgement, measure, and sentence. This is aligned with Saturn’s ousía. Aries is the zodiacal opposite of Libra, so Saturn is in its fall there. It loses the scales of Libra, loses proportion, loses the capacity for calibrated judgement. The judge becomes despotic, so death ceases to be administered coldly and is instead hurled with fury.
This applies to any serious astrological analysis. We must first know the essential nature of the seven planets. Only then can we assess whether the accidental qualities, sign, house, motion, are in line with that nature or corrpt it. In the case of Saturn in Aries, the answer is evident.
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