Saturn retrograde in Scorpio – ouch! This isn’t a combination many people look forward to. Saturn gives us a great big dose of reality and when we fail to accept this reality we usually experience very unpleasant emotions. In Scorpio, Saturn pushes us to look at the realities of power in our relationships, our jealousies, resentments and fears of loss or betrayal.

With Saturn retrograde in Scorpio this is a last chance to look at these issues head on and make any necessary adjustments to our lives or our state of mind. For this reason I see Saturn retrograde in Scorpio as a blessing – it’s a great time to dig deep and to clear out any old emotional crap that is holding us back in our lives.

I had a dream once where I was swimming down, down, down into the depths of the ocean. Of course I was terrified and the deeper I swam the more I was gripped by fear. But for some reason I knew I needed to get to the bottom. Eventually I reached a sunken ship. It was old and covered with barnacles and seaweed, a ghostly, rotten hulk.

As I approached this enormous mass of weed and rot I saw that the portholes of the ship were intact and behind one small round window was a girl, knocking and begging to get out. Quickly I swam to the porthole and struggled to unlatch the window. The girl was panicked and knocking her head against the glass. Finally I was able to release the catch and with a great rush of energy the girl flew out, merging into my own body and sending us both skyrocketing up to the surface and onward into the sunlit sky.

This dream reminds me a lot of the energy of Saturn retrograde in Scorpio. The girl in the rotten ship was part of me, trapped in old resentments, fears and trauma, longing to be released into freedom. Until I was able to overcome my aversion to facing these rotten and ugly parts of myself she remained trapped. I remained trapped. I needed to go into the deepest, darkest parts of myself before we could both be free.

Saturn retrograde in Scorpio lasts until 2 August when the planet turns direct and makes its way back towards the more upbeat Sagittarius. During this time there is much you can do to work positively with this energy. Writing a journal can help, especially if you can turn off your left-brain, perfectionist, editor archetype and just allow the words to flow freely. In fact most artistic pursuits can be very helpful in bringing stagnant emotional energy to the surface: try drawing, sculpting, dancing, singing or any other form of expression that appeals to you.

How will Saturn retrograde in Scorpio affect you

Anyone with planets or points in the last ten degrees of the fixed signs (Scorpio, Leo, Aquarius and Taurus) will probably feel Saturn retrograde quite strongly over the next four weeks. Also check your birth chart to see which house Saturn is transiting.

For example Saturn is currently passing through my 6th House, squaring my natal Saturn at 29 degrees Leo. This will likely bring up issues around work and service. I may also learn something about how buried emotional junk is affecting my health.

If you have trouble working out how the transits interact with your birth chart or would like to be able to interpret the aspects in your chart for yourself you may find my free mini lessons useful. And if you don’t have one yet you can download a free birth chart here.

Meanwhile, in another part of the cosmos…

Right now Saturn is making an opposition to the Moon and a square to Venus which will heighten the emotional intensity of this transit and turn the focus firmly onto relationships. A separating opposition from Pluto to the Sun and an approaching opposition from Pluto to Mars won’t help much! Couple this with a square from the Sun to Uranus and we’re likely to see some pretty volatile energy over the next few days. Watch out for angry outbursts…

To better understand the influence of Saturn retrograde you can check out my earlier post Saturn retrograde: the art of pruning. It looks more generally at how we can work with the Saturn retrograde to grow and evolve.

Share your experience of Saturn retrograde…

The Saturn retrograde period began in March, first passing back through Sagittarius and now reentering Scorpio. How have you been faring with this transit? What issues has it brought up that need to be resolved? Please share your thoughts so we can learn together.

If you don’t have one yet, you can get a free birth chart at astro.com. To understand how to read your birth chart, and follow the transits in your own life, download my free ebook The Language of Astrology.