Saturn, planet of responsibility, enters Aries, the sign of youth, power, and self… starting a 2 ½ year-long event and, more importantly, a brand new 29-year-long cycle on May 25th, 2025.
Why Saturn Matters
Saturn transits are beyond a shadow of a doubt some of the most impactful astrological influences in our personal lives. Yes, Pluto is the most transformative and the one that goes deepest, and Neptune or Uranus transits can absolutely put our lives upside down in their own ways, but because of their length (Uranus in Taurus/Gemini is 8 years each, Neptune in Aries 14 years, Pluto in Aquarius 20 years), their influence is spread out and sometimes quite diffuse. Saturn’s much faster 2 ½ year-long sign journeys have a much more concentrated energy that grounds the other, slower planet’s transformatory processes in our life in a way that’s hard to miss – even if you have no clue about astrology.
More than this, Saturn is famously the keeper of time. Simply speaking, this means that each astrological Saturn event unfolds in the concentrated 2 ½ years, but in a less concentrated way over the next 29-30 years. So, what we’ll meet now is something that we’ll keep encountering and that will shape our futures collectively and more importantly, personally.
What to expect in this article
This article will walk you through the time frames of this event and then provide a general exploration and interpretation of the event and how it affects us socially and personally. There will be a second article for in-the-sign predictions that add information but are written under the assumption that you read this article first.
As always, here are the shortcuts: Dates, Saturn in Aries breakdown, Further Reading, In-the-Signs.
Dates:
May 25th, 2025 – September 1st, 2025,
February 14th, 2026 – April 13th, 2028.
Between September 1st, 2025 – February 14th, 2026, Saturn goes back into Pisces to finish its journey through the last sign of the zodiac. Read: Saturn in Pisces: End of Delusion, Building on Kindness (03/2023-02/2026) for information on that.
This event last happened:
April 7th, 1996 – June 9th, 1998,
October 25th, 1998 – March 1st, 1999.
Next time this event happens will be:
March 22nd, 2055 – May 20th, 2057,
November 29th, 2057 – January 31st, 2058.
Saturn in Aries: The Eternal Flame
Saturn gives us the exact consequences, the proverbial fruits of the seeds we sowed, of our past actions. This can be wonderful as Saturn rewards things like mastery, hard work, integrity, and sustainability with success and results that last a lifetime. But Saturn also gives us the bill for where we screwed up – individually, or as a society. More than that, it shows us where there is an unavoidable real-life necessity for deprioritizing ourselves and our own wants for sustainable, responsible, and value-aligned duties. Again, Saturn gives great rewards for this, too, but first, it shows us where we have to walk the harder path to get to the gold.
Children
In that vein, Saturn in Aries signifies the start of a theme that we’ll directly encounter through the next 2 ½ years of this event, but that we’ll keep encountering for at least the next 16 years as well, and longer (since diverse Outer Planets pick up on this as well): and this is a theme around children, whether they’re our own personal children or the children born into our communities, countries, or the world at large. For the purpose of this article, I’ll step away from the individual level and focus on societal and cultural shifts here (specifically, for Western cultures). Essentially, I don’t know how you personally parent (if you even have children), so this cannot be personal advice, anyway.
In a nutshell, the next decades on Planet Earth will see a massive transformation of the way that we in the West treat children, see child-rearing, and prioritize future generations. And this starts with Saturn in Aries (but goes far beyond that). So, in other words: it starts with us as societies getting the bill for the ways we did or didn’t show up for the children in our lives. Specifically, where political and economic decisions deprioritized children for one reason or another. Another point is where political and economic decisions made those who wished to care more for their children unable to do so (f.e. due to their work’s and bank account’s demands for their time and energy). While this is not the parent’s doing (after all, you can’t just say: “let’s be homeless and starve so I can spend more time with the kids!”, economic and political realities are unavoidable), it’s the parents who are settled with the responsibility of negating the negative effects of those realities on their children. And even the best parent may not always be able to fully do that, depending on the reality they live in. Regardless of how fair or unfair this is, we’ll be seeing the consequences of this in the children of our societies more and more. And eventually, we’ll have to make a change – as a group, as a society, and not just as individuals trying to fight against the powers that be. Saturn in Aries shows the start of this process.
Plus, we’ll see where society (and politics) took an understandable desire for self-actualization and career-based success and inflated or pushed it to the point of causing and sometimes blatantly encouraging people to make choices they didn’t necessarily need to make that were at the expense of their child/children. I’ll make this very clear: some people can’t show up for their children the way the child needs and the parents want because of the world we live in. We’ve talked about this above. But in this section, we’ll talk about the social pressure (and sometimes selfishness) that pushes an adult’s wants over children’s needs where that is both hurtful to the child and not necessary in the overall situation. Again: there are reasons, both in the outside world and for an individual parent/parents that may make them unable to meet their children’s needs (even ones that go beyond politics and finances). That’s regrettable, but usually no one’s fault. But we also live in a world where much darker things happen, and that’s my focus right now.
Frankly, there are neglectful and selfish parents in this world that prioritize their children rarely, if ever, and that claim that their own wish-fulfilment branded as “self-actualization” matters more than their children’s needs. Unfortunately, specific strands of our cultural zeitgeist have amplified and pushed this. At first, this was done to combat the very real issue of women’s, especially working mothers’ chronic overwork and related health issues, but with time, it turned much more extreme.
For reference, I am a woman. The equality of women and fair treatment of all human beings regardless of any outside/surface level factors (such as gender, skin color, etc.) is something I deeply care about, including on the job. I also deeply care about mothers and subjects on overwork and burnout. But for heaven’s sake, the only response we have as a society right now is deprioritizing children (and spouses) and using corporate work as an escape from the stress at home. That “solution” is no solution. We’ll be footing the bill for this. And there will be a necessity for creating other, actual solutions – which leads to alternative routes being found. Saturn in Aries will be a major player in this process.
So, what does this mean – will women go back to hearth and home, “shackled to the kitchens?” No. Saturn in Aries demands responsibility from everyone on an individual level, not just one group in society. On a person-by-person basis, we’ll see people – regardless of gender – make decisions that solve their children’s problems and prioritize their needs, even if this requires personal sacrifice. And also, this won’t happen through outside force, but inside motivation. Interestingly, Neptune in Aries also sees differences in gender roles unfolding over the next 14 years, so I’ll be interested to see where we are in the next one-and-a-half decades.
Parenting
Saturn is one of the planets we’ll look to when it comes to parenting. This is especially important when we’re speaking of Saturn in Aries, a sign connected to youths.
These past 2 ½ years saw a rise in gentle parenting, a parenting method very well aligned with Saturn in Piscean values of compassion, patience, and gentleness. If well done, gentle parenting is a wonderful style that suits most children. However, not everyone does it “well” or even “adequately.” With the rise of its fame, we’ve also seen a rise of parents that say “gentle parenting” and mean a) laisser-faire parenting, a.k.a. letting your child do whatever they want, b) spoiling children beyond what’s healthy for them emotionally or physically, or c) substituting age-appropriate consequences, boundaries, and rules for your child with manipulation tactics that emotionally damage the child so the parent still gets their way. Again, none of this is gentle parenting – at its core, it’s a beautiful parenting technique (if well done). But if it’s not well done, well – this is what happens.
Under Saturn in Aries, we’ll see a shift from this parenting method, especially the ways people get it wrong, to a highlight of more authoritative parenting (especially once Saturn clears Neptune in mid-2026), and parenting that emphasizes boundaries, specifically boundaries for the sake of protecting the child from the influences of toxicity in our world: including but not limited to technology, social media, physical threats, mental health issues, and drugs (which are all themes we see with Neptune, who is joining Saturn right now, thereby bringing in these issues). We’ll see more hands-on parenting that prioritizes being involved in their children’s lives to set and enforce those boundaries that, say, child-related institutions can’t really set and enforce in the same way. Moreover, children who have been raised by gentle parenting so far may see their parents take more charge and become more authoritative.
Some parents will have to be careful not to overdo it when it comes to being in charge, specifically if they’ve been more laisser-faire before. Fortunately, Neptune here helps people remain relaxed and empathic where that’s needed.
There will also be a secondary countermovement to “more rules and boundaries to protect children,” and that’s a movement we’ve already seen but that gets selectively amplified: placing yourself as a parent under the authority of your child, even if your child is still a toddler. This is highly dangerous for your child and will not work – neither under Saturn in Aries, nor long-term. Children get overwhelmed by this sort of responsibility and tend to act out if they’re burdened with too much power at too young an age.
Now, that’s enough on children and parenting – let’s turn to other topics Saturn in Aries covers.
Agency
Saturn in Aries speaks to the necessity and the difficulties of taking charge of ourselves and our own lives. In a nutshell, this transit asks us the question: “What are you responsible for?” Yes, politics, major corporations, the people in our lives all have an impact on how we live (we’d be idiots if we didn’t know that). But none of this absolves us of our own responsibility or power in creating our daily experience. A good analogy is this: we may not control what cards we’ve been given, but we control how we play them. And I’d take this one step further: we control what games we agree to play.
In real world terms: if you notice, f.e., that social media negatively impacts your mental health, you not only have a choice to either change your social media behavior to better your mental health: you’ve also agreed to let social media into your life to begin with. This means that you can now revisit that agreement and say: “No thank you, I don’t like this price I didn’t know I’d pay – so I’ll throw you out, please and thank you.” Agreements can be retracted.
Saturn in Aries is a time to say “No.” And it’s a time to hold those boundaries and defend them against outside forces, including people, that would like to walk all over them. This also leads me to a second theme…
Dealing With the Word “No.”
Frankly, we don’t always get what we want. We don’t always get to exercise our own will, and sometimes not even our own rights (which is, of course, much more problematic). We’ll be talking about those situations later.
First, we’ll talk about instances that don’t always happen due to an outside force being the big old meanie. Some real-world issues that restrict us simply don’t have a villain we can fight: a sickness robs you of your energy and physical ability, so now you aren’t able to act like you usually do. Your finances don’t allow you to get that one thing you really need, so you just have to deal with it. Your parent needs a caregiver and there’s no professional option, so you have to sacrifice time and energy you don’t have or would rather spend elsewhere. We don’t get what we want: life sucks sometimes.
A major theme of Saturn in Aries is being confronted with situations where life just says “No” to something we desire – temporarily, or forever. This is something we have to deal with.
But what if there is a villain who’s stripping us of what we need? Saturn in Aries can speak to an outside force such as a person stripping us off our choices and restricting our personal freedom. This is not something to quietly accept and sit idly by: defend yourself. Under Saturn in Aries, we will see those restrictions individually and socially. If we fight, we even have the ability to win (even if it doesn’t look like it).
Responsible Rage
Saturn in Aries deals with anger management – specifically, responsible and mature anger management. This is the time to learn when to let loose and when to say “No” to a fight heading your way, to learn self-discipline with emotions and a mature way of handling your fire.
However, another aspect of it is this: sometimes, rage is the appropriate fuel that allows you to defend and protect yourself and others. Saturn in Aries can, in some people, amplify a desire to completely suppress one’s own anger (newsflash, this won’t be working – but the desire will be amplified). Without a healthy, disciplined, and mature access to your own anger, you’re unfortunately not as able to stand up to people who bully you or the weak and vulnerable. You’re also more likely to completely explode when you do get mad.
Saturn in Aries therefore teaches us to tune into this human emotion that’s necessary for our health and survival – often, by putting us into situations where we’re more prone to anger. If you chose the responsible and mature way of expressing your anger, you’ll get very far during this time.
Sustainability of Energy
Saturn asks us to handle everything we have responsibly, sustainably, and economically. In Aries, the most energetic sign of the zodiac, this includes the sustainability of energy and the consequences of uneconomic energy use as well as the ways that energetic dependency can harm us.
Now, I could take this and apply it to political and social issues, but you all are smart cookies. So, I’ll take this and apply it solely on our personal lives and leave the rest up to the imagination.
Most people nowadays are chronically busy – not chronically productive, or chronically working, though that can coincide, but chronically doing something, even if that something is totally unnecessary. And I don’t mean pouring time and energy into hobbies: I mean filling your calendar with tasks and duties you don’t need to do/take on that don’t really give you a benefit, such as joy. But in our current world, getting to say “Oh, I’m so busy, I don’t even know how to get everything done!” is almost a badge of honor people proudly proclaim at social gatherings. So, they fill their schedules to the brim, sometimes to the point where they literally don’t have the time and energy to do anything adequately, never mind well, and keep piling on tasks to feel good about themselves. This works until one little thing goes wrong, and then the entire house of cards collapses. Since there’s neither enough buffer time, nor energy, to fix things without everything else being negatively affected, one hiccup can throw off the entire system… and have huge consequences.
This approach to life also causes massive issues in relationships that get chronically deprioritized (for instance, marriages) because of “being so busy!” with other stuff and/or due to the chronic stress negatively affecting the relationship and sparking conflicts. (I’ve also noticed that many people who fully buy into the “chronically busy life” de facto ask or expect their partners to fulfil duties that aren’t theirs so the chronically busy person can keep pouring energy into tasks that don’t need to get done.)
This isn’t smart. This isn’t a sustainable use of energy. And it has devastating consequences, including health issues and burnout.
Unfortunately, it’s pushed by a society that equates “having lots of stuff to do” with “doing things that are worthwhile” and tells us that we need to do everything rather than teaching us to only take on what we can handle and to do the things we can do, well.
Under Saturn in Aries, we’ll see a shift due to necessity: a shift that helps us realize what our actual priorities are. A shift to teach us how to distribute our time and energy according to our actual priorities and needs. A shift that helps us see what we really don’t need to do, or where we can save time and effort.
We’ll first see why we need this: which can look like us hitting a proverbial wall (a.k.a. some sort of real-life consequences) that shows us where our current path is leading us. It also shows us where we’ve been making mistakes... and how we can build a life that seems to be fueled by an eternally burning flame.
Other Themes
Aging and anti-aging will continue to be a theme during this time period. Authoritarianism will make a comeback, but often hidden beneath flowery words that promise the opposite. The military and consequences of war, weapons, strategy, etc. will come into focus. We’ll see a return of conservatism in politics and society. We’ll see people processing physical and emotional wounds a lot more, especially around 2027. Men will be more needed, and people will openly say so. There may be more restrictions on/for men.
The Overall Context
This Saturn in Aries journey is massively impacted by two other highly important astrological events: Pluto in Aquarius, the 20-year-long event that pits us against group pressure, asks us to individuate, and shows us the transformative effects of technology (and the power of the people – even if that power may be, at times, suppressed), and Neptune in Aries, the 14-year-long event starting at the same time as Saturn in Aries. Right now, Saturn grounds those long-term themes into our individual experiences and provides the starting line to a major society-wide and individual growth process. These are interesting times we live in, but there’s one more thing to note.
Saturn and Neptune will move back and forth between Pisces and Aries from Spring 2025 to February 2026, which also means that they’ll be conjunct. They’ll also be joined by the North Node in Pisces. This means that we’ll see many endings, especially in our personal lives, and situations/duties we just can’t avoid, even if they hurt us. Please know that this is a time that’ll end: the world, and your life, will become a better and brighter place – in part because of this transit. It just takes time until we see the good part.
Further Reading:
If this interests you, you need to read (seriously, NEED to, since the 2025-2026 astrology is WILD):
Saturn conjunct Neptune in Aries and Pisces (2025-2026)
North Node in Pisces (01/2025-08/2026)
Uranus in Taurus (2018-2025) Thank you so much for reading this article! I hope that this article helped you prepare for an event that feels like the recovery of an eternal flame that we've forgotten. Happy Saturn in Aries, Alexandra Ps: don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already!
Comments