Saturn doesn’t just test your resolve — he woos it, shaping passion into purpose. In Aries, he’s the lover who dares alongside you, but only if you meet him halfway, offering your devotion in return.

*John Hoppner - An Unknown British Officer, Probably of 11th (North Devonshire) Regiment of Foot, c.1800*

Guarded Attraction

Imagine yourself flipping through the channels and finding a new period drama starting. As the beginning credits roll, the soundtrack accompanies the opening doors revealing a ballroom dance about to begin. The dancers are in their positions when the camera pans out to show a distinguished man, tall and stern in his features, who enters the room. He's dressed in his military regalia, and the medals shining on his red uniform speak to his elevated position as a leader and someone long-experienced in war and strategy.

At his entrance, there's a subtle hush among the guests, and the dancers inhale a cautious pause before starting their dance. The ladies lift their fans to hide the tantalizing smiles as they whisper about the new guest's arrival. The high-status men straighten their backs in vain attempts to appear taller as they make their way to welcome the new guest, Saturn. Despite the crowd of guests and the fast-paced steps of the dancers, the temperature of the ballroom drops enough for the more perceptive ones to notice, in direct correlation to Saturn's weighty and formidable demeanor. Although invited, Saturn's arrival comes laced with a layer of fear, rather than a congenial welcome. There's a sense of intrigue, but also respectful distance, between Saturn and the other guests.

When Saturn makes itself known in our lives through a transit, much like the ballroom guests in this scene, we feel the temperature drop and the sense that we'll be expected to behave very differently - a curbing of our enthusiasm. The rules of engagement have changed, and we'll be expected to behave with more discipline and accountability, even cramping our style. No more acting from impulsive instinct, but from measured gravitas.

If we want to change how we experience Saturn's focused entrance into our lives, what cues might we notice that guide us towards shifting our behavior?

What would happen if we chose to woo Saturn instead of fearing it?

*Invitation to the Waltz - Francesco Miralles Galaup*

The Lover beneath the armor

As the music grows in tempo, even Saturn's disciplined boundaries can't escape the passionate rhythmic movement. The fiery excitement of the dancers around him coaxes him to take the plunge into inviting a red-haired beauty to the dance floor. Even the staunchest of disciplined leaders aren't immune to the allure of provocative beauty. Saturn's crossing of the threshold into the dance floor doesn't go unnoticed, as other guests gossip unbidden and make bets about the future of this possible romance.

Here, the notorious taskmaster, lord of boundaries, time, discipline, accountability, and maturation, reveals another facet as Saturn the Lover, not the punisher. When it comes to Saturn, we're not talking about insta-lust/love, but a slow-burn romance with a partner who may not melt our hearts with swoony declarations of love, but instead as a lover who wants us to grow and mature into our fullest with integrity, not by skipping steps. He's the one who shows up, stays during the good and hard times. This is a lover that challenges our resistance, excuses, and immaturity, because they believe in our potential and can see right through our bullshitting.

In Saturn's love language, boundaries protect our agency and safety, time is the sweet delivery of a matured desire, discipline means devotion to what we value, and accountability is an expression of fairness of free and individual agency.

In your own life during a Saturn transit, take the first bold steps towards starting something you've been wanting. Commit and tend to it with both passion and perseverance. This isn't the time for 'words of affirmation' love language, but acts of service.

Don't just talk. Do it. And do it consistently.

The Unmasking - Courageous Vulnerability

As the night unfurls in a feverish swirl of dancing and conviviality lubricated by alcohol, even Saturn's disciplined armor starts slipping. Enraptured by the fiery beauty dancing in his arms, even a seasoned warrior can feel the seductive pull to leap towards the promise of love. It's this willingness to recognize the time's gift of kismet that has made Saturn an unparalleled authority.

It's this ability to recognize timing opportunities and discern what is a passing fancy, as opposed to something worthy to be shared and deepened, that places Saturn in a category all of his own.

This isn't about fiery, albeit passing ardor. It's about the slow-burning passion being alchemized into lasting, devoted, and loyal love. The initial spark may fade, but Saturn dares to stay the course through the highs and lows.

Saturn's arrival in Aries creates the tension and chemistry of where slowness (Saturn) meets the rush (Aries). Meanwhile, Aries ignites Saturn's deliberation, creating the spark of right timing to strike while it's hot.

The moment isn't about waiting until we're ready, but about learning by doing with Saturn's steady hand.

It's time to alchemize Aries' impulse, independence, and boldness with Saturn's steadying structure, patience, and ultimately mastery. It's controlled movements, but movement nonetheless.

This is a vulnerable time as we lay claim and make the first move towards what we desire. It's not the time to hide behind our too-ready 'but' rationales that unmask our resistance's cowardice.

To woo Saturn, especially during its transit through Aries, we've got to cut our resistance's lazy arguments at the knees, and instead keep taking actionable steps.

Less dreaming, talking, but taking steady steps towards what has sparked your passion.

Carpe Diem and seize time's blessing of Kairos.*

Devotional & Passionate Courtship - Saturn in Aries

As dawn arrives and guests drunkenly step into their carriages to return home, Saturn bids farewell to his dance companion. Upon arrival at the ball, Saturn had no idea that by dawn's first sunrays, he'd be planning how to turn a chance encounter into an enduring relationship. Time for flirtation is over, as the dial moves to showing follow-through and consistency. This is no longer just a one-and-done battle. It's a campaign that will require consistency and tending over time.

Now, sparked by Aries' daring and boldness, Saturn is ready to bring enduring structures to make visions move from dream into reality. While Saturn may never entirely strip off the armor, the Lover within is ignited and fully present and ready to bring discipline and devotion to this passionate pursuit. The embers hidden in the hearth are well stoked, able to burn for a long time.

Saturn in Aries beckons us to leap towards something bold, while vowing to tend to it over time.

It's time to show up prepared to take the courageous step forward, while focusing on the follow-through necessary to honor one's promise. But it's also time to weave discipline with passion and play, allowing room for instinctual and at times impulsive detours, as long as we're honest with ourselves as to why we're making such changes.

The realm of Aries, with its infusion of passion and assertive boldness, helps Saturn develop a more instinctual relationship with time.

Action meets not only the need for structure and the discipline of follow-through, but also the role of noticing timing's opportunities.

*Une soirée élégante - Victor Gabriel Gilbert (circa) 1890*

Beyond fearmongering - Collective Healing

As in my previous article, I stated our culture's tendency to frame the unknown and the changes that accompany it in bleak tones. By extension, this unimaginative tendency also extends to the world of astrology, where the planetary transits, especially Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, are painted in ominous terms.

The antidote here is relational, where we were to approach the planetary archetypes as a romantic relationship. This approach affords to stop bracing for traumatizing impact and start courting co-creative collaboration. However, it also demands a shift to our mindset, where, in time, our individual inner work ultimately ripples outwards, thus helping us move from nihilistic apathy to relational co-creation—less dystopian fate; more enemies-to-lovers slow-burn romance.

Love stories teach us how to court collaboration, take courageous steps towards our heart's desires, and how to show devotion and commitment where it is warranted. Reimagining Saturn's natal position in your birth chart, or transiting, less of a taskmaster, but more like a romantic character that has its eyes on us, can help us feel less put upon as a victim, but take responsibility, as in being able to respond, with more creativity and accountability.

In my natal chart, I have Saturn conjunct Venus, so it's easy for me to imagine it as a Jane Austen Regency hero, a blend of Mr. Darcy (Pride & Prejudice) and Colonel Brandon (Sense & Sensibility). While Mr. Darcy reveals the harsher, more judgmental aspect of Saturn, and Colonel Brandon the steadfast and devoted Lover, both bring that image of honor, discipline, and devotion once their hearts are genuinely engaged.

Reimagining my natal Saturn conjunct Venus as the love Mr. Darcy/Colonel Brandon showed in Jane Austen's stories helped me approach this natal aspect with more creativity rather than the less-than-favorable descriptions I was reading in my early days of studying astrology. Not to mention the less-than-encouraging expressions I saw flit through other astrologers' faces once they saw that aspect as they read my chart.

*The Last Waltz Together - Clarence F. Underwood*

Shall we dance?

Wooing a planet is really wooing a part of ourselves. Any outer change we wish for starts as inner work. Realizing how much agency is actually at our disposal if we approach our inner work as a way to change the narrative, not only for ourselves, but also for the collective, is creatively liberating.

Less 'victimy', more romantic lead.

My invitation to you now is for you to write your own 'love letter' to Saturn. It could be for its natal position in your birth chart, or as it transits through Aries. Or in any way you imagine Saturn in your mind. Use this exercise to help you learn how it also wants to relate to you. Romance is a two-way street of courageous vulnerability.

What will your love letter say?

*Neptune’s Horses (1910) - Walter Crane*

Epilogue - To be Continued

Saturn was not the only one vying for love in this story. There was another presence lingering at the edges of the ballroom, sipping his drink and cloaked in mist and dreams. Our dream maker hero Neptune has been circling Saturn, and they'll join in early 2026 in Aries. Their seductive union will dissolve old boundaries, bring new longings and dreams. The plot will most likely thicken. But this is a love story for another time.

We'll be covering how to romance enthralling and seductive Neptune in this series. Don't worry, you'll be prepared for when this odd couple of planetary pairings have their exact rendezvous next year.

*Note - This article and the next three are part of my series on Romancing the Planets - as romantic leads. The intention in this series is for us to find ways in which, as individuals, we can answer this question: How might we each do our bit to help our collective experience of their transits in their newly ingressed signs be less fearmongering and more relational? In this article on Saturn and its ingress in Aries, the question is: What is the divine madness, prophetically inspired adventure we can have with Saturn?

**Carpe Diem is Latin for 'pluck the day' and used by the Romans to mean seize the day and enjoy life while we can.

***Kairos is an ancient Greek word that means: time when conditions are right for the accomplishment of a crucial action: the opportune and decisive moment.

Ease & Grace,
Vanessa Couto

The Lover beneath the Armor - Courting Saturn*