Dear Adri,
I’m reaching out for advice on how to survive my Saturn Return. I just turned 29. My Saturn is in Pisces in the tenth house and I’m losing my mind… kind of over everything, but especially career stuff. I switched from very draining non-profit work to film and tv 4 years ago and have gotten some good “foot in the door” jobs on a popular streaming show and my ultimate goal is to be a writer but the whole industry is still in shambles right now so now I feel like I should just give up.
I don’t even know if my screenwriting is good enough to keep pursuing this dream. I have two short film scripts that I consider finished. I’m proud of them and have gotten really positive feedback from professional producers and directors on one of them. I have 3 tv pilots and 2 features that I got a few drafts into but I’ve struggled to figure out how to crack them. To be honest, screenwriting doesn’t come naturally to me and I find the process gets kind of torturous after the first draft or so (sometimes during).
Writing for a small digital pub was the most in flow I’ve ever felt creatively and I really miss that era. I haven’t felt inspired in that medium or had any pop culture takes since then but I might try to start a substack to bring some of that energy back.
It doesn’t feel strategic to just continue this pattern of switching careers every 3–4 years, but here I am once again asking if this is really what I want. It’s also really hard to choose between all of my creative interests and to know whether they would work better as a hobby or a career.
Recently I’ve been wanting to work more in environmentalism and I’ve been enjoying volunteering with a nonprofit but I don’t think it’ll be a paid opportunity any time soon. I’ve also tried to break into podcasting but no luck.
I’ve been applying to jobs and have gotten to the final round of an Executive Assistant position at a production company — a DOPE place with some networking and growth opportunities but it feels like a demotion b/c it’s all admin work. It would come with a slight raise but it’s still way less than I want to be making at this age.
I’m scared to say no to any opportunities because I have friends in the industry who have been unemployed for over a year because it’s just such a weird and nebulous time right now. I feel like I should be grateful and take what I can get, but I also don’t want to settle.
Career stuff is so hard. Adulting is so hard. I don’t even really wanna work forreal. I’d rather be an Oak tree or something. Anyway, all this brings me to my questions:
Should I pivot and change careers again?
How do you know when to pursue your passion as a hobby or a career?
Should I try to find a soulsucking job that pays a lot and is not creatively fulfilling?
Should I take one of these entry level jobs I’m interviewing for that feel somewhat misaligned with financial/career goals? If so, which opportunity seems like a better option?
Do you have any broader advice for weathering these Saturnian career changes as I go through the last year of my twenties?
XO,
Saturn Returnt
Dear Saturn Returnt,
I love writing this column, but when I started it I promised to STAY IN MY LANE! And this question quite simply is not in my lane, as I love but know very little of astrology! With that said, so glad I have friendssss, including the brilliant @byjoveastro, who I absolutely trust with your question! See her response below :) Adri
Saturn Returnt,
You are right On Time! Literally. Before we dive in, I just want you to know right off the bat that Jupiter is just about to enter your 1st house and bring you a much needed dose of optimism and hope. And maybe a little bit of luck, too. This is literally happening like right now, Saturday, May 25th.
Next, I need you to take a big deep breath. From what I’ve been able to gather from the small amount of chart details you’ve included, you are likely a day chart, meaning that Saturn (and Jupiter, for that matter) are on “your team.” Jupiter is more helpful in a day chart, and Saturn is less unhelpful in a day chart. This is good.
That being said, a Saturn Return is no joke. For those unfamiliar with the term, the Saturn Return is when Saturn… returns to the place in your chart where it was when you were born. For Returnt, this is in Pisces in the 10th house, a house associated with career and public image. Saturn is the planet associated with things like limitations, boundaries, rules, and authority, and when it comes back to the place it started, between the ages of 27 and 30, it is a checkpoint or evaluation on how we’ve been doing with those topics in the area of life covered by the house it is in.
Saturn returns, and any Saturn transit for that matter, can go two ways: 1. We bury our head in the sand and don’t deal with the responsibility that Saturn is asking us to take on. As you might imagine, this does not usually end well. Or 2. We build a relationship with our responsibility and are proactive about it, building in routines or structures to set ourselves up for success within the given parameter.
As someone who also has Saturn in the 10th house in a Jupiter-ruled sign, I could guess even without your well-written, thoughtful email that you are probably Someone Who Has Their Shit Together and has had no choice but to perform in that 10th house career and public facing space. Saturn has demanded it all your life and will continue to. The question for you now is, do you want it to keep going this way?
Before I dive into more chart analysis, I will caveat this all with the fact that I cannot give a complete answer without knowing more of the details of your chart. I’ll do my best to fill in the blanks with what I can infer from the information you provided. If you want more specific astrology answers, I highly recommend getting a reading with a professional astrologer. Find someone you vibe with, do some due diligence to make sure they are legit, and book it. Your Saturn Return is a perfect time for this.
At risk of sounding like one of those “when I was your age” people, when I was your age, with a 10th house Saturn, I really thought my career was everything. I felt the immense pressure to not only succeed but to over-achieve. I hear this in your email, too.
Now, I don’t want to come off as callous or to undermine the very real threat of capitalism if we are unable to perform in this 10th house space. That shit is real and with us all the time. We all need to make money and support ourselves in a time when that feels tougher every day.
AND
The “secret” I learned on the other side of my Saturn Return is that careers are really just these silly little things. In other words, it’s not that serious.
Your 10th house is Pisces, a mutable, flowing, ever-changing water sign. You are supposed to be wandering in this area of life. You don’t need to change this about yourself to try to fit some mold of what you “should” do or be. It is ok to change your mind. Even in public. Even in your career.
Saturn does not have a lot of strength in Pisces. It’s the planet that wants to help you establish some kind of structure in those wishy-washy Piscean waves. It’s a guest in an unfamiliar place, and what that might look like for you is trouble hearing your personal No’s. Saturn is typically a No that makes room for a Yes. When Saturn is in Pisces, that No gets drowned out and fogged up a little bit. It needs you to listen closer. To quote an astrologer I admire, Britten LaRue, “Not every No is a Fuck No.” Some No’s are quieter or less concrete, but still a No, nonetheless. Are you listening?
Pisces is ruled by Jupiter. It wants to expand and explore, to revel in its bigness. It does not want to be contained by Saturn. This is Hard, and the answer is likely not in denying either of those parts of you. If you deny the Jupiter part and take something just because it pays more or gives you a better social status over something fun and creative, you are not going to be happy. The same goes for denying the Saturn part of you that longs for stability and recognition.
Other pieces of the current astrology are also speaking to this moment. Jupiter entering your first house is going to be all about expanding who you are, your interests, your likes, your dislikes, along with a renewed sense of confidence or belief in yourself. And it is squaring Saturn in Pisces, meaning it can see what is going on there in the 10th house for you and lend you some help with that via those first house topics of selfhood.
At the same time, we have Pluto in Aquarius, your 9th house, for the first time in 225 years. This is screaming major upheavals in your beliefs. It’s a slow burn with Pluto, but you may have already started to notice a subtle shift in this area back in March of 2023 that might only be getting louder for you with Jupiter entering Gemini.
I think your answers are really going to be found by going inward. I’m not saying to sleep on making decisions or to pass up opportunities until you have all the answers (real talk: we never have all the answers), but take some time to really get to know yourself. Try to identify any patterns you might keep perpetuating. What is a No for you? What is a Yes? We can’t always change these and we may not even want to, but we can gain more insight into what we are truly searching for when we start to see the themes and make decisions from a place of more self-awareness. Astrology is one of many great tools for that.
These are major shifts for you. This is life — some good, some bad, a whole lot of neutral. Stepping back and getting some perspective is key. And if you really want to get into it, a big part of learning astrology is coming to terms with the concepts of fate and free will. When you start to piece together their implications, it can lead to a bit of an existential crisis. There is also comfort to be found here, though, the comfort of knowing you really can’t mess it up, and you are always on time.
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