Satyacharya describes Saturn as such in the Satya Jatakam:
‘आयुर्जीवन मृत्यु कारण विपद भृत्याष्च मंदादवदेत ||’
‘Saturn is the karaka for misery, sorrow, longevity, period of life, death, poverty, accidents, servants, profession, dangers, imprisonment, agriculture, mental troubles, worry, falsehood, disputes, difficulties, dejection, secret, theft, humiliation, sins, misfortune, jail, captivity, reproach, blame, fear.
But when does Saturn cause such serious miseries.
Bal Bhadra says in the Hora
‘आत्मादयो गगनगैरबली भिरजलावत्तरा || दुर्बले दुर्बला झेया विपरीत शनेफलम ||’
‘The strength of Saturn will eliminate grief while his weakness will cause abundant grief. One must indicate these various results related to soul etc. in the dasa periods of the concerned planets’
So a weak Saturn is at the root of the problem. A planet as important as Sun, Moon, Jupiter and Saturn WANTS to give good benefits but their benefits are based on their strengths.
We all are given certain planetary strengths based on our past karma and what we need to do or achieve in the current. So a weak planet is a punishment as whether it is a malefic or a benefic. No planet is completely malefic or completely benefic in a horoscope. During transits the results of a benefic but weak Jupiter may be overshadowed by a strong natal Rahu in a house. So the idea is to strengthen Jupiter.
A weak but malefic Saturn is also a punishment as Saturn’s results during transits or its dasha don’t fructify. Even if Saturn is malefic but it transits a good house and a friendly sign, then it tends to give good results.
To avoid the maleficity of Saturn, one needs to strengthen those attributes of Saturn which are good such as order, structure, rules and regulations by ensuring order, following structure, obeying rules and sticking to regulations.
Lets look at another aspect about Saturn
In Jataka Chandrika, Kalidaasa starts his narration with his salutation to Saturn
‘नीलांजना समा भासम रवि पुत्रं यमाग्रजम || छाया मार्तान्ड सम्भूतं टार्न नमामि सनैस्चराम ||’
‘I salute SATURN who shines like the blue mascara, who is the son of the Sun and Chaaya and who is the elder brother of Yama’
A part of Saturn’s role in astrology is reminiscence in that Saturn is the elder brother of Yama. And Yama represents death. So Saturn is the one who can ‘control’ death or ‘death like troubles’ or inflict death too. A lot of 3rd sade satis are known to bring death with it. Thus in an indirect way Saturn represents ‘moksha’ as it ‘liberates’ one from ‘karma’ which Saturn represents being the lord of the 10th house of the kal-purush.
So Saturn makes you ‘do’ the karma but at the same time liberates you from a ‘karmic’ life too.
Bal Bhadra says:
‘if Saturn is weak in a horoscope, one need not wait for the advent of Saturn's dasa to incur grief. Passion is not restricted to the dasa of Venus alone. Mercury's dasa is not the only one to reflect speech’
Thus Saturn will not wait to strike. Saturn is like the police officer who can stop you at a checkpost just to check if you have all the necessary documents to drive and not necessarily when you break a rule. So Saturn is the regular ‘check posts’ in your life which makes you stop, think and plan before you go forward. Thats why Saturn has also been called ‘मंद’/‘manda’ or ‘slow’ as it entails patience, commitment, order and discipline.
Saturn takes 2 and 1/2 years in every sign and 30 long years to complete just one rotation. Thus the results are also similar - slow but steady and stable. So a person with a strong Saturn will be deep in thought, stable, slow to take decisions but stand by his/her word once given.
And thats why it is said that a strong Saturn ‘eliminates’ grief while a weak Saturn causes ‘grief’. Thus strong Saturn denotes a strong character, resilience and commitment and there is no shame in their mannerism and are professional to the core just like you would want a dedicated and committed worker to be.
The Hora says:
‘शनि शुद्रो द्विजोत्तम ||’
‘Saturn rules the shudras’
Saturn represents the lowest of the caste denominations represented by those who ‘serve’. Saturn is considered as the planet of ‘servants. Thus Saturn is also the karaka of the 6th house of service.
And Saturn represents ‘serving’ or ‘service’
‘स्थूलंखदंतकेशो मायावी दीर्घबाहुपादश्च || वातातकमक: सिरालुर्मन्दोप्यंलसो न शांत मति ||’
‘Saturn has hard nails, teeth and hair. He is deceptive. He has long hands and feet. His constitution is bilious. He has promi¬nent veins, is indolent and peaceless’
Saturn represents the workers whose hands grow hard and tough due to rigorous labor. Their hair bear a matted and unkempt look. Thus those who have Saturn in the ascendant keep an unkempt look and may grow a stub.
With hard work and the blood gushing through and less flesh, the veins of the hands stand out. The worker is always worried and is less at peace.
So is the native with a strong Saturn. Always work on his/her mind, a goal on his/her mind, and less at peace. There is a something worrisome about them if not actually worried.
Saturn in Sufism represents the highest realm of the skies and just one realm before you cross over to moksha and thus just below the throne of the Lord and thus the Quran says:
‘Truly the steadfast will be paid back their reward without measure’ -(Qur'an, 39:10)
So those who will be steadfast in their work and will do it with dedication and loyalty and comitment will be rewarded. And hence it is said ‘Saturn rewards late, but rewards surely’
And Allah says in the Quran:
‘O earth, whoever serves Me, serve him and whoever serves you, keep him worried’
The best service of the lord is through service of humanity and if you do that the lord rewards him with abundance. And those who focus too much on self and accumulating resources are the ones who also find a dearth of resources. And it is not without reason why.All other heavenly bodies are below Saturn and hence Saturn is also called the ultimate equalizer or the karmic equalizer…it WONT allow you to attain moksha till you have PAID every penny of your karmic dues. And whatever Ketu may have signalled to you in your chart and whatever pious life you may have led, Saturn return gives you the second chance and hence it is like the ‘return’ of the chance before you leave because seldom do people make it through the third.
So a Saturn return is like a wake up call. If Saturn is back to transit over its natal placement then sit up and take notice what house it is, what sign it is, and what did you do or NOT do during those years or that era. Correct it at once.
Yavaneshwara states:
‘देवा ग्रहणा जल वही विष्णु प्रजाप तिसकंदमहेन्द्रदेव्या || चंद्रार्क चान्द्रयर्कजाभौमजीवशुकराश्च यज्ञेषु यजेत शश्क्त ||’
‘Attribute Water God to the Moon, Fire God to the Sun, Vishnu to Mercury, Brahma to Saturn, Kartikeya to Mars, Indra to Jupiter and Sachi Devi to Venus.’
Saturn has been attributed to the highest God - Brahma himself. And so Saturn return is nothing short of Brahmastra released or blessings of Brahma if all done well.
There are 3 categories of people in management jargon - ‘doers’, ‘manager’s and‘leaders’. Almost 70% of people are the ‘doers’ and at the bottom of the pyramid. And hence they also represent ‘trades’. These are the people who are workers, plumbers, cleaners, drivers etc. Then come the ‘managers’ who are generally those who need to crack the whip and get work done. These possess the ‘Martian’ energy and are a combination of Mars, Saturn and to some extent even Ketu.
Then come the top of the pyramid - the ‘leaders’ represented by Sun and a strong combination of Rahu and Jupiter and to some extent possess Martian energy too.
Thus without a strong Saturn one cant achieve more, without a strong Mars and Mercury one cant be a good manager and without a good and strong Sun and Jupiter one cant be a good leader
Thus a strong Capricorn Saturnian can endure long hours of work and persevere and yet get results and thus these are the actual ‘doers’ of work.
The manner of one with a strong Saturn is to finish one task and get onto the other. Thus the mother at home is a combination of the Moon and the Saturn. She is the one who nurtures and slogs -a unique combination. She seldom grows old and seldom is tired even if she is breaking her last sinew inside.
And why is Saturn strong or exalted in Libra? Because Saturn expects you to be loyal and committed. And the best of us are those who are loyal and committed and dedicated to family, to friends, to our organization, to colleagues and to our spouse. Serving our people is the best service one can do.
Thus Saturn exalts in Libra and punishes those most who cheat, who hoodwink, who lie. One may lie to someone on the road but when you lie to your own parents, to the spouse or to children or to our best friends, our conscience pricks…and pricks hard. That's the Saturn pricking from inside…and asking you to mend your ways. Otherwise when Saturn decides that its ‘payback’ time for all the lies, the cheating, the shedding of work we have done, then god help us.
And Saturn denotes patience and perseverance and hence gets debilitated in Aries as the Martian is always in a hurry and wants to rush into things without due diligence. The people who have an afflicted or weak Saturn and mercury are the ones who generally get into trouble with authorities, don’t have papers in order, and mess up their paper work and documentation.
So if your horoscopes point in that direction then one needs to be careful and hence ensure no paper work is loose or weak and stored properly and copies taken and kept aside safely.
Saturn also denotes conservativeness and self-sufficiency. Thus a person with a strong Saturn will generally be conservative and orthodox or rule bound in approach and will take care of most needs of self and be ready to help others too.
Such individuals have their values as strong as brick and mortar and seldom can one shake them. You getting into partnership or getting married - check the Saturn, Jupiter and Moon of the person who are going to join hands with. Any weakness of these three or affliction of all three - best to walk away from them.
A native with a strong Saturn has a sense of purpose and goes about it with that intent. They are the no nonsense people who may crack a smile at your joke but not break into uncontrolled laughter which a Mercury can do or cause. When needed they can be pragmatic, ruthless and calculating. Hence those with a strong Saturn in the 10th - even combusted or debilitated can be ruthless and even dictatorial.
You have a strong 6th and 10th with Saturn in good strength, good sign and exchanging energies with either 6th or 10th, then half the battle won if you are a manager and Mars also supports you.
And then lets bring in the Aquarian energy. What can you say about the Aquarius! The greatest achievements of people who have done the most for society and welfare of others are those with the strong Aquarian Saturn.
Thus Saturn with the Aquarian energy denotes one who is highly independent, positive yet pragmatic. Such a native is highly encouraging and involved in group work and is a great motivator too if Jupiter and Sun get involved. They have a strong humanitarian vision and have huge social awareness and focus. A saturnian is not very emotional and seldom does well in cancer and detests emotions but loves empathy without emotions. So a native with a strong Saturn will not step in to shed tears when a wrong is done but with a motive to correct a wrong and that rule of law should be obeyed.
Saturn is the outermost planet and thus has the longest aspect and the shortest aspect - 3rd and the 10th of course besides the 7th too.
And Saturn hasn’t been given the shortest and the longest aspect without reason either. As Saturn is the planet of discipline, order, commitment, loyalty and all these values are intrinsic to development of the soul itself and hence a person has to be able to see within to be able to see ‘self’ and its challenges and be able to bring about change as needed. Without ability to look within and with effort (3rd house represents effort) which is mostly missed by us, we can't really change ourselves.
And this is all the more importantly related to Saturn as Saturn is the ‘karmic equalizer’. Saturn will either make you ‘correct’ your karma or ‘pay’ for your karma. And since hardest work and effort is required to change self and the house which denotes ‘effort’ is the 3rd house hence the 3rd aspect is given to Saturn. And since Saturn is the karmic equalizer and the 10th house is the house of karma and also owned by Saturn, thus it also has the 10th aspect.
So wherever Saturn sits in the horoscope work needs to be done in the house that its sits in and the results of that particular house has to be ‘earned’ with perseverance over time. The 3rd house from where Saturn sits is the house where ‘effort’ needs to be put in and without severe effort and hard work results of that house will not accrue. And wherever Saturn sits, the 10th house from it denotes where most of your karmic work needs to be done and maximum dedication and order and discipline to get the results of that house linked of course to the sign it sits in.
So if Saturn sits in the 3rd house in Gemini for an Aries ascendant then results of the 3rd house will not be easy to come without persevering over period of time and hard labor as the 3rd house is the house of effort. Also without working on your relation with younger siblings you wont have good and fruitful relations with them. Your endeavors will only gain fruit over time and with perseverance. Otherwise the results may even be denied to you.
From the 3rd house Saturn’s 3rd aspect falls on the 5th house. So without effort ‘for’ children and ‘with’ children good and fruitful relations, loyalty and dedicated children may not result. It’s a placement where children may be born after some time after marriage or marriage itself is late and thus children come late into life or distance from children as you may live with them but too busy and distant to give them time.
Sometimes children may require extra attention and help from you either in health, or studies or even emotional issues. This is also the placement of bachelors but also businessmen and thus position can be understood. Sometimes even artists who are too busy in their wares or workmen who put in long hours of work and hence are not able to give children the time.
The 10th aspect of Saturn is on the 12th house from Gemini for an Aries ascendant. This shows that most of your karma will be and should be done for the results and sign of the 12th house. Since the 12th house denotes moksha, seclusion, hospitals, jails, foreign lands, unnecessary expenses, losses and bed pleasures - it means that you will need to do and ‘correct’ your karma for the results of this house or the max troubles you have will be around their matters. This is especially true for debilitated and combusted Saturn.
So the native will have to ensure that they work hard and not fear seclusion or long and hard work, serve others, not hesitate to travel far and even to foreign lands and be on the right side of law and values not to spoil their spirituality and ‘soul’ so that they don’t spoil a chance at moksha. But without ‘karmic’ effort the results of the house will not be easy to come by and not without commitment, dedication and structured endeavor.
And when all goes wrong, the one strength that one with a strong Saturn exudes is resilience. This person aint going down without a biggg fight, no way. When faced with obstacles such a native will bring out all his/her strength of dedication, commitment, focus, loyalty and practicality to fight till the target is achieved.
And now the biggest spoiler of ALL yogas is what Saturn represents the poor, the destitute, the sick, the needy or those who work for you and depend on you badly or with less or no attention. If you treat such people poorly then in such a case wherever Saturn may be placed in your horoscope and in whatever dignity, it will ensure you are dusted.
So if you truly want to influence and CONTROL Saturn to do more good to youand keep from teaching you severe lessons, then become the good Saturn by doing all that keeps it happy.
A night before the day of Matsya Vedh (Piercing Fish eye ) competition at Draupadi’s swayamwara, Krishna and Arjuna are conversing. Krishna says, "Arjuna, take care, put your step forward and concentrate on the eye of the fish".
Arjuna says, " If I have to do everything, then what will you do?"
Krishna in a very soft tone tells him, "What you can't do, I will do".
Arjuna asks, "And what is it that I can't do?"
Krishna answers, "I will keep the water steady..."
THAT is Saturn for you. It keeps life steady when its happy and strong, and rocks it like no tomorrow when its unhappy and weak.