Saturn in Aries Can Change Your Life — Here's How

Saturn is back in Aries, and I am here for it.

The last time Saturn transited Aries in 1996, I did one of the craziest things I have ever done in my life. I moved to New York City with basically nothing. No job, no plan, just a dream I had had since I was a teenager. It felt like a massive risk, and it was. But Saturn in Aries Can Change Your Life--just as it did mine--if you have the courage and grit to say yes.

If this Saturn in Aries transit is waking up a big crazy feeling dream in you too, then stick around for what I learned in the Saturn school of Aries, because it just might inspire you to change your life too.

The Spark That Started My Wild Saturn in Aries Story

Do you believe in fate?

Because my whole crazy Saturn in Aries moving to New York City story starts at a Fourth of July party in 1996, when a friend of a friend brought somebody I didn't even know to the party, and one conversation that they had changed my life.

Picture this. I was renting an apartment in a little house across the street from a public park. It was a place I had only moved into nine months prior to Fourth of July. The house had a huge lawn right across the street from the public park where they were having the fireworks, and I thought, why not have a party?

You know how it goes with parties of this nature. It kind of gets out of control. A friend brings a friend brings another friend. It was a beautiful evening, fireworks, front row seat. I was busy chitchatting to somebody else when a friend who was busy across the lawn suddenly broke away, ran over to me, barged into my conversation, and said, "Hey, guess what? This person over here just told me about an apartment in New York City. Somebody's looking for somebody to take over the lease. They were asking around — did anyone want to do that?" My friend who busted into my conversation said, "I know you do, because that's all you talk about."

Saturn had only just gone into Aries about three months prior in 1996. So Saturn, pretty darn quick in the transit, was dangling a new adventure right in front of my face. A dream scenario.

However.

I had no job in New York City. I knew no one in New York City. I would have to rehome my dog (which I did -- a kind lady from my church adopted her, and in a strange twist of fate, two years later I got the dog back when the kind lady unfortunately got cancer and could no longer care for the dog). I figured I could probably bring my two cats with me. I had to give up a lot of my furniture to fit in the shoe box apartment. I had to get rid of my car. There were a lot of obstacles.

There I was, staring at the dream of a lifetime while fireworks were going off all around me, but also staring at the fact that I'd have to lose or change a lot of things in my life if I wanted to do this.

What Saturn in Aries Really Asks: Risk vs. Regret

That's really Saturn in Aries in a nutshell. It doesn't just say, "Here's your dream. Go for it." It makes you decide what you're willing to risk to go for it. And in some cases, it may feel like everything.

If this transit is beginning to stir that same feeling in you, you're not alone. That's what Saturn in Aries does. It asks you whether you're willing to change your life to get the thing you've been saying you want.

So how did I decide? I took a train into the city and I saw the apartment for myself. The neighborhood was a little sketchy at the time (it's improved since the late 90s), but it wasn't too bad. It was tiny — I think a 10 x 12 room. Had a kitchen, a bathroom, room for a double bed and a desk and a tv. I met the landlord at a coffee shop to get the vibe from her. On the train ride back, I was like, I really have to decide. I have to let this lady know. Am I going to take the apartment or not?

It was another: what am I doing with my life? moment.

Here's the thing. If you say you want something, if you've been manifesting it for years — which is really what I had been doing, believe it or not, before I was even totally aware back in the 90s what manifestation was — you have to actually say yes when the opportunity shows up.

I had been taking trips into New York City from suburbia for movies and museums. I would religiously read the apartment listings in the New York Times and the Village Voice. New York City was a beautiful obsession for me. I loved the feeling every time I went into the city. My heart beat a little faster, in a good way. I felt alive. I felt like anything was possible when I was in the midst of New York City.

And there was that feeling — that anything was possible for me if I would take this risk — that finally tipped the scales. I said yes to this crazy scheme.

Saying Yes to Saturn in Aries and the Grind That Follows

Maybe you're feeling that right now too. That little spark where the city, or the new career, or the big move, suddenly feels alive and possible for you. That is Saturn in Aries talking. Stirring the pot. Awakening you to a new adventure. Asking you if you're ready to change your life.

But then Saturn really brings home his gravitas. It's Saturn. It's very heavy. His many lessons of perseverance, of grit, of fortitude. Because once you say yes, in a way that's the easy part, saying yes, compared to what comes next. Because that is when the hard work begins in earnest.

New York City is expensive. It was in the late 90s just as it is today. Because I was living alone and the rent was all on me, I couldn't just exist on the paltry sum I was getting as a temp worker doing office stuff in various places around Manhattan. I moved there with no job. I had the shoe box apartment. I did get to bring the two cats, and I moved within three weeks after having that Fourth of July party. It happened very fast. The universe lined it up.

In June of 1996, I graduated with a master's degree in writing. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with it. In late September of 1996, I saw an ad in the New York Times for a teacher for night school at a community college. I applied and I got the job.

This was my Saturn initiation.

Saturn made sure I would get taken care of, that I'd have food to eat. A lot of the time I did not have very much in my refrigerator. I didn't starve, but it was not a luxury lifestyle by any means. I was working 9 to 5 at the temp jobs, and then by 6:00 I was at the community college. Twice a week. You have to allow for commute time, moving around the city in between all that. It was a lot. It was exhausting.

But it was also freaking exciting. I had no public speaking experience. I had no teaching experience. I had no idea if I could even do this.

I'll never forget the first night I had to stand in front of a group of very hardcore New York City adults. I was teaching adults at a community college at night. I was like, oh my god, can I do this? It scared me, honestly. But this is Saturn: testing you to see what you're made of.

Saturn in Aries Growth, Challenges, and the Payoff

Eventually, I ended up getting a full-time teaching job. I moved to a slightly bigger apartment. Finances were still a little tight, but I was making it. Not luxury, but I was making it. I was living my dream.

This had always been my dream. I started making more friends. I was doing more cultural activities in the city. I found a Saturn figure — well, he found me. We just clicked. He was an Aquarius. Such a nice man. He's passed on. He was older, and he took me under his wing. He was a fellow instructor at the college and he really helped me out.

Saturn kept looking out for me, kept helping me out, because I kept helping myself out. I kept showing up, even when I was saying, what am I doing with my life? Is this worth it? I'm exhausted. Gradually, things got better and better.

It was really that alive feeling that kept me going. I connected with the poetry scene in New York City. I was writing more. It was a magical time. The late 90s were pretty awesome living in New York City.

This is the feeling. This is the feeling that you can get when Saturn in Aries changes your life, if you commit. It's not easy, but it can absolutely be worth the risk. The things that kept me going were the fact that I felt I was growing, that things were moving for me, that things were changing for me.

Have you guessed yet where my Saturn in Aries transit was happening?

It was happening in my third house of writing, speaking, and teaching. So this whole Saturn journey that I started in 1996 really was fulfilling a destiny that is written in my birth chart.

The Question Saturn in Aries Is Really Asking You

Ask yourself this: Will you regret 30 years from now not taking this risk or chance?

Because it takes Saturn 30 years to go around the wheel.

It is really true what they say — if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere in New York. This Saturn in Aries school that I was in back in 1996 really showed me what I'm made of. You have to have the grit to endure that type of change. You also have to have that level of self-growth.

I showed up for myself in a way that I don't think I had ever shown up for myself up to that point in my life. I put myself out there. It was not easy, and it required a constant recommitment every day — especially that first year and a half — to keep on going every day. It was a choice to keep on going.

That fire of possibility, the aliveness that I felt even though I was exhausted, was worth it. All of that made me who I am today. How could I have the confidence to even talk to a camera and make YouTube videos if I hadn't gone through that experience 30 years ago? I don't think I would have been able to.

What I learned in my Saturn in Aries boot camp from 1996 to 1999 carried me through everything that came after. When I left the city in 2001, I got plenty of other teaching jobs. Because if I could do it there in NYC, I could do it anywhere.

You take a leap. You keep moving despite doubts and fears. You keep showing up for yourself every day, even sometimes when you have an empty refrigerator. You just keep on going. In this way, Saturn eventually does reward you.

I do believe that Saturn always delivers when you are doing the work of your destiny.

Think about all the different forces and factors that had to align for that opportunity to come into my life. A friend of a friend. A random Fourth of July party. I never had parties in my life. The only reason I had a party that time is because I had just moved into that house nine months prior. The lawn was there. The weather was saying it was going to be a beautiful night. The park was right there where the fireworks were. I was like, why not have a party? It was a very spur-of-the-moment, Aries, decision.

There were so many different factors that had to align to put this into place for me. Narrow the field. I talk about this a lot with Saturn in Aries. Narrow the field of choice. Once you make that choice, things start opening up — like getting that teaching job, because it was not on my radar to go and teach. I did it out of necessity to make money to support myself, but actually, I ended up fulfilling my destiny.

What Saturn in Aries Can Do for You If You're Ready to Change Your Life

Saturn in Aries can really show you what you are made of. That hard-won experience, who you become in the process through applying grit and perseverance — that is something that stays with you and will be with you the rest of your life.

Whatever you commit to, whatever you begin, if you stay consistent, show up, and do the work, you are fulfilling your Saturn in Aries transit.

Remember the core tenets of Saturn: perseverance, grit, organization, foundation, slow and steady. When you combine that with the Aries ability to take a risk, to be bold, to have an adventure that feeds your inner flame, you can move mountains. You can end up at the top of whatever mountain you choose.

It's always about using the energies. Only you know what this Saturn in Aries transit is asking of you to dig a little deeper in your life and change your life from the insid