In the natal chart, Saturn aspects to the Ascendant dictate how serious and responsible you appear. When your Ascendant is influenced by Saturn, you can seem conservative, bland, closed-off, uptight, or simply business-like.
After all, Saturn is all about restrictions. These aspects will typically restrict your Ascendant from totally shining through, though they can be helpful or difficult.
With Saturn-Ascendant aspects, you may struggle to show your true emotions or even your inner self. You might feel stuck behind the repressive, Saturnian mask.
Sometimes, people with these aspects are true old souls, while others might distant or aloof. There are both benefits and difficult parts of these Saturn-Ascendant aspects!
Any of these aspects are relatively painful, especially when compared to other Ascendant aspects, yet they help you work through your Saturn in relationship to the outside world, too.
Saturn Conjunct Ascendant
With Saturn conjunct Ascendant, you tend to be conservative and responsible, at least outwardly. You may come across as especially solemn or austere and repress some of the emotions that you feel inside.
Saturn conjunct Ascendant doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re shy, although you may have felt a bit repressed socially as a child. Usually, this is something you grow out of as you age.
However, this aspect does mean that you have a misplaced sense of responsibility. You probably feel responsible for your family members or friends, even if their problems aren’t your fault.
Saturn conjunct Ascendant can also mean that your parents placed a lot of responsibility on you from a young age, although this isn’t always the case. In this scenario, you learned that other people’s issues were your problems.
Now, you feel that it is your duty to “fix” things. You probably experience a huge amount of guilt if you try to ignore these issues.
You may also feel that you struggle to take risks. You’re always playing it safe or hesitating socially. This doesn’t mean that you don’t engage in risky behaviors, but simply that you don’t go after the things you really want because you’re afraid to try.
With Saturn conjunct Ascendant, you may feel that the Universe holds you back in life. It can start to seem like your whole existence revolves around the concept of “one step forward, two steps back.” Keep in mind that the Saturn conjunct Ascendant aspect transforms greatly after your first Saturn return.
As you grow older, simple problems can start to feel complicated and heavy. You carry around a lot of responsibility, but this can start to overwhelm you. It’s sometimes easier to just avoid your problems, but then you’re left with a vague sense of guilt.
With Saturn conjunct Ascendant, it’s really important that you actively deal with your problems instead of avoiding them. Work is the best antidote, however you need to make sure that you’re working on something that feels right in your gut. Don’t do a task just because you feel like you “should.”
Don’t leave things until the last minute because they can build up and cause depression. In fact, loneliness or pessimism, resulting in depression, is common with Saturn conjunct Ascendant. These are things that you need to actively work to improve so that you can eventually lead a happier, more peaceful life.
It’s important that you spend time working on your self-confidence. You may feel that you’re never enough, but this comes from a sense of inner guilt. Others can’t see that this is why you will go out of your way to help someone. You must learn how to do what’s good for you, not what other people want you to do.
You have a lot of fear and apprehension about living in the moment. You try not to react, so you may come off as slightly cold during conflicts, but this is because your Saturn restricts your emotions from shining through.
With Saturn conjunct Ascendant, you may also feel a bit restricted physically, as though you’re out of place in your body. This aspect can make you feel very self-conscious about your appearance. In fact, your appearance can be karmic, so you’re always struggling against it.
As a child, you may have been shy or felt out of place. You probably felt awkward or wrong in your body and tried to avoid expressing your emotions. It was almost like you just couldn’t break through, no matter how hard you tried.
Don’t lose hope! Saturn is always a late bloomer, so you will find that these issues change dramatically as you near your first Saturn return. You can learn how to master these very things that caused so much trouble for you.
Learn to take responsibility for yourself and do those daily tasks that make you feel in your gut. Avoidance is the worst thing for you, but you need to make sure that you’re actively focusing on what you want, not what others want. This will help you grow socially, too, and you will learn to accept your body and your place in life.
With Saturn conjunct Ascendant, each small personal success that you have will build your self-confidence. This aspect takes time to heal, but it can eventually make you very responsible for yourself and dedicated to living your happiest, truest life, even publicly.
You will start to notice that you feel a sense of guilt for yourself when you do too much for others. This is a sign that you are betraying yourself and is where much of your depression and anxiety stems from.
Learn to follow your gut instincts to heal Saturn conjunct Ascendant. Focus on what feels right instead of what you “should” do. There are no “shoulds” with Saturn.
Over time, you will start to relax and learn these lessons naturally. Saturn feels much less strict as you age, but you also have to push yourself to face your fears and figure out solutions.
There is lots of potential for transformation with Saturn conjunct Ascendant! Ultimately, you can live a life of peace where you’re totally responsible for your own needs. With this aspect, you really can create the life you want long-term with a bit of effort.
Saturn Trine Ascendant
With Saturn trine Ascendant, you appear restrained around other people. You almost always control your reactions, so other people don’t see what you truly think or feel unless you want them to.
You may be quite reserved. Saturn trine Ascendant means that you appear serious and disciplined, thought it may be hard for other people to see who you truly are beneath this mask.
Others don’t see any outward impulsivity in your personality. Sometimes, you can even be a bit hard to get to know, because you’re not the best at small talk. These are skills you can learn over time; they don’t come naturally at a young age.
With Saturn trine Ascendant, you can sometimes seem closed off, mainly because your reactions are so private. Your disposition is very serious, but you can sometimes seem a little bland or empty because you never show people who you are underneath.
You need to learn how to express yourself better in order to be respected. People don’t usually dislike you, but they aren’t drawn to you either because you hide who you are. This is instinctual for you; it feels unnatural to show yourself to the outside world.
Sometimes, Saturn trine Ascendant can make it difficult for you to forge relationships. You’re simply so careful, even as a child, but this can make other people a bit nervous.
You need to relax and show your playful side. This can be really difficult for you because it feels natural to hide who you are.
However, the way that you think can also be a bit rigid. You might be a tad judgmental and see others as right or wrong, the world as black or white. Over time, you need to learn how to appreciate different viewpoints so that you don’t alienate people when you do open up.
The Saturn trine Ascendant aspect is one of the more difficult trine aspects. Even though it’s instinctive, like all trines, it also creates a lot of social issues that are hard to undo.
Ultimately, you need to learn how to be more vulnerable with people. You will come to discover what a conversational rhythm means and will know that when someone else shares something, it’s your turn to share back.
It can be really scary to open yourself up to judgment and criticism. However, you’re mainly afraid of this because you tend to judge and criticize others so much. When you work on these qualities, you will come to realize that other people aren’t as critical and will most likely accept who you are, when you’re able to show them.
You will also learn that even if someone judges you, there’s no reason to feel badly as long as you were being your truest, authentic self. These skills will become more natural the close you get to your Saturn return, if you’re actively working towards a resolution.
Saturn Sextile Ascendant
With Saturn sextile Ascendant, you’re outwardly serious and independent. Regardless of your childhood circumstances, you had to learn responsibility in some way at a very young age.
Unlike the trine, these qualities didn’t come naturally to you with the sextile. Instead, you went through life events that taught you to become responsible and even a bit austere. You become independent at a young age; others can now see this reflected in your outer personality.
Sometimes, Saturn sextile Ascendant can make you feel like an outcast. You may have a small number of friends or close partnerships, but you value loyalty, so you would prefer to have only a few people in your close circle.
The relationships that you develop may surround your shared work goals, routines, or sense of responsibility. Alternatively, your relationships are based on sorrow or guilt that you experienced in your early life.
Although you’re very self-reliant, you do want a few key people around you. You must be able to count on them and you will give the same back. You desire very serious friendships and romantic partnerships.
Others around you can see that you’re responsible, sensible, and direct. You don’t beat around the bush. That doesn’t mean that everyone is privy to your inner thoughts as you keep those very guarded, but they can see these outer elements of your personality.
You’re very strong-willed and know what you want. This is because, in childhood, you had to fight for what you needed. Saturn sextile Ascendant makes you someone truly respectable as an adult.
However, you need to be careful that you don’t become too self-reliant or rigid. Learn to bend a little, even when it doesn’t feel totally comfortable.
Saturn sextile Ascendant can easily make you too serious. Don’t lose your sense of play. Remember to let your inner child out sometimes! Not everything that you do needs a good reason; sometimes you should try an activity just for fun.
You keep things very serious and business-like with the people around you. This can be a great skill, but it’s also important that you learn to open up to those closest to you. Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable, although this can be extra-difficult with Saturn sextile Ascendant.
Ultimately, you want to harness the best qualities of Saturn sextile Ascendant (your sense of confidence, responsibility, and seriousness) while learning to loosen up and allow yourself to have fun.
Saturn Opposition Ascendant
The Saturn opposition Ascendant aspect is also called Saturn conjunct Descendant or Saturn setting. This aspect generally affects your relationships, but you will see these qualities show up most in your one-on-one friendships and romantic partnerships.
Usually, the Saturn opposition Ascendant aspect indicates that you didn’t receive enough praise or encouragement as a child. Now, you may be less-than-assertive and might doubt yourself. Any challenge can seem too intimidating or hard.
You may attract strict father figures as romantic partners, regardless of the gender roles. In fact, your relationships probably have some kind of parental role and may be unbalanced.
This is because you don’t feel that you have the capability to be responsible foe your own life, so you attract people who will take over the role of controlling you and your life. However, this doesn’t work in the long run.
Alternatively, you might be the “responsible,” strict partner in relationships. In this scenario, you attract lovers who are more immature or even physically young. You feel responsible for them and they allow you to take over these duties.
Sometimes, Saturn opposition Ascendant can mean that you’re scared of relationships in general because you don’t want to be vulnerable. You may have experienced negative events in past relationships, either with ex-partners or even with your parents.
Saturn opposition Ascendant usually indicates that relationships are a core part of your shadow-work. You will discover who you are underneath by working through your issues in partnerships and friendships.
This aspect will force you into difficult relationships with people who teach you these lessons. The key to healing Saturn opposition Ascendant is to learn how to accept others for who they are while also accepting your shadow self and setting clear boundaries.
Ultimately, you need to own all parts of yourself. With Saturn opposition Ascendant, you probably attract people who reflect your shadow self. In fact, your partners have the very negative qualities that you suppress within yourself.
When you learn to own and express these hidden qualities, you will start to attract relationships where you can be yourself authentically with partners who want the same type of relationship that you do.
Remember that it’s OK with Saturn opposition Ascendant to have difficult relationships. After all, you only grow with this placement through relationships.
Your partnerships may feel really difficult, but remember that you’re always learning lessons and getting close to fulfillment when you simply keep trying.
Saturn Square Ascendant
With Saturn square Ascendant, you experienced some less-than-stellar circumstances in childhood. You either had intensely strict rules, physical or verbal abuse, or you were emotionally scarred by rules at your school. Sometimes, this placement reflects a combination of all three circumstances.
In your childhood, you felt that you couldn’t control your environment no matter how hard you tried. When you eventually realized that your efforts were fruitless, you retreated into yourself.
Now with Saturn square Ascendant, you’re probably a bit reserved when you meet new people. This might actually annoy you, because you know that you’re not portraying your truest self.
This was learned in childhood. You couldn’t express yourself openly for fear of punishment or retaliation in some environment, whether this was with your parents, teachers, or other children. Your natural enthusiasm was tempered with rules and limitations; you had to hide the truest parts of yourself.
These lessons are very hard to unlearn! You may find that no matter how much you want to show your truest self to other people, Saturn square Ascendant keeps the inner you totally hidden.
You also felt very serious or responsible as a child. In some way, you were responsible or other people or had a lot of weight on you. This taught you that, with Saturn square Ascendant, it’s your job to take care of things.
These lessons make you even more inhibited or shy! It’s especially difficult for you to interact when you first meet someone.
Because you have this Saturn square Ascendant aspect, others tend to react negatively to you, too. You may come off as too rigid or even pessimistic, even if you’re trying your hardest to be outgoing and optimistic. You clam up and just can’t break free of your bonds.
You will feel especially repressed in childhood. The Saturn square Ascendant aspect is the most tough before your first Saturn return.
It may take some time to develop your social skills and confidence in groups, but it’s important that you actively work to learn these skills. Don’t ever think that you’re just not outgoing; you simply don’t have the same skills that other people are born with.
Over time, you will figure out how to show more of your inner self and take social risks. This will happen when you’re willing to open up and try. It’s very scary to be vulnerable with Saturn square Ascendant, but this is the path to healing.
With this aspect, you might also have some issues surrounding control. You felt that everything was out of control as a child, so you like to stay in areas you have complete control over now.
However, you need to learn how to let down your walls and go with the flow. Be OK with everything that happens, even if it feels bad. Remember that you can’t have good things without the equal and opposite bad thing.
Ultimately, you can work through a lot of your Saturn square Ascendant issues by getting to the roots of your childhood trauma and recognizing your responses in real time, now. Remember that squares can be a blessing in disguise because they force you to deal with these issues.
