Saturn in Taurus

Saturn in Taurus aligned with drive

That’s a common dynamic for a person with this Saturn placement, especially before the first Saturn Return. They do what they have to, all the while thinking “my poverty consents but not my will.” It’s not until they figure out a way to get more than they give that the world stops feeling like a total rip off. Sometimes they fight and fight and fight to achieve something only to realize too late that they were only doing it to prove a point or satisfy someone else.

Agassi won the Wimbledon title in 1992. This is one of tennis’ greatest honors. When he won it, he dedicated the win to both his father and Nick Bollettieri. This was “proof positive that he had lived up to their paternal expectations,” as one sportswriter put it. Sometimes it’s only after achieving such success that a Saturn in Taurus person gives himself the chance to reflect on what really brings happiness. In this case, it took Agassi’s fall to 141 in the world for him to see that the great investment he had made in tennis could be used to do something that would actually make him happy — make money to care for himself, his family, and others.

It’s not uncommon for the Saturn in Taurus struggle to be about money, and depending on one’s life circumstances, the native can be preoccupied with poverty. He may be perpetually broke and die penniless, like Vincent VanGogh. Or she may choose to become poor, like Mother Theresa. Other natives work to help people find a way out of poverty, like Muhammad Yunus, who pioneered the use of microcredit and microfinance.

Famous women with Saturn in Taurus

It’s not always about money, however. Sometimes the feeling of being depleted or taken advantage is about something else entirely. Proto-feminist Virginia Wolf was born under this transit. Both Sheryl Sandberg and Gloria Allred share this placement, too, and both have used their success to advance women’s issues, the former assuring women they can have both a career and a family and offering guidance on how to maximize their worth in the marketplace, and the later representing women in sexual harassment suits.

Artistic contributions

Some of the most famous female liberation songs of the 60s and 70s were sung by women with Saturn in Taurus. Here’s Helen Reddy’s “I am Woman” (note the hallmark Taurus determination):

I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an’ pretend
‘Cause I’ve heard it all before
And I’ve been down there on the floor
No one’s ever gonna’ keep me down again

Oh yes, I am wise
But it’s wisdom born of pain
Yes, I’ve paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong
(Strong)
I am invincible
(Invincible)
I am woman

You can bend but never break me
‘Cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
‘Cause you’ve deepened the conviction in my soul

Nancy Sinatra promised “these boots are gonna’ walk all over you,” and, best of all, Aretha Franklin demanded her propers, calling for R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Feelings of being ripped-off

Of course you don’t have to be a woman to relate to wanting respect. Anyone who has been ripped off knows the feeling. It’s just that a person born with Saturn in Taurus has been feeling ripped off for a lot longer and more often than everyone else.

Muhammad Ali, born while Saturn passed through Taurus, learned to box at the tender of age of 9 when an adult sought to provide the child a positive channel for the anger he felt at having his bike stolen. That’s how early it starts with these people. Fighting for resources or for their self-esteem are some of their most formative memories of childhood. Their whole life is about figuring out how to get enough of what they need and how to stop others from robbing them of it once they get it. It may not always be at the Saturn Return, but at some point, Saturn in Taurus people have to draw a line.

Legendary assertiveness

When they do, the stand these folks take can be legendary. When Rosa Parks refused to move on that bus, Saturn was in opposition to her native Taurus placement. Muhammad Ali declined to be inducted into the armed services at the height of his career, claiming conscientious objector status. He was convicted of a felony. And as the appeals case made its way through the courts during his Saturn Return, Ali was denied a boxing license in all states. He also had his passport revoked. His conviction was finally overturned on appeal after public opinion turned against the war and in favor of civil rights.

Natural born leadership skills

While Taurus energy is not normally associated with bravery, the actions of these individuals can resonate in a way that truly inspires others. Of Muhammad Ali, Al Sharpton said:

For the heavyweight champion of the world, who had achieved the highest level of athletic celebrity, to put all of that on the line—the money, the ability to get endorsements—to sacrifice all of that for a cause, gave a whole sense of legitimacy to the movement and the causes with young people that nothing else could have done. Even those who were assassinated, certainly lost their lives, but they didn’t voluntarily do that. He knew he was going to jail and did it anyway. That’s another level of leadership and sacrifice.

It’s easy to see why Ali’s actions seemed like leadership to Sharpton, but do not mistake them for anything other than what they are — a personal commitment to integrity and self-esteem. What profit a man if he gains the world but loses his soul? People with this placement spend their whole lives pondering that question. One should not interpret their battles for anything other than a very basic need to have their boundaries respected and their persons treated with respect.

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