How Saturn Return Transformed My Career, My Marriage, and More

Saturn Return Personal Story Astrologer

It’s not easy to go down memory lane and dig deeper into your archives to remember the great meaning of your Saturn Return story. Whether you’re into astrology or not, the transition from twenty-nine to thirty years old is always loaded with signs of transformation. Back then, I wasn’t that into astrology yet, but the effects of Saturn returning to the exact place it was when I was born were incredibly decisive and life-changing!

Astrologically speaking, Saturn oversees the foundations of your life and how they relate to responsibility, discipline, and career. While you live many Saturn activations throughout your life, the Saturn Return, in particular, is all about becoming a functioning adult, which requires us to step up to the game. Many times, this process also includes removing from our lives anything that stands in the way of our personal growth. Everyone alive, regardless of their sign, has a juicy Saturn Return story. Being one of the most important rites of passage in life, this transitional moment depicts your ability to take the reigns of your life, starting you on a brand-new cycle that will develop over the next thirty years. No biggie.

As a forty-four-year-old full-time professional astrologer and writer, my heart overjoys with pride when I look back at my Saturn Return. But my eyes get filled with water, as experientially, this was one of the most beautiful but also the hardest moments along my journey. In 2008-2009, while living in San Francisco, I began creating a new life for myself. Just two years earlier, I had moved from Mexico to the United States to continue a romantic relationship that began back in 2002. These years of settling in a new country hadn’t been easy for me due to the many cultural challenges I had run up against.

I went from graduating from one of Latin America’s top schools to having no credit (which is worse than bad credit) and no real job in a new country. I started as a receptionist and a waitress to support myself, which seemed to make my mother a bit disappointed. After all, she had paid for an expensive International Affairs and History Bachelors Degree by working extremely hard at building and managing her beach-side restaurant.

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By 2008, it was clear that I wanted to start a career in media, and had two internships (music and editorial) under my belt. I was juggling those with my waitress job when a wonderful opportunity to work for SPIN Media came around via my then-husband. This is when master teacher Saturn comes into play! I started my editorial career as a Latin America Music Coordinator, covering the local scenes there but also in San Francisco. While this job was not great pay, it was definitely fun, as music has always been a passion of mine (my south node of destiny is in musical Pisces). I was partying it up (Leo Moon over here), getting free CDs, records, and show entrances. However, writing and editing in English was something new for me.

This was Saturn’s way of telling me: “It’s time for you to take this job thing seriously.”

My natal Saturn is in Virgo in the fifth house of creativity, and it was during my Saturn Return I began taking this part of my birth chart seriously. While writing was always one of my favorite things to do, I hadn’t yet realized it would be part of my life to such an extent. Let me tell you: Writing in a foreign language is hard, and this was actually my second time having to master this (the first time was French, also during a Saturn activation).

Without being aware, I began an editorial career that would take me from music to astrology, which eventually became my absolute passion! Between 2011 and 2023, I held several editorial positions at Horoscope.com and Astrology.com. Now, in 2024, I have a book under my belt, and I am currently writing my second one. As with all Saturn-related things, the road hasn’t been easy, but it’s been more than rewarding because I’ve taken my passion seriously.

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But as one thing begins to build, another one collapses. It was also back in 2009, at the end of my Saturn Return, when it became clear that my marriage needed to end. Many people get married during their Saturn Return—but it was the complete opposite for me! My now ex-husband and I had been growing apart for some time as our interests went in different directions. At the end of the day, it had been seven years since we started our romance. And as we arrived at the classic seven-year itch (a Saturn-Saturn square, by the way), we were completely disconnected. Since we’re both stubborn people—he’s an Aquarius, and I am a Scorpio, totally incompatible—it wasn’t until the Spring of 2010 that I moved out.

Being a divorceé by thirty might not be my strongest asset whenever defending Scorpio’s bad rep in love. For a little while, I did feel like a failure, but deep inside, I knew that giving up on this relationship was the best for me. At that time, I didn’t fully realize what I realize now: I am not afraid to admit that my first marriage was my way to work through the daddy issues I carried over my shoulders and psyche for quite some time.

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After losing my father (who had always been pretty intermittent in my life) at only fourteen, I was unconsciously seeking to resolve, with an older man (Saturn rules differences of age), my insecurities around abandonment. As you can see, Saturn's learnings run deep—even deeper than the Saturn Return stories themselves. The textbook description of Saturn representing “what’s most difficult for you to overcome but what you become a master at” applies here.

Right after spitting, I told my friends, “I am never getting married again—marriage sucks!” I tried to stay single to fully diggest my separation—but the universe had another plan for me! In July of 2010, I went on my first date with Alex, my current husband. And believe me, he is made of pure magic! He is a double Capricorn, very compatible with my Scorpio Sun. We have incredible compatibility and synastry; we’ve survived one and two seven-year itches. We’ve visited twenty-three countries together and counting and are, to this day, madly in love with one another. Looking back, I can only thank my Saturn Return for helping me heal at the deepest level so I could move on to building the life of my dreams.

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