Saturn and Pluto both have themes of power and control and the loss of it or lack of it braided into their core fibers.
Saturn is many things, including the undeniable realities of life, the things that there is no way to change or avoid. Saturn is time and the way that it will always pass, strengthening and building us until it begins to wear on us like wind on a mainsail until we can sail no more; it is the bones and hair weakened and grayed by time as we move a little closer to death. Saturn is death and the inevitability of it. Saturn is the effect for every cause and the consequence of every action — just as death is a consequence of birth, each action and inaction is the flap of a butterfly wing; every brake pedal pushed down is wearing down the pads. Saturn is the law, prisons, maladies of mind and body and the places we go to treat them. Some of Saturn’s people are the poor and the isolated, the sick and the insane, the generationally fucked. I have often been Saturn’s people. Saturn is seen on city streets and heard in the horrific sound of silence in a hospital delivery room. It is so many of the things that we have no say in. It is a Capricorn rising saying, “life sucks, get a helmet.”
There’s this idea that often shows itself before we’ve completed our first Saturn return that by “doing the work” or “taking responsibility” we can avoid the innate pains & consequences of living. We can’t. When we say that Saturn is the unavoidable facts of life, that doesn’t come with a caveat that reads: “unless, of course, you ‘do the work.’” These Saturnian realities — pain and consequence and death and the relentless crunch of time and so much more — are as integral to existence as birth and joy and pleasure; they cannot be removed. When we say Saturn is unavoidable, we mean unavoidable. We mean that if you try to avoid them you will always fail. It may be human nature to press against the things that are considered unavoidable in our times, and that is probably a good thing; that’s how we make progress and solve important riddles. The living want to live, multiply, thrive — these lunar urges create friction for the crags of Saturn.
The Saturnian unavoidables I’ve mentioned are some of the many things that we can’t control. But Saturn has many other faces and limbs. It has these hard limits, but it also has instruction manuals and staircases and ladders for us too. What can we control? Where do we have power? While there are so many things that we truly don’t have control of, the things we can control do require Saturnian responsibility.
The unfortunate reality of wanting control is that actual, real, productive control comes from taking responsibility. This is Saturnian power. You cannot actually have control until you also take on the responsibilities that come with it. I cannot be the captain of a ship if I’m not willing to steer and direct and make decisions. I can’t be an independent artist if I’m not willing to take control of my marketing. I can’t own a car if I’m not willing to make enough money to pay for car insurance every month. We can control many things if we’re willing to take on the responsibility that comes with leading, directing, steering, independence. Through Saturnian responsibility we don’t avoid the painful things in life (the aforementioned or otherwise), but fortify our grounded stability and steward our own lives.
This is one way to have control.
Pluto is an entirely different flavor of control. Pluto will steal control for you when you have none. When trapped, Pluto will find unorthodox, crude and sometimes destructive ways to gain power or feel like we have control.