Mars-Saturn

Mars-Saturn combines Mars' bravery, aggressiveness, and action with Saturn's tendency toward reserve, authority, deadlines, and mortality.

When the planets Mars and Saturn align in a tense angle in the sky, the alignment reflects that burdens, responsibilities, and reality checks (Saturn) are aggressively active (Mars). If you were born during this sort of alignment this theme is present throughout your whole life.

What life is actually doing is trying to forge out of you a responsible (Saturn) warrior (Mars) with a bravely (Mars) self-possessed authority (Saturn).

The challenge is that until you embody this mature (Saturn) warrior (Mars) life will keep beating you up. The good news is the more you embody this Mars-Saturn role, the less the reality checks sting.

Other ways the Mars-Saturn combination can be reflected include, but aren’t limited to, aggressive judgment, and the cultivated ability to sustain effort that arises from repeatedly having to face obstacles to one’s goals in life.

Below are examples of famous people born with this combination in their natal charts (natal chart is another word for astrological birth chart, or pictographic representation of the sky when they were born). When we witness how this combination shows up in the lives of others, we can become more self-aware of how this combination shows up in our own lives. The more we are conscious of the ways astrological alignments (otherwise known as “aspects”) show up in our lives, the more the archetypal tensions involved can become integrated in our lives, thus revealing inherent strengths to us.

Please note that the tension of this archetypal combination, as illustrated in the lives and creations of the famous people in the examples below, may be demonstrated in ways that are more integrated or less integrated.

  • The actress Brie Larson was born during this alignment. In her role as Captain Marvel she embodies the combination of the serious superhero who shoulders the burdens of being responsible for the safety of the entire universe, especially in the movie Avengers: Endgame. Along side the other Avenger Superheroes she seems more sober and serious; at the same time she is respected as an authority among the superheroes.

  • Author Dave Eggers and Buddhist Monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh were both born with Mars and Saturn in alignment and both have had to contend with the heavy realities (Saturn) of violence (Mars), Dave Eggers via the child abuse he suffered and Thich Nhat Hanh via experiencing the atrocities of war at a young age. Dave Eggers has become a warrior (Mars) of truth (Saturn), seeking to address concerns of abuse and violence in the United States legal system and in the international arena. Thich Nhat Hanh has proven to be a powerful proponent of peace, in part because having survived through the horror of war he is now an authority (Saturn) on transforming the potential for violence (Mars) within humans. Through facing the realities and burdens of Saturn one reaches the other end of Saturn’s spectrum, the end that imparts authority.

  • The Mars-Saturn combination in the birth chart of actor Daniel Craig can be see in his 15-year-long tenure as the character James Bond. Mars is associated with forceful action, and can be seen here as the action hero. Saturn tends to want to slow things down and challenge them to persist and sustain over time. Thus Daniel Craig portraying James Bond for fifteen years involves the sustained (Saturn) discipline (Saturn) of being an action hero (Mars).

  • The Mars-Saturn combination in the birth chart of musician Sheryl Crow can be seen in her song “Strong Enough,” in which the chorus challenges the man she is speaking to, asking him is he is “strong enough to be her man.” Here the Mars-Saturn combination shows up as the potential judgment (Saturn) and confrontational challenge (Mars) of the chorus. The strong challenge of the chorus is meant to test her suitor, in classic Saturnian style, to see if he can sustain (Saturn) his bravery (Mars) over time and persist (Saturn) in his assertive pursuit (Mars) of her. Here is the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CCWMMEN1Vc

  • The Mars-Saturn combination in the natal chart of actor Robert Downey Jr can be seen reflected in the following comedic fake trailer in which Downey Jr’s character is a homosexual monk whose sexuality (Mars) is condemned by the authoritarian institution of the church (Saturn): https://youtu.be/6R7GkXE6sqk?t=126

  • The Mars-Saturn combination in the natal chart of musician Rihanna can be seen reflected in the following song and video, in which she portrays condemning and constraining (Saturn) forceful acts (Mars) as a sadomasochistic turn on: https://youtu.be/KdS6HFQ_LUc

  • The Mars-Saturn combination in the birth chart of Frank Herbert, author of the Dune series of science fiction novels, can be seen in his portrayal of the planet Arrakis, the desert planet upon which the series is based, as well as the people of Arrakis. Arrakis is portrayed as a harsh and rough environment that aggressively (Mars) bears hard realities (Saturn) upon its visitors. Similarly, those who are brave enough (Mars) to pass the planet’s test (Saturn) become all the more capable of sustained (Saturn) efforts (Mars) in the face of aggressive (Mars) oppositional forces (Saturn). This characteristic is demonstrated by the native people of Arrakis, known as the Fremen.

  • The Mars-Saturn combination in the natal chart of magician and tv personality Justin Willman can be seen in his Netflix show entitled The Magic Prank Show, in which people who feel they have been wronged by someone approach Willman seeking to play a prank on their wrongdoer that involves magic. In the end there is always a lesson learned by the perpetrator that Willman champions as a sort of “payback,” or consequence for their bad actions. In this example Willman is serving as a sort of agent (Mars) of authority or judgment (Saturn) who is avenging (Mars-Saturn) the accuser by aggressively (Mars) confronting them with the karma, or punishment (Saturn), that results from their negative behavior.