The Universe as Task Manager
Working on finding our place in the cosmos
You know that feeling when everything aligns where it’s supposed to land? A project falls into your lap after months of searching for the starting point, everything you want somehow manifests with little-to-no effort? Do you call it coincidence, hard work, or fate? The Month of March has brought about the Spring Equinox, symbolic of renewal; a Super Full Worm Moon, symbolic of rebirth; Mercury in Retrograde, which brought communication and mechanical failures; and good old Saturn is making its Return to my personal Zodiac, Capricorn.
About every 29 ½ years, Saturn makes a full cycle around the sun, the same way Earth does every 365 days. These measurements are never precise, much like everything else in life. In fact change is rarely exact (but sometimes it is, and I love when it is, like how I like to nudge the gas pump readout to be .00 even if it means the tank isn’t quite full). The Saturn Return is an overarching signal to the energy of the universe that a change in leadership and priorities is coming.
Saturn’s Return to where it was in your zodiac at birth happens when you’re in your late twenties, which causes a rift in what you are doing as a young twenty-something. Maybe this shift causes you to feel like a real adult. Maybe it’s time to get your shit together and settle down with a family, or maybe find a “real career,” whatever that means. No matter where Saturn fell on your birth chart, and whether or not you believe in any of this, there is usually a twinge of “well shit, what have I been doing the last 30 years?” Be kind to yourself: you weren’t in control of much before the age of 15 anyway. You can use the Saturn Return as a reason for uprooting everything and becoming a new, wiser person.
Saturn is the ruler of task management — Lord knows I need serious help with that. My Capricorn sign is also ruled by Saturn, which gives me a little chuckle too. Every time Saturn makes a revolution we are supposed to be re-aligning ourselves. I’m nearly 30 and everything has changed. Actually, some things I am returning to after resisting, but with a pair of wiser eyes and a softer heart. I joked, when I was 25 and my daughter was barely a year old, that I was suffering a quarter-life existential crisis. I made some rash decisions, called back home longing to feel like I belonged somewhere. I am only 29 now, but since then, I have felt a shift. The universe’s energy is pouring its love to fill in where I’ve spiritually held an empty space.
I’ve reached a point of disbelief that the state of the world is coincidental. I don’t believe I have the power to change anything, but I also can’t bring myself to believe that life just happens. Is it all written in the stars? Or shall we harness the power of the stars, the universe, God, or even our inner selves to accomplish what we want? I would like to believe I have some control, but over the years I have realized a very constant fact about the universe: I am incredibly ignorant, and I really, really don’t know anything.
Chalk all of this up to coincidence, tell me that every few years everything always changes. That’s kind of human nature though, isn’t it? Finding patterns and trying to explain them?
Is it coincidence that nowadays during most people’s Saturn Return (ages 27–30) they get married and have children, receive a big promotion, start a business, or even change careers altogether? Are we just trying to find justification that maybe there is fate in the stars? And even if we are seeking such justification what’s the harm?
Being mindful that everything is a cycle, that everything does change for better or worse, is not a bad habit to form. Taking into consideration where the stars are and making some of our decisions based on that can be as harmless as praying to a god for answers, or simply seeking to feel connected to the universe.
We’re all working on finding our place in the universe. We can find it through music and song, through community such as churches or groups with like-minded people. We find it at work or through family, biological or chosen. We’ve all looked up at the stars at one time or another wondering what is truly out there.
Sometimes it is comforting to put a name to feeling, to find reasoning for inconvenience while conversely taking personal accountability for positive results. Then again, sometimes it’s more comforting to relinquish control than to truly believe you have supreme control of everything. Sometimes I like to use the energy of the universe as an excuse for my depression that keeps me in bed, and other times I relish in feeling completely in control of my destiny.
Whether or not the alignment of planets in certain zodiacs is real I feel a shift already as I lightly dabble in politics and worldliness, seeking to find my own sense of place in this cycle. In 30 years I will be nearing 60 years old. I can’t predict the future, but I sure as hell can take this year to steer my life in the direction I want.