The passive side of Saturn is solitary, austere, depressive, downcast, miserable,
demanding, inactive, sedentary, and immobile. The active side of Saturn is disci-
plined, determined, driving, sustained, persistent, hard working, and undaunted. In
the Hellenistic system, according to Edith Hamilton’s Mythology,the star of Kronos
was assigned the special essence of ignorance and necessity. Saturn traditionally rules
the masculine sign Aquarius that opposes the Sun, and the feminine sign Capricorn
that opposes the Moon. It is exalted in Libra, in its fall in Aries, and in its debility in
Cancer. When Saturn has essential dignity it operates more from the active qualities
and can produce positive results. With little dignity its significations manifest in more
malefic form. It rules the Air triplicity in a diurnal chart.
Saturn is a diurnal planet by sect. This means that Saturn in a daytime chart is
more at his best. Joseph Crane explains Saturn’s sect differences in A Practical Guide to
Traditional Astrology:
A diurnal Saturn is organized and disciplined, but also responds to nov-
elty and change. He provides the virtues that one needs to flourish inTHEASTROLOGYBOOK [597]
SaturnAn illustration of Saturn in his chariot with his zodiacal signs Capricorn and Aquarius as
wheels. From a mid-seventeenth-century edition of Johannes Indagines’s Introduciones
Apotelesmatica. Reproduced by permission of Fortean Picture Library.