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Margaret’s experience was
one of many that landed in my
inbox after my editor told me she
wanted a story about the Saturn
Return. Clueless about the topic,
I put it out to the internet. One
person offered:
“It’s what happens in your
late 20s – right before you turn
30 – everything turns to shit.”
A few Google searches later,
I was soon able to break it down,
albeit at the risk of sounding like
a complete nutcase.
Your Saturn Return is the
idea that the planet Saturn, which
takes approximately 29.5 years
to rotate around the sun, comes
back to the exact position it was
at your birth. This brings on
changes of EPIC proportions in
order to make way for a new life
stage. Quarter-life crisis? Quite
possibly. Proven science? Well,
obviously not. But who can resist
blaming a higher order for the
shit going down in your life?From a breakup that fell out
of the sky and smacked you
in the face to losing your
high-fl ying job, if you feel
like your life has been
thrown into chaos as you
approach 30, a new-age
concept could explain it allYOUR
LIFE ISN’T
FALLING
APART –
YOU’RE
IN YOUR
SATURN
RETURN
SO WHAT THE
HELL IS IT? JULIA
NAUGHTON
INVESTIGATES
‘‘
It started on my
27th birthday. I arrived
home from work and decided
that I needed to break up with
my long-term partner who I
thought I would marry, and
move out of the apartment we
shared. From there, my life
turned into total turmoil – I
moved in with a man I’d fallen
for very quickly, who turned
out to be a drug dealer (which
subsequently put strain on my
relationship with my family).
All of a sudden my perfect life
had fallen apart and I wasn’t
sure where I could go from
here. I became extremely erratic
and depressed, and decided to
move to Europe in the hope of
finding some clarity, only to
learn that after just 10 days my
best friend had died, forcing me
to come home,” says Margaret*.