What the Saturn Return is
Saturn goes around the zodiac in 29.46 years. The return is the moment when it again passes, in the sky, the same longitude where it stood on the day of birth. By our measurement on 400 random birth dates from 1940–2010 the first exact return falls at 28.4–29.9, the second at 58.2–59.0. Because of retrograde motion 36% of people have three exact passes: Saturn passes the point, turns around and passes it again — then the return stretches over almost a year.
Tradition links the first Saturn Return with an “exam in adulthood”: a review of work, relationships and commitments. But 28–30 is an age of change even without any astrology, so you need to compare it not with “in general” but with the neighboring years of your own life — see the check below.
The Uranus opposition and Jupiter returns
The Uranus opposition is when Uranus stands opposite its place in the birth chart; tradition links it with the “midlife crisis.” The age depends on the decade of birth: the orbit of Uranus is elongated, and it speeds up and slows down. By our measurement: for those born in the 1940s — 38.0–39.5, in the 1950s — 38.7–40.5, in the 1960s — 39.7–42.4, in the 1970s — 41.7–44.3, in the 1980s — 42.9–44.5, in the 1990s — 42.7–44.5, in the 2000s — 40.8–43.5.
Jupiter returns once every 11.86 years — around 12, 24, 36, 47 and 59. It’s the shortest of the big cycles, and tradition links it with growth and new opportunities.
How to check it on yourself
The statement below may turn out to be false about you — that’s how it’s written. Make a list of the big changes in your life before you look at the dates.
If the Saturn Return affected you
What should match. Write out the big changes by year: work, housing, relationships, studies, health. During the return — from the first pass to the last and half a year after — there are more of them than in the same number of years before it.
When it’s not about you. The same number of changes or fewer — for you the Saturn Return didn’t stand out in any way.
How Saturn stands in your chart — in the free calculation: build my chart; what it means in each sign and house — on the Saturn page. How we check the rest — the site’s method.