The term "Saturn Return" refers to the time when Transiting Saturn's position is identical to Saturn's placement in the birth chart.  This culmination of a cycle occurs roughly every 28-29 years for each of us.

The Saturn Return has been likened by some astrologers to our "cosmic report card" -- a time during which we are forced to examine and evaluate our progress up until this point in our lives and determine what needs to change in order for us to continue to grow.  Often this assessment compels us to release some of the attitudes, possessions, and even people that no longer serve a meaningful purpose in our lives.  By being able to jettison these unneeded parts of our lives, we make room for new beliefs, things, and people to come our way.

First occurring around age 28-29** for all of us, this age often corresponds with major changes in our lives.  Often career, relationships, and other changes virtually across the board take place.  We recognize that we now have different -- often more complicated -- responsibilities than we felt earlier in our lives.  We're no younger young and invincible with unlimited potential, but now have more realistic views of what we are capable of.  Like it or not, we've become adults and our perspective needs to change.  If our self-assessed progress to this point has not pleased us, there may be a sense of urgency to pick up the pace -- a feeling of, "It's now or never".

The second occurrence of Saturn Retrograde at around age 56-58** provides us with a second chance to evolve, to re-invent ourselves -- to refocus, refine, and redefine our life goals.  But now, health considerations or physical limitations often force us to see that we are no longer in our prime physically.  Many of us will have reached the highest point in our careers and begin looking forward to life after work.  While the prospect of retiring from a lifetime of productive work can be eagerly looked forward to by some, it can be disorienting or downright frightening for others.  Without the usual rigidity and predictability of the workplace routine, there are many new concerns.  How will the newfound leisure time be spent, are finances secure, what about adult children, what about aging parents, etc.?  

Should we be fortunate enough to live to experience our third Saturn Return (around age 88**) there is a somewhat different manifestation of the phenomenon.  While we still are forced to evaluate our progress to this point, we must realistically recognize that the bulk of our lives now lie behind us.  We must come to grips with the inevitability of our own death as well as condition ourselves to deal with the passing of friends and family.  Whether we react with anger and bitterness, or with newfound or revived spirituality and contentment largely depends on whether we've made necessary adjustments at critical junctures in our course along the way.

During any of these Saturn Return periods we can either try to fight the change, kicking and screaming all the way or recognize that this time represents an opportunity for us to make positive, necessary changes in our life.  If we attempt to dig in our heels and try to keep everything as it is, we may succeed briefly, but the long-term prospects become increasingly complicated and more difficult.  It's usually best to make the changes on our terms rather than waiting for these inevitable changes to happen to us.