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 More on
Saturn

By David McCann

More articles by
David McCann

Other planets
SECTION HEADINGS featured in this
series:
Sun
Ancient Mythology Mercury
Ancient Mythology
Cabbalism Venus
In ancient Mesopotamia the planets were seen as gods in their own Mars
The Tarot
right. The Babylonian name for Saturn was Sagush and the
Jupiter
associated god was Ninurta. When the Tablets of Fate, which held
the laws of the universe, were stolen by a dragon, it was Ninutra Saturn
who rescued them and was henceforth placed in charge of fate and
law. Sagush was therefore the star of law and order. This does not
conflict with the role of Jupiter: order is not quite the same thing as
justice. In the same myth, Ninurta is said to have imposed his rule
upon the minerals, who had sided with the dragon, and allotted to
them their natures and duties: some 3000 years later Lilly also
recorded that Saturn rules mines and those who work with earth or
stone. Since the dragon was a beast of the air, the myth may
depict the imposition of divine order on the universe, both above
and below the earth. Unfortunately, most of the tablets relating to
the omens of Saturn have yet to be found, so we know less about
his position in Mesopotamian astrology than that of the other
planets.

The Greeks equated Ninurta with their own Kronos. He was one of
the Titans, the children of Gaia and Ouranos, Earth and Sky.
Kronos seized power from his father after castrating him, because
Ouranos had prevented Gaia from giving birth to her children. The
explanation of the latter can probably be found in an Egyptian
myth, which stated that the sky goddess Nut and the earth god
Geb had refused to cease coupling: their forcible separation
enabled the creation of our world. This is not just a question of
making a space in which mankind could live, but of creating the
differentiations which distinguish cosmos from chaos. The very
word cosmos originally meant appropriate arrangement and good
order, its use in the sense of the universe apparently having been
introduced by Pythagoras. Thus Kronos made the initial separation
of heaven and earth, male and female, just as the astrological
Saturn creates order and makes distinctions.

The name Kronos is not Greek, and the account of his deeds, like
many Greek myths, came from Asia Minor. The Hurrians
(mentioned in the Bible as the Horites) had a sky god Anu (perhaps
the same as the Sumerian An) who was castrated and overthrown
by his son, Kumarbi. He, being a barbarian, accomplished the deed
with his teeth, only to find himself pregnant with the storm god in
consequence. In the Greek version, Kronos also became pregnant,
but by swallowing his own children as fast as they were born,
having been warned that he would be dethroned by one them just
as he had supplanted his own father. His wife, Rhea, somewhat
distressed by the loss of the first five, substituted a stone for the
next, the storm god Zeus, who was then raised in secret. After
liberating his brothers and sisters, Zeus led their rebellion - as they
had been reborn, he was now the eldest - and so became king of
the gods. Perhaps understandably, after these alarming
adventures, Kronos had few duties: he was chiefly a patron of
agriculture. It was probably this which led him to be equated with See also:

the Etruscan god Satres, whom the Romans borrowed as Saturnus. Mercury's Orbit &
The Greek harvest festival called the Cronia and the Roman Phases
 midwinter Saturnalia both involved a relaxation of established Birth of the Outer
order, with slaves free to mock their Planets
masters.

Cabbalism

In the Jewish theosophy known as

cabbalism, Saturn is the third sphere of
divine activity, called Binah -
Understanding or Intelligence.

This is the power which organises the

creative forces and imposes form on the universe. It is thus the
root of matter. It is also the female principle, for it is through
conception and birth that we acquire material form.

Tarot

In the greater arcana of the tarot cards,

the magical order of the Golden Dawn
assigned Saturn to the World. This was
presumably because Saturn, as the
most earthy planet, rules life on earth. But
the card refers rather to the ideal world, or
the world to come, and other suitable
images can be found: the Hermit (originally called Time),
symbolising wisdom and prudence; Fortune, since Saturn
represents fate; the Emperor or the Pope, as secular and spiritual
authorities; even Death or the Devil.

Among the lesser arcana, Saturn is assigned to the threes on

cabbalistic grounds. Since the restrictions of Saturn fall hardest on
the element air, the three of swords is unfavourable and called
Sorrow. With the other elements, Saturn consolidates their powers
and so the three of coins (earth) is Material Works, the three of
cups (water) is Abundance, and the three of wands (fire) is
Established Strength.

David McCann, who lives in London, is an expert

on the history and philosophy of astrology. His
articles have been published in many international
journals of astrology and he was a regular
contributor to the Traditional Astrologer magazine,
where this article first appeared.

David McCann, 1996

This article was first published in The Traditional
Astrologer Magazine, issue 11, Winter 1996

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