I always laugh when someone comes to me for a reading and asks if they are in a karmic relationship or connection. If you are asking you most likely are.

Karmic Relationships:

Feel abnormal

Are intense

Are complex

They do not go away until the lesson is over

They define your life in two parts before and after (them)

Often the parties share a hard Saturn/Personal Planet aspect.

Personally, when looking at a couple’s synastry I like to see at least one Saturn hard personal planet aspect between charts meaning Saturn conjoining, squaring or opposing another person’s Sun, Venus etc.  Saturn represents the glue in astrology, it governs time, things built to last, commitment and hard work. When we share Saturn/Venus hard aspects with another person it is not easy for us to walk away or separate from one another. We are usually committed, indebted, and somehow bound to that other person “for better or worse”. I want to stress this does not mean we are necessarily tied to another person in a healthy way or that we are bound via commitment sometimes we are bound by karma.

I often caution clients when they meet someone and mistakenly believe they are going to have a quick fling or a casual situationship and there Saturn is on someone’s Venus or vice versa, this connection has weight and consequences. Saturn will lock two people in even when they would rather part. Saturn/Venus (hard aspects ONLY) represent being tied to another person even if you want to be free of them. These connections last until the karmic contract is completed and your souls have learned whatever lessons you need to learn from other another in this lifetime. Some would say you agreed to meet prior to this incarnation.

When a person’s Saturn is on our Venus, we often learn lessons linked to commitment, divine timing, boundaries and self-love. We may have to recognize that the timing of this connection is indeed off. In marital connections Saturn/Venus relationships are bound by duty, commitment and showing up and doing the work. There is a reason that Saturn is exalted in Libra the sign of partnership.

Saturn in hard aspect to Venus in synastry suggests two people have been brought together to learn something from one another. This connection is preordained. The lessons are often not easy, and we may go through many rounds and remain tied to one another for many years while resisting integrating the lessons we have come to teach one another. Rarely do I see these contracts end easily or quickly, but once their part in your story is over, they usually leave your life in a vacuum, and you never see them again.

People thought Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck were going to last, amateur astrologers pointed to the fact that his Saturn conjoins her Venus, (Her Saturn squares his Moon) the rest of their synastry is horrendous the only thing this aspect tells us is that they have a karmic contract in this lifetime. They had unfinished business, that is why they reconnected. It was possibly a karmic test; had they really learned the lessons? If not this last go around likely insured, they did.

Saturn in synastry can show up in a variety of ways sometimes it is the older or more reserved person, the colder person, the non-nonsense I am all business, non-demonstrative person, the person that puts distance between you or walls up. The Saturn person’s demeanor is usually serious, sometimes somber and cautious. Whereas Venus symbolizes affection, romantic spontaneity, admiration and warmth.

In the positive Saturn can teach Venus about mature love, responsibility and duty whereas Venus can show Saturn the joys of being carefree, openly loving and the importance of simply enjoying life.

The challenge comes when Saturn is cold and distancing, Saturn can feel critical and harsh to Venus viewing them as superficial and unserious. The truth is these two planets have much to learn from one another.

Saturn conjunct Venus

We must always consider the entire synastry chart before making the presumption that two people will last forever just because they have a hard Saturn/Venus aspect. I do like the conjunction between Saturn and Venus; it infuses love (Venus) and commitment (Saturn), but as is the case with Lopez and Affleck it can also represent a karmic contract the involves personal lessons on self-love, timing and boundaries.  

Joanne Woodwards Saturn conjoined Paul Newmans Venus; they were one of Hollywood’s longest couples. Their synastry is one to review if you have not done so; they also share a two-way Sun/Moon conjunction. While she was the Saturn person Newman was 9 years older, they had an affair for 5 years while Newman was married to someone else, but they married and stayed together for 50 years after he finalized his divorce from his first wife. As per Google Newman credited Woodward with giving him the strength to grow as both an actor and a man. She was known for holding him accountable and keeping him from becoming “too full of himself” You can see the Saturn themes play out in a variety of ways from the age gap, to the inability to separate- they remarked they tried to but could not stay away from one another, to the timing factor to the lifelong commitment and her being his anchor.

********I am not in any way advising you to wait for anyone ever. Sometimes the Saturn/Venus contract tells you to love yourself and learn boundaries*******

Saturn Opposite and Square Venus

Conjunctions as we know infuse two energies together and while they are not considered easy aspects in this instance the square or opposition between Saturn and Venus are more challenging.

Sometimes the Saturn person puts work ahead of the relationship, sometimes they have other obligations, perhaps another family that they place ahead of your connection with them. They are likely cold distancing or perhaps you experience them as critical. The Venus person may feel like the Saturn person dampens their joy or doesn’t fully appreciate them. If you are the Saturn person you must be aware of this, it does not mean you feel this way but that is how your Saturn is being experienced by the Venus person. Sometimes the Saturn person tests the Venus person by pulling away or making them jump through hoops to earn affection. In turn Saturn may view Venus as unserious, superficial and childlike. The goal is to meet one another halfway or see the value the other person provides without asking them to change.

Saturn opposite Venus in synastry can swing between cold and warm or responsibility and fun this aspect need o find balance between practicality and joy. The square between these two planets will lock in like no other but results in challenges when it comes to relating and understanding one another. The love language between the two people is likely off, with one preferring acts of service and another preferring gifts and words of affirmation. Integration isn’t easy but the love and connection can be enduring.

With Saturn/Venus interplays both partners should ask what is this person is showing me, what are they here to teach me, can I have more fun, can I be more responsible, does love involve duty? How do I wish to receive and express love and affection?

Personally, I like Saturn/Venus hard aspects at their best they show two people committed, putting in the work and standing the test of time with other another.

Even in karmic connections that do not evolve into a traditional relationship we can master ourselves, learn to set boundaries, recognize the importance of fun and responsibility but also what it means to show up for someone and the importance of someone showing up for us.