If Jupiter is about expansion, Saturn is the opposite energy of limitations and contraction. The planet itself is constrained by its rings. In ancient mythology, Saturn (or Cronos) was referred to as the Lord of Time because he brings the kind of wisdom and maturity that comes typically with old age.
As an energetic signature, Saturn is the stern father of the zodiac. He is the one that says: “Look, you shouldn't go to art school. The reality is that with a career like that you will starve. That’s not a serious, stable job that will pay for your retirement and your children’s college fees. One that will help you build a solid place for yourself in life. It's way too topsy-turvy”.
If these harsh realities make you give up the art school dream, then Saturn will be seen as negative (after all, it is the Great Malefic). But if these harsh realities make you come up with a detailed plan on how to support yourself financially through your creativity and talent, then Saturn’s structuring and restructuring influence will be your biggest blessing in life.
This planets also rules over government institutions and big corporations - those places where individual characteristics and emotional needs are overlooked in favor of discipline and hard work. Saturn needs a top to climb with a clear path to there. Continuous industriousness is its prefer mode of action. "Brick by brick, dealt-with hardship after dealt-with hardship, I build my success." Victory is not sweet without sweat.
Saturn rules over the sign of Capricorn where Mars is in its exaltation, meaning that Mars is the most VIP guest in the house of Saturn. The two have a lot in common. They both want victory, they both want to beat the competition and reach the top but that desire is channeled differently. If Mars is the field soldier (physical strength and its outpour), Saturn is the army general (the structure and the fetish for discipline). Mars chases challenge after challenge for the sake of expending its energy and that fleeing feeling of conquest. Saturn likes sweating the sweat one drudgery at a time to reach the top of the structure with persistence and stoicism. That's the only way that victory will be sweet.
Mars's satisfaction with the battle comes from the battle giving him the venue to show his personal capabilities. Saturn's satisfaction with the battle comes from this battle bringing him closer to winning the war. Mars is about the momentum (it is of the element of Fire after all). Saturn is about the long game (it is of the element of Earth).
Mars wants victory. Saturn wants authority. Mars wants to bloody, passionate, explosively exhilarating win. Saturn wants recognition that lies on everything that others do not want to do - work slowly, steadily, thoroughly, with discipline and stoicism.
Saturn's real fetish? Self-sufficiency in austerity.
Wherever Saturn falls in a chart, that’s where the person experiences obstacles, boundaries to achievement, restraint. This is where you are likely to persistently run into obstacles, the kind of unbelievably bureaucratic obstacles no one else seems to run into. The life of this house is an endless succession of barriers preventing you from moving forward for seemingly no reason.
The agenda is to teach discipline, stoicism, self-reliance and perseverance. Eventually, it is where Saturn falls in your chart that you become proficient. Not because of innate talent, not because you like the subject matter or because you are genuinely passionate about this area, but because you have gone, time and time again, over all possible complications. When it comes to knowing the process inside out - you have no equal.