‘When you have a “calling” it’s usually apparent to you, right?’
Monica on Making Heads Or Tails Of A Planet…
kashmiri responded and since we’re talking the Sun in astrology, I thought I’d add my two cents. First, the Sun in astrology shows the vocation.
vo-ca-tion
1. a particular occupation, business, or profession; calling.
2. a strong impulse or inclination to follow a particular activity or career.
3. a divine call to God’s service or to the Christian life.
4. a function or station in life to which one is called by God: the religious vocation; the vocation of marriage.
Liz Greene wrote a fantastic book on this subject, Apollo’s Chariot: The Meaning of the Astrological Sun. If you’ve not read it, it is of particular interest to artists because keep in mind the Sun rules creativity.
Now as to when (and if) your vocation or your “calling” becomes apparent, I would say the timing is variable. Some people know they are going to be a “whatever” at a very young age. They know they are going to be an actor when they are six years old. This would indicate someone very in touch with their solar energy.
There are people like me who do not come to their calling until the time of their Saturn return, though we may be training for many years in advance. The soldier is also in this group. Although he was in the military since he was a teen, he did not see combat until he coming into his Saturn return which is quite old for a soldier. I’d say if you’ve got Saturn prominent there is going to be a long slow climb before you are living your vocation.
There are other experiences and perhaps people will tell of them in the comments but there are some people who never find their vocation. This does not mean they don’t have one, it means they opted out and my guess is this happens more commonly with women then it does men, simply because solar energy is masculine.
Have you found your vocation?
That is so helpful to me as I struggled with this for such a long time. I had the wrong birth time and I thought my sun was 10th house libra. Astrologers kept telling me I should be a leader in a traditional environment and that freaked me out so much. Then I found out I had an eleventh house Virgo sun and I was so relieved! Turns out all the stuff that actually made me happy was all the stuff that I was mean’t to be doing….i.e healing and health related work in the community. Astrology freaks me out – it is so spot on.
Is a dignified Saturn the same as a prominant saturn?
I’m also a Virgo, eleventh house sun, but I have no idea about any calling. I assume it’s “serving society” whatever that means. Maybe some people’s callings will never be clear-cut and won’t be apparent in their careers.
Yeah, I alluded to it in the post you refer to above. With Sun in Scorpio at the IC, my calling is to accompany people DEEEEEP into their unconscious waters.
But with Sun opposition Saturn — you’re right, it took till my Saturn return to really start understanding that about myself. I’d always felt it (of course) but got distracted by the things I felt I *should* (Saturn) be doing.
beth, it’s a high functioning Saturn. I am not sure how to judge the other without seeing the complete chart. If Saturn is aspecting a bunch of your personal planets, then most definitely – yes.
Thanks, Elsa.
Jupiter and Mercury are conjunct Saturn, so I say yes.
Sun (moon & mercury) in Capricorn 12th house. All squared by libra Saturn 9th house. *giggles* structure.. conditioning.. gone (thanks Pluto!!) My first job was in banking, then Pluto entered cap. I left that field and entered medicine. I spent 10 years in the ER healing the sickest patients. Then I woke up one day when Pluto was conj my Mercury and suddenly I was clairvoyant and started channeling other beings. So this all fits the astrology. Thanks Elsa 🙂
I just posted and already see grammatical errors and no way to edit. LOL transiting Saturn in Virgo strikes again. I should have just kept my big mouth shut!
I have known since I was eight years old. Anytime that I have strayed I was miserable until I got back on track.
I was always a writer, even as a kid and it’s my “vocation” and my “identity” although not the way i make my daily living. Someday perhaps it will be. Saturn is the highest planet in my chart, and has various aspects, “good” and “bad” ones…
Cancer sun/11th house in stellium with mercury and mars. Gemini at mid-heaven. Virgo rising. Neptune in 3rd…
Sometimes i get other “callings” that surprise me… like my work with animals or astrology (and i mention these as ways i make money as well as deep interests). Those are also my callings but … the writing is the main thing…
Amber, I feel you on the sun/saturn stress right now. Maybe view the transit as training rather than repression? As in, once you learn to work around the restrictions and learn coping skills, you’ll be much more able to express yourself well. at least that’s how I try to see it. Your situation may vary and I may just need to shut up, though!
I’m one of those people who always knew. I wanted to become a teacher, did so at 24. Got a Cancer sun in the 3rd.
It occurs to me you might become aware sooner if your parents don’t interfere too much… or if you want to be something similar to what they are. Say if my son saw me writing all the time and always knew he wanted to write…
Or the soldier grew up with happily married parents and always knew he wanted to be married and have a family.
“you might become aware sooner if your parents don’t interfere too much”
or too little! my parents don’t give a hoot what i do for a living. just as long as i don’t ask them for money. although my mum said once “creative people don’t do well with having a boss.”
(she is an aries with moon in aquarius)
and then there’s my dad…army man to ranch hand to travelling with the circus to a guard in a maximum security prison to putting up playgrounds.
he got fired as a prison guard for taking off his shoes and patrolling a wall barefoot.
i’ll tell you this, though: in my annual from when i was in grade 2 i wrote i want to ‘grow up and be an astronomer.’
maybe i do have a calling!!! lol
Yeah, I failed biology, too. I was also taking creative writing, and had a biology class directly (like, 5 mins) after.
I’ve never been known to schedule a bleedin’ thing properly in my life.
It occurs to me you might become aware sooner if your parents don’t interfere too much… or if you want to be something similar to what they are. Say if my son saw me writing all the time and always knew he wanted to write …
Yes, I feel it would have helped me a lot if my mother hadn’t tried negative encouragement (I respond to “I know you can do it” much better than “I don’t think you’re going to do it”).
I have Sun in Virgo in the 8th and Sag Asc – I’m currently writing my master’s thesis in archaeology. Also have Uranus and NN in Scorpio conjunct MC from the 9th – I’m in seventh heaven:D (My ideal self leads a small local unit in Africa for Doctors without borders, hehe!)
I’ve tried my hand at anthropology – something was missing for me there, which I later realized was the long lines though history, the absence of which made the subject somewhat futile, I thought – and political science, which was waaay to dry and not at least extremely biased in a direction not compatible with my (then emerging) world view.
“Apollo’s chariot” is now on my amazon wish list:) Thanks so much for the tip, Elsa:) It will be on my reading list for the summer:)
You won’t regret that book. It has plenty of astrology but it is so powerful for artists / creative people, even if you completely ignore the astrology, you’ll get your money’s worth.
I have a prominent active saturn sitting by its lonesome int he sixth. So the saturn comments are very interesting. What would a sun in scorpio in the third house point to? Communicatin? I’m a real estate agent now. I like it pretty well but in my wildest dreams I never thought, “hey this is my calling”. I’m open to suggestions.
I love all the conversation about Sun given the midway between no sun and spring equinox … it’s great food. Sun in Scorpio in the 10th House I suspected my calling as a healer when I was a little girl. There was deep need in the home place and I was a magnet for pain and a girl with very large ears, and heart it turns out. Managing this ‘vocation’ was tough. I remained a home girl through high school, until the Leo in me felt the roar. Teaching was a comfortable middle ground for decades. Later I would find broader meaning to being a creative healer. Vulnerability … living transparent has been the greatest and unexpected door to creative freedom. Transparent not exactly the Scorpion way. Through the storyteller’s voice and the medium of words my vocation grows.
Well, with all my Saturn it’ll be a long wait, whatever it is. Oh well…give me another 10-20 years, I guess, then I’ll figure it out.
I never felt strongly about VB any way or the other. She does not spark any interest in me.
I’ll have to check out that book.
I really hope I am one of those who figure it out during their saturn return. My exact Saturn return is in October 2010… The idea of never feeling a calling is very depressing lol!
Pretty interestingly though my solar return chart for this upcoming year shows my sun, mercury, mars, jupiter, chiron, and north node all in the first house.
I’m buying that book ASAP! I need it badly.
I’ll trade anyone 1 Taurus Saturn in the 10th house for whatever they’ve got.
^ Oh and for extra fun that Saturn of mine is the handle of a bucket chart. Yea me!
Not that I wish to be pedantic (is this a Gemini Sun/Aquarius Moon thing?), but it was Helios/Sol who was the sun God. It wasn’t until somewhat later in antiquity was Apollo identified with that particular luminary, and Helios was the chariot rider, even though he didn’t have as many cults dedicated to him.
So… do you mean… that we’re actually supposed to choose A vocation, meaning one? Uh oh, here comes boredom.
I need a vocation and three hobbies to be happy. So what about the saturn return come and gone and no vocation or what you thought was your vocation spit you out on the floor and said “don’t pick me again” ? Or those people with 12th house suns who never really see their sun shine?
I just did a peak and Johnny Cash has a 12th house Pisces Sun, and Pisces ASC (as well as an 8th House Scorpio Moon).
How fitting for the man in black.
this is very touching:
i’ve always wanted to be an artist, but i’m not sure whether that’s what the world needs me to be. feel like there’s several ways to go… and like what i’m doing is waiting for me to know what i need to know before i figure out what it is.
weird part of being a pioneer is that you really don’t know where you’re going… just have to trust the universe and jump…
So.. lessee a 12th house Taurus should be building churches? 😉 A 12th house Virgo should be joining a monastery or nunnery. A 12th house Gemini should be telling stories in the revival camps? A 12th house Aquarian should be starting their own religion?
Ok I entertain myself but probably no one else. Ahh well…
mudlikesubstance you entertain me! Plus I’ve always wondered just what is a mudlikesubstance? Inquiring mind wants to know. LOL
Gemini in the 12th house.
Tam – it’s a variety of things. Mostly it’s what happens when you have a very earth/water chart with a pile of t-squares. Kind of like putting earth and water in a mixer and mixing…
It’s also clay, cob (the beautiful sculptural building material that I love), soil which grows plants.. etc.
My father used to quote someone famous or philosophical writer or some such that “humans were invented just so water could walk around and see the world” In other words we’re a bag of water. And when we go that water goes back to the soil to water the plants.
Not to say that we don’t desperately need fresh air, winds to bring rain, sun to bring energy. But I wasn’t given those things to work with this time ’round.
Hrm and a gemini 12th. Do you change religions often? 😉 Or do you just talk about going to church? I’ve always thought that it had to be a gemini that came up with the polytheistic religions along with a libra.
The gemini couldn’t decide and the libra wanted to satisfy everyone so … polytheism.
Who knows. Just for fun we live.
Years later, my conclusion is that what I want to do doesn’t line up with having a proper job and health insurance and security.
I’m supposed to be a Leo sun in 11th house. I wrote articles and Did administration jobs. They say in 11th I would like to work in teams. But I rather work alone. How’s that possible ?
And my rising in Libra, I do feel more private the past years. Sometimes I just don’t get my chart anymore.
Carmen – the 11 House is ruled by Aquarius. Aquarius is a collaborative House and it rules over friendships, groups, common causes, and your personal hopes and dreams. Your personal 11th House is ruled by Leo – the sign of “See me and acknowledge my unique accomplishments! More applause, please!” Aquarius eschews individualism and strives for greatness benefiting collective good. Your Leo Sun’s creative light is in detriment in Aquarius and it is greatly dimmed in this house. Aquarians enjoy their teamwork adventures then they need their alone time to recharge.
As for your Libra Rising, I would check to see the status of your Progressed planets and Progressed Ascendant.
Thank you Dear Jayne,
I looked up my progressed chart and sun in Virgo and Rising in Scorpio. Have mercury and Venus there too. Conjunct Saturn in Virgo all in the 12th house. That’s why I’d rather be and work alone. I miss my Leo Light. And i guess that’s why I am going trough a depression. A lot of earth in my professed chart while my own chart doesn’t have a lot of earth. Is this progressed chart ( my depression) go on for years then? I don’t hope so.
Saturn in Cap loosely opposing a Gemini Sun in the 4th. I’m an accountant but after working corporate for years found my calling helping small business ventures, many run from home or dealing with household products and services! This seems like a good fit for what you are saying. Of course I myself enjoy all home topics like decor, gardening and especially cooking. Pets too.
I heard the planet oriental to to the sun is the vocational planet. Like said. A bag , a mixer.
That be my aqua mercury.
Trine neptune , quintile mars, bi quintile uranus . Square saturn , oppose pluto
A dreamer who loves to learn. Unusual subjects. Investigates. Pisces sun in second. I do telepathy
People say I heal them.
But have bad ass Saturn in tenth scorpio trine sun. Trine Jupiter, uranus too.
People or astrologers always say government . I cannot relate.
I fail to see that. Much less want that.
I done everything under the sun.
ive been in corporate roles for the past 30yrs – i feel a change is needed! ive been yearning to bake, make art and illustrate….i was heavy into the craft/handmade world when my kids were little, I blogged and day-dreamed – I didnt monetize it like others did so it was always a hobby…I sometimes wonder where that creativity went?