Saturn´s Golden Age

[Audiolog Edu]

Hello everyone,


I’ve recently come across references to Saturn’s Golden Age, but I haven’t been able to find much clear or structured information about it. I understand that Saturn holds a complex place in esoteric traditions — sometimes associated with limitation and discipline, other times with wisdom, order, and even liberation through mastery of boundaries.

What I’m curious about is the specific idea of a “Golden Age of Saturn.”

• Does this concept come from Hermetic or Theosophical writings, or is it rooted more in classical mythology?
• How is this Saturnian Golden Age understood in magical or occult practice? Is it seen as a literal past era, an archetypal state of consciousness, or perhaps a cyclical age that could return?
• Are there any particular texts, authors, or traditions you would recommend for deeper study?

I’d really appreciate any pointers, sources, or personal insights you might be willing to share.


Thank you in advance for your wisdom and guidance!

 

[Holophagus]

Incredibly expansive topic - Indeed the Golden Age is a legitimate concept, with the first notable literary sources being the same ones we rely on for a lot of our understanding of Hellenic mythology more broadly. Depending on your type of practice, I'd recommend looking exclusively at primary sources first, such as Hesiod's Theogony. If you are asking this question you are likely not very read up on ancient Greek culture, I'd strongly recommend that you check out whatever strikes your eye within that broad subject category (The Greek Myths by Robert Graves is a great introduction).

Your second question is significantly more complicated and what answer would satisfy your curiosity, again, depends on your practice - it could be seen as all three; within a psychoanalytical/Jungian paradigm, it is a state of consciousness beyond embodied time; within a historical one, it is a past culture we may or may not have already identified (possibly a folk memory of Mycenaean or Minoan culture); within a metaphysical paradigm, it is the immanent embodiment of necessity as an experiential topography.

Generally speaking, the pining for a "Golden age", prior to anything which could be construed as a fall from innocence, seems perennial enough to our collective grasp of things. Not to mention that, Astrologically, Saturn was (prior to the discovery of the remaining solar system) the final sphere we could perceive before the expanse of the remaining stars, and as such was thought of as a boundary in various manners.

My understanding of an "age of Saturn" is dependant upon my identification of Saturn with embodied, linear time. Thus, I would take it to mean an experience of time itself, which I take to mean necessity, inertia.

A huge influence on our understanding of the ages is Plato, who took the existing idea, of a progression from better times to worse times, and drew out of it a systematisation of political models and states of consciousness (The Republic); no doubt heavily influenced by the Egyptian view of time. Along similar lines, The Traditionalist writers of the 20th century (ex. Guenon) were obsessed with cosmic cycles, so they present some of the most comprehensive "magical" readings of the concept; but obviously you'll be subtly influenced by (ironically) their excessively Saturnian disposition (Saturn indeed can be equated with Tradition archetypically), and I wouldn't recommend it unless you feel you have a firm basis of the idea already.

 

[HoldAll]

I recommend doing a google search using the phrase in quotation marks, i.e. "Saturn’s Golden Age", so that you'll get only hits for exactly the same expression and not just any old info on Saturn or golden ages in general. In this way you'll find a wealth of information that may be of use.

 

[Yazata]

Could it maybe also be about the Olympic Spirits and their reign? The order apparently started with Bethor (Jupiter) in 60 BC and then every planet / god has 490 years (although some smug dude recently claimed it might better be 456 years).
Even if Saturn then technically hasn't had his time, we might say that the period before 60 BC was his?

 

[Faria]

• Does this concept come from Hermetic or Theosophical writings, or is it rooted more in classical mythology?

It's in Hesiod.

• How is this Saturnian Golden Age understood in magical or occult practice? Is it seen as a literal past era, an archetypal state of consciousness, or perhaps a cyclical age that could return?

It's not understood.

• Are there any particular texts, authors, or traditions you would recommend for deeper study?

If your brain has fresh oil and a full gas tank, look into geological stratigraphy from the late Pleistocene up through the Eemian interglacial period.

 

[Audiolog Edu]

Incredibly expansive topic - Indeed the Golden Age is a legitimate concept, with the first notable literary sources being the same ones we rely on for a lot of our understanding of Hellenic mythology more broadly. Depending on your type of practice, I'd recommend looking exclusively at primary sources first, such as Hesiod's Theogony. If you are asking this question you are likely not very read up on ancient Greek culture, I'd strongly recommend that you check out whatever strikes your eye within that broad subject category (The Greek Myths by Robert Graves is a great introduction).

Your second question is significantly more complicated and what answer would satisfy your curiosity, again, depends on your practice - it could be seen as all three; within a psychoanalytical/Jungian paradigm, it is a state of consciousness beyond embodied time; within a historical one, it is a past culture we may or may not have already identified (possibly a folk memory of Mycenaean or Minoan culture); within a metaphysical paradigm, it is the immanent embodiment of necessity as an experiential topography.

Generally speaking, the pining for a "Golden age", prior to anything which could be construed as a fall from innocence, seems perennial enough to our collective grasp of things. Not to mention that, Astrologically, Saturn was (prior to the discovery of the remaining solar system) the final sphere we could perceive before the expanse of the remaining stars, and as such was thought of as a boundary in various manners.

My understanding of an "age of Saturn" is dependant upon my identification of Saturn with embodied, linear time. Thus, I would take it to mean an experience of time itself, which I take to mean necessity, inertia.

A huge influence on our understanding of the ages is Plato, who took the existing idea, of a progression from better times to worse times, and drew out of it a systematisation of political models and states of consciousness (The Republic); no doubt heavily influenced by the Egyptian view of time. Along similar lines, The Traditionalist writers of the 20th century (ex. Guenon) were obsessed with cosmic cycles, so they present some of the most comprehensive "magical" readings of the concept; but obviously you'll be subtly influenced by (ironically) their excessively Saturnian disposition (Saturn indeed can be equated with Tradition archetypically), and I wouldn't recommend it unless you feel you have a firm basis of the idea already.

Thank you sir, I did read Hesiods Theogony but I think the book I downloaded was not complete, also from a video I found in Youtube is not in Hesiods Theogony, it was in Hesiods Works and Days as I understand, also I just got Robert Graves´s book you recommend, looks very interesting.
About Plato I have not got deep into him just yet, I read the Phaedrus but that is it sir, thank you very much.