Saturn in the Seventh: A Classic Affair Of The Heart

In the classic movie Sabrina (pick your favorite version – Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart or Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford), Sabrina Fairchild – the daughter of the Larrabee family’s chauffeur – returns home from her Paris education a confident and sophisticated young woman. She develops a burning infatuation with the engaged playboy son of the Larrabee clan, David. David has his own doubts about his impending marriage to a wealthy young socialite, a woman whose whole family is going to bed with the Larrabee Corporation in a lucrative business deal. David doesn’t miss a beat in picking up on Sabrina’s yearning glances. As married-to-the-business older brother, Linus, watches, David plans his seduction of the chauffeur’s daughter, believing himself to be “falling in love” with her. Sabrina allows herself to succumb to the dubious charms of this “bad boy,” melting into the dreams of her childhood.

Cold and calculating Linus will have none of it. He will not have a multi-million (or billion, depending on the movie) deal fly out the window because of another of David’s short lived affairs. Even as he prepares his checkbook to buy off the affections yet again of one of David’s dubious love choices, he finds out that both the ill-suited lovers are hell bent on their illusions. In the guise of the helpful brother, he tries to deflect the attentions of Sabrina to himself, with the ultimate strategy of sending her safely off to Paris once his plan is accomplished. Who would think of love in such a cold and callous way? Who would even think that social standing is part of the equation of amour? Who would dare to believe that ills in matters of the heart could be cured with a big enough checkbook? Someone with Saturn in the Seventh House, that’s who.

Saturn is not well placed in the house of relationships. In the Ormond/Ford version, Sabrina calls Linus “the only living heart donor.”

Listen to Linus’ explanation of why he hadn’t married:

“If I got married, I’d have to take a Dictaphone, two secretaries and four corporation counselors along on the honeymoon.

I’d be unfaithful to my wife every night with vice presidents, boards of directors, slide-rule accountants…

This … [indicating his office] this is my home.
No wife would ever understand it.”

(from the 1954 version of Sabrina)

Is it business or is it the coldness of their hearts? No, actually it is more complex than that.

Relationships require give and take of equals. The truth be known, Saturn in the Seventh denizens secretly measure people as better than or worse than them. Until they evolve past that point, they set up impossible goals in matters of love. Their ideal love is nothing less than perfection itself, something so unattainable that no flesh-and-blood lover could ever fulfill their requirements.

In addition, they themselves do not feel worthy enough of the kind of love they seek, so ultimately they bury themselves in their work, trying to make themselves good enough. However, this doesn’t mean they won’t mix it up with the opposite sex. Underneath the cool demeanor of the Saturn in the Seventh individual is a real sense of kink, someone who gets off on making it with people who are totally unsuitable partners. However, the trap is that once they get involved, Saturn keeps them locked into the relationship. This leads to another reason why Saturn in the Seventh is such a difficult position.

The Saturn in the Seventh person is leery of partnerships because these folks take on a great deal of the labor of the relationship, physical, emotional or both. The Saturn in the Seventh person tends to a marriage like a business, and while every bill will be paid on time, don’t expect “extra” money or time to be available for the fun things. That money is zipped up in savings or investments for a rainy day, or retirement, whichever comes first – and the time is spent on all-important work projects.

The Saturn person will support the partner in many ways, giving the partner “the hand up” they need to come up to the Saturn’s person’s expectations. The Saturn in the Seventh native does have high standards, expecting their partner to be hard-working, sober, stable and faithful – whether or not their partner has shown these traits in the past. When the expected “reward” of the relationship is not forthcoming, the Saturn person can simmer in their resentments. These resentments are often used to “cash in” on the reason why they won’t marry their lover. In their view, it’s the other’s persons fault that they can’t climb the pedestal on which the Saturn in Seventh person wants to place them.

Marrying young is generally not a good idea for these folks, since they need a fair amount of seasoning to be a good marriage bet. They need to work out their uber sense of responsibility to keep a relationship going. They need to work on their poor sense of self-esteem that allows to them to make choices in partners that are not good for them, or that holds potential lovers to a standard no one could attain. Once they do, however, they are the poster children for happily ever after, utilizing the best of Saturn’s traits to be sterling catches for someone who wants a forever love.

True to Saturn in the Seventh form, at the end of Sabrina, Linus managed to send off the chauffeur’s daughter to Paris, then realized he wanted her after all. He ran off after her, leaving the merger in David’s hands. But if you ask me, Linus was probably back to work within a month, married to Sabrina, with her pregnant. Saturn in the Seventh gets down to business once his or her mind is made up. He or she couldn’t do otherwise.

About the Author

Beth Turnage is a professional astrologer with over twenty years experience counseling clients in career and relationship issues. She writes an astrology column for a weekly newspaper along the Connecticut shoreline and blogs about astrology at Astrology Media Press.

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