We often think of Saturn as the “Celestial Taskmaster,” and grumble about his tests, challenges, delays and disappointments.  But we sometimes forget that he is also the giver of wisdom and the kind of strength that comes through overcoming adversity and difficult situations.

Beth Owl’s Daughter wrote a beautiful post about the Gift of Beauty in All Things that includes these words of wisdom:

Blessed is your gift of Beauty in all things,
and the beautiful body and spirit you have given me,
With which I am able to celebrate, create and participate.

This bead in my gratitude prayer beads can be a challenge for me. It is often quite difficult for me to say that Ihave a beautiful body and spirit.  Okay, maybe I can buy into having a beautiful spirit a littleeasier.  But beautiful body?

“Ha!” says the inner critic.  I was never the pretty one. I grew up in the shadow of a young mother who (I am not kidding!) was constantly and accurately compared to Elizabeth Taylor and Vivian Leigh. My sisterhas always been the beauty of the siblings, certainly not me. …

I knew early on, much to my mom’s despair, I was not cut out to be a girly girl, a prom queen, debutante, or sorority chick.  I was by turns a tomboy and a rebel and a hippie and a feminist.  The constraints and definitions of beauty for girls and women were dead wrong in my view, even when I was too young to know why. …

If there is beauty in all things (even the saddest, the grimmest, the most difficult), which I do believe, then there is beauty in me, too. And not only airy-fairy spiritual, but physical beauty.

I have arms and legs that move and do amazing things without me hardly even thinking about it. I have eyes that see, ears that hear.  I have skin that loves to be touched and pampered.  I have inner workings that give me ideas, that teach me and whisper truth to me.  I am able to savor and digest the lovely foods I feed myself.  My body enables me to smile, to laugh, to love, to revel in the great gift of living.

How could it not be beautiful?

Saturn is in Libra in my own chart along with my Sun and Neptune, and the gift of beauty has been a two-edged sword.  My own sister lived under the shadow of the family myth that I was the pretty one, and she the lesser because of it.  A close examination of family photos soon bursts that mythological bubble, but a great deal of psychological damage resulted from this comparison.

As my sister and I age, any differences between our appearance become less and less significant.  She sent me a birthday card once with two old ladies sitting together.  One says to the other, “Are you the smart one or the pretty one, I can’t remember?”

An old friend of mine was designated the smart one in her family, and her sister was the pretty one.  But THAT family valued brains over beauty, and she inherited those values.  She never worried about her appearance because she knew that she was smart and funny and could learn anything almost instantaneously.

I knew a woman once who taught an aerobics class I enjoyed who would have been described by the kindest person as being plain.  But she had the most beautiful smile, and radiated such joy from the inside out, that she was far more beautiful than the prettiest young girl in the class.

The adage that beauty is only skin deep isn’t just a saying – it is the absolute truth.  We may enjoy looking at beautiful people, but that doesn’t mean we want to spend a lifetime with them.  True beauty lies in the resonance of the soul to experience life at its fullest and enrich the lives of those around us.

You may enjoy this previous post about Beauty and Value in the Second House.