Caggie Dunlop has undergone something of a transformation and if you believe in the power of the cosmos, it’s all to do with Saturn. "It was really when I went through my 'Saturn Return' that I decided I wanted to do this work, but I've always been a very spiritual person," she tells Hello! Fashion.
The Podcast host and cosmic agony aunt and now is authoring her first book, Saturn Returns: Your Cosmic Coming of Age. In case you were wondering a ‘Saturn Return’ occurs every 27 to 29 years as Saturn re-enters the position it was in when you were born, is considered to be a rite of passage and a time of reckoning and renewal. "If you're really lucky, you'll have three Saturn returns in your life like every 30 years, but most of us will have two," explains Caggie, "within astrology, it's viewed as this sort of initiation into adulthood, as you have to confront the sort of shallow aspects of yourself what you have, whether you've been living in alignment, whether you've been living in integrity, whether you have been showing up authentically." The phenomena of Saturn Returns has become uniquely popular over the last year. Adele in particular has been very vocal about her own Saturn Return, she even has a Saturn tattoo.
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A career shift led Caggie to discovering her own astrological journey
"A lot of breakups happen during your Saturn return, likewise people suddenly have a big shift in career and it can be a tumultuous time," Caggie explains. Caggie’s own 'Saturn Return' happened around the time she moved back to London from the US (more on that later), she was then focused on singing... which she thought would be her designated career, "I was doing music and then I had a breakup that happened over that period that really ignited my spiritual path for me to kind of lean into the personal development stuff and just not really hold back." Caggie's podcast and subsequent book aims to reframe people's perspective on a 'Saturn Return' "and actually recognize that it's working for you, not against you," she says.
"A lot has changed in the last 10 years when I was in my early twenties, I think I was just trying to be someone that I wasn't, someone that didn't really feel authentic," Caggie explains. Post starring in Made in Chelsea Caggie admits she "realised that that was not the right thing for me." Although she was only on the show for a short time she is still one of the most recognisable faces thanks to its nascent popularity, but of course it also left her feeling anxious. "I think for a long time I was sort of looking backwards and feeling that because I've done a reality show that would forever pigeonhole me. I was not going to be able to be taken seriously in other industries, but now I'm like, that's just my own stuff, you know, that's just my own limitation… I think for a lot of my 20s I was in quite a victimhood mentality."
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"I guess my teenage years were thinking that I had to be a certain type of person and in many ways the show was like a manifestation of that, and then I was like, ‘how wrong that was for me. And then the 10 years after was just about reclaiming those parts of myself that I had deemed unworthy of being seen… and we all do that, we all cut away those aspects that we feel don't fit in, and then sometimes we kind of lose ourselves in that process."
What followed the show was a stint in New York then to Australia and then finally moving to Los Angeles when she was 27 for two years, "that definitely opened me up to a different sort of language, different practices, different people, different teachers… But I guess that aspect of myself, I kind of hid away because it was seen sort of wacky and woo woo."
The podcast host has written a book on the 'Saturn Return'
"I started exploring that aspect of myself more than, and then I was learning more about astrology, knowing that I was about to go through my Saturn Return without really knowing really how it was going to impact me and then when I came out the other side, that's when I felt ready to start putting out the Podcast… I put everything in place way before the pandemic." Once the pandemic hit she wasn’t sure if she should release it but ultimately it was a now or never moment, "I'm so glad that I decided to [release the podcast] because I think everyone needed it at that moment in time myself included."
The Saturn Returns podcast now has 100 episodes under its belt and is returning for its sixth series. The show aims to bring calm and clarity during times of transition - underpinned by the Saturn Return astrological transit. Inspired by her hugely popular podcast, her debut book which is being released this week unpacks this astrological phenomenon. Part memoir, part roadmap, it includes chapters on relationships, self-worth and finding hope in the darkness. It also offers an exploration into your own journey assisted by astrologer Noura Bourni who joined Caggie’s podcast in its second season. The book weaves together parallels of astrology that Noura brings in and key learnings from the podcast, essentially bringing astrology to a wider audience. "I want people to feel more understood, more seen and less alone," Caggie explains of her literary debut, "It's the realisation that these themes or the things that we struggle with feel so personal and isolating, but they're actually really quite universal and when the more we speak about them and share them, the more people it alleviates that feeling of shame or isolation that we feel."
She continues, "And I guess I've created something that I wish I had during that time, because I felt those feelings of this is just happening to me and everyone else has been sent the 'Handbook of Life' and mine got lost."
In finding herself, and sharing her own insecurities Caggie is helping us make sure we all have our own handbook. Looks like 'Mercury in Retrograde' is so passé, 2023 is all about the Return of Saturn.
'Saturn Returns: Your Cosmic Coming of Age' is out on January 19th.
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