[3] The phenomenon is described by Western astrologers as influencing a person's life development at roughly 29.5 year intervals,[citation needed] though the planetary influence may be felt for a few years before the exact conjunction, and variable orbits of the planets can also make the time period longer or shorter.
[citation needed] These intervals or "returns" coincide with the approximate time it takes the planet Saturn to make one orbit around the Sun, roughly 29.5 years.
Western astrologers believe that, as Saturn "returns" to the degree in its orbit occupied at the time of birth, a person crosses over a major threshold and enters the next stage of life.
With the first Saturn return, a person leaves youth behind and enters adulthood.
A fourth return—for those who live to see the age of 114–118—is sufficiently rare that it is not given coverage in the astrological literature.