Saturn

It marks Saturn in astronomy, astrology, and older traditions. The recognizable form is traced to Greek planetary notation: in Oxyrhynchus papyri, the Greek letters kappa and rho (κρ) abbreviate Cronus. That shorthand is part of the Saturn glyph's ancestry.

Planetary marks gave astronomers and astrologers a compact way to label planets. A Roman Egyptian papyrus from the 2nd century CE records calculated daily movements of Saturn to locate it in the zodiac.

Why does Saturn carry several meanings?

Its religious history crosses farming, myth, and time. Roman tradition treated Saturn as a god of agriculture and harvest, then identified him with the Greek Cronus. Later tradition associated the figure with time and the scythe, so Saturn imagery can evoke both harvest and time passing.

Astrology uses ♄ as Saturn's planetary mark, with readings tied to limits, responsibility, and long-term pressure. In alchemy, ♄ also stands for lead, so the same mark appears in writing about that metal.