Sixty degrees, five degrees of tolerance
A sextile is one sixth of the circle. The Sun must sit between about 55 and 65 degrees from Saturn, since the sextile carries a five degree orb rather than the seven or eight used for the larger angles. That is the single most useful thing to know before reading anything else about it.
The Sun advances roughly a degree a day, so each sextile to Saturn holds within orb for about ten days on either side of exact. Two occur in each Sun to Saturn cycle of around 378 days, once before the opposition and once after.
Sextile signs are two apart. They share a polarity but not an element, so fire pairs with air and earth pairs with water. That is why the tradition reads a sextile as cooperation between things that are compatible without being alike, rather than as the direct agreement a trine describes.
Availability rather than possession
The Sun signifies conscious purpose, vitality and the account a person gives of themselves. Saturn signifies limit, patience and the passing of time. A sextile links them at a friendly angle, and the standard description is a person who can accept structure without feeling diminished by it.
Where the trine hands that over automatically, the sextile is written up as an offer. The capacity is there, it is not costly to use, and nothing obliges anyone to use it. Practitioners often describe people with this aspect as quietly organised once they have decided to be, and as no more disciplined than average until they have.
Because the aspect is mild it rarely defines a chart on its own. What it does do reliably, in the traditional account, is soften harder Saturn contacts elsewhere. A chart with a Sun square Saturn and a separate Saturn sextile to something else reads differently from one where the only Saturn contact is hard.
What to check before reading further
Start with the orb. Inside one degree a sextile is often read almost as strongly as a trine. Past three degrees it thins noticeably, and at five it is at the boundary of what most astrologers will count. This is the aspect where the exact figure changes the answer most often.
Then check the polarity pairing. Sun in Leo sextile Saturn in Libra is fire and air, and reads as warmth accepting structure. Sun in Virgo sextile Saturn in Scorpio is earth and water, and reads as something considerably more reserved. The two versions have very little in common in practice.
Houses set the arena. Sun in the third sextile Saturn in the fifth is a narrow, workable configuration about applied attention. Sun in the tenth sextile Saturn in the twelfth is a much less visible arrangement, and the tenth house version is the one more likely to show up in someone's working life.
Saturn's pace and the limits of a general reading
Saturn takes about twenty nine and a half years to circle the zodiac and spends roughly two and a half years in each sign, which means everyone born in a stretch of years shares its sign. That generational width is why the sign alone tells you very little. The Sun's position, the exact orb and the houses are what make the aspect yours.
Saturn is retrograde for about four and a half months in each year, so a natal retrograde Saturn is common. Most readings take it as a shift towards an internally held sense of limit, though with an aspect this mild the difference is slight.
The widget above reports your separation in degrees, which is the first thing to look at here, along with the two signs and the two houses.
Questions people ask about this
What orb applies to a sextile?
Five degrees, the tightest of the five major aspects. The Sun therefore needs to be between about 55 and 65 degrees from Saturn. Anything wider is not counted as a sextile by most practitioners, however close it looks on a chart wheel.
How is a sextile different from a trine?
A trine at 120 degrees joins signs of the same element and is usually described as operating by itself. A sextile at 60 degrees joins signs of different elements that share a polarity, has a narrower orb, and is described as something you can draw on rather than something that happens automatically.
Does Sun sextile Saturn do much on its own?
Rarely. It is a mild aspect and is usually read as one factor among several. Its more common role in a reading is to moderate harder Saturn contacts elsewhere in the chart rather than to define the chart itself.
Which sign combinations are possible?
Signs two apart, which always means fire with air or earth with water. So the Sun in Leo can sextile Saturn in Libra or Gemini, and the Sun in Virgo can sextile Saturn in Scorpio or Cancer.
How often does this aspect happen?
Twice in each Sun to Saturn cycle of roughly 378 days. Because the orb is only five degrees and the Sun moves about a degree a day, each window is around ten days on either side of exact, which is shorter than for the wider aspects.
Why does Saturn's sign say so little about me?
Saturn stays in each sign for about two and a half years, so millions of people born across that stretch share it. The individual detail comes from the house it occupies, its exact degree and the aspects it makes, which is why birth time matters here.