Catching up on the news, astrological and otherwise

November 11, 2012 By

One of these days I will write a post on my own personal astrology.  It’s been quite something: the end of my Saturn return this summer and fall, the square of Uranus and Pluto falling right on my Chiron, and now Saturn sitting on my Mercury making it very difficult to come up with anything creative to say which explains why you have heard less of me recently.

But in the  meantime… we had an election, and Obama was elected.  There were no hanging chads, very few Mercury retrograde fiascos (unless you count Mitt Romney’s victory webpage and voting problems in Florida that have more to do with their political system than Mercury.  Now that we’re past the election, though, the political situation in the US seems very much the same as it did previous to the election: gridlock and partisan bickering.

Saturn is now in Scorpio and suddenly there has been an eruption of sex scandals and sexual abuse allegations.  Saturn was last in Scorpio in the early 1980s, joined by Pluto in 1983.  We saw this kind of surfacing of sexual abuse the last time Saturn was in Scorpio, but of course the presence of Pluto intensified the drama and brought out the dark side to a far greater extent than what we are likely to see now.

Neptune turns direct today so don’t be surprised if things are a bit murkier than usual right now.  While Neptune is stationary in the sky, creative inspiration is powerful and we can find it easier to achieve a transcendence in our spiritual life that is normally more difficult.  Meditation and prayer are important now, but so is music, art, nature and other activities that create a deep sense of inner well-being and a feeling of being connected to something greater. Neptune demands that we let go of what we think of as reality so that we can open up to a greater Universe of experience within us.

However, Neptune has another side – confusion and delusion; Neptunian mists can shroud the truth from our view and present an alternative witness.  Still, the power of Scorpio is strong right now with the Scorpio New Moon (eclipse) coming up on Tuesday.  This is no time for superficial fluff – Scorpio demands nothing less than Truth.

 

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Saturn in Scorpio, 2012-2015

October 6, 2012 By

Art by Felix Pinchi Guirre

Saturn has moved into Scorpio for the first time in nearly 30 years.

Saturn is the planet that structures our lives and instills the values of achievement and responsibility.  For this reason it is known as the Celestial Taskmaster and often gets a bad rap from astrologers.  When prominently placed in the birthchart Saturn often brings hardship and challenge, especially in the younger years.  Saturn transits typically bring delays and disappointments and tests of our endurance.

Yet astronomers consider Saturn to be the “jewel of the solar system,” and Saturn’s astrological gifts are many.  Saturn takes about two and a half years to transit a sign and it’s entire orbital cycle is 28-30 years.  During the time Saturn travels through each sign of the zodiac, it creates new structures and challenges for the areas of life governed by that sign.  For example, Saturn has recently ended a trip through Libra, the sign of marriage and beauty, and both of these ideas have been in the forefront of human experience.

So what can we expect with Saturn in Scorpio?  Scorpio deals with the underworld of life – the areas of the psyche and human experience which require courage and tenacity to traverse.  There is no superficiality with Scorpio – no casual pleasure or enjoyment.  Scorpio also deals with intimacy, particularly sexuality – areas of life where we must surrender our own ego in order to merge into an experience that is greater than our individual selves.

Because of Scorpio’s association with sexuality, Saturn traveling through Scorpio is likely to bring up issues of a sexual nature.  Saturn was last in Scorpio between 1982 and 1985 as the AIDS epidemic was just beginning (Pluto had also just entered Scorpio which accelerated the intensity of the epidemic and its effect on human experience).

Saturn in Scorpio will force us into the underworld to face our demons, but it’s important to remember that the greatest treasures can be found there.  Diamonds, rubies, emeralds – all require mining beneath the surface of the earth.  The same is true of our psyche and our soul, and Saturn will hold our feet to the fire to ensure that we do the work required in order to enjoy the fruits of our labor.  More than any other sign, Saturn does reward our hard work with material  gifts.

Saturn and Pluto are in what’s called “mutual reception” now.  Saturn is in Scorpio, ruled by Pluto, and Pluto is in Capricorn, ruled by Saturn.  This binds the effect of the two planets together for the next few years which may seem somewhat terrifying when we think about these two planets as being the Lords of Death (Saturn was considered the Lord of Death before Pluto’s discovery when Pluto took on that role).  And it’s true that if you look upon life as a superficial journey of fun and parties, this will not be an easy time.  Then again, the “easy time” really ended back in 2008 when Pluto left Sagittarius for Capricorn, stripping our lives of superficialities that lacked a solid foundation.

But if you are on a journey of self-discovery and fulfillment, this is an incredible time as the barriers towards self-awareness are stripped away and we find the real jewels of our personal resources: our inner strength and the root of our soul’s power.  This is a period of shamanic transformation: of awakening the inner spirit and releasing it to fly freely and unencumbered by illusion.  Pluto and Saturn are not only in mutual reception, but they are in a harmonious sextile to each other offering support and encouragement in the process.

We will be further aided in this process by a series of harmonious planetary cycles linking Saturn to other planetary gods.  Saturn is currently in a harmonious trine to Neptune and Chiron which helps us to link our ideals and spiritual experience (Neptune) with the more practical aspects of our lives (Saturn) and facilitates the healing of old wounds (Chiron).  This system of support will remain in effect throughout the middle of 2014 and help us to move through whatever blocks and useless patterns may be holding us back.

If we are already well on our way on the spiritual journey, this will be an incredibly exciting and rewarding time.  Saturn and Pluto both offer the gifts of strength: Saturn’s gift is endurance, and Pluto’s is empowerment.  True personal power is only given to us as the hold of the ego is diminished, and the losses that will be experienced while Saturn is in Scorpio will help to dissolve the hold of the personality that blocks us from our true selves. This is also an opportunity to reclaim aspects of the Self and the soul which have become lost to us.  As the false aspects begin to fall away, the Truth emerges and becomes our reality.

This is not a journey for sissies, but the journey itself teaches the strength and courage required.  We are all allies in this shamanic journey, and we are never alone.

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The astrological history of the sexual revolution: Part 1

July 23, 2010 By

sexual revolutionA reader on my Facebook page suggested a connection between Saturn in Libra and the sexual revolution.  Saturn was actually in Libra between 1950 and 1953, placing it a little earlier than the actual sexual revolution which we typically think of occurring in the 1960s along with all of the other revolutions brought about by the conjunction of Uranus (the revolutionary) with Pluto (the transformer).  But it can definitely be argued that Saturn’s passage through Libra, the sign of relationships, created some of the challenges that led up to the sexual revolution in the 1960s.

When Saturn went through Libra in the early 1950s the world was recovering from World War II.  In the United States this was the Ozzie and Harriet era – a time of booming prosperity in which suburban life became rigidly codified into an increasingly comfortable prison of rigid sex roles.  The husband went out to work, the wife stayed home.  This is Saturn (structure) in Libra (balancing polarities) in its purest form.

At the time, Saturn conjoined Neptune in Libra, so Neptune was there as well adding a touch of glamor and fairy dust to the whole situation.  There was a great deal of idealism and a willingness to ignore any problems that resulted from an increasingly rigid societal structure.  And with Pluto still traveling through Leo, every aspect of life was seen through the lens of expression of Self.  But Saturn was still present creating tests and challenges, and Simone deBeauvoir’s landmark work The Second Sex began to grow in its influence over American women when it was translated into English in 1953 with Saturn still in Libra.

Saturn’s entry into the sexy sign of Scorpio in late 1953 was marked by the first issue of Playboy magazine, the first publication to openly celebrate sexuality.  At the same time, the pelvic gyrations of Elvis Presley first hit the stage and forever changed popular music in mainstream white America.  Presley’s soulful interpretations of R&B hits arguably opened doors for black musicians that may otherwise have been closed.  The sexy dance called the Mambo became the rage, shocking conservative parents everywhere.

Scorpio is very concerned with matters of power – who has it, who doesn’t.  Under the influence of Saturn in Scorpio some women became dissatisfied with their situation in life and in 1954 Brownie Wise, the lead sales woman for the Tupperware company, appeared on the cover of Time Magazine.  This inspired thousands of women to sign up with Tupperware and earn their own money through the famous Tupperware parties.  With an increasing number of women gaining power through their own earnings, a growing dissatisfaction with the gender power balance  began to spread amongst a large number of suburban women.

to be continued…

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