Pluto in Capricorn: Passing through the gate of wisdom

September 20, 2011 By

Wisdom of the elderlyMy friend Gary shared this article by Michael Meade and it’s so applicable to the current passage of Pluto through Capricorn.  Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, also known as the Greek Kronos, also known as “Father Time.”  Saturn and Capricorn remind us that our life is short and that we must be smart about how we spend the time that is allotted to us.

In traditional cultures, the elders are expected to remember the essential things that everyone else keeps forgetting. After “growing up,” a person is supposed to grow down and become rooted deeper in the ground of being, like an old tree that draws from ever deeper resources. In traditional cultures, the elders were considered to be a valuable resource without whose guidance the whole society could lose its way.

Yet in modern life, instead of people growing “older and wiser,” people can simply grow older and older. People can live longer and longer without becoming any wiser for it. When there is no genuine growth in growing older, aging can become all about loss. The longer people live the more of life they seem to lose. Instead of developing wise and seasoned “elders” who can help others find meaningful ways to live, modern societies are in danger of producing “olders” who blindly seek ways to hold onto life at any cost.

This can be seen as the problem of the olders vs. the elders. Traditionally, elders carry a greater vision of life because they develop insight into their own lives. The elders are those who found threads of purpose and meaning amidst the illusions and delusions of life. Amidst the inevitable troubles of life, the bubble of the “closed ego” bursts and a deeper, wiser self is born. Such psychological maturity involves a shift from a self-centered life to one of genuine meaning and of greater service to others.

Yet, in a culture where older folks are in the majority and people tend to live longer and longer, there seems to be an increase of fear as well as a loss of wisdom about life and about death. There seems to be a lack of knowing elders who can recall essential things in midst of the great crises troubling both nature and culture. What is the point of living longer if it doesn’t mean becoming wiser and being more able to serve something beyond one’s little-self?

This is what Pluto in Capricorn is teaching us, and since it follows the passage of Pluto through Sagittarius, in which entertainment and “bigger is better” ruled the days, there is a fair amount of contraction that needs to be done now in order to make that passage between “little-self” and the deeper wisdom of the elder.

This process is probably particularly difficult for the Pluto in Leo generation, my own generation (1939-1958) for whom developing the ego and the little-self has become an art form.  But we are the generation that is looking now towards the abyss of old age and wondering how we will be able to find our way.  Meade says:

An old idea suggests that the only ones more idealistic than young people are the elders. It’s not that the elders naively believe that the great ideals of humanity, peace and justice, healing and compassion, are simply attainable. Rather, the idea is that without a commitment to such ideals a culture simply collapses into political infighting and economic warfare. The gridlock in the nation’s capitol may be an increasing national shame, but the grid lock on American imagination may be a greater tragedy in the making.

While the political parties fight over who might be the “adult in the room,” there is a desperate need for elders in communities throughout the country. Whereas the ’60s were characterized by change brought on by a youth revolution, the current morass may only be changed by an elder awakening. The revolution waiting to happen in this country may involve an awakening to the necessity of the role that elders can play in the great crises facing both culture and nature.

We are these elders we’ve been waiting for.  It’s time to step up.

 

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Saturn gets a bad rap

May 28, 2010 By

Dharmaruci has a good article about Saturn’s role in Western society.  DR and I have known each other for about four years – we follow each other’s blog and at one point cross-posted for each other.  On Sunday we’ll be having lunch together in Glastonbury!  Life is an adventure.

Saturn sits on my Sun in my own chart, and I am very familiar with his many virtues so I particularly like the spin in this article.

Saturn sets boundaries and limitations and pushes us to achieve, to become good at what we do and to gain recognition for it. Negatively, he fills us with thoughts of what we ought and should be doing, and makes us feel guilty for not measuring up. Well, he doesn’t in reality push us or make us do anything, but he does describe those positive qualities and dysfunctions within ourselves. …

Being busy and working hard: those are the 2 great virtues of negative Saturn. So and so worked very hard for many years, so he is virtuous. No doubt many drug smugglers, gangsters and tyrants have ‘worked hard’ to get to where they’ve got to. And keeping busy and working hard are often an escape from guilt, from the miserable loser-ship of being idle or poor.

Negative Saturn divides society into winners and losers, judges on appearance and never looks beneath the surface to see what is of real value. It does not produce happiness, but it does produce a wealthy country, in which people can be relied on to keep working, keep busy and not to think. It is like the drug that the queen bee produces to keep the workers working and serving the needs of the hive. It is a brainwashing. It is the real conspiracy, except it is collective and unconscious.

read the whole article here.

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Jeff Jawer on Saturn’s Last Days in Virgo

October 21, 2009 By
Jeff Jawer has a great new article on Saturn’s last days through the sign of Virgo.  My favorite part:

Saturn is the planet that says “no” but means “yes”. It exposes problems and places of dissatisfaction. Yet the clarity that it brings can reveal the steps necessary to improve the situation. Traditional astrology focused on the “no” side, calling Saturn “the Greater Malefic,” or biggest bad guy of all the planets. This extremely negative perspective has shifted a bit with modern psychological astrology that recognizes the transformational power of individuals as opposed to the old deterministic model. Still, Saturn in any sign tends to highlight its limits. Its presence in perfectionist Virgo dramatizes the tiniest flaws, which can undermine self-confidence. However, steady progress has been made in places where we’ve worked conscientiously to enhance a current skill set or learn a new one. A key to making the most of this transit is the avoid measuring ourselves against an unreachable standard of perfection, but to make small incremental advances where we can.

Saturn probably caught a break when Pluto came along and took away some of his more frightening qualities, but I love this idea that Saturn says No but means Yes.  I might say though, Saturn says Not Yet.  Saturn causes delays and disappointments, but also offers rewards of material success and an unshakeable foundation of security if we follow his instructions when he says “Slow Down.”
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The Nature of Grief and Astrological Cycles

October 9, 2009 By
Throughout this year, with Chiron and Neptune traveling together, many of my clients have called megrief.jpg with overwhelming feelings of grief.  Often there is an event that appears to have caused these intense emotions, but sometimes the feelings appear to stem from events that occurred long ago.  A client who had mourned the loss of her mother that happened nine years ago.  Another who grieved the loss of her first marriage many years ago.  Suddenly, after many years, the emotions welled up seemingly from nowhere to take over their lives.

When Chiron and Neptune are working together, they combine to assist with the work of the soul. The body, the mind, and the ego are all most interested in living a life well-grounded in the material world that offers the maximum of pleasure and the minimum of pain. The soul does not pursue pleasure and avoid pain; instead, there is an embrace of experiences that will assist us at the deepest level to completely learn the lessons that are presented to us so that we can release the past and move forward with greater wisdom.

Chiron facilitates this aspect of soul work by uncovering any wounded places that have been left unresolved so that we can be freed of the blocked energy that our unreleased wounds hold within the body/mind/spirit system. Neptune assists by reminding us that there is a world of experience that lies beyond the boundaries of the material world. Under the influence of Neptune we either open up to experiences of a powerful mystical nature, or else we become confused and deluded as the nature of our personal reality is blurred and we have nothing to replace it with. Neptune bestows creative genius and a spiritual connection to our Divine self as the physical world is transcended, or it can cause us to indulge in escapist and addictive behavior in an effort to escape the prison of our own mind.

Challenging astrological cycles do often coincide with painful events in our life, but whether the grief we feel is over a current loss or an old one, the feelings are the same.  Psychiatrists know that grief and emotional pain are stored in the psyche with the same intensity that they held during the original event.
Chiron has been a great teacher and guide for astrologers’ understanding about the nature of grief, but Saturn and Pluto play a role as well.
Under Saturn transits we are painfully aware of our faults, our loneliness, and the blocks that keep us from our happiness.  Saturn is associated with depression which has a different tonal quality than grief.
Under Pluto transits we often find ourselves facing unpleasant truths and frightening memories from our past, and Pluto can bring up deep and dark emotions that unlock doors to emotional pain.  But it’s Chiron that opens the doorways for the emotional pain that we store in our psyche to spring forth into the conscious mind where it can, with conscious focus and attention, be processed and released.
Often a client will ask me, “When will this be over?  Will I ever be happy again?”  They will say “I don’t want to ever feel this again.”  We spend our lives running from our pain, but the problem with that is as long as we run, the pain remains stored in our psyche and our bodies.  Later it may erupt in physical pain and nondiagnosable illness.
What is required is the courage to look into our own soul and open the doorway to the feelings, to see what they have to tell us and to teach us.  It’s not an easy path, but it’s the only way to wholeness.
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Astrology in my world: Saturn in action

August 22, 2009 By

A few weeks ago I went to Dulcimer Week at the Swannanoa Gathering, which is a series of music workshops held at a wonderful little college outside of Asheville.  I’ve been taking hammered dulcimer lessons for about a year and a half, and it’s been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.  Even harder than learning astrology!

I’ve always been fairly musical (Neptune is conjunct my Sun within one degree) and with Gemini rising I like to say I’ve forgotten more instruments than most people ever learn.  Gemini needs constantly new input and gets bored easily.  But then I also have Saturn on my Sun, so while Neptune is inspiring me to channel the divine inspiration, Saturn is always telling me I can’t do it.  Plus all three are in my fifth house of creative self expression, making the whole thing that much more complicated.  And to put the icing on the cake, Uranus makes a square to all three and provides the urge to flee when things get too hard.

Anyway, the hammered dulcimer is a gorgeous instrument but I have had trouble understanding the way it’s mapped out, which is unlike any other instrument.  I have a great teacher, luckily, and take lessons every week like a good Saturn girl (applying diligence and discipline).  But I am not a good practicer (Sun square Uranus, Gemini rising).

So at the workshop, surrounded by all of these fabulous players (as well as beginners) I had a crisis of confidence.  That voice of Saturn became very loud:  ”You’ll never be good enough,” “If only you had practiced all this time,” “You might as well quit.”  I became very depressed with all that negativity bouncing around in my head.

Then I sat myself down and reminded myself what I always tell my clients about what Saturn wants.  Saturn wants us to work hard, to be disciplined.  Saturn wants us to be successful, and to be focused on our goals so that we can achieve them.  Saturn wants us to make a plan.

So I trotted myself down to the student bookstore and bought a nice notebook and began a practice journal.  I made a list of all of the drills and exercises that I should do, and created a practice plan to keep me on track.  Boring and dull, but I’ve been using it for the past two weeks fairly diligently, and I have to say I’ve seen a big boost in my playing.

So now Saturn is happy, and Neptune is happy because I’m making music that is more beautiful and effortless than before.  But I still have to keep Uranus happy or he’ll begin to make trouble, so I play something new every day to break out of the routine a bit.  And to keep my Gemini ascendant happy I break up my practice time into small segments of no more than 10-15 minutes.

Most of us have complicated charts with planets that don’t get along well together.  Once we see who the players are behind the emotions, it’s much easier to learn to integrate the various parts of ourselves and achieve greater harmony and effectiveness in our lives.

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Saturn, Saturn, Saturn, and a lesson on retrogrades

January 2, 2009 By

Saturn retrogradeSaturn, you may remember, is the planet that surrounds itself with rings.  This is an apt metaphor for the restrictive quality that Saturn represents and which is the predominant influence right now.  We have Pluto having just entered the sign of Capricorn, which is ruled by Saturn and shares its love of restriction, limitation, hard work, social mores, governmental structures.  And now we have Saturn preparing to turn retrograde.

Planets obviously don’t ever move backwards, but astrology is not astronomically correct.  Yes, scientists – it’s true, because astrologers view the motion of the planets from our perspective on earth.  Most of the planets from time to time appear to travel in reverse motion, and we call that “retrograde.”  When a planet is preparing to change direction, either in reverse or direct (forward) motion, its motion slows down to a crawl.  The planet is then said to be “stationary,” or “making a station.”  This is very like the motion of a car that is making a U-turn – as it turns it remains in the same location and stays there until it has built up sufficient speed to begin traveling again.

When a planet is retrograde, its influence is accentuated and there is a tendency for the processes of life that are governed by that planet to become stalled.  This forces us to pay more attention to those processes and perfect them in a way we would not be motivated to do otherwise,  The most famous retrograde is Mercury, and even people who know nothing about astrology are familiar with “Mercury Retrograde” periods in which communication gets difficult and machinery often stops operating.  But all planets have retrograde periods, so we have the opportunity to get to know them all more intimately during those retrograde periods.

Right now we are dealing with Saturn which turned retrograde on December 31st at 21 degrees Virgo.  Saturn will be retrograde until mid-May, during which time the intense focus that Pluto has brought to bear on Saturnine/Capricornian matters will become even sharper.  Frederick Woodruff has some interesting things to say about Saturn:

The Greeks associated Saturn with gravitas, the quality of substance or depth of personality. Gravitas is a sort of plumb line for the soul and it’s time we employ it. This means creating a way for and welcoming the effects of depression. The Jungian James Hillman has written extensively about depression serving as a curative for the widespread manic activism that dominates our culture. In The Planets Within, Thomas Moore explains: “Feeling low and heavy we are forced to move inward, turning to fantasy rather than the literal action of the ego. And that turn inward is necessary for the soul, for it creates psychic space, a container for deeper reflection where soul increases and the surface of events becomes less important.”

We need this inward turning as a remedial form for establishing balance. In order to make something from nothing — another function of the Saturnian expression — we must first encounter the quiet of the dark, to become inspired and enlivened by that which is beyond the ego’s control — and this can only come from fresh visions, enlivening inculcations from the imaginal realm. Saturn depresses but also establishes. So the second half of the equation is finding a way to give shape to the images, the insights we encounter in Saturn’s gloom-world.

If the Saturnian impulse to create and give substance isn’t utilized — by first welcoming the type of depression that facilitates the process — that same force will turn against us and become tyrannical. Saturn gone wrong places us under the dominion of what Freud defined as our superego. The superego is a function of the psyche comprised of the internalized voices of our parents. Critical admonishments that attempt to control by belittling and bringing attention to our shortcomings. The harsh world of our inner critic. Once the superego is activated it’s very hard to accomplish anything in life. We’re infantilized, cut off from the power of our adulthood. We tend to freeze and venture nothing, leaving us stalled and floundering in the depressive state.

read more here…

I like to think that with Saturn conjunct my Sun in my birthchart I have grown intimately familiar with Saturn and he does have a lovely side.  In fact, I wrote an article about this a while ago called Saturn: Both Beast & Prince which I will probably repost tomorrow.  If we know what Saturn wants when he’s operating as the Celestial Taskmaster, either in our natal chart or by transit, we are much more likely to gain the material rewards of success that comes from Saturnian qualities of discipline and hard work.

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Jeremy Piven, Mercury Poisoning, and the Saturn Effect

December 19, 2008 By

Jeremy PivenJeremy Piven has left the Broadway production of Speed the Plow after being diagnosed with mercury poisoning.  Piven, who apparently eats lots of sushi and eats some kind of fish twice a day, sought medical treatment for exhaustion and excessive fatigue.  He was found to have elevated mercury levels that were five to six times the normal level.

Clearly, this is a medical condition rather than a psychosomatic one.  But the timing of it is interesting in light of Saturn transits that Piven is going through right now.  Jeremy Piven (born 7/26/1965, time unknown, NY), like others of his generation, has Uranus and Pluto conjunct in his birthchart.  The conjunction of Uranus (revolutionary change) and Pluto (death and transformation) in the mid-1960s was a time of tremendous cultural transformation and radical change, and those individuals born between 1963 and 1968 carry this archetype in their chart.  In Piven’s case, the planet Saturn is opposite Uranus and Pluto in his chart, signifying an inner battle between that force for transformation (Uranus/Pluto) and the need for conservative application of diligence and effort (Saturn).

When we have a major planetary system like this in our birthchart, a transiting planet affecting one of the planets in the system has a longer-lasting effect on the entire system.  In Piven’s case, transiting Saturn made a pass over Uranus and Pluto in his chart in September as he was preparing for the opening of the play, and by October when the play opened Saturn had moved to a point exactly opposite Saturn in his birthchart.  A transit of Saturn to Saturn’s place in the natal chart occurs every seven years and generally stimulates a challenge of some kind.  Very little biographical information is available about him, but in 2001, at the beginning of his last Saturn cycle, he left the comedy “Bad News Mr. Swenson” due to family issues and his father died during the second phase of that cycle.

Transiting Saturn is making a square to Jupiter in Piven’s chart now, coinciding with his release (Jupiter = liberation) from the play.  Saturn will retrograde back over Pluto in Piven’s chart and oppose his Saturn again in late March and early April, and then again in late May and late June.

The astrological timing of medical events is an interesting question for me.  Clearly, Saturn did not cause the elevated Mercury levels in Piven’s blood.  But Saturn, with its sense of restriction and heaviness, is well known for causing periods of exhaustion and fatigue.  I like to describe Saturn as feeling like the lead blanket the dentist will lay over you as he takes an X-ray.

At the same time Saturn is putting pressure on these planets, Uranus (ruling radical change and rebellion) is in the second phase of a square to Jupiter in Piven’s chart.  Under Saturn’s influence we work hard and want to be successful, and under the influence of Uranus we rebel against restriction and desire freedom.  This is a very stressful combination of events to collide at one time in one individual.

Another interesting astrological coincidence relating to the timing of this medical issue is the passage of Chiron (the wounded healer) making a square to Neptune (mystery and illusion) in Piven’s chart.  It’s not unusual to see mysterious illnesses occuring when Chiron and Neptune combine.

The stressful planetary aspects are designed to inspire us to look at our lives and make internal changes that are necessary in order to better adapt to the changing world around us. I don’t believe that the planetary transits CAUSE illness and disease, but it does seem as though the internal stress of a necessary adaptation may weaken our immune system to the point that we are more prone to illness and medical reactions that may not affect us at other times.

In any event, this may be just the beginning of a challenging period for Jeremy Piven.

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Growing Up on Prozac

April 24, 2008 By

I was just listening to NPR in the car, and Talk of the Nation had a story called “Growing Up on Antidepressants” which interested me greatly and I’ve written on this subject before. There were several callers to the show who had been taking Prozac or similar drugs since they were in their teens, and they commented that when they stop taking the drug they don’t feel like themselves; they don’t feel that they can live a normal life.

Everyone experiences depression to some extent or another, but some people are more naturally prone to chronic depression. The astrology chart of a chronically depressed individual typically involves a strong influence of Saturn, Chiron or Pluto – each of these planets evokes a different brand of depression. A Saturnian depression is classically melancholic – there is a darkness and a heaviness to it. Chironic depression has a sharper and deeper painful quality due to the Chiron’s relentless pressure to bring old painful wounds to the psychological surface. Plutonic depression includes a dark despair and hopelessness; there is a sense of fatefulness and occasionally a longing for death.

Saturn by transit opposes its place in the birthchart at around age 14 and offers challenges to the development of the soul. If this process is interrupted by the ingestion of psychotropic drugs, this individual will not have an opportunity to develop the inner resilience that is the gift of Saturn. There is a saying, “That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” and this is Saturn’s mode of instruction. Those of us who have Saturn strong in their charts (Saturn is on my Sun) and have lived past the age of 40 recognize the Saturnian gifts: a deep inner strength and resolve that helps us to navigate any storm. It is not surprising that these young people, on Prozac since their mid-teens, cannot survive without it. They have missed the valuable cycles that develop that core internal strength of spirit.

Individuals who have “easy” charts that are full of trines and the lovely blue lines instead of the stressful red ones sometimes have the most difficulty with depression. Never having learned the coping skills that help us to build the inner strength required to fight our demons, those with “easy” charts sometimes suffer the most when hit with a transit of one of these planets. Again, this is an opportunity to build that resilience through contact with adversity and bypassing the process with pharmaceuticals can help us to cope in the short-term, but keeps the planets from doing their job.

I was on Zoloft for about a year and a half when I went through my Uranus opposition which featured the Uranus-Neptune conjunction aspecting a T-square in my natal chart. For those to whom this is gibberish, suffice it to say that my inner and outer worlds were collapsing into each other. It was an intense time of kundalini problems, panic attacks, and a general Spiritual Emergency. I did appreciate the aid that Zoloft gave, and I noticed that it seemed to help alter some habits of behavior that continued once I was off the drug. So for me, pharmaceuticals are a great tools for emergencies but if we keep ourselves from navigating the ongoing unfolding of our soul’s journey because we are afraid to feel, we are skipping some important steps that can aid us in the future.

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Today’s Planetary News

April 23, 2008 By

We have a couple of interesting planetary configurations now that will last for a few more days.

One is a Grand Trine that includes the Sun in Taurus, Pluto in Capricorn, and Saturn in Virgo that began a couple of days ago when all planets were at 1 degree. We are as close now to a trine as Saturn and Pluto will be until the year 2030, and this is a powerful trine that enables us to build structures (Saturn) that facilitate change and transformation (Pluto).

We are still seeing the effects of that as we move into today’s T-square involving an opposition between Mars in Cancer to Jupiter in Capricorn, both of which are square to Venus in Aries. Venus in Aries wants to approach relationships from a self-oriented perspective, and Mars in Cancer has a drive to express individuality through nurturing others. For the next few days there is a conflict here between those two modalities – how to maintain our independence in relationships while being sensitive to the needs of others. Jupiter’s effusiveness and occasional arrogance can get in the way here – it whispers in our ear and tells us that we can have anything we want. Perhaps it even encourages us to bait the enemy, as Condoleeza Rice did when she called al Sadr a coward.

Venus will have moved on in a day or so and will form a sextile (harmonious aspect) to Neptune which will help to smooth the interpersonal waters, but the Mars/Jupiter effect will last a bit longer, through the end of the week. There is more energy flying around than usual, but physical activity will help to keep that energy in check and make it easier to maintain balance. This is a great time for sports and anything that involves competition.

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Saturn in Virgo: Food Rationing

April 21, 2008 By

Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing.

Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks.

At a Costco Warehouse in Mountain View, Calif., yesterday, shoppers grew frustrated and occasionally uttered expletives as they searched in vain for the large sacks of rice they usually buy.

“Where’s the rice?” an engineer from Palo Alto, Calif., Yajun Liu, said. “You should be able to buy something like rice. This is ridiculous.” …

An employee at the Costco store in Queens said there were no restrictions on rice buying, but limits were being imposed on purchases of oil and flour. Internet postings attributed some of the shortage at the retail level to bakery owners who flocked to warehouse stores when the price of flour from commercial suppliers doubled. …

Saturn’s limitations combined with Virgo’s interest in diet and health is creating some interesting challenges but it’s not always easy to predict where shortage will occur. When Saturn was in Virgo from 1948-1951, this cycle coincided with a worldwide food shortage in a post-World War II world.

In 1978-1980, Saturn in Virgo presided over a nurse (Virgo) shortage (Saturn) as well as a shortage of gasoline which led to a worldwide energy crisis. Neptune rules oil and other liquids, and Neptune is currently in Aquarius where it has been seeking energy alternatives. Chiron is as close now (4 degrees) to a conjunction with Neptune as it will be until the two collide in 2010, and these two will be locked in a dance until next fall where they begin to move away from each other. This is a hint of what we can expect then, and by September these pressures may have eased off somewhat.

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