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Wednesday 29 August 2012

How Saturn Sets You Free


I've been thinking a lot about Saturn recently. It's squaring my Sun and Mercury, and will be hard aspecting my Moon and natal Saturn in the next year. People like to moan and groan about Saturn transits but these are the times when a person really has the chance to come into their own authority.

We have a serious attitude problem these days towards authority. Experiences with overly authoritarian parents, teachers, religions and governments  have given many of us a tendency to react against it, rebelling in defiance of the restrictions we feel have been imposed on us. And this is one of the words that's often bandied about with Saturn - restriction. Limitation. Law. Order.

But this kind of restriction only happens if we have refused the challenge of Saturn - to grow up, and become the author of our own life. Until we are our own authority, we will be continually subjected to that of others.

What a hard Saturn transit actually does is force a slowing down and reassessment of who and what you are, what you have and what you want, before you proceed. He's the father, checking the tyres and the oil in your car before you set off on a journey. Have you keys, money, cards, maps, have you checked the route? Do you know where you're going, and are you quite sure this is what you want to do? Making things safe. Or he can be the policeman, coming to take you away to keep everyone else safe. It depends how well you've followed his instruction.

It's easy to get frustrated because the speed of life these days is so fast and we are programmed to want everything NOW. But Saturn in mythology was said to rule in the Golden Age, a time when life was slower and easier, when men lived like gods without pain, suffering or hardship. And I think the difficulties we feel when under Saturn are partly because his transits evoke this atavistic memory, the knowing buried deep inside of us that life was never meant to be so hard.

So this is a time where we need to be kind to ourselves, to rest, be slow and to contemplate our past and our future so that we can make reasoned decisions about the next step. Saturn is the outermost of the inner planets, shielding us  from the radiation of the heavy hitting outer planets. Keeping us safe. You could say that until we mature into the lessons of  Saturn we aren't able to effectively handle the frequencies of  Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. And with the Uranus Pluto squares affecting all of us over the next few years, we are really going to need that maturity and wisdom to guide us.

And this is how Saturn can set you free. By giving you time, and a safe space to grow into your own mastery.  It's work, but the rewards are tangible.

The sign of your natal Saturn will tell you where your authority lies. In my case it's Aquarius, so I'm always looking to the future, for new ideas and visions to progress whatever it is I'm involved with. And I have a innate respect for others who do so. I'll rebel, but nowadays there has to be a good reason for it, one based in humanitarian principle and not the knee-jerk reactivity of youth.

Where is your Saturn? And how do you feel about authority?






Friday 24 August 2012

Mars Neptune...Riding the Wave


Emil Nolde, Sea With Red Sky
Mars finally moved into Scorpio today, after a month and a half in 'shall I, shan't I ' Libra. If you found yourself blocked at every turn last week with Mars conjunct Saturn, you'll have more of an ease now, particularly over the next day or two as the red planet trines Neptune in Pisces.

Mars Neptune is an interesting combination and one that needs careful managing. Left to its own devices a neptunian Mars can spend  life daydreaming or dwelling in a perpetual fog, constantly thinking up bright ideas but never having enough oomph to follow them through. Energy seems to dissolve before anything can actually get done.

What Mars Neptune people are brilliant at, if they did but know, is catching a wave and riding it. These folks can spot a trend, tune into a frequency and go with the flow in a way that others can only marvel at. They  bide their time, watching the tides while the world around judges them for their 'laziness'. But just wait. When the time is right, when they feel it, off they go. And the momentum carries them forward.

So take advantage of this energy over the next couple of days. Let yourself be moved to work, rest or play, whatever feels right, because as Mars moves on and aspects Pluto and Uranus at the beginning of next week, things are going to get super-powered. Look to the house that Scorpio occupies in your chart and see where the action is taking place.

 And remember, Mars is the joint ruler of Scorpio and particularly powerful there, so if you have a project you've been thinking about starting, this next six weeks is a great time to set it motion.

Do you have a Mars Neptune aspect in your chart? How does it work for you?