Jupiter Inconjunct Saturn, Neptune conjunct Fomalhaut

 The above is created from four separate images of fixed star Fomalhaut (rear)

Neptune (blue), Saturn and Jupiter (foreground), all of which were produced

by NASA, JPL, ESA, and various space telescopes.

The update on the ‘Habamus Tempus?’ (Do we have a birth time?) question with regards to Pope Francis: Yes! We now do have the Pope's birth time.

As predicted (the easy part) once the Pope was elected the search is on. And a couple of days ago one of my astrologer friends wrote to say he’d seen a time posted on line.

Then he wrote back to say he’d found a second time posted online. (No, they didn’t match.)

Then he wrote back to say that a birth certificate was soon to be posted, which being American and thoroughly tired of the ‘birther’ debate made me cringe.

This whole hoo-ha of different times and such, and various people going after them is very Gemini. And the plethora of ideas on the subject, rather Jupiter in Gemini – as is the fact that the whole subject is something people are talking about.

Of course the official (Saturn) solid answer would be the thing to want and (Saturn) wait for patiently. Anything else would seem to be hard to (Scorpio)trust.

So as I write, I just got another email from my astro-pal saying that the birth certificate data has been posted and so yes, I can now say…HABAMUS TEMPUS!

(Excuse the bad Latin, please…)

Pope Francis I (then Cardinal Jorge M Bergoglio)

(photo credit: Aibdescalzo, September 2008)

So with that now in hand I gaze at the blog schedule (read: my computer calendar) and realize there’s all sorts of time-sensitive things begging to be posted. And there is always the issue of sitting down with the Pope’s chart and doing the diagnostics, after which I need to write it all up, create the diagrams – all that stuff. And of course the astrologer has to eat and sleep and deal with the irregularities of regular life.

Bottom line: I promise we’ll have the Pope Francis post posted before American tax returns are due.

How’s that for pithy?

Moving on, a little commentary about my cousin, the ever-busy Ms. T. She called this week, confessing she’s had a serious case of planets in Pisces and that she’s just now ‘resurfacing.’ More to the point for this post, she told me that she’s doing this and that and getting things ready for taxes (speaking of taxes) and tending to family matters and conversations at an ever-increasing rate – (shades of Jupiter in Gemini) but that nothing seems to actually be getting (Saturn in Scorpio) done.

She soldiers on. And as someone who gets tired just listening to all she does, I salute her.

This same sort of dogged doing, but not completing seems to be pervasive. I could take this comparison into politics by bringing up the current news focus on Syria. Everybody knows that bad things are going on in Syria, and that they’re probably getting worse. But no one knows for sure what the facts are.

All of these quests and questions are very Jupiter inconjunct Saturn. Saturn in Scorpio is always about ‘how it will work’ in some venue or sense which is beyond being just about us. So it’s not a decision, per se. Scorpio is a public, worldly and interactive sign. So there’s something which we are ‘interacting with’ in trying to get our Jupiter in Gemini heads straight about it. Or we’re trying to ‘expand’ our understanding to include it or (as they say) wrap our minds around it.

In the process, there will be paths towards the goal and there will be byways and diversions. That’s one of the qualities of an inconjunct. Jupiter and Saturn are always about ‘building’ something. And in this case, we all seem to be trying to build some sort of information base on which to proceed. But we’re at a place or a state in the process where we have to figure out how to get to whatever it is which we can work with.

That’s an inconjunct. Specifically, a 6th house (or 6th harmonic) inconjuncts. Being an 150 degree aspect, an inconjunct is ‘one sign off’ a direct opposition, which could be ‘off’ to either side. Remembering that we always count counterclockwise around any horoscope (or zodiac) wheel, that means we either count six signs or eight signs to arrive at either inconjunct.

The eight sign aspect is ‘Scorpio-ish’ in that it asks what’s worth what, and if we want to continue being involved and what it will take to be involved (and are we willing to risk that).

The sixth sign aspect is ‘Virgo-ish’ in that it asks ‘how to’ get at the thing. Or it may ask what we think we might want to try to do about a thing. Or whether the thing works or is workable.

With global transits (as opposed to personal transits which have your personal chart as the “bedrock”) the faster-moving planet is always ‘applying’ it’s energy to the slower moving planet. So here, Jupiter in Gemini is doing the inconjunct, and thus it represents our trying to find out what the truth is, what the information is, how to grapple with the problem…and the problem is represented by Saturn in Scorpio, the taxes, the national crisis, the life or death or birth matter, or maybe for you it’s how to cope with debt. Or how to deal with an intimate relationship which is confounding your understanding for reasons you can’t quite place.

Or maybe it’s just trying to own up to your own failings or vulnerabilities.

What I’m trying to say is that this would be natural time for all such things to be happening. And as Jupiter perfects its inconjunct to Saturn on March 24th at 2:53 in the morning UT/+0 time, we can take heart in the idea that what we’re dealing with is at some level what we should be dealing with, replete with the challenging ourselves with all the puzzles and frustrations and reflections which go with any inconjunct.

That this happens as Neptune is inching into position to perfect its conjunction with Fomalhaut on Tuesday the 26th…does that make things any better or worse?

Not worse, but I’ll go for ‘confusing.’ Or ‘nebulous.’ Or ‘ill defined.’ Or disturbing, scary or evocative in a way you’re just not quite comfortable with.

Neptune in Pisces is about emotional challenges. To whatever degree we aren’t being realistic or dealing with the ‘realities of reality as it exists’ (and not as we’d like it to exist in our hearts, heads or other parts) Neptune in Pisces presents moments, situations and (yes) realities which tend to shatter us at whatever level.

A rather imposing statue of the god Neptune aptly seated at the top

of a fountain amidst its play of waters

(photo credit: Manfred Bruckels, 2005)

Yes, you can deny the truth. But you’ll still know there is ‘a truth’ out there and in your heart of heart you’ll know you’re trying to ‘substitute’ some truth you like or you think you “should” want for the real one.

(And good luck with that.)

And in the end, the Saturn message is this: deal with reality. And Neptune’s message is: do the right thing and do it right, lest you be disappointed that life’s realities respond wrongly.

To put it succinctly, this pairing (Saturn in Scorpio and Neptune in Pisces) is karma on the hoof. And as if you didn’t already know, karma is the biggest bitch in the universe.

On this score, this is either a time to experience karma or to set ourselves up for karma to come, or when we will so imbed yourself in a situation that come what may, once Jupiter moves into Cancer come late June we won't be able to escape that tottering avalanche of difficulty we’ve stacked up for ourselves.

This IS a time to clean house. Particularly our life-house. Neptune perfecting its conjunction with Fomalhaut amidst all sorts of things which are unresolved but otherwise right-there-in-our-way (or maybe in our face) is nature’s way of trying to get us all to face those painful choices which aren’t what we “want” to deal with as a reality, but which we will be better off facing as a reality, no matter what comes of the question down the line.

And this isn’t just the surface quality we’re talking about. It’s the underlying (emotion-driven) one.

Me, I’ve had a big week all about letting go of people in my life. One person I dearly care for and care about, and still I had to call them on their inability to apologize.

And what is that? To make amends where you hurt someone, being unwilling to discuss what’s happened in simple, plain words owning the truth of a situation without excuses and debate – what is so hard about that?

Oh yes...I forgot. It's that ego thing.

Well fortunately there's a cure for ego. In the big cosmic world of astrology it's called Neptune conjunct Fomalhaut.

I’m natively very into communication – I’m a writer. (Surely you’ve noticed, right?) And as someone born with Sun conjunct Fomalhaut I have seen and experienced the harm a lack of standards can inflict. I’ve get critiqued for standing up for others but to me, thinking that letting the world crumble so long as inside your own home all is gilded makes no sense. Look at history and you’ll see that the periods which have had people locked into a ‘so long as I get mine, I don’t care’ mentality precede times of chaos.

I also tend to think this is one of those factors which (among other things) makes being a parent really hard. As a parent you can’t devote yourself entirely to your children. You have to care about the world. Why? Of course you’re setting an example. But beyond that, what kind of a world are you going to leave those cherished children of yours?

A lovely real-life example of the proverbial garden gate which in

the philosophical sense leads to whatever it is which gives us pleasure

or a sense of comfort or 'being at home with ourselves'...but  the serenity of

which depends on our being willing to care for and repair that which is

inside our 'garden' as well as outside that gate, for our garden always

depends on the greater world it exists in.

(photo credit: Eptalon, February 2006)

Simply put, when we retreat inside our garden gates (or home, or family, or “community”) and ignore everything ‘out there’ we allow all those who are operating ‘out there’ to do as they please.

And thus the world becomes tougher…which causes more people to build higher walls and retreat behind those.

And as they do, the world grows ever more problematic.

Neptune/Fomalhaut is a dissolving of those walls. So we can either acknowledge and begin to grapple with the problems in our world, our community, our lives, our head or our soul...or we can suffer the fear of what happens when we think we can't adjust.

You know, grow.

That with Neptune/Fomalhaut we are getting this inconjunct from Jupiter-Saturn brings the ‘outer world’ into the general construct. So this can be a time when we can begin thinking anew about how to grow our world and make it more effective. Through finding the chinks in our understanding or knowledge of methodologies we can improve our lives and the world those lives are being lived in.

As challenging as an inconjunct can be (and yes, they can be a giant ouch) inconjuncts somehow always bring us hope that the very problems and difficulties being now revealed may be the answer to bigger issues. Whether the issue is strictly how we're seen by others or how we see others or how we see ourselves, with the Neptune/Fomalhaut showing up of the spots on our mental windows comes an aura of grace through the very insistence that we do face whatever our issues are.

So though things may be trying, or frustrating, or daunting, or disenchanting, there is a sense which most everybody seems to be feeling that this is a time to be feeling these things - simply because there is a time and place for everything and this is the moment for experiencing our trials against our inspirations and all the nebulous comparisons in-between.

There is a quality of veils falling away or being brushed aside now which allows us to better hear our higher calling. It isn't just clergy who get called - many, if not most of us are. It may be to your profession, it may be to something you know you need to deal with inside yourself. Amidst the imbalance of this moment is an awareness that we can move the fulcrum.

And that's all we need to know - that we can indeed create balance in our lives if we're willing to open our hearts to the possibilities that things in our life really do need changing. 

Oh, those times they are a'changing. Even the nature of what balance means is now shifting - at least to us. We are entering a new era, a new age of how to think. And it applies to everything we do with and in our lives. 

In the Age of Pisces, the typified ‘one person does one thing, the other person does the other’ and all forms of stereotypical ‘typing’ – whether by gender or age or economic strata or ‘life career’ preference (which includes homemaking) or religion, they were all ‘fit’ together to balance each other out. That is the image of the two fish swimming in opposite directions connected by an immutable, golden cord.

But the Age of Pisces is ending. For all general purposes it has ended except that there are plenty of us around (that’s me holding up my hand!) who were born under it’s last fishy gasps and splashes.

In the Age of Aquarius, that ‘balance’ is more internal. It still has two parts - the person (the working with the idea or within 'confines') and the water - the 'outpouring.'

And considering that whether emphasized or not every chart includes all 30 degrees of Aquarius, that has to be part of each one of us and part of each person's life.

And the life of society, with success (an Aquarian astro-concept) pictured rather well in this image from the old Mercator globe as being when the 'outpouring' of Aquarius 'feeds' the Piscean 'universal chord' - which applies here in particular because Saturn is the foundational ruler of Aquarius. When it comes to success, the work, the structure and how well ideas 'work' is what ultimately create the 'quality' of that success which when 'poured out' either appeal or detract from our appeal to others.

Capricorn (at the left), Aquarius (center top), and Pisces (at the end of the

'Aquarian 'river'), all from the Mercator globe

(image in public domain) 

Part of this we already see in the upswing of fathers being more involved in the home and women balancing children and career. For some, this ‘balancing’ of home and outside-the-home or the ‘calling’ and the stuff your soul defines as ‘optional’ will be a life-long balancing act. For others – like Ms T, my lovable cousin – this will be doing one thing…then learning to do the other later and down the road. She’s one of the many who chose to have children first and now she’s developing a ‘career life.’ And that’s totally valid – as valid as doing both at once.

So what’s the hard part? The hard part is making the adjustment.

Going back to my own ‘this week in the life’ I had to walk away from one person (who may or may not still want to talk) and deal with another person who is ‘walking away’ simply because they’re moving away – and they definitely are open to remaining friends.

Both feel like a loss, and if nothing else, those feelings of loss are my emotions having to adjust to the (Gemini) idea of being without one or both of these people as part of my life. The one person has violated my trust but I’m willing to discuss it. I am willing to adjust my (Scorpio) trust through (Gemini) conversation and (Jupiter) grow not just myself but the relationship, and my understanding of relationship (Saturn) through such a discussion.

Whether or not this person responds, I have established this bedrock with myself. If they don’t respond, Saturn is the ‘I’m not going any farther’ in this conversation. If they do respond, then we both get an opportunity to grow our Saturn-in-Scorpio skills with regards to how to find ways through thorny relationship patches.

And from my other friend (the one moving out of my city) I learn a lesson about life as an evolution and evolutionary force. That gives me perspective on why I do what I do and why there are still things I want to do in this life…

…such as sharing these thoughts with you.
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