Astro News: Saturn in Libra Until October 2012

Due to retrograde periods, in this round of the zodiac Saturn has entered Libra twice. But as of July 21, 2010 it has committed to a full transit of Libra, so that's big news.

First of all, Libra is the first sign of six which describe our worldly and public life. For the past 14 years, Saturn has been in the private and personal arena - so this is quite a shift.

When Saturn first hit Libra back on October 29, 2009 we all felt a shiver run through our 'relating and relationship' quadrants. Our opinions of who we were in the world and maybe who we needed to be (or what we needed to do in ORDER to be that person) became more obvious.

 Saturn's 2009 Libra Ingress

Just inside the Libra doorway is supermassive Black Hole M87. It's one of the largest objects known to us in the universe, so it's effect as a vibe of 'altered realities' is really emblematic of this realization process. Libra is an airy, theoretical sign about relationships - and in its being an air sign lies some very important clues. One is that this is the concept or idea of the thing, not the actual experience OF the thing.

Libra is the negotiation, the theory - which is why it signifies all kinds of counselors (people with whom you discuss ideas and negotiate what will get done)...and that stage of any relationship, personal or professional, when we're laying the groundwork for how things will work, figuring out what we both like, dislike, can deal with, etc..

Saturn being a symbol of life structures, it's great in Libra. And when it first entered Libra during fall 2009, the ruling factor here (Venus, as ruler of Libra) was very well placed in Libra. Moreover, it was in an emotional degree of Libra, making the 'relating' dynamics of last fall all the more feeling and about what we felt we wanted or needed to have in our lives.

But there was a catch. (Isn't there always?) In this picture, Venus was conjunct five symbols. We will start with the nearest and move through to the farthest affected by conjunction because that would describe the process we would encounter along the way.

Starting with Venus at 18 Libra, we have Rhadamanthus also at 18 Libra. Being that Rhadamanthus is the emblem supreme of 'human judgement,' we know that the central plus/minus in this initial entrance of Saturn into Libra was all about human judgement - most specifically, how good our personal (human) judgment actually is.

At 17 Libra we have Hel - the symbol of bad choices which turn your life into a 'hell' or which cause you big regrets (to experience an 'internal hell').

That this symbol is one degree (and a few minutes) behind Venus tells us (using progression rules) that just over a month after October 29th, we all faced something which presented us with...a choice which involved human judgment. And though you may have suffered a bit of Hel at the time, since the process wasn't over, you wouldn't have yet known the real outcome. You know, what Hel you put yourself through in either doing the right thing (judging correctly) or the Hel you experience because your oh-so human judgment isn't all that spiffy.

So that was a month and a bit past October 29th, putting us at the end of the first week of December. Next we have Haumea at 16 (and a half) Libra, which translates to less than a month later. At that point came a transformational force which like as not contained some form of trickery and/or 'it isn't what you think it is.'

That would have happened at the end of December, beginning of January.

And remember - the process wasn't yet done. Also at 16 Libra but earlier in the degree (translating to a space of maybe a couple of weeks) we have Sappho, a poetic emblem which connotes love of all but which here, being so closely linked with Haumea and obviously part of the whole Saturn-Venus/Rhadamanthus process sort of asks us who we are really being. What is our love of others all about? Who are these people we are associating or caring about? Who are we to be in the place we are and learning what we are learning - what does this have to do with the greater process of moving us from our private life into a more worldly life?

The last symbol here is Lachesis - the symbol of things which only last a while. Uh-oh...did you make some choice back in the beginning of this process that you thought was going to last forever? Probably not. The five degees between Venus and Lachesis suggests that five months after October 29 (meaning March 29) should have revealed a few things to you not about others, but about yourself.

And just to make this a little more clear, this whole affair is opposed by Eris (Discord) and Achilles. So what we may have thought of as the 'strong choice' or that we were opposed (or motivated) by strong forces...that may well have been the issue this first Libra ingress was all about.

Saturn went retograde on January 13. Do you remember what was going on then?

Saturn then retrograded back into Virgo on April 7th, bringing us all back into a more practical and earthy mode. This is important to remember for while Saturn is exalted in the negotiating and restructing sign of Libra, Libra IS an air sign - it's all theory. And Saturn isn't. Saturn is the hallmark symbol of reality and consequence, earning and reward. We all can get equally inspired as lost when Saturn enters Libra and exposes us to that 'altenative reality' posed by Black Hole M87.

Once Saturn went direct on May 30th, we started having to deal with the difference between our inner and outer life structures. That's just the difference between  retrograde and direct motion. Direct motion is about external experiences and learning from what we encounter and do; retrogrades are a time for internal reflection, consolidation, restructuring and (possibly!) cleaning house and/or getting straight with ourselves.

But once Saturn went direct, all that you had or hadn't done was then brought into 'world parlance' - hence your being taken on about things you may not have dealt with and new clues of what needed doing. On top of that, life would have begun handing new new input to consider and deal with.

All that since the end of May came upon us.

This end-of-May thing is also where that 'backward number' thing came into play: because all the points Venus was in conjunction with were (except for Rhadamanthus) numerically lower than Venus (at 18 Libra), they would represent things already done by the time we realized the full meaning of whatever we did, set up or went through.

Some of it was probably right, good and proper. Other parts...? You do recall that old expression 'act in haste, repent at leisure'? I'm rather sure it was a Saturn scribe which came up with that one!

So with all that now bundled into our psyches we now arrive at Saturn committing to a full time, two-year transit of Libra, starting with another reality shift as we pass black hole M87 - and don't expect that to clear up and fade away until mid-August.

Saturn's 2010 Libra Ingress

 

The starting point now has Saturn positioned conjunct Panacea, suggesting a 'let's make this better' point. Think peacemaking...and pouring oil on troubled waters. And being confronted with the need to do so. That may, in fact, be the biggest part of the month in a black-hole: the realization of what we didn't know or didn't see. And what that says about us, that may be the crux of our shift. We may have been so sure about ourselves and now...a least for the next little while, maybe we just aren't so sure. A whole new point of view on ourselves may be dawning. Or maybe it's about the world. Or possibilities. Or what matters. It's all up for grabs.

The one thing you may be sure of is that being in Libra, this black hole concerns how life isn't just about us.
 
Looking back we get these messages: asteroid Lilith at 'critical' 29 Virgo indicates a critical matter which you really don't want to look at in yourself. Or criticism headed your way. Or feeling bad about something you think you should have known (seen, done differently, etc.) 

Echo at 28 Virgo says you should stop parroting what you have been told. It's time to be our own people in our own life lest we get reduced to an echo of our possible selves.

MakeMake at 25 Virgo tells us that we have an enormous and fertile potential to make things happen which are useful to others as well as ourselves and that it is through focusing on how we relate to others that we actually achieve a lasting and satisfying grasp on how life works - and thus how to achieve happiness.

Remember - all these 'descriptor' points are in Virgo's 3rd decanate (the last third of the sign, degrees 20 thru 29). Any time we see symbols in this 3rd decan we know that our success only happens when we are approved of and are thus supported by our greater social circle and/or society. Stopping to think, this totally underscores Saturn's shift into the public sector, telling us that we are the causal drive which produces reactions, good and bad. Our disappointments are thus because we are disappointing to others; our happiness comes from being the person others want to make happy.

To finish up here, the oppositional signature is Lust (fixation), Hebe (service), Uranus (change) Jupiter (growth) and that pain the bad reptuation, Scheat (disapproval). And because these symbols all appear in opposition, they represent things you now face.

So what are you going to do? That would be the Saturn question. You can hide, you can retreat, or you can accept the responsibility for your life and who you are. Those are generally the Saturn choices - all of which are made in the finite Saturn clarity of our having only so much time to be who we are in this life and on this Earth.

Change is on its way. With every moment, Saturn edges closer to the event horizon (edge) and into the realm of Black Hole M87: the shift of personal reality. You can either use it to your benefit and utilize this time to perform a 'virtual cleansing' of your soul, or you can lose yourself to your own lesser nature...which would simply be you not own up to the reality of your personal Saturn truths. 

Sometimes our greatest achievement is simply learning to be okay with ourselves. We have our given lifetime. What we deem worthwhile, whether temporal or lasting is in the end, entirely up to us.

An Anniversary: Man Lands on the Moon

"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

These few words marked a huge change in human history. Man had left Mother Earth and stood on a different celestial body.

The date was July 20, 1969 (20:17:40 UT) and the chart for this event is both interesting and sobering in that it shows Uranus and Jupiter at zero Libra - almost exactly opposite the postion they are today (you may remember both planets entering Aries: Uranus in late may and Jupiter in early June of this year).

Whatever your politics and opinions on space travel, the unity of Uranus and Jupiter at zero Libra is a huge astrological statement. Libra is the sign about who we show ourselves to be. In this case, nobody was there watching, so this was greatly a statement BY mankind TO mankind about what we are truly capable of, as echoed by Pallas (wisdom) standing at 26 Sagittarius - location of our own galaxy's black hole core and a postion well known as being about giving to the world...or as they say in films, 'beyond.'

With supermassive Black Hole M87 standing at 1 Libra, this Uranus/Jupiter is at the point of 'falling across the singularity' - a singularity being the name of a black hole's edge. Thus this is a picture of humankind being drawn into the 'alternative reality' represented by any black hole: it's a moment of inexorable wonder as we grasp ourselves capable of being truly part of a universe so vast as to boggle the imagination.

The Moon here - representing the body and spirit of mankind stands in a late minute of 7 Libra, a degree fraught with the profound challenge of understanding what love and power and existence really mean. That it is conjunct Diadem (the crowning glory) and Polyhymnia (happiness) expresses well the elation of that moment. But with Diadem having been at that time positioned at 8 Libra, the 'widow's degree' we also get a very clear message that for all the glory of the achievement, mankind is still aware of feeling very alone in this universe.

And how maybe we are most in mourning for our own ability to be loved and respected by our own kind. Libra is a sign all about respect and honesty - and given the enormity of this moment, that not decades later it would be questioned, even marketed as a hoax is a sad thing indeed. Can we not as a race simply accept our achievements?

Pictured by Eris (discord) conjunct Sappho (universality) in a challenging opposition to Moon-Diadem-Polyhymnia, apparently not. Does one person's joy always HAVE to earn denigration? In this picture, the Libra Moon's connection to a Gemini Venus conjunct Nessus (poisonous jealousy) and Hebe (service to/of others) in a degree prone to confusion or confusing the issue suggests the real issue is projection.

In other words, who is making that accusation and why do they feel it so necessary an accusation to make?

This again brings us back to Libra's hallmark 'cause-effect' in the world of human relations and relative peace - or lack thereof. This is particularly important now as Saturn is poised to commit to its transit of Libra and the juxtaposition of these events is so acute as to suggest a metaphysical tie reminding us that one of the first and most important rules of human psychology...sadly...is that we will always (always!) accuse others of our own worst fault. The jealous will accuse others of jealousy, the materialistic will accuse others of materialism - and so on.

This chart is certainly one for us to reflect on. In the forty-one years since Neil Armstrong took that 'one step for all mankind' Jupiter and Uranus have moved to the opposite (Aries) pole of their synodic (interactive) zodiacal cycle. And here we all are dealing with floods, famines, wars and disastrous oil spils.

We took one big step for mankind, yes. But apparently that step wasn't big enough. Let's hope that in the next forty-one years we right some of our own ineptitudes and attitudes. This planet is bigger than we are. We talk about hurting the planet but the reality of it is we aren't hurting the planet, we're hurting our own ability to LIVE on this planet.

That's the crux of Aries. And as Saturn moves into Libra we may be sure that we are going to hear much more about that. Jealousy means nothing when compared to the very survival of life.  

As the Zen masters say...walk on.

Or to quote Toy Story's Buzz Lightyear, 'to infinity...and beyond!'

Our infinity started with that first step on the Moon. Where will we go from there?