Mercury in Pisces / Juno Direct

Harbour City Ocean Terminal, Hong Kong

(photo credit: OTnig17, June 2009)

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With asteroid Lilith having just gone retrograde and the Sun still in Pisces, to have Mercury entering Pisces could seem a bit ... redundant. After all, Lilith refers to not wanting to know (or see, or hear, or ...) and Mercury in Pisces, while very sensitive and often representative of artistic (or just arty) instincts can also speak to lack of clarity driven by a softened mental underbelly.

Of course Mercury in Pisces can also be about understanding our own feelings and why we feel as we do about things. Pisces is a sign all about emotions, be they the thing which prompts us to feel and thus teaches us through what we learn about through ‘feeling it’ ... or that which prompts us to run away from something or someone - or even our feelings, despite the fact that we know the choice is to face those feelings or pay the price for not having done so.

People talk about the ‘deliciousness’ of emotional threats under Scorpio, Scorpio being a sign about interactive emotional tussles and struggles, be they in the bedroom, the boardroom, with the bank or on the battlefield. With Scorpio, that drive to get what you want from something or some situation spurs us on and gets us to tolerate risk ... sometimes to our own detriment, yes. But we tolerate it anyway.

But with Pisces, no one talks about any deliciousness, as Pisces (and 12th house matters in your personal chart) are where we have no one to look to but our Self - and in the emotional realm, that means being left to deal with our own emotions, which whether those emotions are elation or grief isn’t our favorite human way to live. It is educational and informative? Do we learn a lot about ourselves? Absolutely. But do we enjoy learning it?

That probably depends on how you feel about having been put in a position to learn those lessons - which is merely another way of saying the lesson itself is about feeling.

As a symbol, Mercury is about sorting, finding, assembling, organizing, deciding, interpreting, understanding, communicating the designing. We think of these ‘Mercury processes’ as defining, as clarifying, as all those things which assist us in the comprehending of life and the operating of our life in this daily lifestyle world. So to have this mercurial energy put into a Pisces realm means putting Mercury’s mental orientation (mental faculties being the means through which Mercury functions are initiated) into an emotional mode which isn’t as crispy clear as it would be if it wasn’t as emotional. Or which excels through the expressing of emotionality, whether in a conversation or in the forming of, or creating of something expressive of emotions and emotionality.

Mercury in Pisces can mean a focus on things which are emotional, which promote or provoke our feelings - or on the whole subject of emotions, plus and minus, as a whole. And because that emotionality (or the subject of emotions) tends to cause other things to stop until those emotions are either enjoyed, worked through or tended to, Mercury is said to be less ‘efficient’ in Pisces than at other times. It’s not that Mercury in Pisces can’t be artistic and wonderful - it’s just that those moments tend to sidetrack us from what we otherwise might want to be doing, which as a whole speaks to our tendency as human beings to prioritize accomplishment over feelings, and perhaps our human need to do just that, lest we not accomplish or take care of what needs to get done.

Part of Pisces’ formidable reputation in fact has to do with just this: the fact that we know ... how as humans we understand on some instinctual level that though we are, from birth to death, emotional beings under every circumstance.

Without those emotions (or properly functional emotions) life is nothing but the stuff of nightmares.

And yet, those feelings can so easily overwhelm us.

We know this is the nature of mortality, this helplessness which at moments leads us into and then leaves us at the mercy of our most unbridled nature. So we fall ‘helplessly’ into love and we spiral haplessly into despair.

And when that happens - when anything Piscean overwhelms us, we have to have faith that we’ll come through it all intact. We think our way through these times by having faith - which in essence is our mental Mercury model operating in an egoless modality.

Pisces demands a lack of ego. That which we tackle under Pisces benefits us only when we employ it in a manner which initially benefits many, or which is ‘in tune with’ accepted and established human experience. Any planet in Pisces (or your natal 12th house) is going to function this way and ‘pick up on’ this sort of notion - which means that whenever Mercury transits Pisces, the whole of our world shifts, or is made to shift (though things which arise at that time) into a mode where we either recognize the importance of broad-based, feeling thinking and proceed on that basis, or when we face situations which in ‘raising the stakes’ get us to stop thinking in such temporal and ego-driven (“how I prefer to think of it”) sorts of terms.

Mercury will enter Pisces on March 13th at 3:53 in the morning (UT/+0) - one day before Saturn, astrology’s symbol of time, responsibility, facts, achievement, commitment and consequences goes into retrograde at 4 Sagittarius. This being Mercury entering Pisces in metaphysical square to Saturn’s position, some sort of ‘conflict’ is being cited (in general, if not in specific) - which may turn out very productively ,as this is a combination known for ‘holding the line’ and discipline. With the Mercury side of this in feeling Pisces, there may be an ‘emotional penalty’ for something, making this a time which could be filled with regret, but which holds equal promise (providing there’s sufficient Saturn reality in the mix) and which may also become one where apologies get made as someone comes to realize something is wrong, missing - or maybe just not working out the way they thought it would.

With both of these emblems being in mutable signs (signs which learn as they go) this is a good time for discussions, especially discussions which are by their nature ‘touchy’ and which will benefit from a ‘laying out the facts’ providing there is no condemnation or finger-pointing as part of the process. High rhetoric and dramatic statements can be made providing they’re merely an expression of how we feel (or how we don’t like feeling) but accusations and ‘blame-laying’ should be avoided in any situation where we really want to make headway or accomplish anything, as poking (Pisces) feelings under this sort of influence will result in defensive stonewalling (some of it quite fierce) more often than we’d like it to - which would be a Mercury in Pisces tender-versus-tenderized ego issue, don’t you know...!

The height (or greatest intensity) of this Mercury-Saturn square happens as Mercury conjuncts Saturn on Sunday, March 15th. And as Mercury won’t be out of Saturn’s range (the five degree orb of aspect)  to Saturn until Thursday, March 19th, considering Saturn’s March 14th station (which formally extends through the 16th and for some will be felt beyond that) these middle weeks of March are likely to be ‘a moment’ to be sure - with many of us carrying ideas into or forward from this time as the means or motivation through which we will operate pretty much for the balance of the month.

(Or at least until Mercury moves on into Aries as of March 31st, that is.)

And it’s also probably worth noting - for the record, if nothing else - that as Mercury and Saturn come into full and exact square, that will mean Mercury is at 4 Pisces ... the position of fixed and royal star Fomalhaut.

Fixed star Fomalhaut amidst its cloud of interstellar dust

(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

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Astrology’s ‘fixed stars’ (named ‘fixed’ by ancients to differentiate them from the ‘wandering stars’ we now call planets) function greatly as ‘backdrops’ against which other things happen (or seem important or unimportant, depending) or are perceived in life. There is an obvious exception to this ‘rule,’ and that’s about the fixed stars which may be conjunct your natal planets - those tend to be, become or manifest as part-and-parcel of how that planetary symbol functions.

But in this instance? If Mercury just wandered into Pisces (which it does on a yearly basis) and conjuncted Fomalhaut, we would be talking about the ‘purity’ or integrity of our thinking, our ideas and whatever we’re telling others - and ourselves (don’t forget that part!). But here we have Mercury transiting Pisces on a “mundane” or global basis ... (and yes, whoever decided on ‘mundane’ as an astrological term pertaining to daily life was either seriously into understatement or not thinking about Pisces at the time). On the universal level, Mercury conjunct Fomalhaut is all about how our thoughts, our plans and our positions measure up with those of society, history, and general humanity. So wherever we’re out of sync with any of those ‘measures’ we will experience negatives or negativity - and wherever we’re in sync, we’ll feel hopeful and like we’re headed in the right direction.

Or at least a better direction.

And if we aren’t in sync, well ... we may not like having to change our mind or change how we’re acting or who we’re associating with or what our aims or attitudes are, but perhaps we see we should. That’s where Fomalhaut comes in. Fomalhaut is that hidden ‘quirk’ in our brain, in our soul, in our times which guarantees that which isn’t whole, that which is corrupted or corruptive, that which isn’t true or good ... Fomalhaut comes into our life as that which we do unconsciously, or in how we aren’t received by others or by our world which causes us to see or experience that downfall, that comeuppance, that failure or feeling of loss which is really about having not done the right thing, trading honest opportunity for some fantasy which wasn’t ever going to pan out, maybe not because it couldn’t be ... but in the end because despite all that we have done, even we knew that it wouldn’t be.

Or even perhaps shouldn’t be.

Then there’s a little plot-thickening additive guaranteed to make this all a little more interesting (and for some, considering Mercury’s position in Pisces, somewhat more dramatic) called Juno direct. And while this isn’t necessarily the guarantee that we’ll all be in for an astrological soap opera, that Juno is going direct at 3 Leo puts its station in trine to that of Saturn and inconjunct to Mercury does inject some inconvenience into the mix.

Some of that we will experience as that ‘touchiness’ mentioned above: Juno operates as a ‘managing’ force and once Mercury gets into early Pisces degrees just the shifting into ‘emotional mode’ is going to catch a few off us off-guard. Or for you something may happen which causes you to throw up your hands and say ‘why me?’ ... or ‘why now?’ ... or ‘could something just not go right today?’

(Yes, we all have those seriously annoying moments, days and times in life - and some of them are probably associated with Mercury/Saturn squares, since combinations of our great ideas with life’s realities doesn’t always end up in glee.)

To be more exact here, during the period when Mercury is between 1 and 5 Pisces it will be in an inconjunct to Juno, pointing to making things work and (of course, as part of that) encountering that which doesn’t work ... even that which because of what we say or do in the moment gets worse or better as we encounter the ‘adjusting’ energy of the inconjunct. That period of time begins late on March 13th and ends during the latter part of March 15th (in the UT/+0 zone), embracing the whole of the 14th when Saturn goes retrograde - another sign of ‘pulling in’ or ‘putting the brakes on’ something, whether that’s about truly pulling back or ending (i.e., stopping, limiting) your willingness or ability to not do something.

Despite that, this isn’t necessarily an end to anything. In going direct at 3 Leo Juno warns us not to go too far, but warns with equal ... maybe even greater fervor that it is our ability to connect to others and the being accepted by them for who we are and what we have to give and gift life - and our Self - with the ability to do which ultimately spells success ... that in our individual life, and that of the society or world around us. All sides of all conversations will be tested now - as much for their willingness to listen and hear as anything else. Saturn being in the equations of both objects which are “making their move” on this date speaks to the fact that nothing is ‘over and done’ unless we prevent it from evolving - in real time or in our minds as necessary. There will no doubt be some attempts to narrow discussions and block out anything “inconvenient” (read: emotionally inconvenient) during these weeks, and some such efforts may be successful - at least in the short run.

Yet where we find Saturn ... whenever we find Saturn in an astrological ‘equation’ we also know that growth is not in the moment, but over time - and how when we see Saturn as part something which does get narrowed beyond full usefulness there is some sort of (ego driven) fear which will ultimately be set aside or grown through.

It just takes time ... which with Mercury transiting Pisces may not be our favorite piece of news, but which we will like as not deal with and manage - if for no other reason than with a solar eclipse closing in and Juno’s turn to direct at 3 Leo we are closing in a better glimpse of a truer image of Self.

And that image is probably not entirely consistent with where we are in life right now ... which as Mercury moves through Pisces we will probably find worth thinking about because for whatever reason we find ourselves at a place where we know we will feel better simply for the doing so.
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Eclipse Notes: Aspects, Effects and Returns

A circumhorizontal arc - an optical phenomenon caued by ice crystals in high level cirrus clouds

(photo credit Jeff Kubina, June 2007)

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Eclipses are funny astrological beasts. Sometimes they time out some very fun times - particularly if you’re talking about a lunar eclipse, as lunar eclipses (like all things lunar) tend to be ‘framed’ by feeling where solar eclipses, as emotional a time as they may indicate, are more focused on lifestyle and evolutionary life events than any particular emotional goal, needs or fervent hope. Plus lunar eclipses tend to be prompt. That is, with a lunar eclipse the effects are immediate - and if the eclipse aspects your chart with any acuity - often memorable.

But the emotional ‘high’...? Those effects tend to be relatively short-lived. Three months is pretty much the standard duration - which may be disappointing when all is bliss but rather reassuring when events which time with a lunar eclipse go really and truly bad.

Solar eclipses, on the other hand, are less defined - and they’re curiously reflective of the process of an eclipse. The Sun represents life. Or ‘illumination’ as in understanding and inner clarity. And when an eclipse happens, the Moon - a satellite which is closer to Terra Earth than the Sun is - that Moon intervenes...which metaphysically is what happens with a solar eclipse: something about life (yours, or life in general) ‘blacks out’ your sense of understanding. Or your ability to ‘shine.’

Yet solar eclipses aren’t metaphysically ‘cruel’ or about 'failure' even if they’re often challenging and in sync with losses and mistakes. Indeed, lore teaches that eclipses are about causing us to shed something we may or may not like or prefer - and even which we may have stuck with/invested ourselves in over many a year. But in some way...and at some level, that loss, that change, whatever else it may be is also about eliminating something which in some way is now keeping us from being that person we are capable of being going forward.

And why aren’t we that person? Well... you know.,.. it may just be easier to keep on doing (saying, thinking, acting) in a manner which ‘settles’ when it comes to our capacity? Or maybe we're just doing what has worked well enough for us over a lot of years.

On a metaphysical level, whatever our reasons are they’re excuses. Very human and perhaps heartfelt excuses, but (metaphysically) excuses, nonetheless. And those ‘excuses’ or those singular or many ways of ‘escaping’ our true capacity (read: the truth of our Self and who we really are) are what solar eclipses tend to affect. Generally effects are neither subtle nor convenient - and in that last bit (in particular) are seldom entirely to our liking. In fact, any solar eclipse which aspects your natal chart with acuity will manifest as some sort of situation which includes some degree of being (and feeling) at a lack for control.

And that would happen why?

That would happen because you are letting go of that thing you feel so comfortable doing, being surrounded by or feeling part of (etcetera).

You’re in free-fall with/within your Self, without being able to fasten on some inner (Sun) knowing.

 Shown as calculated for the October 2014 solar eclipse at 0 Scorpio,

the five degree orb of aspect surrounding the conjunction.

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With the conjunction (an aspect which extends to five degrees in either direction from the eclipse), eclipse effects are very personal. They’re about our life and how we perceive it - for better and for worse. (And maybe both.) Whatever planet, axis or other point is being conjuncted, the eclipse will manifest through whatever ‘flavor’ is exhibited by that combination of point and sign, making the conjuncting eclipse something along the lines of transformative tofu.

 Shown as calculated for the October 2014 solar eclipse at 0 Scorpio,

there is a three degree (plus/minus) orb of aspect surrounding the sixty (60)

degree standard sextile aspect which from 0 Scorpio would occur at 0 Virgo

and Capricorn, respectively.

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As opposed to this, the eclipse-by-sextile (the sextile being a 60-degree aspect) is the signature of opportunities lost... or about to be found, depending on how you come into any given eclipse period.

Sextiles seldom exhibit requirement or necessity, however positive they may be - and that can be a positive where utilization of a natural ability or talent - the ‘voicing’ of it gets involved. On the other hand, having an eclipse aspecting your chart by sextile can represent the ‘blacking out’ or elimination or destruction of some avenue or choice - or some opportunity you may have had. In such, eclipse energies sometimes seem like Pluto, which tends to point to a ‘transformation’ which reverses existent to non-existent (and vice-versa) depending on where, how and what in the chart is aspected.

But eclipses aren’t Pluto. Eclipse effects differ from those regarding Pluto in that Pluto manifestations tend to apply to our personal feelings - the why we’re feeling them, whether we have any right-minded reason to feel that way and whether such emotional drives (cravings, desires, aims) are safe or dangerous in practice or theory. Against that, eclipses are more ‘situational.’ Yes, they can (and sometimes do) manifest as a physical illness or accident. But the ‘eclipse factor’ in that mix is about how our lives are changed by the eclipse and thus all about how we need to change who we are being or how we are going about doing what we’re doing (or living our life) in order to take best advantage of some challenge... or simply in order to cope.
As with most things astrological, the greatest challenges, problems and gains are associated with the squares and as with sextiles, trines, semi-sextiles and inconjuncts (aka quincunxes), there are two different squares to consider. The first is the ‘departing square’ (or departing whatever other aspect) - a reference to the idea that the ‘event’ (in this case, an eclipse) is occurring within a three-degree orb of sixty degrees from whatever natal chart point you want to consider.

ASPECT EXAMPLES: The October 2014 solar eclipse will be at 0 Scorpio and the October 2014 lunar eclipse will occur under the sign of Aries. If this position is within the three-degree orb of sextile to some point in your natal chart (which would be in Virgo for the solar eclipse and in Aquarius for the lunar eclipse), then your chart is being eclipsed by sextile.

Do you have a point within five degrees (plus or minus) of 0 Leo - which is to say between 25 Cancer and 5 Leo? If so, that point is being eclipsed by square - and because from Leo to Scorpio is moving forward through the zodiac, that is referred to as a “departing” (i.e., from the point in your chart) square...and conversely, were it ‘behind’ in astrological/zodiacal order, that would be the approaching square.

Departing aspects are about something wanting to be built, developed or utilized as a point of personal growth. 

Conversely, approaching aspects are about finishing, completing or achieving something. When a solar eclipse occurs in a position to eclipse that departing momentum, that aim or the ability to pursue that aim changes - often dramatically - either for better or worse. When a lunar eclipse hits at the departing aspect (or within orb of it), something dramatic may well happen - but in the end the aim itself generally remains ‘out there.’ No, it may not work as we thought it would and depending on the natal point(s) being eclipsed the experience may no longer be desirable.

But it’s there. That’s the difference between lunar and solar eclipses: where the Moon symbolizes all things which elicit or reward our feelings, the Sun refers to life itself and therefore things we have to learn about and contend with.

 With the October 2014 solar eclipse at 0 Scorpio, the two squares will occur in Leo

and Aquarius. Given that squares are given five (5) degree standard orb, this means

these squares start at 25 Cancer or Capricorn and end at 5 degrees of Leo

and Aquarius.

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Squares pose particular questions and challenge our sense of balance. A square successfully handled requires that we both accept limitations and our responsibilities to act, embrace and balance qualities which differ against each other whether those qualities are intrinsically ours or exist with regards to something we are doing or attempting to accomplish. To have one’s chart eclipsed by square poses a challenge - one from which we will (generally) prefer to retreat out of a sense of being thrown ‘off balance’ or because something we had counted on (or believed in) has been removed, eliminated or proven invalid.

 Oppositions also get a five (5) degree standard orb, which puts the opposition to

October 2014's 0 Scorpio solar eclipse at 0 Taurus and the extent of opposition

orb between 25 Aries and 5 Taurus.

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Oppositions differ from squares by being a flat-out confrontation. Sometimes that’s with others or something in or about our overall life and sometimes that’s with ourselves as we belly up to the mental bar and come to grips with something about our Self or our assumptions.

When we experience an eclipse by opposition, something (or someone) either vanishes from our life (which could be as simple as their changing jobs and no longer being part of our workday) or as we become ‘confronted’ with a need to be or do something and all it is going to take to deal with that. Eclipses by opposition often reveal qualities about our Self which we have either been ignorant of or unperturbed by so long as they didn’t cause problems...which (voila!) the eclipse period provides feedback on.

 Like oppositions, trines also get a five (5) degree standard orb. Unlike oppositions

however, trines do have departing and approaching formats, giving us a departing

trine to the October 2014 Scorpio solar eclipse with a position of 0 Pisces (and thus

an orb of affect between 25 Aquarius and 5 Pisces) and an approaching trine

between 25 Gemini and 5 Cancer.

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Having some point in your chart be eclipsed by trine is to not be able to ‘escape’ some process which is continuing to alter whatever attribute is being described by the planet/symbol being trined. Less of an obvious ‘hit’ to your life or lifestyle than the the conjunction, getting eclipsed-by-trine is potent enough to keep us on track with necessities and highly likely to eliminate a sense of personal ease (or a willingness to ‘take it easy’).

So much for trines being all pleasant, eh?

Two last aspects, which are by nature the inverse of each other: the 30-degree semi-sextile and the 150-degree OR 210-degree inconjunct or quincunx.

(above) Like trines, squares and sextiles, both semi-sextiles and inconjuncts have

approaching and departing and approaching formats. However, unlike any of those

aspects, semi-sextiles and inconjuncts are most useful when the orb is kept limited

- often to an orb as small as one and one-half (1 1/2) degrees. This gives us semi-

sextiles to the October 2014 0 Scorpio eclipse (0 Scorpio 25, to be exact) at

0 Sagittarius and Libra with orbs allowing for effects between 29 Scorpio and

2 Sagittarius or 29 Virgo and 2 Libra... and inconjunct positions at 0 Aries and

Gemini with effects extending to between 29 Pisces and 2 Aries and/or

29 Taurus and 2 Gemini.

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Put in simplest terms, the semi-sextile is about getting past our own feelings while the inconjunct is about our personal feelings about what it takes to adapt to being part of a group, system or process. In other words, they’re both about adjusting to what we feel or think about things it’s just that the semi-sextile process is more about a conversation in our head we have to work through (mostly) on our own where the inconjunct is about something outside of our Self. Either way, when eclipsed both of these points tend to speak to responsibilities and how we respond (or sometimes more to the point, how we don’t respond) to the standards, morals and ethics of responsibility.

As noted, lunar eclipses tend to have a duration of around three months. By the end of that time the ‘heat’ of our feelings will have cooled and we will have learned a lot - most of all about our Self. Solar eclipses however, run a longer course. Instead of three months their duration is three years, which may well mean that we will at times be under several overlapping eclipse cycles. Also: at about two-and-one-half years after the eclipse itself things tend to surface or happen. Whatever occurs, it could not have happened or we would not have been in a position to care or take advantage of this opportunity or information had we NOT gone through whatever happened at the time of the eclipse.

That may be the most interesting thing of all about solar eclipses - whatever else they are, solar eclipses are also a rather ultimate form of the ‘delayed gratitude’ lesson... a lesson which perhaps is meant to teach us to handle the moment and to recognize life has much, much more to offer if we will just keep walking, whether that’s physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually.

RETURNS: The one exception to the (above) statements made about how long eclipses last concerns personal returns. If an eclipse - either solar or lunar - occurs within five (5) calendar days of EITHER your birthday (i.e., your yearly solar return) or your monthly lunar return, eclipse effects will be far more pronounced. If the eclipse occurs within five days of your personal/monthly lunar return, get your emotional raincoat on, particularly during the first month after the lunar eclipse. Whether effects taper off over the next few months as they normally would depends on your natal chart - most specifically the astrological ‘condition’ of your natal Moon plus whatever point the eclipse is in aspect to.

However, if an eclipse - solar or lunar - occurs within five (5) calendar days of your solar return (birthday), those eclipse effects can be expected to (lunar eclipse) last... and indeed (solar eclipse) dominate the whole of your solar/birthday year.

We just can’t say this often enough - and this is actually one of the biggest of big markers astrologers look for. A lunar eclipse around the date of your birthday can speak to a year which will have lots of ups and maybe an equal amount of downs and will often mark dramatic changes of circumstance, mindset or heart (personal or otherwise) over the course of that year, but a solar eclipse around the date of your birthday speaks to a year which could (just possibly) change the charted course of your life - or your ability to have the life you’ve worked long and hard to chart out for yourself.

Mind you, an eclipse around the date of your birthday is NOT enough to predict tragedy. I mention this here because people tend to jump to conclusions about such things. So please understand: even if an astrologer sees a solar or lunar eclipse around the date of your birthday it’s no sign of doom.

In fact, it’s a sign of an opportunity. No, everything may not be the way you want it to be. But that’s the point. Life is bigger than any of us know and we can’t know how to define all the possibilities.

Sometimes something has to break down the walls and lift our cherished veils so that we can grow, so that we can learn differently, so that we can move beyond our previous conceptions, realizing even as we witness eclipse dramas in the sky how we are  part of something miraculous... something vast and ever-changing and truly universal.

Maybe that’s why eclipses fascinate us so.   


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Saturn inconjunct Uranus: Reality as a Reason to Change

A photo of Saturn showing a giant storm in Saturn's northern hemisphere

(photo credit: NASA/Cassini - December 24, 2010)

As planets cycle around the Sun, they come to moments when they strike angles to each other, which metaphysically describes periods when the whole world seems caught up in some ‘mood.’

In this case, Saturn is inconjuncting Uranus. Inconjuncts (also known as ‘quincunxes’) are 150-degree angles which come in two…um…we’ll call them “flavors.”

The reason why there are two variations on this theme is pretty obvious if you think it through…

And yes, there is a difference between one flavor of inconjunct and the other. But they’re both based in the same idea: adjustment. Whichever way you go, adjustment is required.

So we have two rules to apply here. The first (and generally more basic) is which is the faster moving planet? Since in real-time motion, that planet will be “catching up with” the other (in theory, of course!) that planet is applying the force that the ideals, aims and energies typified by the other planet will have to adjust to.

Since we’re talking about Saturn and Uranus here, that makes Saturn is the adjuster and Uranus (and all things Uranian) the adjustee (as it were!).

The net of this? The net here is that the whole of the period between November 4th and November 27th is going to effectively be a very Saturn-inconjunct-Uranus period.

The technicals here are as follows: Saturn comes within the 1.5 degrees orb (of allowance) to ‘inconjunct range’ to Uranus on November 4th. The inconjunct between Saturn and Uranus ‘perfects’ on November 16th. And Saturn (which is direct motion) exits the 1.5 inconjunct orb-allowance to Uranus on November 27th.

The last time this ‘discomforting’ relationship occurred between these two planets was back in July/August 2006. I don’t know where you were or what you were doing, but I do recall that as a period of time which while perhaps not quite as raucous or contentious as the one we’re in right now was nevertheless rather snarky.

If you want to know what the astrological indicator would be as to why our current Saturn-Uranus inconjunct is so unsettled and unsettling, my first answer would be “Pluto’s conjuncting Facies. Isn’t it a frolic?” (Not!)

But my second would be about the signs Saturn and Uranus were in at that time: Saturn was in Leo (not Saturn’s most graceful position, but workable!) and Uranus was in Pisces. This combination – on both sides – would have engendered some degree of instinctual ‘trying to hold it together,’ particularly as Pisces is all about that underlying emotionalism which at pretty much all costs we try to not contend with.

Uranus in Pisces (the basic dates for which are March 2003 – May 2011) was a very ‘emotionally escapist’ time. There was a lot of looking the other way, a lot of ‘oh, that won’t happen!’ and a whole lot of rose-colored glasses thinking going on. The Uranian tendency to separate the reality from the theory worked rather well with the side of Pisces which doesn’t want to feel the feelings which go along with life’s hard-and-fast truths. There was a lot of substituting of theory (and beliefs) for reality which took hold in this time.

And now we are getting our next celestial lesson in how that does and doesn’t work according to the signs Saturn and Uranus are now in.

Call it ‘how we will deal with realty 2012-style.’

  In Greek mythology, Ouranos (from which we get the name 'Uranus') is the wide open sky and Saturn is one of Ouranos' children. As you can tell in this painting 'The Castration of Ouranos by Cronos' by Georgia Vasari and Cristofano Gherardi (c 1560) where Cronos is the embodiment of 'time' and time is Saturn, we can tell that this is far from a happy primeval family.

With Saturn in Scorpio, as we have been saying, there is a necessity to care about the ‘other guy’s needs (wants, aims). And the difficulty? That’s pretty simple: nobody likes being told what to do or how to do it.

Depending on what sign and house your natal Saturn is in, you have a set of goals and standards within which you live. Call them boundaries, call them expectations…whether they’re cultural, parental, peer-group or dreamed up in your own substantial noggin, they are what they are.

Saturn in Scorpio is all about testing those standards. And no matter where your Saturn is natally, that feels either like a challenge…or like your belief system (see: Saturn/Uranus 2006) is being challenged. Either way, that’s a lot of work and a lot of soul searching. Saturn represents our ability to build…and our tendency to build walls. One is expansive and one is self-limiting. And whoever you are, this November is going to test those concepts at a level you will be aware of.

Remember – planets don’t just strike a harmonic then let it go. Life presents a problem or a challenge and we take it on (or slough it off) and go on dealing with those results for a good long time, tinkering and (yes) adjusting as we go.

As far as that goes, this particular Saturn/Uranus inconjunct is going to revisit us in September/October of 2013. By then, while both still in the same time, Uranus will be (again in retrograde) inching back out of 2nd decanate (emotional) degrees into change-what-you’re-doing/who you are 1st decan degrees as Saturn (in direct motion) is moving from Scorpio’s 1st decan personal/action degrees into the Scorpio uber-test of our emotional ability to deal with stability-instability/certainty-uncertainty which is Scorpio’s 2nd decanate.

Oh joy, oh rapture, right?

That Uranus is currently in the first decanate of “I Am” Aries has given us a lot of ‘trying out new things’ and changes of stance or direction (which may explain a lot). And much of that is good – Uranus in Aries is absolutely all about changing your Self, your sense of self, your direction in life and/or how you’re going about trying to reach your various aims and goals.

The test here really is why. Speaking as an American it’s an interesting fact (or factoid, depending on how interesting you really find it to be) that as soon as Saturn entered Scorpio back on October 5th, politicians on both sides of the aisle started shifting some public positions. (Or at least how they were presenting those public positions!)

 1000 Cubes by Nevit Dilmen (2002)

And this makes sense. They were trying to find ways to reach the people and create cohesion among/with voters, which would be entirely Saturn in Scorpio. After all, whether you believe them or not, whether you like their positions or not, the shift of tactic is very Scorpio. And their efforts are very Saturn - as is the job of President they're trying to secure.

The changes...and that they may be saying they're the person who can create change? That's entirely Uranus (change) in the "I Am" sign of Aries.

And the adjusting of positions? Or their assertions that we should adjust how we see or do things? That's very much the essence of Saturn inconjunct Uranus.

Mind you, there are astrologers who work full-time with what’s known as ‘Greek Whole Sign Astrology.’ Such astrologers just look at planets in signs - wherever they are in that sign, saying ‘for the whole of the time that those planets are in those signs, the RELATIONSHIP holds.’

And that does seem to hold merit. After all, the candidates (and maybe many of us) shifted our positions pretty much as soon as Saturn moved into Scorpio.

But there's something very much also to be said about planets being in aspect. Call it 'whole sign astrology on steroids' or something like that. So if you appreciated that first dose of planetary shift, you’re going to appreciate this November 4-27 shaking of our marimbas that much more.

Or maybe not. After all, Hurricane Sandy came into destructive being pretty much exactly as Saturn and Uranus came into a 3.5 degree orb of inconjunct.

The standard orb is 1.5 degrees. And personally, I work with 2.0 degrees when it comes to inconjuncts because that's where I find the effects most obvious.

Not that Superstorm Sandy wasn't obvious, no...and to be complete here here, Sandy hit the US eastern seaboard as Saturn and Uranus hit a 2.5 inconjunct orb. But  as an astrologer - specifically as someone who spends a lot of time writing and teaching to those who may not know all that much about astrology - I try as much as possible to keep things simple.

And they aren't simple, are they? But then, neither is life. Neither is our universe, or our existence.  

So looking back...what started at the end of the first week of October as a cosmic nudge has now become a blatant reality. We do need to change. We need to change what we're doing and how we're doing it. We need to change our outlook on life, what life is or can be and maybe most of all, the Aries 'me' versus the Scorpio 'all of us' of it all.

That said, ‘adjustments’ the techicals here are that we make will be based on six things:

1. Where Saturn is by sign, house and condition in your natal chart.

2. Where Uranus is by sign, house and condition in your natal chart

3. Where Scorpio and its rulers - Mars and Pluto - are in natally your chart

4. Where Aries and its ruler (Mars) is natally in your chart.

5. Current Mars (in Sagittarius) effects in your chart

6. Current Pluto (in Capricorn) effects in your chart.

Take a minute...look at your chart, whether you have it in hand or you go to a place like Astrolabe (alabe.com) or Astrodeinst (astro.com) to get it cast reliably and for free. This is the glyph you're looking for... 

The reason to look first (and foremost) for Saturn is that Saturn represents all those things which we can reach for. And that we can change, build, restructure or otherwise work on.

Next, remember that chart houses are counted from what we think of as "9 o'clock" in a counterclockwise direction.

Got it? Okay...then here are some basic basics:

IF YOUR NATAL SATURN IS IN...

1st House (or) Aries: Uranus inconjuncting Saturn says that at some level, you need to change what you do or how you're doing it. Don't think you and your efforts don't matter - they do, and you'll find that out through doing.

2nd House (or) Taurus: Don't be defensive, be proactive. It's through your relationships with others and what you learn through others that your life feels more whole, more secure and something you respect more deeply.

3rd House (or) Gemini: Your growth, your changes will come through thinking, and in terms of understanding the power of your mind. Whatever you choose as a personal standard, hold yourself to it. The more you offer others, the more you will achieve. 

4th House (or) Cancer: Your task is to build for a future which will not wait because you are afraid of that which is no more, whatever that may be. What you've learned to this point needs to be applied. Don't wait for the optimal, deal with reality. Create new opportunities.

5th House (or) Leo: During this period you may feel overwhelmed. Hopefully that will fuel your determination, as finding long term solutions which don't depend on others is important. Look to what you can do, not who you/what are. 

6th House (or) Virgo: Cut back to the truly necessary so that you have the time and energy to develop, learn about and implement that which will create a new path for you going forward. Know your limits - and those of others.

7th House (or) Libra: Be honest with yourself about what means what in life. Time counts, right? Devote yours to doing something worthwhile enough that you earn your own self respect. Such things will earn you applause - and more than that, help others, which matters to you.

8th House (or) Scorpio: You're in a period of testing when the most important thing is to prioritize. Don't let difficulties stop you. Believe it or not, what they're taking away is unneeded right now - you can succeed despite all.

9th House (or) Sagittarius: Changing values are a natural manifestation of this time. You can change what you're doing or life will change it for you. The lesson is about growth and how any given thing is but a step in your process. It's time to take another step - a hard one.

10th House (or) Capricorn: It's time to move into a more inclusive, multi-lateral, multi-faceted means of making life work. Join with others. Let others join with you. Some letting go is needed in order to move ahead.   
 

11th House (or) Aquarius: Taking on responsibilities, keeping yourself on track and not overburdening your resources is essential now - and going forward. Comfort cannot be the aim if situations are going to improve.

12th House (or) Pisces: Face your fears. Work on being as realistic as you are optimistic. Life will settle down as soon as you stop thinking some thing or person will release you and take on the challenge of freeing your own soul and feelings. 

  As photographed by Cassini, Saturn and Saturn's shadow, something of a

perfect metaphor for all those things we're afraid to 'turn around and see.'

(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

Not into looking at your chart?

Okay...if you’re not all over that, the pageant which is the US Electoral process is still giving us all a good look at how things can change.

And how things need to change.

And how we will go about trying (or attempting) to change them...and change with them.

Whoever wins this election (and that doesn't just for for the President, that goes for the President and Congress and whatever other office or propositions Americans may be voting for this year). They're all being voted in or out under this Uranus/Saturn inconjunct. So we can expect difficulties, protests, and unexpected problems with the process, and in the wake of the election.

As a matter of fact...let's see...as pertains to this election in particular...the Saturn/Uranus inconjunct will 'perfect' on November 15th (adjusting for local US time zones). That's nine days after election day, right?

That tells us that nine days, nine weeks, nine months and nine years (yes, I said years) are the points at which the choices made on this election day will surface and show their pluses and minuses. 

Meanwhile, back on the campaign trail, presidential campaigns are a good example of how this inconjunct works. Candidates may have come to a point (presumably when Saturn entered Scorpio) when they realized they wanted to change some of their rhetoric. Or when they needed to change a position or two. But when they get to that 'uh-oh' moment, there are already miles of speeches speech-ified and engrained in stone. There are acres of votes, acts and deeds already on the record books and there are those who have already decided that they each or dislike each candidate.

How to change and not alienate those folks?

It's a classic Scorpio tangle. For yes, while Scorpio asks that we find solutions which work for everybody, most of us arrive at the Scorpio situation with our wants and aims in mind. We declare ourselves by getting involved, taking a side and picking a stance.

Then we find out we may not be right. For whatever reason. We may figure out we're not even in the right arena.

It's not often the physical 'how to change' which is the Scorpio problem - that's Uranus in Aries. But the cost? Be it emotional, ethical, financial - the cost?

That's Scorpio.  

Oh yes...Saturn in Scorpio is the land of 'they’ll get me if I do that' and 'they'll hate me if I don't do that.' Emotions rise as we deal with others (and as they deal with us) and the temptation to ‘work’ the situation to our benefit or pleasure is absolutely there.

But...how to achieve all that and still be true to who we are?

That's the question. And what happens when you realize that who you 'are' is really not who you will be happy with yourself for being?

You get my Scorpio/Saturn point? 

Maybe you're reading that last and thinking ‘oh, that’s not me!’

If it isn't, congratulations. Since most of us do fall into one of those Scorpio slots, I might question that, but if it's really not you then, lucky you!

And welcome to the world of others not liking you for not being as mortal as they are.

Irregular Moons being discovered around Uranus

(photo credit: NASA-JPL)

The Saturn quality here is a question of the aim. Since Saturn is always the premise that life teaches us how to succeed in part through seeing how we deal with the reality or even just the threat of failure, Scorpio in Saturn tests our ability to navigate interactive waters with attention on keeping and even keel and eyes on the prize. That person who irritates the tar out of us is life not about how out of line or ridiculous they are, but how well we can work with or around their klunkiness.

That’s one part of ‘adjusting’ ourselves. The years of Uranus in Aries will have us all being more easily set off and excited. They’ll also be years during which we learn more about ourselves than at many an other time. So those who get in our way or who frustrate or irritate us are really teaching us perseverance, forbearance and ingenuity. Being that this is Saturn in the interactive challenge position, the test is whether we can innovate, renovate (old habits and ways of operating) and in general come up with solutions not to their idiocy, but to our tendency to get bothered and to that extent, distracted from our growth, our goals, our aims.

You know, all that Saturn stuff.

For some, Saturn passing through Scorpio will bring on a heavy dose of karma. With Uranus in Aries, this can take a very unpleasant toll on our lives – or even our physicality. Where we have neglected ourselves, November is likely to stumbling us into a wall we’ve built through neglect.

Have you overstepped your bounds? This is the kind of combination which is going to deliver the news that you have (as they say in the Peter Principle) risen to your level of incompetency.

Uranus in Aries is the kind of transit under which some people reach for things they are totally not suited to. we hope they get their fingers out of the door before life slams it shut.

Uranus in Aries is also the kind of transit which causes people to want to ignore all the rules. Arrogance bubbles to the top of their personality and society (Saturn) does a Scorpio boil-over and tells them to put a lid on it.

So we have this transit running all month long. Mercury retrograde will start under this adjusting, side-stepping, coping, frustrating, provocative influence. A solar eclipse will occur just before it perfects.
Saturn inconjuncting Uranus is going to be like an electronic hum which goes on (just about) all month long. Like any such sound, it tends to become background. We get used to its presence.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

That’s the hard part of transits like this one: we accept them and pretty much forget them. And because we do that, we tend to fall afoul of the pitfalls.

Fortunately blog posts stick around. So if someone drops a house on your foot, after you shriek OUCH and hop around for a while cussing and yelling, you’ll be able to put your foot up and come back and do some reflecting.

Which is rather the point of the transit to begin with, right?
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