Saturn Return Can Bite Me

Saturn in Leo link n' quote roundup

"These are some of the issues that those with Saturn in Leo have dealt with through the ages:

• Upstaging
• What happens if the music doesn't stop?
• Chosen. But for what?
• My Specialness: A Blessing or a Curse?
• Participation Mystique and the Myth of Omnipotence
• Creating in One's Own Image and the flip side, Loving Your Creation (Mary Bysse Shelley wrote Frankenstein when Saturn was in Leo)
• The Myth of the Golden Child, the Eternal Child, the Divine Child
• Creation, Procreation, Destruction and the Immortal Beloved
• Iconic Social Heroics
• The Power behind the Throne
• Unusual Childhood, the Myth of Childhood - early loss of father
• Feeling of Alienation from Peers and Preference for Older People
• Life as Drama ... the Mask ... and Melodrama
• A Special Imperative to Create Consciously (including the creation of other human beings)
• Belief in Education
• Mystery Writers (??)
• Theatrical, Literature, Poetry and Film endeavors

Blessings and curses:

"One prevalent theme is the idea that you have been bestowed with gifts that you MUST use. In other words, the gift comes with strings attached. it's somewhat like the little girl in The Red Shoes. Once she put on the shoes, she could not stip dancing. With Saturn in Leo talent can become obsession"

The need to create a better god:

"To have Saturn in Leo is to want to be a fiery intuitive and to want to have a God that is like the Sun God Apollo. The desire is to be special, to be gifted, and especially, to be gifted in the arts that Apollo blessed. Those would be drama, painting, singing, dance and theater.

The catch here is that although most of us would love to be kissed by the gods, it is sometimes not all it's cracked up to be."

You Think Some Great Power Failed You:

"The lights have gone out temporarily in your world and you think some great power failed or more importantly failed YOU, but what you don't realize is that YOU are the person who is supposed to relight that fire.  You are the Sun you are looking for.  You are the warmth you are looking for.  You are the Caring Creator you are looking for.  Find this out and then you can lead other men from darkness to light which is your dearest desire.  Re-Create yourself.  Create your life and then other men will follow you.  You are free to create any way you choose for you are omnipotent.

There is greatness within you.  I am reading your Saturn specifically in the 10th house.  I'm not describing greatness in some a narrow Sunday School sense, like you'll go to heaven someday if your shoes are all in a row in your closet and you never step on an insect or masturbate or hurt a girl's feelings.  Good grief.  Get on with it.  Life is an exciting adventure or it is nothing at all.

Keep a sense of humor. Keep looking until you find what it is that is great in us, in humans, in spite of all our stumbling around.

You used to try and please God because you thought that was something you could easily do (be honest with yourself, that is the truth).  When you found out it was a "crock of shit", as you describe it, now you are very afraid because you know something is really going to be asked of you.  Don't worry, you can do it!  Look in the mirror and please the only god that really matters, YOU. You are a very demanding God to please and you will not let yourself get away with anything superficial.

Every person with Saturn in Leo must in some sense or other go on this quest. When god is dead, you must resurrect him. You must do this through seeking, through asking the right questions, through rekindling your natural ability to adore and worship, sometimes beginning with yourself."

Saturn Return link n' quote roundup.

Eric Francis:

"The Saturn return presents problems for people who resist it: who pretend the changes aren't necessary, who ignore a calling, who stay in a relationship that's hurting them, or that was really over years ago, or who don't take their growth and healing seriously. For them, the Saturn return can go on for many years. So, with this transit, it's best to 'vote early and often'. Do what you have to do. As the astrologer Patric Walker once wrote, 'Saturn always gives more than it takes away'. And -- what it takes away is usually stuff we don't need anyway.

If your 10th house cusp is Leo, then you're going to have some serious Saturn action -- and it's big, because Saturn through the 10th gets some serious results where our profession is concerned.

Indeed, Saturn always gets serious results, and often those results were long in the making and can be unexpected at the time they arrive. It's the workhorse of the planetary pantheon; no job is too hard or takes too long for Saturn. The traditional counsels are patience, work, rest, and keeping your sense of humor."

More from Eric Francis:

"Generally, major life transits -- and this is one of the critical ones -- are growth processes that have phases and which call on us to make changes, and then settle down from those changes. Rarely do they seem like distinct events, though in hindsight it's possible to point to several that perhaps seemed not so obvious at the time. Because Saturn is typically about structure and the process of building, these changes often involve changes to employment, major relationships, where we live and so on. The Saturn return is the completion of one Saturn cycle: the cycle of creation and maturity. At the return, a new cycle begins, and this feeling can be very distinct and extremely positive -- even if it's a bit of a temporary struggle.

The Saturn return can seem to stretch out for three additional reasons.

Reason one is that at about age 27, there is an event in the progressed horoscope that signals the early beginning of the Saturn return -- the progressed lunar return. This is another topic entirely but suffice it to say for now that the progressed lunar return is the warmup act for the Saturn return process and gets things going.

Reason two is that many people have other planets clustered around their natal Saturn (you do not). As transiting Saturn makes conjunctions, squares or oppositions to those planets, they will begin to get Saturn-return like effects before and after Saturn's conjunction to itself, which I'll get to in a moment.

Reason three is that many people who experience the Saturn return astrologically don't actually do the work of the transit, or embrace the experience fully. As a result, it can seem to go on and on, and sometimes it never ends; that is; people into their mid to late 30s and beyond are still going through the transit over and over in their inner worlds, never really settling down from it, or coming out of it. The simple question is: have we made the changes we need to make at this time? If yes, the process will be lot easier.

And here we get into the personal growth dimension of this transit, which is of truly significant importance in the world we live in. Our world teaches us to be everything other than a mature adult. It teaches us everything other than to make decisions for ourselves. It teaches us to be dependent on others in unhealthy ways and rarely ever encourages us to seek our actual freedom, as lovers or as creators.

The Saturn return above all else says grow up and be fully human. Make the changes you need to make; deal with reality as you perceive it; live your life, because it is your life."

Skye Alexander:

"This transition into adulthood is often accompanied by a sense of urgency, a feeling that you must try to accomplish everything you've ever wanted or planned to do now. Goals start to come sharply into focus. If you have not settled into a definite career, or have been pursuing one that is inappropriate for you, you'll experience a strong push to establish yourself in a more fulfilling occupation. Sometimes this means a complete change. During his first Saturn Return Vincent Van Gogh decided to be a painter rather than a minister. More frequently it means a new direction or specialization within your chosen field.

According to California astrologer Stephen Arroyo, author of Astrology, Karma and Transformation, "The quality of the entire experience and the extent to which it is felt to be a 'difficult' time depends entirely on how one has lived during the previous twenty-nine years." If you have been pursuing an unsuitable vocation or merely fulfilling someone else's expectations, Saturn can be relentless in prodding you to make adjustments.

Saturn Return almost always requires some major adjustments in lifestyle, attitudes, and relationships. Anything you have outgrown, or have tolerated but not found satisfying, must end now or be altered to meet your emerging needs. According to Hand, "Consciously or unconsciously, you are pruning your life of everything that is not relevant to what you really are as a human being."

If a relationship is sound, based on mutual respect, honesty, and sharing, it will probably survive the test of Saturn Return and become even stronger. But a relationship begun before the partners knew what they really wanted is likely to fall apart. Relationships that start during this period may have a "fated" or "karmic" quality about them."

In support of singledom from Eric Francis.

Quoting from his column (not a permalink, look for June 23 in the archives later):

"And, at the same time, we are under enormous pressure to grow and become individuals, a fact often at odds with maintaining stable relationships. One's relationship with oneself can take high priority in time of growth, evolution and inner progress. Healing can necessitate so much change that it's difficult to hold a structured emotional partnership together. In essence, many people have an urgent commitment to fulfill to themselves, which makes any form of conventionally sanctioned relationship difficult or impossible to sustain.

This is one possible reason why some of the most interesting, ethical, attractive, intelligent people do not or cannot have partners (again, in the conventional sense of the word) at this time. I believe that for many people this is based on a deep necessity, and the only way that these individuals can do the growth work they need is independently. That independence or lack of involvement can take many forms, including the situation you describe. So, before even looking at your chart, I am just here to be a spokesperson for the evolutionary necessities of the 21st century and suggest you let yourself off the hook."

I just liked this.

AstroBookReview: The Art Of Predictive Astrology

Art Of Predictive Astrology

Since I keep acquiring books on this subject, I figured I'd review a few. Or at least go into how easy/hard they are to follow. Plus, well, my results when it comes to trying to use the techniques.

I'm pretty fond of this one, as it seems less complicated (though still pretty complicated!) than other stuff I've seen so far.

First, Carol Rushman goes into detail about analyzing someone's natal chart, figuring out their drivers (what drives them in life), issues and psychological profiles. Then she goes into the natal promise- i.e. the things that won't happen if they aren't allowed for in your chart. This applies to how many marriages you can make, whether or not you can get divorced and what aspects lead to divorce, how many children you can have, whether or not you'll ever be lucky enough to win the lottery, whether or not you'll ever attract violence or rape into your life (if it's not promised, you won't, and if you do have that promise, she tells you how to use your energy for a more positive result), and vocational indicators.

She does NOT go into detail about death or health predictions, other than to say that if bad health isn't promised in the natal chart, it won't be an issue. It's kind of frustrating because it seems like everything I've read says something like, "I'm afraid to predict that stuff. But some other people will do it!" Good luck finding WHO, though, 'cause I haven't seen anything anywhere on the subject.

As for me, I could get married twice because I have two applying aspects from my Sun, but divorce is screaming on my horizon because I have divorce aspects (strong and bad natal Uranus aspects, which make you want to break free and do your own thing). Well, isn't that depressing. And yet, I have a Taurus/Scorpio axis going on, which means it should be almost impossible for me to divorce... Uh, which one here? See, this is why predictive astrology is confusing. It seems like everything conflicts sometimes.

Next, you get to the prediction part. First, she goes into progressions and aspects  of the Sun, Mars, and Venus, ``and what they're likely to mean.

Then there's a chapter on "the importance of the progressed moon" and how it influences you for the two years it spends in each sign, and the effects it will have on you while in each sign. It also goes into the aspects the progressed moon can make and how those will affect you. She also goes into what Critical Degrees are. (Lucky me, my Neptune is smacking a Critical Degree right now. Whee, crisis city!)

There's a chapter on progressed house cusps, but to be honest, this goes beyond my ability to comprehend it. It has something to do with axises, that's all I got.

Next there's the coverage of the transits of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, and what the aspects mean.

Checking my chart:

• Saturn aspects: "If Saturn is not making good aspects, a parent can be a responsibility." Whee.
  
• Uranus aspects Venus: "In some way the pattern of income will change. Sudden losses or sudden windfalls are to be expected. Personal values may be altered. Love can enter your life suddenly and in an unusual and unexpected way. The person will not fit into the old mold of what you have attracted before. This person can also leave just as quickly as he or she appeared. What will remain, however, is a change in the love consciousness, and what was learned from the relationship will benefit you forever."
• Uranus in the fifth house: "It can bring a sudden love alliance. You will be drawn to people and situations that are different and special in some way, but the involvement may be fleeting, ending as quickly as it started. If you are normally quite conventional, you may present yourself in an more unusual manner and may no longer want to conform at all." Reading this, I can't help but think I'm supposed to go BATSHIT INSANE.
• Neptune in the fourth house: "I also observed a friend's parent get Alzheimer's disease when Neptune entered my friend's fourth house and made very difficult aspects." That figures that it'd be an illness in the family thing. Checking ephemeris.com, It goes into Neptune around the time where my dad had to retire due to the disease fucking with his speech.
  
• Pluto in the second house: Again, "the pattern of income is changed. The aspects will tell you how it will change. You could become extremely wealthy or go bankrupt." (Luckily for me, only positive aspects seem to be happening there. I did get a raise this year, and I guess some kind of inheritance might be a factor?) "A lot will depend on the reinforcing progressions and other transits that are active at this time. A magnficent love obsession can also take place at this time. I call Pluto transits to Venus the fatal attraction aspect. If the aspect is positive and the progressions and natal aspects are positive for love, it can be wonderful, but Pluto always takes things to extremes." Oy.
  

Later chapters cover stationing and retrograde planets and lunations and eclipses, both of which I don't get too much about.

So, to sum it up, this one's useful in most areas, or at least I can fairly understand it. Which is a plus.

Okay, I thought of an idea for testing this sucker.

God knows I have tons of sites at this point, but I need a theme with which to test a site. So...

Let's have an astrology blog!

I'm a tree-huggin' hippie (despite being a born cynic- yeah, that's weird), and I've always had a weird little interest in (a) trying to figure out why weird shit happens), and (b) if one can predict weird shit happening. So  I study various fortune-predicting things off and on, mostly tarot and predictive astrology, trying to work on that.

I know somebody where I volunteer that does astrology, and she looked up some stuff for me a few weeks ago. And it looks like around my first Saturn Return period (approx. mid-October-November 1), things are likely to go Quite Haywire. I'm likely to have father issues and illness issues (note: according to the doctor, that time of the year is about as long as he's likely to live)... AND apparently fall in love with someone that won't last at the same freaking time. How insane is that?

Anyway, I've been obsessively trying to figure out how one predicts these things via the use of various books and websites ever since. So I'll just chronicle my trying to figure this stuff out here, as opposed to leaving obscure notes around my laptop.

Nov1chart

Here's an example of what I'm dealing with around this time. A freaking STELLIUM in the first house, and transiting Venus and Mars and the Sun are all happily conjuncting each other for awhile. I never had a stellium before. And on November 5, I end up with transit Venus conjunct natal Uranus, which brings on an out-of-the-blue love interest. Eep.

The aforementioned astrologer I know said the following:

• Sun conjunct Uranus is a time of surprises, rebellion, and unusual times.
• Venus conjunct Uranus means unexpected events, maybe a new relationship with someone completely different from anyone you have known, from an unexpected area.
• Possible financial gains (inheritance? who knows, I'd be surprised if any money was left for me after yars of medical bills)
• Mars conjunct Uranus may mean you have to fight for your rights. Possible sudden rash behavior and surprising incidents. I should do some new project at this time (probably NaNoWriMo if I can squeeze it in between family drama and some random new boyfriend, ha ha...worst thing you can do during NaNo is acquire a new boyfriend, unfortunately learned that from experience) that uses my energy so I don't drive everyone and myself nutters.
• And ALL the damned planets square with Saturn, which will probably lead to the Dad issues. Or possibly a job change, but I kind of doubt that, Saturn or no.
  

I find this all pretty damned freaky. I decided a couple of years ago to quit dating until after Dad dies because juggling my family issues and a relationship at the same time would just be ugly and a relationship killer. If all of that blew up At Once...holy fucking crap, you know?

I dread October, but I'm also very curious to see if these things come true. I think I'll enjoy the summer while I still can before things go kablooey.

That said...

I think the backgrounds are really freaking cute on Vox compared to TypePad's.

Huh. I'm not sure what the point of this is.

I mean, I've already got (a ton of) blogs. I don't really need one that's JUST for "friends and family" (luckily for me, my family don't blog). But eh, what the hell, it's a free test blog.

Don't know what to say otherwise here. Just testing.