Saturn Return Can Bite Me

This week's horoscopin'

astrobarry.com:

"TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Over the course of this week and the next, Taurus, you may find your emotional stance on a particularly important personal issue has dynamically evolved… or, looking at it from a different angle, that you've simply reflected long enough for your real (i.e., deeper, more lasting) feelings to emerge from the morass of red-herrings (i.e., how you think you ought to feel, how other people wish you felt, etc.) and come into finer focus. Since you're still in the midst of this evolution, then, please honor how difficult it sometimes can be to claim your own inner truth—especially if you're experiencing shame or regret for not having already confidently known it earlier, and/or seeing you may have to go back to a prior conversation and correct an imprecise impression you've given them about how you feel. No need to lament the complexity of your inner landscape. I don't suggest actually making these corrections right now, however, while you're still integrating all the emotional pieces. Just continue meeting each new dimension of feeling as it washes over. Dialogue with it. Ask it questions. Allow it to express itself to you in discreet safety.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): Specific arrangements related to your career and/or outer-world goals you've been actively chasing, Scorpio, will begin to clear themselves up over the coming couple weeks. Perhaps you hadn't noticed they weren't already 'clear'? If that's the case, then you must have been sub- or semi-consciously shielding yourself from the wild tangle of loose-ends that inescapably accompany the advances you're now taking. There's nothing necessarily wrong with temporarily simplifying the terms of a situation that could've otherwise overwhelmed you, had you been insistently obsessing over all the unanswered questions—whatever you need to do to quell any relatively absurd worries that you somehow can't navigate your way through the chaos, I suppose. But you can, will and must deal with all the unforeseen complexities and convoluting consequences… and soon enough, during the days ahead, you'll regain a slightly more realistic overarching picture of which priorities ought to come first, to aid in the process of dealing with what's now coming in clearer."

Michael Lutin:

"To say that things have been a little screwed up lately is a colossal understatement. Believe it or not,
maybe the fog is beginning to clear. You have to understand that during a transition as huge as the one currently taking place in your life (another understatement), there is bound to be loads of chaos and anxiety, especially for anyone whose earlier life and childhood have been filled with disruption and uncertainty. That's one reason we have seen some individuals publicly acting bananas and going mental. They are actually portraying the zeitgeist--the pervasive feeling of the moment.

This week's Full Moon developments, although they may seem small and insignificant, will reveal the slow, and I mean slow, return to normalcy. Now wait one sec. Normalcy? Don't expect anything to go back the way things were.
THAT IS OVER.

Too much garbage has been dumped into the water that just passed under the bridge for things ever to go back to the way they were. But as you start sifting through the events of the last few months, you will see that no way can you just drive through a car wash and the past will go bye-bye.
Ghosts from recent time past and long long ago will return now. Old lovers, belles and beaux, have appeared, in some cases like a bright shiny coin you find in yesterday's cold ashes. In other cases they appear as grizzled and dissheveled as the phantom of Jacob Marley with warnings about repeating past mistakes..
Some people have run smack into the loves of their lives during this period and are now going to have to figure out what the hell to do with them.

The astrology of it all? Saturn at the end of the Libra and a Venus transit which has filled many hearts with a new fire. Fact is, however, we can't really go back to what was, other than to be bathed once in a while in its essence and be thus rejuiiced to carry on.

SCORPIO AND SCORPIO RISING
Discounting for the moment the potential-but-will-never-happen-in-a-million-years mental/emotional/ physical breakdown raging inside your head, you are still, in true Scorpio fashion, remarkably hearty and sturdy, blessedly optimistic and oddly, almost wholly back-from-the-dead regenerated in your desire for creative productivity. Once you learn how to control a few raging desires and get back to business, you actually ARE in business again. As ready to perform as you are for public display, considering this week’s FULL MOON, how could you possibly get your family and home situation out of your head?"

This week's Aquarium Age

Feels relevant:

TAURUS It won't be easy settling down — too much has been disturbed at the bottom of your psychic pond. Use this restless energy to your advantage by directing it toward projects you've been putting off.

SCORPIO Unforeseen career opportunities could provide progress toward greater financial security, especially if you're willing to be flexible and contemplate previously rejected or unconsidered choices.

Heh. Yeah, sounds like my week. I woke up at 3:30 a.m. unable to sleep, I am working on projects that were put off, and yeah, the Scorpio one is right on.

How to become an astrologer?

I found this ah, interesting list of criteria and had some thoughts about it. I'm not sure what level I am at. I seem to be all over the map.

Let's rehash this in more detail:

Hobbyist astrologer

• You read your horoscope every week
• You know your own and your family member’s Sun signs
• You can discuss astrology at a dinner party
• You know enough to be dangerous (haha)

Well, yes, I claim all of that.

Student astrologer – (All of the above plus)

• You have attended an astrology lecture
• You own five astrology books including an ephemeris
• You subscribe to The Mountain Astrologer
• You have taken at least one astrology lesson
• You are considering attending a conference
• You own Astro Gold

Here's where I run into issues: I have the books qualification. I do not subscribe to Mountain Astrologer, but I do buy specific issues when they have stuff in them that I understand/relate to. (Some months I have no effing idea.) Astrology lessons? I've done them online, does that count? I have technically attended an astrology lecture at ye olde hippiecon...and uh, gave a few...but have never, ever heard of Astro Gold. NO idea what it is. And had I not had a few lovely years where I had free accomodations to go to the hippiecon (alas, no longer), I wouldn't have that cred.

And yet I also have some qualifications farther down the list:

Amateur astrologer – (All of the above plus)

• • You can read the glyphs in a chart
  • You know the signs, planets, houses and aspects
  • You own ten astrology books including a Table of Houses
  • You have at least one planet specific book
  • You are a member of your local astrology group
  • You have taken a formal astrology education course
  • You can interpret charts for family and friends
  • You can debate houses systems
  • You have attended an astrology conference
  • You own Solar Fire V8
  • You know at least four forecasting techniques
  • You are invited to speak locally

Glyphs: yes, but shouldn't anyone over being a noob to astrology be able to? Own ten books and have planet ones: yes. Member of local astrology group: since I don't have a car, the answer to that is no. Ditto the formal astrology course and astrology conference stuff for similar reasons. I could debate house systems, but mostly just plan to stick with the default. Can interpret for family and friends, yes. Invited to speak locally-well yes, that technically did happen back when I had the ability for a few years to go to ye olde hippiecon. Four forecasting techniques? I'm not sure. I've studied, but I don't consider myself to be terribly great at any of 'em so far. I don't really know what Solar Fire is either. I assume it's some super-expensive astrology software that I can't afford.

You may notice that some things I've handled and some I have not. I tend to think that the ones that you can learn with books/Internet are just easier to do for the rank newbie on their own than the ones that involved. Which I can say from experience since that's how I've learned-- I can't get anyone to teach me IRL. And let's face it: can the poorer folks who live far out from cities really join their local astrology group and afford conferences? No, so they get ruled out by default on that.

And as for the last one I'm going to cover....

Professional astrologer – (All of the above plus)

•  
  • You can construct a chart from scratch (without a computer)
  • You can calculate forecasts from scratch (without a computer)
  • You have an extensive astrology library with duplicate editions
  • You subscribe to all the trade periodicals
  • You are a member of the international astrology associations
  • You accept payments for your work
  • Your income surpasses $12000USD per year from astrology
  • You are invited to speak internationally
  • You have appeared on TV or radio
  • You write a column/blog
  • You own your astrology website
  • You have published an astrology book

Now, most of these I don't do at all--I am not a professional and don't plan on doing so, so they're not relevant. But these days, any dang fool can write a blog/website, and you don't have to be a pro to do them. (Hello, exhibit A speaking.)

 So...I tend to think this needs to be reframed a bit. It needs to have a gradation from "what one can learn themselves alone" to "learning from other people," not to mention a gradation as to how much public participation you're doing, what you can afford, what orgs are available for you to join, etc.

Scorpio horoscope for August

Victoria Bazeley:

"When Mars moves into your sign, he also heralds something of a new beginning for you. When Mars leaves in early October, Saturn will take his place in Scorpio. In November, you’ll experience the first solar eclipse in your sign in about a decade.

After potentially being stalled for some time, your life is scheduled to start moving again. I won’t say that your life will be completely transformed–but it might be. There are a fair number of indications of transformation over the next 10 months."

I'll be curious to see if that actually happens.

"On a lighter note, you have a bit of gentle travel energy in August, thanks to Venus in Cancer.

A good time to indulge your inner lazy bones before summer completely goes away would be around the 9th, when Venus and Neptune combine for a trip to fantasyland or maybe just a long, luxurious nap at home."

Going at the start of August for a weekend, that's about it.

"Now about those potential job irritations I mentioned at the beginning. Pluto and Uranus get increasingly irritated with each other as the month goes on. Uranus is in your job sector and Pluto is in the sector that governs your rational mind. How they will express their displeasure depends of course on your circumstances. A sample manifestation would be that Uranus wants job turnover and instability while Pluto feels threatened by Uranus’s restlessness. Which might mean things like you want to quit because the atmosphere is almost unbearably tense, but Pluto won’t let you because he thinks that would be irrational and imprudent.

There is no easy answer to this kind of dilemma. Do your best to figure out what you can do to deal with the situation and do it. Time will have to take care of the rest. With the help of lots of energy in your career sign this month, you should make out okay if you can figure out how to just hang on."

Well, I just found out that I am changing jobs officially on August 1, so...yeah. Instability at work for the win!

What Happens When Saturn Transits Over Your Scorpio Ascendent?

"Increased responsibility may be foisted on you (via a job, relationship or status change). Or you may just feel “heavier” as you decide to shed your skin and transform your image. You’ll probably want to withdraw for a bit, and that’s fine. Necessary, even. This may be your journey through the valley, but you’ve got stalwart Saturn as your guide;  stick to the path he’s laid out for you and you’ll be fine. And if you’re asking “How will I find that path?” Don’t you worry…Saturn makes it damn obvious what you’re supposed to do and where you’re supposed to go."

This will be kicking off for me come the fall. I definitely wonder what's going to happen there. If I'll ever do anything different.

Uranus retrograde

"Where Uranus touches a planet in a natal chart, that planet’s natural instincts have been changed or damaged by cultural, social and familial conditioning. If we have Uranus square Venus, we are sensitive to the cultural messages about beauty, being a woman, and relationship: ie, being married by age 28 and have a baby by 35 may not be our true life path.The power to belong, be accepted, be apart of the crowd has been overpowered the true nature of our planet. The crazy thing is, we have no idea how crazy this is! How many times have I heard, “I should be married by now…” from clients? A lot.  Wherever natal Uranus falls in our birth chart, we have to drop the baggage of cultural programming, over and over. The Promethean journey involves stealing back our fire – our individuality, our soul. To steal it back we must stubbornly insist on our right to discover the True Nature of our Self (our planetary archetype), and not what other people want for us or tell us we should want. To do this we must develop a thick skin and aversion toward cultural pressure (hint: in practice, this looks a lot like rebellion). But Uranus isn’t entirely about acceptance and belonging; it encompasses any culturally distorting message that derails us."

My Uranus transit in the sixth house continues

So as you probably know by now, I have been wigging the hell out at the idea of Uranus going through my sixth house. (One particularly panicky example can be found here.) I have naturally assumed that I am going to get my ass canned, since I am low man on the totem pole at work, the universe probably wants me to move the fuck on already, etc.

So far that hasn't happened--I have been temporarily working my job (which hasn't had much going on in summer) AND another job for the summer, at least until they decide to hire someone else or whatever to handle it. That one has been going very well and my second supervisor totally loves me these days.

Well, I got bad news and good news. The bad news is that the thing I work on at my regular job, that I have been doing for 10 years, is being discontinued. Pretty much because the vendor of the product has been flushing down the toilet and not doing their jobs correctly/at all. And since I am low woman on the totem pole, realistically speaking they wouldn't need me any more to do what I do.

However...would I be interested in working in another related group instead? Does some similar things to what I do? Same pay grade so I wouldn't be laid off or losing pay? By all means, let me at it! Sounds like it has more variety going on as well. More public-service-y (I will miss being in the "quiet office", but not my location within said office), but by now I am kinda used to that given the temporary job. So it's all going to be fine.

I am pleased that so far Uranus hasn't been a total streak of "you are constantly unemployed and can't get a job to save your life for seven years." So far, anyway. Changes at work, fine, as long as it's going my way.

A moon-centric horoscope

Now that's interesting...

This week's astrobarry

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21): You don't know quite what you're doing. That is not intended as an insult to your character, Scorpio, nor even as a caution against you continuing down the same path you're already on. But it is my best shot at describing a certain lack of clarity you're presently contending with, which obscures your view of the next couple sets of consequence-ripples that logically radiate outward from actions now being taken. To some folks who need to know where life will be taking them right after this (or at least need to feel like they know), being informed this is simply not possible at the present moment can feel like either a criticism or a sign of impending doom. (It is neither.) However, for those of you who are relatively comfortable with proceeding on illogical instinct, on good faith that you may need a few detours down a circuitous frontiersy route of mystery and magic… well, this seems to be an opportunity to defy the predictable and undo your illusion of control. To modify my opening statement, then: You may indeed know what to do, but you might not be sure why—and you sure as hell don't know what else will happen as a pretty direct result.