Saturn Return Can Bite Me

Saturn in Libra: the silence continues

Continued from here and here.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...well, apparently not.

I was pleased to see that John Mayer finally got to release his album (really nice steampunk cover on it too, that's like the prettiest steampunk-y thing I've ever seen) and was going back on tour. And interestingly enough, the time on the clock on the album cover, plus the album title, makes me wonder if he snuck his birth time in there. Would make him a double Sadge in addition to the tons of Libra if it's in the morning, which seems more likely because then he'd have a 10th house Libra stellium and whopping career power.

But it seemed a little tentative somehow, what with the short tour booking...and yeah. Bummer. And oh look, retrograde Saturn going back over the end of the sign again and kicking his sun once again, and then starting all over again in June..ouch.

I was hoping he'd get all fixed up sooner than by the time Saturn leaves Libra in October, but...I guess not? Maybe the poor dude has to go through the whole period of time quiet before he can finally resurface for good. I hope he can finally effing do that sometime.

In other folks-with-Libra news, my aforementioned double Libra friend got in a whopping bus accident while on vacation in December and has been on medical leave for the winter duration. She seems mostly okay, all things considered, but then there's the joys of PTSD and finding a new therapist. So she's having not the best time either. Poor Libras. I want to start a "Save the Libras!" campaign...The other Libra people I know continue to be out of touch, distant, or in the same crap as ever. 

Though the double Libra saw an astrologer recently and got whopping good predictions for her life having massive good change a year and a half from now. As in "right now you're in a dead period of time, but in 3 years you won't recognize your life." Lucky girl. I'd like to get some kind of prediction like that for myself, but I suspect if I ever got a full reading from a pro, mine would not be cheerful and rosy. Which is pretty much why I try to DIY it here.

 

Saturn in Libra: the sound of silence

So according to the Internets, the aforementioned John Mayer had surgery on his throat yesterday. Because I wondered about the whole transit thing, I looked up the chart transits. Yesterday, transiting Saturn was conjunct his natal Mercury at 20 degrees Libra, with the sun coming up right after that. Transiting Mercury is also exactly conjunct his natal Uranus in Scorpio at 10 degrees. Since Mercury rules speech and Uranus is the higher octave of Mercury, I get the sense that it's a double whopping silencing there with all of that. And sure enough, the dude has to stay silent for a least a month or more. The lesson continues. 

You'd think that with Taurus ruling the throat and whatnot, that might be more prominent in the chart, but Jupiter in Taurus isn't really setting anything major off here, so...I guess not. I'm not an expert in medical astrology, though this link points out that Libra might have throat issues as well.  I dunno, I feel like Mercury is the significant point here anyway.

On a related note (I think I was thinking of this link last time and then was too lazy to dig it up), this post kind of reminds me of this situation. I think I have to agree with this post that it's hell to be a modern-day Libra. Maybe we need to start a "Save the Libras!" movement or something, hah.

Thinking of the Libras folks in my life right now, my double Libra friend with a birthday the day after his is traveling the world right now, so Saturn's hitting her sun in the first house. I wonder how she's doing. Another friend seems to have done a disappearing act, but since she's pretty intermittent on contact, I guess that's not surprising. And my Libra rising friend is about to have Saturn hitting her ascendant...and she seems to have an impending marital showdown likely to go on this weekend for her Libra kid's birthday. HOO BOY. Looking at her chart, she's also got Pluto conjunct her natal Jupiter/Venus conjunction, transiting Neptune and Chiron conjunct her natal Chiron, and transiting moon and Mars approaching her natal Uranus. I'm going to be rooting for some transformational (if painful) moment that frees her from the situation to happen. Soon. Please.

While I'm at it, here's a few links on Saturn transits for those of you with these issues going on right now:

• Bob Marks
• Cafe Astrology

Saturn in Libra: the rest is silence

(I'm going to get in trouble eventually for posting this one, but what the hell.)

If you want to look at the effects of Saturn in Libra, you should perhaps check out the chart of someone with a lot of it. For example, John Mayer, a dude known for his mouth in uh...more ways than one. He basically pissed off the entire Internet in various ways through 2009-10-ish or so. And then... well, I give the dude a lot of credit for (a) realizing he made an ass of himself, (b) apologizing, a lot, and then (c) shutting his stupid mouth--so to speak. Dude has pretty much disappeared for the most part since his last concert tour ended, quitting Twitter, rarely blogging on his actual writing blog, deleting posts after he makes them--though in the age of Tumblr reblogging, I kind of don't see the point of that bit when it lives on anyway. At any rate, he isn't giving anyone any fuel to put on the fire these days. He's been just quietly working on an album, and adding on to Tony Bennett's. To which I say, good for him. Lord knows I miss his online snark (frankly, he and YourAuntDiane are the only Twitter accounts I ever found consistently funny, and that's speaking as a Twitter-hater), but I think given the massive shitstorm that went on, he needed to go into seclusion to get people to calm the hell down. Probably a good idea to go sort out his shit, too.

Do you guys realize how rare it is for someone to make a major fuckup and then do their best to correct their behavior? Look at Chris Brown, for example, who really isn't doing that at all. Speaking of, I have been reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies today. Yes, that sounds like it's wandering off topic, but it reminded me of a thought I've always had about P&P (-Z): the reason that chicks are sooooooo obsessed with Mr. Darcy is that he's a guy who comes off as an ass, then APOLOGIZES for it, then makes amends.* For all of those girls who like the Reformed Rakes, or Bad Guys Gone Good For The Love Of A Girl, Mr. Darcy is the Regency version of that. And as all ladies will learn outside of books, finding a dude who will apologize and improve is really rare. Well, there you go: here's one in real life.

What does this have to do with astrology? Well, the dude has a lot of planets in Libra from about 15 degrees (Pluto/NN, Sun, Mercury) on, and if Saturn is going along conjunct all of those in turn, giving them all a kick... well, let's just say that astrologically in general, Libras are not having a fun time right now. My Libra rising friends are all having relationship drama in one way or another and that's fun times. It's probably better to be single right now than be dealing with someone else's lack of maturity.

Saturn transiting through anywhere where you're emphasized is a big kick in the pants to grow up, and I think John is doing that. Saturn transits may make you more noticed or make you want to hide, so he's gone from one extreme to the other. Ironically (and well, the reason why I'm posting this) is that he posted online today that he's got a granuloma and thus has to not do any singing engagements and postpone the album production. So at this point the silence is being chosen for him... and checking the astrology, that's just as Saturn is hitting the Pluto/NN conjunction. Hmmmm, might be a while before the album is finished there. Saturn goes out of Libra in late October 2012**,  so maybe late summer/fall then? I will hope for sooner, but given where Mercury is, it might take awhile.

I don't know what his birth time is, but this makes me wonder if Libra is his third house or something. Would make sense at this point, wouldn't it?

* SPOILER: In P&P&Z, he actually uh... permanently paralyzes Wickham in a massive beating. Okay, so that's not the usual type of amends....

** Then Saturn starts kicking my ascendant... and this should start right after I plan on moving. Fun times, y'all.

TV Astrology: Switched At Birth

So I'm a big fan of Switched At Birth, which is rather ridiculously good for a family show. People are sympathetic and mostly sensible and you feel for everybody and it's awesome. I highly recommend it (go look on Hulu, the pilot's online).

Anyway, the recent episode "The Persistence of Memory" was just plain excellent. AND it also featured one of the switched-at-birth characters finding her birth certificate. Of course, Daphne's real birth certificate is actually for Bay, so... it's Bay's birth time and information. The show has stated the two girls have the same birthday, so I'm interested in looking at their birthday. Alas, Daphne's actual birth time hasn't been mentioned yet, so I'll have to guess.

For those who haven't seen the show: Bay Kennish is a brunette teenage artist type. She's tempestuous, dabbles in getting into trouble, and seems to move quickly when it comes to men. She's the one that got raised in a wealthy family but originally came from a poorer one. She's the one whose birth time we'll be looking at. Her birthday twin, Daphne, is the strawberry blonde athletic type. She's generally sweet and more of a people pleaser than Bay, a wee bit of a showoff herself at times, and has been deaf since the age of 3. She was the one born to the rich people, but got raised by a poorer mom.

I totally guessed that Bay must be a Leo rising, and by god, she is! The drama is very obvious with her. (Plus she loves Frida Kahlo. Both she and her biological mom Regina are really into bright colors.) I'd guess Daphne is probably born around 6 a.m., making her a TRIPLE Libra. Both of them are at least double Libras (sun and moon), but Daphne is clearly the one more interested in making sure everyone gets along.

Both of them have a lot of planets in Libra, with a Libra Moon/Chiron conjunction. That says "mommy issues and pain" like nothing else, which totally fits with the swappage. They both have Sun conjunct their Libra North Nodes, which I think bodes well for them learning Libra issues of partnership and cooperation. Certainly both of them pick up love interests left and right and are very attractive girls! Passionate too with Venus in Scorpio. They also have a Mars/Pluto conjunction, which I find kind of nervewracking. That does tend to bring on... well, physical accidents, maybe being a bit of an anger/violence magnet. That hasn't played out yet on the show, but it's a TV show and you never know when a show might resort to something crazy. I think it bodes a bit better for Daphne (rather than the uninterested Bay) that she is into sports, so she's got an outlet for physicality. (Bay, on the other hand, does graffiti and fake ID's.) They both have Mars in Sagittarius, which in my experience tends to mean that they're both going to be SUPER interested in travel. They both have Jupiter in Sagittarius, which should be pretty lucky. They also have a Neptune/Uranus conjunction. Saturn is in Pisces.

Looking at the placement of the houses in Bay's chart for certain, most of them are below the horizon. Nothing in the first or second houses, but the Libra stellium is in her third house of communication and siblings. I find this funny considering that she biologically has no siblings, but by adoption she has a brother and Daphne is probably more or less an honorary sibling. The Moon/Pluto conjunction lands in her fourth house-- trouble in the family, indeed. Jupiter is in her fifth house, so she has luck with creativity. The Neptune-Uranus conjunction is in her sixth house, so I'd imagine that could be ... interesting... in her work life. The planet of dreaminess and imagination combined with unusual events should mean she has an interesting art career, even if I doubt she'd get massively famous for it what with most of her planets not as on display as her Leo rising. Saturn is in her eighth house of other people's money. Maybe that's an indicator that the money she grew up with wasn't hers, after all.


I'm going to do an imaginary house placement for Daphne with a Libra rising to see how that plays out. It'd give her the stellium of planets in her twelfth and first house, so she is more publicly prominent than Bay despite Bay's Leo rising. (Indeed, her deafness may make her more noticeable in public.) Venus and the Mars/Pluto conjunction fall into her second house. Maybe the Venus in second means that she'll get money via love-- or that she was the one destined to be a rich girl. Except for the Mars/Pluto kaboom. Jupiter falls into her third house = luck with communication and siblings. Hm. Communication is an issue with her, being deaf and all, but for the most part she seems very skilled at all of the methods she uses to do it. The Neptune-Uranus conjunction would fall in her fourth house, and Saturn would fall into her sixth. I'd imagine Daphne will have a harder time getting a job. As for dreamy + unusual, maybe that describes the home life she grew up in, or the unexpected windfall of turning out to be from rich people?

Anyway, this may all be a lot of bull, but it's kind of fun to think about.

Transit fun

Sun-Pluto transits are hardcore even when easy.

Under Sun-Pluto transits some part of our life changes, and nothing stays the same. Sometimes it happens suddenly, and the proverbial rug is pulled out from beneath our feet and all sense of security is lost. It may be a long drawn out process and our life changes completely by the end of the transit, or it is our identity that alters significantly.With Pluto transits it ends one chapter and begins a new one. I know this is becoming an overused phrase on the blog, but it really is the best way to describe a Pluto transit in our lives.

The most significant events in life appear to happen under transits of Uranus and Pluto to our Ascendant, Sun and Moon, and this is not surprising since these are the three most important parts of the horoscope. Transiting Pluto trine Sun represents an easier transition for the individual towards self-renewal, massive changes in life, and endings. Under the Sun-Pluto trine I have observed people relocating across country, and so the transit is massively indicative of a new way (Pluto) of life (Sun). We are leaving behind an old environment and beginning life in a new one, and setting down new roots. I think that such a dramatic adjustment allows us to also reinvent ourselves, and we start life afresh in all areas of our lives.

I do believe, in some instances, that even an apparently benign Sun trine Pluto transit in the chart can turn our life around completely. Pluto transits change our LIFE dramatically and this particular planet fights against inertia, and so we undergo an intense transformation of our behavior and lifestyle. We often feel a more powerful sense of our own destiny, gain deeper self knowledge, and feel more passionate about living. Snake metaphors are particularly relevant when trying to describe Pluto transits to those new to astrology and unsure of the process. The snake metaphor leads nicely onto my next two examples of self-improvement, self-transformation and radical makeovers.

Hm. Well, I've been having one for awhile now (I think it's moved away from trining my sun at this point) and so far, I feel the urge to change, but no clue as to how to do it yet. Maybe it just didn't work in my case.

Uranus transits and Mercury contacts:

Uranus was first responsible for taking away something–and taking it away suddenly and unexpectedly.  Before he communicates anything to us, anything at all, he is the Great Severer.  Now, mind you, he’s fast–he works before we can see him coming, the quickest hatchet man around–but Uranus’s first order of business is to disconnect us.  What is he disconnecting us from?  Our ordinary, ego-bound patterns and definitions and our habitual ways of understanding our world.   Uranus is impatient.  He’s bringing us the future the way he sees it, how dare we get mired in the past? The Uranian disconnect can be ruthless.  Sometimes it’s so fast it seems bloodless, or it can be as bloody as the French Revolution and then some. [Remember that the guillotine was invented (during the discovery of Uranus) as a humanitarian advancement.]  But when Uranus is active, the first thing he does is pull the plug.  He will shake us off no matter how hard we hold on.

In his severing mode, Uranus can be the most frightening of the Three Bullies, otherwise known as the transpersonal planets.   I associate Uranus with a particular kind of trauma in the chart, one that lingers on with nerve-shattering results.  It results in a kind of personal Post Traumatic Stress Disorder–wherever Uranus lies in the chart, it is responsible for a violent taking-away, a traumatic removal.  And unless you really understand this part of Uranus, the rest of Uranian behaviour doesn’t really make any sense.

This is why I keep wigging out, that's for sure. I keep waiting for that axe to fall on me now. :(

Say Uranus falls on the Ascendant of a chart.  This person would identify with being out of the norm, different, more advanced, unusual.  He or she might identify with and fight for humanitarian causes.  Dig under the surface,  the reasons for this behaviour can be a denial of the individual “I”, which can occur because the person involved is somehow robbed (usually in early life) of the sense of individual identity and belonging.  We have a choice of joining the rebellious ‘group’ and finding an identity within it  or we remain forever scapegoats and outsiders, exiled from our own sense of legitimacy in the world.  The erratic Uranian pattern reinforces the behaviour–if ever do try to fit in, I get cut off.  Or I only fit in with the strange and the unusual, .  The best route for Uranus here is the Path of Mind.  We are initiated into a new awareness because we are forced to confront circumstances which remove us from the ego.  All three of the outer planets teach us lessons about getting our egos out of the way.  With Uranus, it’s our ‘little world, little mind’ tendencies that fly out the window.  We are challenged to stretch our definitions.  As anyone with a Mercury/Uranus connection will tell you, the minute you think you understand something, Uranus will step in and take you further.

I qualify for this one right here. (Mercury quincunx Uranus in 1st)

All three of the outer planets initiate us into their awakening by removing us from the primary quality of the lower octave planet.  With Uranus, we are severed from our connection-making abilities. Mercury is the connecting planet which allows us to make sense of and understand our worldly experiences.  Uranus removes the logical processes of Mercury and replaces it with sudden shifts of awareness.  Mercury is the way we make meaning out of information.  When Uranus pulls the plug on us and then rudely bombards us with universal truths beyond our ordinary understanding, we often feel on shaky ground.  Sometimes, where Uranus is concerned, we might know things, but we don’t know why.  Again, our lack of support for our convictions leaves us high up, but on very unstable scaffolding.

Whether or not Mercury and Uranus have a connection in the chart, it’s Mercury that struggles with the new information.  If your Mercury has an aspect to Uranus, even a difficult one, then you’re in luck, because your Mercury has been put on the fast track to Uranian wisdom.  The quickness of mind associated with Mercury/Uranus is not always pleasant in the easier aspects–I’ve seen troubles with both the conjunction and the sextile, because Mercury can get overloaded with the flow of Uranian energy, and can mentally cut out because of it.  The mental processes of strong Mercury/Uranus can easily affect the body, often with nerve issues and mental exhaustion.   If Mercury isn’t ready to process the wisdom of Uranus, there can be difficult consequences.  Uranus is always urging us to let go, to allow distance, something Mercury is often not prepared to do in its struggle to understand.  When Mercury learns that it is capable of making connections at great distances, greater than it ever assumed, then its impact on our lives grows and we allow ourselves to create new concepts of the greater Mercurial connections.  These concepts then become the building blocks of the elevated Mind.  When Mercury stretches its wings, we are no longer confined to the prison of our day to day reality.  We understand that there are new lands to conquer, off where the gods reside and the mere rules of man no longer apply.  And Mercury can now help us lay down the plans to get there.

Jupiter transits

So Jupiter is going back and forth over my stuff for a long time. Sun/Chiron/descendant point.

So, where's my goodies already?

Rising sign or sun sign?

Which one do you read in horoscopes? I vote for rising.

Dear Someone Else's Saturn

Very interesting take on THAT in synastry!

The planetary scoring post

Because Donna Cunningham's various tests seem to be all the rage these days, I'm just writing down my scores in this one spot so I remember what the hell they are.

• Sun: 66. YIKES, so far that WINS.
• Moon: 29.
• Mercury: 32.
• Venus: 45
• Mars: 63.
• Jupiter: 23
• Saturn: 38.
• Uranus: 30
• Neptune: 25
• Pluto: 18. This one loses so far.
• Chiron: 45
• Fixed signs: 36
• Mutable signs: 19.
• Cardinal signs: 28
• Water: 24
• Fire: 63
• Air: 24
• Earth: around 35?