Awaiting Saturn

 

June 17, 2005 (with chart and table)

 

http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/jun17.html

 

Dear Friends and Readers,

 

We passed through a major aspect in the past few days -- the Sun opposing Pluto. And it was a week of big news but not big news. Two things come to mind: Michael Jackson was acquitted of messing with little kids; and, also in California, there was a dud earthquake off the coast Tuesday night. Well, not exactly a dud at 7.0 on the Richter scale, but considering that tsunami warnings were sent out from Mexico to as far north as Vancouver, British Columbia, then retracted an hour later, it was a fairly calm incident.

 

Since this was The Little Tsunami That Wasn't, I won't post the chart here, and instead it will be on Planet Waves at this link. However, briefly, look at the exact quarter-moon, the close Sun-Pluto opposition, and the very late degree Scorpio rising.

 

At the moment, there are a lot of questions pouring into this page on two main subjects -- next week's Capricorn Full Moon on the Summer Solstice, and Saturn entering Leo. The Cap Full Moon -- one of two that's coming (the first is June 22 and the second is July 21) -- occurs right on the solstice, and that is BIG news. When an exact lunation occurs the day that the Sun changes seasons, we have two major cycles overlapping and the power of the energy can, and often does, change the world.

 

To avoid writing about things twice, I'm going to focus here on Saturn in Leo, and then focus on the Capricorn Full Moon chart Planet Waves on Friday. We'll post the article to the cover, so that everyone can read it (including non-subscribers! So please subscribe, since I know you appreciate when we do stuff like that). It's an extremely interesting chart, it portends some big and surprising changes in the United States -- particularly for the government -- and I am very curious to see it with the asteroids in, which I have not yet done.

 

In today's column, I'll begin the discussion of Saturn in Leo, which comes around again for the first time since the late 1970s on July 17, 2005 and takes us through Sept. 2007. This article is just a warm-up. There are many issues to cover. Some are personal. Some are about the state of the world. Saturn in Leo will develop over time; there is only a limited extent to which it can be predicted; and we need to respond to events and developments -- on all levels -- as they occur.

 

But let's start with the basics.

 

Saturn takes 29-1/2 of your Earth years to go around the Sun once. On average, it spends just a little under 2.5 years per sign. Each sign change comes with a shift or adjustment in the world in which we live. If the theory of astrology holds up, these sign symbolism of these changes should in some way reflect the times in which the transit is happening.

 

For example, during the Saturn in Taurus phase of the late 1990s, the world witnessed a major VALUES crisis (very Taurus, but also very pathetic) over the affair between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. And there were two huge values events on the economic level: the crash of the Nasdaq stock exchange (the so-called dot-com collapse), and the 'California energy crisis', involving high prices, energy shortages, rolling back-outs, a lot of money changing hands between California and Texas, and a company called Enron (which would become big news a couple of years later).

 

The big, peak moment was April and May 2000. There was a really cool afternoon during a big banking conference in Washington DC where a whole bunch of protestors were raising hell, and the banking guys were getting word of the stock slide just as they were arriving in town. The summer of 1999 was also critical in the Saturn in Taurus era (the famous Aug. 11, 1999 eclipse), as was the U.S. election rip-off of November 2000. Ah, the good old days.

 

When Saturn is active, we also see the changes in our own lives. Saturn is about big decisions, changes to the structure of our experience, our work, developments in our most important relationships, and where we are located on the planet. Saturn is about all the processes that TAKE TIME and have LONG TERM RESULTS.

 

We've made up a little timetable that tracks the sign changes of Saturn since it began a new cycle in Aries. See if you can tell some stories from your personal life, your growth, your relationships and so on, based on these dates.

 

Here it is:

 

Note that when Saturn is changing signs, sometimes it retrogrades back into the old sign for a few months. It does not do that with the change from Cancer to Leo.

 

This cycle will have some relevance to everyone, regardless of where your Saturn placement is. If you want to know where your Saturn is (for added personal reality), I suggest you get your chart made up from Jonathan's service, from Astrodeinst.com, from Ephemeral.info, or by LondonAstrology.com. Or find a friend with decent software, such as Solar Fire and ask them to make it up for you. If you work or play with astrology regularly, or are vaguely curious, please do invest in a good chart.

 

People with Saturn in Leo are now entering their Saturn Return (around age 29-30 or 57-58, though the effects can start earlier). This is the famous transit wherein people actually tend to grow up. It is the most important passage into adulthood, particularly the first Saturn return. Typically, we find our true career, we find a meaningful relationship, we end a long-term relationship, or something settles and becomes more solid. Many people get married or divorced around this time. It can be a time to devote yourself to personal healing.

 

Or everything blows up and we remake our lives -- better than before. These are all natural changes for the Saturn return.

 

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.

 

There are related transits earlier and later in life. People with Saturn in Aquarius are now entering their Saturn opposition (around age 44 or 73). People with Saturn in Taurus or Scorpio are now entering their Saturn square (around age 7, 21 or 35). These are the major, seven-year cycle turning points of Saturn.

 

You get extra Saturn if you have Leo or Aquarius rising, in which case Saturn will be transiting your ascendant or relationship angle. This also counts if you have the early degrees any fixed sign on an angle. (The lower the degree number, the sooner you will have the Saturn transit. However, Saturn entering a sign has an effect on the whole sign and on the corresponding four -- for example, Saturn in Leo has the greatest effect on anything in Taurus, Leo, Scorpio or Aquarius -- the fixed cross).

 

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.

 

As for Saturn in Leo specifically. Both Leo and the Sun are astrological energies that can, for the most part, endure anything. What Saturn, Leo and the Sun have in common is a sense of responsibility and of purpose. But it's important not to get discouraged. In this world, what we think of as good takes a lot longer than what we think of as evil. Therefore, we need to give our efforts at growth, expression and becoming time to develop.

 

The last time Saturn was in Leo, between 1975 and 1978, the world faced fuel shortages. Jimmy Carter was the U.S. president. In the wake of this, instead of re-electing Carter -- a man who urged people to turn down the thermostat to 68F, and gave speeches from the White House wearing a cardigan to set the example -- Reagan took office and the conservative revolution was begun.

 

What Saturn and Leo don't have in common is that Saturn can represent shadow and Leo can represent light. Saturn can represent restriction and Leo wants to express itself in a big way. The two can work very well together, but this calls for a special kind of awareness; a special devotion to actual conservatism (that is, conserving and self-control, rather than raw fear and control drama). In the Saturn in Leo time, the Western world may need to do with less. We may see big changes in the value of things -- Leo is the gold standard of astrology. We will need to learn something very rare for our society -- efficiency.

 

We certainly did not learn it the last time around. A lot of people now drive three-ton SUVs.

 

Whatever we may think, we do not live in sober times. Across the horoscope dial in Aquarius, there is the great and powerful planet Neptune, which is broadcasting a strange fog through the media, religion, and the world of ideas; and none of it is particularly realistic or intelligent. In many aspects of life, we have a kind of sick idealism that needs to assess itself, but cannot. Saturn is slowly going to make its way to an opposition to that Neptune -- and that is going to be a wakeup call.

 

But something comes first. An important factor in all of this is Chiron. When Saturn enters Leo about one month from now, it immediately opposes Chiron. This is the fifth opposition of Saturn to Chiron in recent years, and the first with both planets in the new signs. (The Saturn in Cancer, Chiron in Capricorn oppositions happened in September 2003, October 2003, August 2004, and December 2004.) The last of these came with the Asian tsunami.

 

Here is the chart for the Saturn ingress to Leo, below. See where it makes aspects to your chart. See what shapes the patterns make. See if you can feel the story that this chart tells.

 

I'll be telling the story of the Capricorn Full Moon chart Friday at Planet Waves. Please drop in, and please subscribe -- it's how we sponsor this juicy project on Cainer.com, and you'll get to read my horoscopes twice a week and much else besides. Details at PlanetWaves.net.

Oh yeah -- one last thing, a few months ago we put together this Saturn Resources Page for readers of this column. Here is the link. It will keep you busy a while.

 

Here are a few of your questions this week.