This is the week both Saturn and Venus resume direct motion. Saturn was first, from Libra, at 4:00 am EDT this morning. Venus will follow suit from Gemini shortly after 11:00 am EDT on Wednesday. Both planets will regain forward speed gradually. Weeks will elapse before either Venus or Saturn clear the second shadow phase of their retrograde cycles by passing the point where apparent reverse motion began. The gradual resumption of progress, and the time Venus and Saturn will take to cover the same ground a third time, combine to imply that some events this week are likely to be revealed only in retrospect.
We can, however, get a sense of what’s developing and how you fit in by noting how Venus and Saturn fit into the big picture. The big picture is Uranus and Pluto consummating a cardinal square dance during the weekend just past, initiating an epoch during which that climax will be repeated periodically over three years. For Saturn and Venus to station direct precisely as Uranus and Pluto’s central epoch opens is a conjunction of events in time.
Astrology’s conventional conjunctions are in space. Two symbols in the same degree of the zodiac represent two objects close together in our sky. Spatial conjunctions connote the beginning of a new cycle, and a merger of energies as regards to the objects involved. It stands to reason that a temporal conjunction would have a similar set of meanings for the events involved. If you accept that reasoning, it would make sense to begin by defining the events that constitute the conjunction in time taking place now between Venus, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto.
When a planet resumes direct motion, it is beginning its third swing over the same part of the zodiac. Based on your own life, a third time can mean more than one thing. It can be the proverbial charm, precipitating a desired result. It can also be the third strike, terminating further opportunity. While a first occurrence can be construed as a fluke and a duplication a coincidence, the third repetition of anything clearly defines a pattern. Finally, intentionally repeating an experience three times nearly always moves you from acquaintance, through familiarity to thorough understanding. Which, of all those possibilities, is most likely to be expressed following the respective stations of Saturn and Venus, is the next thing you would want to examine.
The Venus retrograde now coming to a close has included its last transit of the Sun for more than a century. In addition, Venus moved from being visible in the west at evening to being visible in the east at morning. None of those occurrences will repeat during the last shadow phase of Venus’ retrograde cycle. Therefore, the resumption of direct motion in cerebral Gemini will be unlikely to define a pattern and most probably will be an opportunity to understand more deeply what Venus represents from a perspective born of repetition.
What is available for your understanding depends on whether the Venusian properties of attraction expressed in your life have led to indulgence or exploration. If you have been over-indulging, Venus’ last pass through Gemini may represent a last chance to return to reason. If you have been exploring the meaning of attraction, the coming weeks may be the charm that allows you to merge the energy of Venus and Saturn in temporal conjunction. That’s because Venus rules Libra.
Saturn first entered Libra in time for Halloween of 2009, opening the period of outer planet cardinal squares from which the nascent Uranus-Pluto epoch developed. Now, Saturn’s relationship to Uranus and Pluto is distant in both time and space. This morning’s direct station represents the beginning of the end for Saturn’s participation in aspects between cardinal signs. From here on out, it’s here on out. The concluding shadow phase of Saturn’s last retrograde cycle in Libra may thus be construed to be that which defines a pattern.
Your life may very well reflect a similar pattern in the making when Saturn’s role as a limiting influence defines how and whether attraction, as symbolized by Venus, precipitates the beginning or ending of relationships as symbolized by Libra. Once again there is a question: will Saturn’s final lap in Libra be the charm you have been seeking? Or is it the last chance for gas as all roads converge into a temporal conjunction that brings all of us together — both symbolically and literally — where seasons change?
When the Sun enters a cardinal sign, seasons change. When seasons change, we all have a common and concurrent experience of the Sun as either providing equal light (with an equinox) or changing direction (with a solstice). The weekend that just concluded took all of us together, all at the same time, into an epoch wherein Uranus, imbued by Aries fire, and Pluto, digging into Capricorn’s earth, will symbolically contest within each of us. In doing so, they will emulate the Sun and determine the nature of history’s next season.
As the long Uranus-Pluto contest begins, Saturn and Venus are concurrently stationing direct. The conclusion of two separate retrograde cycles is thus merging with a new epoch like tributaries of time flowing together to form a longer, wider cycle.
One tributary, from Venus and Gemini, will contribute the perspective and understanding of attraction that has symbolically eclipsed consciousness itself while moving from one side of the sky to another. In the other tributary, from Saturn and Libra, will flow a much longer experience of relationship tested by tension and defined by limitation. Both streams will contribute their concluding energies to the conditions that determine how the newer, longer cycle will begin, proving that your role in the history being made is immediate and not abstract.
In the weeks to come, as Venus and Saturn conclude their retrograde cycles, you will contribute to the course of history. How thoroughly you understand the nature of attraction after Venus takes you through the lessons of Gemini for the third time will, in part, determine how well you understand your place in the course of personal and political events over the next three years.
The patterns that take shape as you encounter Saturn’s defining limitations on relationship for the third time will influence the patterns of how you relate to both sudden and unlikely events. They will also influence how capably you will adapt and adjust to the inevitable transformations that will initiate over the next several years. So, if you begin seeing the same things going by for the third time this week, take note and take action because those events will represent the beginning of your personal conjunctions in time.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
Len, my gratitude for weaving many, many threads into your tapestries. Eloquent writing, elegant perspective, (con)joined together for a large picture with many different colors. Your writing reminds me of those digital “murals” in which the individual pixels are small photographs arranged to make a large picture.
My humble thanks.
JannKinz
Hah! Try the Saturn sojourn in Libra as the second Saturn return… Fortunately, I was forwarned, and thus, was forearmed. My natal Saturn is at 10 degrees Libra, so this retrograde in Libra has been more balanced – just a wobble head, and not a bobble head.
JannKinz
At least Len we will not see me steal the ideas of other astrologers when even my originality is unique. I even precise that it is an article on Nemesis on gravel cosmic, see the link in Favorites or find in the article that I launched in this prodigious adventure.
As with Eris, I had researched and taken the time to read a long article, that he would have me all had simply let speak my intuition
Thanks Len to enjoy what I write, in astrology, I feel very inspired, the only thing in life that brings me happiness
I will prepare this first quarter then another subject which I wish to heart and that I had already set out on the Post my previous public page that turned archive
Is, sent the link by Bing a wonderful translation engine
http://archives-lepost.huffingtonpost.fr/perso/lunesoleil/
@ soon for news astrological adventures
“Is it just my slow eye, or has Saturn been in Libra an *extra* long time this cycle? Not that I mind, but is just shy of 3 years standard for the Old Boy?
And isn’t Saturn kind of a bridge between the outer and personal planets? Or –as you imply here– a translator of sorts? i can’t quite articulate how I sense Him working with the Ur/Plu square, but I am just glad he isn’t in Scorpio during this period.
In that square, I see Pluto-in-Cap as receptive, his ‘dissolving’ capacities stimulated by Uranus in Aries. Arians can be, imh(experience), something like crypto-Aquarians, more socially-oriented than they let on (right, liminali?). So in my view, Uranus can gather in more of the “me-for-everyone” tonality from Aries and send it over to the Plutonian picnic.”
You’re spot on with sociability aspect of Ariens there, Mystes. Most people tend to see the charging MarsRam first which kind of overpowers the sweet lil lambie frolicin’ with the other lambs and pretty critters vibe that Aries peeps also have going on. Me? I’m a loquacious introvert. I love socializing, talking with others, but I gotta have my alone time to recharge.
Saturn’s sojourn in Libra has seemed extra long to me too. Here’s something I think may be affecting this perception. With the inner planets, retrogrades often encompass more than one sign. Since 2008, the ingresses of ALL the outer planets into new signs has led to retrogrades of the slow movers dipping back into their previous signs. Pluto is now in that part of its elliptical orbit where it moves more quickly; Chiron, on the hand, is in the slowest part of his very elliptical orbit. Since mid-July 2010, all of Saturn’s retrogrades have been entirely within Libra.
There are Libra-themed Saturnian concerns we have all been reviewing/revising/renewing these past two years. It has been a constant in the wild ride astrology of our times. Pluto ingressed TEN degrees in four years, that’s speedy for Pluto. I saw the idea posited recently that history happens more quickly when Pluto zips through a sign in a decade and a half. Makes sense to me. I have an inkling Saturn spends a bit more time retrograding through the cardinal signs, but need to research that with an ephemeris to be sure.
Len, as usual, your service sparkles and shines. Many thanks! 🙂
lunesoleil: Thank you, that is a very good piece you wrote about the asteroid Nemesis. Your interpretation of the discovery chart data is very well done and there is a lot to think about when one considers its proximity to the lunar node axis. Your interpretation of Venus at its direct station is also very touching. i am in your debt for your sharing of these insights.
Have you notice Len that Venus is at the same level as the Nemesis asteroid (see my latest article on the subject) of the date of its discovery and is located on the axis of opposition Venus and Lunar nodes relatively axis has the same position as when it is discovered 25 November 1872…
On Venus which is in phase stationary is a very special time, Venus allows to reconcile ourselves with us even, to reunite us Interior, it’s like a renaissance of love but returned to itself.
To love, appreciate are some attribute of Venus… to free the prisoner our blind suffering divine….
paola: It is reason for joy that my offering worked for you. Could almost hear the “click” reading your words about how the 9th house makes more sense. Thank you for the joy.
Carrie: You are a much better astrologer than you give yourself credit for. You have all the pieces, it’s just a matter of experimenting with how you put them together and looking (or feeling) for the opening to develop. Also, Saturn does not exist in a vacuum. Although its influence is sometimes unmistakeable, there are other times when the signal is not clear. One way of experimenting is to look at the opposite side of the chart from the natal or transiting position – it’s funny but sometimes the opposition can be where you find the proverbial sign. The man idea is to see the chart as a whole and to see the parts so that they make sense with the whole. If it confounds you think of what does not confound you and lay that over the top of the chart like a transparency and see what that tells you.
Hi Len,
Thank you! Very enlightening.
First of all, I like this idea of the house cusps being permeable and I think it makes sense. It opens new windows.
I have to say that I have heard of 3 theories about house cusps: some consider them strictly fixed, some consider them blending at the end – that is to say, the last 10 degrees more or less of one house belonging to the following. And you say that they are permeable.
If think of Saturn in 9th (now) it makes sense, and most of all it makes A LOT of sense in how I see myself and where I live.
Regarding the aspect to natal Saturn, it’s square.
Considering the natal chart as something alive… yes, definitely. Even if it’s not easy, for my mind at least, it’s a mix of ‘rigidity’ and plasticity…
But, for example, I have had the asc calculated wrong twice. So for several years I had the asc in a different sign than where it is now (the real one). But it made sense every time. So it *is* alive…
Thank you so much.
Thanks Len.
I look at my chart and Dave’s chart and I can’t wrap my brain around what you are saying as it applies to either of our charts. I do know that it makes a lot more sense in both our charts when using equal house configuration. All the others place Saturn in Dave’s 9th house and he is not seeing either a completion or a third-time-is-the-charm for ninth house issues. Tenth house, yes’…sort of. With Venus; it is approaching his 6th house of work and health so it has been in his 5th house during this Rx. When I try to apply what you are saying to that it doesn’t fit with what he has been experiencing.
For me, Saturn has been in my 2nd house and again, wrapping my brain around either idea isn’t connecting for me. Venus has been doing its dance in my 9th house and now will cross my MC eventually because it is going direct. Looking back at these Rxs, I am not seeing how they affected me in the areas (houses) they are sitting. Both Dave and I have felt that in our lives; there’s very little real forward motion. One step forward comes with being thrown back three steps. That’s how it feels to both of us. We feel stuck in a for-next-loop (an old programming term for computers). What is the message we are missing? :::scratching head:::::
That’s what I mean when I say I am not that good at astrology; I know how to look up the keywords for things but stringing them together to make a picture just doesn’t happen very easily for me. I extrapolate in every other area of my life but this. Weird, huh?
paola: Thank you for your question. The first thing to remember is that the house cusps are not as definitive as sign cusps. House cusps are highly permeable. So, just for fun, consider Saturn in the 9th or 11th see how that feels and follow the feeling and see if it fits. The main thing is that we are speaking of the top of your chart. So, ask yourself about transiting Saturn’s role in how you see yourself and where you live (gotta remember the opposition to the nadir). How has the current review after review after review during the period (From February 8 to today) impacted your self image and how you see your home? Consider also degree swing (from 29+ back to 22+ Libra) and its aspect to your natal Saturn. Play with those variables and use it as an opportunity to see your natal chart as something alive. Please, how does that work for you?
Thank you Len, for your map, ops, article.
I have a question too. How does the retrograde and direct movement blend with one’s houses? For example, Saturn is currently in my 10th house. But the 10th house goes till about the half of Scorpio. I guess this means that Saturn is “working” and elaborating in my work-career-place in the world section, and it will do it with a Libra component and with a Scorpio component. So, the process will be ongoing even when Saturn exits Libra.
Am I correct?
Huffy: You are most welcome. It is ajoy to know you find the offering useful. Tank you, in turn, for your affirmations that nourish all Planet Waves readers and writers.
Jude: Humbled and joyful that you find this offering helpful. Yes, precipitous is the word of choice for me as well.
be: It is your erudition and generosity with it that truly brings the new and interesting perspective to my poor words. The inspiration to serve as best possible is very often nourished by your example and the dream of emulating it.
mystes: Thank you for your question. The net amount of time Saturn has spent in Libra is not out of the ordinary two and a half years. Just like the other recent outer planet ingresses (Pluto into Capricorn, Uranus into Aries, Neptune into Pisces and Chiron into Pisces) it happened twice. In all those cases, the first ingress was followed by a retrograde into the sign of previous tenure (as if to complete unfinished business) before making the second, long-term commitment. It’s not unusual as outer planets go, but it has been a distinguisging part of the period which contains the current Uranus-Pluto epoch. Also, Saturn is a bridge of sorts in more than one way. It’s a bridge between the classical (visible to the naked eye) planets and objects discovered by science. It’s also a bridge between the planets likely to make more than one orbit of the Sun during a human lifespan and those whose orbital periods exceed most if not all human life spans. Finally, there is a bridge from the planets for which myth and sign rulership are integral and those for which those identifications are either serendipitous or controversial. Thank you as well for really innovative and very sound interpretations of Pluto in Capricorn and Uranus in Aries. Once again, you humble me.
Many thanks also to Amanda, who helps cure my frequently deficient grammar.
Fantastic piece, Len. Thank you so much!
Is it just my slow eye, or has Saturn been in Libra an *extra* long time this cycle? Not that I mind, but is just shy of 3 years standard for the Old Boy?
And isn’t Saturn kind of a bridge between the outer and personal planets? Or –as you imply here– a translator of sorts? i can’t quite articulate how I sense Him working with the Ur/Plu square, but I am just glad he isn’t in Scorpio during this period.
In that square, I see Pluto-in-Cap as receptive, his ‘dissolving’ capacities stimulated by Uranus in Aries. Arians can be, imh(experience), something like crypto-Aquarians, more socially-oriented than they let on (right, liminali?). So in my view, Uranus can gather in more of the “me-for-everyone” tonality from Aries and send it over to the Plutonian picnic.
(This view may well be a function of my natal 8th H Uranus, which gives it that Plutonian cast…)
I am so grateful for Len’s quiet suggestions in his descriptions. I think this is the art of celestomancy, using discernment/interpretation/calibration in the same breath.
More of that, please.
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I always come away with a new and interesting perspective of events after reading your offerings Len; I can’t tell you how grateful I am for that. For instance, thinking about Venus appearing on two different and opposing sides of the sky, and also at two different and opposing times of the day gives substance to her versatility in Gemini. That she and Saturn are virtually conjunct in time with Uranus and Pluto gives so much more dimension to the events which then leads to a greater understanding of the symbols themselves.
How perfect that the universal and objective symbols of Pluto and Uranus share their conjunction time with the stable and defining quality of Saturn, and the personal and receptive senses of Venus. In the best sense of Gemini’s do-it-all-at-the-same-time reputation, the instability and remoteness of the Uranus and Pluto natures can be sensed, stabilized and assimilated through the qualities represented by Venus and Saturn. Well, one hopes so anyway. This is a positive view of possibilities I realize, but the point is I might not have had this inspiritation at all if you had not planted it there!
be
“From here on out, it’s here on out.” Love it! And you too, kiddo. Thanks for helping us decode what is no doubt a precipitous moment.
Third time lucky! (we hope). Thank you Len for this stunning, poetic piece – it is so rich, helps so much to understand this long and complex process. I can really work with this.