This week’s question comes from Deanne in Gresham, OR:

Could you please tell me what the heck is going on in the firmament? I tripped and fell last week and broke my arm. It’s in a bad spot — way up near the shoulder joint — so I’m working closely with a physical therapist for the next six weeks until the bone is healed and real therapy can begin. Three weeks before I fell, my husband slipped on the golf course and ripped the patellar tendon completely from his knee cap. He had surgery a few weeks ago and is looking forward to at least four months of healing. On the bright side, we have to support each other in almost everything and are enjoying this strange relationship of mutual dependency. We get a lot of laughs putting on each other’s socks and tying shoes.

Neith’s response:

Wow! Talk about examples of how the Saturn-Uranus opposition can affect one’s life. Deanne, the trigger in your chart was most likely Saturn (skeletal structure) opposing Uranus (accidents) forming a T-square with your progressed Mars in Gemini in your first house.

This particular opposition represents the conflict between the urge to move quickly and the need for cautious action, and I’m sure there are lots of other people out there who are being thrown off balance and having accidents. Progressed Mars in Gemini is very much given to dashing about, and the Saturn-Uranus opposition put paid to that.

In your husband’s case, Saturn is transiting his first house, Uranus his seventh, and the pair of them is forming a T-square with his natal Uranus in his tenth house. Yup, Saturn really curtailed his ability to move about normally in the world at large and in his career. Uranus transiting his seventh can represent your unexpected injury and the need for the two of you to cooperate to do simple tasks.

One possible way to handle this opposition is creative (Uranus) restructuring (Saturn) of the way we manage those areas of our lives where this ongoing opposition falls, because we’ve got two more years of this opposition to work with. Good Luck!

Pat’s response:

Well, there is certainly more than one way to look at a chart, which is the whole point behind this column!

While I agree with Neith that the Saturn-Uranus opposition is wreaking havoc with many of us, I see the Scorpio-Taurus lunar cycle written all over this one, as well as the eclipse cycle in Aquarius and Leo.

Although the New Moon in Scorpio on October 28 and the Full Moon in Taurus-Scorpio on November 13 do not exactly correspond to the dates of your injuries, they are close enough, and these lunations were the midway point between important eclipses in August 2008 and January/February 2009. The reason I feel that these are driving factors in your situation is that you and your husband represent all four of the fixed signs. You are Taurus with Taurus Rising and Moon in Scorpio, while he is Aquarius with Leo Rising. This is a strongly fixed-sign relationship, and sometimes it takes crises to knock fixed-sign people out of old habits and into healthier ways of living and being.

You are so good-humored to see the absurdity and irony in the situation, but this is right-on astrologically. I have written a lot here and on my personal blog about this eclipse cycle and its unique opportunity for healing, including deep wounds stemming from an ancient separation between male and female. And here you are, joining together through remarkably similar injuries! I’m not sure I’d recommend this as the best means for healing a relationship, but whatever works!

Much love and courage to both of you, and keep us posted on your progress.

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