This week’s question comes from Susan in Dallas:

I have always been a hard worker but recently it seems like every time I turn around, someone hands me more work to do in the same time frame. This is wearing me down and I’m exhausted all the time. Is this ever going to end?

Susan, the culprit is likely transiting Saturn in Virgo traveling through your fifth house over the past couple of years and aspecting your Aries planets in the twelfth house by inconjunct. The combination of Saturn being a party pooper in the fifth house and reminding you via the inconjunct of the old adage about “suffer or serve” associated with the twelfth house has not left you much time to relax.

Another important factor is that transiting Saturn has been triggering the Yod in your chart with your natal Saturn conjunct Venus as the apex with a base of Pluto-Moon-Jupiter in Virgo sextile Neptune in Scorpio. You share this pattern with many other people born from approximately June 1968 through April 1969, and with personal planets tied closely to two points on the Yod you feel it keenly.

Saturn is not happy in Aries because he squelches the forthright pioneering spirit of this headstrong fire sign. Neptune and Pluto are in water and earth signs, Scorpio and Virgo. Scorpio prefers to work in the shadows and Virgo always wants to double-check the facts before taking action – both approaches radically different from Aries. All these tensions are in the process of being brought to a head by transiting Saturn.

How do you survive this? The antidote is found within the problem, as it does in homeopathy: Saturn. More than any other planet, Saturn rewards consistent, productive, mature actions. What you found so oppressive in your 20s and caused you to feel like all you did was work, work, work, will now be the source of your salvation. When the grasshoppers are falling right and left, the ants will rule!

Saturn will move into Libra at the end of October and off your Virgo stellium. Things will hopefully ease up some for awhile. Take advantage of that to do something nice just for you – like having a massage with scented candles and soft music in a peaceful, relaxing atmosphere.

Be kind to yourself, Susan, over the coming months and allow Saturn to reward you.

Pat’s response:

Susan, whenever I hear “work, work, work,” the first thing I think of is Saturn. Neith is our resident Saturn advocate and has done a fine job of delineating the meaning of transiting Saturn in your chart.

However, you have a lot of other things going on, too. I know I sound like a broken record, but I can’t emphasize strongly enough that when you have this many transits all entwined with each other, there is no substitute for a complete reading with a professional astrologer. If you try to use online reports, which are generated by a computer, you may get some useful information, but they won’t make sense as a whole. Only a skilled astrologer can synthesize the pieces and explain how they fit together. And, as I’ve said many times, that’s beyond the scope of this column.

With that caveat, let me make a couple of brief observations.

Saturn transiting the Moon, even without the complicating Yod, can be a period in which you feel depressed and isolated, and often it coincides with troubles at home or with parents, especially your mother. With Pluto in on the action, that trouble could extend to other relatives as well. In addition, with Saturn transiting your Pluto-Moon-Jupiter conjunction, your natural ambition and desire to achieve is being thwarted. Others may indeed be getting in your way, but you also may wish to examine your goals and your methods of achieving them.

This is all the more important as we head into next year’s cardinal T-square, which is going to have a big impact on you. It will be more important than ever that you examine yourself honestly, even ruthlessly, to determine what motivates you. For example, if you attempt to control your environment and those around you because you fear for your survival, those efforts could blow up in your face. The cause and effect may not be obvious, so you will need to dig deeply. This is not easy work, and most people are not able to do it alone. Start building your support network now. The key will be finding people who can help you grow, not those who keep you stuck by telling you what you want to hear.

The very best of luck to you. Let us know how it goes.

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