Ask Real Astrologers: What Can I Expect from the Coming Eclipses?

This week’s question comes from Natalie in New York:

My question is regarding the first eclipse of this year, which is going to exactly conjoin my Midheaven and Nadir. What meaning or lessons might this have in store for me? What can I expect?

Neith’s response:

Hi Natalie! Yes, the Full Moon in Cancer on January 10 is exactly conjunct your Midheaven with the Sun in Capricorn on the Nadir, and even though this lunation is not an eclipse, (it’s the New Moon in Aquarius on January 25 that’s the solar eclipse) your chart is strongly connected to it.

A Full Moon illuminates and brings into focus matters that we need to be paying attention to and how the different areas of our lives, represented by the houses, are interconnected – or not, as the case may be. This Full Moon triggers your four angular houses, particularly the fourth and tenth. Perhaps you have needed to devote extra time to matters related to your home and family at the expense of your career, and some balance needs restoring. At this time, Jupiter and Mercury are drawing closer together in your fourth house, which leads me to wonder if you are discussing possible improvements to your home or relocating altogether!

You will benefit from the mystic rectangle formed on the Full Moon, because Saturn is currently conjunct your natal Pluto with Uranus in the fifth house, so innovative but practical solutions are available to you. While Saturn-Pluto transits are not easy, they do help us process old issues systematically and release them, allowing us to move forward . . . if we accept the challenge and do the necessary work.

Since the New Moon solar eclipse exactly opposes your Sun, it might be a good idea take a look at what you feel is holding you back now, so you can take full advantage of new directions and possibilities awaiting you. Best wishes for a fabulous coming year!

Pat’s response:

Natalie, you sure have a lot going on in your life right now! As Neith writes, you have Saturn on your natal Pluto, which is presenting some tough challenges. But you have some incredible opportunities waiting for you, too.

Eclipses are essentially supercharged lunations, so the New Moon solar eclipse on January 25 and the Full Moon lunar eclipse on February 9 will in many ways be an extension of tomorrow’s Full Moon in Cancer, since they also take place in your fourth and tenth houses. The issues that Neith identified will be the dominant focus of your life for at least the next six months, when this series of eclipses ends and a new one begins.

The good news is that you already know what the issues are. If you’ve been dealing with issues regarding your parents, then you can expect new developments in that situation. Likewise, if you’ve been having issues with your home itself, you can expect developments there. I’m also wondering whether perhaps there’s a romantic interest or child in the mix. If so, you should experience some movement on that front.

There is one major factor now, though, that will make the upcoming pair of eclipses different than last year’s, and that is the presence of Jupiter. Now that Jupiter is in Aquarius, changes will come more easily and rapidly. Eclipses tend to bring change, often faster than we’re comfortable with, and this will be all the more true with the Big Guy in the sign of sudden change and surprises. In Capricorn, he was feeding the forces that maintained the status quo.

The one thing we can say with certainty is that your life is not going to be boring in the next six months! Thanks for writing, and stay in touch!

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Full Moon in Cancer, January 10

The first lunation of 2009, the Full Moon in Cancer on January 10 (January 11 in the Eastern Hemisphere), reflects light from the Sun in Capricorn and is a reminder we need to tend to the practical side of our lives. Perhaps this is the reason so many of us are inclined to make New Year’s resolutions during this time of year.

Capricorn’s ruler, Saturn, is just beginning the retrograde phase for the coming year, giving us an opportunity to review and revise what was set into motion in roughly the second half of 2008. For many of us, it was a quite a ride as we saw what we thought were financial gains disappear into thin air. Now we need to give serious thought to working in more tangible ways to regroup.

In the chart for this Full Moon, the Sun is part of a mystic rectangle with Saturn in Virgo, Uranus in Pisces, and the Moon in Cancer – all water and earth signs. A mystic rectangle features two oppositions, two trines and two sextiles, uniting four planets in a manner capable of manifesting the energies represented by the planets into physical reality. Dane Rudhyar interpreted this pattern as “practical mysticism.”

Capricorn and Cancer are both cardinal signs and both are negative in polarity, so their way of asserting themselves is very different from the Gemini-Sagittarius axis of the last Full Moon. That does not mean they are any less powerful in expression, just more subtle about it. There is great potential here for healing on many levels, drawing on the nurturance of the Moon in Cancer, the practical caring of Saturn in Virgo, the endurance of the Sun in Capricorn, and the marvelous compassionate touch of Uranus in Pisces. Perhaps seeds will be planted for new healing technologies that could help many people.

Jupiter and Mercury have moved into Aquarius from Capricorn and remind us of the need to work as part of a group to achieve our dreams. Jupiter has just begun his year-long stay in Aquarius, and we are just beginning to get some idea of what it means to have Jupiter’s magnifying properties promoting Aquarian agendas instead of Capricorn’s. It is a whole new world, folks!

Mercury will station retrograde within a few hours after the peak of the Full Moon, further underlining the need to be open to revamping our agendas without prejudice. The lunar North Node in Aquarius is traveling with this pair, emphasizing the importance of collaboration and staying in touch with the collective vision.

Neptune in Aquarius is the apex, or focal point, of a Yod with Saturn in Virgo sextile the Moon in Cancer as the base. Saturn and the Moon represent the need to care for our loved ones and families in a sensible and nurturing fashion, and if we do that we can gain understanding of how to move this same attitude of caring to all members of our collective. The Aquarius New Moon on January 26 will pick this theme up and ratchet it up a notch with six planets in this most visionary of signs.

After taking center stage at the New Moon, Pluto in Capricorn is letting us catch our breath on the Full Moon . . . thankfully. Mars in Capricorn is in a waxing sextile with Venus in Pisces, a gentle blessing for friends and lovers. Venus is kind and sympathetic in Pisces and encourages us to listen closely to others when they share their thoughts and feelings, while Mars in Capricorn is solid and dependable. We do need to be clear about our boundaries, though, and avoid misinterpreting a sympathetic ear as something more intimate.

We have two Sabian symbols to consider on the Full Moons, one for the Moon and one for the Sun. The symbol for the Moon at 22 Cancer is, “A young woman awaiting a sailboat,” with the keyword EXPECTANCY. We need to draw on the grounding energy of the Sun in Capricorn to focus on what is, rather than what might be. This is about the danger of always seeking an ideal fantasy solution when we are better served to look more deeply at those already in our lives, or to look within to work on our relationship with ourselves.

For the Sun at 22 Capricorn, the Sabian symbol is, “By accepting defeat gracefully, a general reveals nobility of character,” with the keyword INNER STRENGTH. Learning to accept that winning is not everything is an important step on the road to maturity, and many of us need this reminder. Pluto in Capricorn can teach this concept the hard way if we don’t make a conscious effort to work on developing inner strength and integrity.

Even if New Year’s resolutions are not your thing, this is still a good time to lay out some general guidelines for the coming year. We can take advantage of the grounding energy of the mystic rectangle in earth and water, so when the New Moon solar eclipse in Aquarius conjoined with Jupiter blows into town, we’ll have a structure in place to build on. Remember, always practice kindness to everyone you come in contact with!

posted by Neith . . .

Weekly Forecast January 5: Full Moon in Cancer, Mercury Retrograde

Does it seem to you like everyone has gone berserk, yourself included?

I had three meltdowns over the past week, and let me tell you, it wasn’t pretty. All three were in response to someone else’s meltdown, and I’ve since heard from friends and co-workers that everywhere they turn, people are acting crazy. There’s a lot of anger and frustration out there, that’s for sure.

In circumstances such as these, the first thing the astrologer does is to try to figure out what’s “causing” it — remembering, of course, that the planets don’t cause anything to happen to us, but are just indicators of what’s happening with the invisible energies flowing through the Cosmos. We might surmise, then, that there’s a major traffic jam and that these energies are colliding with each other and wreaking general havoc.

One of the toughest puzzles in astrology is to identify which planetary indicators are at work at any given time. My money is on the Saturn-Uranus opposition, which got a jolt this morning when Jupiter entered Aquarius. Jupiter is bigger than all of the other planets in our solar system combined, and when the Big Guy moves, we know it.

In Capricorn for the past year, Jupiter has been feeding Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn, one of the more conservative signs that tends to favor the status quo. Conversely, Aquarius is about sudden, unpredictable change. The Water-Bearer’s ruler is Uranus, the sky god of storms and electricity. Meanwhile, Uranus himself is in the watery sign of Pisces, which is associated with the vast void of the collective unconscious.

Whew! What a way to start a week — or a new year, for that matter!

As if that’s not enough, there will be a Full Moon on Saturday, with the Sun in Capricorn and the Moon in Cancer, the sign she rules. Neith will have more on this on Wednesday, so be sure to check back. Fortunately, this Full Moon has a lot of earth energy associated with it, so we probably won’t experience all hell breaking loose, but we’ll be agitated all the same, and I think this may be in part due to the struggle between wanting to keep things as they are and the irresistible pull toward the changes we all know are necessary but that are very scary.

We’ll get plenty of opportunity to think about all of this over the next several weeks, as Mercury turns retrograde in Aquarius this Sunday and then retrogrades back into Capricorn on January 21. If we’re confused now (I know I am), we should gain a lot of clarity, although I think we’re going to feel awfully uncomfortable for a bit.

As they say in French, bon courage! Lots of love to all, and hang in there!

Pat

Image: Kerby Brown, a daredevil champion surfer from Western Australia, rides a 41-foot wave. He eventually wiped out and said he was lucky to be alive! I thought it was appropriate for this week because it feels like we are all riding big waves, and a lot of us are wiping out, but hey, we’re still alive. This photo was taken last July (with the Sun in Cancer) by Andrew Buckley for REUTERS.

Saturday Archives: Natal Chart in Synastry – Neptune

Neptune-related issues continue to crop up both in my life and in the lives and relationships of friends and clients, so I decided to pull this article on the effect Neptune has in our natal charts for today’s Saturday Archive post. In my personal opinion, Neptune is the most difficult planet to deal with in relationships, because it is so easy to mislead ourselves and others with only the best of intentions and the highest motives.

Neptune is so good at creating illusions and causing us to second-guess ourselves, it’s no wonder this post got put on hold. However, I have been seeing Neptune aspects showing up with great frequency in chart comparisons lately, so I thought I would take another shot at the elusive one.

Reading over on Elsa P’s blog the other day, I came across a great description of the way Neptune operates, especially in synastry. Here is the quote: And then he said the perfect “Neptune” thing. “It’s not that you look like a whore, it’s that they want you to be a whore… they wish you were a whore so when they look at you, you’re a whore.

If Neptune is playing a major role is synastry (aspecting the personal planets in particular) wishes truly can become horses and you can ride off into La La Land, no problem. We want to believe the best of anyone that we care about, and in general that’s no bad thing. One or two Neptune aspects, especially Venus-Neptune aspects, can amp up the romance factor and make all concerned very happy. If there are some good solid Saturn aspects to keep all parties grounded in something resembling reality, Neptune aspects add a nice touch to the overall relationship.

Where unrealistic expectations and projections start to become problematical is if there are several Neptune intra-aspects (same planets from both charts). For example, if Neptune is conjunct or square Mercury, it’s very easy for miscommunications to start snowballing. We can read way too much into the simplest statements and end up thinking someone is head over heels in love with us when they are putting out “friends only.”

Neptune on the Ascendant is often found in the charts of actors and actresses, allowing them to appear to be someone they’re not. All of us watching them perform are part of the agreement to suspend disbelief and see them as the role they are playing. For an ordinary person, Neptune on the Ascendant can create problems because it can be difficult to know exactly how others are seeing us in our day to day interactions in the world at large. Our friends and lovers are ga ga over their idea of who we are, not the actual person. Conversely, Neptune can lead us to believe we are quite undesirable unless we have ourselves painted to the hilt. The beauty industry makes big bucks off this . . . really big bucks.

There is a great deal to be said for consulting a trusted neutral third party if Neptune is heavily involved in synastry to help sort out what is really happening. I know I have brought up unmanifested potential before with Neptune aspects. I have Moon conjunct Neptune natally and can usually see the possibilities inherent in an individual. The dicey part is that those possibilities may never materialize.

posted by Neith . . .

Ask Real Astrologers: How Do Progressed Charts Work?

Our first question in the new year comes from Rossa in Great Britain:

My 50th birthday is coming up soon and I’d like to know if you could tell me anything about progressed charts and how they work. Are they similar to synastry in terms of how you compare aspects and transits? I was thinking of doing one for my solar return in February, but I’m not sure what data to use. Do I use where I live currently or use my place of birth? Also I’ve read that a day is a year in a progressed chart so I assume from that that my progressed chart would be 50 days from my date of birth. Any help would be very welcome. Thanks.

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Neith’s response:

Rossa, you are correct about the progressed chart moving one year for one day. In general, the most important transitions by progression are when a planet moves from one sign to another. For example, your Sun progressed into Aries in early April 2005 after spending roughly 30 years in Pisces. If after that time you started to find it easier to assert yourself and put your interests first for a change, you can attribute that to your progressed Sun. The shift from Pisces to Aries is often one of the more dramatic ones because the signs involved are so different.

Since the Moon travels the fastest, changing signs by progression every two and half years or so, it is useful to look at the house and sign to gain understanding into how this affects you. It has been my experience that all progressions add to the expression of our natal charts but subtly in most instances. Your Moon progressed into Libra in June of last year but it remains in your eighth house. Perhaps being more equitable and even-handed in the way you are handling extreme circumstances is possible.

My suggestion is to keep it simple and look for the repeating themes and patterns, Rossa. Astrology is a wonderful tool to gain insight and understanding about ourselves and what’s important in our lives. Good luck with your studies!

Pat’s response:

Rossa, I used the progressed chart as a supplement to transits in the birth chart, although I know that some astrologers consider the progressed chart to be a more accurate reflection of where an individual is now in life versus their condition at birth. I also tend to use the progressed chart as a standalone, rather than looking at current planetary transits to the progressed chart. The exception is when a long-term outer planetary influence is hitting an angle or key planet in your progressed chart. Like Neith, I prefer to keep things as simple as possible. Too much information ends up being too confusing, unless you have a good ability to hone in on what transit or progression is the dominant influence in any given situation.

For the progressed chart, I use your place of birth, and there’s no particular magic about doing a progressed chart on your birthday, as it continues to evolve throughout the year, unlike a Solar Return chart, which remains static for the year from one birthday to the next. Incidentally, for birthdays, I prefer Solar Return charts, which also are standalone tools for reading a specific time period. For the Solar Return chart, we generally use the current place of residence, but astrologers disagree on this, too.

In addition to what Neith says about planets changing signs in the progressed chart, I look for changes in houses, especially for the Sun and Moon. The Sun changing houses is particularly important. You and I share many chart similarities, including a change in our progressed Sun from the first to the twelfth house. When this happened to me, I suddenly went from wanting to be famous to preferring to stay in the background, and this was also right about the time that I had a powerful spiritual awakening and began getting involved in metaphysical studies. Your progressed Sun slipped back into the twelfth house in 1993.

I hope that helps! Thanks for writing, and many blessings in the New Year.

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Ask Our Readers: What Are Your Hopes and Fears for the New Year?

The coming year is astrologically charged, with Saturn and Uranus in a continued opposition, Venus retrograde, and six eclipses. The latter is especially rare and indicates that 2009 will be a highly significant year.

In this week’s reader survey, we’d like to know what your hopes, wishes, and fears for the coming year are. We decided not to make it a poll, because we didn’t want to limit the broad range of possible answers.

Personally, I’m looking forward to sweeping changes in my personal life, with the continue series of eclipses in Aquarius and Leo, which fall in my first house of self and seventh house of personal relationships. My love life started picking up within two weeks of the first eclipse of this series last February and heated up over the summer, only to crash and burn at the lunar eclipse in mid-August. I’ve been picking up the pieces ever since, and there are new developments that look promising as we head into the next eclipse pair in late January and early February.

The Saturn-Uranus opposition is taking place in my second and eighth houses, so I expect continued challenges and breakthroughs in my financial situation as well. I’m sure something unexpected will happen, and I can’t even begin to guess what it might be.

As for the world at large, I do have some anxiety there, and I don’t believe we are going to get too far into 2009 before all hell breaks loose. For those who have been hoping for change, we are going to get it, and it may fall into the “careful what you wish for” category.

What I most wish for in 2009 is that many more people will experience a spiritual awakening.

And, of course, I wish you much love and many blessings for the New Year!

Pat

Yes, the Saturn-Uranus opposition is going to continue to get my attention, too, since Saturn remains in my tenth house and Uranus in my fourth. So far it’s been all about meeting obligations and remembering everything has to be done in the correct order with attention to detail – yes, Virgo in action. Uranus keeps stirring up my home life, much to my Libra Moon’s distress.

For all of us Venus-ruled Libra and Taurus folks, a Venus retrograde is always something to take note of, and Venus will be retrograde in Aries from March 6 to April 17. The last time Venus went retrograde a couple of years ago, I sure noticed it. It was similar to a Mercury retrograde but in matters related to love, creativity, etc. We love to get feedback on these events and will keep you posted as they arrive on the scene.

Don’t forget (as if you could) this will be Pluto’s first full year in Capricorn and if you haven’t noticed, frugal living is coming back in style everywhere we look. We can still enjoy life, just not in the same manner we had become accustomed to over the past 15-plus years.

Stay alert and practice kindness to others and yourself. Have a wonderful and exciting 2009.

Neith

Weekly Forecast December 29: Saturn Retrograde, Venus Enters Pisces

Ancient Sentinels, by Ellen Hill Despite the revelries to welcome in the New Year, this week could feel unusually somber, with Saturn’s turn retrograde on Wednesday.

As I wrote in last week’s forecast, the opposition of Saturn and Uranus has been unequal so far, as the stabilizing energies of Saturn have been reinforced by Jupiter in Capricorn, the sign that Saturn rules, and the chaotic, unpredictable nature of Uranus has been kept in check. Saturn’s turn retrograde will weaken this stabilizing force, just as Jupiter is about to enter Aquarius, the sign ruled by Uranus. Once that happens, we are in for some turbulent astro-weather.

I am not writing this to frighten you, but just to give you a heads up that you may have unexpected circumstances to deal with. Actually, if you’ve been paying attention, events probably won’t surprise you too much, as you’ve seen the handwriting on the wall. If you weren’t paying attention or intentionally ignored the signs, then you could be thrown for a loop. How this will manifest in your life depends on where the Saturn-Uranus opposition is positioned in your natal chart.

The Moon in Pisces on Friday conjoins Uranus and opposes Saturn, so you may feel a blip in this ongoing situation, whatever it may be. The Moon goes through Pisces once a month and Virgo once a month, so these little reminders may continue to happen every couple of weeks.

On the plus side this week, Mercury enters Aquarius on Thursday and Venus enters Pisces on Saturday. Both planets will be in the sign of their exaltation, and this should bode well for communications between friends, siblings, and romantic partners. Even if a key relationship in your life is breaking up or going through some other kind of disorienting or disruptive change, you should be able to talk about it and view each other with compassion. Forgiveness, both of yourself and others, is possible, and a little goes a long way.

Wishing you much love and courage in the new year…

Pat

Image: Ancient Sentinels, by Ellen Hill, whom many of you know as Tseka. To see more of Ellen’s phenomenal work, including her new line of talisman jewelry, visit her site, Tseka – One Dance.

Saturday Archives: Jesus and the Age of Pisces

Night of Peace, by William Blake As we continue to celebrate the Christmas season in much of the world, I thought this would be a good time to revisit the origins and astrological significance of this Christian holiday.

Believe it or not, this is one of the most searched-for posts on my personal blog, The Pisces Chronicles. The original post ran on December 18, 2005.

Much love to all in this holiday season …

Pat

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Jesus and the Age of Pisces

For many people around the world, the winter holiday is Christmas and the birthday of Jesus.

The year of his alleged birth was very close to the beginning of the Age of Pisces. That alone is noteworthy, but there are plenty of other startling coincidences, such as early Christians’ use of the image of the fish to identify themselves. If you’d like to know more, here is an excellent article by Ray Grasse, who has written a book about the Age of Aquarius.

Whether you believe Jesus really existed or was just a symbolic figure, this is as good a time as any to look back on the Age of Pisces. What did it replace? What was its promise? What have been its primary manifestations?

The Age of Aries was ending just as the Roman Empire had extended to its farthest reaches. Aries is ruled by Mars, the god of war, and it was Rome’s military innovations that allowed it to conquer lands on three continents. Rome invented the idea of a trained military unit that attacked and fought as one, with a pre-planned strategy. That might sound like a no-brainer, but until the Romans came up with the idea, warfare was more like schoolyard gangs beating up on each other.

Jesus lived in an outpost of the Roman Empire, and according to some historians, he was a rebel (if George Bush had been the emperor of Rome, he’d have called Jesus a terrorist, but that’s another story for another time). Yet his message was of peace, compassion, and oneness with God – all concepts that astrologers strongly associate with Pisces. Indeed, these are the best attributes of Pisces.

So how did a message of peace and compassion get turned into the Crusades, in which “infidels” were killed in the name of God? Or into the war in Iraq, in which “terrorists” or “insurgents” are being killed in the name of democracy or oil or eradication of WMDs or whatever?

The answer lies in the flip side of Pisces, which is fear and blind faith. As the Age of Pisces draws to an end, the worst traits of the sign are coming to the fore in a way that we no longer can ignore.

I went to a Unitarian service this morning during which the visiting minister admonished everyone to remember our divinity, to turn toward what’s beautiful and good, and away from what’s ugly and bad. Well, in my mind, therein lies the problem. In deciding that certain behaviors are “bad” and “ugly,” to be feared and hated, we renounce an essential part of ourselves. When society as a whole represses behaviors or thoughts, they emerge in overt, physical form. The more repressed, the more in our faces they get.

Before we can reclaim our divinity – and our power as divine beings – we must own our dark side. We are all capable of being selfish, greedy, petty, resentful, narrow-minded, self-indulgent, stubborn, and limited. And most of us live in fear of something, and the antidote to this fear is blind faith, whether in a supreme being, a political leader, a religious or political ideology, a scientific theory – whatever. To live with uncertainty, to be in a constant state of “I don’t know,” is more than most human beings are willing or able to handle.

As the Age of Pisces dwindles, our beliefs are falling away. Lately, this is happening with mind-numbing speed. As a result, we are entering a period of intense confusion. Nothing makes sense. The behaviors and reactions of people, governments – even nature – are inexplicable. Chaos reigns.

Eventually, when the dust settles, we will enter a new age of peace and stability. But we’ve got a way to go yet. . .

Image: Night of Peace, watercolor illustration for Milton’s On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity, by William Blake, 1809.

Ask Real Astrologers: I’m New to This, What’s It All Mean?

This week’s question comes from Susan in Ontario, Canada:

I had my birth chart done and am totally new at this. I was reading that Uranus is opposed to Saturn until 2010. What does it mean, that serious decisions I have coming up could/will affect me for years? My Moon is in Pisces. I knew long before that something was going to happen in 2012. I specifically married on the Winter Solstice, 2003, to a man I believe I knew from my Egyptian past life. His Moon is in Aquarius.

Aquarius expounds . . .

Pat’s response:

Well, Susan, that’s a load! We don’t have enough space here for me to answer all your questions thoroughly, but I’ll try to give you a brief big picture.

First of all, “getting your chart done” for a lot of people means having an astrologer interpret their birth chart. I don’t find this particularly useful. In my readings, I do transit charts — in other words, I look at where the planets are today in relation to their positions in your birth chart, and that way I can determine what forces are most influencing your life. Your first question, about how the Saturn-Uranus opposition will affect you, is a transit question.

In September 2009, Saturn and Uranus will form an exact opposition at 25 degrees Virgo and Pisces, which forms a conflicting square to your Ascendant at 25 degrees Sagittarius and your Descendant at 25 degrees Gemini. I believe you will see some big changes in your life at this time, and they could extend to your marriage, although this is not necessarily a bad thing. Neith has some things to add to this in her response, so I won’t go into more detail here.

As for what might happen in 2012, I don’t see anything unusual in your chart. Pluto will be well into your first house, suggesting a slow transformation over time. But that has started already, so this is not news. By then, Neptune will be out of Aquarius (but not yet conjunct your Pisces Moon), and the current emphasis on Aquarius will be long gone, as will the effects of the mutual reception between Uranus, ruler of Aquarius, and Neptune, ruler of Pisces. I’m betting that you two are feeling this, probably by being in unusual psychic link.

If you want to know more, I strongly recommend a transit reading, and you might also want to consider having a compatibility reading for you and your husband. Not only will this tell you more about your relationship’s strengths, weaknesses, and karmic connections, but a skilled astrologer will be able to identify time periods when significant connections between you may be activated.

By the way, I share your Moon in Pisces and can tell you that this is a quite psychic placement of the Moon that puts you in touch with “higher” forces. The only difficulty is that your imagination can get the better of you, but with some training and discipline, this can be a powerful tool to give you an edge in life.

Thanks for writing, Susan, and best wishes for the coming year.

Libra ponders . . .

Neith’s response:

Yes, Susan, the Saturn-Uranus opposition definitely will impact your chart next year! The next exact pass on February 5, 2009, will find Saturn exactly conjunct your natal Jupiter in Virgo, likely causing you to slow down and make any necessary changes one step at a time. Since Jupiter rules your Sagittarius Ascendant and is located in the ninth house where Sagittarius rules, this is a significant transit all right.

The other factor with this transit is that, while Saturn is conjoining your Jupiter, it will be moving closer to an exact square with your Ascendant. By the next exact Saturn-Uranus opposition on September 15, 2009, the square to your Ascendant will be much tighter and therefore have more impact. I suggest you prepare to feel frustrated more often than not and to feel like your style will be severely cramped over the coming months. However, in the end if you step up and do what needs doing as gracefully as possible, you will be much further ahead.

Saturn can be very helpful in bringing discipline and determination to aid you on your path, but with Uranus opposing your Jupiter at the same time making you very restless, this is going to be a challenging period for you. What Uranus will bring to the table is many new insights and unconventional ideas and solutions. You may be presented with an opportunity to study in a unique environment. If so, go for it!

Good fortune on your journey, Susan.

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