Tag Archives: cardinal T-square

Saturday Extra! 2010: The Year of Living Spiritually

For years, astrologers have been writing about what a big year 2010 is going to be. Well, now it’s here. So what are we going to do about it?

“Do about it?” you might ask. “What’s to do? It’s not as though we can do anything about planetary transits.”

True enough. But there is plenty we can do, and time’s a-wasting.

If you’ve kept up here and on other astrology blogs, you know that the defining quality of 2010 is the cardinal T-square, which briefly becomes a cardinal grand cross mid-year. The cardinal signs are Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn. These are the initiators of change. In short, it needs action. No sitting around talking about it or researching it to death. As the Nike ad says, “Just Do It!”

Diane had a great post on New Year’s Day on the meaning for each of us personally. As a cardinal sign living with a heavily cardinal partner, she is well-versed in this type of energy!

As 2010 begins, we have two outer planets in cardinal signs, Saturn in Libra and Pluto in Capricorn. The Sun, Venus, and Mercury also are in Capricorn, along with the lunar North Node, which determines the signs and timing of eclipses. As it so happened, we had a lunar eclipse in Cancer on New Year’s Eve. That means we experienced a very brief cardinal T-square, a taste of things to come.

Saturn will go back into Virgo in April, but he returns to Libra on July 21. In the meantime, both Jupiter and Uranus enter Aries, and the Sun enters Cancer at the solstice, with a lunar eclipse in early Capricorn on June 26 and a solar eclipse in Cancer on July 11. It’s a veritable windmill of change.

Exactly what those changes will be, who knows? Who could have predicted 9/11 and the far-reaching consequences? In the next few years, we are likely to witness mass upheaval that could be political, social, ecological, geological, or inter-planetary — maybe all of the above. It’s just as likely that we could experience major breakthroughs in consciousness and spirituality, perhaps as a result of global crises.

Now, back to the question of what you can do …

I believe that the biggest change any of us can make as individuals is to start living more spiritually. By that, I don’t mean sitting in a lotus position for 20 minutes a day or joining a drumming circle. My definition of “spiritual” is learning to recognize and work with the invisible energies that are constantly flowing through the material realm.

Astrology is one of the best tools we have to identify these energies. In my forecast every week, I tell you what the planets are doing and interpret how these celestial indicators can manifest in our daily lives. I also give you information on how to work with them, especially the more difficult transits such as we’re experiencing right now with Mercury and Mars both retrograde.

For example, when Mercury is retrograde, we know that there’s a higher risk of miscommunications. Yet, knowing this isn’t enough. It’s up to you to adjust your behavior and expectations accordingly.

Once you begin to work with these unseen energies, your manner of interacting with the world and everyone in it will begin to change. We can repeat over and over that we’re all connected, but it’s another matter to feel it deeply in your soul. If you don’t, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person or a failure. You just need to learn, and that takes practice. I often liken it to learning to ride a bike.

I also would encourage you to simplify your life to the extent possible. Much of what comes will be outside our control, but we’ll be better able to respond if we’re more flexible. It’s a personal belief of mine that we are better able to tap into the realm of the unmanifest if we lighten our material load. But that’s another topic for another day.

In the meantime, I wish you a New Year filled with wonder and love.
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

P.S. I’ve been working on this video for two days, no thanks to Mercury Rx. That whirring noise is the dysfunctional fan in my laptop. There’s nothing I can do about it for now, but I’m investigating some potential fixes.

Ask Real Astrologers: What Can We Tell from Outer Planet Transits?

This week’s question comes from Adina from Montreal, Quebec:

How will Saturn’s transit through Libra affect me (personally, professionally), taking into consideration the position of Pluto until 2024, of Neptune and Uranus and Jupiter – the slower moving planets?

Libra ponders . . .

Neith’s response:

Adina, I believe you will find Saturn in Libra much, much easier to live with than when he was in Virgo for many reasons, the most important being Saturn is far more at home in thoughtful, equitable Libra.

When Saturn entered Virgo in September 2007, he started right out by conjoining your Jupiter, making you feel like you had to earn every bit of luck that came your way. Also, just before he moved into Libra, Saturn conjoined your Uranus, a transit that almost always feels extremely confining. Since this transit was through your eleventh house, those with whom you have chosen to ally yourself are probably a much smaller group than before.

The good news is that you will not be directly impacted by Saturn until he enters the second half of Libra in 2011, because he will be tucked away behind the scenes in your twelfth house. None of the other outer planets will be strongly affecting your chart for quite some time, either. So relax for now and take advantage of this time to consolidate gains and restore balance to your life – something Libras everywhere will be doing!

One note of caution that applies to you and all of the rest of us with Mercury in Scorpio: Transiting Mars in Leo will be squaring our Mercury on and off for the next several months, and we’ll be quicker to take offense than usual. This can come as quite a surprise to friends, co-workers and family members if you are generally seen as a peace-loving Libra!

If you can, Adina, take time to refresh yourself in beautiful surroundings, always important for the Venus-ruled. Best of luck to you!

Aquarius expounds . . .

Pat’s response:

Adina, I concur wholeheartedly with Neith regarding Saturn in your twelfth house. It’s not inconsequential, but it’s a more subtle influence that doesn’t manifest outright as other house transits of Saturn tend to do.

This is a time for finishing what you started, not a good time for starting new projects, relationships, careers, etc. This would be true regardless of what aspects transiting Saturn and the other outer planets are making to one another. If a new job does come along — a real possibility after Uranus moves into your sixth house in late March — then of course you shouldn’t reject it out of hand. But in general, you should be focused on completing what you’ve already started rather than looking for something new.

Beyond that, understanding how the complex energies create by the T-square (Saturn in Libra, Pluto in Capricorn, Uranus and Jupiter in Aries) will affect you personally exceeds the scope of this column. You’d need to have a complete reading by a professional astrologer to explore all the ins and outs. In general, I think it’s safe to say that all of us are going to experience sudden shifts and sweeping changes. How much depends on our individual charts and unique circumstances.

Thanks for writing, and I hope you’ll join the discussion on our blog. Our readers often leave comments about how astrological aspects are affecting their lives. It’s all information we can use to better understand how these complicate transits involving multiple planets work.

Got a quick question? Click here to contact Ask Real Astrologers. You must use this form to contact us, or we don’t get your question. Be sure to fill out all the fields, and please spell out the month of your birthday. If you don’t know your time of birth, indicate “time unknown.” Thanks!

Saturday Extra! I Blame It on Mercury Retrograde

Photo by The Associated PressSurely I’m not the only astrologer who read about yesterday’s 9/11 Coast Guard snafu and automatically thought, “Mercury retrograde!”

But this is not just any Mercury retrograde. Pluto was stationed and just hours from returning direct. Saturn and Uranus are close to exact opposition. Mars is about to cross the degree of an eclipse in July that was the first in a new series. More about all of this below. First, let’s have a quick look at what happened.

The U.S. Coast Guard was conducting what it called routine training exercises on the Potomac River, just as President Obama was arriving at the Pentagon for services commemorating the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The CNN newsroom heard the chatter on its police scanner and mistook it for a real attack, and other media picked up the story. CNN staff later said they tried to verify the story with the Coast Guard, who said they knew nothing. But the network made the decision to run with the story anyway. As a result, flights out of the busy D.C. airport were delayed, and even the Coast Guard was confused about whether the attack was real or just a drill.

In a press briefing at the White House, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs got into a tiff with the reporter covering the conference for CNN, blaming the incident on the network and saying they should have checked their facts before broadcasting the story. Both the White House and the Coast Guard refused to apologize for the snafu, but the Coast Guard later issued a press release saying it would conduct a full review of the incident and hinted that the boats involved in the drill may have been using the wrong radio channel to communicate with each other.

Of course, any glitch in communications is automatically a function of Mercury retrograde. But this was a very big oops! I took a look at the chart for the event, which, according to news reports, began at 9:30 a.m. The Ascendant is 21 degrees Libra, with Mercury retrograde in the twelfth house, the sector ruled by Neptune, the confusion planet and also one of the two planets that rules shipping. Jupiter is the other, and chart ruler Venus was exactly opposite Jupiter, who is retrograde but still in close conjunction with Neptune.

Pluto was three hours from returning direct after five months retrograde. He’s stationed at 0 degrees Capricorn, in the third house, which concerns communications, and he’s square retrograde Mercury. In the original chart for the 9/11 attacks, Pluto was in close opposition with Saturn, which many astrologers considered a key indicator of the attacks, since Pluto rules subversive elements in society.

In yesterday’s chart, Pluto also is in wide opposition to war planet Mars at 10 degrees Cancer, the closest planet to the Midheaven at 24 degrees Cancer. The United States is a Cancer nation, concerned with security, a keyword for Cancer. The ninth house, where Mars is located in this chart, includes training and improving skills.

That all chart four angles are in cardinal signs is a clue to what this event might signify, other than just a very big Mercury retrograde mistake. Mars is about to cross the degree of the lunar eclipse of July 7, which was the first in a new series of eclipses in Capricorn and Cancer. These eclipses are going to amplify the cardinal energy of 2010, when Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto form a T-square in Libra, Aries, and Capricorn. The handwriting is appearing on the wall, and it’s starting to look like a road sign for how to move forward.

There are two other interesting things to note about this chart. First, Ceres is on the Ascendant, signifying that wisdom ultimately prevailed. We may not always be this lucky, but we can hope, and perhaps as more women take up positions at high levels of government, we’ll adopt a more balanced approach to war and national defense.

Second, Comet Lulin is lurking in the background. On Sept. 11, 2001, Lulin was at 24 degrees Pisces, which is where Uranus currently is sitting and where he’ll be opposed by Saturn next week. Lulin conjoined Saturn in late February at 20 degrees Virgo. At the time, Saturn was the only planet retrograde, which was notable, because Lulin moves backwards, unlike any other known comet. Now Saturn is moving forward and Uranus is retrograde. There seems to be a message here about going back, remembering, and understanding how we got where we are as a prerequisite to moving forward.

Mars and Lulin will conjoin at 17 degrees Cancer on September 24. I don’t know if we’ll see any effects, but keep your eyes and ears open for anything that improves our understanding about past events or how we got to be the way we are.

Meanwhile, perhaps there’s a clue in a statement to the media by the Coast Guard’s chief of staff, John Currier, following yesterday’s mix-up.

“We’re going to take a good hard look at what we did here today and ensure that if we need to modify procedures, if we need to modify notification, we will do so in the future,” he said.

Much love and courage to all,
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

Image: The U.S. Coast Guard conducting drills on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2009. Photo by Kevin Wolf for The Associated Press.

Ask Real Astrologers: All Work and No Play

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?

Libra ponders . . .

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.

Aquarius expounds . . .

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.

Got a quick question? Click here to contact Ask Real Astrologers. You must use this form to contact us, or we don’t get your question. Be sure to fill out all the fields, and please spell out the month of your birthday. If you don’t know your time of birth, indicate “time unknown.” Thanks!

Weekly Forecast September 7: Mercury Retrograde, Pluto Direct

Mercury Appearing to AeneasIf nothing else, this is going to be quite an interesting week. Rather than putting labels “good” or “bad” on it, I suggest only that you keep your antennae up for certain kinds of experiences, as these will contain information that could be critical for your future.

I say that, because most aspects of any consequence this week fall in the early degrees of the cardinal signs — Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn — and this is going to give us a taste of the cardinal T-square that starts next year, when Jupiter and Uranus enter Aries. At times during 2010 and 2011 when faster-moving planets are in Cancer, we’ll have a grand cross. This is going to be a wildly instable period during which we’ll experience sweeping changes, as individuals and collectively.

So why worry about that now? Well, not to be alarmist, but by the time the collective changes are upon us, our options for dealing with them may be severely limited. Those who foresee the challenges and act accordingly will be better prepared for what could be some pretty serious disruption.

We begin the week with Mercury stationed retrograde at 6 degrees Libra, in a separating square with Mars. Mercury retrograde periods are great for reflecting, rethinking, revising, and regrouping, but not so good for reacting.

The nice thing about Mercury retrograde in Libra is that we are better able to find the balance in refraining from action. There will be plenty of opportunity for that in the future. Do be prepared for the inevitable frustrations and delays, though, and you know all the rules by now about not buying expensive toys, especially electronics, while Mercury is in retreat.

Mercury also is in an applying square to Pluto, who turns direct on Friday at 0 degrees Capricorn. You’ll feel this shift most strongly if you’re a Scorpio or Rising Scorpio or if Pluto is transiting a key planet or angle in your birth chart.

Pluto will be part of next year’s T-square, with Uranus in Aries and Saturn in Libra. From now until July 2011, we’re also in a series of eclipses in Capricorn and Cancer, which will act as an accelerator to change. This series began a couple of months ago, and while some of you felt them, my general feeling is that their messages were delayed. With Mercury retrograde and Mars coming up on the degree of the first eclipse in the series (exact on September 19), those messages will get louder in the next few weeks.

We may hear some whispers this Saturday, when the Moon enters Cancer. She’ll oppose Pluto and square Mercury before conjoining Mars on Sunday. Lunar transits are fleeting and don’t always register on our radar screen, but if you try to tune in, you should get some feedback. Once again, try not to put a label on it. Just observe. I’ll be recording my impressions in my journal.

The only other aspects this week of note are oppositions from Venus to Neptune & Co. She starts out by aspecting Jupiter on Friday and then aligns across from Chiron late Sunday (Monday morning on the East Coast of the United States and in the Eastern Hemisphere). I don’t foresee anything too jarring here. Indeed, if you’ve been impacted by this powerful three-way conjunction, she may help you make some sense out of it and assimilate the new information into your body/mind. It may not be the most comfortable feeling, but it won’t hurt too much, either.

Keep your eyes and hearts open.

Much love,
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

Image: Mercury Appearing to Aeneas, by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1757. In Virgil’s Aeneid, Jupiter sends Mercury to Trojan warrior Aeneas, who must choose between his destiny to found the city of Rome and his love for Queen Dido. The story recounts the mythological events of a changing era and the dawn of a new empire.

Ask Real Astrologers: Can’t Get My Head Around This Multiple Transit

This week’s question comes from Jonathon in Seattle:

I was born with a Jupiter/Uranus conjunction in opposition to a Sun/North Node. Of course, I’m currently feeling the ‘get out there and achieve something’ Pluto T-square with my Sun/North Node and Jupiter/Uranus. And, yeah, I’m gearing up for Saturn’s visit to my Sun. But what I can’t quite wrap my head around is the upcoming Jupiter/Uranus conjunction to my Sun/North Node. I’m wondering how these energies — forever in the push-pull of a natal opposition now joining to blend together via a conjunction in transit — might manifest.

Libra ponders . . .

Neith’s response:

Jonathon, the key to understanding a major transit like Uranus opposing natal Uranus is often to take note of how you feel when another faster-moving planet like Mars or Mercury crosses that degree in your chart.

Transits by the slower moving outer planets are not isolated events, either. There are plenty of seemingly unrelated events often coming to a head during the exact passes such as you will be experiencing next year. Think about what has been happening around you and what you have been feeling the past week or so during the cardinal T-square with Mars in Cancer, Mercury in Libra, and Pluto in Capricorn. Actually, keeping a journal might be a good plan.

Your Aries Sun is not only conjunct the North Node but is also conjunct Chiron. Chiron-Sun aspects often tell us the native is far better at encouraging others than themselves. Aries is usually associated with assertiveness and a willingness to stand up for oneself, but my guess is this does not come as easy for you. Being aware of what it means to be supportive of other people is a more familiar pattern with the South Node in Libra.

Uranus and Jupiter transiting over your Aries stellium will help open your eyes to what it means to be Aries with bells on. Plan on feeling restless and consider increasing the amount of physical exercise you are getting, because that is an effective way to help offset the nervous energy of this transit.

Hang onto your hat, Jonathon, because next year is bound to be one to remember!! Good luck!

Aquarius expounds . . .

Pat’s response:

Jonathon, my friend, if I were you, I would run, not walk, to your nearest friendly neighborhood astrologer and get a complete reading. We can’t even begin to give you the whole picture of everything that’s on the way for you in the next couple of years!

People with close Sun-Chiron conjunctions often are healers, and this is all the more true for you with your eighth-house Sun. The conjunction with the North Node tells me that this is your destiny, and it’s about to be triggered by the cardinal T-square in 2010. The trick is that we first have to heal ourselves, and planets on the South Node often give us clues for how to go about this. You may want to think about how you view material possessions and whether you would be prepared to give it all up if fulfilling your purpose in life depended on it. Moreover, you may want to meditate on how past and future are balanced in your present.

I am not well-versed in evolutionary astrology, but I know enough about it to know that you might benefit from a reading approached from that angle. There is way more going on here than meets the eye, as you obviously are aware. I don’t believe it will take much of a leap for you to make the connections, once someone connects a few of the dots for you and points you in the right direction.

Send us a postcard when you get there, and very best of luck to you!

Got a quick question? Click here to contact Ask Real Astrologers. You must use this form to contact us, or we don’t get your question. Be sure to fill out all the fields, and please spell out the month of your birthday. If you don’t know your time of birth, indicate “time unknown.” Thanks!