Tag Archives: Jupiter-Neptune conjunction

Weekly Forecast May 11: Saturn Turns Direct

The Golden Age, Lucas Cranach the ElderAs Mercury continues on his retrograde path, everyone I know is experiencing missed phone calls, faxes that don’t go through, traffic jams, appointment mix-ups, and all of the other typical effects.

An outing I took on Saturday turned into a comedy of errors, but fortunately I was able to laugh about it. Better still, I had lunch with a friend I hadn’t seen in more than a year, and we had a great time catching up on the news.

Among other things, she told me a story about a community meeting she went to last Wednesday, just as Mercury was stationing retrograde. The director went off on one of his usual insensitive tangents, and for the first time since she has been involved with the group, she interrupted and told him how hurtful his remarks were. He was mortified and apologized profusely, and there were tears all around as everyone kissed and made up. Mercury turned retrograde just a few degrees into my friend’s first house. Moreover, she’s a Taurus, and Mercury will be returning to her sign this week.

So you see, there are benefits to Mercury retrograde, too, and we needn’t worry about opening our mouths at all for fear of offending someone or being misunderstood, even when there’s a risk of conflict. I suspect that after Mercury re-enters Taurus this Wednesday, we’ll have more opportunities to address unresolved issues and heal old rifts.

Even the square from Mercury to Neptune and Chiron could end up producing positive results, despite traditional interpretations that this aspect brings confusion and misunderstanding. That might well be the case initially, but with Venus in Aries, taking the initiative to clarify and speaking from the heart may be just the right approach, as my friend discovered.

On Sunday, May 17, the Moon conjoins Jupiter, Chiron, and Neptune and squares Mercury. All of the above notwithstanding, I wouldn’t choose this day to have a heavy discussion. If someone else corners you into it, make the best of it by thinking before you open your mouth. The clearer you are with yourself about how you feel and what your motivations are, the better you’ll be able to express it to others in a way they can hear.

By this time, Saturn will be direct as well, and that could help matters enormously. Saturn turns direct on Sunday in the Eastern Hemisphere, late Saturday here on the western side of the world. It will take him some time to stretch and wake up, but we still should feel some positive effects fairly quickly. Saturn’s return direct, along with the New Moon in Gemini at the end of next week, might help mitigate some of the more annoying effects of Mercury retrograde.

Saturn’s return direct in Virgo is a good time to contemplate his role in Roman mythology as ruler of the Golden Age of Man. Many cultures and religions around the world have different versions of this tale. Christians describe it as the Garden of Eden. According to the Greeks and Romans, this was the earliest age of humanity, a period when the gods came and went among mortals, when everyone was happy and had everything they needed without working. Humans died, but without pain. They simply went to sleep, and their spirits became higher beings, which we might call angels.

It all fell apart when Jupiter overthrew Saturn and took over as father of the Olympian gods.

This might come as a surprise, since Saturn in astrology is not considered a symbol of ease, harmony and abundance. To the contrary, he is considered a limiting influence under which we have to learn painful lessons and work extra hard to get ahead. It’s almost as if they had the roles of Saturn and Jupiter flipped. But it does make an odd kind of sense, when you consider that Saturn is lord of the material universe. Without structure and order, there can be no abundance.

The ancient Romans revered Saturn as a god of the harvest, much as we think of Ceres, who I’d like to see elevated to modern ruler of Virgo. Maybe we’ll hear more about this as Saturn and Ceres approach conjunction in late June.

In the meantime, much love and courage to all,
Aquarius, the sign of astrologyPat

Image:  The Golden Age, by German painter Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1530. Given the dour religious climate at the time, this is a remarkably happy and light-hearted scene — and hardly what we’d imagine of a world ruled by Saturn.

Ask Real Astrologers: What’s With All This Drama?

This week’s question comes from Charles in Oakland, CA:

I’m an easygoing guy and like who I am, but lately I seem to be getting more than my share of drama. A co-worker who couldn’t cope with his divorce committed suicide. My father died and left his estate in question. I haven’t a clue what’s happening with the women in my life. All I want is for things to get back to normal again. A friend of mine is into astrology and says I have a “difficult chart,” whatever that means. She suggested I check out your site and ask what’s going on. This is all new to me, but I thought I’d give it a shot. Thanks!

Libra ponders . . .

Neith’s response:

Well, Charles, you are in the midst of a very transformative period in your life and probably your best option is to relax and go with the flow. Pluto is exactly conjoining your Sun right now, and you have Jupiter, Neptune, and Chiron on the cusp of your eighth house, all squaring your Moon. It doesn’t get more Plutonian than that!

Pluto-Sun transits ask us to take a long look deep within at ourselves and acknowledge our strengths and our shortcomings without bias. My philosophy is, if you’re perfect, you’re dead, and we are much further ahead to see our lives as a process. Keep your goals short-term and easily attainable, too. Plus, always practice staying detached from a particular outcome.

Neptune & Co. squaring your Moon is tough all right, because there is a lot that needs to be taken on faith (Neptune). In a man’s chart, the Moon can represent the women in our lives, from our mothers to our lovers. Right now you might feel like you have no idea what to expect from any of them. My suggestion here is to forgive them, forgive yourself, and do your best to find the humor in all of this.

You can ignore all this advice, too, because free will is part of package. These transits will pass in a year or so, and with any luck, you can pick up where you left off, but the pieces are not likely to be the same shape.

Aquarius expounds . . .

Pat’s response:

Charles, I concur with everything Neith said. She’s our resident Pluto expert, and your experiences with death around you tell me that Pluto’s influence in your chart is indeed a major factor right now.

There are two things I’d like to add. First, your friend was right about your “difficult chart,” but this is not necessarily a bad thing. Last week’s question dealt with this topic, and you might want to read what I had to say about it. I would also strongly encourage you to get a full reading to help you understand better what this all means.

Second, “easygoing” is not the first thing that comes to mind when I look at your chart. Although you are a Capricorn, you’ve got planets in all four of the fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius), suggesting a certain amount of inflexibility. It appears that you have compensated by throwing yourself into your work and career, indicated by your Capricorn Sun on the sixth-house cusp. Suddenly, with Pluto on your Sun, you’re being asked to examine how you may be shortchanging other areas of your life by devoting so much time and energy to your work.

The “drama,” as you put it, may not be coming from others, but is a reflection of unresolved issues within yourself. This may be a hard pill to swallow, but if you have the courage to explore this hidden part of yourself, you will be empowered in ways that are hard to imagine right now.

But, as Neith says, you can choose not to look and to let all these events pass without taking advantage of the great lessons they can teach you, both about yourself and the world in general. That you came by to ask us about this tells me that you are ready for the latter.

Best of luck to you!

Got a quick question? Click here to contact Ask Real Astrologers. We are getting some really great questions but unfortunately can’t use many of them, as they are missing information. If you’d like us to consider your question for this column, you must include your day, month (spelled out), year, and place of birth, and time if you know it. If you don’t, indicate “time unknown.” Thanks!

Saturday Extra: Living in Uncertain Times

Keeping an eye on the sky godsMany of us are feeling jittery these days and wonder what we may be picking up. A lot of people are asking me to look at charts to see if I can figure out what’s going to happen.

It’s understandable that in times of great uncertainty, people want to know the future. Those who think astrology is a bunch of bunk turn to economic indicators, global political forecasts, and other “expert” advice. I have a feeling, though, that many of those same people are secretly taking a peek at what reputable astrologers are saying.

I’ve heard from several people over the past week that they feel like something big is about to go down, to the point that planning for the future is almost futile. We have to plan; we can’t just sit around doing nothing, waiting for fate to take over. But we also know that these plans may be meaningless.

I’m encouraging those of you with highly evolved intuition to listen carefully to the messages you’re receiving. These messages will be more accurate if you can move out of fear. We’re in a heightened state of collective fear, and it’s not hard to get sucked into it. If you do, the messages coming in to you will be distorted. For the good of everyone, we need to stay calm in our center.

There is no doubt that 2009 is going to be a landmark year. Astrologically, we’re in a tumultuous period, with six eclipses, a tense Saturn-Uranus opposition, and a Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune conjunction. Venus is retrograde, and she’ll conjoin Mars twice more after a conjunction in Libra in September. Three Venus-Mars conjunctions in less than a year is extremely rare.

I’m collecting charts for these events, starting with the Aries ingress chart for next week, and will let you know what I see. This has got to be a collective effort, however, as it’s far too much for one person to do alone. Please let me know if you find interesting charts for particular dates, and feel free to offer your interpretation. Each one is a piece of the puzzle.

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

Image: No, this isn’t a mushroom cloud! It’s a supercell over Amarillo, Texas, last year that meteorologists were watching as a possible tornado. Photo by Gene Blevins for REUTERS.