Saturn and Mars in Retrograde and the Grand Cross of April

It is all over the “Astrology world” that April – is going to be a terrible month. April does have a bad rap because of the ingress of the Sun into Aries, ruled by Mars, the warrior at the Vernal Equinox. Hitler was born in April, the Civil War started in April, there was Columbine, and the list goes on. Adding fuel to the fire is the Grand Cross that will be at its height during the week of April 20. 

A grand cross is when four planets are in opposition to each other. In this case, we will have retrograded Pluto in Capricorn opposing Jupiter in Cancer and Uranus in Aries opposing a retrograded Mars in Libra. These planets will be in cardinal signs. There are three kinds of signs, mutable, cardinal, and fixed. The mutable signs are easy going - go along and get along, the fixed signs have more stubborn in nature, and cardinals are the movers the shakers, the doers. Hence, the doom and gloom - the god of War, the god of expansion, the god of quick change and the god of slow change all pulling against each other and in cardinal signs - each grasping for their piece of the pie! Two of them in retrograde, meaning their energy is going inward – looking for an escape.

Saturn is not included in the cross but is sitting on the side and is in retrograde in Scorpio, a fixed and intense sign. Both Mars and Saturn have gone retrograde this week…just as Putin crossed into the Ukraine. Do you see why people are wary of the Cross?

I don’t buy into the total destruction scenarios. I mean there are people who are saying the EU will collapse, we will be in total war, and oh, here comes the bomb! Doom and gloom sells. This will be a difficult time but come on.

OK let’s do the bright side thing. You have Pluto and Jupiter together – that is a sign for spiritual growth. Yes, it is better when they are in conjunction and not in opposition but even in difficult times, we can have spiritual growth.  Uranus and Mars exhibit the most erratic energy and frankly the most frightening of this whole configuration. If there is violence, if there are wars it will be because of them. However, we can make the conscious decision to eliminate tensions – smooth over issues that could cause the spark – assess what is making us angry. We can overcome the grand cross.

Of course, there are elements who are prone to anger and attack. I personally think that these retrogrades will cause someone or some faction we are not expecting, to cause the biggest problem. Saturn and Mars retrograde are anger and aggression turned inward.

So yes, Putin can go crazy in the Ukraine – that is a very Mars-Saturn aspect. However, that retrograde could bring up someone feeling marginalized to go on the fritz. I would look out for some radical who is unhappy with the way his world is going – right wing terrorism.

Let’s keep in mind that there are positive aspects that we can use this time to feel what is irritating and correct it – take positive steps to stop anger from cropping up and to find what is blocking our spiritual growth.

The choice is always ours. 

Saturn in Scorpio - on the USA Chart

Last time I spoke about Pluto and the Pluto return America is about to undergo. There will be more on that and the Grand Cross of 2014 later but this week I promised a look at Saturn in Scorpio. Saturn moved into Scorpio on October 20, 2012 and will remain there until December 23, 2014. (It will retrograde back in for a few months June - September 2015.)

Saturn is called the task master of the zodiac. It makes us color within the lines. Generally considered a malefic planet, we often forget that without Saturn we would live in timeless anarchy. In medical astrology Saturn controls the bones and teeth. Indeed, where would we bewithout Saturn?

With it's turn in Scorpio, Saturn will make us delve deeply into the houses it transits rooting out secrets and bringing the hidden to light.

"Natally the United States has Saturn in Libra in the 10th house (the house of government and authority and the natural house for Saturn) conjunct the asteroid Juno, the goddess of loyalty. It is no wonder we are known for stability but also for our tendency to tell others how to run their governments (Libra loves to meddle.)  Right now, transiting Saturn is on our 11th house, the house of social contacts and interactions, conjunct another asteroid, Ceres, the mother nurturer. If that weren't enough, Saturn by progression (how it has progressed since our birth) is also in the 11th and conjunct the Moon.

I see two manifestations of this placement. The first is the sudden acceptance of gay marriage both by the public and more surprisingly the Supreme Court. What was hidden is now socially acceptable - what is a better way to express Scorpio - and Saturn in the 11th  brings that to public social and government arena.

The other manifestation is sadder, that is the Trayvon Martin  death and verdict. To date the verdict has brought people out of their homes and onto the streets in mostly peaceful protests to say this is no longer acceptable - a young black man's life has value and he can't be targeted. The racial secrets must be brought to the surface in a public arena. Hopefully, these protests will be turned into political action. Then there will be some long lasting value to this death.

Boston

I have been having so much fun with my book, "Signs of the Tines: The Ultimate Astrological Cookbook", that I have been doing a lot of food related, fun chart castings. Yesterday brought the fun to a halt and brought us back to reality.

If you remember a few weeks ago I made an entry called "Feeling Confused" where I spoke about the wild Stellium - the five planets all in Aries, the sign of raw, male energy. I called it one of the craziest charts ever -and spoke of angry Aries.

Well sadly the dreamy Pisces Stellium is now gone but we still have Mars and the Sun still in Mars' natural ruler - Aries, the warrior in conjunction. This conjunction is opposing a retrograded Saturn in secretive Scorpio. Mars and Saturn are always a sign of potential violence when they are in disharmony - and Saturn is now retrograded - added fuel to the fire.

 Mars/Sun are in the 9th house - a fire house that is associated with foreign affairs. However, Saturn is close to home in the 3rd house. Because Mars/ Saturn are heading into the 8th house - the house of power and unstable Uranus and Mercury are in the 8th already - I am thinking this is a domestic terror perhaps helped by tactics learned from foreign terror groups - but someone who is feeling powerless and hidden from society.

The 3rd and 6th houses are cadent - or houses of things hidden.  We will find that this is someone that had gone under the radar of law enforcement - either a person or group that is hidden from us - or was.

Pluto retrograde in the fifth makes me think of a unhappy kid.

Predicting terror attacks is not "my thing" - I prefer food and past life analysis but there it is. We can only pray for the victims and yes, for the deluded perpetrator too.

Saturn Turned Inward

Saturn is making its slow, deep turn retrograde in Scorpio where it will remain until earlt July. 

This is a perfect time to explore your limitations and fears. Where Saturn is your in chart is where you feel restricted.  A retrograde is already an inward motion - we are to take the energies of that planet and explore and examine their meaning.  With a retrograde in Scorpio - the most intense and inward looking planet - we are getting a double influence of energy demanding that we do some deep exploration.

Where is Saturn in your natal chart? Where is it by progression? Examine those houses and see the issues that you haven't addressed, where are you over-committed, where have you been unable to say "No, I need that time for me."  Basically, where do we feel at loose ends in the areas controlled by these houses?

It is easy to blame problems on retrogrades but when we use the energy and the transformative power of a sign as powerful as Scorpio to find what structures you need to build to make your life run more efficiently.

What's going on with Giza and the planets tomorrow?

courtesy of Arlenew.com

The past few years we have had some interesting planetary shifts - Neptune into Pisces, Pluto into Capricorn, etc. Tomorrow night is another unique planetary alignment - one that allegedly happens only once every 2700 years. On the evening of December 3  - tomorrow night - local time, over the pyramids of Giza, Venus, Saturn and Mars will align directly over each pyramid of Giza. 

Frankly, I have a hard time believing like some folks that the pyramids were built just for this once every two thousand year occurrence. I have no doubt these ancient structures like many in other parts of the world were built to track the planets but I don't place any special emphasis on this. 

It is interesting however to know that this is happening. Closer to home, however, These three planets are all in Scorpio and on the East Coast are in the 5th and 6th houses - the houses of creativity and health. This would be a perfect time to use the expressiveness of Mercury, the artistic talent of Venus and the tenacity of Saturn to go inwards (a Scorpio thing) and find how you can work on these areas. I mean pyramids are cool but I like working on things I can relate to a bit more!

Hello Mars!

Mars is in the news today and for good reason! Curiosity made a picture perfect landing early this morning - congrats to NASA and Yankee technology.

So what is old Mars doing today? Well it is hanging out in the sky in the constellation of Libra conjuncting Saturn. You know I am sometimes a critic of Saturn - wrongly so I admit - but I am very glad he was visiting Mars during this critical landing. Saturn governs time, space, form and structure. It is the master of precision and doing things by the book - which is what NASA had to do to nail this landing.  Saturn had a lot to do with making everything work according to rules and like clock work.

It is also funny that both planets are in the sign of Libra - the sign of cooperation and sharing with others. All of that hard work had to be well coordinated between divisions. A great deal of sharing of knowledge had to be perfected. Libra is a big on sharing!

So congratulations NASA and thanks Libra for helping them keep the flow of information going and a special thanks to Saturn for keeping that somewhat rambunctious Mars from potentially kicking off the lander as it had done before. :)

Hello Mars.

Making Friends With Saturn

Ok I know I have a hard time with Saturn. I have mentioned that before. He is often depicted as the old task master - the uber authoritarian figure. He is always well - just too darned Republican for me.
However, now that Saturn is in my first house - the house of personality and how I am perceived by the world I am going to have to face him - and even make friends with him.

Saturn may be a task master but he makes us pay attention to where he is - he makes us work on these issues to make them better. He points out where we are off the right track and urges us to get back on target.

Look at your chart. Where was Saturn when you were born? That house is where you are going to face issues that make you feel unsafe, insecure - where you are going to have to overcome feelings of inadequacy. I have never seen a chart with Saturn in the first house, for instance, where the person didn't face some level of depression in their lifetime.

I was born with Saturn in the second - so I always need to feel financially safe. (Second house is how we stabilize our selves in the world - how we feel secure.) I hated being a consultant because my checks were not regular. I need to know what I have in the bank.

If it appears in the third house then there are issues of communications and education,. And so on....

Saturn like all of the other planets are always moving in the universe. Right now Saturn is transiting my first house. Were I prone to depression it might be a rough time. As it is, I feel the need to move inward. I am paying more attention to my body and how I put "myself out there."

Yes Saturn is a pain but if we didn't have someone pointing out where we need to improve where would we be.

Saturn will be in my first house for at least another 15 months. One thing I know if I don't lose those last ten pounds now I will have no one to blame but myself and certainly not Saturn!

What's WIth Everyone Eating Everyone?

That is the question I got last week from one of my more original thinking clients. She was reacting to the stories of certain people dining on the bodies - mostly the faces - of some of their fellow man. Now I am of the belief that the media tends to exaggerate the stories that all of suddent seem to crop up from out of no where. All of a sudden it is face eating here, face eating there! Anyway, it was an intriguing question. Saturn is in retrograde and Venus is in a very rare retrograde. Saturn is the ruler of all things that give form and keep things in line - the bones, infastructure, government, the banking system - and any authority figure. When in retrograde we tend to feel a bit iconoclastic, a bit like sticking our finger in the eye of society - doing things of which daddy would never approve! With Venus, the goddess of beauty and love - or all things graceful and lovely - also in a reverse position I guess some people just feel the need to correct what they feel is less than beautiful..even it if it's someone's face. I don't know if this is the reason behind the new dining arrangements that are all the rage - but it makes as much sense as anyone else's guess - and has the power of the stars behind it!

Saturn still in retrograde

Saturn will remain in retrograde until June 25th. Saturn rules structure, form, authority figures, and the bones - everything that keeps things in their place. When it is in retrograde, it is a good time to analyze those areas of life where we have responsibilities, projects to finish, projects to start, commitments we have to keep. This is a perfect time to see if we have taken on too much or if we should let a project go. How are we using our time? Saturn is all about time. Go through your "to do" list and weed out what you really don't have to do - and things you have been doing forever out of an old sense of "I have to do this." This is not a good time to start new projects - it is better that you weed out the old and plan for the future - plan for a new start. Reorganize, rejuvenate and re-evaluate and be ready to start fresh with new plans and new projects when it goes straight again on June 25th!

Oh Stop Grumbling

I got a call from a friend yesterday. "What the heck is going on - it is a horrible day for everyone here?" Well calls like that send me right to my friendly computer to divine the answers from on high - yes, from Microsoft. Well there it was in black and white, sort of. The Moon is now conjuncting Saturn and it is "full" too boot.

Look to the left of the chart. See the crescent shape of the Moon sitting right next to the funky H, the symbol for Saturn? They are conjunct one another - meaning the influence of Saturn is all over the poor little Moon. Now is a "bad" thing but it does constrict things and can have a very depressive influence. So if the Moon rules emotions and Saturn is beating up on it - do you see where grumpiness can ensue? Don't worry the Moon is a fast mover, it will be pulling away in a day or two. P.S. You can tell when the Moon is "full" when it is across from the Sun - the Sun is the circle with a dot in the middle. The further from the Sun, the more the Moon can "shine."

Saturn Move Away From My Door

Oh crap I thought as I looked at my own little cute birth chart.... Saturn has just entered my first house. Now I don't want to hear from Saturn anti-defamation league but there can be some real issues when Saturn comes near a personal "planet" - Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury and Venus - or if it hits the house of personality - the first.

Saturn is necessary for us to have order - it rules the bones of people and societies - so it is a necessary little devil. However, the shadow is that it can be so restrictive that it will lead to depression, or at best a sour mood. I was waking up annoyed at the new day - NOT something that is common for me; I did not want to interact with people - again not my thing. It would have been more worrying had I not be able to say - Ah Saturn having its way.

The benefits of Saturn in the 1st is that it will help me work on parts of personality and physicality that I know needs some tweaking, which is why I have started walking every morning religiously and watching my diet - for serious.

One of the many great things about Astrology is to know what the heck is happening to you. So now I won’t worry about the shadow and will instead concentrate on the good it can do me. Had I not known, I could have wasted valuable time worrying that perhaps I was becoming a mean old lady.

Yeah I know hard to believe - because I am soooo lovable.............

Happy Birthday Michelle!!

I can't let this auspicious occasion pass without a few words. It is Michelle Bachmann's birthday! What do you get the queen of the Tea Party? First thing I can think of is a good American History book since she seems to screw that up repeatedly. In lieu of that how about a chart? I am sure she would LOVE nothing more than an astrological chart. 

Alas and alack we don't know the time of her birth but we can cast a chart for April 6, 1956 in Waterloo, Iowa.  (Is she really younger than me? Really?)  The Moon was in Aquarius. Let's see what comes to mind when I think Moon in Aquarius? How about erratic, disruptive, fickle, stubborn and a little peculiar? Yup, that fits.

However, it is her North Node in Sagittarius in the 5th that is more interesting to me.
A North Node in Sagittarius in the house of creativity certainly gives her the drama gene. This is someone seeking the creative arena to speak her truth and with a North Node in Sagittarius it is very easy to assume even demand that your truth be the truth for all.

Sitting right next to her North Node is Saturn, the epitome of authority. Someone born with Saturn conjunct the North Node is seeking to join with traditional authority groups. She is seeking paternal, authoritarian approval. Of  course, with Saturn retrograde it is hard for her to do this to her satisfaction so she has to out tradition the traditionalists. "See, I can be like you. I can be the most traditional, flag waver on the block."

Conversely, Venus, the feminine symbol of love and creativity, is conjuct her South Node in Gemini- where she is coming from karmicly. She has used her femininity to get her voice heard before.  So this lifetime she is using her "good girl" feminine energy to get the approval of very traditional masculine authority groups.

Fueled by the eccentricity of Aquarius it isn't hard to see how she can take on this persona of Mom, Apple Pie and oh yeah everyone who isn't exactly what the traditional, white, straight, paternal power structure decrees valuable should be marginalized.

So I guess I shouldn't mock dear Michelle, she is in a way a victim of her Nodes.  And anyone who believes that should check my chart.

The Clash of Mars and Saturn

Last week I was speaking about astrology to a group when I mentioned that there is precious little difference between Hitler's and JFK's charts... except Hitler had that bad Mars- Saturn combination going on which made him a little - shall we say. scum sucking evil. They both had the bull eye's for charisma and the ability to sway people with speech - it is just Hitler had a bad combination of Mars and Saturn which, when badly aspected is often an indication for violence. The only time when I am doing a synastry chart of two people that I really lay things on the line and say, hey be careful here, is when I see the Mars of one person badly aspected the Saturn of another. That often indicates a propensity for violence in the relationship.


Because the universe just loves synchronicity, I then was asked to do a chart for a person who then tells me he has not a clue when he was born because he was adopted twice and the state in which he was born did not put the time on birth certificates. Hmm. No time. That is an astrologers nightmare because time tells us the rising sign - the indicator of how we express ourselves in the world. It also places all the planets and asteroids in the proper houses.


Through the process of rectification we can try to find the birth time or get close to it so I asked him a few questions. Of course, he had a disrupted home life - 4th house - but I wanted to know if it was just odd or truly burdensome. The tale he told would put Dickens to shame. He was adopted at birth because his parents couldn't afford another child but his adoptive mother died when he was still a child. Then he was then adopted by an abusive family which he escaped from at 18 and never looked back. Yes, I would say that was burdensome.



When someone is suffering from limitations or burdens I often look to Saturn. Now I know you Capricorns will get all over me but I am sorry - Saturn is an indicator of restriction and boxing in - where you see Saturn in a birth chart it shows the area where people carry worry and concern or are restricted in. When doing a transit chart, Saturn shows us where we are feeling pain and burden at that time.



Had he told me a story of generally happy but changeable home life, adopted here and then suddenly moved to another house I would have looked to the quick change artist Uranus. His story was all very Saturnine, however.



When I computed the chart I noticed something else interesting. On that day, Mars and Saturn were almost in conjunction (sitting right next to) one another. Ah ha - Mars and Saturn - violence - I placed this Mars and Saturn combo toward the middle of his 4th house because the violence began when he was seven and ran the chart from there. I told him to see if the interpretation I did for him resonated in other areas to see if we had hit the hit the right timing and indeed it did. Bingo!

I am so glad he got out of that situation and has not let it shade his adulthood. He is amazingly well adjusted for having gone through that Hell. Saturn and Mars dealt him a bad hand but he overrode it....well Dickens always liked a happy ending.

Ted Kennedy - Capricorn Tenacity

When I heard of the passing of Senator Edward Kennedy I did what I always do - I ran to my computer and looked up his chart. While it may seem odd to some, death times in karmic astrology are as important as birth times. (More on that issue later, I promise.)

What struck me so much about Sen. Kennedy's chart was the high concentration of Saturn in his first house (the house which dictates how we present ourselves to the world.) The ancient Sumerians, who are credited with being the first known astrologers, didn't deal much with a Sun sign because when the Sun was up they couldn't see the rest of the stars. It was your first house - your ascendant - that was key to them.

Sen. Kennedy had Capricorn on the cusp of his first house and its ruler, Saturn, in the first house. That is a lot of Capricorn! At first it seemed bizarre. Capricorn is known to giving form and structure and being very much "within the lines" while Senator Kennedy had been known for - how shall I say this - living outside the lines for a long period of his life. I "credit “that to his heavy Piscean influence - the escapist. However, it was that strong Capricorn which gave him the courage to go on when things felt hopeless and which allowed him to prevail even over his fatal illness when he mustered the strength to speak at the 2008 Democratic Convention.

If it weren't for that Capricornian tenacity (symbolized by the sure-footed mountain goat) he never would have been able to face and ultimately triumph over life's traumas and his own self inflicted wounds.

Saturn - Uranus - The Past and Future of the Presidential Election

On election day 2008, Uranus and Saturn will be in exact opposition to each other. That is, they will be directly across from one another on their path around the Sun. The choice has been written in the stars - old and new across from one another. Which way will we go?

Saturn is all about tradition, and doing things by the book - all about form and structure. Uranus is new, electric and represents upheaval and change. I don't have to tell you which candidate is represented by each do I? The fact that we have the elder McCain, and the young, unique Obama as our choice seems to have been written in the sky!

To add some mystery to it all - Pluto is making a move in Capricorn. Actually Pluto moved into Capricorn briefly this year but quickly retrograded back in Sagittarius where it will remain until after the election. Pluto is the harbinger of slow but deeply felt transformations and because it moves so slowly around the Sun, it stays in a sign for years, sometimes decades. When Pluto was in Sagittarius we saw the rise of spirituality around the world - as well as fundamentalism. (To everything there is a positive and shadow aspect!) With Pluto moving in to Capricorn we will see changes in those structures that control society - government and the financial infrastructure to name two.

I saw one of the best albeit unwitting explanations of this Pluto-Capricorn placement in the commentary section of the October 7, 2008 edition of "The Nation" Magazine written by William Greider. "Our country is at a rare and dangerous juncture. The old order is crumbling, and virtually all centers of power that govern us have been discredited by events."

The last time Pluto was in Capricorn we had the American and French Revolutions... does that tell you something about Pluto power?

But Joan, you say, you told us Pluto has moved back in Sagittarius so what is all of that talk about Capricorn? Well, I did say that - but I said it was just retrograding back for a short time. In fact, I believe that dip back into Sagittarius manifested as Gov. Sara Palin being named as VP nominee by John McCain. It was a life line tossed by the McCain campaign to the religious fundamentalist groups who are currently in control of our government. Hopefully the rope will slip from the hands on both sides.

There is no doubt, Pluto will bring change to governmental and societal structure and change is always painful. We are going to have to fasten our seat belts tightly as everything we once believed in and trusted is shaken to the core. This won't be fun.The choice is ours - in our fear do we follow Saturn back to an even more restrictive and authoritarian government or do we hold on to Uranus and have it guide us to a more open, exciting and humanitarian government?