The big news on the Astrology Radar is Saturn moving into Libra at the end of October. Saturn is the planet of limitation, form and commitment, and Libra—the sign of “The Other”—rules partnership, balance and justice. When they connect, we are in for some deep internal realignment. Get ready! The place we can most expect to meet the pressure of Saturn is in our relationships.
Relationships are freakin’ hard. I see my own control issues and my own relentless need for love manifested on a daily basis as I parent my three-year old daughter. In “the other”—our lover, our children, our spouse or our friends—we often come face to face with whatever we most desire to be and what we don’t like about ourselves. With Saturn in Libra, we have to acknowledge our own flaws and short-comings so we don’t project them onto others. We must also begin to claim our own beauty. Undertaking an “inner marriage,” where the self is fully acknowledged and accepted, builds more equitable and fulfilling relationships with others. We begin to see others for exactly who they are instead of seeing them through the lens of projection and unexpressed longing. All of this work takes commitment, which is a favorite word of Saturn.
As Saturn makes this move, it also enters into a transit with Pluto called a waning square. These planets opposed each other from the summer of 2001 through 2002, which, as you may recall, was a tumultuous time. Now we must bring in new information to bring this Saturn-Pluto cycle into completion. We could speculate that some movement will happen in regard to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the so-called “War on Terror” around the globe. With Pluto involved, there is also an emphasis on nuclear power and weapons. Things might look incredibly worse before they look better, but the ultimate goal is to bring a chapter of American violence to a close.
So, how is the Saturn-Pluto combo moving toward completion in our personal lives?
I believe it could be another kind of “war on terror.” Forgive me for taking this metaphor “out there”, but it is time to employ our weapons against fear itself, to discover how we can end terror in our own lives. This has personal as well as global ramifications, for it is from the experience of terror that more terror is born: the young man whose brother is brutally murdered by authorities and takes up violence in retaliation; the woman in poverty who sells her body for drugs; the person raised in abuse who becomes the dog fight organizer in adulthood.
These examples are extreme—and maybe even cliché—but they help us understand how even the small abuses we face can lead to the desire for control over our lives, and how this gives us a distorted view of power.
Where are you terrified? What makes you quake with fear? This Pluto-Saturn square means that we will probably come face-to-face with whatever scares the pants off us. BUT, we have a choice here. We can let terror rule our lives, or we can surrender and open our hearts even more in the face of overwhelming fear, finding the courage to recover and survive.
Opening our hearts when we are full of fear is no small feat. Our bodies are hard-wired to respond to fear in the old fashioned way: fight or flight. This instinctive response has served us incredibly well throughout our evolutionary struggle. But now the stage is changing, and we have to change our automatic responses. Uranus, the pattern breaker, brings in the possibility of this change. Uranus in Pisces brings a new depth of awareness for the unity and oneness we can feel with all of life, in both joy and suffering. Here are some practices to employ during the Autumn to cultivate this new awareness:
- Loving-kindness meditation: This Buddhist practice builds unconditional love for all beings. It was first taught as an antidote to fear. (This link offers a guide to the practice: http://www.contemplativemind.org/practices/subnav/kindness.htm)
- Shadow work: Look at your core issues – control, co-dependency, self-sabotage. Whatever they are, it is time to acknowledge, accept, and transform the shadow within. While we don’t want to lash out instinctually, it’s just as dangerous to ignore these powerful drives.
- Cultivate peace within: Overthrow the inner dictators in order to overthrow the external ones. How do you govern yourself? With fear and coercion or love and cooperation?
The old strategies simply will not work anymore. The message from the cosmos is “Embrace the strange and unusual.” Ask yourself how you could use unconventional tools for your own self-improvement and evolutionary unfolding.
Rhea Wolf is an astrologer, writer, and spiritual activist. She is available by phone and in person for astrology readings and shamanic healing. To find out more or to sign up for her free Full Moon reports, go to www.turningwheelastrology.com. Rhea also offers creative writing workshops with Portland Women Writers at www.pdxwomenwriters.com.