Tag: Saturn-Neptune Square

December’s Mercury Retrograde: Phantom Redial

~ EmpwrdDstny ~ 1 Comment

The upcoming Mercury Retrograde in December promises to be more interesting than most for a few reasons – there are many nuanced and in-your-face energetic layers in the mix at the time this retrograde kicks off (December 3, 2017), but for the purposes of this post right now I’ll stick to discussing the components that give a broader and unique context on what’s really going on.  There’s something more significant playing out underneath all of this besides the normal Mercury Rx communication glitches and don’t-sign-anything caveats…

One factor that makes *this particular* Mercury Retrograde period unusual is due to its kickoff overlapping with the Gemini (i.e. a Mercury-ruled) Full Moon; a mere 8 hours separates these twin events! Uncanny as it is to see double the Mercurial energy in the astrological air at the same time, there’s an important subtext inherent in this by virtue of the fact the Full Moon also falls along a degree of the zodiac sensitized by last year’s Saturn/Neptune Square. The Sun is lighting up 12 degrees Sagittarius; almost exactly the same spot Saturn occupied on June 17, 2016 when the Saturn/Neptune Square perfected for the second time.  This being a Full Moon, the Moon of course sits opposite the Sun at 12 degrees Gemini while Neptune – having recently turned Direct – squares both luminaries from essentially the same place it did in the middle of last year when Saturn was on the scene instead.

What’s really going to bake your noodle, though, is the fact Mercury (which we remember is the ruler of the aforementioned Full Moon that is reigniting the energetic residue of the Saturn/Neptune Square) weaves back and forth between a conjunction to Saturn and a square to Neptune during its upcoming retrograde!  Again we’re seeing an astrological imprint of the Saturn/Neptune Square’s reverberations – during this entire retrograde period, it’s as if Mercury is acting as an intermediary to bring us some sort of message from mid 2016. Basically, in December we’re all collectively getting a phantom redial from the Saturn/Neptune Square where weird messages from the past may send their ghost-like echoes into our Now.

What does all of this translate to?  December is going to be a real temporal vortex of a month for one – we may well receive some kind of (literal or figurative) call or message from the mid-June 2016 era.  What’s the memo, exactly?  It will vary for each person but this entire Mercury retrograde phase (all of December & into the beginning of January) should be thought of as a sort of wrinkle in time connecting that period to our present somehow. Think about what was going on in your life in the middle of last year to get an idea of the theme this retrograde may have in store for you.  Geopolitically, this should ring some major bells – Brexit happened during this time and I will not be surprised to see more news on this topic hitting in a big way very shortly.

We should also be aware this may be a collect call (LOL, I just realized youngsters won’t have any concept of what this is!) – metaphorically speaking, it will be good to think twice if something comes up for our review during this period to make sure there isn’t any toll (read: lesson) we’ll have to accept if we answer.  For example, if the Saturn/Neptune Square in June of 2016 manifested as major disillusionment regarding a parent, mentor, authority figure, or spiritual leader and suddenly December comes around and we hear through the grapevine this very same individual has been asking about us, is it really worth picking up the receiver for them? Think carefully about any kind of “sequel” situations arising this month – often the second movie isn’t as good as the first. And if the first sucked, well….it’s not likely to get much better with time, let’s put it that way.

Now the “memo” Mercury brings us in December may not necessarily be a “repeat” kind of situation as mentioned above; it could also simply represent a cosmic communiqué regarding where we may have erred during the Saturn/Neptune Square of 2016. For example, perhaps we were excessively Saturn; too closed/self-limiting/defensive/pessimistic/ambitious/overworked/cautious (pick any or all that apply). Or maybe we were OD-ing on Neptune’s denial/escapism/fantasizing/delusions/self-martyrdom. From a cognitive POV, Mercury will be letting us know which mentalities are holding us back so we can make revisions accordingly during this time. Mercury represents a “both/and” rather than an “either/or” influence so we’re intellectually integrating the Saturnian principles of wisdom, practicality, maturity, responsibility, and structure with the Neptunian concepts of intuition, imagination, compassion, spirituality, and free-flowingness so we’re neither excessively earthbound nor living in La La Land building castles in the air.

11/29/2017

Forgiveness Under The Saturn/Neptune Square

~ EmpwrdDstny ~ 2 Comments

ApologyIt is not simply a case of “forgive & forget” when the Saturn/Neptune Square is in play; forgiveness is something EARNED under this astro! To err is human, but rebuilding trust after a major transgression takes a lot of time and work. There is no magic wand that will suddenly erase a sin, so being accountable and demonstrating humble willingness to atone is important. It starts with an apology backed up by contrition, and then ends with consistent and abundant efforts to make amends. Guilt and shame do have their purpose when these emotions challenge us on a spiritual level to recognize any suffering we’re responsible for and put a stop to it.

(I sure wish my parents had gotten this memo, LOL)

Saturn turns direct on August 13th and its square to Neptune only tightens after this point (becoming exact for a final time on September 10, 2016) – nobody is perfect, but if we think we can try harder to make a situation right, we should definitely do so under the Saturn/Neptune Square.

ForgivenessPersonally, I find it most difficult to forgive when it’s not being sought and when it’s clear to me the person in question doesn’t want to be accountable for their history. I may have compassion for them, sure (in a “they know not what they do” sort of way), but I am hesitant to offer my forgiveness. A hat-in-hand apology, however, can do wonders. I suppose this is because I work hard to be honest with myself about my mistakes in life and try to do my best to offer up a sincere mea culpa when I know I’m in the wrong. I can’t imagine going through life without ever apologizing, but some do. Some will even try to justify this, in which case it is little wonder why absolution would be denied.

 

07/27/2016

An Important Saturn In Sagittarius Reminder

~ EmpwrdDstny ~ 2 Comments

The following is an excerpt from my December 2014 newsletter; the topic of which was an overview discussing the numerous energetic manifestations of Saturn’s entrance into Sagittarius. The message is as relevant now (perhaps moreso given the context of recent events) as when it was first published over a year and a half ago. FYI, Saturn remains in Sagittarius until December 2017.

“Dealing with the reality of bias: Everybody sees the world from different angles – this fact forms the basis of our perspectives in life and helps us realize that our “truths” are actually quite subjective much of the time. But sometimes, without even realizing it, our life experiences may form the framework of a (negative) bias or prejudice of some kind, and Saturn in Sadge can challenge these kinds of beliefs for the sake of putting a stop to them – especially when we’re inclined to try and fit our view of things into nice, neat, organized little boxes. What do I mean by this? Surely we’ve all heard (if not ourselves uttered at some point) blanket statements along the lines of “All ______________ people are ___________”, as if it were some kind of factual reality not up for philosophical debate. The Hi-Fi side of this transit is well served by getting a handle on discrimination in all its forms; all the “-isms” of life like racism, sexism, classism, ageism, or whathaveyou. If we’re called on the carpet and held accountable for a bias of some kind during Saturn in Sadge, this is definitely the time to get it in check because chances are high that such a perspective is flat-out wrong and this is merely The Universe’s way of letting us know it.”

I can’t help but wonder if we, as a society, are ready to master this challenge? Because right now it (as is so characteristic of Saturn) it sure would seem we are all collectively being punished for letting fear and prejudice get so out of hand. Just look at how one of the USA’s 2016 presidential hopefuls is, in this writer’s opinion, a xenophobe – when even your proposed leadership is bigoted, you (as a country) have quite an inconvenient truth on your hands that would be most prudent NOT to continue ignoring during these Saturn square Neptune times. Prejudice is a sickness of the soul, plain and simple, and we need to work instead on promoting understanding over fear, tolerance over hate, and compassion over hard-heartedness.

More on this to follow.

07/12/2016

Repost: Life Under The Saturn/Neptune Square…

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The Saturn/Neptune Square is tightening once again, becoming exact for a second time on June 17, 2016 @ 12 degrees of Sagittarius & Pisces.  The following is actually a repost  (which serves as a totally appropriate “time warp” influence of its own) with a few minor updates/edits.  What you find described below will more or less be a prevailing feeling from now through October.

Speaking of “temporal vortex” –

Life is starting to look an awful lot like this lately again, is it not? I think we can pretty accurately sum up the square between Saturn in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces as being one big surreal “Chrono Trigger” moment, complete with alternate timelines and weird portals being stumbled upon in unlikely places.  Time is anything but linear under this astrological influence; it loops, bends, and distorts.  At any point, we – somewhat like Ebenezer Scrooge – may be visited by Ghosts of Times Past, Present, and/or Future…and not necessarily in that order.

The first hit of this Square was in late November 2015, but this blast(?)-from-the-past(future?) influence hits for a third time in September as well.  Think back to November to recall if any recurrent themes seem to be (re)surfacing in your life lately from that time.

5/23/2016

Mutable Madness: “Mobilis In Mobili”

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Mutable Madness: A motto for the incoming astrology of May & June.
A motto for May & June’s Mutable Madness.

We have some Mutable Madness on the way with another round of Jupiter in Virgo squaring Saturn in Sagittarius during late May and then version 2.0 of the Saturn/Neptune Square hitting in mid June.  When considering the incoming astro, “Mobilis in mobili” popped into my mind – it’s a latin phrase that means “moving around within the moving thing” and I thought it absolutely perfect for describing the flavor of the approaching vibe!  From this we can get the sense of movement; of things being in a state of flux, and can take away a sense that flexibility and being able to juggle multiple balls in the air at once is going to be a requirement for the task(s) at hand.  People with placements between 11-15 degrees of any of the Mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) should pay extra attention, as they are going to find themselves plugged into this energy quite directly.

The strength AND weakness of all this Mutable Madness lies in its adaptability – on one hand when we find ourselves dealing with delays/impediments/obstacles, it certainly behooves us to see if there is an “alternate route” available to us. On the other, though, we do have to be *very* careful not to diffuse our energies with too much vacillation under such a “scattered” vibe.  Mutable energy always creates a tendency to bob and weave, however it’s entirely possible that in doing so we may find ourselves pulled in too many different directions at once and/or generally lacking in beneficial continuity.  Know that diversification can be an asset or a liability depending on how we work it under this astrology – the key is awareness.

Although this energy peaks from late May through mid June, all the players involved are already within proximity so this influence officially builds from hereon out. We can prep for this period by minimizing any/all unnecessary distractions ahead of time and relieving ourselves of excessive/extraneous duties or burdens in order to maximize focus and productivity, because if it feels like something is too much work NOW, just wait until this Mutable Madness *really* gets into full swing…!  If we’ve bitten off more than we can chew the approaching astro will definitely let us know it, so it is important to let go of what we can lest we find ourselves overwhelmed by inconsequentials  and/or driven to distraction.

04/11/2016

The Saturn/Neptune Square, Musically

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How many Saturn/Neptune correlations can YOU find in the following lyrics? The first song that seems to embody facets of this square from a lyrical standpoint comes to us from Coldplay’s “Clocks”, while the second is from R.E.M.’s “Leave”. Hint: Clocks are a Saturn thing – bonus points awarded if you can find the lines in both songs that specifically bring in the Sagittarius component of Saturn!

“Lights go out and I can’t be saved
Tides that I tried to swim against
Have put me down upon my knees
Oh I beg, I beg and plead, singing
Come out of things unsaid
Shoot an apple off my head and a
Trouble that can’t be named
The tiger’s waiting to be tamed, singing

You are…
You are…

Confusion never stops
Closing walls and ticking clocks
Gonna come back and take you home
I could not stop that you now know, singing
Come out upon my seas
Curse missed opportunities
Am I a part of the cure?
Or am I part of the disease? Singing

You are…
You are…”

SONG #2

“Nothing could be bring me closer.
Nothing could be bring me near.
Where is the road I follow
To leave, leave?

It’s under, under, under my feet.
The sea spread out there before me.
Where do I go when the land touches sea?
There is my trust in what I believe.

Chorus:
That’s what keeps me,
That’s what keeps me,
That’s what keeps me down,
To leave, believe it,
Leave it all behind.

Shifting the dream
Nothing could bring me further from my old friend time.
Shifting the dream
It’s charging the scene
I know where I marked the signs.

I suffer the dreams of a world gone mad
I like it like that and I know it
I know it well, ugly and sweet,
I temper madness with an even extreme.

That’s what keeps me
That’s what keeps me
That’s what keeps me down
I say that I’m a lightweight
I say that I’m a phantom airplane
That never left the ground.

(Chorus)

Lift me, lift me,
I attain my dream.
I lost myself, I lost the
Heartache calling me.
I lost myself in sorrow
I lost myself in pain.
I lost myself in gravity,
Memory, leave, leave, leave.

(Chorus x2)

Lift my hands, my eyes are still,
I’ll walk into the sea
Shoot myself in a different place
And leave it

I’ve longed for this to take me,
I’ve longed for my release
I’ve waited for the callin’
To leave, leave.

Leave, leave
Leavin’, leavin’…”

01/27/2016

The Saturn/Neptune Square, Succinctly

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One of my girlfriends recently shared this on Twitter, and I was immediately struck by the profound correlation it had to Saturn in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces!  Coming to us via prima ballerina Dusty Button:

SaturnNeptuneOnPointe
On point(e) during the Saturn/Neptune square!

Though this quote only represents one very specific facet of this square, the takeaway about it I think is her drive to achieve…she’s not just daydreaming her life away; she is making it so and bringing those dreams down to earth with lots of hard work!  Just look at the photo – it’s not a pic of her all glammed up in a stage performance…nope, she shows us a behind-the-scenes look at her sweating and stretching it out in Practice Mode! I love the astrological metaphor of her foot (Neptune) reaching over the bar (Saturn) as well! So on a hunch, I decided to run her chart just to see how plugged into this energy she is – do you know she was born when Saturn and Neptune were last conjunct in Capricorn?  Thus she is quite attuned to the current square indeed, and it looks like she can definitely teach us all a thing or two about this astrological energy!  It’s also worth noting she is a Gemini Sun and will be strongly impacted by the June 17th hit of the Saturn/Neptune square this year.  I love the quote, though, and think it to be some highly inspirational mojo to embrace during 2016 – let’s make it our motto!

01/09/2016

Saturn In Sagittarius: Built On Faith

~ EmpwrdDstny ~ 2 Comments

Something that strikes me regarding Saturn’s transit through Sagittarius is the concept of being built on faith – especially when we take into account this planet’s series of squares to a highly-spiritualized Neptune in Pisces. There is something tangible and yet intangible about this energetic pairing that does give the ability to manifest via belief…provided of course we apply the appropriate amounts of planning and elbow grease required to make it so. It can be tricky, though – Neptune’s involvement suggests there is also the possibility of doubt, confusion or a lack of clarity/focus, or even unrealistic visions that may cloud this process.

7 of Cups (upright and inverted) as depicted in the Robin Wood Tarot. This is the traditional "castles in the air" card (note the head in the clouds), with its inverted form being more akin to "wake up & smell the coffee".
7 of Cups (upright and inverted) as depicted in the Robin Wood Tarot. This is the traditional “castles in the air” card (note the head in the clouds), with its inverted form being more akin to “wake up & smell the coffee”.

Could it be that we are hoping to build upon something nebulous and ephemeral; a proverbial “castle in the air”? Or might we instead be “Ye of little faith”, discouraged and discounting possibilities because we’ve hit an obstacle somewhere? Back in my December 2014 newsletter, I mentioned one thing Saturn in Sagittarius was sure to do was bring tests of faith one way or the other for the sake of strengthening us. Fortify or weaken, it is our choice…it is time to look at what beliefs we are building on and how they are/aren’t they serving us.

The key under this energy is to set positive but realistic goals – unrealistic, misapplied LOA-type dogma that encourages fantasizing about having that dream job/pile of cash/whathaveyou without actually doing any of the real-world legwork required to procure such lofty ambitions is not the way to go, because a dream without a plan is just a wish. Or, if you prefer: God helps those who help themselves. I feel this theme has particular resonance over the next year with Saturn running over The Great Attractor several times during the next two hits of the Saturn/Neptune square. So let’s not misapply/distort the LOA to mean that we shouldn’t be doing any work to make those dreams a reality, aye?

On the subject of Saturn’s laws and the misapplication of The Law Of Attraction, I should also mention that any ideological framework can be misapplied in a harmful manner even if it *seems* positive – especially while Saturn in Sagittarius & Neptune in Pisces square one another.  I have seen this in action firsthand and know all too well  exactly what can happen when one reads a few too many self-help books and loses proper context. For example, when we are faced with significant stressors somewhere in our lives, I don’t believe we should just try to wish them away or pretend they don’t exist.  My concern with the LOA is that I’ve seen a (rigid) belief in its teachings do serious psychological harm when one bottles up feelings and thoughts they perceive to be “negative” out of concern that “like attracts like” and that talking about their fears, concerns, etc. will somehow only invite more negativity into their life.

When we stuff our very real, very natural feelings down inside like this, judge them as “bad”, and attach a degree of shame or stigma about expressing them, it is totally possible to wind up in a “when the levee breaks” scenario.  The result I saw involved someone being hospitalized for what ultimately turned out to be a panic attack, though at the time the party it was happening to didn’t register it as such.  The tightness in the chest and difficulty breathing seemed like a legit physical medical emergency given the lack of prior history regarding anxiety attacks, and it was initially suspected these symptoms might have been markers of a heart attack.  Thankfully this wasn’t the case, but unfortunately this event did indeed present residual psychological challenges for the person involved, as they were subsequently unable to drive for a number of years afterward.  Now tell me that’s healthy…! With Saturn in Sagittarius presently disposed of by Jupiter in Virgo, we do well to apply scrutiny to our belief systems to check to see if there might possibly be anything unhealthy going on. Yes, especially if the LOA is involved since Saturn is hovering around The Great Attractor.

12/09/2015

Life Under The Saturn/Neptune Square…

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Speaking of “temporal vortex” –

Life is looking an awful lot like this lately, is it not? I think we can pretty accurately sum up the square between Saturn in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces as being one big surreal “Chrono Trigger” moment; complete with alternate timelines and weird portals being stumbled upon in unlikely places.  Time is anything but linear under this astrological influence; it loops, bends, and distorts.  At any point, we  – somewhat like Ebenezer Scrooge – may be visited by Ghosts of Times Past, Present, and/or Future…and not necessarily in that order.

We’ve just gotten our first taste of this square, but have about a year more of it to go…short term, this energy begins to ebb soon yet it will become continually pervasive once again from May through October 2016.

12/01/2015

The Saturn/Neptune Square, In Action

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I have already touched upon the “delusion-busting” potential of the approaching square between Saturn in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces in a previous post, but now it’s the “illusion-busting” part I want to focus on today as this certainly is a key and pervasive theme we’ll see playing out over the next year while the energy of this square is active. Soooooo on that note, remember how I said in my October newsletter that we would start seeing the effects of the approaching Saturn/Neptune square by the end of October even though this formation wouldn’t be exact until late November? Well almost right on cue, it appears we have been given Exhibit A: The recent news surrounding young social media maven Essena O’neill.

Essena is a 19 year old Australian girl who was, until very recently, a rising star of Instagram, Youtube, etc.. Just a few days ago she made headlines for abruptly decrying how “Social media is not real life” through exposing the illusory nature of her carefully crafted Instagram pics et al and then subsequently quitting social media. If you really want to get a clearer feel for this astro-energy, do an internet search of her name and read some of the news stories concerning this hoopla.

If you hadn’t heard of her up until now, don’t worry because neither had I.  I am by no means a pop-culture junkie, but I do find it useful to attune myself to it on occasion purely for the purposes of more clearly illustrating the workings of key astrological energies. And when this story floated up to my consciousness, all I saw was the Saturn/Neptune square in action. The tearful video explaining the pressure that she felt to project herself a certain way, the selfie she took and re-captioned “THERE IS NOTHING REAL ABOUT THIS”….one key thing this square does is distort our perception of reality, and it appears Miss O’neill is tired of it all and wants to “keep it real” so to speak. The effects of this square are a lot like a record scratch; a sudden and full stop where the music suddenly cuts out. Or a buzzkill – pick your metaphor. The point is this square represents a time where we can and should expect the ManBehindTheCurtainGreat and Powerful Oz to be exposed as simply being “the man behind the curtain” – he isn’t really a wizard and certainly shouldn’t be anyone’s guru/messiah (more to come on that line of thought later)…it is only an illusion. Or perhaps more accurately: a projection based upon what we WANT to believe. But if and when it doesn’t serve our Highest Good to believe in a False Prophet, rest assured the energies of this square will help to provide us with a little reality check.

Now there is a flip to Essena’s story in that many are calling it a publicity stunt. The point is not whether it is or it isn’t; the point is there absolutely IS a kernel of Truth in her message regardless under the Saturn/Neptune Square.

11/06/2015