“If you’re going through Hell, then keep going!” – Winston Churchill
Traditional astrology is the study of a “natal chart,” which posits that the exact date and time of our coming into existence has a profound influence on all of the significant events in our life story. These events are predictable during periods of our lives in the eyes of astrology—although not through exact dates—and if we study the movement of our signs (or stars) as they transit the planets, we can navigate through these life events with more ease and less panic. These occurrences can reflect favorable transits in our chart: a marriage, the birth of a child, a move to a foreign land or career prominence. In my two-part series on Saturn and the planets, I will explain the importance of the planets and their sphere of influence on our life events. For this column, I will spend my time focusing on the influence of Saturn. Known as the Great Teacher (or Punisher) it represents life’s most unpredictable and unpleasant changes and upheavals such as a sudden loss of a loved one, an illness, divorce, losing a job or financial insolvency. I will then explain the influence of the other planet’s, to give a more holistic explanation of the attributes of each one.
Saturn Return: The Party’s Over (not really!) Saturn is the planet that is the most feared because it is ultimately about taking responsibility for our success and failures. The events impacted by Saturn teach us about life through challenges, failures, renewal and rebirth. Rising from the ashes of our life disasters, and the wisdom acquired from that is the moral the planet teaches. Saturn transits into our house at a critical age, right at the end of our 20s to our early 30s. It is at this point where we begin to examine our lives to see what we truly want. Many of us will experience growing pains. The fun, frivolous season of our youth has passed, and we must cross the threshold into adulthood. This can manifest as major chaos in our lives. We might have feelings of inadequacy that cause us to question our existence. Out of nowhere, our needs and desires that we used to have about relationships, career ambitions, and our life goals can suddenly change and shift like an earthquake, causing our seemingly perfect life to crumble into pieces. Or so we think at the time. If Saturn’s influence sounds like chaos and crises, that is exactly what I am describing, but it isn’t always a bad thing. Change, while terrifying, can cause us to discern and clarify what we want out of life. Something I heard on a podcast once stuck out: if you are living your life correctly, that is, making choices and taking risks, you should hit rock bottom a few times. What this implies is when our lives are shattered into pieces, we then have a chance to rebuild with a renewed sense of self-confidence and courage to construct a stronger foundation and a more accurate vision of what life should have and hold.
The Planets and their Influence To better understand how the planets represent areas of our lives, it is vital to understand the significance of the planets. It truly cannot be understated how each planet symbolizes a different part of life, or if you might imagine, a certain energetic presence or a drive that pushes us to make decisions. In astrology, the Sun and the Moon possess the status of planets because they impact our very existence. The Sun is the source of all life and energy on land, and the Moon is the perfect dance of the waves merging all the oceans into one. The Sun is the most important planet in our chart and is your ego that controls your motivation, your vitality and how you identify yourself. It represents your passions and pushes you to determine what you like or dislike. The Sun is masculine and is seen as our paternal guide and protector, our Father. The Moon is feminine in nature, as it controls the realms of female fertility. The cyclical movements of the new and full moon coincide with the monthly construction of a womb, the natural and healthy waning and deconstruction, and then renewal (new moon) and reconstruction of a new home (full moon) for the creative force of life to enter. Our moon side is usually only visible to those closest to us. As it governs our sensuality and joy, our emotional attachments, intuition, instincts, habitual behavior and most importantly, our self-esteem. Our Moon’s shadow side is the negative emotions we try to keep hidden. For example, products of our shadow side are jealousy, anger, and fear. Mercury is the house of communication, and is indicative of how you communicate, think, learn, and solve. If you are born with Mercury prominent in your natal chart, you are effective and disciplined at expressing your needs. Venus is the planet of love, relationships, and romance and influences the kind of partner we attract, how we behave in the dating game, our attractiveness and sex appeal, and the physical expression of our affection. Funnily, our behavior with romantic partners can also mimic our relationships with money; Venus also controls our finances, and potential to earn. Social likability is also developed under this planet, so our outward appearance to others is more significant. Next month I will discuss the remaining planets, and also how Saturn can go into retrograde, which is similar to a return, but smaller in scope. However important the influence of the stars, our actions are always our choice. It is always important to remember that no matter what is written in the stars, we are the master architects of own our lives.
“The fault lies not in our stars, Dear Brutus, but in our Selves.” – Julius Caesar, Shakespeare