What are the stars telling us now?

Each of us experiences individual blessings and challenges as planets travel across points we are sensitive to because of where the planets were when we were born. In addition, the relationships the planets make to each other as they move through the sky affect all of us to a greater or lesser extent. Here are some thoughts about the astrological conditions currently influencing us all.

Nov 19, 2009, The Saturn-Pluto Square and the Health Care Bill

The current Saturn-Pluto square forms a T-square with the Venus-Jupiter conjunction in the U.S. horoscope. With this conjunction in Cancer, we in the U.S. like to think of ourselves as open and generous. We can be, if our sense of security is not threatened, but we can also be tight-fisted out of a fear of not having enough. Our citizens (especially the wealthy) pay less in taxes than do those in most other developed nations but tend to resent it more.

With Pluto in Capricorn transiting in opposition to our Venus-Jupiter conjunction, we are being challenged to transform the way our country and its government take care of people. Change-resistant Saturn in Libra transiting in square to our Venus-Jupiter conjunction adds tension with Pluto's energy for transformational change. Saturn's slow energy can be useful, encouraging the careful development of a solid foundation for a new structure. Cancer is a sign of nurturing and protection, and the health care bill now being debated in Congress fits this theme.

How does the U.S. protect the health of its people? Our health care system has evolved piecemeal. Most physicians, clinics and hospitals are private, charging whatever the market will bear. Other aspects of our medical system are public. Medicare, a government program, pays most health care expenses of citizens over 65, while Medicaid covers them for citizens below the poverty line. A diminishing number of employers provide health insurance for employees and their families. Medical advances, along with other factors, have made the U.S. health-care system among the most expensive in the world.

As the cost of health care rises, fewer businesses can afford full insurance coverage for their employees. Unemployed and self-employed individuals often find themselves unable to afford health insurance at all; or, if they have a pre-existing condition, may be unable to purchase insurance at any price. Insurance companies sometimes cancel the policies of people who suffer from medical conditions, like cancer, which are expensive to treat. Most U.S. citizens agree that our health care system needs reform.

Pluto's energy is pushing us to reform it now. Saturn's energy introduces delay and resistance to change. In combination, especially in square aspect, these planets tend to generate fear. Fear leads to conflict. This is what we've seen as Congress tackles health care. A clause in the House bill which would require Medicare to pay for doctor-patient discussions about the type of care patients want at the end of their lives has been incorrectly characterized as a government program to put elderly people to death! Among other things, Pluto rules death. We can see Saturn at work in the stiff resistance of some people to any change at all.

Pluto's energy and the square demand change, so it's my guess the U.S. will get health-care legislation before Fall 2010 when the Saturn-Pluto square is past - but it may take that long to get a final bill through Congress. Further reforms may be needed under a more harmonious transit.

Nov 16, 2009, Things Could Be Different (Saturn Squares Pluto, Part 3)

Yesterday (see below), I told a story about a fictional couple who divorce under the influence of the Saturn-Pluto square. Could this same couple navigate the square in a less painful way?

First, let's note a challenging interaspect between their birth charts: His Venus in Capricorn squares her Venus in Libra. With Venus in Libra, she's in love with love. Harmony is so important to her, she'll do almost anything to maintain it, even suppress her own needs. With Venus in Capricorn, he craves security. He expresses his love by being faithful and taking care of his wife's needs rather than by whispering sweet nothings into her ear. Yearning for romantic gestures foreign to his nature, she neglects her own needs in an effort to please him. It's too easy for him to take control, leaving her feeling powerless. Meanwhile, he feels insecure whenever she has a friendly conversation with the mailman.

Could their marriage be happy despite this challenging interaspect? Sure! Most couples have both challenging and harmonious interaspects between their charts. Square aspects push us to grow. Part of what attracts people to each other is the feeling that, together, they can become their best selves. But they both have to accept the challenge to grow.

Let's rewrite the story:

Under the influence of Saturn in Libra, the husband feels dissatisfied with his marriage but doesn't want it to end. He realizes he feels more critical of his wife because he fears she no longer looks up to him as an authority. But using Saturn's energy for self-discipline and Pluto's energy for insight, he resists the urge to criticize her, taking an honest look at himself instead. Only by revitalizing their marriage can he find the security he craves. One evening when she heads for her romance novel, he says, "I wish you loved me as much as you seem to love the imaginary man in that book."

She, too, is dissatisfied. With Saturn conjuncting her Venus, it seems like the love energy in her life has vanished. The romance novel she's reading only makes the lack of romance in her marriage more obvious. Seeing her husband is upset, she's tempted to say, as she often does, "Oh, darling, I'm crazy in love with you." But under Saturn's influence, she realizes this habitual reassurance only masks the disharmony between them. Pluto's energy for change gives her the courage to say, "I wish we had more romance in our marriage."

It occurs to her husband that consulting someone they could both look up to as an authority on marriage might be helpful. He says "Let's make an appointment with a marriage counselor. I don't want to lose you." She agrees. "Thank you, sweetheart. That's the most romantic thing you've said to me in a long time."

Next: The Saturn-Pluto square and the health care bill

Nov 15, 2009, A Saturn-Pluto Story (Saturn Squares Pluto, Part 2)

(See November 13 post below for Part I)

As Saturn and Pluto align in an exact square today, Saturn has just moved into Libra and Pluto into Capricorn. Saturn in Libra gives us a more sober and realistic perspective on love, friendship, partnership, art, beauty and compassion. Pluto in Capricorn is beginning a deep transformation in our understanding of status, authority, government, fatherhood, and career. Saturn's slow, straightforward energy delays change so it can be supported by a solid foundation. Pluto often acts in a hidden, secretive way until it suddenly bursts forth with a radical change.

Here's a story I made up to show how these energies might operate together:

Under the influence of Saturn in Libra, a married man insists on preserving a marriage in which both he and his wife feel trapped. Sensing the change inherent in the Pluto-in-Capricorn energy, he fears she no longer accepts him as an authority over her. Resisting any change in the power dynamics in their marriage, he redoubles his efforts to control her. Early one morning while she is asleep, he throws her collection of romance novels in the trash. By the time she wakes up, the garbage truck has come and gone.

For her, this is a strong manifestation of the Saturn-in-Libra energy. Like a big wet blanket, Saturn has suppressed the romantic dreams she's been using as a substitute for genuine love. Now she has to take an honest look at her marriage. She realizes she's let her husband control everything in her life except her imagination. Pluto in Capricorn demands a radical transformation. Secretly, she consults a divorce lawyer.

On the day Mercury conjuncts Pluto and both conjunct the husband's natal Venus, he receives notice that his wife has filed for divorce. He goes home to find she has moved out.

For both husband and wife, this is a painful experience. Ultimately, though, the outcome can be truly beneficial. Both have been feeling trapped, and the divorce will free them. The husband has received a powerful lesson in how people react when he behaves like a despot. When he starts dating again, he may avoid women who read romance novels, or he may read them himself in order to gain insight into what women find romantic.

The wife no longer enjoys novels that portray authoritarian men as desirable. Perhaps, as Saturn conjuncts her natal Venus in Libra, she starts writing a romance novel about a strong woman who refuses to marry the man she loves until he accepts her as an equal partner. The novel becomes a bestseller (Pluto can relate to the ability to reach a mass audience). Because Pluto has an affinity with psychology, both the man and the woman may consult therapists who help them overcome long-standing childhood traumas.

Coming tomorrow: Part 3: Things Could Be Different

Nov 13, 2009, Saturn Squares Pluto: Hide in a Cave 'Til It's Over?

If you keep up with astrology blogs, you know Saturn and Pluto are currently in square aspect. Some of the predictions sound pretty scary: BioPsciences Institute says, "Considering that squares are generally rougher than oppositions and that the Saturn-Pluto opposition brought us the World Trade Center attack in 2001, you can reasonably expect this square to have some powerful repercussions." Elsa Elsa playfully warns you you'll have to "work in the dirty grave that is your psyche" if you have planets in early degrees of cardinal signs. (At least she has a sense of humor!)

As Elsa suggests, if Saturn and Pluto aren't transiting your birth planets, you might not notice any personal repercussions. You might even experience some exhilerating positive effects if your birth planets are transited by trine or sextile. Do you have planets in your birth chart at or near 1 degree of Taurus, Gemini, Virgo or Aquarius? You're experiencing a transit by trine. At or near 1 degree of Leo, Scorpio, Sagittarius or Pisces? A sextile.

Saturn's harmonious transits make it easy for us to work persistently and realistically toward important goals. Pluto's harmonious transits make it easy to make changes. Even with a harmonious transit, we might feel mixed emotions. With a Pluto transit, for example, we may feel sadness as we say goodbye to a person, a place, a job, an unmet goal, or some part of our being, mixed with excitement and pleasure as a new and healthier dynamic comes into our lives.

But what if Saturn and Pluto are transiting your birth planets by conjunction, square or opposition? If you have planets at or near 1 degree of Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn and are having trouble with this transit, you'll be aware of some problems by now. This isn't a case of the universe randomly being mean just because the planets have aligned in a certain way. The square aspect strongly promotes change by making us aware of disharmonies or negative patterns that already exist in our lives. It pushes us to find a healthier way to live so we can turn chaos into harmony.

Saturn's energy can help you to look honestly and realistically at whatever situation is making you unhappy and to consider the part you have played in creating or maintaining the situation - not to make you feel blamed or shamed, but to empower you. Pluto can give you the courage to make very deep, thorough changes based on the practical understanding of the situation that Saturn has helped you gain.

Coming Tomorrow: A Saturn-Pluto Story

Oct 30, 2009, Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune Update

With the most intense phase of this triple conjunction past, can we get a sense of how it manifested? The conjunction probably affected much of what happened this summer, but let's take a look at one example.

The conjunction was at its tightest in May, when renewed efforts were devoted to negotiating peace between Israelis and Palestinians. This has been a decades-long effort, which fell by the wayside during the eight years of the Bush Administration when the U.S. mostly abandoned its leadership in the negotiations.

In May, Israel offered assistance to the Palestinian National Authority, Egypt and Jordan in protecting against the H1N1 swine flu. Pope Benedict visited Israel and the Palestinian territories and spoke in favor of Palestinian statehood. U.S. President Barack Obama also urged the creation of a Palestinian state. Israel took a step toward this possibility, evicting a group of Jewish settlers from an area in the West Bank. This year, U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell has been in the Middle East on a regular basis, meeting with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders. In September, President Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. This weekend, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet with the same leaders.

Chiron's influence is evident in the deep pain each side feels as a result of this long-entrenched conflict. Chiron in Aquarius is associated with the wound of feeling too different from others to belong. The State of Israel was formed after World War II by Jews who had fled persecution in Europe, and with Chiron now in Aquarius, there may be a surge of fears about whether they can ever be accepted by their neighbors. Meanwhile, Palestinians whose families used to live in what is now Israel can never truly belong in a Jewish state, since they follow Islam. Healing comes when the Chiron-in-Aquarius energy shifts to a higher level of understanding: differences between people are welcomed as a source of richness and strength. If everyone's religious beliefs were identical, there would be no pressure to continually reexamine our spirituality, and it could easily become a meaningless habit practiced by rote.

We can see Neptune's involvement in the devotion to ideals: the U.S. government and others are once again dedicating efforts to nurturing peace in the Middle East in the belief that it is possible. Both the Israelis and the Palestinians seem to be holding out for solutions they believe to be ideal, which is getting in the way of true progress. There is a need to shift to a higher understanding of what is ideal and to a more generous way of thinking about the other side in this conflict.

Will the new efforts bear fruit? Neptune's indefinite energy tends to keep us in suspense, veiling the outcome of our activities in uncertainty. But it also brings faith, especially in combination with Jupiter's optimistic energy. And faith is a powerful ally in any endeavor.

Sep 10, 2009, Mercury-Mars-Pluto T-Square

Has your computer been acting up? Mercury, Mars and Pluto have been forming a t-square pattern, stirring up communication patterns. If you lose access to your Facebook account for a few hours, it's probably just a minor inconvenience. If you run a small business and your email system stops working, it's a huge problem that needs correcting ASAP. You'll probably feel better about any communication problems you may have been having if you realize the universe is sending them to you to help you correct an imbalance that has probably been causing nagging, low-grade problems for a long time.

With Mars (in Cancer) and Pluto (in Capricorn) in opposition aspect, we need to find the right balance between the drive for self-assertion (especially about our need to be nurtured and protected) and our need for transformation and rebirth (especially in our relationships with authority figures). When Mercury, moving through Libra, comes into square aspect with both Mars and Pluto, it pushes us to make changes in our communication patterns. Today, many of us rely on computer networks as a communication medium. If our communication patterns aren't in perfect harmony with our needs (and how many of have achieved this perfect harmony?), the universe has been pushes us during times like this to develop greater balance.

If you tend to be too hesitant in asserting your needs, the universe might use this t-square energy to push you into getting angry enough to speak up. If you tend to express your anger quite strongly, but to innocent bystanders like your spouse or children, the t-square energy might show you why this doesn't work, and push you to express yourself instead to the person who is the source of your frustration, or at least to someone who can help resolve the problem.

Anger is an uncomfortable emotion. That's why it's so effective at getting us to speak up when someone does something to hurt us, or when people responsible for meeting our needs fail to live up to their obligations. Mars helps us overcome our fear of rocking the boat by taking initiative. Mercury helps us speak clearly and effectively. And Pluto shows us when a situation that is not working well needs to be changed.

This t-square is a good influence to have working for us as we tackle the process of reforming the U.S. health-care system. Sure, it means tempers tend to flare. But if people (on all sides of the issue) didn't speak up when they feel wronged, it wouldn't be possible to reach a solution that works well for everyone.

Apr 30, 2009, Charles Dickens's Horoscope

Charles Dickens is an especially fascinating study for an astrologer interested in quintile aspects, because he had a lot of them in his chart. As a child, he worked long hours in a dismal factory after his father was sent to debtor's prison. But, using the creative energy of the quintile aspects in his birth chart, Dickens was able to transform this unhappy experience into a platform for success by writing novels about, among other things, children who had similar experiences. As a direct result of his novels, people in his home country of England became more sympathetic to the plight of the poor and made important reforms to help relieve their suffering.

Recently, I took a look at Dickens's horoscope and some important transits that occurred for him in March 1835, before he became famous. Perhaps even more important for Dickens, a passionate romantic, he was not yet married. My Sample Flash Report for Charles Dickens discusses the astrological influences he experienced that month. It also provides a good example of the kind of analysis you can expect if you order a Flash Report. See the Services page for more information.

Apr 15, 2009, Mars-Uranus Conjunction; New "Flash Report" Option

With Mars and Uranus conjunct in Pisces today, now is the perfect time for me to start offering $15 Flash Reports. See the Services page for more information.

Mars is the planet of initiative, while the Uranus energy moves with great speed, sometimes seeming to provide instantaneous insights. Pisces is the most intuitive of the signs in the zodiac. This is a time when you may be more intuitive than usual, especially if you have planets in your birth chart at approximately 24-25 degrees of Pisces, Gemini, Virgo, or Sagittarius.

Apr 10, 2009, New Article: Quintiles, Septiles and Undeciles

A new article on the non-traditional aspects and how they function in a person's life has been added to the website. Though astrologers are only beginning to study and use these aspects in their work, they can be extremely significant to people in whose charts they appear.

Apr 7, 2009, New Feature

An article on the 2009 Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune conjunction launches the new Articles section (see the new tab on the navigation bar to the left). I've mentioned this exceptionally promising astrological phenomenon in two January posts below. The article discusses its timing and meaning and suggests ways we can take advantage of this special opportunity to make our world a better place to live in.