STARFIRE

November 2009

November 2009 - Saturn Has Finally Moved Along
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Saturn Has Finally Moved Along

After what seemed like an interminable and difficult run through Virgo, Saturn finally ambled along into Libra on October 29th. I remember being equally unhappy about Saturn’s trek through the last part of Virgo in 1980, when the planet completed a somewhat dreary run through Virgo and moved into Libra on September 20th.

Life didn’t get instantly simpler and easier when Saturn shifted from Virgo to Libra in 1980. Sometimes it’s important to remember there are no precise boundary signs in the sky even though we see them artificially in horoscope charts.

In Albuquerque, the real estate market didn’t improve radically either. What did change? Relationships. I look back now on times that were still difficult, but with mutual support–from shared talents to knowledge to laughter. And the rebuilding (for me and for my clients at the time) seemed to come out of those relationships.

Libra is, of course, the sign of relationships, ruled by Venus. Saturn is exalted in Venus, showing off like a peacock, and strong enough to have something to parade around. Here we’re not seeing the businesslike structure of Saturn in Capricorn, but the informal structure of relationships that endure over time and influence for decades.

The relationships Saturn fosters in Libra may surprise you. If there are skills you’ve been lacking for success in your chosen career (or avocation), you’re likely to meet now the people who can partner with you or mentor you.

Libra is also the sign of balance, and of art as the provider of harmony and beauty. Saturn here may draw your attention to paintings and music from earlier periods or create an interest in historical novels. But don’t discount the idea that you’ll now meet people who can bring wisdom and experience that will help you attain personal balance in mind and body. (It’s also a good time to fine good accountants and members of your financial team, of course.)

In on of Louis L’Amour’s novels, the hero (a Sackett, I think) talked about a “woman to row the river” with. Saturn in Libra brings those relationships with sinews, with commitment and endurance. Libra relationships are partnerships.

So the fluffy, insubstantial, superficial relationships in your life–if there are any–are likely to disappear as Saturn moves through Libra. The true cost of imbalanced relationships is that neither partner develops properly. In medieval guilds, the wife might well have been an important designer or trained apprentices or painted murals alongside her husband. History on the work of women married to guild masters is continuing to surface, but we know now that it was guild marriages were as much working partnerships as farm and rural marriages.

Both Saturn and Libra are related to our personal shadows. With Saturn in Libra, we’re likely to attract or focus on “soul mate” relationships, some romantic and others in close friendships or other family relationships.

Romance writers deal with Saturn in Libra issues book after book. The hero and heroine are opposing forces in some ways–like shadows forcing each other to grow–but there’s also something important to both of them that holds them together so they do grow. The best relationships are, after all, alchemist”s pots turning us into gold.

Saturn is the strength that holds the alchemist’s pot together, and Libra is the attraction of opposites. If there’s a personal or spiritual development step you managed to avoid, Saturn in Libra will bring the partner who makes you take that step, learn that lesson, and become your best self.

Or make life so miserable you’ll wish you’d just learned the lesson and gone your way. Saturn in Libra relationships are still mirrors and not every mirror pleases us.

The good thing about Saturn in Libra is that we’re focused enough to do the work. These are years when people do the therapy to heal past relationships in order to move forward. They’re the years when people struggle to grow and be better–and, in return, meet people who have done their own growing, too.

I suspect, without data, that Saturn in Libra favors second marriages or at least marriages with older partners who’s put time and energy into personal growth.

Saturn in Libra also favors apprenticeships, relationships where one person learns and earns and grows into mastery as part of a functioning team. If you’ve always wanted to study art–and kind of art–this may be the time to find a mentor and apprentice yourself.

Politically, we can expect a small shift from family orientation to partnership orientation. Longevity studies will focus on relationship quality as a factor in healthy aging. Expect, too, to see more political interest in the family structure as the key to caregiving for the elderly and disabled. Although Saturn in Libra favors traditional relationships, Saturn as reality principle may herald a political shift toward supporting relationships that work rather than relationships that look “right” to other people.

And, finally, Saturn in Libra favors partners (and family groups by blood or affection) with shared goals. Whether it’s a family meeting night or a weekly walk to talk about future plans and dreams or a weekly mastermind session, the process of sharing goals and sharing accountability is particularly useful during the years Saturn reigns in Libra.

Mary O’Gara, Ph.D.