(pssst: if you’re looking for the link to this week’s good fortune!, you can find it here.)
Saturn stationed direct at 0º Pisces on November 4; and with that, our cosmic summer vacation is over. When a planet finishes up a retrograde period, it doesn’t just suddenly stop in its tracks and start moving forward; it slows down over the course of days and weeks. Saturn has been hovering at 0º Pisces since October 11 and will remain at the same degree until November 27. The forward motion revealing itself this weekend has been building for weeks and will continue to reveal itself for weeks to come.
I’m heartened that Saturn’s direct station on November 4 corresponded with the largest actions we’ve seen so far calling for ceasefire in Gaza. Though news outlets seem unable to agree on how many people were there (some say 40,000, while others say 100,000, or up to 300,000), the images of the demonstrations are very powerful.
On a completely different note, I find it kind of hilarious that Saturn’s direct station aligned with the New York City marathon. Saturn stationed retrograde on June 17, and the 4.5 months in between then and now makes up the perfect length for a marathon training program? Wild! Also poetic because distance running requires you to start slow (like stationed direct Saturn) and slowly pick up the pace. It’s literally a marathon, not a sprint.
What have you been building up endurance for since June? What do you want to start slowly now so that in a few months you can have a nice finish? Saturn is beginning his third journey across the first seven degrees of Pisces—a part of the zodiac connected to Tarot’s 8 of Cups, and the idea of abandoned success. At this point, we’ve pushed up against our limits and gone back to revise the plan. Now it’s time to put those revisions into motion, and by doing so, confidently walk our own path toward fulfillment.
I personally have been feeling weighed down by this Saturn station. Both mentally and physically. For the last few weeks, since the eclipses began really, I’ve had very little energy to do anything other than what’s directly in front of me. I’ve been feeling isolated, but also haven’t had any brilliant ideas about how to break out of the cave. This weekend, rather than beating myself up about “not doing enough” or “not putting myself out there,” I decided to just enjoy the monastery (very Saturnian). I got a lot of reading done.
I finished Britney Spears’ memoir The Woman In Me—a heartbreaking account of all that Britney’s been through with her family both before and after the conservatorship told in a very charming stream-of-consciousness. Britney has Saturn in Libra in the first house of her birth chart, is ruled by Venus in Capricorn, and has an Aquarius moon. As much as Britney is a benefic babe pop star (she also has Jupiter in the first house), her chart is so Saturnian. I put so many notes in the margins connected to how Britney’s chart and transits were showing up in this narrative of her life. I’m thinking of recording a podcast for paid subscribers on her chart and all my astro notes on her memoir as a book club type thing? (Let me know if you’ve read (or listened to the Michelle Williams audiobook) and are into this?!)
I also finally read (most of, I have a few chapters left to go) The Greatness of Saturn (a therapeutic myth) by Dr. Robert E. Svoboda. This book is part vedic myth and part remedial guide for Saturn transits. It’s a text that is constantly recommended by traditional (Chris Brennan) and modern psychological (Jessica Lanyadoo) astrologers alike for remediating in hard Saturn times. I acquired it back in the Fall of 2021 while Saturn was going over my moon (the peak of what’s called Sade Sati by vedic astrologers), but in very defeatist Saturn transit fashion, I never read past the intro. I decided to finally begin (and spend the full three hours reading aloud the myth of The Greatness of Saturn) in honor of Saturn’s direct station. I’ll keep you posted on my work with The Greatness of Saturn and any other Saturn remedies I try as I gear up for Saturn’s final pass over my chart ruler: Venus in February.
Biggest takeaway from Svoboda so far:
“What you see in your mind’s eye is your reality. If you fill your mind with soap operas, they will be your reality, and if you see God there, He, She, or It will be your reality.” (Svoboda, 155)
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The other thing I did this weekend was spend some time digging into the Astrology of 2024. One of the highlights is on April 20, 2024, Jupiter will conjoin Uranus in Taurus. This is an aspect that occurs only once every 13-14 years. It is an aspect that aligns with scientific breakthroughs, artistic innovation, cultural ascension, and radical movements for emancipation. I’ll go deeper on this some other time, but just some notes:
the last time Jupiter and Uranus met was in Pisces in Aries in late 2010 through mid 2011, corresponding with the beginning of the Arab Spring
the last time Jupiter and Uranus met in Taurus (as they will in April 2024) was in 1941…
Jupiter/Uranus periods usually last for about 14 months at a time— we have been in what Richard Tarnas (author of Cosmos and Psyche, the book on archetypal patterns) considers the orb of influence for this Jupiter/Uranus conjunction since June 2023 and will be in it until July 2024
the last few Jupiter/Uranus conjunctions or oppositions have corresponded with innovations in social media: the opposition in 2003 brought Facebook, the conjunction in 2010 brought Instagram, as well as Facebook’s more streamlined “Timeline,” and the opposition in 2016-17 brought TikTok, as well as Instagram’s stories feature. All of these platforms seemed inconsequential at first but after a few years grew to be the major way we both organized politically and shared our art. If you feel like the current ways of sharing info and art are passé, it’s because they are. Stories are so over. Take note of any innovative ways of sharing and connecting that you notice popping up. Those platforms will be vital in the future.
More on all of this soon. I hope you have a slow Sunday that helps you ease into the work that’s ahead. This week, Venus moves into Libra and Mercury moves into Sagittarius. As I talk about on the pod, it’s time to change up the strategy, moving out of our heart and into our mind and actions.
xoxo
book a reading
My books for November are open!
I’ve been teasing this for awhile, but I will actually be switching up my offerings and raising my prices later this month (Mars cazimi here we come). If you want to lock in my offerings at their current rates, now is the time to book.
Let’s digest eclipse season and make a plan for moving forward together :)
good fortune!
Episode notes: It’s time to change up the strategy! Leaving a very watery few weeks means channeling more air and fire. We get into: Saturn in Pisces stationing direct as the call to choose a path; Venus finally back in business after being reborn and then struggling since June; Venus in Libra as the provocative diplomat; Mercury in Sagittarius as the blunt genius; Mars opposite Uranus as a call to say “feel your feelings but don’t get caught in that SWAMP again.”