Astrological Reading

I was about to publish a post titled 'The year of hard knocks' that was basically another 'woe is me' post - Mike and I are broken up, I'm approaching the end of my dissertation, I've decided to leave DC but I don't know what I'm doing with my life.....all endings that are pretty hard to deal with. It made me think if my astrology session, which I haven't yet blogged about, so here we go. We talked about three main things during my session: the signs in my natal chart, the alignment of the planets in my natal chart, and future planetary transits.

There are three main signs in a chart: the sun, the ascendant, and the moon. The combination of these three signs (among other things) is what makes a person unique, and explains the difference among people of the same sun sign. My sun is in Cancer, my ascendant is Virgo and my moon sign is Aquarius.

I have always seen how I am very much a Cancer - sensitive, moody, empathetic, emotional, imaginative, caring, nurturing. The sun sign is your true nature, your heart, how the people who know you best see you. Cancer is said to be the most enigmatic of the signs due to the seeming contradictions - the need for closeness, the need for independence; the desire to nurture a home life, the desire to travel and seek adventure; the desire to care for, the desire to be cared for; a desire for stability, an initiator of change. Yes, yes, yes, all of that describes me. The ascendant sign is how you present yourself to the world, the first impression that people have of you. Virgo is meticulous, critical, detailed, orderly, caring, earthy, nurturing ('beautiful earth woman' is how she put it), a perfectionist, and finds meaning through serving others. Oh, and they are huge worriers. In many ways Cancer and Virgo reinforce many of the same traits. In fact, I read that their approach to change is a deep desire to seek safety where Cancer clings to the past and Virgo worries about the future. Virgos are also said to be the great synthesizers of the zodiac - focused on putting every piece into its place in order to understand the whole. My moon is in Aquarius. The moon sign describes how you approach your emotions. I've never understood how an Aquarian moon fits with my personality - because I am far from the typical Aquarian traits - but the astrologer said that this moon sign gives me a mental approach to my emotions, where I am able to step back and articulate how I am feeling.

The second aspect we talked about was the planetary alignment in my natal chart. This refers to how the planets were aligned at the time of your birth. There are a million things that I could go into but I will just touch on a few. A significant aspect is that Saturn and Mars are next to each other (conjunct) in my first house, which is interesting because they have different energies and are thus an unusual pairing. Saturn is about hard work, discipline and responsibility while Mars is about fire, passion and energy. Having them so close together means that if they are not working together they can cancel each other out - where Mars makes me want to express myself but Saturn holds me back. Managing these two energies is supposed to get easier as you get older and can allow you to use your energy in a very focused way. There are several signs that indicate the importance of my life path as an inner calling and that my career and relationships with others will need to relate to this for me to feel fulfilled. As with the sun signs, I have quite a bit of opposing energy in my chart that can help me to feel balanced and more whole if the energy is properly managed or can cause a lot of inner conflict if it is not in harmony.

And finally, we talked about my future planetary transits, or how the planets will align in my near future. It so happens that I have a very, very, very significant event coming up: Saturn Returns. This refers to the time when the planet Saturn returns to the place where it was when you were born. Saturn is the most slow-moving of the planets and it takes 28-30 years to fully circle your chart. Saturn represents the limitations in your life - which on first glance can sound restrictive, but this allows you to focus your energy and gives your life direction and meaning. The Saturn Returns event represents a hugely significant time in your life where you have already gone through the experiences that it takes to become an adult and where you consciously choose your life direction and take your place in the world. An interesting aspect in my chart is that Saturn is in the 1st house - the house of self, personal identity, new beginnings. Currently, and over the last few years, Saturn has been moving through my 12th house - the house that represents death, letting go, karmic energy, lessons learned. So as the astrologer put it, this a a 'double whammy' for me - not only am I experiencing the Saturn Returns event, but it is cycling through some major houses of karmic death and rebirth.

I am interested to hear if any of you experienced the effects of Saturn Returns around the age of 29......?