Midlife Transits

This month, there’s a lot of energy in the sign of Capricorn. That’s the sign that cares about all those practical new year things like paying off your holiday bills. Money may be a little tighter than it was last year, thanks to Saturn in your sign, but things should be manageable. There’s a solar eclipse this month in the part of your chart that relates to home and family; something new is brewing there. It’s possible that you’ll get some ideas for dressing up your residence a little bit or making it more comfortable.

Conditions at work should be improving, and your social life looks to be hopping all the way through June. Libras involved in freelance work in creative occupations may see a decline in receipts this year, as economically beneficial Jupiter leaves your 5th house of creativity on the 17th. By the same token, Libras who’ve been spending a lot of money on their kids should see expenses ease. Expenses and receipts should both go up for those who hold regular hourly or salaried jobs as Jupiter makes this switch. Regardless of your own personal circumstances, Saturn in your sign asks you to watch your pennies. Small amounts add up, and if you are careful about the small things, you should be able to afford the big ones.

As for 2010, the most exciting trend is likely to be Uranus finally leaving Pisces and your work sector for awhile this year. He’ll enter the sign opposite yours and will focus on your relationships. You’ll do a lot of growing in this area, but you’ll probably be glad to get a break from the pressure your sign has been feeling on the job for quite awhile.

December is Sagittarius month and typically reflects the Libra philosophy that more is more. If this works for you, go for it. If frenetic busyness is impractical or just not worth it, consider scaling things back a bit. It’s really your choice.

This year, you have more home-related vibes than has been typical in previous years, so if the weather outside is frightful and the fire inside delightful, well make the delightful choice. On the other hand, if you just live for the sociability of this time of year, you have plenty of astrological support for gathering the neighbors together and forcing them to sing Christmas carols with you up and down the block. Or you could combine the influences and invite them all over to your home to sing in front of that delightful fire of yours.

Now I have to mention the lunar eclipse in Cancer at the end of December. This is a career-related eclipse. Lunar eclipses can be fortunate if you want to get rid of something. If you’ve got a professional project or obligation you’d just love to ditch–this is the time to float the idea. Others may be receptive. If you’re too chicken to mention this, they might pick up on it anyway and try to take the burden off your shoulders. If such an offer does come your way, mull over the potential benefits.

There’s a lot of activity in your solar 2nd house in November, which is normally a very productive house, one concerned with your material welfare. But don’t count on getting a whole lot done this month, cuz the skies just aren’t up for it. Instead, you will probably just be dealing with whatever you have to, since things are scheduled to to come to something of a head this month.

For example, something in your residence is apparently going to need serious attention, perhaps even complicated repairs. You may learn a lot about plumbing that you wish you didn’t need to know. If your residence isn’t affected, a family matter may come to a head.

The aspect causing all the trouble is Pluto in Capricorn squaring Saturn in your own sign. Since this very stressful aspect hits your sign directly, I’m going to urge you to be careful and to protect yourself throughout the month. There may be no actual danger associated with this aspect but Saturn rules fear and that means, naturally enough, that you might feel scared. You may be worried about how you’re going to pay for everything, about liability and legal issues if your water heater explodes and your neighbor’s prize petunias get flooded, or just alarmed by the general nastiness this aspect may provoke in the general population.

The aspect is exact on the 15th, but you may well be dealing the consequences beyond that date. It’s actually the first in a series of squares that goes through August 2010 (next one is at the end of January). Fortunately, Mercury moves into optimistic Sagittarius on the 16th, so you’ll have your wits about you and will be able to deal with things in a positive manner.

You should be happy in October, Libra, because this month marks the beginning of a reprieve from Saturn in your solar 12th house. Saturn in your solar 12th has been opposing Uranus in Pisces and just generally doing its best to create nervous upsets for Librans around the world.

Okay, now I know that Saturn will be moving from Virgo into your own sign, and that as soon as it does it will pick a fight with Pluto in Capricorn. And I also know that it won’t actually leave your solar 12th house until the very end of the month. But still… Saturn in your own sign will not be trying to make you nervous, and that’s a big relief.

Saturn in your sign will, of course, be trying to change your life. Or perhaps, more accurately, change you on a mental and emotional level. You will probably embark upon some sort of self-improvement program before the transit of Saturn through your sign ends in about three years. You’ll also be working on an issue that’s dear to your Libran heart–partnership issues and issues of your relationships with others.  This will be work, but there’ll also be some nice things about it because soon the planets will be shifting toward a greater emphasis on fire and air signs that suit your own sign better.

In fact, if you want to think about your 12 months ahead, you will probably be less isolated and even have more energy because, for one thing, work issues will be less problematic when Uranus enters Aries next year.

As for this month, there is still a lot of emphasis on work and career for the first half of October, and people are not necessarily going to be all polite and full of good manners, as contentious Mars is still in your career house until the 16th. There is energy in your sign all month long, though, to smooth things out. Plus, you’ve got your birthday wish new moon on the 18th to celebrate.

The sun enters your sign on the 22nd, but overall this is a very Virgo month. In your solar chart, Virgo represents the subconscious mind, the things that flit just below the surface of  awareness. Saturn’s been in this sector for awhile, kneading and massaging that same subconscious mind of yours like bread dough. You’re a sign that can pick up subtleties anyway, and Saturn’s been encouraging you to be hyper-aware of the subtle changes in your inner state.

Some of these subtle changes have probably been triggered by the fact that your job at times can be politely referred to as hell. This could be the case in September, but hang on. By around the time of the new moon in Virgo on the 18th, the worst of it should pass. And what you get is a chance to make a new moon resolution, wish or fresh start.

It’s all been a magical lesson with this point: the grounding you need is in yourself. It’s not going to come from other people. Your boss isn’t going to give it to you. Your co-workers aren’t. Your clients aren’t. A mate, lover, or spouse isn’t. Your kids aren’t. Even your body may not give it to you. All of those things can be and often are unreliable.

Nope, you’ve got it inside. In your soul. All your Libra problems will be magically solved when you integrate this knowledge and apply it at the new moon.

Okay, not really. You’ll still have that job and career energy stuff to deal with. But truly, and I’m not kidding, Saturn has been trying to deliver you a gift before he leaves in October. Accept it; you’ve earned it.

There’s a lunar eclipse in Aquarius this August, on the 5th. Lunar eclipses are usually a signal that something needs to end. This eclipse takes place in your solar 5th house of love affairs and creative projects, so those are two of the most likely areas to see an ending. Sometimes an eclipse will not affect you directly but someone near you and that will indirectly impact you. In that case, the most likely people in your life to be affected would be your children or your lovers.

There’s a possibility that you already experienced this ending or that you will experience it instead during September. Some won’t be affected by the eclipse at all, although this one is likely to be energetic as it is the last in a series in this sign.

The purpose of an eclipse and of the ending it can bring is to help you develop new alternatives in the affected area of your life. For example, if you lose a boyfriend–he probably wasn’t good enough for you anyway, at least in the universe’s opinion. The universe often tends to be right on these matters, although this is not always obvious at the time.

In other words, eclipses help you correct course. Since this is the last eclipse in the series, one good thing is that this area of your life is likely to settle down and become more stable now. Whatever needed to be changed will change now or has already changed and the universe won’t be bugging you about any more.

In the long run, you have excellent energy in your love life sector, so just let go of whatever needs to go, so that you can let new light in.

The first part of the month is all about career and home and then finally the sun moves in Leo and it’s time for a social life again. Admittedly, there may be some surprises afoot on the aforementioned career and residential fronts, so you’ll probably be glad to welcome cheery Leo energy as of the 22nd of the month. Fortunately, both your social life and your love life are likely to be just fine and there should be no need to look towards making dramatic changes in those areas.

Things are not likely to stay as they are on the home front, though. You’re entering a cycle that will last about a year and a half in which things at home will need to be upgraded or changed, even if you feel you’re not quite ready to make a move just yet. The same basic idea applies to your career path, as well. The universe is scheduled to gently or not so gently push you toward progress in both those areas.

Given that changes are to come, July would be an excellent month to write out some goals. Consider it time for your mid-year resolutions. Pretend that July 1st is your mini-new year (well, it’s the first day of the second half of the year) and set out daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and long-term ambitions.

Then start implementing them ASAP. You’re visible this month, and there’s no escaping it. If it would help your career, this might also be the month to take some classes or incorporate public speaking skills into your repetoire too.

It’s that time again, Libra. Yep, time for more career-related energy as the sun moves into Cancer and your career zone on the 21st of June. If you were born near the beginning of the sign, the days around this new moon are likely to make you feel that you are being pulled in many different directions. If you were born near the end of the sign, it’s the first week of the month that’s likely to be more stressful. Born in the middle of the sign, you’re virtually home free.

There will also be many planets in Taurus in June–Mercury, Venus, and Mars. Sometimes having many planets in a sign indicates that you’ll be dealing with many people either of that sign or with the qualities of the sign (i.e., fixed or stubborn). Since Taurus represents your solar 8th house of the past and endings, you may also be dealing with people from the past or with people  who are bringing something to an end.

We can’t forget the importance of Gemini energy, either, for that will be in play throughout the month, also. Gemini represents religion, philosophy, ethics, or spirituality in your solar chart. You may find that these subjects are on your mind throughout June.

Saturn’s going direct in Virgo today. Take a look at this post if you want to see what that means in general. Below is information for your particular sun sign.

Here’s an example of how to do a short little horoscope for yourself using keywords. (I have a list of keywords on the Practical Astrology home page. Scroll down to see them.) Also, if this mini horoscope seems off, you can look at the one for your rising sign if you know it.

Okay, so our keyword for Saturn in Virgo is going to be gloomy or gloominess, since that’s what Saturn in Virgo has seemed to bring. If there are people out there not having a gloomy time with the Saturn in Virgo portion of their lives, they’re not telling me about it.

Saturn represents your solar 12th house. The 12th house means a bunch of stuff. One of the things it can mean is your sense of what you do to shoot yourself in the foot. Saturn here can make you look at the areas in which you’re your own worst enemy. That can be gloomy for sure.

But then, around the 16th, maybe you get fed up with being gloomy about yourself and decide to cut yourself a break. So you do, and soon you feel less gloomy all around.

Things like that can happen. Maybe not that exact thing. But things like that. Again, take a look at Practical Astrology if these keywords don’t suit.

May is not exactly one of those level-headed months. Mercury will start out the month in your solar 9th house of long-term plans, but then he’ll change his mind and decide to head backwards to your solar house of joint finances. The implication is that you’ll be likely feeling the itch in May to change your mind about things too. For people who are taking classes or courses, this is one of those influences that’s like–no matter how hard you try, somehow your mind keeps slipping backward and you can’t understand any of the material you thought you understood a week ago.

For those not taking courses, all of life becomes sort of like that. Don’t blame yourself. It’s in the air. This is one of those months when a friend could accidentally become a lover with all the confusion and excitement that this entails. Your chart is naturally prone to combine love and friendship anyway, but in May the whole tendency just gets out of control. The trend is especially pronounced in the second half of the month.

For those of you on the hunt for romance, this could be an exquisitely wonderful thing. For those of you who want to avoid new entanglements, appropriate caution is advised. Nobody else’s chart is any more level-headed than yours in May, and complications could ensue.

Even Steven. That’s the phrase that comes to my mind as I look at your solar chart. There’s your natal sun in Libra, and there are all these counterbalancing or even-ing out planets in the opposite sign of Aries. Venus is in Aries this month, and the sun, Mercury, and Mars drop by too.

No one planet is in the sign all month long, so things kind of spread out with a more or less steady dose of counterbalancing energy all month long. It’s sort of like–you give to other people, they give back to you. Reciprocity. Just the thing your sun sign loves the very best.

The other sign highlighted this month is Taurus, symbol of your solar 8th house. The sun and Mercury will be in this sign for awhile, and there’s a new moon in Taurus on the 24th. This can mean about 250 different things, so I’ll pull out one to contemplate for the moment: the past. Every year, for a brief time, you get a chance to take stock of your past and either enjoy it (scrapbooking!), wrestle with it, or figure out how to integrate outstanding issues into your current identity.

The 8th house is thus the house of psychotherapy, which is essentially an arena in which you can reminisce with support while healing any old wounds. Of course, these days the 8th house is just as likely to symbolize money matters. Debt, investments, joint finances, taxes, insurance payouts, all that stuff. At any rate, it looks as though something 8th house-y is likely to be on your mind during the last 3 weeks of April, and you may even make some great progress with your issues.

Learning about relationships in the most pleasant way possible–I suppose that’s one way to describe March for Libra, especially toward the end of the month. The relationship focus comes courtesy of the sign of Aries, your solar sign of relationship energy. The focus is already in play at the beginning of the month. In fact, it started all the way back on February 3rd, when your ruler Venus entered Aries for the first time.

Thanks to retrograde motion, Venus will be in Aries for almost four months this year, with a slight break in April. That’s a very long time to experience pleasant relationships, and it ought to make your relationship-oriented sign happy. If not outright happy, it ought to at least take the edge off some of the work-related battles in your solar chart.

The end of March is particularly potent with relationship energy. The sun enters Aries on March 20, Mercury on March 25, and there’s a new moon in the sign on the 26th. The presence of Mercury indicates a good opportunity (if you want to take advantage of it) to exchange affection through special verbal means. An example would be writing a poem for a loved one or having a loved one write or recite one for you!An example of using the Venus energy would be giving your loved one spring flowers fresh from your garden or receiving a similar gift of beauty. In other words, it’s all about giving and receiving–the exchange of pleasant energy and emotions.

As a side note to this relationship energy, Mars will be in your solar house of lovers until the 15th of the month. Mars in the 5th house can sometimes make a person feel more like punching a boyfriend in the face than exchanging pleasant energy and affection with him, but this month you have such a good line-up of supportive planets that this is unlikely to happen (not impossible, but less likely). With Venus and Jupiter being so supportive, Mars’s presence is more likely to add a bit of romantic spice to an already good situation. If by chance you are not involved in a committed relationship, Mars can also give you a bit of energy to go pursue one if you want.

Mars in the solar 5th house (it’s been there since February 4) can also be very helpful if you’re in a situation in which you need to express ideas to others, as it tends to make one’s expressions clear, direct, and forceful if necessary. If you have opinions to share, March is a good month to express them. All in all, a very satisfactory month, especially if you can manage not to pay too much attention to the insistent and rather relentless theme of stuff to do at work that’s been bedeviling your chart for awhile.