Midlife Transits

One of the themes of 2010 for Taurus is changes in employment matters (and therefore probably changes in financial matters). Saturn is in your employment sector, and January starts out with Jupiter, Neptune, and Chiron in your career sector. Jupiter will leave that sector mid-month, and that could precipitate a change in your career status, hopefully a pleasant one. That doesn’t mean that your daily experience of your job is likely to be easy; Saturn indicates that you need to either work hard or attend to problems on the job.

If you employ others, your workers are likely to need extra attention not only this month, but throughout the year. Taurus folks who have been laid off may finally get a job as the economy upticks. On other hand, Taureans who are already employed may need to work extra hard to keep their boats floating in these rather uncertain seas.

On a more abstract level, this month focuses on your understanding of life. Your chart is starting to put some of the pieces of the puzzle together, connecting what were once separate ideas. Around the time of the eclipse on the 15th, a lightbulb may go on in your mind. This trend continues throughout 2010, making this a year that could see quite a lot of mental growth for you.

Some of you will also find yourselves doing more traveling than usual. Yet others will be motivated to sign up for some sort of serious program of study.

This December sees a nice round of compatible earth energy for your sign to revel in. Taureans born at the beginning of the sign should feel especially inspired. Take the time to call loved ones who may be far away this year. As with every year, this is a time to celebrate enduring ties.

You still have some almost magical career energy in your chart, too. The aspects are pretty good all the way up to Christmas. Make a wish if your dreams in this area of life haven’t come true yet. But don’t just wish, get out there and attend those industry events or holiday parties; you need to be seen to get the best results. Of course, take care not to do anything too embarrassing or drunken at those events!

This is also a time when many people travel. If you will be traveling, do exercise due caution. Clashing aspects between Uranus in Pisces and planets in the traveling sign of Sagittarius could cause minor hassles.

This is the time of year when your relationships vie with your career for attention. The middle of the month is just jam-spanking packed with aspects that pit one area of life against another. This year, it’s not just the traditional relationship/career duality that’s on the schedule. No, this year, we’ve also got Pluto in your long-term plans sector baring his knuckles at Libra in your job sector. All of which brings up the questions: Do you hate your job, love your job, both, or you’re so confused you can’t tell anymore? What are you going to do about the situation? Contemplating that ought to keep you busy enough.

As far as the relationships go, this is the time of year when your relationship-oriented sign is traditionally scheduled to set relationship goals. Great idea, especially if you do so before the 10th of the month, before all the aspect craziness really gets going. Financial goals can be set from the 22nd on. Astrologically speaking, the best goals are those that have to do with things like saving, getting out of debt or staying out of debt.

Saturn moves out of Virgo on October 29, going from your solar house of love life and children into your solar house of work and health. Until then, you’ll still need to balance the competing demands of lovers and children with friendships and long-term goals. After the 29th, the children in your life should need less of your assistance and resources and you can turn more attention to your own social life.

Jupiter also stations at the highest point in your solar chart this month, hopefully giving a boost to your career or reputation, and maybe even rewarding you economically (via a promotion at work or some other means). Can’t guarantee that will happen, but it would certainly be pleasant if it does!

Jupiter here has been traveling with Neptune in an effort to expand your professional opportunities, so make hay while the sun shines. At the beginning of next year, Jupiter leaves this spot, not to return for another 12 years. Furthermore, the sun and other inner planets in Libra this month transit your sector of job stuff, meaning you should definitely do your best to impress. The week of the 11th sees some of your best job/career aspects of the year.

Last and maybe least, Pluto is also moving direct through your solar 9th house in a relatively brisk fashion now, giving you a chance perhaps to do some serious and enlightening reading on topics of interest to you.

Let’s talk about your career for a moment, since it’s one area of your chart that is not negatively affected by September’s weirdness in the skies. This is a bit of a lull in your career house, astrology-wise, and you can use this quiet time to effectively make yourself useful while other people are being distracted by various forms of anger, debate, and general insanity.

If insanity does occur in your life, it is likely to be around your love life or children as well as your social life and maybe even your future direction in life. I suggest you ignore the noise, a suggestion I realize it may not be possible to implement all that easily. So I’ll put it another way–hang on to your hat. Certain elements of the universe (I’m talking Uranus) want to get all surprise-y and roller coastery on people, just when the sun, Saturn and Venus are not in the mood for it. Mercury can’t make up his mind. There’s not much to do but strap yourself in and wait for the ride to end.

It ends, more or less, when the sun enters Libra on the 22nd. Which is about the time when your efforts to be all useful at work can pay off in the form of new alliances and friendships.

There are two different kinds of energies going on for you in August, Taurus. One is called a Grand Trine. This means that there are planets in the two other earth signs that are compatible with yours. This is a happy thing. It’s especially good for your love and sex life, as the sun will be in Virgo in the sector of your solar chart that deals with love. This energy is prominent from the 22nd on.

The other kind of energy is called a T-Square. That means there are planets in two other fixed signs that clash with your sun sign. These signs in August are Leo and Aquarius. This can be good or bad depending on your point of view.

You’re being asked to give up something in your career, and you may not be thrilled with that. Of course, if  that’s the case, you’ve got plenty of company since this economy has had plenty of folks giving up something in their careers, including sometimes a portion of their salaries. That won’t necessarily happen to you of course. In fact, you could just be giving up something like a burdensome duty, belief, or goal. That would actually be a good thing.

That’s the Aquarius energy. The other energy is in creative Leo and it relates to your home. Dealing with home stuff can be stressful, but there can be an upside here too. Let’s say you recently moved (possible, since there’s been energy around that possibililty this year in your chart). The Leo energy could have you coming up with creative decorating solutions or insights into mundane but important matters like how to manage your storage space.

This month sees a lot of planets in fixed signs, including planets in your own sign. You’ve got Venus in your sign until July 5. You’ve got Mars on your side until July 12. Mercury enters Leo on the 17th, and the sun enters Leo on the 22nd. And of course, we’ve got a whole mess of planets in Aquarius still.

All these fixed planets create the possibility of feeling stuck or as though you’re between a rock and a hard place. So let’s look at some ways to deal with that.

The strongest planets are the Aquarius planets that are supposed to be helping your career. And they can do just that if you adopt a positive attitude and find  a way of buffering yourself against daily stresses and strains. If you feel stuck, try being a giver, for the planets are showing you that the more you give, the more you get. Your altruistic side can also help. Do something for someone else, and you’ll likely feel great, rather than stuck between unpalatable options.

If you can’t handle something on your own, enlist a group to help you out. The more people you get involved, the better you’re likely to feel. You may not be able to control the situations you encounter this month, but you can control your reaction to them.

I don’t know what the heck is going on in your career in June, Taurus, but whatever it is, you’d probably benefit from trying to keep things simple. There’s just an excess of energy in this part of your solar chart these days, and Jupiter in Aquarius will be egging you on towards biting off more than you can chew. A ‘first things first’ approach to organization may help stave off any overwhelm. The good side of all this is that June is not likely to find you lacking in money or skill to deal with things.

That’s cuz June is your traditional money month, when the sun’s in Gemini and your solar second house of yup, money. Gemini is also a sign associated particularly with skills in daily life and it’s in good angle to all those planets in your career sector. The days around the 17th are the best as far as alignment between the sun and the planets in Aquarius. After the 21st, the sun’s in Cancer in your solar 3rd house, also to your benefit in the skills department.

The one thing that you may be lacking is alone time. You may be a sociable Taurus or a private Taurus but every Taurus needs a little ‘me’ time. Not too much of that on the horizon in June, and even though you are a patient soul there may be those moments when you just wish everyone would leave. The overload should ease off at some point next month, if that helps.

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 5th house. Not a bad house. Saturn may not have been giving you problems here. But if he had, the problems would supposedly revolve around 5th house matters like children or your love life.

So Saturn going direct could mean less gloominess around something having to do with your kids. Let’s say one of your youngsters has been reserved, withdrawn, maybe even kind of depressed lately. Around the 16th, you finally push a confrontation, and your boy finally lets loose with what’s been worrying him. Thus allowing you to reassure him and help him get less worried.

Or let’s say your girlfriend has been nagging you in Virgo-like fashion to do something responsible (Saturn) that you just really don’t feel like doing, because it would be a burden you think (more Saturn). Like maybe she wants you to commit! Around the 16th, you finally have it out with her. And you come to an agreement. She wins! You admit you’re committed to the relationship. And you feel a lot better because now you know you are secure in the relationship (Saturn=security), and you don’t have to worry about it anymore.

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

Did you know, Taurus, that Pluto in your solar 9th house of of long-range thinking is encouraging you to become more and more careful in your thinking and actions as your mind puts together data you’ve been gathering for years? The 9th house is a house of the understanding and wisdom that comes from life experience. It’s also about having a coherent point of view and philosophy of life. Having Pluto here is super-fantabulous because it gets along well with your sun, giving your mind power of a sort you’re probably not used to.

Get used to being super-smart or at least look forward to becoming more and more super-smart as this trend develops over many years. Depending on your rising sign, you can look forward to growth in two areas of your life thanks to Pluto. For example, if you have Aries rising, your broadened new powerful thinking may benefit you in your career (because Capricorn, the sign Pluto’s in, represents the house of career for Aries rising folks). Just thought you might want to know that, since this is your birthday month, and this smartness thing is one of those reflective insights dealies that goes with contemplating what you’ll do with the next year of your life.

This is also a huge career year for you.  Actually a HUGE career year for you, all caps. And by the end of May it becomes super-huge because Chiron, Jupiter and Neptune will all conjoin at 26 degrees Aquarius. Those of you born around May 17 may be bombarded by so much energy that you’ll have no idea what the hell is hitting you.

For all Taureans, some of the energy is likely to feel great (the Jupiter part), some of it confusing (the Neptune part) and some of it enlightening (the Chiron part). This energy lasts at least until July, so be prepared for all kinds of signs and wonders for the next couple of months. Note that I am not trying to tell you what exactly to do with all this career energy; you’ll need to sort that through for yourself. There may be both opportunities and hesitations, and on some level you’ll need to use that super-fantabulous Pluto energy to help you determine what exactly you are and are not willing to do for the sake of your career and reputation in the near and long term.

The sun enters your sign on April 19 this year. The sun in a person’s sign tends to make him or her more goal oriented and willing to undertake new projects or endeavors–or more willing to devote renewed effort to existing ones. In your case, the existing goal that could probably benefit most from your attention is the goal of finding or enhancing a suitable career position. If your job or even your professional field is not ideal (translation: driving you crazy and making you wish you could quit if it wasn’t for this darn economy), then the stars are of the opinion that you need to hop to it in terms of doing something about that situation.

How can you find the better position the stars are trying to lure you toward? Oh, it’s that same old advice–networking and hitting up everyone you know for assistance. Really. It truly is who you know that matters this year.

If you’ve already got the perfect career position, then the advice is still the same actually. Keep up and build your network of relationships, help others and ask for help. This just ain’t the year to sit on your laurels (or your backside). ‘Why?” you ask.  ‘Because I’m going to lose my job?’

Well, you might (as you well know if you watch the news), but that’s not why. The why is because Neptune and Jupiter in Aquarius in your solar 10th house believe that you can make a bigger and better contribution to the good of society as a whole, right now while the whole thing seems to be caving in. Your Taurean stablity, common sense savvy, caring nature, and general touch with money and practicality are exactly what’s needed these days, and you’ll do the most good in a position that suits you and allows you to function at your best.

So put on your thinking cap ASAP and figure out how you can improve your working life.

Boy, does your solar chart want to bust out in March, Taurus. Most likely from sort of an irritating career situation at first, then later perhaps from an equally irritating friendship or teamwork situation. This could be a good thing, especially if you are able to bust out and engage in some of the good old-fashioned self-expression your chart craves. But there’s a catch, and it all comes into sharp relief around the time of the full moon in Virgo on the 10th.

I’ll lay it out. The fifth house is self-expression. Saturn in Virgo is in your solar 5th house. Saturn is disapproval, restriction, inhibition and various forms of the word ‘no.’

The full moon in Virgo falls quite close to Saturn in terms of degrees. The full moon therefore is going to be quite tempted to stir up your emotions around a year and a half’s worth of Saturn disapproving of and inhibiting your attempts at self-expression and fun. Not only that, the full moon will come dangerously close to opposing Uranus in Pisces. Uranus in Pisces is mighty ticked with Saturn’s inhibition of your self-expression and is vigorously urging you to overcome your natural fear of disapproval and insecurity so that you can do whatever the hell it is that you really want whether Saturn likes it or not.

This is the kind of planetary conflict that makes most people feel as though somehow large chunks of the world have ganged on up them just to make them mad. And it is right into this combustible mix that Mars will stride come March 15. Mars is Mr. Anger himself, as well as Mr. Conflict With Others and Mr. Disagreement. Mars and Uranus are going to team up to try to teach you that if you want to be yourself, you are just going to have to proceed with courage even if you have to face down disapproval and disagreement to do it.

Of course you may not feel that being yourself is worth the hassle, and that’s why the conglomeration of Saturn, the moon, Uranus and Mars are going to try to convince you that you’ll have no peace if you try the old go-along-to-get-along strategy of avoiding conflict. Sometimes you just gotta take a stand and say to hell with them, whoever them might be. March and April 2009 could well be one of those times.

The good news is that if you do your part in the middle of the month, you’ll get a well-deserved astrological rest period come the new moon in Aries on March 26th. Feel free to flop down or go all hermit-like for a few days; you’ll need your energy for April.