Midlife Transits

First, some housekeeping. I’ve started adding a brief weekly astrology overview to my Facebook page on Saturdays. So hop on over there each week if you want a quick and dirty lowdown on the week ahead, as well as occasional links to things that relate to what’s going on in the skies these days.

I’ve also started a weekly astrology radio show/podcast that will be up each Tuesday. The idea is to talk to people about not only astrology but related spiritual disciplines and how astrology and other healing modalities can be used for effective action in your everyday life. Topics are designed to be suitable for beginners and more advanced astrology students both. The first show is up now and so far it has been fascinating, at least to me.

By the synchronicity of the universe, this week’s radio podcast also happened to be a topic on one of the blogs I visit: Donna Cunningham’s Skywriter.  Donna had a whole series on the 12th house. Take a look at this Q&A post and follow the links below it to related articles if you want a whole wealth of information on this maligned and mysterious area of your chart.

My podcast focused on only one portion of the 12th house’s many meanings: NEPTUNE, THE SUBCONSCIOUS, AND SELF-UNDOING.  Specifically, we talk about the relationship between the 12th house and the subconscious ways that we shoot ourselves in the foot. We also talk about the relationship between Neptune and hypnosis and whether or not hypnotherapy can be a good remedy for 12th house problems. My guest was a hypnotherapist, Clare Taylor. You can find her on Facebook here. It was a really interesting discussion.

I also thought I’d add to the wealth of 12th house information by giving some information on how a 12th house influence can manifest in your life. I’ll take a look at Venus in the 12th house, Venus in Pisces, and Neptune in the 7th house–all of which can manifest in similar ways. (Because Neptune, the 12th house, and Pisces are all related energies and because Venus rules the 7th house of relationships.)

Of course, many of you don’t have any of these placements. But I’m including the list just to show you how one little natal placement can have such a large variety of meanings over the course of a lifetime. Think about your own Venus, 12th house, Pisces, and Neptune placements. What can you learn about your own nature from this list?

Venus in the 12th house, Venus in Pisces, and Neptune in the 7th house can manifest as:

• Difficulty feeling loved
• Hidden artistic and/or musical talents or interests
• Being too ‘nice’ as a form of self-undoing
• Placing a strong value on compassion and sympathy
• Problems with balance, hearing, or the throat (Venus rules balance and the throat)
• Attracting Piscean or Neptunian people into your life
• Hidden laziness
• Hidden sensuality
• Love of fantasy
• Love of solitude or nature
• Love of sleep as a Venus indulgence
• Lack of possessiveness
• Lack of interest in material goods or objects
• The desire for unusual or open relationships
• Dislike of relationship commitment (vague Neptune in the house of committed relationships)
• Romantic attraction to artists, alcoholics, or people with drug problems
• Romantic partners who keep secrets
• Partners with strong psychic or intuitive abilities
• Romantic attitude toward marriage
• A strong relationship with God or spirituality
• Projecting a ‘halo’ or saintly aura (12th house influences near the Ascendant)
• An empathetic or even empathic relationship toward everyone
• Hidden mystical experiences
• Difficulty relaxing unless one is alone
• Behind-the-scenes charitable acts
• Falling in love with a person in prison or with a chronic illness
• Satisfying and enjoyable work in a 12th house institution such as a hospital, hospice, mental health institution, etc.
• Feeling loved by God or the universe
• A love life or financial life that improves with time as one taps into the 12th house gifts
• A lifelong quest for love, money, or spiritual satisfaction
• Secret admirers
• A willingness to embrace a wide range of spiritual practices or beliefs
• Placing a strong value on a holistic approach to life’s problems
• Love of the ocean, sailing, or water sports
• An affinity for hypnosis and/or working with the subconscious mind
• Love of photography
• Preferring to play a ‘back-up’ or behind the scenes role rather than being front and center
• A soft voice
• Lack of discriminating taste
• Feeling one loves all things equally
• Addiction to shopping
• Spending money on spiritual or artistic pursuits
• Idealism about love or money
• Attracting a ‘soul mate’
• Money from working behind the scenes in film, dance, or an artistic field
• The desire to keep one’s relationships private
• Not being aware of who is attracted to you
• Attracting others as a downfall
• Being perceived by the public as spiritual, spacy, or artistic
• Being addicted to love
• The ability to express love through artistic means
• Associating love with sacrifice
• Becoming a victim of people who say they love you
• Saving someone you love
• Carelessness in relationships or the opposite, excessive caring
• Impracticality as a downfall
• Lack of greed
• Placing little value on common sense
• Idealizing ‘spiritual currency’ or spiritual values over worldly success
• Preferring contemplation to action
• Tendency to give in
• Desire to go with the flow
• Belief in universal values rather than individual differences
• Being ‘too flexible’ as a downfall
• Seen as being hard to define
• Glamorous image
• Deceptive image or feeling you are not seen accurately
• Being idealized by others
• Subconsciously seductive
• Having a relaxed appearance
• Appearing to be casual or relaxed about relationships
• Taking an ‘easy come, easy go’ attitude
• Immersive, all-consuming relationships
• Looking for a spiritual rather than sexual partner
• Detachment about possessions
• Spirituality as a resource
• Diffuse or muted emotions
• Carelessness with money
• Lack of concern with financial security
• Believing ‘God will provide’
• Denying oneself material comforts
• Refusal to play favorites

As it happens, I have all 3 of these placements!  In keeping with the 12th house desire for privacy, I won’t tell which of these manifestations apply to me.

“How did we get into this mess?”

That’s the question a friend asked me the other day, and it’s a question that’s generally applicable to astrology of this summer. Most of the outer planets seem to be asking, with something greater than exasperation, ‘how the bleep did we get into this mess?’ Although the Gulf oil spill is the largest and most visible symbol of the disarray in the skies, many of us have felt the energy in personal ways. Let’s take a look at what’s been happening using the BP oil leak as a guide.

On April 20, 2010 an oil rig known as the Deepwater Horizon located in the Gulf of Mexico exploded. At the time, Uranus in Pisces was opposing Saturn in Virgo. Neptune was lurking about in an inconjunct with Saturn. Jupiter in Pisces was hovering near Uranus, ready to pounce. Pluto in Capricorn was stationed ominously in a wide out of sign square to both Uranus and Saturn.

In the symbolic language of astrology, the events that followed have tragically been almost literal at times.  Uranus is Mr. Explosion, especially when he’s in a bad mood with other outer planets, as he was at the time. Hem in Uranus with constricting energies from other planets and all hell breaks loose. Uranus was in the sign of oil and the sign of the sea. Oil-related explosion at sea. Pretty literal.

Saturn is Mr. Safety and Mr. Let’s Do Things Carefully. In Virgo, he was in a sign related to workers, the environment and environmental regulation. Uranus beats Saturn in a fair fight, and even in an unfair fight. Uranus’s oil-related explosion at sea annihilated Saturn’s relatively weaker efforts to safeguard workers, the environment, to champion prudence and doing things right.

Uranus also relates to speed and technology. Pisces is also the sign of chaos, uncertainty, and ‘we don’t know what the hell we are doing.’ Saturn also relates to cost-cutting, delays, slowness, old ways of doing things, and the desire for order and procedure. BP’s demands for speedy drilling, combined with cost-cutting efforts, previous delays, and new technology for deep water drilling collided to create a swirling marine nightmare of chaos, uncertainty, and environmental degradation mixed with a desperate desire to get control of the leak using Saturn’s old-fashioned methods of procedure. Saturn’s reliance on precision Virgo-like engineering efforts was no match for Uranus’s burbling, gurgling torrent of oil spilling from underground.

In the stark mathematics of the universe at the time, the raw energy of chaos beat the pants off little ant-like human efforts to contain it. BP and everyone else responding to the disaster were in over their heads, not knowing what the hell they were doing, having unleashed a Pandora’s box of forces they were unable to control.

Neptune in Aquarius, the planet also associated with the sea and oil, in an unsupportive angle to Saturn, stood off to the side and said ‘I told you so. I told you were placing too much faith (Neptune) in new technology (Aquarius) for deep water drilling.’ Jupiter, the Great Expander, also in the sign of oil and the sea, piled on to make the disaster bigger and bigger and bigger with every passing day, vowing to continue until everyone got the message that things were out of control.

Pluto in Capricorn, symbol of wealth, corporations, and the riches of the deep, anchors the situation from his square position off to the side of the disaster, saying nothing. He doesn’t have to say anything. In Pluto’s world, the rules are obvious and brutal. You reap what you sow. Screw up and pay the price.

No one can accept this really, at least not quickly. The price is too high, too unexpected, too lingering. Pluto lessons are hard to absorb, and with Uranus and Jupiter upping the emotional ante, the hubbub surrounding the chaos makes it hard to identify reality. Even the size of the leak remained elusive, slippery, uncertain.

It would be way too much of a stretch to say that each individual one of us is in the same position with the regard to the universe–battling chaos, uncertainty, misplaced faith, and forces beyond our control. Not every single individual is saying ‘how did we/I get into this mess?’ But collectively, we are in a mess. Collectively, we have gotten in over our heads.

Collectively, we don’t know what we are doing. At the time of the initial explosions, no one in the entire world actually knew how to stop that gusher in a timely manner. No one.

We had pushed beyond our Saturn limits into uncharted territory.

Uranus and Pluto and Jupiter and Neptune and Saturn don’t line themselves up for disaster just for their own amusement, although it may seem that way at the time. They align themselves these ways because the alignments simply reflect the truth. If you get in over your head, unleash forces you don’t understand how to harness, you will experience harrowing consequences. The alignments bring to our attention the times when we have to up our game.

The simple truth, I suppose, is that we got into this mess as a result of choices we made earlier. BP is paying for its choices. The government is paying for its choices. All of us are paying for our long-standing choices to favor new oil exploration and technology over boring old things like conservation and reduced consumption. And sort of like a rogue wave, Uranus’s ocean explosion is sweeping up and destroying a lot of people along the Gulf who are victims of circumstances they can’t control. These alignments are like that. They are absolutely, positively not fair.

On the other hand, these alignments also represent turning points and tipping points. Painfully and slowly, we get the message. We figure out that we have to do better. We stop putting up with problems that we should have addressed long ago. The tide turns. We go in a new direction because we have to. We stop letting Uranus in Pisces kick our collective butts and we eventually get to work, building a better system.

That’s the idea anyway. Let’s hope it happens.

It’s your month, Pisces, from February 18 to March 20. Your birthday wish new moon occurs on February 24. The full moon on March 10 may bring up issues with lovers, as it occurs around the same time as the opposition between the sun in your sign and Saturn in Virgo. The tension between Saturn and your sign should not diminish the love in a relationship that’s strong. However, relationships that have serious issues will continue to be tested, as they have been, off and on, for over a year.

The good news in March is that your solar chart has decided that it has such a strong liking for money that it’s going to host Venus in your solar 2nd house for four months–way more than the the usual amount of time. If you need financial assistance, you have the opportunity to go after it in March, especially during the last week of the month. If you need funds for a civic or humanitarian project or for an activity that brings many people together for a common purpose, even better. If you’re a business owner, participation in civic events could also pay off for you financially. On the other hand, the presence of three planets in your solar money house could also prompt you to consume or spend more than usual during the second half of March.

Mercury and Mars, meanwhile, start March believing that they love all humankind as they transit Aquarius, but then switch over to deciding they love you better as they enter your sign. Mercury’s in Aquarius from February 14 to March 8 and then in your sign until March 25.

Mars enters your sign on March 15. This makes the second half of March a good time to be all creative and indulge in things your sun sign is said to love: music, reading (or writing) novels, paintings, and just generally being all creative and nice.

As for the Pisces year ahead, your solar chart has pretty much dropped any long-term emphasis on work and co-workers (an emphasis that was still in play in 2008). Personal development and relationships continue to be the main theme, with behind-the-scenes reflective personal development dominating. The concept of cooperation also dominates, for 2009 is a very Aquarian year and Aquarius is the sign of cooperation.

The sign of Aquarius also refers to a person’s general relationship with society. With happy Jupiter in Aquarius, your relationship with society at large should be quite beneficial, provided that you take care to keep a low profile for the moment. Next year, when Jupiter enters your sign, you can take center stage. This year is your chance to lay low while planning how to capitalize on the goodwill you are intended to build up this year.