Midlife Transits

Saturn and Uranus are scheduled for the next round in their ongoing dispute in September. But traditionally, these planets don’t like to wait for an exact aspect before they start sniping at each other. They like to get ugly before the exact aspect and stay ugly until the aspect passes.

This time round, they’ve decided to get ugly over health care in the US. Health care is dear to the hearts of both these planets right now, as they’re in health oriented Virgo and health-oriented Pisces. Between the two of them, they’ve got people screaming at town halls, getting creative with Hitler-esque mustaches and inventive comparisons to Nazi Germany. Obviously, these two planets are not averse to jacking up the drama and throwing out wild comparisons if it will serve the cause of highlighting the radical differences in approach that these two planets take.

Uranus, our old friend and sometimes enemy, is on the side of change. He’s also on the side of freedom. He’s working both sides of the aisle these days, promoting change and the kind of quick holistic overhaul that Uranus in Pisces favors. He’s also promoting some heavy duty shouting in the name of freedom. Stirring up trouble keeps him from getting bored.

Saturn, meanwhile, is naturally terrified of change, of Uranus, of radicalism, and of messing things up. He’s working both sides of the aisle too. He’s encouraging conservatives (his core group of supporters) to resist any sort of change. He’s also encouraging reform of health care, but wants to take it slow. Saturn knows there are problems, and the screaming is giving him a headache. He wants to sit down and figure out how to solve the problems, Saturn style.

Meanwhile, the big pharmaceutical companies are on the side of change. This makes astrological sense as they are preparing for Neptune in Pisces. Pisces is the zodiacal representative for pharmaceuticals (and drugs of all sorts), and this sign is planning, when his ruler Neptune enters in a couple of years, to massively expand the reach of prescription drugs if at all possible.

Getting the uninsured insured will expand access to drugs for millions and millions of Americans. Making sure that people are not excluded from insurance due to pre-existing conditions will expand access to drugs for many more. Anything that changes the system so that more people can be covered is good for the pharmaceutical industry. It’s even worth cutting costs, Saturn style, right now, to prepare for a big expansion later.

I suppose my astrological betting money would be on change and freedom, with a little bit of Saturn restraint thrown in. Uranus won’t get everything he wants (which is probably a good thing), but it’s unlikely that Saturn could entirely defeat his momentum. Uranus has deep pockets this time around, and he’s a savvy player in the planetary lineup, even if his methods look rather chaotic.

Saturn

Obama may not be an astrologer, but he’s fairly savvy about timing. One of the reasons, if you care to look at things astrologically, that he’s in such a hurry for health care legislation is that Saturn is due to leave Virgo at the end of October. Virgo is the health care sign in many ways, and Saturn is the government sign. If government is going to do anything about health care, then this time period is the prime opportunity.

Of course, Saturn is also the planet of delay, tight-fistedness and restriction. (Perhaps it’s not a surprise that the planet of delay is also a symbol for government). So legislators are doing their astrological part to delay things and worry about tight-fisted considerations.

Contrast this with the Medicare prescription drug benefit law that President Bush signed into law when Jupiter was in Virgo. Jupiter is generous, expansive, and doesn’t give a damn about costs. Hence, we got a bill that passed relatively easily, in spite of opposition, that substantially and perhaps permanently expanded benefits and increased health care costs.

Saturn’s not Jupiter, and it will look suspiciously and perhaps fairly meticulously at any legislative reform efforts. They may be more restricted than Jupiterian folks would like. But Saturn, once it throws its weight behind something, usually comes up with something solid and generally enduring. Obama, perhaps instinctively, wants to get something done within the window that will allow Saturn to give the effort a stamp of approval.

The astrological situation is complicated though. Saturn will leave Virgo at the end of October to enter Libra. There it will probably worry about foreign relations, diplomacy, and tensions between nations. Saturn in Libra often doesn’t play nicely with others, so there could potentially be a lot to worry about, especially since Pluto in Capricorn and Uranus in Aries are in clashing cardinal signs.

However, Saturn will slip back into Virgo to finish up its Virgo business from April through July of 2010. So the final trigger on potential health related legislation will not be pulled until then. There will be another chance.  Obama, with his cautious Saturn in Capricorn natal placement, probably doesn’t like leaving things to the last astrological minute though.

He’s also got his own personal chart to navigate around. Neptune in Aquarius is now opposing his Uranus in Leo. That goes through August 20. One translation of that transit would be: the vagaries of democracy (Neptune, Aquarius) thwart efforts at bold change (Leo, Uranus). Round about the time that ends, Uranus in Pisces will move into good angle with his natal Saturn. One translation of that could be: systemic holistic change (Pisces, Uranus) works well when implemented conservatively and cautiously (Saturn).

To complicate things, Pluto in Capricorn (extreme conservatism) is trying hard to punch Obama’s popularity (Venus in Cancer) in the face. In this effort, it is probably succeeding–although Obama has shown the power to bounce back from previous Pluto punches (Jeremiah Wright affair). Pluto is scheduled to get tuckered out from its punching efforts–also in August.

To make matters more interesting for Obama’s personal chart, Uranus in Pisces is scheduled to try to make his Mars in Virgo real real mad in November. It didn’t seem to succeed during its last attempt to make him blow his cork, although it certainly tried during the presidential campaign. This time he’s in office, though, and it will be uh, worth watching to see how Uranus tries to throw him a curve ball later this year.

Overall, whether you like him or hate him, Obama seems to have gotten more done or at least done more things that I would have predicted from looking at his chart. He may not get health care legislation by August, but he may get it not that long thereafter.

Simon Baker

The last time Uranus was in Pisces, in the 1920s, public interest skyrocketed in offbeat things like seances, spiritualism, and Theosophy. Given that the modern world is already drenched in New Age stuff, it seemed hard to believe that Uranus in Pisces would make seances more popular this time around. True, shows like Medium and Ghost Whisperer have found their audiences. There are also a lot of shows about paranormal stuff on cable television. So there has been a bit of interest in these sorts of Uranus in Pisces type things over the past 5 or 6 years, at least on TV.

And now that Saturn’s in Virgo, we get a show like The Mentalist, about a former fake psychic and con man who’s turned to crime busting. Saturn in Virgo is the enemy of Uranus in Pisces, and it disapproves of all that mumbo-jumbo stuff. Hence, we get a skeptic on TV. It happens to be the most popular new show on television this year. I suspect that has a great deal more to do with the fetchingly eye-candy nature of the star, Simon Baker, than with the fact that the plot line makes him a skeptic. Still, Saturn in Virgo’s got to be happy to get its day in the court of public television opinion.

But a couple of TV shows hardly seems like a dramatic manifestation of Uranus in Pisces, given that people have always loved a good ghost story. The real impact of Uranus in Pisces is to be found, I think, in the belated recognition by mainstream Western medicine that people who need to be healed hate much of its impersonality, brutality, and lack of spiritual content. As the following AP story demonstrates (link) alternative medicine has now found its way into many nooks and crannies of conventional medicine.

Saturn in Virgo, guardian of old-line and traditional thinking, lover of bureaucracy, and general party-spoiler extraordinaire, doesn’t like it though. As you’ll see if you read the article, all sorts of skepticism is brought forth. Saturn in Virgo is suspicious of all this alternative stuff, and perhaps rightly so when it points out that big business will take over anything, including the hawking of spiritually-based healing.

Saturn in Virgo may bring up some objections, but he won’t stop the train. Uranus beats Saturn in almost any contest, hands down, and alternative medicine is likely to be here to stay. And a lot of people are glad about that.