*Interpretations from “Starlight Elixirs” by Michael Smulkis and Fred Rubenfeld

~ Ernest Wood

Saturn, one of the Lords of Karma, enters Libra the sign of Peace and Harmony on 29 October, and raises a new set of issues for us collectively, a new focus.  The purpose of Saturn is to highlight our blocks, so that we can work on liberating ourselves from them.  Can Libra glide along on niceness alone?  Does that work karmically?  Librans are lovely, but Saturn may require them to change, or become more of who they truly are.  This goes for any of us, to the extent that we have the features of Libra in our birth chart.

For those of us brought up at school with Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, a character from “The Water Babies” by Charles Kingsley, then in the hippy era graduated to the concept of “Ahimsa” or harmlessness when we embraced Hinduism along with the Beatles, you may be focussing on the challenge of how to live out these concepts during the forthcoming period of Saturn in Libra.  Some of you will have been born during  earlier transits of Saturn in Libra such as mid-August 1951 to late October 1953, with a further intensity for some of having the Saturn-Neptune conjunction.  Judy Hall identifies this conjunction as a karmic dilemma and labels it as the Mystic/Pragmatist.  In a later generation those born from late September 1980 to late November 1982 also had Saturn in Libra, some of whom took on the conjunction of Saturn/Pluto, which adds truth and psychological depth to the sense of responsibility.  Those of you who have Saturn in Libra natally may have experienced growth through the bonds of relationship, e.g. taken on a challenging partner, and some may have renounced conventional relationship if it was too constricting.  One who found life-long-lasting love was the late Patrick Swayze, and his autobiography (co-written with his wife) is out now.

Libra as the sign of peace can when occupied by Saturn bring passivity to the character, relationship or situation.  The struggle which some Librans have with decision-making can apply to philosophies about taking right action, and karma.  There can be, for instance, a fear of hurting others.  In order to take action, it sometimes needs a combination with a stronger influence, as in the case of oft-cited double Libran Mahatma Gandhi who had the extra spiritual strength and courage of Scorpio planets in his first house.  Another oft-astrologically-cited Libran is John Lennon whose Sun in Libra came with a little help from Mars in Libra, Aries rising (energy, or sometimes aggression) and Moon in Aquarius (inclination to social activism) – all of which resulted in his ultimate gesture of the bed-in on behalf of peace.

Non-violent communication (as promoted in the work and books by Marshall Rosenberg and Kelly Bryson) was a concept I only came across when I joined i-peace a year ago.  The subtitle of Kelly Bryson’s book is “balancing passion for self with compassion for others”.  It would seem logical that communication has its own consequences and karma, and refining this is as important as any other kind of karma, and may head off more concrete conflict.  And sometimes the person you need to stop hurting is yourself.  Be mindful of what you say to yourself.

Issues around bullying, selfishness vs selflessness, self-esteem and self-assertion will be relevant during this time.  We may find that we need a dose of Libra’s opposite Aries in order to balance out extreme capitulation in a relationship.  How are parents to advise, support and protect children who are being bullied in the outside world?  Can or should their parenting be completely free of rules, restrictions and imposing their own values on the child?  Can the soul of a child escape endoctrination?  What would be the consequences of natural parenting as espoused by Rousseau?  I have recently been accused of asking too many questions…

Internationally, there is bullying going on, and peace will become a more insistent need for humanity as a whole during Saturn in Libra, possibly because of the existence of the nuclear capacity within nations who may have tenuous diplomatic links with leading “parental” nations.  But there may be other factors that emerge and make this even more of a necessity.  Such proceedings during Saturn in Libra need the utmost patience from diplomats, and the strength and resolve to keep going.  Let us hope that we see some progress from the Nobel hopeful candidates by next year.  Libra in Saturn represents the sense of responsibiltiy and the seriousness of their task.  It is an idealistic sign, but Saturn brings more practicality and need for compromise.  There is also the delicate balancing going on with Uranus and Pluto demanding their share in a T-square with Saturn.  The collective task for Saturn in Virgo was to work together on climate change, so it is interesting that in these last days of Saturn’s sojourn there we have the question over how far the U.S. will reduce carbon emissions, and protests in the U.K. over this issue.  The Chinese seem to be making more headway than the west, and the Maldives cabinet met under water this week.

For those Librans with worrying furrowing brows, before you think about botox rest assured that in relationships Saturn can bring commitment, maturity and solidity.  Be your own best friend, know yourself, and know your relationship.  Your own relationship with yourself is reflected in every other relationship you have.  If you have Saturn in Libra in your natal chart you will be about to experience your Saturn Return (within the next two or three years).  The blog Astro Harmonia has been a caring resource during my Saturn Return in Virgo and hopes to be able to help the Saturn-Librans.

If it’s fun you want hang around a Virgo now; they will be popping corks and they have a wealth of wisdom gained by the transit of Saturn through their sign.

For those involved as members in a group, the issue may have been how to hold on to one’s individuality (Sun in Leo opposing the Moon) in a group, and how far one might be expected by the group or society to conform or compromise.  The journalist Julie Burchell (Venus in Leo opposing Chiron in Aquarius) just would not.

For those who may feel a stranger within their own family, seeing themselves as a black sheep perhaps, where does the problem originate (sometimes in past lives), and the solution lie?  How far can the group or family accommodate the stranger in their midst?  How expanded is their repertoire of spiritual awareness?  The emotional field of the family is usually dominated by the mother and depends on her capacity for love, wisdom and attunement.

One of the features of New Age consciousness in groups is heart-centred female leadership, the holding of the group in a safe sapace which serves the needs of the weakest as well as the strongest of its members.

This may not have been what Harriet Harman (Mercury in Leo opposing Moon in Aquarius) in her role within the Labour Party had in mind when she was moved to put in a plea for more women in the top posts of government.  For at this point in time politicians are not known for their desire to combine their skills in practicality and expediency with the spiritual component of their nature.  But hopefully, this is what the human race is evolving towards.

If you are interested in colour healing, the olive over olive bottle in the Aura- Soma range of colour healing bottles represents feminine leadership.

Olive lies on the cusp of Leo (yellow) and Virgo (green), blending the leader and the follower.  If your birthday is on this cusp, your soul resonates to this colour on an earth level, or lime green on a more spiritual and aspirational level.  You have within you the leader and the follower, and may have an innate talent for feminine-style leadership.

The group sign of Aquarius is ruled by two colours, electric blue (representing the electricity, telepathy and interconnection of the group) and magenta, representing the organizational capacity of the leader.  Turquoise is a great leveller in communication, and can unite the dual purposes of the individual, represented by Leo, and Aquarius representing the group interest.  It can bring together the interests of individual members with the group purpose, while not violating the individual expression, needs and being.

The light generated in meditation groups can lift and evolve individual members of the group on a level where differences do not matter, beyond ego and personality.  But many of the groups we need to work with on the earth plane are not spiritually centred and also involve personality differences and karmic outworking.

In conclusion, I feel we need more teaching on feminine leadership in groups, we need men to stay in touch with their inner female, we need politicians to meditate more, and if you are still working through the after-effects of the August eclipse, then breathe in the unifying colour of turquoise.

The well-known story of the First Gulf War started with Saddam’s annexation of Kuwait in August 1990, when Jupiter was exactly conjunct his natal Pluto and opposite his natal Jupiter, obviously shored up by the full hilt of Jupiterian energy to his natal opposition.  The world watched with bated breath through Operation Desert Storm in January 1991, when Mars was squaring George Bush Senior’s Nodal Axis (again, destined for war).  The U.S. (as part of a U.N. endorsed force) was in saviour role to Kuwait: the Jupiter in its chart sextile exactly the natal Kuwait Pluto.  Eventually, the situation simmered down, and was left simmering for years in the subconscious mind of his son George W. Bush Junior.  When he came to power, this karma was re-activated, setting the stage for the Second Gulf War of 2003.  He enlisted the help of the sympathetic U.K. Prime Minister of the time, Tony Blair, through the magnetic attraction of Tony’s Pluto being exactly conjunct with George’s Venus.  The extra karmic and compulsive element was provided by Tony’s Pluto sextile George’s North Node.    In the chart of the Second Gulf War (20 March 2003) Pluto was exactly conjunct George Bush Junior’s South Node.  It was therefore an obsession that George could not ignore, to go to war.  Operation Shock and Awe was instigated, the successor to Operation Desert Storm designed to finish off what his father had started.  Now at this point in time, as the North Node returns to O degrees Aquarius, a karmic cycle is complete.  The three main players have been removed from the scene.  The chalice of the new karmic cycle has been passed to Barack Obama, whose North Node at 27 degrees Leo is now opposed by the triple conjunction of Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron, symbolizing the complex clearing up job he has to do from the old cycle, and the new nuclear-bearing protagonists with which he has to deal.  Happy Independence Day!