Monday, June 6, 2011

Saturn Stationing Direct in Libra Says: Time to Get Very Serious About Who You Have in Your Life

Saturn is currently stationing direct at 10 degrees Libra (June 12), and we're back to the degree it was on in late October, 2010 during the Venus retrograde in Scorpio. Situations, especially relationship situations, we were dealing with last fall come back up for resolution now. 

With five months of retrograde perspective under our belts, we are hopefully working with a more mature, grounded, and realistic outlook, including bottom line requirements for the people in our lives. Any relationship situations that were not fully resolved during the last Venus retrograde (and with Via Combusta Libra/Scorpio involved, you just know there are unresolved situations) will be back on our plates now. 

Commitments in personal relationship and business partnership that could not be made during the retrograde period will require decisions one way or the other by this fall, with an especially potent time frame for concrete progress between September 17 and November 3, 2011. 

A no-nonsense state of natural justice and equilibrium will slowly unfold as Saturn, in its exaltation in Libra, turns its energy outward. 

Carrying on the Venus retrograde in Scorpio themes (which remain an overlay), this especially has to do with underlying energetic justice, soul-level integrity, honesty, compatibility in relationship (or lack thereof), sexual dynamics, and power issues and imbalances between men and women and the masculine and feminine. 

 If there are situations where you ended up feeling wronged and/or burned last fall, things can start to be fully resolved and put behind us now. At the same time, we're about to get down to business, working on the relationships that have proven themselves worthwhile in our lives. 

Looking back, there were two situations going on with me last fall. 

One involved an unfortunate entanglement with a dude who went gaga over my New Age critiques, started collaborating with me, and then turned out to be closet New Age himself. Guh. 

After communicating for a couple months, he made plans to come to Canada to meet me that summer (on a personal level) but then unceremoniously yanked the rug out over Facebook - coincidentally, after I let him know I wouldn't be jumping straight into bed with him. 

He then immediately aligned himself with a female New Age "lightworker," publicly saying the same things about her and her work that he had said about me just days prior. 

It's hard to explain that situation to people who don't experience a lot of Pluto/Scorpio, but suffice it to say that his unexpected flooding of the etheric pathway still open between us with New Age energy was highly poisonous and took a great deal of time and energy on my part to put right. As I was still in the heaviest period of Cipro recovery, it wasn't really energy I could afford to expend. 

A fairly brutal energetic extrication process followed - both personal and professional - which spawned a half-assed, glossed-over, blogged apology on his part made more out of fear than anything. He turned me into a fire-breathing She Devil-type when I wouldn't let him weasel out of ending the connection responsibly. (I think he even thought I might have sent an earthquake his way.)

I wrote this post about the dynamics a little later. I discontinued my participation in a joint newsletter project that September - if I recall correctly, just before Venus entered its retrograde shadow. The after-effects of that situation affected me badly for a long while, but as Saturn moves direct, it continues to disappear in the rear view mirror... 

The second situation, which coincided, involved me moving to a new city nine months ago. 

I didn't want to move, but my life wanted me to. This is common. I have a textbook Uranus in Scorpio in the 4th house, so despite a fairly fixed nature, upheaval and change in living situations is an almost constant. (I know this is the case for a lot of people who read this blog.) 

No matter how stably, responsibly, pristinely, and below-the-radar I live my life, things morph like this almost continually. I know there are reasons for it, but, really, I'd prefer this not be the case. It's not a comfortable way to live. 

When I feel the roots start to give (and they give a lot), it can be traumatic. 

People generally look down on people who move a lot. Sometimes there's a valid reason for that - people might be trying to outrun responsibilities, debts, bad deeds. They might be living a scorched earth policy burning all bridges behind them. Sometimes people don't have a handle on the chaos in themselves or in their lives, and it follows them like a cloud, affecting other people badly. 

But aside from those potential problematic character flaws, it's something that just is. Certain people/groups of people live a life of on-the-move planetary refugee through no fault of their own. 

In times of yore, people were kicked off land, had property seized and livelihoods destroyed and had their relationships and clans of origin broken up in one violent clearance after another, and the energetic theme sticks. 

It's often a matter of being forced to live on the fringes of society due to spiritual inclination, lifestyle or what that person represents to the society at large. 

This is a common thread among many cultures, and in a way, the movement is what keeps us safe and alive within societal structures that are hostile to our existence. 

I worked hard to smooth out any chaos in my mid-20s. Responsibility has always been important, so for me, the changes relate to locational marks I have to hit and certain dynamics I have to work with. Weaving a web. 

A willow tree has great resourcefulness and tenacity to life! It can re-root and grow under almost any conditions if it has to. 

People are suspicious, though, when I can't remember off-hand my last postal code or telephone number. When it changes every six months to a year, it's hard to keep track. 

I have to thank the universe for the three years I was in my building in Calgary. Though I lived in two different apartments in that building due to my crazy elderly packrat neighbour bringing in bedbugs, I lost my job where I had invested huge amounts of energy, and I was poisoned by Cipro all while in that building, that was what I call stable. Those three years were by far the longest I have spent in a living situation since leaving the farm, by far the longest a living situation has stayed good. It was a nice breather after changing "homes" 40-odd times during the past fifteen years. 

My second last roommate situation involved renting a room from a somewhat scattered woman in her mid-30s who used the apartment's balcony as a litter box (that never needed to be cleaned!) for her beagle. The rest of the place was in about the same shape. 

This was at the height of the last oil boom housing crisis in Calgary - less than 1% vacancy at insane rent levels - so, as usual, my options were limited. 

For some reason, the fire alarm was set off regularly in the building, and you had to be careful as you were vacating down the stairs that you didn't step in a pile of human feces. Homeless people would sneak into the building and camp out in the stairwell. You'd find little "campsites" with piles of junk food wrappers and...other stuff. 

It was a weird building because people had paid a lot of money for the units in the building. It was homeless street meets overpriced yuppie condo. 

The woman I rented the room from was involved in a dance class and had briefly dated one of the men involved. He started dating a new woman in the class, and my spurned roommate started stalking his new love interest over the internet by impersonating a man looking for a new female dance partner. She regaled me with each new development. Really, she was a good person, but not someone I wanted to be living with. 

After that, I made a cardinal rule never to live with a roommate again. But because of my post-Cipro Plutonic life devastation, I had little choice in the matter. I agreed to move to this new city and in with a female friend I had known for a few years. Her live-in boyfriend had cheated on her with a 20-year-old 'mall Goth.' (Her term.) She kicked him out of their two-bedroom apartment, needed a roommate, and asked me to move in. 

I know this sounds like instantaneous multiple red flags, but this was the second time they had broken up. I knew it wasn't a healthy relationship, she sounded pretty stable about the whole thing, and I, naively, thought this time was it. 

The situation was that I would be her roommate, renting a room from her, but she would maintain the lease. She has two cats. I'm allergic to cats. So I rented the room and pretty much lived and worked from that room. 

From the get-go, things did not feel right. I felt sick (sicker than the usual Cipro sick) and could barely eat for the first two weeks staying in the apartment. My Scorpionic spidey sense was going off in all kinds of gross ways, but I couldn't put my finger on exactly what was wrong. 

I moved in as both Mercury in Virgo and Pluto in Capricorn were stationing direct. I knew this was not a great time to be moving into a new situation, but this was the timing that unfolded. Sometimes, you just have to go with it. 

The power struggles (Pluto) started immediately. 

The first thing that happened was our telephone and internet were cut off (Mercury) a day or so after I moved in - not a great situation considering I work through the telephone and internet. The ex-boyfriend hadn't paid the bill, and the account was in his name. There was nothing we could do until he paid it. 

He dragged his feet on paying it. He's an "artiste," see, and couldn't be bothered with mundane daily tasks such as paying bills. 

So my livelihood was basically being held hostage by this dude. Not a good start. 

After much wrangling between him and my roommate, he paid the bill, and the service was restored, but the account still needed to be transferred out of his name so we had control of it. For two more weeks, he refused to transfer the account. He would call the phone company and then hang up because he couldn't be bothered waiting on hold. Did I mention he's an "artiste" who can't hassle himself with such things? This resulted in many conversations between him and my roommate, which I had a sneaking suspicion she was relishing a little too much as an excuse to maintain contact. 

This woman was going through her Saturn Return, and she was not doing so well with it at the time. 

When the account was finally transferred, he inexplicably transferred it into my name. This seemed odd to me because my roommate was the leaseholder, she had had this account for almost a year, and it was her telephone number. Why would she be placing the account with me? 

Well, you see, she was feeling the weight of Saturn and wanted to relieve herself of distasteful grown-up responsibilities. 

Within a few weeks, I overheard her talking to the ex-boyfriend on the phone about *ahem* things that were going on between them - very recent things. 

The Scorpionic spidey sense had confirmation. All the while, she was covering by talking to me about her desire to start dating other guys. Maybe the healthy part of her knew she should start dating other guys. But that's not the part that won out. 

A week or so later, she had a male visitor stay over. They came to the apartment late at night and stayed in her room, leaving early the next day. I thought it was perhaps a friend. Wishful thinking. I asked her about it, and of course, it wasn't a friend. It was the ex-boyfriend. The ex-boyfriend who had cheated on her. The ex-boyfriend who treated her badly. The ex-boyfriend who was volatile. The ex-boyfriend who was just pure bad news. 

Soon, he was sleeping over both nights of every weekend and sometimes more. 

She resented the fact that I asked her to put a limit on the number of nights per week he could stay over, and that caused tension. There was no doubt that they were back together, sneakily. None of her friends would have been for it. A lot of them had had run-ins with this guy in the past or knew someone who had. She knew it, so she kept it quiet. And I was the one who was supposed to bear the secret. I talked to her about it, asked her what was going on. She acted as if she were surprised I was asking and insisted they were "just friends." 

My Scorp could not possibly tolerate this guy being around all the time and told her so. Having this guy in my living space was like having a rat in there. The situation was so unhealthy, it made my skin crawl. I would react every second he was in the place. Not good, not good at all. 

I was being used as their placeholder, and that was not part of the deal. I had been moved in to pay his share of the rent and bills, so the pressure was off him. He could come over on weekends and they could play house, but he had no responsibility to maintain an adult relationship or household with her. 

Thankfully, thankfully, a new living and working situation opened up, and I moved out. The night I moved out was March 11 - Uranus' ingress back into Aries along with the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Mercury was a few days away from its retrograde shadow degree in Aries, and I thought things might be resolved. No such luck. 

A couple weekends later, with Mercury retrograde in Aries opposite Saturn retrograde in Libra, she had a party. She hadn't changed the intercom for her apartment to her new number. It was still hooked to mine, and as her guests arrived and rang the intercom to be let in, my phone kept ringing across town. 

I called the landlady the following day to have them change the intercom. The lady who answered was antagonistic and told me, you realize you're still liable for rent if she can't find a new roommate, don't you? 

I was shocked by this because we had had this conversation when I moved out. 

It WAS Mercury retro, though. 

No, I say, I'm not on the lease. I never signed a lease. I was just her roommate. 

Oh, I'm pretty sure you're on the lease, the snippy landlady said. I'll look into it. 

Yes, please do. If I'm on the lease, that's a mistake, I say. 

The landlady tells me if I'm not on the lease, I'll need to have a paper signed by both me and my ex-roommate saying I'm no longer living there. 

I already did that, I say. I put it under the office door as you told me to before I moved out. 

Well, she said sternly, I'll look into it and get back to you. 

You do that. 

She called back the next day, and it was as I said. I was not on the lease, and I had submitted the paperwork releasing me from the roommate situation. The woman agreed to change the intercom. 

A few weeks later, though, another party. Guess who's phone is ringing all night as guests arrive to be let in? I call the manager back. Her first excuse is that it had been too cold to change the intercom. (???) It was spring, no snow on the ground. 

Finally, I get the truth out of her - she's new to the job and doesn't know how to change the intercom. I ask if there is anyone else I can speak to about having it done. She says no, that she's the only one to talk to. So I track down the number of the property management company and phone them to request that my phone number be taken off the intercom. 

During all this time, I hadn't received my damage deposit back from my old roommate despite leaving the place clean and undamaged. I messaged her about it periodically, and she didn't answer my messages. This had gone on for the past three months. Now, Saturn is stationing direct in Libra, and we're back where we were in October when I first discovered she was segueing the ex-boyfriend back into the picture. 

A week ago, she answered my message, saying that I could have the damage deposit back by the end of this month. 

Fingers crossed the situation is about to be resolved as Saturn in Libra gains speed direct. 

The reason I'm regaling this long and annoyance-filled story is to illustrate how important it is, as Saturn transits Libra, to be very clear and careful about who you have in your life and how you're involved with them, especially legally. Things often take a very long time to resolve when you're dealing with Saturn. A lot of people will be feeling pressured to settle down, commit to a long-term relationship, or get married during Saturn in Libra (if only for financial reasons), but those decisions have to be made so cautiously at this point, making sure every step of the way is secure and intuitively feels right, all the way down to the smallest details. 

Saturn relates to time and things taking longer than we want them to, and all major relationship decisions have to be given a great deal of time and consideration. Jumping into things, ignoring intuitive signals, or skipping steps means big hassles later on. Like, hellish, wish-you-were-dead hassles, and I'll tell you why: 

Saturn in Libra coloured by the Venus in Scorpio retrograde cycle is just a preview. Saturn enters Scorpio October 5, 2012 until September 17, 2015. 

Intensifying the Scorpionic energy, the North Node will also be in Scorpio August 29, 2012 to February 18, 2014. This involves a Saturn-North Node conjunction at 8 degrees Scorpio September 2013. 

The last Saturn-North Node conjunctions we experienced were: 

June 2002 at 17 degrees Gemini January 1991 at 28 degrees Capricorn 

July 1979 at 9 degrees Virgo April 1968 at 18 degrees Aries 

October 1956 at 29 degrees Scorpio 

May 1945 at 9 degrees Cancer (the degree of the upcoming July 1 NM eclipse) 

February 1934 at 19 degrees Aquarius July 1922 at 2 degrees Libra 

May 1911 at 10 degrees Taurus 

This conjunction happens about once every 11 years. Successfully navigating the territory requires a great deal of maturity, levelheadedness, and responsibility, and in Scorpio this relates to energetic responsibility and honesty right down to the core of the interpersonal situations with which we're involved. 

 In addition, as Saturn transits Scorpio, it will be in mutual reception with Pluto in Capricorn. Mistakes made then along the lines of merging lives and resources are going to be far more difficult to extricate ourselves from. 

This much detritus and hassle from a temporary roommate situation during Saturn in Libra? Imagine the after-effects of a bad choice in marriage or business partner as we head into super sticky karmic Saturn/North Node in Scorpio in mutual reception to Pluto in Capricorn. That's some potentially ugly stuff. 

Proactively clear the decks now. Be oh-so-careful who you involve yourselves with, especially where there is money involved. Make the terms crystal clear to all parties before entering any type of contract, even informal. Set your standards high and stick to them.  

If you wouldn't want to be around someone at his or her worst, don't get involved. If people are flaking hard under the pressure of Saturn in Libra, don't imagine that it will get any better under Saturn in Scorpio. 

The planetary conditions will be getting pretty dicey on multiple fronts over the next three or four years, and love and partnership take on a whole new requirement for commitment. Legal enmeshments become increasingly sticky, and the decisions we make now have the ability to drag us into hell then. It's very easy to be adversely affected by other people refusing their Saturnine responsibilities. If you don't want to end up with double duty (theirs and yours), make firm and responsible decisions now as far as the people you have in your life. No compromising.

16 comments:

Poetik said...

Hi Willow =)

What would you say about starting a new relationship? Or not necessarily starting, but experimenting with something that you feel might have the potential of something meaningful?

I'm asking because the relationship I was involved in at the time in the fall where saturn transited scorpio, I just walked away from recently. Clean break.


What you say about establishing our boundaries and requirements, and dealing with relationships with a more mature outlook has been definitely accurate, at least for me. Since my last relationship, I have been making conscious requirements about what I will and will not accept in a relationship. I am SO careful as to who I am letting myself become involved with, when in the past, I was more carefree and frivolous about these things. And I am also rethinking how and the reasons that I let myself get serious with. Because I feel in the past I've gotten involved with people for all the wrong reasons.

thank you =)

Willow said...

Clean break at this point = good. The timing is right for moving on.

I'll tell you, the climate for new long-term relationships is about 1,000 times better next June/July. Until then, we're under the Via Combusta Scorpio overlay, which we have to be very careful with.

So I would say careful experimentation between now and then...without forming any major commitments or obligations, if possible.

lovelydarkndeep said...

I rarely comment on blogs but I've been reading your blog for about three months now (or maybe more), I used to be a regular Elsa reader but I just can't ignore some of her politics anymore, especially concerning women's issues.

This post resonated with me on such a deep level. The part about living an essentially nomadic lifestyle especially and how people react to it. I've moved around a lot since I was a kid and my family kind of began to scatter around the mid to late 80s when I was born. I also have natal Saturn in Scorpio and kind of have a 'first row seat to the end of the world mentality at times' because with all the rampant depravity, I'm not sure it's even worth saving anymore.

PS I really love your blog and am consistently mind blown by it and I hope that you continue to share your knowledge and insights.

msfullroller said...

Damn, I wish I had known this 30 years ago! Also, thanks for the dates of the last Saturn/North Node conjunctions and the upcoming one as well. It may have filled in some missing info for me on the path of healing.

I hope all is well with you Sis!

Anonymous said...

Dear one,you sound so much like alot of us, in our younger days.Go out of the propaganda net-you are hit over and over with evil distractions.Especially with wanting to mate.Evil would tie you up for years.Remember the topic of memes.You hit something vital here.To take away memes for most-is hysteria.How brave you are.How we admire you so much.HI

Willow said...

Thanks, lovelydarkndeep! That means a lot coming from a Saturn in Scorp. You must also be a member of the Pluto in Scorpio generation. Zing! :-) Hang in there. After your Saturn Return, the b.s. you've experienced and made it through slowly becomes your position of authority, power and wisdom.

haha, ms., yeah, wouldn't astrology have been a help at certain times in life? I agree. So glad those dates helped!

Thanks, HI. I really don't have much to lose at this point as I can't tolerate the ways things are. The memes are sticky, sticky, tricky, though, that's for sure. People hold onto them for all it's worth. I'm looking forward to writing the manifesto!

Anonymous said...

Great post, and thanks for adding the dates, too. I moved over 30 times with Pluto in Sag. I've been in the same apartment for 4 years now and it feels like a lifetime. t.Uranus in my 4th, though...ooof!

Lillian said...

I loved this column! I am so glad I stumbled across it. It really hit home for me and what I'm going through right now. I just left a LT relationship last week. Such great insight into now and the future with saturn moving into scorpio and hitting the NN!! Love, love, love this. I'm bookmarking!

I'd love to look at your chart to see if I can see why what happened to you with that guy keeps happening. I'll include my url if you want me to take a look. You can just comment and it will anonymous -- my comments aren't made public unless I approve them.

Anonymous said...

Willow,

Once again you've outdone yourself. Thank you for the warning.

I have ended several important relationships within the past year because of the lack of the impeccability of these people. To be more precise, because of their soul-depleting, energy-stealing viciousness. For the first time in my life, I am protecting myself as well as I can by laying low. They still find us, BUT, we are learning to become expert discerners of truth.
The man you wrote about, I listened in on the on podcast you shared with him. I listen to a person's voice. I can discern SO much from it, as well as one's writing style. I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of your voice (although I shouldn't have, based on reading your blog.) As to his, you accurately portrayed the situation.
I will share a little tidbit I have noticed in my own life. When you speak,write, and live your life in authenticity (from the heart) there will always be those who scathingly use whatever manipulations they can muster to undermine you.
You are brave, you are truthful. You can and will go on. I can relate to your pain because I have been under these influences myself, however, I now choose to arm myself with those who I know to be as Anne of Green Gables said, "Kindred Souls"
Much peace to you my sister.

AM

Deb said...

Hey there, Willow. I'm so sorry about the crap you're going through with the ex-roommate situation and so forth. Hope everything becomes resolved soon for you. And I see nothing wrong with living a nomadic lifestyle-- I don't believe we're meant to stay in one spot/profession/anything for our entire lives.

I find it really interesting that you've brought up these warnings, probably because they resonate with what I'm watching unfold as we speak. A friend of mine who runs a bookstore has been threatened with possible legal action for asking an irate gentleman to leave the store. The a-hole claims my friend pushed and shoved him out, which is entirely untrue, and I plan to defend my friend if need be because I was present at the time of the "emotional explosion" and my friend did not put his hands on the guy.

My friend, meanwhile, is worrying-- he runs a "community" bookstore, which means he sort of can't kick people out. The store is supposed to "welcome everyone" or whatever.

I hate the word "community". And "globalization" should also be set on fire.

Next, we have a lawyer threatening another friend of mine and the neighbors in his building with legal action. For what, who knows. This friend of mine and his neighbors were told by the local fire marshal, an engineer, and the building's insurance company to remove items from their rooftop (except for a couple of lightweight chairs), which is used by top-floor residents for grilling, eating, socializing, partying, etc. There's too much weight on the roof, including a couple-hundred-pound plant and a few gas grills that shouldn't be there at all. So the roof is becoming a hazard in so many ways.

Well, the top-floor residents have been having a tremendous hissy-fit over rules intended for their own good. One of them happens to be the lawyer, a big whiny baby who's sent out a half-assed letter to every resident threatening a lawsuit if he can't have his way on the roof. By half-assed, I mean anything an executive can type up on his extra-special letterhead, in his home office.

Argh. Some people are stuck on stupid.

Good luck, Willow. To you, and anyone else going through a boatload of unnecessary, frustrating crap.

Willow said...

Thanks, Anon. Anne of Green Gables is my homegirl, too. Or should I say, bosom friend?

Deb, that's the Piscean era version of "community!" In the Aquarian version, being "community" gives you even more right to kick people out.

Bless you, Aquarius.

Deb said...

Aquarian version! Hah, right on.

Anonymous said...

Hey Willow,my name is kaira,ive found this to be highly informative and would like to go into more depth reguarding combative energies on the front, i have recently been let go from my partner, weighing heavily on trust issues, i always felt he was never honest with me, my instincts told me there was a part of him i.e personal desires and thought processes which continuoslly related to the beauty of other women, i felt i could see this in his expression, and behind his eyes when he woud deny such claims, in the end it broke us apart, im wondering though as a very suspicious person and with the influence of neptune in my chart had i jumped the gun in making such proclaimations. also would the venus retrograde in scorpio have something to do with this? and could i have been right i.e scorpios influence of the dark lustrous sexual side and venus of course.. thank you best reguards

Willow said...

Did you jump the gun? No.

Anonymous said...

Willow, you said: "I'll tell you, the climate for new long-term relationships is about 1,000 times better next June/July. Until then, we're under the Via Combusta Scorpio overlay, which we have to be very careful with.

So I would say careful experimentation between now and then...without forming any major commitments or obligations, if possible."

This is a little scary for me to hear. I'm on the brink of starting something with a man I met in 06 (we met once then) but came back in touch recently...

Are you saying anything at this time is basically doomed? Hard to grasp this. Sounds heavy. Please confirm. :(

Willow said...

Not doomed, no. Ostensibly, you are not jumping right into a major commitment, so the advice above can be applied. Basically, there will be some stuff to work out under the Via Combusta Scorp overlay.