Upcoming Mars meets Saturn

Mars is in Saturn’s last house and just keeps getting closer to the ruler of time every day.  

You can see them at the top of Monday’s chart (when I started composing this post).  We have a quicker meeting coming up before the two malefics (ooh!  Boogie word there!  How bout the two Challengers?) between the two benifics (HHegh- em) .  Yes, yes.  We don’t believe in good guys and bad guys, or good planets and bad planets.  Let’s just say those silly ancients liked Venus and Jupiter but had a healthy respect for each of the planets' individual cycles.  We won’t talk here about why they were so fond of Venus and Jupiter; we will just make a note that the two popular bodies are meeting Aug 18.

Those with insatiable curiosity can come back to this page of the ephemeris and check the date, or even do a chart for a copacetic moment and see if it coincides with the meeting of faith (Jupiter) and goodwill (Venus).

Meanwhile Mars coming up on its bi-annual performance review with Saturn will still be generating some …tension….maybe a bit of anxiety.  But we are at the point,  going over the falls, when we realize we have no control and start facing the tune that has already been generated.  Maybe a good way to put it is that the hero (Mars) is getting sucked into the eye of the inevitable consequences (Saturn) and figuring out how to ride the current.  Once they meet (Aug 25- blue squares) Mars will be released from bad hero boot camp and returning to the world charged with a new set of orders from Saturn.  We could deepen our meditation on this meeting by considering it from Saturn's point of view.  The slower body, finally picking up speed after nearly 5 months of backpedaling in the dismal swamp (Scorpio), is anticipating a visit from the troops.  This could be seen as much needed reinforcements arriving to help an entrenched leader.  The more we look at what these two planets have been doing for the last several months, and maybe even recall that Uranus directly and Pluto indirectly are depending on Mars, the better we understand our current martial situation.  The hero, in a dark place, is carrying a lot of weight right now as it approaches this very sober meeting.

So the green squares mark the goodwill celebration (Leo) on Aug 18 and the blue squares outline the heavy duty conference Aug 25.


That’s what I started writing about Monday.    

Now, Thursday, I am anticipating Jupiter entering Neptune’s 6^th house of the student a little after midnight eastern time.  Since July 2013 Jupiter has been in Neptune’s 5^th house of creativity.  This is a much slower cycle than the two discussed above and instead of talking about a meeting between two bodies, we are measuring the distance that is growing between them.  It is kind of like trying to gauge the size of a waxing gibbous planet that takes 6 years to become full instead of the short 2 weeks it takes the moon to fill out.  Jupiter was in Neptune’s tender 4^th house of home/family from July 2012 till July 2013.  A planet in the 4^th house of a slower or natal planet is in an opening square with that body.  It is vulnerable and learning to grow a backbone, or stalk.  When it reaches the 5^th house, the backbone or stalk is formed, and the channels are in place to support a blossoming flower and supply it with the nutrient laden water it needs to grow and radiate its distinctive colors. 
That’s a review of houses 4 and 5.  Let’s get back to the two planets involved, Jupiter and Neptune.  In the old days Jupiter was the great benific, now that we can track Neptune Jupiter is still the great benific, but Neptune is the almighty sea, the vast sea that reaches out toward uncharted worlds and experiences.  If Jupiter is faith and the ability to take chances, Neptune is that faith squared, not doubled, but squared, maybe even cubed.  Neptune is not just faith, but whole generations of humans moving together toward the same vision.  That extra time in a sign, 12 years compared to Jupiter’s 1, gives it the power to sweep millions of people up in its path.  So Jupiter going around the whole zodiac in the time it takes Neptune to wander through Pisces is like Neptune’s chief executive of propaganda.  When the message needs tweeking, Jupiter is nimble enough to adjust the signal going out over the airwaves.
Here in Raleigh, Jupiter will pass from Neptune’s 5^th to 6^th house; it will go from being Neptune’s attractive showcase to being an aspiring student.  In the aspects lists this 150degree mark is called the quincunx, a minor aspect associated with discernment.  The student applies herself rigorously to learning the very specific techniques that will move her toward a desired goal, the goal of fulfillment in the 7^th house.  So tonight for some of us, by tomorrow morning for all of us, the 6^th step in the twelve year cycle between Jupiter the planet of faith, and Neptune the planet of collective vision/illusion begins.