Leo New Moon - August 12, 2007

The Saturn-Neptune opposition is still in effect until Saturn enters Virgo next month. Sure, the disillusionment juice is going bad, but we haven't thrown it out of the fridge just yet -- Saturn is slow to notice such things.

To bid Him a hearty farewell, we've got a Luna Nueva in Leo, the sign desperately awaiting his departure.

This lunation is all glitz and glamour, with the Lights tightly opposing Neptune in Aquarius. It's all image baby, and we hope to fool the audience into thinking our veneer is the real deal ... and that the Old Guy will let us get away with it.

Unfortunately, the attention we want may be out of reach. Neptune is a frail gypsy who takes our money, promises fame, and disappears out the back of the circus tent.

The only way to make this lunation work is to not make it about ourselves ... which is not easy when we're wanting to be both King and Queen. Neptune favors selflessness, and any new starts this time around will have to include a sacrifice to this otherworldly planet. This means giving instead of getting. As much our Leonine side wants to be the center of the universe, we must provide warmth to others, and put our desires to be worshipped aside.

The Fine Print: This New Moon occurs at 19 Leo. If you have personal planets or angles around this degree area in fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius), you're either the star of the show, or the understudy.

The Upside of Saturn

At the closing of dance class last night, one woman was sharing that she felt she had just come out of a "winter" that started in August -- a real hard time. As difficult as it was, she said that she was grateful for the experience of heaviness, for last evening her dance -- instead of being fantastic as it usually is when she is feeling "normal" -- was "friggin' fantastic." That is, it probably was no different from her dance before her "winter," but the sheer delight in not feeling so constrained by life made her experience subjectively all the more powerful. It's like breathing normally after having been short of breath for a long time.

I didn't ask for her birth data, but given the length of a typical Saturn transit -- at least 9 months if Saturn goes retrograde over a natal planet -- and the dreariness of Saturn, I gather she had just come out from Saturn's burdensome weight. Life is sunshine again, and it's all the brighter after having been in the dark.

I'm going through my own Saturn transit right now, as it is hitting my 19 Aquarius Moon for the last time (at least this time 'round!). Earlier during this transit, I was probably walking half the speed I usually do, dragging my feet across the pavement to get wherever I had to go. Nine months to a year is a long time to carry the weight of a Saturn transit, and one can easily forget what life was like before. Perhaps an inkling that one was once alive and happy ... but it's so hard to access such feelings now, they feel more theoretical than anything. Thus, after having listened to my dancing friend last night, I feel there is hope, that come this summer I will be a free man, feeling that a walk down the street is like jumping on a trampoline.

Saturn-Moon: I Want My Mommy!

Transiting Saturn has been opposing my Aquarius Moon, and due to its retrograde motion, the planet of restriction and deficit has been hanging out there too long. The most pressing theme of this aspect has been a longing for Mother. No offense to Mom, but she could not have met each and every need of mine as a child. We all make do with what parenting we've received. I invested in about fifteen years of psychotherapy (and became a shrink myself) to heal my own wounds. I got to a place just a few years ago when I felt I no longer needed therapy, and I've functioned more-or-less fine without falling apart. But the ache for a mother figure still comes up -- especially when transiting Saturn puts a focus on my 'planet' of nurturance. Growth for anyone, in my definition, is being able to just be with the loss without filling the hole with compulsive behavior, or shutting down completely.

This is no small task. Part of growing up requires that we develop an "inner mother" to help us self-soothe when we feel small or anxious. In psychonalytic terms, we "introject" the mother, we take her inside ourselves. When do you know you've successfully done that? When you stop sleeping with your teddy bear? When you stop looking for mother figures in your lovers, your teachers, your friends?

It may be a life-long task. We all, from time to time, want our mommies. Life is scary. We take on new things, and want reassurance that everything will be OK. We want advice that only a mother can give. And yet, she's not available. Our real mothers might have passed away, or they just might not be very maternal. The archetype of the Perfect Mother who is all-compassionate is just that -- an archetype. More like Quan Yin than the woman who smacked you for talking back.

So with Saturn pressing down on my Moon, the lack is all the more apparent -- forcing myself to grow a mom inside myself. This looks different as I grow older. In my twenties, I felt like I was literally going to die if I felt an ache in my heart-center. Now, I experience that as a benevolent opening -- intense, yes, but not dangerous. I can tolerate my emotions better. In astrological terms, I can contain (Saturn) my feelings (Moon).

Everyone has a different Moon, depending on its sign, house placement and aspects to other planets. This complex combo will provide a picture of how you experience Mother, nurturance and feelings.

Everyone also has an inner mother. How we treat ourselves is often how Mom treated us. No better time than a Saturn transit to drop what doesn't work. And with transiting Neptune conjunct my Moon, no better time to introject the Compassion of the Divine Mommy.

Fear of an eclipse

I wrote How to prepare for an eclipse last week because readers have been sharing their fears about how these eclipses will affect them and their loved ones. Now I, too, have fallen prey to rumination. After all, every member of my immediate family has a planet at 14 or 15 degrees Pisces. What will happen? Should we all stay behind closed doors on Saturday?

Fear is natural, and I supposed it is to be expected. After all, people do go loony on a Full Moon, so think how much crazier they'll get on a Lunar Eclipse! However, there are other cosmic forces at work that increase our worry.

Saturn opposite Neptune

Yes, today is the second exact "hit" of this aspect, with Saturn in Leo transiting retrograde opposite slower-moving Neptune in Aquarius. Saturn rules fear and negativity. Neptune relates to the imagination, and adds a cloudy, confused, delusional flavor to any planet it touches, especially in hard aspect. Add these two planets together, and you get unfounded fears, free floating anxiety, dark fantasies. Many dystopian movies play out Saturn-Neptune themes. So of course, we expect the worst of this Lunar Eclipse, because we are in the thick of paranoia.

How do you combat fear?

There are two kinds of fear -- the first kind occurs when a mountain lion is chasing you; the second occurs when you think about the future. The former response is a great survival mechanism -- surely our species would have become extinct had we not learned to run from wild animals and avoid poisonous berries. However, the latter is an unfortunate side-effect of having overactive brains.

Yes, most fear is all in the mind. We don't want to lose what we have, for one. Relationships, jobs, friends -- that which gives us a sense of stability (Saturn) can dissolve (Neptune) before our very eyes. Few people want to die, or have their families ripped asunder. And yes, bad things do happen. But we just don't have control over most of these things.

Knowing that all things are temporary makes you appreciate their beauty all the more in the present. A flower has a short life span, yet its very ephemerality is half of what makes it so special. The source of our suffering is our attachment to people and objects that, by their very nature, must die or decay.

All we can do is appreciate the moment. The Cosmos has stuff in store for us -- astrology can give us an idea of what's to come, but there's a whole lot of diversity allowed within the expression of these planetary archetypes. We don't really know what's going to happen. Some change is necessary, and happens in the interest of our psychospiritual development. And other times, really terrible stuff happens, and it feels like there's no rhyme or reason to it, no meaning. Existentalism is a Saturn-Neptune philosophy.

Is it A Course in Miracles that says the only antidote to fear is love? Regardless of the source of this nugget of wisdom, it's true. You just love what you have right now with all your might, because at any moment it might be gone. If you are all love, can there be room for fear? If you are totally in the present moment, with your heart wide open, is your mind capable of obsessing about an imagined future?

New Moon in Sagittarius - December 20, 2006

This New Moon is closely conjunct the Lord of the Underworld, Pluto, and also trine Lord of Extreme Hardship, Saturn. I'm not a big fan of Saturn-Pluto (see "9/11"), but this time these hard-core planets are making a generous aspect to each other, with Saturn supporting our desire to transform ourselves -- it is easier to implement change and make it stick. Saturn is trine Pluto through Fall 2007, and the New Moon in alignment with this combo gives us a taste of the larger archetypal dynamics in play for the next year.

Pluto in Sagittarius relates to all this religious extremism we've been witnessing, as well as the uncovering of abuses in the church and publishing over the past few years. Saturn in Leo is hopefully forcing our leaders to be accountable for their actions (GWB!) and making us take our creativity seriously.

The New Moon in Sagittarius is a great opportunity to make a new start in changing our beliefs, pursuing an advanced degree, travelling the world, studying philosophy and world religions. Pluto brings to the surface old belief systems that are no longer in alignment with our true selves (if they ever were). Once we are aware of them, we can let them go and embrace a view of life more in tune with who we are. Saturn's trine supports us in creatively turning these beliefs into reality -- they are more likely to stand the test of time, since we have the discipline and patience to carry them out over the long haul.

If you approach this New Moon with a lack of consciousness, Pluto could simply intensify your current beliefs to such an extreme that you are not open to any other point of view!

This New Moon is most likely to impact natives with personal planets around 28 degrees of mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) or the very early degrees of cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn). If you've got a birthday around March 18, June 18, September 20 or December 19, prepare to be transformed!

Madonna and Guy Ritchie -- Saturn Transits in 2007

I've written "The Year Ahead" portion of Madonna and Guy: Will They Work It Out? on AOL Horoscopes.

In short, Saturn in Leo is conjoining her Sun and his Mars. Read it!

Saturn opposite Neptune

I've written an accessible article for AOL Horoscopes on the Saturn-Neptune opposition, including my first stab at Sun sign horoscopes!