Saturn and the sign it rules, Capricorn, take on archetypal authority during this period, as does Uranus and the sign it rules, Aquarius, through which Saturn is currently transiting. The closing “crisis of consciousness” square between them will have its last of three exact alignments of 2021 in December (previous ones in were in February and June). As their archetypal vibration continues to intensify, the Sun, Mercury and Mars in Scorpio will commence moving through their degree space creating tense T-square alignments, which may give us a preview of how things might develop through the end of this year. The Saturn/Uranus square has correlated to much disruption in our systems for living due to the pandemic and related disruptions in supply chains, as well as strident calls of injustice from those hit hardest by these issues. But perhaps the most overriding correlation has been disruption to the environment. In Taurus, the sign that rules the earth and its vast wealth of resources, Uranus has been accentuating our relationship with the physical material reality, stressing the need to find innovative solutions to humanity’s greatest problems.
The urgent emphasis on Saturn this period calls out the need to up our game of personal integrity and take responsibility for our actions or suffer the consequences. On October 30, the Sun in Scorpio forms a “crisis of consciousness” square to Saturn, thus commencing the last quarter of the Sun/Saturn cycle that began last January. On a personal level, Sun square Saturn often correlates to obstacles that make us work hard in whatever areas we are focusing on so we can master them. The process of overcoming hardships, setbacks and limitations archetypally helps us mature in life and live up to the promise of our natal chart. As Carl Jung has written when describing the process of growing as an individual, “Free will is the ability to do gladly that which I must do.” Consequences usually arise when we don’t, which tells us where we may not be living from a sense of love for self and others. The superpower of Sun square Saturn, once we’ve gone through the alchemic heat of its challenges, is learning the ruleset of living in the material reality and becoming the maestro of our life with an ability to adapt to ever-evolving conditions as the future unfolds.
On November 4, while still in orb of its square to Saturn, the Sun forms an exact opposition to Uranus. After feeling an intensification of our limitations and meet our commitments, this culminating half-way point of the Sun/Uranus cycle, which began with their conjunction last April, has the potential to open us to new ways of looking at a situation. Uranus is future oriented and often correlates to disruption that leads us to recalibrate our trajectory towards a future that will be more aligned with our evolutionary needs. If we are willing, we may become aware of fixed beliefs about ways we are living that no longer serve. The energy released in this process can generate original ideas and unique approaches to solving problems.
The Moon moves into the Sun/Saturn/Uranus T-square on November 4 as it conjuncts the Sun to form the annual New Moon in Scorpio. This dynamic four-planet alignment at the lunation further amplifies the emphasis on the Saturn/Uranus lessons by focusing it through the Scorpio lens of the life/death process, which asks us to take a deep look at our own mortality. When we face the reality of our immanent death our choices can become much more ruthless in the sense of focusing only on that which is truly precious to us. Rather than putting off our dance with death until the literal end of our life, living it daily can help us make choices that support The Work we are here to do.
While there are other planetary alignments occurring during this period, it seems important to focus primarily on the squares to Saturn, which start building as soon as the Sun, Mercury and Mars enter Scorpio, and stay in effect through mid-November. Mars leaves Libra for Scorpio on October 30 and Mercury, quickly catching up with Mars, does so as well on November 5. Their stay in Libra, which sensitized us to focusing on our values and relationships, has primed us to take it to the next level in Scorpio by being our authentic self with others so we can have more intimate, meaningful interactions, which in turn can lead to forming alliances that harness our talents and resources towards a shared purpose. Merging with others on any level has the potential to lead us to fundamentally change who we are.
Mercury and Mars form an exact conjunction on November 10 while simultaneously squaring Saturn. These additional “crisis of consciousness” squares to Saturn indicate we may be at a point in their respective cycles where it is time to refine that which was set in motion when they began (Mercury/Saturn in January 2021 and Mars/Saturn in March 2020) and bring it to a close so we can take the essence of what we learned into the next cycle at a higher level. We may be faced with making hard choices about what has true substance and the potential to endure. The emphasis on Saturn in Aquarius here highlights the need to take responsibility for our words and actions with respect to how we put our power in service to humanity. Confrontations are possible as frustration or anger is likely when things don’t go the way we want. Furthermore, trying to use force in dealing with obstacles may only be met with greater resistance. A better use of our energy would be in understanding the obstacle itself and what we can learn from it. Inquiring into our deepest motivations can help us evolve into operating with greater integrity for everyone’s benefit, which means being accountable for who we are at the core of our being.
Just a brief note for now on Venus, which enters Capricorn on November 5. Venus will remain here through March 5, 2022 due to its upcoming retrograde commencing on December 19. Venus’ extended stay in Saturn’s domain further suggests we may need to be more realistic about our circumstances with respect to how our relationships and values support our “office” in life and what we are here to accomplish.
I may be repeating myself here, but are not the planets doing so also? Cycle after cycle for as long as humanity has been watching them, we have learned and grown in our talents and abilities to innovate in extraordinary ways, but the one thing missing from our collective experience is the critical mass of people we need to shift to what Dane Rudhyar calls “planetary consciousness.” Perhaps the climate crisis, which at our current trajectory may be the most urgent collective emergency humanity has experienced in history, will prove to be enough of a shock at some point to open us to operating in this paradigm shift way. The “crisis of consciousness” squares of this period activating the one between Saturn and Uranus seem to be suggesting that we need to put our will behind finding that new way of being.
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