After I published the last post, on Thursday May 22 (I’m taking Fridays through Sundays off, for the time being) my astute friend and astrologer Laura Bruno noticed that some of my dates were off as to when transits would occur. Off by as much as three days, she claimed! What followed was a search, on both our parts, through different ephemerides and what they all said about current transits. Still haven’t figured it out (are old ephemerides from the 20th century off by as much as three days? Are there no constants in life?). So just know that if you are relying on important transit dates from that post, then just think of that date as “on or about.”
On the other hand, I just went back to edit those dates somewhat. However, not at all sure they are correct! Talk about an “epistemological collapse”!
In any case, I wanted to let you know what “happened” to me on the day that Saturn entered Aries, to conjunct Neptune. That point, 1° Aries, happens to be nearly exactly opposite my Neptune and MC, both in Libra, at 2° and 5°.
So what happened?
Well, on Saturday last, my two young female housemates, both scheduled to move out, did! So there I was, alone. Saturn, in Aries! on the IC of my chart, conjunct transit Neptune, in the 4th house of the home.
By the very next day, Sunday, I woke up in the morning and realized I wanted to live alone! At least for the time being. That the subtle, pervasive energies of others (Neptune) had become too much for me. That I needed to sever the cord with others (Saturn) in my own place of residence so that I could relax enough to invite spiritual, visionary, mystical Neptune in!
Whew!
Sunday, May 25th just happened to be the date that at least the printed ephemeris that I’ve relied on since the millennium shift (Neil Michaelson, The American Ephemeris for the 21st century 2001-2050) has transit Saturn entering Aries, beginning its exact conjunct with transit Neptune.
As the first child of eight, I’ve always longed to be alone. So interesting that I’ve rarely lived alone, though there were times when I certainly could have. It seems that I am pretty much destined to continuously work through one of the contradictions, contrasts, polarities which I’m continuously speaking and writing about — learning how, in this case, to occupy and expand the dynamic space between individuality (Aries, the sign on my 4th house of the home and family naturally ruled by Cancer) and community (signified by not just the Neptune on the Libra MC, but even more by ultra-powerful 8th house Jupiter, ruler of my Sagittarius Sun, Asc and Mars, in the sign of Cancer.
Individuality vs Community: I lived in my own individual yurt inside a community of yurts back in the early to late 80s, when Jeff (later my husband) arrived to live with me there; before that, plenty of community (commune) settings as well. After that, when I moved here to Bloomington IN, I lived alone for only one year (grieving Jeff’s sudden death), before inviting a very inappropriate lover to live with me. That lasted for one year, and then was almost immediately followed by me inviting two idealistic souls to live in my two vacant bedrooms, as I began inchoately to build the larger transformational retrofit community now known as Green Acres Permaculture Village.
Ever since then, I have lived with people, all sorts of people, both trustworthy and not; both helpful and not; both young and old, male and female, on and on. Truly, a parade of wonderfully fractious humans, of various talents, abilities and expertise, most of us trying like hell to get along! Many of us actually working to recognize our own personal shadows whenever we find ourselves projecting qualities we dislike or deny in ourselves onto others.
Probably at least 50 people total have lived in this house with me! Never, ever, for over 20 years, have I lived alone! Thank you, Saturn in Aries, for nudging me in that direction, at least for now and especially since, despite my fiery nature, natal Neptune at the Libra Midheaven (raining its aspects on just about every other planet in the chart), continuously erodes personal boundaries and makes it difficult to get and keep my own center.
However, as an 82-year-old woman, I also know that it’s important to challenge myself continuously as I go forward, lest I succumb to the ever-present danger of calcification, rigidity. I want to remain flexible, in all ways. But for now, my physical practices (4 miles walk daily, plus yoga, chikung and taichi) will have to provide that flexibility (BTW: just as, when people live with me, these practices help me remain centered inside the melee).
Saturn conjunct Neptune in Aries. So far, very very interesting. Especially since I had no idea that I would wake up this past Sunday and realize that I wanted, needed, to live alone.
