STAR*TALK Excerpts: July 8, 2005

Excerpts from Arielle Guttman's talk at Steepings...

SATURN LEAVES CANCER, ENTERS LEO

On July 16, 2005, Saturn will enter Leo for a period of two years, until September 2007. This constitutes a mini-pole shift, as Saturn has been in Cancer for the last 2+ years, beginning in June 2003. Saturn has a 29 to 30 year cycle of return, known infamously as the “Saturn Return”. Everything in life and in the cosmos – astrology particularly -- is directed or guided by cycles, and in fact, astrology is actually nothing more than the study of cycles. What has come before will come again. “What is past is prologue”, as the sign says on the Department of Vital Statistics in Santa Fe. People who study history can attest to this.

Saturn’s entry into Leo will particularly affect people born during 1946, 1947 and 1948, as this is their second Saturn return. And the people born from 1975 to 1978 are having their first Saturn return. This will bring stability to many of these people, as it completes one entire cycle as they prepare to begin another. Saturn usually asks for some kind of stability, security or commitment. It’s not an event to be feared, but many people do fear the Saturn return period, as Saturn is the planet that asks us, “what have you done with your time?” Even if you’ve done plenty, a Saturn transit will often make you feel like it still wasn’t enough. Now, the people born in the 1946-48 period also have Pluto in Leo. This cycle of Saturn will be a group experience for the entire Pluto in Leo generation which will feel the weight of Saturn bearing down upon them collectively to implement or materialize or structure the generational feelings of collective power and empowerment symbolized by Pluto. The Pluto in Leo group is mighty forceful and as a group, incredibly strong-willed. With Saturn closing in on both Saturn and Pluto, there may be a feeling of collective powerlessness, as if a giant boulder has landed in front of their doorway, and now what? On the other hand, there’s no group of people alive on the planet that have more strength, will and fortitude than this group, with the ability to command those obstacles to disappear and rather quickly.

Leo has to do with creative expression, the creative arts. A lot of you who have been dabbling at artistic expression for many years will now want to make it more serious, to put it into some kind of form. Give it a foundation, some structure; develop a business plan for it. But the not so good news for artists, and this could affect Santa Fe in a major way since it’s such a huge art market – is that Saturn entering a sign like Leo, of creative expression, produces fierce competition. The highly successful art market may be in for a slight tumble, in terms of having a much higher supply than there will be demand in this coming Saturn in Leo cycle. Why? More and more artists are producing more and more art. But less and less funds will be available to buy, invest in or be deemed the top priority for consumers. Because I believe that finances will become a major issue in this next two years, as Saturn in Leo finds itself in a grand fixed 4-sided cross with Neptune in Aquarius, Mars in Taurus (late 2005), and Jupiter in Scorpio (late 2006). However, if you’re really serious about your art, if you have a well-developed business plan, if your art makes a statement that is so unique, chances are still good that there’s success in store for you. Art and artistic expression will still be a valuable commodity as it has been for the past 15 to 20 years, but Saturn has a tendency to limit things that are excessive, and for this next two years, one of the excesses to fall under the budget cuts may well be the arts – especially the performing arts.

Both times that Saturn went into Leo in the last two cycles, from 1975 to 1978 and again from 1946 to early 1949. Both times Saturn went into Leo, it followed a huge domestic crisis when Saturn had been in the sign of Cancer – either a recession, a depression or a limited war-time economy. The 1946 ingress of Saturn into Leo followed World War II, and the 1975 ingress of Saturn into Leo followed VietNam and Watergate. Both of those periods followed a 2+ year period of Saturn in Cancer, just as this one does. Saturn in Cancer can indicate a feeling of home-land in-security. This ingress follows the Iraq invasion and still unending period of chaos and confusion of that state of affairs. The 1945 Saturn in Cancer period was the Allied Invasion in Europe, and the atomic bombing of Japan; in the 70s it was the VietNam invasion, and in the 2000s it was the Iraq invasion.

Saturn governs things like politics, politicians, government, business, economics and the like. So what does this current cycle of Saturn tell us about the future, based upon its returning to the same position it was before? Looking back 30 years ago to the last time Saturn was in Leo, and again 60 years ago to the time before that, we can certainly learn some things. Preceding Leo is Cancer where it has just been. The last time Saturn was in Cancer, our country which is a Cancer country, was in the heat of VietNam and Watergate. The time before that, the Allied Invasion hit Europe and was successful in bringing WW2 to an end. This time, the Cancer country has been embroiled in the invasion of Iraq, almost the entire time of the transit through Cancer. So each time Saturn has entered Leo for the last 3 times, the country is just emerging from a serious military campaign abroad, and bringing home, you might say, the spoils of war.

Saturn is leaving Cancer, going into Leo. These last 2 years have been a rather somber time for our country. Issues like Social Security have appropriately come up during this time, though no solution is yet forthcoming. Saturn has been in a cardinal sign for the past 2 years. Cardinality is an energy that directs oneself towards initiating something. Saturn in Cancer initiates making one’s home or homeland feel more secure. Perhaps beginning a new family, becoming a parent for the first time, initiating a new type of relationship with your own parents or family members, and finally, securing your own inner foundations or roots – whether it be home and family or how and where you have transplanted yourself and made the connection more solid. Now, as Saturn enters a fixed sign of fire, it asks us to consolidate whatever it was we initiated during the Cancer period. We have 2+ years to make solid what was initiated in the cardinal phase of Cancer.

Saturn is the structuring principle, it’s disciplinarian, and it’s teaching, while Leo is the arts, its creative expression, its children and offspring, it’s recreation, it’s speculation, it’s the will to do, survive and live creatively. Children are growing up at an alarmingly fast rate. With Saturn in Leo, you will see more children taking charge of their families, and taking leadership positions even outside the family. Because Saturn in Leo can be fatherlessness, where children are required to become their own parents, or parent one’s parents. And of course, the Pluto in Leo generation is facing that collectively right now, with all of it’s parents’ life spans coming to a close.

THE CHART OF THE LONDON BOMBINGS

The Geodetic Map of the World is the Astro*Carto*Graphy(copyright) map I use when viewing world events. If you look closely at this map of Britain, you will notice that Saturn is rising precisely over London on the day of the bombings. That dark cloud sitting above it, running through Scotland, where the G8 was having its summit, is the Black Moon. Saturn, at the last few degrees of Cancer, rising over London’s geo Ascendant is a preview of coming attractions for Europe, as Saturn has in its last few degrees of Cancer here, just entered the European continent. As it transits all the way up to 11 degrees Leo before the end of 2005, it will cover the face of Europe, stretching all the way to western Turkey, then retrograding back to the longitudes of Netherlands, Germany and Italy, before turning direct and again sweeping across eastern Europe. This, combined with the fixed cross energies of 2005-2007, have already been hinted at in the past months, with referendums across the European Union placing some jeopardy as to its constitution, currency and trade agreements. Most of Europe is Leo Rising (geodetics). It is also having what you might call, a Saturn Return.

Back in April 2005, we had a solar eclipse at 19 degrees Aries. This week, the week of the London bombings, we had the North Lunar Node and Mars transit over that Solar Eclipse degree. The eclipse of April was triggered this week by both these planets. (Genoa will talk more about this pair – see excerpts from his talk, later in this article). And, all three of these – the eclipse point, the north lunar node and Mars in Aries are all sitting over the east coast of the U.S. now – over both Washington DC and New York City in the geodetic world map which shows Aries rising in the eastern third of America. It’s obviously no secret as to how the London bombings are directly tied into political process of America and political decisions made in Iraq and elsewhere in the “war on terrorism” being waged by Washington now. The next major eclipse point is in early October in the sign of Libra – 10 degrees Libra to be exact. Jupiter has been activating that degree for most of June and July. So it’s triggering now what we will have to wait until October to see the outcome of. And July is a very highly active, cardinal axis, fiery month. Jupiter in Libra, the nodes in Aries and Libra, Mars in Aries, Saturn just finishing Cancer (along with the Sun) and Chiron to retrograde back into Capricorn before too long. Simultaneously, Mars has just returned to the northern hemisphere, having been south for many months.

We all gathered together in Greece at the Summer Solstice, which was also a Full Moon at 0 degrees Capricorn, portending a fiery summer. We gathered together to meditate on world peace and to quell the fires that are happening around the globe. We gathered to massage the troubled earth. We put out the call to all those who gather together for prayer or meditation or ritual to do so similarly – wherever you are – whenever you can. One good thing about the upcoming eclipse in Libra this fall, along with Jupiter there, is that it indicates a good potential for peace-making. It’s usually a time of harmony, of understanding. And at about the same time, Mars will go retrograde in Taurus (Venus’ sign), so there’s hope on the horizon. So we may not win the entire war at this point, but small victories are possible. Small steps forward, leading to the larger one, is what we can see come to pass.