UP the Mountain Saturn in Capricorn Return Part Two – Aaron

 

Aaron Saturn in Capricorn Return – Part Two

It has been a few months since I recorded my conversation with Aaron about his experiences to date in his Saturn return.  So much has transpired in the world in just four short months.  It is early August as I finish Part Two of Aaron’s Saturn return story.  The timing of this update is quite aligned with this Saturn return project.  Saturn has returned to Capricorn while retrograde and will continue the retrograde transit until stationing direct on September 29, 2020 at 25 degrees Capricorn 20 minutes.   Several planets in retrograde presently align with the process of reflecting on what has been revealed in this significant personal cycle for Aaron.  Over the past two and half years Aaron has also become a friend and someone I will continue conversations with and share the experiences of life –an unexpected and welcome friendship.  His views on life, politics, and his sensitive caring soul have been a joy to get to know more over time.  His life experience has illuminated a world I may not otherwise have been able to get familiar with and come to understand.  Here is a quote by Lao Tzu that describes the attributes of Aaron that one may not otherwise see until one knows him through his open-hearted sharing: “Water is the softest thing, yet it can penetrate mountain and earth.” This to me reveals in such a simple statement the principle of softness overcoming hardness.

Four things stand out while reflecting on the astrology of Aaron’s Saturn return. These four areas of life are, first, his desire to decide on an appropriate area to invest himself one that will stand the test of time and create a professional life that is flexible across borders that align with his soul purpose.  Second, his present relationship with a new partner, which began during his Saturn return and is committed, has pushed him to grow in his expression and acknowledges the importance of relationships in his life.  This new relationship continues to illuminate from within what he offers to a relationship.  Aaron is becoming grounded with a deeper sense of his self-worth that is shared in partnership, which has a ripple effect on other areas of his life.  The third area that has been enhanced or activated in his Saturn return is foreign travel, both to Australia and Sweden.  During his travels, he has gained clarity on personal direction that led to decisions he made in early 2020 for himself.  Of course, those plans, like those of everyone else’s in the world, have had to take an alternate route and put into a temporary holding pattern with the unexpected turn of events with the pandemic.  Coming to big decisions for himself has anchored him with purpose; however, those decisions have been put on a hold for a few months, maybe half a year or longer.  The plans for living abroad are constrained in the short term but are likely to restart once there is an opening to do so since his new partner has plans to do research work overseas.  The fourth area of life illuminated during Aaron’s Saturn return over the past two and half years is a more concrete understanding of a vision for his life he wants to build for himself and his partner.  Through his travels and through the consideration of his options he has found many things that he wants to include in his vision of what he wants for the many chapters in his life to come. These four focused areas, through the lens of astrology, highlight Aaron’s personal growth and where his life felt incredibly restricted during the planetary transits of 2019 and 2020, especially because of the quarantine in 2020.

Looking at Aaron’s natal chart with the transits of January 17, 2019, (*chart 1 above) Aaron met Thomas.  Thomas is an intellectual man that fascinated his mind as well as his desire.  Aaron has had the benefit of astrology to gain further understanding of the connections between them, but at the moment they met there are multiple points from the planetary transits that reveal more about the importance of this relationship for Aaron.

For those new to astrology, the moment of meeting someone is the basis of a valuable chart that gives symbolic hints to the themes of the relationship.  A relationship’s potential is not just something we find in the dynamics of synastry chart symbolism.  When reviewing the transit chart to his natal chart, one can see the South Node transit to his Venus, which is a hint that this is a uniquely important relationship based on something from the past and that is now reconnecting to come to an understanding with love, there will be some challenges, but it is important for Aaron’s evolution as well.  Also, there is Uranus square the transiting nodes, which symbolizes unexpected events in long-distance travel and higher education.  Jupiter and Venus trine the transiting Mars (in fire signs) so there is a good amount of passion and excitement to be experienced.  The Moon in transit creates a trine to Aaron’s Aquarius North Node, along with another Capricorn stellium in the transits that activate his natal Capricorn stellium.  It will take time (Capricorn) to see the fullness of this relationship, but there is an unexpected twist that comes with Uranus in the 9^th house.  Interestingly Uranus in transit is almost exactly trine to Aaron’s Mars that rules the sign of the transiting Uranus in the sign of Aries.  The connection between Uranus and Mars pulls in the potential of spontaneous lovers with Aaron’s Mars located in the fifth house.  Aaron and Thomas may have that theme within the beginnings of their relationship, but it may be an ongoing theme of balance and how they articulate what they need within the context of their relationship.  This connection might be revolutionary to some people.  Having the relationship enter Aaron’s life during his Saturn return signifies a potential for the relationship to be enduring, and both individuals are evolving over time within the context of relationship per the individual focused areas of their lunar nodes.  Saturn, the ruler of the node, is symbolic of the quality of time and the commitment made between these two souls.

The day Aaron met Thomas, January 17, 2019, the Capricorn stellium of his natal chart is highly activated by the four planets and the transiting lunar south node also in Capricorn just one week from his 29^th birthday.  Notice that transiting Pluto is almost on the powerful 22^nd degree of Capricorn where Saturn will meet Pluto, starting a new cycle for these two planets on January 12, 2020, which is an interesting highlight of the day they met.  It was a transformational moment for both.  Powerful Mars in Aries in the 8^th house is close enough to call it a 9^th house Mars, and the 9^th house is where long journeys, long-distance travel, and living in foreign countries carry the symbolistic potentials.  Indeed, they have traveled abroad together; the potential is still there for living abroad, too. The Sun at 27 degrees Capricorn is square to the planet Uranus in Aries at 28 degrees, revealing that there will be dynamic shifts in the direction this relationship takes. Aaron’s partner Thomas is symbolized by his 7^th house, Aquarius, a thinker and perhaps future-focused, ruled by Saturn and Uranus, and he will be following the beat of a drum that is not aligned with the traditional.  He will bring something that is out of the ordinary into life through either his relationship or through his work or both.  Aaron’s evolutionary growth is dynamically involved since his focus is on the partner.

Just a little over two weeks prior to meeting Thomas, Aaron flew to Australia to visit his friend Ashely on January 1, 2019.  She was going to be married in January 2020 and Aaron was exploring the option of going to university in Australia for a career in occupational therapy.  The transit chart (*chart 3) shows the symbolism connecting this distant journey and higher education tied into his Saturn return that year.  Saturn transiting his natal 5^th house is ruled by Jupiter, which was also transiting Sagittarius that year.

Transiting Mercury was conjunct Aaron’s natal Mars in Sagittarius at 26 degrees (applying) and in a trine to his own Ascendant supporting the symbolism of the long-distance journey.  Aaron was listening to his soul and taking action, aligned with his chart potentials.  At the same moment, his flight was leaving San Francisco for Sydney, the Sun, and Saturn by transit were conjunct at 11 degrees Capricorn, and Saturn was cazimi the Sun at that moment.  This is precise symbolism for what may be ahead for Aaron, and what he may want to do for his professional life and where he invests hard-earned money for his higher education.  Aaron shared that he had a deeply emotional need to leave the United States, given the political environment nationally and in the area where he lived in.  He sensed a deep need to see another view.  This was a trip that included much soul searching for what he wanted.  What he did not know in those moments was the impact an incoming relationship would have on him.  He could not see how that relationship would stir up his inner world and show him a connection to his lunar nodal story, the importance of it in his life.  This relationship was his first awareness of how his north node and Sun connected to the importance of another in his life and future.  Transiting Jupiter in Sagittarius applying to a square with Neptune in Pisces is part of the pulse within Aaron to go physically somewhere far away from his home and consider his ideas for what he wants for his higher education.  There was more information and experience for Aaron that would be part of that full understanding to come.  Within the archetypal symbolism, we can see what Aaron has had to wrestle within himself during that year of his Saturn return, the clarity not as easy to grab given the Neptune in Pisces square the Jupiter transiting his 4^th and 5^th houses, for where he wanted to commit to something that grounded him, putting down some roots, and yet the full picture was not yet there for him. All in divine time life reveals and with astrology we have a sneak peek into the mysterious magic of life and connections!

On June 2, 2019, Aaron and Thomas were cleared to go to Sweden for Thomas’ academic research work.  However, their plans have been put on temporary hold due to the travel bans getting into Europe and also out of the United States. Their plans may take a new direction, given the response to the current global crisis of the coronavirus in the country in which they intended to live for a few years.  Perhaps the trip is only delayed, but their decision is certainly being impacted by all the new information on the pandemic that has come forward this few months.  In the next chart on transits (*chart 3) we see that Saturn retrograde was approaching again to make a conjunction with Aaron’s natal Saturn at the time they learned this news.  Symbolism strongly referring to being restricted due to authoritarian decisions in power.  Notably, Pluto was retrograde right back to the degree of the great conjunction that would occur on January 12, 2020.  There was much that would be revealed that would impact their life decisions and plans.

Perhaps in reviewing the astrology, we can see the unexpected turns of events IS the symbolism of Uranus in their meeting chart in life manifested as we see it now, but perhaps there are new twists still be learned that will open as Saturn exits the sign of Capricorn in December 2020. When Jupiter enters Aquarius, that will open up doors that have been closed for a long while on travel, though there will still be cautions for social distancing with Saturn in Aquarius too, but the world will see movement and change then.  Will their plans be re-engaged near the end of this year when Saturn re-enters Aquarius and Jupiter shortly thereafter?  Or does Thomas’ Saturn return have an invitation to something not yet imagined or defined fully?  Every decision we make can change our life path.  Sometimes, there are bigger life experiences out of our control that direct our lives and open our world to other places we did not imagine. Not all things are easily seen in a transit chart because the symbolism is layered within the archetypes, especially unpredictable fully when Uranus is part of the mix.

In looking closely at Aaron’s astrology and the decisions at this point in his life, the archetypes that are converging at the end of 2020 for Aaron and his partner Thomas are extraordinary in that they will activate the sign of Aaron’s 7^th house, the sign of Aquarius.  What perhaps is more interesting is the transiting south node right on Aaron’s natal Saturn.  The lunar south node on its own is rather deep in symbolism for a karmic moment in Aaron’s personal history, with that transiting south node at the time that decision was made (chart 3).

This year Aaron traveled once again to Australia and Tasmania, amidst the fires, (but he was not actually in the areas of the fires during his visit).  He left for Australia on January 11, 2020.  We can see that the day he left was the day that Uranus was stationing direct after being retrograde for a few months, and the next day would be the Saturn-Pluto conjunction at 22 degrees Capricorn and Mercury part of the conjunction (chart 4).  This travel chart for Aaron is like a bookend — an added confirmation of what he wanted in terms of where he had been the year prior.  Now, with his new insight with his relationship, having settled in for almost a year, he had greater clarity of his life direction and what he truly wanted.  When traveling to Australia there was a time to review the ideas he carried with him the year before and to confirm how his life direction had changed.  What really emerged for Aaron during this long-distance travel to Australia for his friend’s wedding was his bigger decision to live outside of the United States.  This confirmed for Aaron his increased interest to go with Thomas to Sweden during his research to be together and learn more about living in a country that is more progressive across the population, and his decision to know this was confirmed in his travels to see his friend Ashely’s wedding.

Aaron’s Solar Return in January 2020 has the moon in its new phase.  A new moon in his solar return is a sign of how 2020 would be framed by new experiences, new decisions, and new life that brings unexpectedly new and unfamiliar beginnings and life choices.  At 5:35 pm on March 14^th, 2020, Aaron and Thomas packed up to make a temporary move to Wisconsin to a family property, leaving behind the city of San Francisco for the slower-paced Midwest.  Aaron has found that the new environment has a certain serenity, as there is plenty of time for self-reflection while time passes under quarantine.  He also found that he has more time to practice Qi Gong, make extraordinary meals, and contemplate life direction than he ever expected.  Aaron has time to dream, write in his journal, and envision life as he considers the directions that he and Thomas think are right for them as life unfolds, new information may inject new ideas for what they do with their plans. When Jupiter and Saturn conjoin in the sign of Aquarius within about 4 degrees of Aaron’s natal Sun this December 21, 2020, there will be shifts that begin revealing the road ahead for him.  In the context of astrology, there will be rumblings and activity a few weeks before the actual Jupiter-Saturn conjunction as life readies for the new chapter, but as we are observing there is a serious dismantling of the old paradigm happening in front of our eyes prior to that conjunction. While Mars goes retrograde in Aries in September that can be new insights for them both, especially for Aaron’s partner. How will Mars shifting in Aries in its retrograde cycle change or influence their plans (September 9th through November 13)?

In the meantime, there is time for reflection and opening to the inner world and what is felt and needing Aaron’s attention just as much as the outside world shows the need for great pause.  Aaron and Thomas will have time to consider the details of their relationship from uniquely different points of view.  The experiences of this year will be a truly unique and unforgettable life experience they will have together.  Within this time, they will learn so much about themselves as individuals within their relationship, if they are filled with compassion, listening to each other with love it can give shape to something they may not have realized in any other way.  Didn’t a contemporary poet-musician icon once write that life happens to you while you are busy making other plans?  A motto for this now infamous year 2020.

 

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