We’ve been going through a period of
hype, hope, glamour and confusion, with the Saturn/Neptune square, and it’s not
over yet. In fact, it won’t be over
until early October, giving people one short month to come to their senses
before the election.
Saturn is the Crone planet, the one that
represents the Wise Elder. It’s all
about the ability to take responsibility, to build clear structures, to
discipline yourself in order to reach certain goals. Saturn is the planet of caution, experience,
and realism, so it’s pretty clear which candidate is more Saturnine.
On the other side is Neptune, the planet
of mysticism and imagination. Neptune represents
the fantastic illusions of, say, the Wizard of Oz. Pay no attention to the man behind the
curtain. But even though he keeps making
awkward moves and showing who he really is, the glamour holds. He could shoot somebody and they’d still vote
for him. That’s the magic of pixie dust,
a lovely blurry filter made up of expensive suits, good television angles, and
spontaneous superlatives.
To be adult, or to live in a
fantasy? That’s the choice that’s
underlined by the Saturn/Neptune square.
Of course, there’s another way to see
this. Saturn is also the planet of limits,
restrictions, and fears. It represents
an earthy reality, enclosed within a set of established laws. It gives little room for change. It’s safe, but maybe too safe?
Neptune, on the other hand, is odd, tricky, fey, with the ability to
change its shape. It represents the
yearning for something cosmic and beautiful, something beyond our current
choices. A celestial city, a dream of
peace. And there’s nothing Neptunian about
the brutish tendencies shown by the Republican candidate. So you could say that Bernie is the Neptunian
choice, and the impossibility of him being elected just adds to that - because Neptune
is the planet of beautiful fantasies.
Bernie himself is a much earthier and
more pragmatic guy. He’s got a lot of
air signs in his natal chart, so he’s definitely an idealist, but he’s not
particularly woolly or dreamy. With his Neptune
conjunct the north node in Virgo, his destiny in this life is to attract
dreamers and then point them towards concrete, human-sized solutions to
problems. This has been somewhat
flattening for some of his supporters.
With every illusion, disillusionment
naturally follows. This is not to say
that dreams don’t sometimes come true, but this only happens when there are at
least a few real, solid ingredients in the formula. Since Bernie is an earthy guy, his candidacy
didn’t lack for concrete proposals, and there’s a good chance that most of them
will be adopted through the years. But the
illusion was that this country was ready for a revolution, an actual dramatic restructuring
of the economic hierarchy by a Socialist.
And the people who are in the worst shape, who might be ready for
revolution, don’t necessarily want an old white guy leading the charge.
On the other side, the Republican
candidate has nothing particularly solid in his repertoire, so there’s really
nowhere for his acolytes to go when it all falls apart. He brings up a nostalgia for a time that was
simpler for white folks, when the rules were clear and nobody else had any
rights to speak of. His constituency
consists of a bunch of people whose time has passed, but who are unwilling or
unable to embrace another way of living.
You could say that Neptune is about
living in service to a dream. Some
dreams may be worth serving, because they make you and other people happy. I think artists embody this. But there are other kinds of unreal
constructs that are less innocent, and racism is one of these. It’s a world view that postulates all kinds
of magic powers to one group, and pins unwieldy caricatures and angry
projections onto others. This country has
been caught in this bad dream, this skein of illusions which is going through a
long, slow unraveling process. And those
who are clinging to it are destined to fall the hardest.
But as Neptune weaves its spell on us, Saturn
keeps finding the words, ideas, and practical necessities that bring us down to
earth. Saturn is about looking around
you and seeing what’s really going on, and because of that, Saturn can be
damned depressing. This is not an easy
time for a lot of people, and it’s probably easiest for those who are most
removed from reality. So if you’re
feeling some pain, congratulate yourself.
You’re dealing.
In August, Saturn stations, which means
it appears to hold still. It stays at 9°
Sagittarius for most of the month, so if you have any planet close to 9° in any
mutable sign (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius or Pisces), you’ll be more affected by
this square. You’ll be feeling Saturn’s
static voice in your bones, while Neptune’s haunting tones seduce you at odd
moments.
But for all of us, this is a time when
we're aware of the two sides of this conflict.
Saturn says, “This is the world.
Get used to it!” and Neptune says, “None of this is real at all.” Can we find a meeting place between these two
voices? Can we find magic in the world,
and a little more of the world in our magic?
Can we be gentle with ourselves as our bubbles burst, rather than
castigating ourselves as fools, or seeing the world as too sharp and cruel?
It’s just the world: a rocky place with enough gravity to keep us
anchored here, while strange thought-balloons drift over our heads. The wind catches them and they turn into
wisps: feelings and memories and
stories. We have to let them go. There
will always be more.
