Acute reality problems

So let me ask you a bunch of questions: what's reality? How do you know your reality is real (as opposed to the reality of the person sitting next to you or across from you)? Is their reality more or less real than your reality? How do you know? How can you be sure?

There, now you can be paranoid for a couple of weeks. But really, that's the vibe of the times right now with Neptune and Saturn conjunct (next to each other) in the sky. Conjunctions are new beginnings, especially when major outer planets meet, in the same way that new moons are new beginnings (the moon is conjunct the sun in that case). Saturn's reality, Neptune's unreality, they're meeting in the sky but not quite conjuncting (they do it for real in February). Still, it's enough that I'm sure some of you are going "seriously, wtf." (Or if it's not you, it's someone you-adjacent.)

When Saturn and Neptune squared each other the last time, it was the beginning of a really messed-up adventure for me. I landed on a therapist's couch, who, week in and week out told me I "doubted my reality," mainly because the people around me were saying one thing and doing another, the same way that if I told you I loved you and then proceeded to shove you off a cliff you'd probably be confused. In hindsight I can tell you that those people around me were saying things they wanted to be true, and unfortunately, speaking things into existence doesn't always work, especially not the big-ticket items. So I was trying to figure out how what I was being told could possibly be true, experiencing anguish because it actually wasn't true. It was a painful place to be. Lesson learned: trust your own reality and keep good notes. Just to repeat: this same energy is back now. Don't get shoved off a cliff.

If you're impacted by this energy (and if you have any planets or angles in your birth chart at 29 - 2° of anything, excluding Pisces and Taurus, you are), I strongly discourage you from getting into reality disputes where it's you (and you alone) vs. someone else's experience. First, it's a waste of time, and second, no one is seeing clearly right now. We're all impacted at the same time and this near-conjunction is in a house of everyones' charts. Which house? Where's 2° Aries in the chart? (If you can't find it, ask.)

You know what's the best sorter-outer of what's real? Time. We're often told things that people would like to be true, but looking back with hindsight, you can usually tell what was what.

On the other hand, some of us have preferred to suspend reality in some chart area because real life is slightly too harsh (again, check that chart for which house this is if this sounds like you). Time's up on that (and again in February). Reality might be a face-punch: essentially Saturn comes through the Neptune cloud and knocks you flat on your ass. Often it's an unpleasant lesson that comes from ignoring a field of red flags. If this is you, you may need to call for help. Again, due to the fact that this energy's impacting everyone simultaneously, you might receive all the help in the world or none whatsoever. Proportions are wacky.

The best advice I can give you if you find yourself in the punched in the face or shoved off a cliff: do what you need to do to extricate yourself and then get as far away from it as you can. Let time, distance, and a higher power sort it out.

I'll leave you with the wise words of Tupac, because they're apt at the moment: “You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together, justifying what could've, would've happened... or you can just leave the pieces on the floor and move the fuck on.”

P.S. I am taking a couple of weeks off but if you need me, you know where to find me (I hope?)