Treading water and/or editing

A few years ago, I had Neptune conjunct my natal Mars for far too long (2+ years), and properly articulating the level that sucked isn't possible, so I'm not going to try. I've alluded to it plenty: the experience was like a shitty magician was following me around distorting the outcome of anything I tried to do, and there were some misunderstandings about me and my character (Mars is my chart ruler, and when something aspects your chart ruler, it's an all-encompassing experience). There were also some very Neptunian men (Mars again) in my life: the downtrodden, the misunderstood, the artistic, the alcoholic, the needy, etc. After trying to make my life work to no avail, I did my best to function in reality during the day, and then slept a lot. Thanks to Neptune, the sleep was deep and the dreams were epic, and that part was nice, so I started sleeping too much. So now Mars and Neptune are in square aspect in the sky for way longer than normal--it's usually only days-long when they're in aspect, but because Mars is stopping to go retrograde, it's weeks, and I recognize that energy because I lived with it for a while and very recently. Everything I try to do right now might turn out weird, and if so, my plan has been to sleep about it. I have crazy dreams and then wake up ready to try again. I'm not saying this is 100% the best way to deal with Neptune, but it beats getting really drunk, which is how many people handle it (no judgment). Neptune's main hobby is making things go sideways that should be really straightforward. It deals in bizarre plot twists. I had one of those last week, actually, and again because I recognize the energy, I know better than to take it at 100% face value. I'll wait to see how everything plays out. My Aries rising dumb Mars instincts tend to send me charging headfirst into any given situation, and trust me when I say that this is NOT the sky for that. If you try to fight the sky, or your weird circumstances, you're bringing a knife to a gun fight. Trust me, because I learned that the very expensive hard way. So if you're experiencing any of the things I just listed: plot twists, crazy dreams, feeling undermined, having your normal vigor disrupted, etc., that's normal for right now, and it's gonna last through November (and return in March), so grab a magazine.

Saturn! Is stopped! If I could get out and push it along, I would. Over this next weekend, it switches from retrograde to direct, which means that it'll still be essentially stopped in the sky for a few more weeks. For most of you, this means nothing, but from time to time in life, Saturn stops EXACTLY on a planet or point that makes you feel stressed, annoyed, or overwhelmed with things you (feel you) are responsible for. It's the opposite of fun. But the good news if this sounds like you is that Saturn really is the great editor of the zodiac and tends to point out things you shouldn't be doing, people you shouldn't be hanging out with, ideas that aren't working for you, etc. So, if you're stressed: are you falling all over yourself trying to do something that isn't working? If you're annoyed: do you need to edit a person, place, or thing out of your daily existence or perhaps draw some boundaries? If you're overwhelmed, ask yourself: are you truly responsible for ALL of it?

Saturn transits are where the sunk cost fallacy trips us up. Often. The normal protests are "but I have put so much time/money/energy/effort into this." Let's say you have a 10th house Saturn transit, and you're overworking at a job that's so stressful that you've started to experience physical symptoms of chronic stress. We can all agree that's not healthy, right? So Saturn's showing you that you're doing too much and you should dial it back and look for something else. "But my title/my money/my time/my energy/my relationships with coworkers!" the normal human exclaims. "Yeah, but please notice you're passively killing yourself," Saturn responds. Saturn makes you face reality for so long and so hard that you stop wishing reality was different because you've been worn down.

But then it moves on and you start to feel better. Things start to get a little easier, but not a lot, because your job still sucks and you're continuing to do too much. Saturn goes into your 11th house, and the job itself lightens up (and maybe your boss does, too). But then your friends and coworkers turn into HUGE pains in the ass, as friends and coworkers are 11th house business. In this reality I just created, you didn't take the Saturn lesson and find a different job, and now you have a stressful job AND a turf war with coworkers. And if you decide to wait that one out, too, you're leaving a backlog of unaddressed Saturn issues in your wake, and you wind up in therapy crying that your life is unmanageable. Actually, it's very manageable. You just have to suck it up and make some tough calls.

People whose lives are huge messes don't take hints from Saturn. They might not even know what Saturn's doing, because they don't know astrology, and that's fine, but whether or not you consciously know Saturn's active in your life, it will still show you very clearly what's not working and asking you to make edits. So, here's a fun personal example: puberty hit me when Saturn was in my 12th house, and my child metabolism changed into a much slower version of the same thing. And one day, a very Saturnian person in my life told me I was fat. So what does one do when they're a fat 13 year old who doesn't understand how diets work? Read nutrition labels and alternate between eating a lot of some things and not a lot of other things. What happened astrologically: Saturn crossed my ascendant and went into my 1st house, and I realized that unless I wanted to continue feeling uncomfortable in my body, I'd better make some changes. That's typical Saturn over the ascendant, regardless of your age.

It's pretty easy to tell who is who when it comes to willingness to take Saturnian hints. I had someone who was refusing to make a simple choice last year who came to me for advice (trying to force me to make the choice FOR THEM--no). Then life forced them to make a choice (Saturn does this). Then they came back to me a few weeks ago saying they thought they made the wrong choice. I looked at their chart--another active Saturn transit was underway. If you made the wrong choice: FIX IT. Take the L. Realize you might have to dig out for a while to undo the fact that you went the wrong way. It's not easy, but it's REALLY simple. Which is why I love Saturn: there are no guessing games. It's the antithesis of Neptune, which is all about guessing games.

Anyway, perhaps Neptune is bothering you, or maybe Mars-Neptune, maybe both, maybe none of them! But to get a good sense of what's doing what, you want to look up which house any of those items are in and work backwards from there. Or just ask me. I've been doing this long enough that I know the type of noise each major planet makes, so it's pretty easy for me to untangle what's doing what. I think of myself as a mechanic, but for the sky 😎

XO,J