Looking Ahead to Saturn in Virgo

7.16.07


Based on the emails I've been receiving, it appears a lot of you are curious about what will happen when Saturn finally leaves Leo on Sep 2 after more than two years… and moves into Virgo for its next two-year run.

Well, I can't spill all the beans all at once, or you won't have a reason to come back here, right? As they say: Always gotta leave 'em wanting more…

I will begin, though, by saying this much: As far as planet/sign pairings go, Saturn in Virgo is a whole lot less mismatched (and thus arguably 'better') than Saturn in Leo. Rather than dreading this upcoming switchover, you might actually be surprised at the ways in which Saturn's entry into Virgo may instead feel like a relief.

Saturn is the planetary taskmaster, challenging us to 'do the work' in exchange for maturity, wisdom and an enduring legacy. He only fucks with us when we ignore his call to be serious—yet, if we are sincere, conscientious and persistent, Saturn often shows himself to be a dedicated ally (albeit one who specializes in tough love, never gentle pep-talk cheerleading).

Among the signs, Virgo is one that's well known for generally not minding work. In fact, Virgo thrives at applying its astute analytic brainpower to earthly tasks, in the quest for palpable real-world results. For those who have Virgo prominent in their charts, Saturn's arrival is likely to bestow a sense of finally being able to return to one's top efficiency levels, content with putting aside the self-indulgence of 'ego issues' to actually get stuff done.

In case you haven't noticed, Saturn hasn't been particularly happy in Leo, one of its least favorite places to be. Leo is an energy of unbridled solar vitality, fostering for itself the most dramatic and daring modes of self-expression. But Saturn has no leniency for excesses of any kind, so it's been serving to strip Leo of any undeserved bombast… on a mission to ensure those with prominent Leo placements aren't posturing to present themselves as someone other than who they authentically are. Needless to say, I've seen gobs of clients with Leo Suns and/or Leo risings over these past couple years. I don't know how many times I've had to reassure the Leonine types: 'No, you haven't lost your Leo mojo… it's just temporarily on hiatus.'

While we are still a month-and-a-half from the 'official' border between Saturn-in-Leo and Saturn-in-Virgo, we're very much already embroiled in the transition. This is due in large part to the upcoming Venus retrograde, which poignantly coincides with this Saturn shift by occurring right alongside it on the Leo-Virgo cusp. To clarify, right as Saturn prepares to move from Leo to Virgo, Venus is simultaneously loitering in the same region of the zodiac for an unusually long time, due to the retrograde. As part of this interpenetration, Venus will conjoin Saturn three times during this period, the first of which occurred two weeks ago.

Therefore, it makes sense to consider the immediate consequences of Venus's retrograde across the Leo-Virgo cusp as the backdrop for kicking off Saturn's transit through Virgo… rather than, say, prematurely contemplating the deeper meanings of Saturn in Virgo for any one of us. Over the coming couple months, we'll be shown super-tempting alternatives to everything we've thought we valued most. And we will have to decide which interpersonal connections, financial associations, and desired dealings are the ones for us.

Will we reaffirm that which we've known along? Will we at last see the forest for the trees, and make the necessary dash toward the timberline? Or will we stumble into something wholly radically new, only to later discover it's even better than we'd hoped… or, less successfully, a miserable mess of a mirage that leaves us high-and-dry?

These are the questions we'll be asking ourselves, as Venus turns retrograde at the end of this month and continues her backward-facing cha-cha through early September. As Leo gives way to Virgo, we take up the project of narrowing, pinpointing, organizing, cleaning up and showing more discrimination (Virgo) in how we practically deploy the now-hopefully-wholly-authentic generosity of spirit we've solidified over these couple years (Leo, post-Saturn).

During Venus's retrograde across this zone, then, I'd expect us to face choices between (1) what seems fun and lively in the moment, and feeds the ego plentifully, but which might not be appropriate for our longer-term success and (2) what feels so friggin' responsible it's downright annoying, for now, to ultimately build far greater happiness for ourselves down the road.

Have I mentioned yet that, within the same couple weeks both Venus turns direct and Saturn moves into Virgo, we'll also be back in the land of eclipses? In fact, the Sep 11 07 solar eclipse also falls in Virgo… a forms a rather turbulent mutable T-square with Uranus in Pisces and Mars in Gemini.

Let's not worry, then, about what Saturn in Virgo will ultimately mean to us… at least not yet. For the time being, let's just think about getting ourselves from now to October safely—and with our inner Virgoan analyst paying close attention to the finer points, for more precise functioning in the near future ahead.