Saturn Retrograde 2016 – Paradise Lost (Part 1)

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Saturn Retrograde is generally not a fun time. It can be downright destructive, and if you’re not ready for it, it can leave you in ashes. This can be a time where your self-discipline is brought into question, and also where you need to focus on improving how you handle your responsibilities.

This Saturn Retrograde has already begun by the time I write this. We’re going to focus on the major placements first. Fixed Stars and asteroids will be covered in part two, though I include them here. (Don’t worry, I’ll actually get to writing this very soon unlike the Stephen Reed article!)

Saturn begins its retrograde in a T-Square to both Jupiter Retrograde and VenusJupiter opposite Venus brings a bit of a conflict between abundance, or in the retrograde Jupiter’s case, inner abundance/sense of self, and what we find attractive, beautiful, fun. A bit of a wondering of “is this what I really want?” Well, Saturn squares both of those now, and is parked and sitting there during the retrograde station. Saturn’s there telling you to make up your mind and make sure you figure it out. And it’s not going to make it easy.

And you really better figure it out because with Saturn appearing to go backwards now (from Earth’s perspective at least), Saturn Square Neptune is going to be rearing its ugly head once again. Saturn square Neptune is an illusion shatterer. Where we’ve been having daydreams, our heads in the clouds, whatever, Saturn is there cracking the whip and telling us to get on with it. This can also bring extremes in dogma, be it business, religious, or what have you. As Saturn slowed down, we saw the Brussels attacks, and let’s not forget an attack happened in Turkey weeks prior that was underreported. We can expect more from Daesh, regrettably (and no I won’t call them the other name because I refuse to bastardize the name of a perfectly decent Egyptian goddess. I suppose ISIL will also do).

Mars Trine Sun/Mercury at the beginning of this retrograde cycle might temper some of the initial pain of this retrograde a bit, but don’t forget that Mars is in its pre-retrograde shadow period right now. Things are starting to slow down a bit, but Sun and Mercury are working together a bit to bolster some boistrous communication. We can see this right now with Donald Trump and Ted Cruz going at it right now regarding each others’ wives. How classy, bringing family into this electoral squabble. Imagine if Sun/Mercury were squaring Mars right now. I think in that case it’d be downright libelous.

Pluto sextile Venus and Pluto Trine Jupiter Retrograde are also giving us a collective breather in a way right now. The jackhammer of the cosmos is using kids gloves where it comes to our relationships and our self-worth in general, so we’re having a slightly easier time of things. Pluto is pretty much a destroyer and renewer, like the Phoenix, blasting apart what it touches and then allowing the ashes to fall and rebuild. The sextile to Venus? I’d say there’s a chance of whatever’s happening this retrograde cycle to help rebuild some relationships stronger than ever (to a lesser degree than the trine), and to allow new relationships to also build. Jupiter retrograde in this shows that there’s going to have to be some self-growth, but the lessons should take hold. But first, with Jupiter opposite Venus, we’re going to be taking some hits first.

Uranus square Pluto, however, doesn’t make any of this easy. Pluto is slowing down for its own retrograde as well, and Uranus just recently got done with one of its own, so they’re going to start separating pretty quickly here. Just in time too. Uranus square Pluto is highly volatile, highly destructive, and highly slow-moving. We need to be cautious. If you’ve been looking at the rhetoric, it’s really starting to look like the 1930’s again, isn’t it? And not so coincidentally, that’s when Uranus squared Pluto last time. The aftermath wasn’t so pretty (World War II being one result). There’s been a lot of upheaval personally in my life, and I’m sure there has been in all of yours too. But the Uranus square Pluto cycle is finally coming to an end within the next year or so, I think… I hope. There aren’t any more exact squares until… I don’t know when. I’d have to look. A lot of us will probably have moved on to the next life by then, and the rest of us will be much older.

I will leave off now by saying that this Saturn Retrograde is going to be a rough ride. Part Two will examine the asteroids and fixed stars involved in this, and then Part Three will get into the Station Direct later on that only occurs on August 13th. We’ve got a few months of “fun” in store. Stay tuned.