(First published October 2019, still relevant for 2020)
Saturn started moving away from the South Node in mid-September with it's 'turning direct' after four and a half months of retrograde movement, and completed the separation by October 2nd. In hindsight you might be able to see how you were having to 'go back over' something or were having the past coming to meet you, or how you were simply sitting in the past, unable to move forward. Some I spoke to were addressing habits, looking at patterns in their lives, and echoes - all those things trying to get their attention again and again. Some were in a period of simply re-living or being stuck in the past. It has been a time of letting go, of what we don't want to as well as of old or recurrent issues to do with fear, guilt and separation (us vs them/me vs you). I know this has been up for me, and it has taken me by surprise in some instances where I realised I had a narrative about myself that was disappointingly untrue. Gratitude to the circumstances that alerted me to one particular 'bias'. Perhaps you experienced your past (choices, actions, words, memories, hurts, woundings, etc) weighing down on you so much that you decided "I can't do this anymore" and let go. This ultimately was the gift of this alignment. For some, it has been about grief. Grief can belong to Neptune, and Pluto too; with Saturn, it is about separation. Perhaps Saturn has now gifted you (and still can while travelling in his sign of Capricorn) with personal responsibility, healthy boundaries which simply speak of respect (another Saturn word), or renewed commitment, or self-discipline. Or perhaps you are still reeling a little from these last months. Remember, the good purpose of suffering is to wake up and realise that we don't need to. It is not the story or the situation that makes us suffer, but what we think about it, how we judge it, how we feel about it and our relationship to it. We have choice in all of these. To continue from my last newsletter, in Part 1 I wrote of our collective belief regarding the concept of 'dark and light' being deeply embedded in our psyche. From the cultural fear of the dark, cultural fear of the dark feminine insidiously took hold, with the consequence of the denial of the feminine, in all of us. We all have because the Feminine is not logical. And we like logic. We like things to make sense. I want to reiterate at this stage that although most of us realise that 'masculinity' and 'femininity' are not synonymous with 'male' and 'female', we still must be aware that the connotations of each are so ingrained in our psyches that we can unconsciously react to them with our ancient collective gender prejudices. It is very easy to separate ourselves and say, "Oh no, not me"; however, we are One and the Collective Unconscious moves through all of us. One of the ways we know the Feminine is rising, is the fear response to it, particularly the angry push-back against it - there's no need to mention the obvious examples of this in our current times of men famously (or not) denigrating women, but we also have other less obvious examples, and they are all around us. An interesting one is the renovation of Chartres Cathedral. The famous Black Madonna (the Dark Feminine, and there are hundreds of them throughout Spain and France), pictured above, is described beautifully in Woodman and Dickson's Dancing in the Flames - the Dark Goddess in the Transformation of Consciousness: "...the Great Goddess, Mary by name, sits on the cathedra, the throne of the cathedral. She is Wisdom, crowned with leaves. Enthroned on her knee is the young king, bearing in one hand the orb and raising two fingers of the other in blessing her and the world. He is the Word made flesh, Consciousness sitting on the lap of Nature. Without the lap, consciousness is uprooted from its source assuming a life of its own that can be self-devouring...The relationship between the masculine and feminine is well balanced, if not on a physical scale, certainly on a psychic one." Astoundingly, the renovation has not cleaned them but painted them both white. When I read Woodman's and Dickson's words 'self-devouring', I thought of our current world. It's how it feels now. So evident is the suffering of Mother Earth due to the destructive patriarchy we've all lived over centuries. The abuse we have subjected her to is having such obvious and dire consequences; the Feminine via Gaia is now demanding that we obey her natural laws, for She is the life-force in all matter. Another way we know that the Feminine is rising is that what is obsolete, or becoming obsolete, has become very visible. What once was an acceptable explanation such as 'boys will be boys', has become inappropriate and redundant. Most of us are acutely aware of certain sayings and behaviours as having become 'out-dated', 'wrong', 'old paradigm' or simply shocking to our evolving consciousness. And all of them have something to do with the rejection of control, domination or suppression. People are being held to account, with some of those being held to account simply leaving. Jeffery Epstein a case in point. The Feminine rising is not just about women's empowerment. The feminine rising is about all of us. The pendulum is swinging, we need balance. The Feminine, which has not been culturally or historically developed in men, is to do with yin function and expression: complexity, creativity, intuition, the emotional realm, imagination, connection, sensitivity, and 'negative capability' as Yeats stated, meaning the inability to find an answer. I love this. I often have negative capability. Conversely, yang function and expression is about direction, command and control, it is evidence-based, dog-eat-dog, top-down, fight to win, separation, conquering, 'boys' club', and competition. This form of operation and leadership has run its course, thank goodness; it has huge limitations and ultimately doesn't work. The yin model of leadership has collaboration as a key factor. It's not top-down and vertical, but horizontal. It is sustainable and creates equality and balance. We can simplify it as: Yang - we all walk in a line seeing someone's back, going or doing. Yin - we all sit in circle seeing each other and being. We need both: we want to go places and do things; we also want to connect. So, how will the dark Pluto-Saturn conjunction manifest for you? Where do 22 degrees of Capricorn sit in your chart? (clue: look at the outer ring of your chart with all the signs, using the legend on the right) It is in this house, or area of life, that you can explore your yin. Do you have a planet or point at or near 22 degrees of Capricorn? What does that planet signify in the human condition? Can you step into your yin function here? What yin is already conscious in you? What yin is expressed through you? And what is shadow - that which irritates, is repressed, or projected? The gift of the upcoming Pluto-Saturn conjunction is an invitation to explore our darkness. If we keep on rejecting it or resisting it, we cannot become whole. 'Embracing' the dark is too much for many, however can we at least turn towards it and look at it? It is coming, the symbolism is strong, so let's look after ourselves and each other, and knowing we are Light, welcome the dark. Our true nature can deal with it. There is no need to buy into any fear. Blessings to you All.
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