In the midst of early east coast autumnal weather, summer somehow feels like eons ago. And what a crazy summer: the planets have been in retrograde or a perpetual war since the early summer eclipse get-go. Moments of magic, moments of chaos, fear, humiliation and every other Capricorn demon — and most importantly a whole lotta growing up compliments of the strong Saturn-Pluto influence. Hopefully you’ve had a chance to make or experience some good art — of the dark and deep variety in homage to this intense planetary duo. Think Doestevsky, T.S. Eliot, Camus, Dylan, Arthur Miller, The Doors and Stravinsky (born or channeled best work under Saturn-Pluto aspects).

Here we are under the hazy auspices of a Full Moon in Pisces, hence please pardon the chaotic tour de force writing style sure to come. The left-brain seems to be on extended hiatus so consider the following reflections a free-form-free-association-free write to sift through like song lyrics or a poem. Pisces prefers piles, process, symbolism, metaphors, illusions, imagery and soma. Linear thinkers need not open this attachment. Pisces begs us to unlock the power of the right brain through accessing the subtle body: music, dance, not moving until we feel moved, metaphor, compassion, dance, meditation, being near the ocean etc.

Dig if you will a (Pisces) picture: locals sipping Sangria at Sevilla in the West Village randomly quote Janis Joplin: “Another effing day in the life of love and loss.”  Roxy Music’s Siren (Bryan Ferry born with a Moon in Pisces) spins on vinyl against the backdrop of a rainy NYC Full Moon in Pisces evening. What are your deepest longings? Making a list of your top three often brings instant soul reunion. Put down the Virgoan to-do lists and get back to what makes life poetic, dreamy, mystical and sublime. Avoid the victimization, whoa is me, and self-pity party complexes over the next few days! Maya, the goddess of illusion rules this Full Moon. Say to yourself “none of this is real” a thousand times a day and then kick back and enjoy the show.

How are you all enduring the introspective calling forced upon us by another Mercury Retrograde (in Virgo)? Retrogrades tend to give us no choice but to look within as every outer distraction is suddenly in a state of disrepair. Delays, dropped calls, missed connections, miscommunication, do-overs, and projections galore. This particular Mercury retrograde scores highly on the neurotic scale: worry, anxiety and obsessiveness over details can plague our thought patterns if we don’t take some serious time out in the woods. Virgo is the archetype of the Hermit and needs to be in the forest complete with gray frock and hoodie, on hiatus from all of his or her helping duties even if only for a weekend.

Have you been recently caught berating yourself for lack of self-discipline? (re-current Pisces problem. Change comes in waves and only with constant resets and retrograde planets. Saturn is exalted in Libra and commitment to small but beautiful changes that bring one back to center will be greatly rewarded. Saturn in Libra says if you’re going to spend time on it, make it lovely and you won’t incur any bad karma. Maximize the sweetness and light in your actions, and never underestimate the karmic boomerang delivered under the Scales of Justice. We get back whatever we put out there. Our Maat-worthy goal is to keep the heart lighter than a feather — which means avoiding extreme thoughts and actions that lead to heavy-heartedness.

Have you felt strangely invisible lately despite all attempts to increase your online presence? Not enough social network feedback,” Likes” or Retweets? Are you compelled to cry rivers for reasons beyond your comprehension? Does chaos threaten to disrupt your every waking moment? Blame it on the Full Moon in paranoid Pisces at a weird angle to Mars in (do you like me?) Libra. It’s about dealing with lack of visibility and the ego’s need to be seen. Pisces reveals the Maya or illusion inherent even in our most creative undertakings. It’s all about the inner world now and creating more glamour on that level.

Saturn in Libra vs. Pluto in Capricorn: Co-dependency No More & Healing the Father Complex

Daddy:
You do not do, you do not do
Any more black shoe
In which I have lived like a foot
For thirty years, poor and white,
Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.
If I’ve killed one man, I’ve killed two—
The vampire who said he was you

– Slyvia Plath

Maturity in our approach to relationships is fast becoming a do or die necessity for psychological survival. This means untangling the depths of our own parental complexes that get projected onto our partners. Abandonment issues, addiction, co-dependency, bottomless fear, and selling ourselves to our own inner or outer devils are no longer options. The more we cling to old dysfunctional patterns (daddy boyfriend, bank, boss, credit card or any authority outside of ourselves), the harder we fall, the deeper we suffer and the more we lose. Now is a powerful time to perform the “Last Exorcism” and clean up the relationships with ourselves and any demon lovers, past or present, to avoid future emotional vampirism! We have an opportunity to tear down the old walls of fear and burn through outworn defense mechanisms piled on by years of parental neglect, abuse or other wounds that keep us from deeper trust and commitment in our relationships.

Keep on burning until the End — Roxy Music

When the Twin Towers were struck down on 9/11/2001, Saturn, in Gemini (The Twins), was opposing Pluto, in righteous Sagittarius. When Saturn meets Pluto, we experience the heart of darkness, and are forced to face our deepest fears, and our very will to live. Pluto purges secrets, personal and collective.

In the months after 9/11, living in NYC was bleak. We were fed a constant diet of fear; from color-coded terror alerts to anthrax scares, to our soldier’s first footsteps on the ground in Afghanistan. We were bullied into the Patriot Act and gave up our civil liberties. Next came a war of choice against a manufactured enemy.

Saturn/Pluto did a number on us then, and now it’s back, in the form of a square between Pluto in Capricorn and Saturn in Libra. The USA Saturn is also in Libra — our 8th Saturn Return is on tap soon.

But now, watch what’s coming over the airwaves. Notice that the story of the moment is set just a few blocks from where the original archetypal event took place on 9/11. Yes, our wounds still rage. But this is a democracy, and freedom of religion is the law of the land. The Cordoba Center will be a place of tolerance, a community center that poses no risk to anyone in downtown NYC. Republicans have manufactured a wedge issue to win back Congress in November, and frighteningly, many Americans have fallen for it hook, line and sinker.

Keith Olbermann brings the issue into stark relief in his special comment.

The following guest post was originally published on the blog Empowering Astrology and is written by Katie Sweetman, manager of SaturnSisters.com and a member of the Saturn Sisters family. To learn more about Katie and Empowering Astrology, click here.

* * *

During this time of great cardinal initiation, as we reach peak energies, I’ve noticed a theme subtly running though the last few weeks. While all of us have been distracted by planets in the signs of Aries, Libra, and Capricorn, we’ve been missing quiet Cancer poking and prodding at our deeper core.

Personally, the issues coming up since the peak of the Cardinal Climax are root related. Cancer, after all, is the missing cardinal element. It’s as if the t-square is pointing towards Cancer as an area of intense yet subtle focus, demanding we tend to our families, our ancestors, and what really nurtures our souls. Take a tip from Saturn in Libra: the key to the Cardinal Climax is isn’t the power struggles of Saturn, Pluto, and Uranus. No, it’s all about balancing out these astral heavyweights and getting in touch with our past.

To recap, the Cardinal Climax is a era in time that spans from 2008 until 2012, with the peak concentration happening right now. We are in the midst of an epoch of change, to say the least, triggered by Pluto, Uranus, and Saturn in the early degrees of the Cardinal signs of Capricorn, Aries, and Libra respectively. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or a master astrologer to know that our world since 2008 has definitely been turned on its head. Why all this change, you ask? Because the cardinal signs correspond with the change of seasons and when slow moving outer planets enter those signs, it’s like we’re moving from winter to spring.

So how have the last few months been for you? Have any Cancerian themes suddenly come up? To refresh your memory, let’s take a look at what Cancer encompasses:

• Home
• The mother
• Family
• Lineage
• Tribe
• The root chakra
• The element of water
• The past
• Nurturing
• Instincts

What I think this Cardinal Climax is really all about, apart from working through karmic blockages, is tending to our roots. I myself have had a lot of Cancerian themes arise over the summer, especially in the last few weeks. An informal poll of other people I know, including astrologers, reveals that many are suddenly spending more time with family, researching genealogy, and tending to the home, for example. A lot of my client charts have been emphasizing 4th house baggage too. It’s like there’s this push towards reconnection. And, full disclosure, I’m about as lunar challenged as they come, so 4th House/Moon stuff isn’t normally on my radar.

As we round out the peak of these cardinal energies, the message here is to really think about our roots and whatever family healing needs to be done. How do we nurture ourselves if at all? What tribe to we belong to? What is sacred and feminine in our lives? Certainly these are more productive questions to answer instead of focusing on the doom and gloom of Saturn and Pluto. Cancer, the missing leg, is the real gold behind the Cardinal Climax.

The following guest post was originally published on the blog Empowering Astrology and is written by Katie Sweetman, manager of SaturnSisters.com and an astrologer in her own right. Now that Saturn has entered Libra, we’re in the heart of what is known as the “Cardinal Climax” — a time that will surely speak of big changes for everyone on this planet. To learn more about Katie and Empowering Astrology, click here.

* * *

Ladies and gentlemen, we’re in the Cardinal Climax. You don’t have to be hip to astrology or a total wonk to know that something is going on with our world. Earthquakes. Unparalleled man made disasters. Awakenings. Major shifts for which there is no return. The show has only started and the headliner — August’s cardinal grand cross — is about to take stage. Are you ready?

For the past decade, if not longer, astrologers have been speculating about this summer’s Cardinal Climax because it is and truly will be a once in a lifetime event. Financial astrologer Ray Merriman first coined this term back in 1999, recognizing that the outer planets aligning in the early cardinal degrees would signal some sort of upheaval and not just for the markets. While we astrologers might nerd out on aspects and modalities, trading theories about what this time might mean for the world, it’s one thing to write about it and another to experience it.

So now that we’re here, what does the Cardinal Climax feel like?

Uranus’s entry into the sign of Aries was like getting plugged into a wall socket. Never has an ingress from one sign to another felt so palpable, my muscles tensing up and arching against Uranus’s current. Restless and uncharacteristically angry, I struggled to find a channel for this power, discovering in the process a new found appreciation for those born with Mars/Uranus contacts. I’m not the only one who has been feeling this blast of amped up Uranian energy. Green Summit has a great post on other astrologers’ reactions and Donna Cunningham wrote about her thoughts, echoing my own.

However, beyond the physical reactions that some of us are feeling, there seems to be something brewing on the psychic level. InHarmony Astrology describes this crucial time as a “karmic quickening.” I couldn’t have said it better as I’ve been getting a message intuitively about why this time is so important for our souls’ development. On an energetic level, the Cardinal Climax is a rare opportunity to blast through karmic blockages and get big results fast, harnessing Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto towards positive evolution. How do I know? Well for me there’s been a relentless push from spirit to clear out — clear out any of my baggage stemming from early childhood and adolescence, clear old wounds, and heal. In fact I’ve had some incredible healing opportunities arrive in the last couple of months as I push deep into blockages stemming from past life traumas.

This goes to the root of why I do what I do and why it is so important for me to remind you all of the opportunities of empowerment that the Universe is giving us right now — an opportunity that we all signed up for having chose to be born at this potent axis in history. The Cardinal Climax may strike fear in the less enlightened, but right now there is no changing that we’re plugged into a source of rare power. The question is whether we’ll choose to harness it for our karmic good or burn out?

I choose the former.

Last fall, Saturn briefly left the constellation of Virgo and moved into Libra, where it stayed until the spring. Then it retrograded back into Virgo, once again reminding us of Big Daddy Saturn’s lessons of the last few years. Today, Saturn returns to Libra, where it will stay until 2012. We’re revisiting two blog entries we posted last fall to review the themes we’re leaving behind and those we’re about to encounter….

* * *

RIP: Saturn in Virgo 2007-2009

Bet you’re more than ready to say goodbye already, aren’t you? Especially those of you born with Saturn in Virgo. Pull out your party hats because this little sucka is leaving on October 29th and turning out the lights on his way out. It’s now time for the Saturn In Libra folks to step up to the plate and deal with their karma. (Note that Saturn will briefly return to Virgo in a retrograde phase next March; more on that in a few months.)

But before we part ways with this two-and-a-half-year phase, let’s review what we’ve been through. After all, we’re not going to make progress if we don’t process, right? Food has been Saturn in Virgo’s favorite topic. We’ve endured endless food scares, including E coli outbreaks, listeria rampages, and the most deadly food-borne, life-wrecking story of all: the saga of Stephanie Smith. She ate a hamburger and now she’s paralyzed for the rest of her life. If that wasn’t a Saturn in Virgo wake-up call, I don’t know what is.

Virgo rules not just the food on our tables, but also our health. The health care debate, especially during the summer of ‘09, has roared on full of myth and distortion, fueled by manufactured rage from corporate lobbyists shilling for the health care industry. And as Saturn pushes for its last bit of justice on the way into Libra, it was just announced that we may yet get our public option.

Here is the upside of all the anguish, where Saturn’s work gives us consciousness and moves us forward. Locavore was the word of the year in 2007, the first year Saturn was in Virgo. We had the amazing work of Michael Pollan and the ubiquitous repetition of his quote from In Defense of Food: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” And tomorrow night, the very night before Saturn leaves Virgo, gorgeous vegan celeb Natalie Portman (who is about to have her Saturn Return) will appear on Top Chef – for a vegan cooking challenge! And just a few days later, we’ll see the publication of Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals.

If you’ve survived your Saturn Return, you know that Saturn doesn’t allow short-cuts, cheating, or going backwards. If Big Agra doesn’t get that it’s time to fundamentally turn the beat around, the industry will fail in the next few years. As they say at Farm Sanctuary, “A compassionate world begins with you.” Let that be the epitaph for the Saturn in Virgo years.

Coming Soon to a Constellation Near You: America’s 8th Saturn Return

This is just a preview of coming attractions. Saturn enters Libra on October 30th, 2009. The Cosmic Taskmaster hasn’t visited this region of the zodiac since the early 1980s. Before we look forward, let’s review some of the historical events and cultural themes we experienced back then.

The last Saturn in Libra era saw worldwide regional conflicts, unemployment, inflation, recession, the dawn of AIDS (Reagan wouldn’t mention it in public until 1985), assassination attempts (Reagan, the Pope, Sadat), Reaganomics, Thatcherism, Cabbage Patch Kids, MTV (which was born on August 1st, 1981 with Video Killed the Radio Star), strikes (air traffic control workers, baseball players), the Falklands War, conflict in Northern Ireland, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, and South Africa, the first test-tube baby, wild weather extremes, debt crisis in Latin America, the Tylenol murders, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and Madonna at New York City’s Roxy.

Needless to say, the world was in crisis, but at least we had our music and our fashion to fall back on. Escapism was all the rage with Dynasty and Fantasy Island on television. In the coming years of Saturn in Libra, things may get much more serious. A T-square involving Uranus, Pluto and Saturn will put us all in a major crucible during this trying time. The USA, born with Saturn in Libra and wearing its sense of justice on its sleeve, is already being tried mightily by events and circumstances. If this Saturn return is anything like the last seven we’ve had since 1776, we’ll experience trade wars, isolationism, and military skirmishes.

When it all goes to hell in a handbasket, at least we may have an art scene like we had in the early 80s, with music and fashion to match. That’s the stuff that Libra lives for.

Shortly after Saturn’s return to Libra on July 21st, the Saturn/Pluto square comes back around this August. We thought it might be nice to revisit a post from last fall, when the square first hit. Expect more of the same in the coming months, complicated by the Cardinal Cross, the most important astrological event of the century. We’ll be talking a lot about that in posts to come….

* * *

In these tough times that seem to be getting tougher every moment, it’s hard to see the light peaking through the cracks of our dark Platonic/Plutonian cave. In an era marked by Pluto in Capricorn, the American Pluto Return, and its 8th Saturn Return, it feels like we’re living on a constant diet of fear, panic, and rage. Our corporate/religious monoliths are threatening to swallow us whole. We are finally figuring out that we’re humans, not merely consumers, and we’re all moving through this massive and chaotic birth canal together. No wonder we’re scared shitless.

The most recent indication that the Saturn/Pluto square is really here came yesterday, as attorney general Eric Holder announced that the terrorists who wrought our 9/11 nightmare are heading back to NYC — to finally be tried for their heinous crimes. On one hand it’s a brilliant move to make sure that these horrible men will have to face justice in our courts. It’s fitting that this will take place literally at the scene of the crime: only blocks away from where the towers burned and fell. (Although both families of 9/11 victims and other New Yorkers wonder if this will make us a target once again). Astrologically, it’s all disturbingly well-spun. This story started when the World Trade Center was attacked in 1993, as we experienced the first square of our current Saturn/Pluto cycle. When we were attacked in 2001, Saturn was opposite Pluto. Now we’re in a square once again, with Saturn sitting in early degrees of Libra, planet of justice. The American system of justice is actually on trial now — not just Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

Richard Tarnas, author of Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View, is a master of putting these historical events in the context of astrological cycles. He links Saturn/Pluto cycles to “eras of international crisis and conflict, empowerment of reactionary forces and totalitarian impulses, organised violence and oppression, all sometimes marked by lasting traumatic effects.” That about sums it up, doesn’t it?

But here’s where our daily work must transmute what seem to be indomitable forces of doom: we have to wake up each day and look ourselves in the eye, love ourselves with wild abandon, and love the ones we’re with just as much. We need to work on our compassion until our last button is pushed, and even beyond the pushing of that last button. We need to work through our fears and offer our hearts to the global crucible churning away. Yes, it is scary. Yes, filmmakers and others who want your money will try to scare you even more. Yes, the political climate will get heavier, and the black boots of oppression will march to what seems to be your door. Saturn in Libra, as evidenced by the works of great men like Cornel West, is an opportunity for us to understand the meaning of a Higher Love (cue the Steve Winwood.) We’re learning what it means to build real relationships with ourselves so that we can have authentic ones with other people. You can’t have one without the other.

While Pluto in Capricorn squares Saturn in Libra, we’re facing the Test of Tests. How can you love freely and openly when you’re scared for your very life? During the next weeks, months (and especially this coming spring, during the cardinal cross) every human being on the planet will have to face his and her deepest fears. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to turn this darkness into light. If each of us turn our inner lights on even while our instinct tells us to shut down, close up, and go into major bunker mentality, we’ll win this war. And the Saturn/Pluto square will turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to us. Are you with me? Bring it on.

New Moon in Cancer Eclipse Themes:

In the past few days everyone has been asking what in God’s name is going on? Why does it feel like the world is falling apart? Is it a Mercury Retrograde? Why is everyone sick, dying, breaking up, losing their minds?

It’s always interesting to look at what’s happening in the media to see what themes the universe is spelling (more like screaming) out for us.

Cancer Archetypes & Metaphors from the Collective:

The Oil Spill:

“As oil again again flows freely, crews are working around the clock to replace a containment cap on the ruptured underwater well in the Gulf of Mexico”, BP said Saturday.

Messages:

• Are we leaky vessels?
• Adopting faulty methods of containment?
• Ignoring the problem?
• What black substance is leaking at the core of our psyches?
• What are we doing to clean up our own emotional messes?

Iranian Woman’s Death Sentence

Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, a forty-three year old mother of two was sentenced to death by stoning for the crime of adultery (after her husband had died), a crime her family vehemently denies she committed.

Messages:

• It’s 2010 — we have video-conferencing on cellphones for Christ’s sake, and a woman can be sentenced to death by stoning? — but Tiger Woods loses a few sponsors?
• Woman are still being scape-slutted; the Madonna-Whore complex continues to breed violence, misogyny and broken marriages.

Lindsay Lohan’s (Cancer) Jail Sentence

Failing to show up for probation after two separate DUI offenses, she is sentenced to 90 days in jail and abandoned by her attorney.

Messages:

• Sober up!
• Oral fixation leading to victim complex equals disaster.
• “. . . train wreck parents lead to train-wreck daughter.” — This is what was said on CNN. A heartless way of putting it, but something to consider. We have to deal with our parental complexes. We can’t always cry, beg, drink or even buy our way out. Celebrity status doesn’t mean exemption from the law.

The New Moon Solar eclipse in Cancer (19 degrees) puts the focus on all archetypal themes associated with Cancer and the opposite sign, Capricorn.

Archetypal Mother and Father:

Most prominent are the archetypal mother and father themes. Cancer rules feelings, family, ancestral baggage, emotional patterns, home, security and unconscious personal memory. What I’ve been hearing from a lot of people recently: letting go has never felt so painful and yet so essential. Ancient wounds and insecurities compliments of our past, our parents and their parents seem to be resurfacing with a vengeance. Here is where we’re inclined to go right into the left-brain and ask: but what should I do? Jung used to say this question is an avoidance of the feeling process.

Anxiety And The Refusal To Feel:

If anxieties are mounting it’s because feelings are compounding. Anxiety is a threshold warning that uncomfortable feelings are threatening to surface. The only way out of anxiety is through: to let ourselves feel the feelings. Cancer rules the belly. Get in touch in with the feelings in the gut, and instead of reaching for the nearest oral sedative, feel them. Way easier said than done. Since this eclipse is hitting the South Node in Cancer, the letting go theme continues. The South Node is about letting go of the deep past, as in the karmic past. We have the opportunity to eradicate and transform ancient emotional patterns if we’re willing to dig deeply into our own psychic wells. With Mars in Virgo forming a sextile to this New Moon, if we’re willing to put in the work, take the necessary time in solitude and inquire within amazing shifts are possible. It is time to raise our emotional frequency but this does not happen without the deeper psychological work. Shadows lurk and our vessels are still leaky.

Archetypal Feminine:

The collective unconscious is conjuring up many powerful themes around the archetypal feminine. I have a feeling this has to do with the heavy planetary emphasis on Cancer and Virgo at the moment. Mars and Venus cohabitate in Virgo, amplifying these themes as well as bringing the archetype of the Virgin to the fore: “she who is what she is because that is who she is — not out of power or a desire to please anyone.”– Marion Woodman. The Virgin is “nobody’s daughter”(thanks to another double Cancer-Courtney Love- for this timely title track) — no longer enslaved to parental complexes, daddy boyfriends or husbands, patriarchal perfectionist standards, or man-child partners. This of course takes a great deal of psychological and soul work.

Saturn Leaves Virgo:

Saturn leaves Virgo on the 21st of July so time is running out — the patient (but relentless) cosmic taskmaster is preparing the final exam. Have we cleaned up our psyches, diets, closets, daily grinds? Have we faithfully pursued Self? Have we learned to be okay to be alone? Have we simplified, pruned, de-cluttered, purified, cleaned, organized, analyzed, assimilated?

Potential Themes to Explore in Therapy, Meditation, Art, & Journaling:

• What feelings from the past are haunting us?
• Where are we still having difficulty letting go? (Look for past roots)
• What are we still desperately clinging to, and what does it represent on a deeper emotional level? (Look to past attachments)

Deeper exploration of the Mother-Father archetype and how it translates into current self-parenting or lack thereof.

Mother Complex:
(controlling, cold, distant, abusive, smothering, lack of nurturing, narcissistic, or mother disconnected from her own feeling values)

Symptoms:

• Addictions, especially oral
• Eating, smoking, drinking, talking
• Poor self-care
• Perfectionism
• Laziness/intertia
• Inability to change
• Moodiness
• Materialistic
• Debt
• Ungrounded
• Frozen feeling
• Disconnection from body
• Frigidity
• Sexual issues

Father Complex:
(absent, dominating, abusive, cold, smothering, sexualizing, judgmental, critical, overly-demanding, impossible to please)

Symptoms:

• Lack of boundaries
• Difficulty saying no
• Time-management problems
• Low self-esteem
• Looking for Daddy-Husband
• Problems with authority
• Promiscuity
• Career issues
• Sexual issues
• Money problems
• Self-critical

Taking Care of our Emotional Body:

Cancer rules moods, feelings, and the stomach.

How much do you absorb other people’s emotional garbage?

Avoid becoming a psychic dumpster for other people’s unprocessed crap.

Eclipsing Emotional Baggage:

Maybe if we were charged a baggage fee every time we entered a new relationship, we’d lighten our load and at least downsize to the carry-on version.

Some common Cancer-Virgo complexes to explore (look for these themes/symbols in your dreams):

Victim/Savior complex

Fat/Perfectionist complex

Madonna-Whore complex

Mother-Father complex

A Ritual to Read to Each Other-William Stafford

If you don’t know the kind of person I am
and I don’t know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others made may prevail in the world
and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.
For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,
a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break
sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood
storming out to play through the broken dyke.
And as elephants parade holding each elephant’s tail,
but if one wanders the circus won’t find the park,
I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty
to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.
And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,
a remote important region in all who talk:
though we could fool each other, we should consider-
lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.
For it is important that awake people be awake,
or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;
the signals we give-yes or no, or maybe-
should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.

– by William Stafford

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Our latest article is up on Lifescript.com. Read your blisteringly hot summer love forecast here. You may want to pour yourself a glass of iced tea first.

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“Surviving Saturn’s Return” has really helped me. My Sun is in Leo and everything went weird from August 2005. I felt i was living two lives, my boring work life and my artistic hobby life. If only I had got your book then! After reading the chapter on Leo in your book, I realised I just had to get on with it, and give more kudos to my creative work. And the universe has given me so much more back — I’ve got my first paid freelance film making job for a major gallery in London and am setting up an exciting clothing label. The future seems exciting again and the fog has cleared!

“I wouldn’t have made these big steps without reading your book so just had to write. Your book gave me confidence to take a chance. I’m actually looking forward to when Saturn comes back for my proper Saturn’s Return (in Libra) because even though it may get messy I’m sure good things will come out of it in the end. At least this time I’ll know what to look out for! So thanks again for an amazing book, it really does help change lives!” From Sarah in London. March 30, 2008

“I read your book. SAVED MY SANITY and changed my life. Thank you!” From Deina. January 14, 2008

“Discovering your book was one of the many beautiful gifts of the universe I was given in my time of greatest need. I felt like I was losing control of myself that I didn’t recognize myself and nothing about myself was secure. I didn’t know who or what I truly liked or hated anymore. I thought I was going crazy and way too young for a mid-life crisis. About the time that I began spiraling even further down as I was packing to move I had left out 1 CD that I had never listened to before but had felt inspired to keep out for my packing. It was No Doubt’s “Return of Saturn”. Another beautiful gift. A good friend then felt inspired to call me. She asked me if I was close to my Saturn’s return? I didn’t know what that was but it was the name of the album I was listening too. I read the insert and Gwen the singer had read about Saturn’s Return and felt it had reflected her musical journey so much she named her album after it. I called my favorite aunt, a retired astrologist and she did my chart and explained the process to me over the phone. I next found your book on amazon.com and overnighted it. The comfort that I felt reading and preparing for a frightening yet illuminating time is indescribable. Awareness is everything. Knowledge is power. From that moment on Saturn ceased to happen to me and instead I became a active participant in it’s return. It wasn’t pretty but I was given the tools to face it bravely and partake of it’s lessons with a knowledge there was an end in sight. I truly enjoy the person I have become since the return and facing my fears and weaknesses help me actualize what I really most wanted and yearned for at my core. Thank you! I recommend and even offer to buy this book for every friend and family member I know that will be going through this necessary cycle.” From Jen. September 17, 2006

“29.5 years you say . . . that was yesterday. So here I am, repeating patterns, inner strife, angst and turmoil; in the middle of moving homes (became a landlord) I am let-go at work, for the first-time ever, my email address is changed, my phone number (linked to the company blackberry) is also changing and the female I was seeing (we were both repeat performances of previous relationships) suddenly clarifies the incompatibility between us. Change, challenge, strife and life! That’s Saturn Return, alright. From “Leo Rising”. August 20, 2006

“I can breathe. I thought really truly thought there was something wrong with me, my mind was clouded, my body tight and scared. I’ve never been so afraid! Thank you both for the knowledge and understanding you’ve given me.” From Danielle. July 27, 2005

“If only I came across this gift prior to the commencement of Saturn’s Return. I could have saved myself 18 months of pure agony and torture; many times where I thought something had seriously become wrong with me. As I crawl out of this period, I begin to find myself again beneath this cloak of horror Saturn has had me wear during this time. I am emerging more strong albeit it rather depleted. Read this book of knowledge; don’t even question it. Share it with your friends and others who are about to ‘hit it’ — they’ll truly thank you after this storm passes. And when the storm does pass, begin to prepare yourself cognitively for the next.” From Sam. April 4, 2005

“In my recent interest and exploration of the Saturn Returns theory, yours is the most comprehensive and lucid description that I have ever read. Thank you for providing us with a deep understanding of why we have to confront our fears so that we may learn our lessons to better ourselves and our world. Insightful, helpful, powerful and enlightening. I loved every word.” From Gisella. February 22, 2004

“The circumstances that caused me to purchase Surviving Saturn’s Return are amazing and could only be rationalized by saying that I was led to it by unknown forces. Although my family has always studied astrology, numerology and things of that nature, the Saturn Return was unknown territory. I am one of those gals that Saturn had to insert the firecracker in my *ss and let it go off. It was the only way, but man does it get dark. This book is a very big tool in my collection of ways to understand what and why these darkest life changing events are in my path. I almost lost my spirit, knowingly. Any more books or resources out there to help me maintain strength and focus? I am known for giving in out of fear, guilt and false security. THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORK! YOU MAY HAVE SAVED MY SANITY AND AT THE LEAST MY SOUL.” From Pamela. January 31, 2004