Aspects for the week beginning 30 May 2010

The term “planet” is Greek for “wanderer”, and this week two of them plus an asteroid change direction in their wanderings.  I have just a few hours ago returned from four days in Venice, so this blog may sound like a travelogue, or I may have total writer’s block.  The first day of my holiday I realized I had put a “typo” (too kind a term) in my last blog, writing quincunx instead of semi-sextile, and would not be able to correct it until I got home…Meanwhile I saw the Full Moon on the Grand Canal, wistfully reflected in the eyes of the Gondoliers.  The next morning business was brisker, and their eyes were glinting sunlight instead.  And where were you when Uranus went into Aries?  I was asleep on the Rialto Bridge (a very complex bridge with a Hotel which was hard to find).  But on the day of Uranus entering Aries, two volcanoes erupted in Guatemala and Ecuador in South America, much to the suffering of humans, but nature needing to let off steam again.  Today Saturn goes stationary at 27 degrees Virgo prior to going direct and travelling back towards Libra.  Saturn went back in a particular area of our charts for some clutter-clearing, and I hope you were able to achieve some.  When it goes back into Libra there will be more earnestness about making relationships or coalitions work.  My blog of 18 October 2009 entitled “Saturn in Libra – Karmic Dilemmas” looked at the issues highlighted when it first entered Libra.   We now have  a coalition government in the U.K. led by a Libran Prime Minister.  Delicate “proximity talks” are going on in the Middle East as Barack Obama seeks to make his mark on this age-old search for peace.  Saturn does not reach Libra until 21 July, but the period in between is important preparation, as well as there being more Saturn-in-Virgo cleaning up, notably the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  To keep astrologically up-to-date on this situation, read Nancy’s Starlight News Blog (link on my Contact page) and the comments to it. Tomorrow (Monday 31)  Neptune goes stationary at 28 degrees Aquarius prior to going retrograde.  Neptune ruling oil and water will in retrograde motion show up more problems in connection with the oil spillage.  Complex interconnections need to be understood and worked with in this retrograde phase.  Neptune does not turn direct again until November, but some aspects of the oil spillage, or your own life complexities and clearing up operations, may hopefully gain ground by the time Saturn completes its mission in Virgo in July.  Saturn direct in Virgo favours the practicalities, while Neptune retrograde highlights the emotional and compassionate needs of the weaker elements in our society (Neptune in Aquarius) or the animal kingdom which need our help.  Saturn going and Neptune coming back meet up again in a quincunx (yes that really is one) at the end of June, and though it’s an uncomfortable aspect, it may be what is needed for people to work together on complex operations, and also to prepare for future ground.  On Friday (4^th June) Chiron goes stationary at 1 degree of Pisces prior to turning retrograde.  This is the researching phase of a healing crisis, in your own life or out there as on the coastlines or the waters (Pisces).  Later as Chiron retrogrades back into the sign of Aquarius, there may be more scrutiny of the problems in air space.  All the elements are vying for our attention at the moment, it seems.  In the retrograde phase, diagnosis of the problem has been identified, and causation is what is being looked at.  If you are reviewing your life, turning out the closets could reveal some causations, e.g. an old postcard could bring back a state of mind you had forgotten, and re-tell a story whose nuances you might have missed.  On Friday too there is an opposition, between Mars and Neptune, so something may need to be looked at which you would have preferred to avoid, and there are more stories to be revealed on the themes of water and oil.  Coming back so recently from Venice, reading a biography of the scientist Galileo, I appreciate so much the depiction of the play of light on water by the different Venetian artists old and new, but realize that we need the ingenuity and research of the scientists now to help achieve the healing and balance of our environment for its survival, but also that we can continue to enjoy the beauty of the planet.  While away, I managed to offend one artist near St. Mark’s Square.  “You like only my water?” He asked.