It's What Will Set You Free

The Sun and Saturn (regardless of tropical or sidereal zodiac) are currently in what’s called “planetary war” in jyotish and combustion (for Saturn) in Western astrology. Out of the clashes of the planets in the sky, this one may be one of the most poignantly felt. Why?

It’s story time:

Just a Little Family Drama

In Hindu mythology, Shani (Saturn) is the son of Surya (the Sun) and his shadow wife Chaya. Long story short, Surya’s first wife, Sanjna, was basically over being subjected to the heat and splendor and she left him. However, before going, she created a “shadow” version of herself, Chaya.

Not being able to tell the difference (hey, even a god can’t tell if you got a haircut sometimes let alone if you’re a whole ass Stepford wife clone of his real wife), Surya begat Shani from Chaya. While she was pregnant, she fasted under the sun to impress Lord Shiva; but, Shiva, taking pity on the unborn god, nurtured and protected him. However, this turned Shani black in the womb…and that’s when all the trouble began.

Upon Shani’s birth, Surya was enraged at having a black baby (oh, yes, there’s a lot to unpack there) and doubted it was even his. (Unfortunately, if they were on Maury, he’d have to hear the news, “Surya, you ARE the father.) Then, as the wee baby opened his eyes, in his own righteous rage, he cursed his father, causing Surya to be eclipsed.

There was a lot of other family drama, but you know the saying — the beginning tells you all you need to know about what’s going on.

And that, my darlings, is the root of the central drama unfolding in the sky this week, but what does it mean in the lives of us mere mortals?

Moral Injury

Since the beginning of the year, the issue of moral injury in relation to employment, society, the economy and the context that creates for each of us has been top of mind.

There are indeed indications that the recession might have been averted — at least, in developed economies (the UK is its own issue). However, the reality of massive corrective layoffs in the financial and tech sectors as well as the looming denouement of the Fourth Industrial Revolution — widespread, practical application of generative AI — puts the question that you know I love to ask every single day:

What does it mean to be a human being in the 21st Century?

We are at a juncture at which generative AI and automation can take over not only most manufacturing jobs (most of which have already been shifted to lights-out factories) but many white collar jobs as well (e.g., language-based algorithms can already predict a company’s performation better than a human analyst).

Additionally, a collective awakening to the insufficiency of the extractive nature of our current economic model seems underway. Many are coming to the realization that consumerism — exchanging the time of one’s life and one’s labor for money to converted into the accumulation of stuff that signals social status — truly is Mamon — a false god unable to fulfill its promises of identity, meaning, and belonging.

So, here we are: At the end of one model of being a human being and tasked with defining the next.

Before we can do that, there needs to be an individual and societal reckoning with the moral injury that has been incurred in our current work spaces. (You know when bastions of commerce like the Harvard Business Review start using server space to discuss it, something is going on.) My first encounter with the term came while I was prepping my film, Dwell Time, in the context of veterans who had been asked to circumvent their moral compasses in order to do their duty and then experienced extreme difficulty in reintegrating into their families and communities once they’d left the military. However, that is one extreme. You don’t have to turn a blind eye to atrocities being committed to suffer moral injury at the workplace.

Every day, there are legions of people going to work and having to tell themselves that there isn’t anything they can do about larger sins their companies are committing — whether those are ravaging the climate or contributing to increasing social and economic injustice — or ones within the culture — that enable harassment, a hostile work culture, or lead to the dehumanization of coworkers. They have to repeated the mantra that this is what they need to do to get by and they are still a good person. Hell, I was one of those people for a very long time — and I contend with this conversation every time it seems necessary to return to corporate work.

Not only does moral injury trigger the same crippling symptoms as burnout, it has far reaching implications. Repeatedly having to compromise one’s moral compass in exchange for economic sustenance has landed us where we are in terms of the economy, social justice, and the climate.

Before we can define what it means to be a human being in the 21st Century in a post 4th Industrial Revolution world, we have to get at the root of why individually and as a species we have become unable to model the far reaching implications of our individual actions on the collective and throughout time.

So, to lighten the mood, let’s talk about what that means for us this week astrologically, shall we?

Aquarius Season & Photons of Light

Recently, I did a live on IG that took me a while to get the point, but it bears repeating what the Sun in Aquarius and Aquarius for that matter are all about.

A photon takes 1,000,000 years to travel from the center of the sun to your retina. (5 times longer than the estimate for our species’ existence.) Add that to the billions of years it took for your individual consciousness to evolve from the primordial remains of stars. This is the essense of Aquarius season.

The average person is an amalgation of 7 billion billion billion atoms (aka 7 x 10^27). There may be duplication but none are inessential. That’s how nature works. (As in a great work of art, every part is essential in order for the fundamental uniqueness of the piece to exist. This is the whole traumatic creative process for most artists — removing the inessential until only the essential that conveys truth remains.) Each one has its own purpose and identity; but, while maintaining and appreciating its individuality, it is irrevocably bound by purpose, co-presence, and mutual reliance on the rest of the atoms to create a single entity — you.

It’s the same with the sun — all those photons taking millions of years over the sun’s lifetime moving singly from the center of the sun out into the universe for parts unknown but still giving that unified identity to the star.

As are we all. Sun — the planet of the soul — takes us to task to examine how shining the divine spark with which we are all imbued is both singular in its genius but finds the place in which it is able to coalesce with the whole and contribute to mutual benefit.

Look at the house Aquarius covers in your own chart…It’s here that you’re being asked to recognize your value and offer it up as an equal thing to the value of those around you contributing to the same cause, project, environment, whatever.

Here’s a hand dandy list to refer to.

ASCENDANT HOUSE AREAS OF LIFE/CALL TO ACTION (CTA)

Aries 11 Gains, Cash Flow, Social Networks, Dreams + Wishes
CTA: to manifest spirit into reality

Taurus 10 The Person You Choose to Be, Action/Karma
CTA: to fulfill your social responsibilities

Gemini 9 Pursuit of Wisdom, Dharma, + Dreams
CTA: to understand your place in the universe

Cancer 8 Trust, Sudden Changes, Other People’s Values + $$
CTA: to experience vulnerability and build trust

Leo 7 1:1 Relationships + Contracts
CTA: to fulfill your promises (to others)

Virgo 6 Your Debts, Managing Resources + Dis-ease
CTA: to do the work that sets you free

Libra 5 Your Unique Genius, Pleasure, Fun
CTA: to enjoy life

Scorpio 4 Your Home + Foundation
CTA: to define and experience happiness

Sagittarius 3 Your Desires + How you get them
CTA: to recognize fear + act from courage

Capricorn 2 Your Resources, Values, Belongings
CTA: to attain sustenance + security

Aquarius 1 Your Body, Your Point of View
CTA: to seek belonging in the world

Pisces 12 Ego Death, Sacrifice, Foreign Lands, + Orgasm
CTA: to dissolve the inessential

Then There’s That Pesky Family Dramz

When the Sun’s in Aquarius, Saturn’s its boss. After all, “the child is father of the man” — thanks, Wordsworth. (Fun Fact: In some Filipino cultures, you aren’t considered an adult in society until you become a parent — and your child defines your identity not the other way around.) And Saturn is at home — waiting for its yearly visit from dear old Dad so they can go over the accounts.

As deliberated on at length in Working on Your 2023 Planning, Saturn is the Lord of Karma — the one who delivers the consequences of previous actions…and here’s what happens when the family reunion takes place in this part of the sky:

The Sun is called to account for the actions it has taken in service of the house opposite Aquarius in your chart — the one covered by Leo.

To figure out which that is, use the chart above again:

1. Locate your ascendant;

2. Identify which house Aquarius occupies;

3. Count 7 houses away from that — including the house of Aquarius (For example, Aquarius Ascendants have Aquarius in the 1st house. Seven houses away is the 7th House.) — to figure out which house Leo occupies; and

4. Find the # for that house in the chart and read the areas of life and call to action.

So, let’s use Aquarius Ascendants as an example: The House occupied by Leo is the 7th of 1:1 Relationships and Contracts in which one is called to fulfill one’s promises. Now that the sun is here in Aquarius, your first house, how has fulfilling or NOT fulfilling one’s promises and the obligations one has chosen to take on now yielding consequences in terms of your search for belonging in the world?

If you haven’t done what you’d said you’d do especially in the context of 1:1 Relationships, clients, and contractual obligations, Saturn will humble you and put you in a position in which you will have to meet those obligations or deal with the fall out — because that’s Saturn’s job.

Now, if you’ve done what you’d said you’d do, you will reap some kind of reward — for Aquarius AC, that might be the type of responsibility or opportunity that gives you a greater sense of purpose, self knowing, align you with what you know will bring you further along in the journey of self realization.

(If you need help sorting this out for yourself, book a session.)

BUT this isn’t a one way street!

The Sun also affects Saturn by burning away the unnecessary boundaries — the hurdles and baby gates — that are no longer productive and hinder the Sun from its equal contribution to the whole — especially in whichever house Aquarius covers.

The Sun is here to recognize and heal moral injury.

Hey, I love Saturn, but it can also carry a chip on its shoulder (what kid whose father rejected them from birth can be blamed for that?), be greedy and covetous (especially when Dad favored your other brothers), and worry too much about practicalities and the appearance of virtue. So, it too needs to be cleansed in the crucible of the yearly conjunction with the Sun.

The Sun is here to PURIFY our relationship to the hierarchies we allow to define our lives (usually work, religion, and political party) as well as the larger affiliations we identify with. Are we offering our genius (as signified by the house where Leo sits) in exchange for meaning, purpose, and joy that enables us to better experience self/Self? Or are we engaged in something transactional that not only leaves us feeling dissatisfied but actively or passively estranges us from our humanity and moral compass?

Why Is This Such a Big Deal Right Now?

Because Pluto is about to start one of two dips into Aquarius (from March 23rd until June 11th) before settling in for a twenty-odd year haul starting November 19, 2024 AND Saturn will be moving on to Pisces on March 8th.

Pluto in Capricorn has been all about recognizing the rot at the systems and hierarchies upon which we’ve premised our individual and collective existence on this planet. (On a Mundane level, this has included the United States’ Pluto return.) In Aquarius, Pluto is out to detox how we define humanity itself.

It will challenge us as a species in similar ways to 536-546 AD, time period many historians call the worst year to be alive as a human being. Why? (I’m not a mundane astrologer, so I’m not even going to go there.) 536 heralded the eruption of an Icelandic volcano that triggered world wide climate change that had impacts on agriculture, socio-economic collapse, and allowed for Bubonic Plague to take hold throughout the Roman Empire.

Okay, maybe we aren’t going to get a catastrophic volcanic eruption; but we our environmental karma is now undeniable — and the geopolitical impact is in our face. We will need to account more and more for mass migrations as countries that were once habitable cease to be as well as reform our supply chains and ability to provide food for 10 billion people. AI and Automation will force us to redefine human activity and how we assign value to economic contributions by individuals. The Global North will have to come to grips with the Global South.

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Books are Open!

Lots of light,
Anak.

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