posted November 01, 2009 12:14 PM         

Astrology in October-November-December 2009 -Standing on the Threshold of Saturn In Libra
by Robert Wilkinson

Saturn is now at the 30th degree of Virgo, completing the lessons of the past 2+ years and preparing to enter Libra October 29 at 10:09 am PDT, 6:09 pm Greenwich. What does this mean now and in the weeks to come?

Well, if nothing else it means that people born between the end of the third through the fourth weeks of March, June, September, and December are about to confront major turning of the wheel of Destiny in their charts! All with these birth periods are experiencing Saturn conjunct, square, or opposed to their Sun, no small matter in our life. And it will be happening for months to come.....

On the other hand (a Libra view!), those born between the end of the third through the fourth weeks of January, May, July, and November will find major productivity and understanding during these weeks, while those born mid July and mid December will find gifts and unique qualities developing out of experience and willingness to respond to specialized circumstances.

Obviously there will be other groups heavily affected during this transition time, including entire generations with major planets in the very early and very late degrees of every sign. But that's more than I can go into in this article. I will be composing how Saturn in Libra affects generations and each individual sign in the future. For now, we'll be focusing on the larger meaning of this transitional threshold state.

Beyond personal considerations, there are the larger changes upon us to examine as we transition from Saturn in Virgo to Saturn in Libra. This is the first of three passages of Saturn across the last degree of Virgo. These occur now, and again in 2010 in April (RX) and July (Direct).

This shows that for the next 9 months, we're dealing with larger Saturn lessons connected to the end of Virgo and beginning of Libra. These two energies are radically different, so being alert to changing ways of doing things will be paramount.

As long time readers of this column know, the last degree of Virgo was made highly active for a long time during the Solar Eclipse of September 2006, reinforced by subsequent Lunar Eclipses also stimulating that degree. This is a degree of "escaping from a narrow destiny" through hearing a call, being willing to rise to some urgent need, or simply finding "joy of enlisting in a task which broadens the life-horizon."

Saturn's transit of this degree will crystalize whatever process was set into motion 3 years ago to complete some realization of these themes. This is a major focus for the next 9 months. There is a need for concentration on whatever part of our individual, mental, or spiritual education needs finishing as we stand on the threshold of moving into Saturn in Libra and all the radically different lessons that will bring. It will certainly restructure whatever area it falls in our charts, with methods moving from known Virgo routines into potential Libra routines.

October has been a dress rehearsal for lessons to come between April and July 2010, the last time Saturn will be in Virgo until 2036. That will complete our Virgo lessons and restructuring.

Themes include what was said above, along with seeing the gestative power of our wisdom and choosing how to use our will power to move into a wider, more ideal life functions. Many will mobilize the power of their personality using the understanding they've built through persistent aspiration to drive forward into very different duties and new areas of responsibility. We'll see how our wisdom has morphed into new ideals.

We will find new Saturn in Libra experiences beginning in late October through mid-January. We'll get a different view of these from mid-January through early April 2010 when Saturn retrogrades back through this degree span. These will help us get clear about how to use these energies most productively when Saturn again leaves Virgo for the last time in late July 2010 and re-enters Libra and transits the first 5 degrees for the third time between late July and early September.

One way to understand the changes about to happen is to note changes in emphasis or experience in the areas ruled by Capricorn and Aquarius in our chart. There should be a very different way of responding to challenges and opportunities in these life areas beginning about a week from now.

When Saturn moves into the first 5 degrees of Libra, we are introduced through events, lessons, and experiences it symbolizes into the material/physical plane actional Transfigurations and Expectations indicated by the span in early Libra. It marks a point of shift from the work and attention to details indicated by Virgo into the greater ideals and vision of a better world indicated by Libra.

You can bet there will be a major change in "atmosphere" over the next few weeks! Many will be introduced into new archetypes, new ways of living a transfigured sense of self and relationships, and new ways of viewing how to achieve a greater life ideal.

Saturn crystalizes all it touches. It gives structure, boundaries, limitations, and clarity about things through its patient, steady rhythm of unfoldment. The life principle symbolized by Saturn is said to be "exalted" in Libra. That means that Saturn finds its "grounds for greatest growth" in the sign of Libra. If nothing else, it shows the need for responsibility in all of life's contracts. These include the "contracts" we make with our Higher Self as well as worldly involvements.

We all will get to re-examine our "contracts" with ourselves and others over the next few months, and many will find allies and friendly contacts with whom they share a heart-fire. Based in the training we embraced in Virgo, Saturn in Libra will bring us more solid relationships which are more fair, balanced, refined, or elegant than many in our past. We can find others in our Spiritual Sangha during this time, and begin to live our Higher Truths we've learned up to now.

So at this threshold of shifting into radically new ways to do our Being, find joy in new life horizons and be willing to rise to some occasion. You have nothing to lose but a narrow destiny. By next September, you'll be very clear about what's been lost and gained.