posted May 26, 2005 07:34 PM
I'll be going through my Progressed Moon Return in Sept. and I've been digging up all the info I can after reading of it's importance and also because my Natal Moon is at an Anaretic Degree. It should prove to be an important time in my life, from what I've read. We all have our Progressed Moon return around the age of 27. It's importance is up there with the Saturn Return but not many people pay attention to it. Here are two great articles some of you might be interested in. Pixie, I know you will be going through your Saturn Return soon and I'm sure there are some others out there. I still have a couple of years to go, but, I'm actually looking forward to it. And I'm very curious to see what will be going on when my progressed moon reaches the conjunction to my natal moon.
Anyone else care to share what was happening in their lives during the time of their Progressed Moon Return?
The Progressed Moon, the Saturn cycle, and Critical Life Choices Pt.1
by Robert Wilkinson
Today's post is inspired by my own chart, as well as the charts of several of my clients I've analyzed in the past several weeks. There are two factors in astrology that are extremely important, and they track each other in terms of significant timing on important life choices. These two cycles involve the progressed Moon, and transiting Saturn. Though many believe these two cycles to be approximately the same length (and so usually ignore the progressed Moon part of the equation), they are not, and the difference in timing is significant in our own life unfoldment. Today we will discuss the progressed Moon. Tomorrow we'll go into Saturn, and how these two are related in helping us to a more mature experience of ourselves and our life purpose.
In standard secondary directions, a.k.a. "progressions," we assume that every day in the future is equivalent to one year of time. Thus our progressed Sun, moving approximately one degree a day, will be about 30 degrees ahead of our natal Sun when we are 30 years old. It will be 45 degrees ahead of our natal Sun position about 45 days (or years) after our birth. Because the Moon completes its orbit of the Earth every 27.3 days, it indicates that about the time we are 27+ years old, we will experience a "Progressed Lunar Return." This period has major implications for our experience of life and our future potential, since it marks the point when we have emotionally experienced, to whatever degree, an entire cycle of the Moon going through all the signs. We have felt, "up close and personal" as they say, all of the sign energies in the zodiac when the Moon moved through them. This gives us a certain "completeness" in our emotional experience, and prepares us for the second transit of the Moon through the signs between the age of 27 and 55, at which point we again have a Progressed Lunar Return.
It has been said that when the progressed Moon touches important points in our chart, it puts a focus on those inner qualities and outer circumstances. The Lunar contact may or may not be associated with dramatic events, but it often shows as a point of significant choice in some way of life, or some way of experiencing our feelings around the planetary function it touches. This occurs regardless of whether we are using Vedic or Western astrology as our yardstick, since the Lunar Return occurs with fixed regularity without regard to which sign it occupies.
In this approximately 28 year cycle, there are significant quadrant shifts every 7 years or so. That's why we seem to have dramatic changes in our life every 7 years, mas o menos. The Progressed Lunar cycle tracks with both the generic 7 year cycles, the shifts of Uranus every 7 years to a new sign, as well as the transit of Saturn to our natal Saturn occurring every 29+ years, also known as the Saturn Return. In these changes we can see our evolving individuality and some of the larger life lessons we are here to learn and master. I'll discuss the Saturn part of the equation tomorrow, and which points in life are critical shifts. Update: I've decided to post part 2 of this article on Monday, maybe Sunday. Tomorrow I'll post on the upcoming Mars conjunction Uranus, and the Venus square both with Neptune stationary retrograde, since these are extremely important in our near future.
The Saturn Return – The Mythology and the Reality
by Robert Wilkinson
The Saturn return, occurring between 27 and 29 years of age for most of us, is perhaps one of the most feared, and misunderstood points in personal evolution. It usually indicates a time of difficulty, but also important choices where we move out of unconscious patterns into more deliberate expressions of our unfulfilled self.
It is a time of endings, but also major new beginnings. It is often associated with a time of hardship, but any hardship usually occurs because we are resisting our own tide of personal evolution. During this time of clearing our old psychological refuse, whatever must change WILL change, whether we want it to or not. It is important to note here that Saturn is not "causing" these things to occur. We are the engineers of our own lives. Saturn merely indicates the part of our inner nature which must learn certain lessons as a direct result of our own nature, and the cause-and-effect cycles we have set into motion before this time of radical choices and changes.
The Saturn return is a time when the "chickens come home to roost," for good or ill. It is a time of evaluating what we can live with and what we cannot. It is the most important time for examining what our priorities are and what must be dropped from our lives to allow us a more mature expression of our "dharma," a Sanskrit term approximately meaning "true function" in the higher sense of the term.
Saturn returns to its birth place again between 57 and 59, where we again choose how we want to live for the rest of our lives. Again we make choices. This time, though, we are challenged to turn away from old limitations, rules, responsibilities, fears, and unfulfilling behaviors. This is the time to distill wisdom from the realizations we’ve had so far, reflected through the filter of over 30 years of adult experience. It’s usually hardest on those who still operate out of immaturity, irresponsibility, or fear.
Any time Saturn touches any planet in our charts, it indicates a time when all of the above factors are brought to bear on the psychological function of the planet visited by Saturn. Thus when Saturn touches one’s Sun, it is a time of receiving the rewards of "living your light," or feeling oppressed as a result of past self-betrayals. When Saturn touches one’s Moon, it is a time of seeing what habits and feelings you can live with, and which ones have become too calcified to endure any longer. Yes, it may feel limiting and restrictive, but it also brings rewards and a deepening of one’s inner connectedness with our true nature if we show the virtues of patience, responsibility, maturity, and organization.
Saturn shows us the lessons we must learn to grow in our "authority," regardless of what sphere we are moving through. The Saturn return shows us how we are or are not exercising "free will," rather than fear. Saturn is the part of us that is rigid and authoritarian, but also where we take responsibility for our lives and choices, and come to a genuine life renewal by ending whatever has oppressed us while embracing a more mature sense of self.
Though it is not usually a "joyous" time, it can be. Though it is not usually an "easy" time, it can be if you are living your higher purpose. Just learn what people and circumstances and fears you no longer want nor need, let go of lesser things, and you will find a maturity that enables you to enjoy your future, rather than be frustrated at not being able to stay in childish behavioral, feeling, and thinking patterns. Ultimately Saturn can lead us to our primal innocence, where we do what’s right for the greatest good for all, without ulterior motives and controlling behaviors. We just have to learn to be mature, without being old.
http://blogs.salon.com/0003573/stories/2004/05/11/theSaturnReturnTheMythologyAn dTheReality.html