Sun Square Saturn: "Father?" "Yes, Son?" "I want to kill you."

If you are chafing under the collar and champing at the bit of the PTB (powers that be) and Authority with a capital "A," relax: you are simply responding to the Sun squaring Saturn (exact tomorrow, 1/19, at 4:20 p.m. EST). Or don't relax. Saturn won't let you anyway, and besides, it's not so simple. The Sun in the final degree of Capricorn squares Saturn in the final degree of Libra, so if you have one or more natal planets at 29 degrees of a Cardinal sign (i.e., Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn), the feeling of repression/oppression is especially intensified.

Lest you think from the title of this post that I am advocating patricide, far from it: Please, kids, do not try this at home. I am just quoting directly from the Doors' lighthearted little ditty "The End." Interestingly, Jim "Lizard King" Morrison did kill his father in a way--by telling the press that he (plus his mother) had died in a car crash, even though his family was alive and well and probably wondering what they had done to deserve such a slap in the face of their son's newfound fame.

Still, if you are on the outs with your father, or boss, or any authority figure, now is the time to confront it (unless it has already confronted you) and find a way to deal with it, even if you cannot resolve this thorny issue as if you were a character in a half-hour TV sitcom.

Also consider the possibility that you may be your own harsh father figure, putting yourself down and punishing yourself for any and all mistakes you make instead of accepting your own humanity.

The Sun square Saturn indicates structural challenges of all sorts, from one's own skeleton (aching bones, anyone?) to the houses and buildings we live and work in to government. One timely example: the SOPA/PIPA wars, a proposed "anti-piracy" bill that has led to a Wikipedia blackout (Saturn) in protest. Opponents of this very Saturnian bill maintain that if the bill passes, it will be tantamount to Internet censorship and a violation of First Amendment rights.

If you feel that you have been making slow, steady progress under the recent harmonious Saturn trine Neptune, you may now feel as if you are taking two steps back at best or getting knocked off the mountain by a landslide at worst.

But to quote another rock 'n' roll giant, "All things must pass," and this too shall pass. The Sun square Jupiter (from 1 degree of Aquarius to 1 degree of Taurus) this weekend will be an entirely different ball of wax. Stay tuned...

Neptune: Giving with One Fin, Taking It Back with the Other

Two thousand twelve started with such a bang (New Year's Day I took part in a poetry marathon; the following day I had a poem published in a well-respected literary magazine; then spent an Edenic weekend with my newish boyfriend), I might have known that just 10 days later I'd fall off a cliff..."coincidentally" with transiting Neptune conjunct my 6th-house cusp in the final degree of Aquarius.

In late March 2011, the first time Neptune entered 29 degrees of Aquarius and my 6th house, I came down with the flu. The second time, six months later, I was heartbroken in a dying relationship. And both of these situations seem like a gourmet picnic compared with what is now afoot (pun intended): a suddenly worsening upper-ankle (Aquarius) sprain (Uranus, ruler of Aquarius) caused by a near fall (Uranus again!) several weeks ago, which means I will need to see an orthopedist at the precise moment it will bring tears to my eyes to deal with a co-pay: the unexpected (yet more Aquarius/Uranus) loss of my part-time job (6th house), the nook of stability in which I resided for the past 13 months while continuing to freelance and write. Oh, and I have until the end of March, when my lease is up, to get my income back on relatively solid ground. No pressure there! Neptune is many things, but solid is not one of them.

Actually, I have gone through far worse situations, and without the benefit of an emotional support network (i.e., a few real friends). However, with the Moon transiting my natal Moon sign of Scorpio, I feel pretty damned lonely right now. I am writing this post on company time (it's not as if they can let me go; they already did that last week). If I were literally alone right now, perhaps I would not feel so isolated. But with Neptune once again poised on my 6th-house cusp, I feel like a fish (Neptune) out of water (all but the cusp of my 6th house falls in Pisces).

The idea of performing later this week, with the Moon in Sagittarius, seems a cruel joke. But if I wish to be a true performance poet and not a self-pitying overgrown baby, I must turn this sludgy, drudgy feeling into something vibrant and inspirational, and make my support network proud.

Back to the drawing board...and back to work.