We are approaching a Full Moon in Gemini on Wednesday November 25th (2:44pm PST). While Gemini is generally light and playful, this Full Moon also triggers the Saturn-Neptune square, an intense, long-term aspect that offers both challenges and opportunities. This aspect has been building for the past year, and goes exact for the first of three times this Thursday. It will be exact again next June, and next September, and its influence will continue to be felt throughout 2017. The Full Moon is also conjunct Mercury, ruler of the mind, meaning we may gain insight into the meaning of this long-term aspect between Neptune and Saturn.
Saturn rules discipline, lessons, restriction, limits, tradition, structure, materiality, wisdom, and “getting what we deserve”. Saturn is sobriety, reflection, careful thought. Saturn is like a stern teacher who has our best interests at heart, and knows we often learn the hard way, through failure and difficulty. Neptune, in contrast, rules the wide open sea, imagination, creativity, the unconscious, interconnectedness, and unity. Neptune is the dream, the ideal, the hope. Neptune overcomes boundaries and limits, to emphasize wholeness.
Saturn and Neptune may seem at odds, but they depend on each other. If Saturn impels a musician to practice scales, and learn their tradition through disciplined practice, Neptune is the creative spark that makes their music live, and inspires them to transcend the limits of their tradition. Saturn and Neptune need each other: without a grounding in tradition, there would be no meaning to moving beyond it.
When planets get together in a square aspect, they challenge each other. As I often say, square aspects can be difficult, but hold immense opportunity for growth and integration. Saturn challenging Neptune may bring a reality check, show us where we’ve been deluding ourselves, or where our thinking has been unrealistic. We may be challenged to bring discipline to our creative practice. Now it’s time to consider how to bring our dreams to reality. What is the vision? How can we make it real? How can we give it structure? What is our plan?
Neptune challenging Saturn may inspire us to bring our ideals into practice, into our work. How can we, in practice, through our actions and work, make the world a better place? We may be asking if the work we do is the work we are meant to do. We aren’t all able to do what we love, or what we’re called to do, for a living. But the more we can carve out a space to live our dreams, the more we can find balance in our lives.
Without consciousness (or, just because life is difficult sometimes), Saturn can manifest as depression, Neptune can manifest as escapism or addiction. Their square can lead to confusion, anxiety, overwhelm, sickness, exhaustion. If this is what you’re experiencing, try to take a step back to consider the lessons being offered. How can you integrate the seeming opposites of Saturn and Neptune in your life? It would be beneficial to take it easy this week: rest, sleep, meditate.
The moon is in Gemini, which loves information, communication, and activity. Pay attention to what information comes your way, notice coincidences, and pieces of information that hold special meaning for you. Instead of perceiving information on only a cognitive level, try to feel into it: notice your bodily responses, notice what resonates with you, and what does not. With awareness, we can harness this Gemini influence to better understand the meaning of the Saturn-Neptune square. This would be a great time to access your personal birth chart. We get so much more information about the meaning of astrological transits when we can look to our charts to see which house they occur in.
These are just a few examples of how the archetypes of Saturn and Neptune may manifest. I would love to hear how these themes are surfacing in your life. Please share your stories and observations in the comments section on the website, or by email me. I always love to hear from you.