Saturn in Aquarius Square Uranus in Taurus
In preparing for a Death Chart session last week I looked at the horoscope for a client I’ll call “S”, who had recently lost her grandmother. This was the first member of her family to die, and in her note to me, she sounded distraught. When I looked at the death chart, among other transits, Uranus was opposing natal Uranus and squaring her natal Saturn. This planetary event signifies a major life passage where the urge for autonomy and independence is heightened, and life becomes more uncertain (Uranus). Natal Saturn, on the other hand chart is associated with stability, security, and building secure foundations. Clearly this loss rocked the stability of my client’s life, coming at a time where the universe was pushing her to change. Also, transiting Uranus and Saturn were traveling in a square formation, a cosmic event that happens roughly every 21 years and was also present in my client’s natal chart. This means the current transit brought up a life-long issue for S of playing it safe (Saturn) or embracing change (Uranus).
When we spoke she shared that this was an ongoing issue for her, and one of her points of stability was her grandmother. They talked on the phone every day, some days up to three times, and had for many years. Being a stay-at-home mom, busy raising her two children, S found the love and support of her grandmother invaluable. At age 96 her grandmother suffered from heart disease but was still clear headed and emotionally present.
Death chart readings are still a “new” part of my practice, since I’ve only been offering them to clients for just over five years, and frequently during a session something will happen to surprise me. As S and I continued to talk she shared that she felt a terrible burden of guilt because she was unable to be at her grandmother’s bedside due to COVID. “Maybe I could have saved her,” she said, her voice heavy with regret. Even though S understood she was not at fault, her guilt and remorse were real.
Reading death charts reminds me that we feel so powerless in the face of death, and that grief brings with it remorse, anger, denial, depression and more. Based on the astrology of the death chart I was able to assure S that her grandmother’s death was timely (Saturn) and peaceful (Neptune). The pandemic has brought enormous suffering to us as a collective, although we’ve suffered in differing degrees everyone has been dealing with loss. S’s grandmother did not die from COVID, yet her death was marked like so many hundreds of thousands in the last year, by the pandemic.
A primary astrological marker for the pandemic, the Saturn/Pluto conjunction in Capricorn, has completed, but in its wake comes a new astrological cycle where Saturn, our stability and safety is being challenged (squared) by Uranus, the planet of change and unpredictability. We see this reflected in the ongoing difficulty of controlling the spread of the virus. This heavenly square stays in effect until March of 2022. It seems like we face another year of world-wide struggle with the pandemic.
If you were born with a Saturn/Uranus square in your birth chart during 1951-52, 1975-76, or 1999-2000, these next two years will bring powerful life changes, offering you opportunities to break old patterns. Or if you have planets in 7-14 degrees of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, or Aquarius, you can expect illuminating challenges as well. Meanwhile, for the rest of us, we can expect that all social progress will meet resistance and the rule makers and rule breakers will continue to clash.
Thank you and happy Aries season!