I logged onto the Huffington Post after my morning coffee and the two front page articles reminded me of the old alchemical axiom that is the basis of astrology, as well as most other mystical traditions: "As Above, So Below." Whatever happens to us here on earth is correlated to the planets above.
The two pieces were related to justice, courts and equality. First was the wonderful news about chief U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn R. Walker, a Republican appointee of President Bush, who had decided that gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry. The second article was about Elena Kagan being confirmed by the Senate as the 112th justice of the Supreme Court. These two mundane stories correspond to the heavenly passage of Saturn, the planet of rectification, in Libra, the sign of justice, marriage and equality.
To understand what Saturn in Libra means, let's look at what happened when Saturn was in Virgo, the sign before Libra. Saturn moved into Virgo, the sign of accounting, in the fall of 2007, right at the onset of the Great Recession. Saturn, being the rectifier, began the long process of fixing our financial system. Right when Saturn moved into Libra, on October 29th 2009, the government released the GDP, which for the first time since the onset of the recession, climbed 3.3 percent.
Saturn in Libra, the sign of balance, can help us balance our sheets and get us on the road to recovery. However, Saturn has the tendency to retrograde in the worst times, and so it did from April to the end of July, 2010. Now it's not companies that are too big to fail and need bailouts, it's countries like Greece; additionally, we had the flash-crash of May 6 and the BP oil spill. On July 21, Saturn returned to Libra where it is going to stay until the fall of 2012.
Since Libra is the sign of marriage, constitution, justice and equality, we can predict that these issues are going to grab the center of attention and be in the limelight in the next couple of years. Saturn, as the fixer, will help us redefine the institution of marriage, which already came to pass with the historic decision to override proposition 8 which barred same sex marriage in California. Here is a quote from the LA Times, August 5:
"A federal judge (Libra rules Justice) declared California's ban on same-sex (Libra rules mirrors) marriage unconstitutional Wednesday, saying that no legitimate state interest justified treating gay and lesbian couples differently from others."
Since the backers of the ban appealed, the case will probably reach the Supreme Court. After all, Saturn is exalted in Libra and manifests it's most powerful energy in this sign, the case will continue until 2012 when Saturn moves to Scorpio.
It was not only Saturn in Libra that reflected the current events but also the grand opposition between Saturn and Uranus. Last time this aspect happened was in 1965 to 1967, right when the U.S. was dealing with another kind of marriage injustice, namely the Loving v. Virginia case, when the Supreme Court declared Virginia's ban of marriages between white and blacks as unconstitutional.
A few interesting synchronicities: First and most obvious is the name of the case: LOVING v. Virginia. LOVING people, no matter their orientation, color, religion and gender, should be allowed to get married. Second, the ban on interracial marriage in Virginia which was called the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 was instated when Saturn moved from Libra to Scorpio. On a side note: President Obama was born August 4, 1961, six months after his white mother and black father exchanged vows of holy matrimony. A time where in 22 states there were laws forbidding whites from marrying blacks.
Saturn opposite to Uranus in the current cycle started in the fall of 2008 -- right when the ban on same sex marriage was installed -- and will continue well into 2011. This opposition pits the forces of renovation, equality and the future (Uranus) against the principles of traditionalism, conservatism and the past. No wonder the schism between Democrats and Republicans is wider than it ever was and the use of the filibuster has become a weekly activity. However, the scales of Libra are tilting towards the progressive side since Jupiter, the planet of success and expansion, is in conjunction with Uranus right now while the planet of war, Mars, is applying a rear-naked choke on Saturn, which manifested in the victory for same-sex marriage as well as the confirmation of Elena Kagan.
What does it mean to you? What news will appear on your private life's front page? That depends how you handle these aspects. My suggestion is to pay extra attention to your partners in love as well as in work. In the next two years we will experience a great deal of divorces and marriages. In order to surf these waves of electromagnetic energies, we have to use our significant others, our partnerships and our inner sense of justice as a surf board.
Since an opposition relates to duality, I think it's important to make the effort to balance your life: make sure your diet is healthy and that you are balancing the intake of food with exercise, balancing the budget, being extra attentive to your partners, and striving to peace, harmony and diplomacy, which are aspects of Libra that can help you in the next two years.