angstoic.com Astrologer, Ang Stoic
Feeling a little up and down lately?
“Life has its ups and downs. When you are up, enjoy the scenery. When you are down, touch the soul of your being and feel the beauty.”
― Debasish Mridha
The square between Jupiter (our more liberal side) and Saturn (our more conservative side) is pitching the elements of elated optimism against the dreadful realities into our lives, almost on a day-to-day basis. It feels very much like one day you’re up – all full of hope and beaming with self-confidence, then the next day, disheartened by the grimness of it all…
… Aaargh!!
These are the principles of expansion and contraction and they’re battling it out on a constant, daily basis for the next few months – each trying desperately to affect you in their own blessed way, whilst simultaneously trying to curtail one another from going too far.
At heart is the principle of morality, not only of what feels ‘good’ or ‘bad’, but our own ideas about what is fruitful for us to explore versus those that may turn out to be quite limiting. So this pair of planets rules our critical assessments and value judgments about how we should live our life. This combination of planets also rules controlled growth, organised expansion, and discipline. Jupiter/Saturn shows us the importance of proceeding relatively slowly, in a grounded sense, so that any progress made is stable, steady and as free of setbacks as possible.
On the occasions where Saturn exceeds Jupiter in energy, we may feel that our progress is going too slowly, or seems limited or frustrating, resulting in dispositions where our enthusiasm is dampened. Conversely, on those days where Jupiter exceeds Saturn we may sense a lack of organisation or stability in our desired progress.
So then, no wonder that our personal disposition is teetering from high to low on such a frequent rate. No wonder that we should experience this as quite a tense and sometimes upsetting time. The messages we get from our society are on one hand promising, the other quite bleak. On the backdrop of this tense socio-political climate, what else could we expect but a classic case of the ‘happy-sads’??
RECENT HISTORY:
Although these two planets did not form their first exact square until August 2015, they came very close (within 6° orb) between September and December 2014, at their closest during most of November 2014 (within 3°). The most intense energy during that period was also felt during the uncomfortable quincunx between Uranus and Saturn, Jupiter’s addition to the mix made things quite complicated, especially since a fire trine around 26 September 2014 between Uranus and Jupiter only injected more fuel into the already unsettling social unrest. Much was formed politically during this time that is unfolding in real terms today.
So what does this Jupiter/Saturn square mean for us today?
What is the process that is playing out in this closing quarter of this 20-year Jupiter/Saturn cycle that began at 23° Taurus in June 2000?
Essentially this is about the integration of moral principles into our lives. In Taurus, the emphasis of this cycle will be to find a harmonious and successful way to incorporate discipline into our lives through understanding our economic and materialistic values. Through our investments in the tangible world of property, banking, business, finance and material goods we have sought out to develop our ability to be trusting and discerning with where our future security is heading.
These current squares present us with the last junction of this cycle, posing serious, extreme, existential questions regarding how our investments are working out. Is our optimism about how we are faring in the economic sense under control; is our speculation careful; are our valued investments going to pay off.
During this square, many indications will make us question whether we are going to yield any return on those things on which we have placed our faith.
On one hand it can bring an increased pessimism about our ability to cope with the future, making us feel quite inadequate in relation to others. On the other hand, we still hold optimistic ideals about our own worth and the trajectory of our own power and importance. Just as Jupiter in Virgo can inflate us with the promise that everything will be okay as long as we worked together, Saturn in Sagittarius has some pretty sobering ways to lead us into the doubt, mostly because what we are experiencing between us is a lack of understanding and wisdom. This is a time where foolhardy speculation turns into a state where many are shoring up their resources for the purposes of survival. This does not necessarily mean hoarding – it means knowing ourselves and what we are capable of accomplishing should circumstances change dramatically.
Over the next two months we experience the remaining 2 squares between these social planets.
- 23 March 2016
- 26 May 2016
Because Saturn turns retrograde (25 March) and Jupiter turns direct (9 May), the pair appear to be locked into a sustained square (90°, +/- 2°) for most of March till May. This only exacerbated the tension by prolonging the inherent issues raised by this aspect, seen both in personal relationships and in much wider, socio-political spheres.
Within our relationships to others we begin to experience an increasing struggle between the qualities of faith and doubt in one another’s ability to step up to the mark of expectation that we had set. We need to learn to take a more sensible approach towards those in our lives without diminishing their inner worth or potential. Ultimately it is a period where nature herself will enforce supreme justice (higher law), exposing us to what might feel like a harsh awakening to who our valued supporters truly are. We also come to gather, after imposing stricter levels of personal discernment, that some people are simply incapable of growing with us. Sometimes we must accept that our personal investments, whether in our people, places or material things are never going to pay off and it is best to cut our expectations of them and just simply walk away.
It happens. We need not feel disappointed. Everyone, at some point, reaches the ceiling of their developmental capacity. We need to be realistic, if not compassionately forgiving to those who failed to stack up for us.
In the broader social sphere this square will see continuous reviews of our laws and political systems. Harsh changes may be introduced in the way our justice and political methods are serving us – often because they have over-arched their promises to help us or have reached some sort expiry in their effectiveness. Democracy, socialism, totalitarianism, monarchy, anarchy… all have their patent flaws in today’s globally expansive social structure.
There will be growing pressure on federal authorities to actually contain and regulate lawbreakers, politically undesirables and insurgents, which will create enormous debate for reforms in enforcement, and though we have seen many examples of civil unrest through Sep-Dec 2014 and most strongly around Aug 2015 (first of three exact squares), we will definitely see many more examples of social upheaval coming. This is due to much discontent and increasing evidence of poor/inadequate management of our legal/foreign policies and their enforcing proponents (police, military).
The challenge of these two largely “social planets” ultimately brings many opportunities to review and rewrite our overall social structures. It is an immense reality sandwich which we will nibble on slowly over the next few months, watching it slowly unravel upon our communities and in our global arena.
This is also chance, however, to assess our own part within our society. Are we setting realistic goals in how we integrate into the fabric of the greater world or do we need to adjust our attitudes and beliefs about it all? If it appears like our society is not working for us – not giving us the best return on our investment – then what are we actually going to do about it? After all, it is our own faith in the structure that either makes it work or it does not. If we can actively affect it, then why do we sit on the sidelines and just worry?
It is time to personally become more actively engaged on the greater, social scale or to choose to be actively disconnected form your society. As they say, “your vote counts”. Either exercise your individual right to express your own opinion, choosing wisely where you will invest your trust, or simply disband, walk away and form your own society.
Beautifully written! This is exactly what I am experiencing in my neck of the woods. I was wrongfully terminated at the beginning of 4/2016 by a law enforcement agency. They denied my claim for unemployment and trashed me in the process. Im appealing both decisions. In an effort to bring public awareness to the injustice that is being executed I went to the media. My article came out last night exposing their selective enforcement and retaliation and corruption of not only myself but other fellow coworkers. I encouraged others that were wrongfully discharged to come forward and tell their stories. Its been a complete nightmare since 2015!