The Old Man turns around at 10:09 PM Pacific Time tonight, the 25th, from his position at 17 Libra 13. What should we expect? Nothing will necessarily happen right away; the retrograde of the slower bodies tends to sneak up on us like an ACME anvil dropped by a plotting coyote from a great height: we do not actually feel the flattening until we are smooshed–up until then, we only get a hint of a shadow from the descending object and the whisper of something, something big and relentless and unstoppable moving toward us.

We can examine matters of the natal House where the turnaround occurs, as well as any close aspects Saturn is currently making in the sky and any he makes to our natal placements–these will all offer clues. Right now, using a 3 degree orb, Saturn is sextile Venus, square Pallas and Mercury, which are still conjunct, and conjunct my lieblings h.Zeus; the picture is of hard-to-hear but wise messages delivered, profit or relationship harmony solidified, and still operating with an eye on ambitions and desires and making them happen. But what happens when a major player withdraws his support?

There are typically two kinds of response to a Saturn retrograde: one may feature the famous change to what we thought was solid and sure, basically a replacement of what was sure with what’s uncertain, or we may be freed-up from restrictions or containment–it can be a time of realizing that our reality is not bound in quite the way we thought it was. So, we can see either of these basic approaches (or both, as some people experience one internally, one externally) applied to difficult-but-smart communications, a reality or materially-based relationship or earning/ financial situation, and perhaps a challenge: those ambitions and desires you’ve been working to solidify just might happen (or dissolve once and for all into dust) at this point–are you ready to get what you want? Or do you believe something will be taken away from you?

See more here froom political astrologer Jude Cowell