Friday the 8th is quiet, and yet we may hear whispers that are worrying or wounding–but is this really what’s happening? We may be a little hyper-sensitive when it comes to our values, and in particular, right now we may be treating our beliefs about our health and well-being as sacrosanct. Realize that sensitivity is making us reactive. That’s an understandable response when we feel vulnerable; being aware that we’re too touchy (and that others are, too) will keep things from spinning out of control and so causing real injury.

By the 9th, if we’re having a hard time making good decisions, it’s likely because we’re afraid: of being wounded further, of actually having power (and so being completely responsible), or of whatever changes true awareness might bring. We’re rejecting the still, small voice within in favor of the big, blasting air horn of alarm in our heads. Power struggles, or at least negotiations over territory and reach, are inevitable at this point; the more comfortable we are with hard-edged realities, and the more clearly we are able to focus on goals for the future, the better for us overall.

And then it’s the 10th, which features stationary Saturn finally beginning to retrograde. And what’s the atmosphere in which this happens? We are optimistic (maybe overly so), looking for opportunities, and trying to flee our own doubts, which nag at us. We may think that if we can just concentrate on goals, we’ll make progress and beat having to deal with those subjects we’d like to ignore or are in denial about, but that won’t actually work. Some of these issues can be tucked away long-term and dealt with later, thanks to Saturn’s withdrawal (this is the most likely option if these topics are ruled by Saturn natally, or are related to the House Saturn is currently transiting). The rest, though, if we insist on ignoring them, leave us open to deception or delusion. With the ‘right’ mindset (mostly one of trusting the facts as well as ourselves, especially trusting that if we are informed we can make the right choices), and our attention focused on channeling creative or spiritual energy, we’ll redeem the day and, perhaps unexpectedly, deal successfully with at least some of what we tried to ignore.

Saturn’s turnaround typically has one of two effects: it either withdraws support to something we’d hoped to build on, instituting (often unexplainable) delays, or it suddenly and again, inexplicably, removes impediments that seemed, shortly before, to be unbreachable. I find that everyone consistently responds to the Saturn retrograde cycle in one of these ways, and I encourage everyone to determine which is your typical response, as knowing can aid timing and mark where and when you can make progress, and where it might otherwise be prohibited (and that saves a lot of energy!) It was a revelation for me when I discovered that I actually have a positive response to Saturn’s retrograde, with obstacles falling away on its reversal. Learning that showed me that one-size-fits-all definitions of astro events, well, just don’t fit all!

Have a great weekend, everybody!

See my take on the recent Full Moon in Scorpio here–