A Sense of Saturn: through the signs…

Astrology simply cannot be about lists. A list of qualities is an attempt to extrapolate something that is innate and this is fundamentally why there is no better adjective to describe the quality of Saturn than Saturnine. We can use approximations that flesh out this fundamental and core energy such as thoughtful, austere, serious and so forth, but the true understanding of any placement lies in a realm somewhat above the language that is used to describe it; it is (as someone once said about the objective of poetry) attempting to describe the indescribable.

It is for precisely this reason that I wish to underline the key insight that best illustrates the quality of a sign placement, we have to look to people to truly apprehend the meaning of astrology; words fail us, and not necessarily because we have a poor facility for language. Language fails us, in fact, because the thing we are trying to describe is somehow too profound to be grasped intellectually. We need to simply feel it.

Thus, today, I am going to post the first part of an understanding about Saturn. There will be no list of qualities, simply an example of Saturn in each of the signs using the three most urgent expressions of any planetary energy or focus: rising, peregrine or conjunct the Sun. Of course there is a subtle difference between the three which bears examination.

• A rising planet modifies the appearance and initial manner of relating; it is the quality of first impression that is made by the native.
• A peregrine planet is an overwhelming force in the native’s life, often it will run away with the entire chart. The impetus can be quite compulsive and overwhelming and often creates an overpowering sense of purpose in the life expression.
• A solar conjunction creates a self-ideal, the native strives to express this quality, not in an unconscious manner like the rising planet, actually in a rather self-conscious manner. It is how they wish to be perceived.

Thus John Voight appears as Saturn in Aries, Kylie is on a mission to embody it and Sir David Frost consciously aims to express it. Saturn is in fall in Aries, but somehow it works rather well (and this would be, in my opinion because Mars is exalted in Capricorn which rules Saturn, thus there is a route to exaltation even in a sign of detriment.) The opposition to Sun in Libra bears some examination too (I wrote about this before) since the mutual reception by exaltation contains some measure of promise (Hugh Jackman, Emily Procter).

Saturn in Taurus is not so easy to find good examples for: Nancy Kerrigan, the Olympic figure skater was famously clubbed in the knee by rival Tonya Harding and almost lost her place in the 1994 Winter Olympic trials as a result. Saturn of course rules the knees in the physical body. No coincidence. The opposition to Sun in Scorpio is shared by Tom Conti and Roy Rogers.

Once again, consider the qualities of each of these individuals in terms of appearance and first impression (in the case of Mick Jagger), in the life purpose with Jim Morrison (and Jimmy Page who also evinced Saturn peregrinated in Gemini) and in a more conscious attempt at self-realisation with Malcolm McDowell. Jimi Hendrix had the Solar opposition.

Thus with Saturn in Cancer: David Beckham has the appearance and manner of it, George Bush has made a mission out of it (protection of the homeland) and Danny Glover – who plays the serious and responsible (Saturn) family man (Cancer) role opposite offbeat and unpredictable Mel Gibson in the Lethal Weapon movie franchise so well, consciously aims for it.

Thus, James Woods, who is somehow so very serious and yet showy all at once has an almost perfectly Saturn in Leo appearance and manner. Barry Gibb has peregrinated Saturn in Leo and also peregrinated Sun in Virgo, and his picture is an almost perfect exposition of Virgo and Leo taken to the extreme. Arnold Schwarzenegger on the other hand is determined to express that combination of Sun and Saturn (doubly so by rulership and conjunction), so little wonder that he wants to assume a position of regal authority.

Finally we have Virgo: which evinces a similarly neat ambience, a rather thorough and detail focused persona or manner.

Whilst looking to all of these examples gives considerable insight into the sign quality of each, they all share a common saturnine thread, for the most part every one of these individuals, with Saturn stressed, prominent or powerful in some sense, evinces a measure of seriousness or gravitas in their demeanour and for this reason they will all struggle to appear especially youthful. The one real exception to this is found in the case of peregrinated Saturn in Aries which in old age (Saturn) gives a propensity to youth (Aries). This quality (peregrinated too) is shared by Twiggy, the British model, who in her 60s has become something of an icon for older women due entirely to her remarkably youthful appearance and demeanour.

I will continue this article with the remaining 6 signs in a future instalment.

Feminist Astrology and Germaine Greer

As a work that is traditionally hailed as being antithetic to male comfort, I find that Germaine Greer’s “Female Eunuch” probably says more about the negative stereotyping of women by women than it does about men. Of course, she argues (throughout her writing) that this is merely the extension of a patriarchal tyranny, that culturally we accept some pretty astonishing subtexts as normal – when they are anything but – and our ingrained themes of sexual interaction, both inter and intra-sexually are pretty weird. That is as much as I can say easily because I am not a scholar of feminism, I have not read her works exhaustively and I am a man (I guess) and I have been told (by more than one radical feminist I have known) that I lack the insight of subjectivity, so I can comment, but I cannot truly experience.

Germaine Greer, feminist author. 29 Jan 1939 06:00 (-10:00), Melbourne, Australia

Fair enough. I have no issue, but neither am I apologising; I do the best that I can, I treat women as absolute equals (insofar as I am able with a lifetime of cultural programming in tow) and in fact I much prefer the company of women as a generalisation than I do of men. I also found that in circa 1987 when I first read large swathes of The Female Eunuch that it seemed fundamentally out of date in parts even then. The book belonged to my dear friend Vicki who is a (somewhat) radical feminist; at least she never shaves any part of her anatomy and neither does she wear a bra although I cannot attest to whether or not she has physically burned it. I also spent one summer acting as an observer for CND in the late 1980s, a job which required me to sit outside of RAF Greenham Common from 4am until midday in a car and watch for any missile transports. I eventually got to know several of the women on that camp and they of course had built a community which more or less excluded men completely. One of those women, Pippa, a slightly loony ex-midwife at least twice my age became a good friend and although I lost touch with her a few years hence. I talked to her once about psychology, which I studied at University and beyond, and she quoted Germaine Greer to me during that discussion, she said: “Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. It has no mother.”

Germaine Greer: Eris forms part of a grand trine with Mars and Pluto, no surprise there then...

It has since occurred to me that the same sentiments are found in the study of astrology, with Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto all being essentially male energies; Mercury is possibly male but at best androgynous, leaving (traditionally) only Moon and Venus to speak for the feminine. How patently ridiculous that is, but also, and thankfully, it is a situation that is gradually being addressed with the inclusion of Pallas, Ceres, Vesta and Juno into the mainstream of astrological thinking. In terms of psychoanalysis I often think of Freud as Saturn, Jung as Uranus, but there are no essential feminine powers because (as Pippa told me) even psychology is fundamentally masculine. In my view, psychology falls down in all sorts of places, but astrology does not have to fall into the same trap. Traditionalists will disagree of course, but that to me is resonant of the self-same dichotomy between psychoanalysis and behaviourism in psychology; they are utterly incompatible systems that are mixed through long habit, not through best practise.

It is for this reason that I believe a whole new avenue of astrological research is opening up. It will evolve into something meaningful in step with the onward march toward acceptance of the divine feminine in human society, and even at a personal level as someone with a peregrine Moon I am doubly compressed, by my innate astrological dissociation complex, and by a society that can only accept my male sexuality as a narrow spectrum of aggression that identifies with cars, jobs, bunny girls and team sports.

Back to the (very brief) astrology of Germaine Greer then. I have not included Eris, but of course she sits at the trined midpoint of Ma/Pl. A near fanatic mischief-maker? Undoubtedly! With Scorpio Midheaven, there is a calling to deal with sexuality, and with Mars in the anaretic degree of Scorpio the impetus to tip over from sex and control to freedom and equality is self-evident. Mercury opposes Pluto, which explains her need to tell it unadorned (just like good old blood and guts Patton remember?) but here a trine to Neptune softens, refines and takes all the edges off. Moon is conjunct Uranus too: and that alone says “radical feminism” right?

So, Germaine Greer: with a grand trine to the Midheaven and peregrine Saturn in Aries in the 3rd, may you keep going it alone and telling it like it is until your last breath, because whilst you’re quite clearly a nutjob, you’re also brilliant, beautiful and absolutely, undeniably genuine.

Moon in Scorpio: I am Legend

I am Legend is a 1954 novel concerning the fictitious life of Robert Neville, the last surviving human in the city of Los Angeles, it was written by Richard Matheson who also wrote a number of episodes for The Twilight Zone and it has been made into a movie on three occasions, most recently starring Will Smith. It is ostensibly a science-fiction novel of the post-apocalypse sub-genre, more pertinently however, it is an out and out vampire flick. I read the book as a young man, and have watched the 1971 adaptation: “The Omega Man” starring Charlton Heston, and more recently the newer, glossier and somewhat unsatisfying: “I am Legend” which features Will Smith in the leading role.

Small coincidence.

Here is a movie about the last surviving human in an entire landscape of fear. His home is a fortress, his habits are paranoid, and the themes of his life are about nothing other than outright survival, for Robert Neville, every day is life-or-death day; there are no vacations, light moments or romantic, candlelit interludes. Each time he leaves the security of his four walls, he is taking his life in his hands, he learns – unequivocally – that the world is dangerous, dark and populated with ravaging demons who will rip out his throat without a moment’s pause; life is a trial, each and every day, of the most exacting and serious kind.

And like I said up there, small coincidence, that Will Smith was attracted to the role. The fictional life of Robert Neville is a near perfect facsimile for peregrine Moon in Scorpio and of course, Will Smith has peregrine Moon in Scorpio. I discuss this theme with fair regularity, not least because I too have it (aka Nick Drake Syndrome), but at least Will Smith, and more particularly, the character of Robert Neville creates a standalone out of this aspect (which describes the experiential focus of peregrination to a t). Wherever the Moon is found either in Scorpio or very closely (and especially solely) aspected to Pluto, it creates this same ambience (let us redefine it “Robert Neville Syndrome”), because our inner sense of security, of the ambient safeness of the world is skewed; where we should be able to trust that when we go out into the light we will be safe, Moon in Scorpio, or shackled to Pluto alone, will queer the pitch; and peregrinated, it will become overwhelmingly emphasised, the sense of disconnection, of insecurity, of imminent destruction will become, not just a nagging doubt, but a screaming certainty.

It is important to understand this, Moon peregrinated is always dissociative; watch any interview with Will Smith or Tom Cruise and you can palpably sense their struggle to feel involved, to make their experience real (and they fail), I find the Tom Cruise disconnect to be much more uncomfortable however, Will Smith has the benefit of some very well-favoured supporting conditions thus:

Will Smith, Actor. 25 Sept 1968, Time unknown, 0 deg. Aries chart.

We can ignore the houses since birth time is unknown, however, Moon in Scorpio and peregrine is somewhat compensated for by an incredibly potent and partil stellium of Mercury, Venus and Pallas in Libra, and it is therefore no coincidence that a delightful, charming, gently harmonious quality to the speech and manner of self-expression is the balancing factor which offsets his Moon placement (and Pallas creates a point of astonishing competence). You can still feel the power of Scorpio Moon of course; his expression is emotionally incisive, and he has an edge to his manner that is fundamentally Hadean. So much drive and tension in this astrology (and yet no squares! All his struggles are projected!)! The opposition to Saturn in Aries too from the Libra grouping creates a go-it-alone mentality and a tendency to develop some serious self-reliance (which may at least be some kind of antidote to the ongoing struggle to survive, especially if the native can get past 35!) and look too at the conjunct of Jupiter and Pluto; here is someone who just knows how to get people in his way of thinking, whether they want to or not. All the easy aspects are to Neptune, so the dream of acting is one of the few things that he doesn’t have to work really hard at either.

And as with anyone of this generation, with Chiron opposing both Pluto and Uranus, which trine to Neptune, the best of life is to be found in the latter half, when those outer planet energies finally become meaningful; Will Smith has traded on his Libra stellium, his Saturnine survivalism and his desperate search for security, but an end to all that is in sight, providing he – like this entire generation – can find a way to personalise Neptune and start trading in compassion and sensitivity. If he does manage it, then his best performances are yet to come.

Saturn in Aries: into the wild…

Chris McCandless in Alaska

I recently watched Sean Penn’s magnificent biographical drama of the life of Chris McCandless, described as an American wanderer who quite literally went “into the wild” to try and answer some inner impetus. I found the film to be profoundly moving (I don’t care, I cried – a lot!) and I cannot recommend it highly enough; so if you haven’t watched it yet, go rent it or buy it, then watch it, then get back and read the rest of this post.

So, if you’re half way familiar with this young man’s story then you will no doubt wonder what motivated him to feel such an overwhelming need to go “into the wild” at all, after all, he had a good life, good prospects, a future of genuine promise. His demise provokes real polarity in onlookers with the majority thinking that he was tragically driven by a surfeit of feeling and others preferring to consider him at best “an idiot” who got exactly what he deserved. (And who says there’s no compassion left in the world!).

I cannot find his birth time, but actually it does not really matter, because there is one overwhelming factor in his astrology that simply cannot be understated; let us consider his chart:

Astrologers beware! I know that tee-square to Neptune looks enticing, and how can we gloss over the grand water trine, which actually forms a kite to Uranus for Pete’s sake! and then too there’s the opposing near partile conjunction of Mars with Chiron to consider; but all of these are mere appetisers when compared to the main event, peregrine Saturn in Aries.

Not for nothing is Saturn in Aries called the lone ranger position (by me mostly), and “the loneliness of the long-distance runner” has some ring of authenticity to it, but if ever there was an “into the wild” placement then people, this is it. The sign of Aries is all about adventure, solitude, strength and character, and wherever Saturn is found it makes a test. Peregrination, as you should understand if you want to help your clients whose charts evince it, creates an extreme polarity, it is like having only two volume settings on your stereo: totally silent or really forkin’ loud! Or only having two speeds in your car, standstill or a thousand miles an hour! Now it stands to reason that if your car behaved like that you either would never go anywhere in your life or you’d create complete havoc when you did decide to take a trip to the shops. That is peregrination, trust me, it works every time.

So, for Chris McCandless he never really had any choice. Here then is not actually “an idiot who deserved everything that happened to him” but someone with an almost soul-destroying burden of astrology; Saturn peregrine is really tough, hey guys, Saturn is pretty tough even when it gets trines, so imagine not having anything to moderate that entire influence and having to express that exacting energy with every fibre of your being! In Chris’ case he was switched into a particular mode of Saturnine/Arian expression, that of survival and going it alone, and this was motivated by a need to transform himself into a non-materialist free-spirit (tee-square to Neptune in Scorpio) and the grand water trine creates an emotional self-sufficiency and introversion that allowed him to feel secure within himself and which requires no external validation (a great insight into the grand trine experience by the way). If you watch the film and consider the manner of the ending too then it really speaks, does it not, to those themes of Mars/Chiron opposing Uranus/Pluto across the Virgo Pisces axis. Here are themes of recklessness in regard to nutrition and sustenance, with giving up on the world and trying to trust in something less tangible, with a need to very abruptly transform the self whilst simultaneously rejecting the pain of confused emotions.

These factors though only describe the mode of expression of the peregrination. Far more common, where Saturn is Aries is concerned, is the “fountain of youth” effect. Consider two further examples of peregrine Saturn in Aries, Twiggy and Kylie, both who have made a considerable career from their vivacious and youthful good-looks. Even to this day Twiggy is considered a role-model for ageing women wishing to retain some measure of youthful vitality. Here then is another expression of Aries (youth) configured with Saturn (old age). With Saturn in Aries this impetus is prevalent: no matter how you achieve it: it is either “forever young” or “into the wild”. This is exactly why Saturn in Aries speaks to the loneliness of the long-distance runner, because it neatly encapsulates both principles to near perfection; you can actually don your running shoes and go into the wild, all the time fighting the signs of premature ageing by keeping your body in top condition. It is so good a rule that one of the first questions I ask anyone with Saturn Aries is: “did you start running yet?” They always do.

And before you wonder, I do have Saturn in Aries and I’m all signed up for the Hastings half marathon next spring, so I have to get out there and do my 5 miles, right now.

Peregrination: the Movie.

Among the greatest misconceptions in astrology is the exaltation of rules above principles, because it is all too easy to forget that the rules are derived from observed principles, not the other way around. The astrologer that comprehends the principle that underpins the rule is then able to discard the rule-bound logic of the mind, and enter into a dialogue with the illimitable.

I talk a great deal about peregrination, and I receive emails on that subject telling me that I have misunderstood the rule of peregrination completely, with perhaps some explanatory text concerning Ptolemy and his great treatise. There are of course peregrine degrees in the zodiac but broadly, peregrination is used traditionally to denote a state of essential debility. I use the term essential in its truest sense, to express a profound, integral quality; thus the essential debility of Saturn in Aries is based upon the fact that natives with this placement struggle at a fundamental level to promote self-reliance, independence and courage in their lives, most especially in the affairs of that house where it is placed.

Technically the definition of Peregrine degrees is derived from Lilly:

A Planet is then said to be Peregrine, when he is in the degrees of any Sign wherein he hath no essential dignity, As Saturn in the tenth degree of Aries, that Sign being not his House, Exaltation, or of his Triplicity, or he having in that degree neither Term or Face, he is then said to be Peregrine; had he been in 27, 28, &c. of Aries, he could not be termed Peregrine, because then he is in his own Term. (Lilly, CA, p.112).

Thus peregrination of Saturn at about 9 degrees of Aries is so utterly undignified that it really has no power to express itself. Now here is the nub, because it is not the degree that is important, but the experiential, subjective result of that placement: thus the key observation is not that this or that degree is the purpose of this rule, but that the inability to express that planet’s energy is.

Now if we go back to first principles, if we force a child to wear lead boots (or callipers even) for its entire childhood there is little doubt that the unfortunate is going to struggle. He or she will not be able to run as fast as the other children, he or she will probably be considered slow, ungainly and will thus be less-favoured by their peers and by the world in general. There is every possibility then that this child will at some level develop a deep insecurity about their abilities, and may go throught their entire life feeling like something of a failure and never achieving much.

This is the exact principle behind the rule of planetary debility, but of course in this case the lead boots are actually irrelevant, it is the effect of those lead boots that we should be concerned with. Now imagine that this child rails against their status as the weakling and decides to try and run as fast as the other children despite his or her lead boots, what does this posit? There is a chance (and whilst it may be a small chance it is a chance nonetheless) that the child’s legs will grow strong, far stronger than they would otherwise be, and so they find that one bright morning they can keep up with the other children with their lead boots on! Now we find that this child – as a direct result of this ‘debility’ – has managed to grow comparatively much stronger than those not so debilitated by lead boots.

This then is the principle that underpins the idea of peregrination and it is a very simple and acceptable principle too: through adversity, people grow stronger.

Now, let us broaden that principle, not the rule! Only the principle. If peregrination is nothing more than a pair of lead boots then any other style of lead boot is going to have the exact same effect. It doesn’t actually matter if our lead boots are winkle-pickers or if they are lead-slippers! Thus, if a planet is unaspected, by dint of the difficulty that the native experiences in expressing that energy due to its non-integration with his broader nativity, there will be some requirement to work especially hard with that debility.

Peregrine is derived from a word meaning, outcast, foreigner, it describes a wanderer far from home, a feral power, behind enemy lines that – if it is to survive – must often develop unique and ingenious methods or otherwise continue to suffer the taunts and rejection of their peers for being so hopelessly slow and deficient. It does not matter how that planet is thus peregrinated. It might be by being placed in no sympathetic context through house, exaltation or triplicity, or it might equally be through being unaspected, a singleton, at the apex of a Yod and tee-square at the same time, or any other of a number of peregrinating factors that force the soul within to evolve or be crushed by the burden.

In this way, it is important to see how we must, as astrologers, not simply sit and bemoan all of those lead boots that our clients are forced to wear, but instead we must marvel at the opportunity they have to develop such awesomely powerful legs!

Consider some examples: what do Pamela Anderson and Cat Stevens have in common? They both have Sun, Moon, Mercury and Venus in peregrine (traditional, by Lilly). What do the Queen and Tom Hanks share in common? Both Moon and Mercury are peregrine (by lack of aspect). All four of these people have a real debility where their Moon and Mercury placements are concerned, they have lead boots on their emotional, self nurturing and self-expressive faculties. Now consider Tom Hanks and Pamela Anderson; which of these two has developed the “stronger legs” when it comes to matters of emotional expression? Unaspected peregrination is arguably more debilitating than the traditional even, them there lead boots sure is heavy.

(Written by someone who has Su/Mo/Ve/Sa in fall, Sa trad. peregrine, Mo/Me unaspected.)

Help with life’s lead boots can be found here.

Tales of Fallen Reception: Sun in Libra, Saturn in Aries

The astrology of Carole Lombard has a raft of fascinating factors; born in 1908, she was arguably the template for comedy acting; despite her deliriously dreamy good looks she was never much enamoured of the screen-siren mantle that could have been hers for the taking; she was a fast-talking, strong willed dynamo who swore like a trooper and knew her own mind. Her nickname on the studio circuit was “the Profane Angel” and Howard Hawks said of her: “Marvellous girl. Crazy as a bedbug.” She died in 1942 aged only 33, when the aircraft she was travelling home in crashed into the summit of Mount Potosoi, south west of Las Vegas.

No surprise then that her forté was Screwball Comedy, nor that Hawk considered her to be “crazy”, her astrology is as screwball and crazy at it gets. Far from evincing a single pointed focus, her astrology is a dizzying, confusing maze of indications and contraindications. But let us consider a few of the extant themes:

1. Chiron rises in Aquarius, crazy but sensitive.
2. Moon also rises, but in dreamy Pisces.
3. Moon opposes Venus conjunct Jupiter, giving (according to Ebertin) “Film Star mannerisms”, this on Regulus too, and forming the basis for a tee-square to her Midheaven.
4. A grand trine: across the 1st/5th and 8th/9th houses that includes Pallas! Why am I not surprised!?

And finally, consider the debilitated mutual reception in opposition of Sun in Libra with Saturn in Aries. Both these planets are in fall and thus considered weak, but by mutual reception they are placed in the signs of each-others exaltation, in opposition they are difficult to balance, but how else explain Carole’s enormous determination to succeed in comedy? Saturn in Aries is a strange placement, it ought to in theory be more or less the most debiltated of positions for Saturn, but somehow the stubborn, wilful nature of Aries seems to suit Saturn in a manner that the other fire-signs simply do not. There is no smooth sense of persistence with it, rather, like the Ram the Saturnine Arian will butt against a problem out of sheer bloody-mindedness for a while and then give up, but importantly, it rankles, so he or she will be back eventually and butt away some more, and again, and again. The truth is that Saturn in Aries gives astonishing, if intermittent persistence.

Traditionally the placement gives a high level of entitlement without the necessary humility; Saturn in Aries wants your respect but doesn’t want to serve his apprenticeship to earn it, but when he does eventually learn that he’s not getting your respect he’ll persist.

Sun in Libra is equally indifferent to solar qualities which demand a sense of entitlement too, the Libran is always expending effort on ensuring the other person feels at ease, only to realise that he or she is the only person that feels dissatisfied with things; all the energy has been spent on everyone else!

So then, consider the reversal; Sun in Aries gives a real power to focus exclusively on one’s own needs; subjectively it is a great position for the Sun – even though the downside is that you can appear to be very selfish – but by its very nature Aries doesn’t actually care all that much about what the other person thinks, so where’s the crime? Similarly, Saturn is very comfortable in the sign of Libra, which rules the serious business of justice and gives a weighty consideration and an element of gravitas in the demeanour that usually commands the respect that Saturn in Aries feels is his divine right.

The mutual reception then, especially one where the planets see each other in aspect (thus by quincunx, quindecile or most powerfully, by opposition) gives the potential to realise the very best potentials of the interchange of energies by mutual reception, but only after the lesson of Saturn has been learned. Now Carole Lombard may have been considered ditzy, but she certainly displayed a great quality of persistence and other factors in her chart allowed her to experience great success even before Saturn had transformed. Intriguingly she married Clark Gable at the time of her Saturn return, just as the mutual reception would have been raised a notch or two in her psyche.

Another notable actor with the same debilitated mutual reception is Guy Pearce, who although ostensibly Australian, was actually born in Cambridgeshire, England. The release of his most critically acclaimed movie Memento in 2000 saw Pluto transiting his tenth house whilst Solar Arc Sun applied to conjunction with radix Neptune, the actor’s high-point therefore; although no doubt the sense of confused, continually dissolving real-world conditions that were at the heart of that movie’s plot were reflective of some genuine sense of dissolution in Pearce’s life at that time. As above, so below and life imitates art, as any good astrologer understands. Similarly the movie dealt with the difficult aftermath of a head-injury, Carole Lombard suffered a serious scar to her face during an auto-accident early in her short career, and due to the polarity of Saturn with skin, the opposition to blemishless Libra and Aries of the head, Saturn in Aries very frequently gives scars, skin eruptions and injuries to the face.

Alan Leo said of the Sun opposition to Saturn (and he applied the same sentiment to the conjunction as well) that by it, “the native is frequently confronted with obstacles and delay, and unless in mutual reception, it is very unfortunate for all things signified by the two planets, bringing misfortunes in business, loss of public favour, likelihood of the father’s death, loss of father’s money or separation from or disagreement with him.” (from “How to Judge a Nativity” p249. LN Fowler & Co. 1928).

Rarely do the natives with this particular configuration manage to shine in early life, theirs is the task of having to learn to combine the best qualities of Sun and Saturn, Aries and Libra, and usually the work has to be done – as is Saturn’s timeless directive – the hard way.