Here
is an example of one of the articles from the
Journal:
THREE CHEERS FOR SATURN
I love it, I love
it, I love it!
by Tchenka
Out with all these wimps who bemoan their awful fate
at its hands; who tremble in trepidation at the thought
of another Saturn transit. Time has taught me that
if you want autonomy, respect, authority, mastery,
wisdom, a good figure, dignity, style, judgment,
a long life, cheekbones to die for, security, a pension
and to leave a mark on the world, then you’ve got
to worship at the temple of Saturn, grovel at its
feet and learn to play by his rules. If you can manage
to acquire all this without, in the process, also
turning into an uptight and fearful control freak
then you are indeed a true adept!
Marsillio Ficcino said Saturn is
the highest….. And the lowest. The alchemists
took Saturn/Lead as their base material. The
lowest manifestation of spirit in matter. Hold
a lump of lead in your little hand and you can
feel its inner fire – it’s never cold like most
other metals. Working with Saturn/lead’s inner
fire over time, they raised its level of vibration
to that of pure and incorruptible gold whilst
concurrently transforming the grit of their own
personal Saturn into the pure gold of adepthood
and mastery. We all know that it takes a piece
of grit to make a pearl – well we all need Saturn’s
grinding power to reach the gold of which we
are all individually capable.
Saturn is heavy,
the heaviest
We live in Saturn’s world. Space/Time and gravity
are Saturn at its most fundamental manifestation.
If you’re alive, in a body, on the earth, then
you’ve got Saturn. There’s no escape –except through
Death – not for nothing is it also known as the
grim reaper. But that’s why we’re here –spirit
incarnated, embodied soul. We’ve chosen to come
here into the valley of the shadow of death, to
become embodied in form, so that we can manifest,
make real, those wonderful visions that emerge
within our creative imaginations. Picture us all
queuing up in heaven, absolutely gagging for the
chance to experience a bit of Saturn. Anyone can
have brilliant Neptunian visions in their mind’s
eye, but that’s just where they’ll stay unless
we have the discipline, the patience, and the practical
application to actualize them, manifest them.
And it takes time to learn skills,
ages, ages and ages of time. Until it gets boring
even. Remember learning to play a musical instrument
or type or knit? Remember the apprentices who were
contracted to a master for seven years [a quarter
of a Saturn cycle] and then if they’d been good
boys and passed the tests, they achieved the rank
of journeyman. At this stage, they took to the
road with their box of tools, developing their
skills through hands on experience and practice
and then and only then, after another seven years
[the opposition point] were they deemed fit to
be called a master craftsman. It took a long time
and a hard struggle and an expensive cobbler’s
bill but if they stuck to it, then Saturn’s reward
was theirs. A life time of respect and security
was guaranteed – barring a Uranian transit of course!
Saturn is heavy
Of course it is, but what doesn’t kill you makes
you strong, eh? What’s the use of trying to develop
stunning biceps by lifting a few balls of fluff?
Strength and definition of muscle are developed
by pushing against resistance are they not? And
by continually increasing the weight too. Saturn
isn’t usually so hard –the pressure tends to
ease off in later life. So if you can find the
inner resources to keep on trucking through those
early agonizing and aching stages, the rewards
will come. Bit like being in a cosmic gym. The
heavier the weight you’re trying to lift, the
stronger your muscles are going to grow – even
if you do occasionally get a hernia!
Saturn is limiting
Even the physical nature of the planet Saturn gives
us the clear message that encirclement is what
it’s about. Aren’t those rings one of the most
beautiful sights in the whole solar system? Saturn’s
job is to separate, make one thing distinct from
another, to create definition. Boundaries, rims,
and edges are all Saturn’s domain. They may keep
you in, but they’re also keeping a lot of nasties
out and saving a lot of unnecessary mess. Saturn’s
rules the skeleton, which provides the internal
structure of our body and also the skin, which
separates it from the outer world. Imagine how
slippery the pavements would be if none of us
had skins to keep all our messy bits in place.
Imagine how many microorganisms would invade
us if we didn’t have such a brilliant protective
shield as the skin. I was once very taken with
a story about a man obsessed by the disturbing
fact that he had a skeleton inside him. Every
time he looked in the mirror he saw this skull
grinning back at him. And so he paid a witchdoctor
for a potion to dissolve the skeleton – and ended
up a very happy dollop of glub on the pavement.
Yet more messy bits to trip over!
Saturn is necessity
You have no choices with Saturn. If you’re lucky
enough to have Saturn aspecting any of your natal
personal planets by square, then fate will ensure
that one way or another, the person, structure
or, system that’ll carry out Saturn’s task of
limiting that innate potential will manifest
and do its best to crush the living daylights
out of you, the victim. Squirm and struggle as
much as you like, in your first 14 years at least,
there’ll be absolutely no escape.
But the weird thing is that all this struggling
and squirming is developing certain psychological
or even physical muscles that, a later stage in
Saturn’s cycle to that natal planet, will be strong
enough to fit you perfectly for some task or occupation.
To be under pressure is no bad thing. Certain chemical
reactions can only happen under pressure. Certain
changes can take place only under pressure. And
changes do take place under Saturn’s pressure.
Anyone who’s had to look after a baby, who must
be fed or changed or comforted whenever they demand
it, no matter that you are exhausted and out on
your feet and would rather be watching East Enders
– there’s no choice at all, at all. Not a whisper
of a choice. You just have to do it. Necessity
calls. But in time, this develops a certain kind
of inner muscle, one that gives women an inner
strength and resilience when it comes to getting
on with life and coping and keeping going that
most blokes know nothing about. And that, believe
it or not, is where wisdom lies.
Because life is not all about choices and the freedom
to do as we please, when we please. Whatever our
western culture’s conception of freedom may imply
to the contrary, life itself keeps calling on us
to do our duty, to fulfill our responsibility,
to protect, and to defend - in order to ensure
the safety and continuity of life itself. Life
demands it. If we don’t do it, we die. Simple.
If we do make a habit of watching East Enders instead
of feeding the baby, the baby will suffer and it’s
all too likely that another Saturnine figure in
the form of the friendly social worker will have
to intervene.
The Romans were devotees of Saturn
and look how well they did! They managed to rule
the world! They kept his statue up in the Capitol,
guarding the state treasury. They bound the statue
with linen strips, not to symbolize Saturn’s restrictive
nature, but to stop him getting away! Slaves made
offerings to him of little handcuffs when they
achieved freedom, not to symbolize his chains but
to thank him for escaping bondage. Seems like the
Romans knew something we’ve forgotten. The Romans
loved and honoured Saturn because he had taught
them how to gain mastery through the arts of agriculture,
engineering, and architecture. He had given them
the knowledge which enabled them to feed their
people; make life more comfortable and efficient
and to build great and lasting monuments. He had
given them the arts of civilization. Their fantastic
life style comforts, as well as their political
and military domination, they owed to Saturn. Agriculture
is fundamentally an art of timing, knowing when
to sow and when to reap. Engineering uses the knowledge
of natural laws and powers to make things work
efficiently. And an understanding of gravity helps
hugely in getting your coliseums to stand up for
any length of time! Anyone who has veer done any
building knows the value of the plumb [lead] line.
It gives you a true vertical to build to. If your
wall is ff true, then Saturn’s force of gravity
will have it in the end – and over it will topple.
Only by following the lead weight of Saturn, by
building to a true vertical line, can the influence
of Saturn be overcome. Think about it. There’s
an important lesson in there. Anyway, the roman
understanding of these laws enabled them to build
structures that are still hugely impressive today,
after 2000 years. I wonder if canary wharf will
still be there in another 200?
But we’re all aware that too much
Saturn can be repressive to the point of the complete
death of any creative vision. The Romans were canny
– or they tried to be – in that every saturnalia,
the linen bonds were untied from Saturn’s statue
and everyone went stir crazy! The social order
was turned upside down, the fool ruled in place
of the king and everyone got totally plastered
– very Neptune! But history bears witness to the
fact that this annual rite was not in itself sufficient
to stop them turning into out and out control freaks.
And like every planetary influence, when it becomes
overly dominant, their greatest strength became
their greatest weakness and their empire collapsed.
So Saturn is not simply the symbol
of that which binds you, much more magically and
importantly, it actually holds the secret key to
escaping those self same chains. Behold! Obey Saturn’s
rules, learn the tricks of his trade and ye shall
be free from the domination of the other. Ye shall
be your own master or mistress. Ye will be an authority.
Ye will be distinguished. It’s not going to be
easy. And it’s a lifetime’s work – two Saturn cycles
at least. But the rewards will surely come. Just
you wait and see …… more next issue!
Next issue: What
Saturn wants you to do. How to decipher the secret
of your life’s purpose from your Saturn transits
Here's some other interesting Astrology
Articles
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