A reader brought to my attention a new storm on the planet Saturn and asked whether these storms have astrological implications. This new storm circles the entire planet, and is unleashing lightning bolts more than 1000 times stronger than those found on earth. In doing a bit of research, I discovered that the last significant storm activity on Saturn occurred between July and December of 1994 so I set about to find astrological and histroical correlations between these two events.

In July of 1994, Saturn was traveling retrograde through the sign of Pisces and nearing a stressful aspect (opposition to Chiron), a similar aspect to our position today (see past article on Saturn/Chiron). In addition, Saturn was beginning to “station” (when its motion appears from earth’s perspective to slow down to a crawl) before turning direct. When a planet is in retrograde motion and slows down before turning direct and moving forward again, the intensity of its influence tends to increase.

Historically, the summer of 1994 leading up to the first storm saw the beginnings of the Rwandan genocide and the murder of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman and the subsequent murder investigation, both episodes that forced long suppressed racial issues into public consciousness. This is a hallmark of Saturn/Chiron contacts: the forcing (Saturn) of long-supressed wounds (Chiron) into consciousness so that they can be healed if we choose to face this difficult process.

The first known episode of the Saturn storms coincided with the collision of the Shoemaker-Levy comet with the planet Jupiter, an event of amazing astrological synchronicity in itself since such a collision is Plutonic in nature (Pluto rules destruction and transformation). Jupiter was in Scorpio at the time, the sign ruled by Pluto, and was exactly conjunct Pluto at the time of the collision. Astrologically this connection between Jupiter and Pluto represented a death and transformation (Pluto) in the way we approach issues of faith, religion, and matters of prosperity.

September 1994 also marked the end of the Cold War between Russia and China, a peace treaty between Jordan and Israel, and the signing of the assault weapons ban in the US. It also brought the refusal of Saddam Hussein to cooperate with weapons inspectors. Arguably, this last event planted the root of the political situation in which we find ourselves today.