(This is part of the “Ask An Astrologer” series, where I occasionally try to demonstrate how getting a consultation can genuinely help and provide real guidance, using real-life examples. Want to find out for yourself? There’s a link to my e-mail at the bottom of this blog entry.)
EN writes: I just heard that having Saturn transiting through my 5th house means any long-term relationships I have during this time will end badly. What do you think about that?
To me, this is a classic example of how an astrological principle can be oversimplified to the point of being worse than useless. You may have noticed that humans are pretty complicated, so we should automatically be a little suspicious of any astrological pronouncement that is so cut-and-dried.
Saturn is well known for causing difficulties for any part of your chart it might be transiting through. Just because something is difficult does not make it inherently bad, however. Saturn transits tend to respond well to rolling up your sleeves and doing some hard work. And let’s be honest here, sometimes long-term relationships require doing some hard work.
Furthermore, there is a case to be made for the idea that Saturn in Capricorn is actually going to be pretty good for you. In your case, EN, this means that the ruler of your 5th House is passing through your 5th House. This is potentially a source of very good news for your romantic life, even though it’s Saturn we’re talking about. What’s more, Saturn is making some pretty decent aspects to several planets in your birth chart during its passage through Capricorn.
Now, the punchline to the whole thing: transiting Neptune has been hovering around your Descendant for the last couple of years, and has a couple of years to go yet. The Descendant rules long term, committed relationships — and it, like your 5th House, is getting an extended visit from the planet that rules it. So once again: you’ve got potentially very good things coming to you from surprising planets. Remember: no one transit happens in a vacuum. You’ve got to consider the whole picture and put it together for an accurate interpretation.
***
I spoke with EN about where she had gotten the idea that this Saturn transit had to mean bad news. My initial guess was that this was something that had been posted online somewhere, and it’s easy to take a simple, “cookbook” description of any given transit and automatically fear the worst. However, I was startled to find out that this interpretation came from someone billing him or herself as an astrologer.
I asked EN some more questions about the reading she got. That’s why I’m strongly tempted to write “How To Be A Terrible Astrologer (And A Bad Person).” Long story short? Beware anyone who does a reading for you who seems heavily invested in making you afraid.
Want to know how to work with the current and future energy to get maximum benefit? Feel free to write me about it!
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