Teetering Between Hopeful Dreams and Harsh Reality: Saturn Opposing Neptune

Have you been feeling confused, disillusioned and down-hearted lately and you are not really sure why? There’s a clash of realities going on -- a reality check -- and we are being called to look beyond our perceived limits or what we think of as reality.

There is an alignment nearly exact in the heavens right now that has the ability to influence all of us to a greater or lesser degree (depending on your natal chart, of course). It carries the potential to bring disillusionment and despair or inspiration and passion. What you experience depends on your individual awareness, your own inner search for truth, your relationship to the sometimes harshness of reality, and your willingness to do what it takes to manifest your dreams.

Every 35 years, Saturn (29 yrs orbit) and Neptune (168 yrs orbit) confront each other and create a stressful time personally and globally, presenting a wake-up call or reality check. Obviously, the rarity of this aspect increases its significance. We will be dealing with these energies for the next year. The first exact opposition occurs August, 31, with additional meetings on February 28 and June 25, 2007.

If you have your Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Midheaven or another planet in the mid degrees of the fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio or Aquarius), you will feel the stress of this time very personally.

Saturn and Neptune represent very different archetypal energies. Saturn, ruler of Capricorn, keeps us focused on external realities and responsibilities, structures our outer existence including our governmental, religious and corporate institutions but often becomes rigid, unbending and a barrier to life’s creative urge.

Neptune on the other hand, ruler of Pisces, represents the spiritual, mystical, creative, poetic, empathic, psychic, unconscious, water, oil, chemicals and drugs or, conversely, loss of faith, feelings of hopelessness, paralysis, disillusionment, lack of healthy boundaries, addictions, poisons, incidents/accidents with all liquids (UK terror plot), confusion, misunderstandings, deceptions, delusions, and mental illness.

Could the routines we live with have outlived their usefulness and need to be updated or made more flexible? Changes often appear to come suddenly, but are actually the result of long-standing issues. Living in denial about the need for individual change can result in sudden changes that take us by surprise. Creating change consciously through our intention is a much more satisfying way to grow.

As the slower moving of the two, Neptune is exerting more influence. It is seeking to dissolve the rigid, physical world focus we’ve had that may have denied room for more imaginative, creative possibilities to arise.

Between now and November, Jupiter squares them both and adds to the drama, challenging belief systems and calling for increased wisdom and renewal of concepts around what is real and what is not, who to believe and who is lying. Deception is often hard to recognize and yet we may sense that we’ve been fooled.

After Jupiter moves on in November, things lighten a bit and solutions for balancing the Saturn/Neptune standoff are more likely to be found. But until then extremes are definitely emphasized everywhere we look.

We are being asked to stretch, to expand our consciousness; this slow erosion of our concepts of concrete reality brings disillusionment. What’s been simmering underneath is coming to the surface to be faced, thus creating an opportunity for personal and collective growth. But first you might experience simply a free-floating anxiety without an apparent cause.

One way that astrologers use to understand global societal probabilities is to review what happened during the last and other previous occurrences of an alignment. The last time Saturn and Neptune were at a standoff was 1971-72, which holds an uncanny resemblance to the present. There was a corrupt Nixon White House, an increasingly unpopular Vietnam War, and a looming gas crisis.

Since the cyclic relationship between two planets is initiated at their conjunction, it is also important to look back to the last time they joined in 1989. Remember the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Soviet empire, and the Tiananmen Square event when they joined in the sign of Saturn-ruled Capricorn, having to do with structures of all kinds (government, religious and corporate).

What was going on in your life in 1989 when they were last conjunct? There may be a clue to some structure or belief that may have begun then, but now needs to be updated and made more flexible to allow for your growth. This takes a willingness to be honest with ourselves.

Sure, with Neptune you can space out, medicate, anesthetize, but then Saturn’s repercussions come swiftly. Evading work and responsibilities, drug and alcohol abuse, wasting valuable resources, paranoid behavior, blaming others, self pity, brooding, anxiety are all counterproductive and only delay the inevitable -- being honest with yourself.

The following are suggested antidotes to the malaise of Saturn opposite Neptune over the next year:
• Cultivate practical common sense and cheerfulness, avoid waste, spend wisely and save
• Take time to relax, meditate tuning out fixed reality and open up to inspiration; re-imagine possibilities; become aware of the spiritual truths beyond our perception of reality.
• Find ways to integrate the practical with the ideal, your individual needs with the needs of others.
• Guard against being swayed by authority figures such as in media, government, religious organizations; balance what you hear with your own inner values and ideals.

Some questions that may help as you process what you are feeling during this time are:
• Where have I been holding rigid beliefs that have outlived their usefulness?
• Where am I too idealistic?
• Which of my goals need to be revised and redefined?
• What fears are keeping me from trusting myself?
• How can I be more compassionate with myself and my limitations?
• How might I deepen my spiritual connection and expression in my life?

Remember this next year presents an opportunity to grow beyond the limits of what we thought we were to a greater sense of ourselves as seeded in 1989 and to deepen our sense of unity with all life.