Saturn Square Neptune and the Death of Stars

Stars are falling from the sky. We are witnessing a quite spectacular meteor shower. David Bowie, Lemmy, Prince.. artists who set our feet in motion and created soundtracks for our lives. Thinking about which planets are shaking the heavens, Shakespeare’s Tempest sprang to mind. Neptune in Pisces is  ’the stuff that dreams are made of’ but Saturn, even when in Sagittarius, reminds us that ‘our little life is rounded with a sleep.”

Neptune is of a higher order than Saturn, its movement slower. It is a step closer to Plato’s notion of the divine. Yet, even with Neptune in Pisces we can only ever see through a glass darkly, we cannot lift the veil. It feels on some level as if we expect immortality from stars and when they do what mere mortals do, die, a Saturnuian numbness or stillness descends. Then, as a phoenix from the ashes, we tune into what we know. My own first reaction yesterday mirrored that of millions of others. I posted a video on my Facebook page of Prince’s ‘When the Doves Fly’ the first of many songs that later sprang to mind. The Prince is dead.. but hey … Long may he live! Music and the internet are keenly Neptunian. In these subtle realms we can receive messages even when the dust has long since claimed us for its own.

It seems to me most poignant that in the year of a mutable cross which includes Jupiter and Neptune but has Saturn as focal planet, that endings of a particularly Sagittarian nature occupy our minds. Of itself Sagittarius has a larger than life, celebratory, grand character attached to it:  “Let the Good Times Roll’, or to quote a famous Prince hit, ’tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1999′. The stars that have fallen are huge and bright. The glossy Neptunian view is that of one continuous loop of glitz, glamour and paparazzi attention.  Yet while Sagittarius always serves to reminds us that life should be enjoyed the other side of the sign is related to the arrow: swift as it leaves the bow and flies – is its eventual return to earth. When Saturn enters Sagittarius then we know it’s the morning after the big night, the reality bite, the messy clear up job and the realisation that however good the party, it will eventually come to an end. This is where Sagittarius’ other role comes into its own. We start to ponder, to think, to search for meaning, to question and perhaps even to hope. Religion – for those who still have it- is a great hope bringer. The rest of us, fans of the music- regardless of age, sex, nationality – are bound by some other mysterious form of Neptunian enchantment. We are transcended and lifted beyond the Saturnian realm of time – and move into and engage with something as mysterious as it delightful- the sound of notes that shift the air around us, move our souls and feet, throws open the door to a host of memories of people and places whose voices are re-awakened to the delight of the creative imagination. The walls no longer contain. We take to the streets and join together in celebration of life. Saturn is superseded. The rupture is eased and harmony is restored in the heavens.