My friend Britt over at @Innerverse.nl made this post on IG and I loved it so much I decided to do my own version – this is the going into slightly more detail blog post 🙂
- Starting my Saturn Return in my 4th house
Saturn is the planet of responsibilities, authority, restriction, rigour, hard work… adulting basically. Your Saturn return occurs every 29 years when Saturn returns to the sign it was in when you were born – for me and anyone else born 1994-1996, that’s Pisces.
Saturn is here to teach us resiliency – that’s a polite way of saying that generally, when Saturn shows up, shit hits the fan. The 4th house is the house of roots, childhood, home, mothers and children – it’s the house ruled by Cancer.
Having Saturn in my 4th house natally indicates that I had quite a difficult childhood where I had to take on responsibilities beyond my age. It’s return to this area of my chart means new hardships around home/child themes, but this time as an adult who’s capable of handling the situation. Saturn moved into Pisces in March 2023 and remains there until early 2026. I was 3 months pregnant with my first child in March 2023 and based on very recent developments, it looks like I’ll be raising him alone.
Saturn being associated with autonomy, it can also mean loneliness. Parenthood is hard. It’s lonely. But it’s turning me into a Proper Grown Up – because now this little mammal completely depends on me for his survival and wellbeing. So you’ve got to boss up. And that’s Saturn – not easy, not always pleasant but it certainly gets the job done.
- Jupiter in Taurus in my 6th house
Jupiter is the planet of expansion. Of ease, faith, growth, luck. It makes things more prominent when it touches them. The 6th house, ruled by Virgo, is the house of health, daily routines, service and work done for yourself. Take a multivitamin every day ? That’s 6th house stuff. Do a yoga class once a week ? 6th house. It’s the little things that structure your whole.
Taurus, ruled by Venus, is the sign of sensory and sensual pleasures. Taurus is an afternoon nap, a delicious meal, a coffee in the sunshine. Taurus is a fixed earth sign that suggests we take it slow. The 6th house, ruled by Virgo, anxiously asks if we’ve got our 10,000 steps in today.
Having gotten pregnant in January 2023, I basically spent the whole year feeling quite rubbish. Not all pregnancies are the same, but mine was particularly exhausting. I’ve never needed so much sleep and so much food and had so little energy for anything except eating again before going back to sleep. As a Virgo Sun and Venus, I love being productive. I always have loads of little projects on the go. My 9 step morning routine is my favorite part of the day. Pregnancy stopped me in my tracks. Jupiter has been in Taurus since May 2023 and stays there until May 2024. So it was in Aries, my natal moon sign, when I got pregnant (the moon rules pregnancy) and the first trimester was such a shitstorm of Aries like frustration for me. I did so much angry crying about all the things I wanted to be doing, and couldn’t. I couldn’t even go running !!
Then Jupiter popped into Taurus, and I took a deep breath. Rest *is* productive. Calm *is* productive. There are ways to build things that aren’t always go go go. I kept up with the practices that I could maintain – some gentle yoga, some breathwork, some journaling, and breathed acceptance into what I couldn’t. I would go running again, I would go dancing and play the drums, I would be able to deep clean and reorganise my house from top to bottom again. Faith and patience were my Jupiter in Taurus lessons.
- My Nodal Opposition (the North Node moving into Aries)
The Lunar Nodes (the North Node and the South Node) are two geometric points (i.e. not physical bodies like the planets, more like the ascendant or the MC) in your birth chart that correspond, on an astronomical level, to the points of intersection of the moon’s elliptical orbit.
Astrologically speaking, the Nodes are part of karmic astrology, indicating your destiny in terms of past and future energetic callings. The metaphor of a dragon is used in astrological mythology, with its head being the North Node (seeking out our desires with the voracity of a beast) and its tail being the South Node (sweeping away anything that no longer serves us). That’s why Lunar or Solar Eclipses are associated with karmic acceleration as they occur on a New or Full Moon that is conjunct the lunar nodes.
The North Node moved out of Taurus into Aries and the South Node from Scorpio to Libra in July 2023 (fun fact: the Lunar nodes are the only astrological phenomenon that moves “backwards” through the signs), where they remain until 2025. Aries being the sign ruled by Mars, the planet of movement and action, it adds to the North Node’s impulse to go fearlessly after our goals. Libra, ruled by Venus, the planet of relationships, reminds us that no one gets very far alone.
The lesson I’m getting so far from this transit is to make it loud and clear what you’re going after, otherwise no one will be able to support you with your goals, if they don’t know what you need help with.
- The North Node conjunct my Natal Moon in my 5th house
Speaking of the North Node, its passage through Aries means its meeting up with my Aries Moon in my 5th house. The 5th house is the house of fun, play, creativity, children, the stage, visibility – it’s ruled by Leo. It’s also said that the house your Moon is in can indicate an area of your life that’s been somewhat suppressed, as well as an area that you feel a deep emotional connection to – so for a Moon in the 5th house, that would indicate a struggle between a desire for visibility and a fear of it.
In my personal practice of astrology, incorporating the Internal Family Systems framework, I understand the Moon as being the Exile / Inner Child part. Since getting to know that part of me more in recent years, I’ve realised how much I’d suppressed my need for creativity out of that good old capitalist construct of “I’m not the most gifted person in the world at this so there’s no point”.
Chiron (old wounds) moved into Aries in 2020 and that’s when I started really deconstructing that idea : I started learning how to play the drums, I bought myself my first Tarot deck and I started an art journal again for the first time since secondary school. I still can’t play very well or draw particularly well (I got really good at Tarot though) but the benefits of allowing myself space to be freely creative have been incredible for my mental health. The North Node’s transit here is a confirmation of the fact that making time for play and creation is what my inner children deserve and need for fulfilment right now. Different transits for different seasons.
Which transits hit you the hardest in 2023 ? Let me know in the comments !
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