Real imagined conflicts - Saturn & Neptune in Aries
The easy simplicity of going towards war, as opposed to facing the terrifying conflict within.
“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”
This quote has caught me in a respectful reflection with its tone of admonition ever since I first read it. I have often thought of it in terms of vocation and life purpose, calling my attention to what quietly stirred deep within me.
But in light of what is spewing onto the world stage like smoke and lava from an aggrieved volcano, I'm wondering if this quote doesn't also ask us what it is that we need to bring forth more consciously as opposed to projecting our unconscious and undigested detritus towards the easily targeted other, who is always the sinner to our unblemished self.
The arrival of Neptune and Saturn in Aries has brought war concerns to the forefront of the zeitgeist. The link between Aries and the god of war is an easy, rote association, but I'd hope for more creativity, too. Of course, planetary archetypes are multifaceted and multilayered and not easily boxed into a single forecasting approach. I believe they dance with our ever-evolving consciousness and with how we're able to hold the tension of the opposites.
While it's easy to fall prey to thinking of humans as primitive as our cave ancestors, but now with fast cars and space rockets, that's nihilism grabbing our ankles and holding us back. Not that I don't have days of feeling despondent about how we seem to keep repeating the same old mistakes, and I succumb to the wet blanket of 'why bother' thinking.
But nihilism will take us nowhere fast.
Instead, we can turn our attention towards what is within us and is ours to bring forth. Much of the pain others inflict stems from their lack of alignment with their joy, meaningful purpose, and sense of contentment and fulfillment. So whatever was inside them comes out corrupted, contorted, and lashing out in pain onto others to briefly alleviate the pain within.
Trauma begets trauma.
Astrologically speaking, we can explore ways to relate to the planetary archetypes more consciously.
In my last post, I mentioned looking to Venus to help us engage with our desires. We can think of ways to more intentionally relate to the goddess in our day-to-day lives. Think of ways in which you can embrace small pleasures, joy, beauty, and your wants.
Now, let's think of Mars as the ruler of Aries. How do we relate to this principle in our lives? Yes, we can think about how we take action, express our anger and frustrations, and need to make things happen. However, remember that Mars runs rampant when not guided by his lover, Venus. Knowing our joys and desires and tending to these in our lives is a precursor to how we relate to Mars.
In my simplistic view, the anger-filled madness on the world stage is that we're not in the right relationship with Venus, so our skewed relationship with Mars is fueling the collective Mars that is now running rampant like a fire-breathing bull in the arena. It's being wound up towards berserker mode, where only utter destruction will assuage its hunger.
How can we turn down the dial if larger forces than us are cranking the war beast into a frenzy?
Turning towards our relationship with Venus seems like small potatoes. In a vacuum, it will, but not when accompanied by our relationships with the other planetary archetypes.
Take your relationship with Mars. Instead of unbridled spewing (aka venting) your anger and frustration towards any unsuspecting other, turn your attention to focusing your Mars energy on something that requires your effort and focus. Think of martial arts - a combination of mental and physical focus and movement. Tackle the weeds in your garden. Make deep cleaning your house a ritual act of cleansing your mind. Focus on a large creative project that will harness your energy. And bring to all of that a sense of pursuing your own definition of excellence.
Engaging with our inner Mars intentionally is a way to deflate, siphoning off the collective Mars energy that is rampaging through the world stage. By turning our Mars energy towards where within our own lives we need to exercise action courage and face our inner enemy of resistance (a la the work of Steven Pressfield on The War of Art where he calls on our inner enemy Resistance -self-sabotage, procrastination, fear, arrogance, self-doubt that lives within.) By no means is this about navel-gazing, but rather about not wasting our energy on hypnotic doom scrolling, venting without tapping into what emotions need to be expressed, and turning feelings of powerlessness into accusatory anger towards others.
The constant stirring of fear into our collective airwaves fuels the less conscious aspects of our Mars to the point where war against others will seem like the only way out of our gripping anxieties and fears.
“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls.”
Now, let's look at two other planetary archetypes that will take up a lot of field of vision for the next several years - Saturn and Neptune in Aries.
We can experience the fear or lack of power/courage (Saturn in Aries) that leads us towards imagined, false, unreal, or delusional conflicts (Neptune in Aries). The illusion that war (Neptune in Aries) will lead to hold onto power (Saturn).
But how about us working with our Saturn through alchemizing our fears and sense of lack by bringing courage to take the first step towards a dream or vision (Neptune) for something new (Aries)?
Simplistic, sure. Easy to do, no.
As Jung quoted above, we will distract ourselves by doing anything, even if it's ridiculous, to avoid doing what our soul knows is necessary. We will aim at Mars in all kinds of wrong directions, except towards the very thing that we know will require us to take the first courageous step.
We often overstay relationships, places, and experiences for much longer than their sell-by date because we resist taking that first, courageous step toward what we actually want, need, and aspire to.
As the poet David Whyte writes in the first stanza of his poem Start Close In:
“Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.”
And he continues:
“Start right now
take a small step
you can call your own
don’t follow
someone else’s
heroics, be humble
and focused,
start close in,
don’t mistake
that other
for your own.”
As I reflect on these early days of Saturn and Neptune in Aries, I think that we're all being called to bring forth our courage. There is no single way to express courage, as it's connected to our relationship with these concepts and the planetary archetypes within.
It takes immense courage to face the inner conflicts we all carry, to confront the resistance that disguises itself in all manner of alluring masks, and it feels much easier to remain in a regressive mode, expecting that others know better than us or that they are repositories of our projected sins.
Neptune is often called out to bring disillusions, delusions, and fantasies that crumble to dust. Saturn frequently serves as a reality check. These two dancing cheek-to-cheek this year, leading to their kiss next year, could either make us feel we've received the Judas-Christ betrayal kiss, the mafioso's kiss signaling one's imminent death, or something other - yet to be imagined.
Being that it's in Aries, it will require us to have the courage to step towards making different moves and writing a different story. Not to stay in the same story of victim/martyr, which was SO last Pisces season!
Lastly, a disclaimer.
I'm writing this not so much for you but for myself. I'm trying to rally my inner troops and step away from the nihilistic 'why bother' thoughts that have clouded my mind with the barrage of news coming at us 24/7. These times have put into question my own ideas about purpose and what are we to bring or offer to the world when it seems like chaotic agents have gripped both crown and scepter, and mass psychosis has taken the form of blind zealotry, and the art of conversation is on life support.
Nevertheless, I hope that what I wrote here stirs your courage to bring forth what is yours to bring to this present moment. I'd love to hear what that is for you. It helps one feel less alone.
