Thursday, August 4, 2011

Saturn in Libra, Saturn in the Seventh House

Here we have the alchemy of relationships on the front burner. With Saturn in Libra or in the seventh house we are “cooking” with the temperature on high! In order not to burn away the goodness we are required to balance the ingredients and hold the opposites in a delicate way. Compromise, negotiation, respect, and fairness must enter the mix. Of course you think you know that—but are you ready to have the love and relationships now you feel you deserve? Will you dare? What happens when you get it—or almost get it? Can you receive the love? Are you ready to do the dance of giving and receiving?
It’s not as simple as it sounded years ago. It takes both humility and personal strength to engage in this dance, and Saturn tends to cast a dark eye on impractical or overly-romanticized relationships. Power struggles and emotional grid-lock arise before we know how to do this dance well. There will be limitations or blockages in relationships until we have learned to go beyond the urge to control for “personal” reasons. Some call this sweet manipulation.
 Who me, you might say? Don’t we know all about co-dependence and inter-dependence? Buzz-words. Yet with this aspect we are more keenly aware than ever that we can only go so far by one-self. We thought we had this figured out a long time ago when co-dependence was the nasty word of choice—when we thought we could see clearly who needed to take on more personal responsibility, and when we shifted from victim to hero on our soul’s journey. Or did we?
Now, Saturn is passing through Libra for all of us in 2011 and 2012 and so we are being required to understand this on a new level. Saturn always creates tests and challenges in whatever sign it is passing through, and if you have this aspect in your birth chart you’ll be “cooking” even more in the relationship arena.
Saturn is said to be exalted in the mental sign of Libra because Libra is willing to do the work involved in finding new ways of thinking that create “win-win” situations. Again, familiar words, but can you stop seeking approval from everyone and maintain a strong sense of self as you merge with others? When disagreements arise in relationships, what are you going to do about the inequalities of feeling that become evident? Can you tolerate listening to someone speak their “Truth” when it’s so radically different from the Truth you hold dear?
 It’s a challenge to know when to turn the temperature down to a comfortable acceptance of differences, and when to stand in your Truth on high heat and say this is not acceptable? Not easy when you’re feeling pushed towards a reality that is more than you’ve been comfortable with so far. That’s Saturn in Libra.
Saturn Return Questions: Take a look at the social contracts, expectations and assumptions you hold with significant others, now and in the past. Was it clear to them what you expected and hoped for? Was it realistic to ask them for this, or did you expect them to “mind read”? If you feel as if you’ve been giving (or gave) too much or you’re feeling abandoned, you might be able to prevent it from happening in the future by being a better communicator. Or you might realistically understand that you were asking too much of someone—you might have been asking someone to do something they were not able to do at the time. Most of us do the best we can with what we know at the time. It’s not always enough.
Now, as you are being called to be the best you can be, you are being called on to be incredibly honest as well as tactful. This is not “the Libra” that is always pretty and poised and fair, it’s about radical understanding of yourself and others. Are you willing to engage in this dance? ~ www.elizabethspring.com  ~