Regarding people, Astrologers often study charts for those moments when a planet returns. The most (in)famous of these is the Saturn Return.
With events, we can also study return charts that occur due to retrograde motion. The following is an example.
On January 12, 2015 at approximate 10:30 am, I was involved in an accident on I35 here in Austin. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt. It did, however, trigger my PTSD and took some weeks to emotionally recover from. I learned a lot about my PTSD as a result of this experience.
The police report for that accident was issued at 11:04 am. Since that is the documented time, I have used it to cast the chart.
In this chart, Saturn is going forward at 1o 59’ 11” Sagittarius in the 8th house. The Ascendant (0o 11’ Aries) is just arc-minutes from the exact Aries Point, which is extremely significant and packs a lot of punch.
Aries rising means we have to pay attention to Mars. Mars at 0o 13’ Pisces in the 12th house had just conjuncted Nessus (a pain point), and was fixing to exactly square Saturn (an abrupt stop of forward motion). It you consider my Natal sun and moon (and a host of others) the square becomes a T-Square.
The moon and Uranus opposed each other and nearly aligned with the Lunar Nodal axis. The event was unexpected and created a strong emotional reaction. Between that and the stellium in the 12th house, it was a karmic event for me.
This morning at 4:00 am, Saturn, now retrograde, has returned to that exact location.
Notice that the Aries Point is again rising. In this chart, Mars, again the ruler of the chart, is separating from its recent opposition to Saturn and is just about to transit my Natal sun.
The sun and moon are conjunct in the 2nd house and are nearly exactly transiting my Natal moon. This event relates to my natural sense of security (my natal moon).
And, as I mentioned yesterday, Mercury is just about to station retrograde (nearly atop my Natal Mars).
You may wonder why I even looked this stuff up. Well, Saturday, I received a letter from the other guy’s insurance company denying my claim. The letter arrived on 5/16, but I did not see it until 5/17 (yesterday).
Receiving that letter brought the whole experience back…not so much the trauma as the emotion. I felt angry, just as I did that day. I felt a sense of injustice. [Notice that Libra—the sign relating to law and justice—is the cusp of the 7th house–the house of relationship, but also open enemies.]
The situation is now about values and money—who is legally responsible and whether the repairs will be compensated or not. [This context is clearly second house, where Mars, sun and moon are located.]
In my sun sign chart, 0o 0’ Gemini is the Ascendant and 0o 0’ Sagittarius is the Descendant. Thus Saturn is transiting my horizon.
Clearly, there is work to be done. This morning I wrote my rebuttal to their denial and sent it to my insurance company and the other guy’s. During Mercury Retrograde (in Gemini), which starts this evening, we’re all going to have to revisit the claim.
You may find it interesting to know that the guy who hit me is also a Gemini.
There are many people out there who assign little worth or belief to Astrology. This accident was lost in process for months now. On the very day it comes back into my attention, and with strong emotion, I find that Saturn is in the exact same place. Mars squared Saturn when the event took place, and is now in opposition to Saturn, a very similar aspect. The correlation here is so beyond coincidence! [It has been over 4 months.]
Studying the chart(s) explains the larger lesson for me. I get it. I feel injustice in my 7th house…especially these days—not so much within my personal relationships, but within my professional ones. Notice that the Descendant separates professional (6th house) and personal (7th house).
In order for me to clean up my 10th house (career), I have to clean up my 6th and 7th, I am now understanding. I have to learn to trust people again, or at least realize that distrust is no longer serving me.
Saturn is just about to dip back into Scorpio and will remain there from June 14th (the weekend of my move) until September 17th. Processing emotion is a big part of the lesson.
When Saturn crossed my rising sign Ascendant nine years ago, my move to Austin began. Now I’m making a small move with Saturn crossing my sun sign Descendant…how intriguing!
I guess I need to pay attention in class so I can learn what Saturn is here to teach me as quickly as possible.
1 thought on “Retrograde and Return”