Weathering the Saturn-Pluto Conjunction: a Partly Cloudy Perspective

Saturn is catching up to Pluto and the two are plodding through the sky to vomit on our collective doorstep this winter (warming up from basically now to peak in mid-January).

I was in the shower, trying to exfoliate my entire personality off after another day of crippled coping, when I realized I might have more success if I could just get over myself. Then I laughed and cried, and came up with a list of things I would tell myself if I was one of my clients that would help me get a grip and take comfort in the realization that these feelings are par for the course. It ain’t pretty but it will end.

1. You are going to feel alone. Even if you’re not (and you’re probably not) and even if you realize that you’re not. Even if you have friends, family, a partner, a therapist that are willing to listen to what you’re going through and want to help, it might feel like they can’t help, or they can only help to a point. Know that the bulk of the work is up to you. Let people help to the extent that they can unless that makes it harder for you.

2. You will encounter more red tape, brick walls, and dead ends than usual, whether you’re forging a path that doesn’t exist and fighting your way through the brush or banging your head against the walls of a too-well-polished closed system. Try, try again.

3. You will not see progress. Or, at least, it will seem that way. Saturnian work is not often quick, efficient, or direct. It is plodding. Progress during a Saturn time comes from persistence and stamina, often while navigating mazes full of loopholes and exceptions within systems. The relief of progress or solution won’t be here yet because you won’t be able to see it yet. Progress will happen, but you must take the long view to see it.

4. You will need patience. You need not feel patient, but patience will be required of you, nonetheless, whether it’s the patience to try another method, go back to the drawing board yet again, or patience to wait for the dusty wheels of the system to move. Stay hydrated and take up the charge again tomorrow. Probably with a different idiot you have to explain everything to once more.

5. You may not have a choice. When Saturn and Pluto team up, you are likely dealing with reality (Saturn) outside of your control (Pluto). You have choices, but the one you want may not be available to you. You may not be able to opt out of dealing with a situation, but you will still have choices. Find them. Whine a bit, but then get on board.

6. You will feel drained. Not only can doing challenging things drain your energy, but you will probably feel emotionally drained, and maybe even more than the situation seems to warrant. You may feel like you can barely cope, and you may not even understand way. Saturn asks us to work harder, Pluto asks us to face our fears. So at a time when life seems to be demanding a lot of you (Saturn), you’re also going to feel a lot more scared, vulnerable, or powerless (Pluto). Courage. And wine.

7. Trust in inevitability. The inevitability of change, the inevitability of reaching an end through perseverance. What you are facing will change and develop. You will change and develop. You will have breakdowns and breakthroughs. That’s the Plutonian component. You will not always feel drained, powerless, and alone. What you are going through now may not “always be for a reason,” but it can be used to good ends. Remember you’re carrying 100 more pounds on your back right now than usual. Take coffee breaks. Cry in the shower. Kick ass on one tiny thing. Repeat.