The Spring 2010 Aries-Libra Story

by Tom Jacobs

By Tom Jacobs, http://tdjacobs.com

Saturn is retrograding in the first degrees of Libra, and the Sun entered Aries two days ago as of this writing. Mercury’s there too, as is Venus. With all the Libran lessons we’ve been learning with Saturn first entering and then retrograding in this sign, now is introduced the impetus to action for which Aries is famous. See my two other articles on this site for background info on Saturn in Libra, “Saturn In Libra” and “Saturn Square Pluto: Reclaiming Power” (scroll down the “Writings” page to find them).

Saturn’s been asking us to get real about how and why we have relationships. What we believe is fair, how we expect to be (and therefore are) treated by others, and how much we listen to others and how much we expect to be heard by others are all up for review. It’s a lot, but Saturn always asks us to do a lot. Yet how we respond to its invitation to realism, structure, and discipline entirely determines our experience of its transits. As you look at your invitations for any Saturn transit, trust that more realism, structure, and discipline are the answers for the question you’ve been asking to help you evolve. Saturn will always ask you to give something up to grow (hence its reputation for causing us to sacrifice things) but what it asks you to give up is something that you no longer need. How much will you trust that this is true?

With Saturn in Libra, what you’re being asked to give up are old patterns that no longer serve you. When it steps back into Virgo in April, it will be time to roll up your sleeves and become willing to do some realistic analysis and hands-on work to change it. It’ll ask you to make some choices about how you will proceed.

I’m big on asking questions to inspire you to inspire yourself so let’s just get to it already: Why do you pick the relationships that you do? What are you looking for in other people?

What do you look for in other people that you need to provide for yourself?

What in other people attracts you? What’s on your list of what kind of relationships you’re available for?

Wait a minute – do you even have a list? Are you clear on what kinds of and qualities in relationship are important to you?

What on your list reflects your fears of not being met as an equal? What about you and your truth is not reflected in your list?

What parts of you are you afraid to love and then share with others?

What visions of your fullness are you afraid to embrace and bring to others?

Pause for a minute. Then go back and write the questions and your answers down and get your homeplay for the day out of the way.

Then get that these are all the questions Saturn has been asking during its trip through Libra. As it retros now, all these things are up for review and you can actually see into your patterns and assumptions with new levels of insight. I love retro periods of all planets because our left-brain control mechanism has to take a back seat to the reality surrounding us. More of us as a result opens to possibility, and imagination and vision can seep in through the cracks of our control veneers and, when we let them, change everything. During retrogrades you can’t think your way through something. You have to sense and feel, but allow solutions to reveal themselves.

With the inner planets traveling through Aries now, the urge to act on all those Libran lessons that have been coming in your life and sphere is born. Aries requires action and, when healthy, acting on instinct and not thinking about it a lot. Saturn in Libra energy is very intentional and deliberate, but tends to think too much. If you’ve been honest about your Saturn-in-Libra lessons, now it’s time to act.

Time for your instinctive fire to make some decisions for you. Time for you to trust the first feeling that comes to you. When you ask yourself or the ethers what you need to do to heal and move through any past relationship patterns, your job is to hear and feel the first answer that comes to you and act in your own best interests.

Aries says, “I am.” Libra says, “I know who I am because I can see who you are.” Saturn in Libra is for getting clear about in what ways you’re forming your identity in terms of the identities of others, and the Sun, Venus, and Mercury in Aries are about kicking your metaphysical and metaphorical rear into course-corrective action.

Unhealthy Libra puts others before the self. Healthy Aries can stir (or kick) us to come back into balance by acting in our own best interests. If you’re looking at what your relationships seem to require that makes you feel left out, know that they don’t have to be that way. You create them to show you that you believe that’s all you can have. You deserve to have healthy relationships where equality, parity, and respect blossom and flourish but you have to take responsibility for creating and choosing such relationships. If any part of you is unwilling to open to equality, parity, and respect, that’s where some healing is waiting for you.

Following your instinct is acting in your best interests. If you’re not sure of the difference between instinct and a fear response, it’s time to get clear. Tap into the feeling of what you know you should do and, before acting on it, be honest about whether it is rooted in love or fear.
If it’s fear, work through it.
If it’s love, go for it.

Tom Jacobs is an astrologer, medium, and channel in Tucson, AZ. In addition to private consultations, he teaches karmic astrology and intuitive skills development to individuals and groups. Tom is the author of two new books, Seeing Through Spiritual Eyes: A Memoir of Intuitive Awakening and Living Myth: Exploring Archetypal Journeys. Each is available via his website, http://tdjacobs.com.