Saturday & Sundry Tales of Outer Planetary Transits

If ever I have serious doubts about the validity of astrology, at its core, I remember my personal experiences when outer planetary transits conjoined some of my natal planetary positions.

My natal Sun is at 6.46 Aquarius, natal Jupiter at 6.03 Pisces. At the time of these events and developments I was unaware of the planetary transits. With hindsight, I'm very glad of my ignorance.

Uranus transited Aquarius from mid-1995 to late 2003. Uranus' transit of Pisces commenced March 2003. My natal chart received a "multiple-whammy" during these transits. My second Saturn return happened within that time span, as well as a transit of Pluto to natal Venus, and Neptune's transit of natal Sun.

The story begins on 21 April 1996 on a Sunday evening, in a northern English city, at around 9.20 pm. Uranus on this date was a little past 4 degrees of Aquarius, 2 degrees from my natal Sun position. A partial solar eclipse had occurred on 17/18 April at, I think, 28 Aries. My natal Moon is at around 24.40 Aries. Transiting Mars was at 21 Aries.

On this Sunday evening my long-time partner watched TV in the living room as I prepared to take a bath. A fire, which, unknown to us, had started in a large adjoining empty building spread close to our second floor apartment (3rd floor USA-style). I heard a strange crackling noise, went to the kitchen to investigate. Flames licked the window. We realised what had happened, grabbed coats (I was only semi-clad), thankfully I also grabbed my handbag. We hurried down two flights of stairs, as fire engines drew up outside. As we reached the ground an explosion occurred above, probably from gas boilers in the building. We stood with two other tenants, thankful to be outside and alive, watched everything we owned, and our home for the past 23 years, disappear in an horrendous fire.

The whole block of buildings had to be demolished later. We still had our car, parked in a nearby garage, the few clothes on our backs and my handbag containing credit card and a little cash.

That was the start of a very difficult phase. Three days later my partner, probably still affected by shock, fell in the street and damaged his hand so badly that he needed plastic surgery and was admitted to hospital. I remained in a bed and breakfast place.

My work friends and my mother were a great help to us, both with contributions, and moral support. Our insurance helped a lot too, as did the result of legal proceedings against the owner of the adjoining building - but not until some years later.

Within a month or so we found another apartment, but it proved not ideal. We had one break-in during the year we lived there - those burglars were unlucky, we owned next to nothing!

In the early spring of 1997, as Uranus exactly conjoined my natal Sun, we moved into a rented house in a nice area. The whole episode had come to seem like a nightmare turned adventure. More changes were to come, however.

That summer of 1997, Uranus started its retrograde movement. My mother was diagnosed with terminal illness. This happened rapidly and unexpectedly, affected me deeply. My second Saturn return was exact in April 1997. Mum seemed fine when she visited us at Easter, by mid-August she had died. She left me a bungalow on the coast where she and my Dad had spent a good part of their retirement. On the day Mum died retrograde Uranus, was at 5.59 Aquarius, one degree from my natal Sun, 8th house.

I was nearing retirement. We didn't want to live on the coast, but after trying unsuccessfully to sell the bungalow, we decided we'd have to move there after all. In March 1999 we moved home, as Mars hovered at 13 Scorpio, Moon's North node in my chart which opposes natal Uranus/South node. Transiting Uranus had moved on now and lay 7 degrees from natal Sun, but Neptune was inching slowly towards natal Sun.

Soon after moving to the bungalow on the coast, my partner's health began to fail, both mentally and physically. He was much older than me, and we'd been together for more than 30 years. From 2000, until he died in the first weeks of 2003, I looked after him, heart breaking, knowing that I'd lose him painfully and slowly. Throughout this time, transiting Pluto was approaching my natal Venus at 19.59 Sagittarius, 6th house.

To help things along (or not) Neptune conjoined my natal Sun exactly from September to December 2001, and wasn't far away for months after that. Looking back, I can see that Neptune acted somewhat like an anesthetic, or some kind of drug which, along with the computer I'd just bought, helped me through what was, without doubt, the worst period of my life. I'm pretty sure that from time to time I acted as if I were under some kind of intoxication - which WAS purely astrological!

That first home computer of mine arrived along with Neptune in Aquarius. Because I was tied to the house, caring for my partner and unable to go very far for very long, the computer became something of a life-raft. I made a few on-line friends via message boards, and instant message programs, who, bless 'em, along with Neptune's intoxication, kept me afloat through those bad times. I doubt that I could have coped without the computer.

Uranus didn't leave Aquarius until late 2003 and before Pluto left its conjunction with my natal Venus another adventure awaited me. Still reeling from the loss of my partner, I met my (now) husband. At first he was an e-mail penfriend, then, during a short holiday in the USA we met in person. He later came over to the UK, spent time there, and we eventually married. I sold the bungalow, went through the rigmarole of visa and immigration hoop-la, arrived in Oklahoma, USA late in 2004. Events seem rapid, with hindsight, but at the time it didn't feel that way. Life seemed to be proceeding in ultra-slow motion.

Uranus conjoined my natal Jupiter at 6.03 Pisces in February 2005, just after we had bought a house in Oklahoma and moved from my husband's previous home. I'd already bought a new computer, soon afterwards astrology software followed, and a box of secondhand astrology text books. Much study and experimenting ensued.

Jupiter, the publishing planet, danced around the vertex in my chart (natal Mars conjoins this sensitive point). I started blogging. Other astrology bloggers were kind enough to notice my blog, and offer support.

Summing up: the transit of Uranus through Aquarius was a little like a tornado passing through a small town. When that planet first entered Aquarius I had a Mum, a long-standing partner, a home of many years, and a job. When Uranus left, none of those remained. Amid the chaos in my life, Uranus, ruler of technology,left something for me to hold on to - the computer, which became my life raft, eventually guiding me across the Atlantic to a new way of being and, incidentally, to blogging.

What indicates "astrology at work" is the timing, the way events dovetail with transits. Skeptics might respond that there are "ordinary" reasons for these events. Maybe so, but there are no ordinary reasons for such exact timing.

Now, bringing this tale right up to date in 2018, as Pluto conjoins my natal Mercury in Capricorn, I've needed surgery for a small breast cancer, discovered following a routine mammogram, as described in previous posts. Hello Pluto - it brings me no pleasure at all to see you again!