The Astrology of Purpose

Articles on the Signs, Part 2:

Leo, Virgo, Libra, and Scorpio

SATURN IN LEO

Leo is a fixed fire sign. Planetary ruler: the Sun. Season: Summer. Associated with the 5th house of creative expression. Its symbol is the Lion.

One of the things Leo is not associated with is maturity. In fact, it's associated with the child within, or the teenager within, full of adolescent vigor, cockiness, self-assurance, energy, and desire to make a difference. It has the childlike desire to be special, to be noticed, "Mommy look at me!" It's proud of itself and wants to tell everyone when it does something well, and how good it is as the skills its mastering. Leo is Muhammed Ali proclaiming "I'm the Greatest!"

Saturn on the other hand, is the planet of maturity. It's the planet of old age. Vigor is not its strong suit, and it entirely lacks the cocky, brash self-assurance that makes Leo charming at its best. Saturn is insecurity, withdrawal, morose shrinking from the limelight. It's fearful, and often doesn't want to be noticed.

This makes Saturn in Leo an odd conundrum. The energies are close to opposite, and that may be why some traditional astrologers declared that Saturn was in its fall in Leo, embodying grinding ambition without the confidence or enthusiasm to bring dreams to fruition. In fact, it is Leo's childlike qualities that allow it to be productive. Saturn in this sign is almost like a wound in the heart of the Leo reason for being.

For a lot of us, then, particularly those with strong ties in our charts to Leo, this Saturn transit almost forces attention to old wounds. Anyone whose sense of childlike joy has been wounded or take a hit by life can find this transit pushing old resentments to the surface like pus from an infected sore. Saturn is the planet of our necessary defenses, and it faces a battle in Leo, a sign which declares they're not that necessary after all.

In a way, this is good as it can allow us, if we take the time and trouble, to discharge the energy from old wounds to our playfulness. Astrological transits often work in a curious backwards way, in a which a planet that seemingly tamps down on or discourages Leonine joy can actually teach us how to learn to create it again. All Saturn does is bring issues to our attention if we have them.

Saturn is also the planet of conformity, while Leo is the sign of individuality. Saturn is about blending into the crowd, while Leo is about standing out as the only one uniquely like yourself. Part of Saturn's lesson in this sign, if you choose to take advantage of it, is to model yourself after those who exhibit strong Leo energy. For older folks who remember, there was a groundbreaking female politician, Bella Abzug, famous for her hats and her fiery way with words. That's Leo energy, not taking any crap from anyone, and using publicity to an advantage.

For the younger generation, there's J Lo, or her superstar predecessor, Madonna. For older rockers, there's Mick Jagger. A quality all of these people share in their public life is fearlessness. Having Saturn, the planet of fear, in Leo, the sign of fearlessness, gives us all an opportunity to really confront our fears of standing out, being special, going for it, making a difference, and promoting our special gifts. We've all got about a year left in which we can learn from Saturn in Leo. If fear of what you can do or be has ever dogged you (and doesn't our potential scare most of us?), you have your chance now to confront the blocks that hold you back. "Take a stand. Be someone. You can do it." That's what Leo says. Maybe it's a good idea these days to listen.

Links: Ready to know your life purpose? Current month horoscopes

VIRGO

Virgo is a mutable earth sign. Planetary ruler: Mercury. Season: Summer. Associated with the 6th house of work and service. Its symbol is the Virgin.

Virgo is a curious mixture, an earth sign ruled by airy Mercury. The combination of Mercury's precision focus and the sign's earth orientation make Virgo all about real life. Not about theoretical life, imaginary life, dream life, or anything else. No, Virgo is about this life, this reality as it is happening right now. (Virgo is also a mutable sign, with a now focus.) Virgo can be interested in things as diverse as what to eat for breakfast, whether or not your grammar is correct, and the purity of your heart. But it is not interested in excuses, lies, or bullshit. It only cares about what is provably real, and it worries about those real things constantly.

I once knew a Virgo who became fixated on my toaster on the theory that it was soon to ignite in flames. It didn't, but it could have, and Virgo was apalled that I was blithely making toast with insufficient attention to the details that govern potential toast-burning. If my toast gets burned, I toss it out, and if my toaster was to catch fire, I'd put out the flames. Neither of these things is appealing to Virgo, a sign that feels that even minor disasters should be averted by hawk-eyed attention to the finer nuances of proper toast-making--or proper anything else.

When Virgo is emphasized by transiting or natal planets, be prepared for hawk-eyed attention and a heavy dose of worrying. Like many people alive today, I have Pluto in Virgo in my birth chart. It happens to be in my 6th house. This combination makes me a lifelong paranoid worrier about all matters related to work. Sometimes this is excruciatingly visible to others; sometimes I suffer alone. A lot of you have Pluto in Virgo, too, and even more have other planets in this sign. You will more than likely have to put up with your own worrying in matters related to the affected houses.

On the upside, you are likely to be competent in these matters, as Virgo loves competence. When transiting planets visit Virgo, as they do this month, it behooves us all to be competent or to expect the universe to remind us that we need to be. For real life, is important, and, as Virgo reminds us, we neglect it at our peril.

Links: Ready to know your life purpose? Current month horoscopes

LIBRA

Libra is a cardinal air sign. Planetary ruler: Venus. Season: Autumn. Associated with the 7th house of one on one relationships. Its symbol is the Scales.

One of the major themes of the sign of Libra is that of balance. Balance is one of those qualities that many people in my country (the USA) seem to approve of, but few seem to achieve. The US, due to its official birthday on July 4, is said to be a Cancer. American culture, however, has a lot more in common with the sign opposite from Libra, Aries.

The US has an energetic, bold, courageous, contentious, violent, vigorous, enthusiastic, open-hearted, and opinionated culture--all hallmarks of the sign of Aries. As Aries' position at the opposite end of the spectrum from Libra indicates, balance is not an easy thing to achieve with an Aries attitude. It is fairly often said that the European countries do a better job at achieving work/life balance than America does. I read recently that Americans spend more time at work than any other industrialized nation in the world and yet do not manage to work as efficiently as the Europeans.

Part of this is that the American attitude encourages (or often demands) balls-out effort at everything attempted. The sign of Libra, on the other hand, is all about due proportion and the management of competing priorities. In the US, it is hard for working people to balance job and family because our work culture expects total dedication. Yet our standards for family life require total dedication. Our divorce rate indicates we have difficulty sustaining marriages (a Libra specialty) because we expect ourselves to achieve total fulfillment as individual human beings and in our marriages--at the same time. Our soaring levels of obesity indicate we have difficulty finding balance even in something so elemental as eating.

The sign of Libra, however, is much more focused on the intricate, ongoing delicate negotiations between individuals and all the varying other people and forces that affect them. Libra weighs everything. It assesses, plans, takes into account, gathers information, and places all the varying factors into place in a harmonious whole. That's a lot of work! All that work accounts for Libra's reputation for taking forever to make up its mind about anything. The sign likes to be fair, and fairness requires reflection and time.

If you have Libra prominent in your birth chart, you can resign yourself to the fact that you will need to spend a certain amount of time taking all the varying forces and factors in your life into account and trying to fit them into a harmonious whole. You may not focus on this 24/7, but the need will arise in at least one area of your life. By the same token, when planets in Libra are prominent by transit, it behooves all of us to pause and spend a few moments assessing and understanding the agendas and forces acting upon everyone else--not just ourselves. It's a lot less straightforward than the normal American way of doing things but it has its benefits, and sometimes it is the only realistic way to approach the changing tides of our lives.

Links: Ready to know your life purpose? Current month horoscopes

SCORPIO

Scorpio is a fixed water sign. Planetary ruler: Pluto. Season: Autumn. Associated with the 8th house of trauma, transformation, and merging. Its symbol is the Scorpion.

Like the signs of Leo, Taurus, and Aquarius, Scorpio is a fixed sign. Unlike the other fixed signs, though, Scorpio is the stealth fixed sign. Leo is the sign of living large. Aquarius is the sign of thinking globally. Taurus is the sign of the visible pursuit of living comfortably. Scorpio, on the other hand, is about the largely invisible pursuit of power. Think of Hillary Clinton, living for decades in the shadow of her Leo husband. Behind the scenes, she was wielding and accumulating enormous power. But did you hear her chatting about it? I don't think so.

The most visible Scorpio in the world is probably Bill Gates, not so coincidentally one of the most powerful men in the world as well. When Bill Gates talks about Microsoft does he talk about how it's the most powerful software company in history with both the ability and the ruthless willingness to crush anything in sight? I don't think so. No, Mr. Gates talks about how useful and empowering the software his company produces is. He adopts a tone of studied paranoia and even seeming humility at times. Yet his corporate behavior indicates that his company has never been afraid to seek as much power as possible.

Bill Gates and Hillary Clinton, in fact, represent just about everything that people admire and don't like about the sign of Scorpio. Decisiveness, strength, determination, steely will, the ability to get things done and perform good in the world without sacrificing an iota of toughness. The inability and perhaps unwillingness to come across and warmly and jovially human. A strong work ethic. An ability to concentrate. An ability to piss other people off.

What the sign of Scorpio does in fact is transform emotional energy that other signs use to well, have emotions, into a sort of nuclear furnace that powers an engine directed toward a particular goal. Because this transformation is self-powered and internal, Scorpio is a very useful sign to have in one's chart. In fact, most people between the ages of 10 and 50 have at least one planet in Scorpio in their birth charts, either Pluto or Neptune or Uranus. Such Scorpio placements can act as your own personal nuclear furnace, transforming problems into goals, and giving you access to the power of long-held emotion. With Uranus in Scorpio you may use flashes of insight to access this power, with Neptune your intution may give you access, and with Pluto attributes like courage and surgical precision. The house wherein your planets in Scorpio lie can also give you a clue as to the source of your own emotional power, as well as to the area of life in which you can exercise this power most easily.

Scorpio is also a darn useful sign to encounter by transit. When planets are in Scorpio, as they are this month, people can dive into their own psyches and pull up transformative power they weren't aware they had available to them. Very few of us could stand bracing bouts of transformative power all year long, but every year, just as the nights start getting longer, a good dose of it does the trick.