Corrine Kenner
The cross-quarter holiday of Lammas falls during the hottest month of the year as the Sun makes its way through fiery Leo. The Sun rules Leo, which means that as temperatures rise, energy and emotions are heightened, too.
Among ancient Pagans, the first harvest of Lammas was a hopeful time—but the flip side of the coin was fear. If the crops failed and the harvest wasn’t fruitful, a long, dark winter of hunger and deprivation was in store.
On a symbolic level, the holiday of Lammas celebrates the fact that we do hope to be rewarded for hard work. We know we’ll be held accountable for our actions. If we worry that our shortcomings will be revealed, or that we’ll be punished for our failures and misdeeds, we can raise our standards and live up to our own better natures.
Mythic Astrology: Saturn
Saturn may seem like a formidable foe. In fact, ancient astrologers referred to him as the Great Malefic, and he stands in stern contrast to the benefic nature of his son Jupiter.
He’s a fearsome figure by any definition. Saturn is the god of time, and ate his children—just as the years eventually destroy all of the world’s creations.
We’re used to seeing Saturn depicted as an ancient Father Time, garbed in a hooded robe and carrying an hour glass or sickle. In more modern depictions, Saturn resembles the Grim Reaper. He’s a skeletal figure who cuts short the lives of the young and harvests the souls of the old.
In Roman mythology, however, Saturn was the god of agriculture. He taught the ancients how to trim the vine and the olive, and his civilizing influence helped establish societal order and control.
Once a year, during the festival of Saturnalia, that social order was upended. Slaves were treated like royalty, and their masters dressed in rags to wait on them. Children received presents, and everybody feasted.
Saturn had three sons: Pluto, Neptune, and Jupiter, and three daughters: Vesta, Ceres, and Juno. Saturn had castrated his own father, Uranus, and he feared that his children would someday rebel against him, too, as his father had predicted.
Saturn managed to preserve his rule for years by eating his own children. Every time his wife gave birth, he snatched up the child and ate it. Eventually his wife grew tired of losing all her offspring. When Jupiter was born, she hid the infant in a safe place and wrapped a boulder in a baby’s blanket. Saturn swallowed the stone without a second thought, and Jupiter was saved.
When Jupiter was grown, he drugged his father, forcing him to throw up all his other children. They’d been sitting in Saturn’s stomach all along.
Saturn never forgave his wife or children—and even now, he works overtime to enforce boundaries and limitations.
In astrology, the ringed planet symbolizes discipline and clear-cut definitions.
Most people, of course, rebel at boundaries. They like to feel free and unencumbered. Saturn brings us down to earth and teaches us the practical realities of material existence. Saturn proves the old adage: what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.
Saturn reminds us that reasonable people recognize their limits and make wise choices to make the most of the time and space they’re allotted. Time is the best teacher, and most people are willing to trade youth and innocence for the wisdom and experience of age.
Even though Saturn’s rings imply a certain number of limitations and restrictions, they also delineate boundaries that can help us define our position and relate to other people without losing our own individuality. Boundaries keep outside forces out and contain what belongs inside. In other words, Saturn’s boundaries don’t merely confine us: they define us.
Ancient astrologers called Saturn the Great Malefic and associated him with misfortune. Today, astrologers are less fatalistic, and they’ll usually point out that Saturn also clears the way for new beginnings.
Its placement in a horoscope chart, by sign and by house, describes authority figures as well as how we manage our own authority with lesser beings and subordinates.
Saturn rules earthy Capricorn, the sign of the goat. Saturn also rules the tenth house of the horoscope, where astrologers look for information about career and public image.
Reading the Signs
On the Solstice, five planets were either standing still or moving backward through this signs. If you thought that would change, you’re right: now six planets are either stationed or retrograde.
Despite the slowdown in those planets, you’ll have energy to burn. The Sun in fiery Leo is trine the Moon in fiery Aries.
The Sun is also beaming energy straight at Mars, which is across the zodiac in the opposite sign of Aquarius. Mars is also tapping into lunar energy from a sextile with the Moon in fiery Aries. That means Mars is soaking up the light of the Sun, building up its reserves of strength. It might discharge that energy in unexpected ways: the Moon is in an uncomfortable square with Saturn, the ringed planet of limitations and restrictions. Mars and Uranus are also in an uncomfortable square, and Uranus is the planet of rebellion and revolution.
Jupiter’s expansive nature is hampered a bit by its square to the Sun, as well as its trine with Neptune, the sign of mysticism and illusion. The giant planet is in Scorpio, where it takes on a brooding quality. You can use the aspect to your advantage by immersing yourself in mystery. Now is the time to seek answers to the philosophical questions—like what, and who, you value most.
Uranus, which is stationed in Taurus, is square the Sun and trine Saturn. This is a good time to take inventory of your belongings and get rid of anything that isn’t beautiful, useful, or loved. You might be surprised at how easy it is to liberate yourself from people and property that are actually weighing you down.
Two planets will be coming into their own soon, which could jump-start your love life. Venus, the planet of beauty and attraction, is in self-possessed Virgo right now, but she moves into her own sign of Libra on August 6.
Mars, the virile planet of action and assertion, moves into his traditional home of Capricorn on August 13.
Planetary Positions |
|
• Sun in Leo |
• Jupiter in Scorpio |
• Moon in Aries |
• Saturn in Capricorn |
• Mercury in Leo |
• Uranus in Taurus |
• Venus in Virgo |
• Neptune in Pisces |
• Mars in Aquarius |
• Pluto in Capricorn |
Phases of the Moon
On August 11, a New Moon in fiery Leo will reinforce the Sun’s emphasis on accomplishments and awards.
At the same time, a partial solar eclipse will fascinate Northern and Eastern Europe, and North and West Asia.
On August 26, a Full Moon in watery Pisces will fill the sky, illuminated by the Sun in earthy Virgo. The Full Moon in Pisces is actually featured on the Moon card in most tarot decks. A watery Pisces Moon promises psychic dreams and intuitive flashes of insight.
On September 9, a New Moon in earthy Virgo will move the harvest season even further ahead.
Practical Astrology
Retrograde planets are one of the most fascinating phenomena in astrology.
Every now and then, from our viewpoint on Earth, the planets seem to move backward through the zodiac. It’s an optical illusion that occurs when Earth passes other planets in our orbit around the Sun. Just as a car you pass on the highway seems to go backward as you pull ahead of it, planets look like they’re moving in reverse when we pass them in space.
People seem especially attuned to Mercury retrogrades. As Earth passes Mercury in its orbit around the Sun, the small messenger planet seems to travel backward through the stars. Other planets go retrograde, too, but none seem to have the same upsetting effect on our daily lives. That’s because Mercury rules the stuff of everyday life—messages, errands, appointments, neighborhood jaunts, and family connections.
When Mercury is retrograde, double-check details, cross your T’s and dot your I’s, because the trickster energy can wreak havoc with communications. Check and recheck your work, and back up important files.