Mars Conjunct Saturn at 10 Sagittarius Pt. 1 – Forced Growth in 2016-2017-2018

by Robert Wilkinson

Mission control, counting down to the next launch! Mars is said to be the "trigger" for all that happens in our world and lives. Wherever this conjunction falls every 2 years becomes a huge focus for our future!

Whenever Mars and Saturn conjunct, it begins a new cycle of Saturn’s lessons being expressed by Mars lasting a little over 2 years. It blends the areas ruled by Mars with those of Saturn, and shows us the pulses of changes associated with Saturn.

Thus our Aries and Scorpio sectors and planets are now merged with our Capricorn and Aquarius sectors in the Scorpio house in our chart. The house where this conjunction falls will be the one where we work through our Saturn issues, using Mars experiences.

Mars conjunct Saturn in Sagittarius completes the last Mars-Saturn cycle in Scorpio, and from here we get to take the focused intensity of the past two years and take it to the limit of our imagination! The aspects indicate how certain energies will play out over the next two years.

The primary inner planet aspects made at this conjunction include the Moon in Taurus in multiple trines to Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter, Moon quintile Neptune, Mercury quintile Mars and Saturn while triseptile Uranus, Venus quintile Mars and Saturn while conjunct Jupiter and quincunx Uranus, and the Sun opposed Neptune. Outer planets aspect include Mars and Saturn square Neptune, Jupiter quintile Saturn, triseptile Uranus, and tredecile Neptune. Minor aspects include Moon trielftile Sun, Venus quindecile Sun, Sun quindecile Jupiter, and Uranus trielftile Pluto.

So we have an extraordinarily high number of favorable and specializing aspects to/from all the planets which release through the Mars-Saturn square to Neptune, which means of course Neptune releases its energies through Mars and Saturn. This puts the brakes on some old Mars/Saturn manifestations while releasing new ones into collective consciousness. This one opens up unique opportunities, some of which will take a roundabout path to find us, due to Mercury about to go retrograde. Still, the numerous Earth trines will stabilize a tremendous amount, with great rewards that will confirm the worth of whatever the trines are related to in the houses where we have Taurus and Virgo.

The last Mars-Saturn conjunction at 18 Scorpio has helped us fulfill many things and transfigure our lives since August 2014. We’ve had to be good warriors these past two years, knowing when to hold the line and when to give way. We’ve all experienced a conflict about something that was preventing our transfiguration, and now know we’ve done something right, and it’s finished so we can move beyond the deeper feelings, stronger magnetism, and more focused power we’ve dealt with these past two years.

Now at the end of the cycle, the work of transfiguration is done, and stand on the threshold of new work, new futures, new adventures, and new truths. This conjunction stands separate from the powerful Earth trines anchored by Moon exalted in Taurus trine Mercury in its home sign of Virgo, which is the final dispositor for all the other planets except Neptune.

The Moon in this chart asks what do you value, and what will confirm YOUR value? How can you make your life easier, simpler, and more enjoyable? Are you willing to “enter the sanctuary” so you can see a more substantial way to live your truth? There are tremendous rewards and gifts to be captured over the next two years for those who focus their will power in refined ways.

The Sun is exactly conjunct TransPluto at 2 Virgo, the degree of a “liberating ordeal.” The Light powering the next two years of structured activity promises that everything preventing understanding and compassion from taking shape in our lives must be released so that a vaster redemption may be set into motion. This moves Divine Mother energy into Solar radiance these next two years, and generally moves that energy focus into 2 Virgo, a big event since Aug 2015 featured both Jupiter and the Sun conjunct TransPluto at 1 Virgo.

With Mars in the questing magician sign of Sagittarius, it re-sets the intense focus of Scorpio with a wider, freer, more adventurous energy of Sagittarius. The last cycle with Saturn in Scorpio indicated we would be dealing with our fear or rigidity around Scorpio things, while this cycle indicates that we will be spurred to action promising great gifts and rewards for disciplined long range vision. It all depends on how we act or react to these energies.

The 10th degree of Sagittarius is "A golden-haired goddess of opportunity.” In "the Astrology of Personality," where Rudhyar uses the original Dr. Jones' class notes on the symbols, 10 Sag is said to be a symbol of “power of creative significance, as it transforms mere facts into universal symbols” and “exteriorization of inner impulses.”

In the Astrological Mandala, he says this degree involves “society’s efforts at dramatizing the greatness of what it offers to the ambitious person.” He offers that those who live in society must “spend their vital energies in the pursuit of achievements” which “generate various forms of “progress.”

He speaks of socio-cultural forces at work via “dramatization and propaganda,” where the result is “a process of forced growth.” He says it falls in the span of "Receptiveness” and it’s the culminating degree of the emotional-cultural level of the scene of Abstraction in the Act of Group Integration.

According to Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, the degree is one of “the sure protection afforded every individual who enters experience with a genuine self-expenditure, and of the inevitable good fortune coming to those who refuse to be dependent on encouragement or support from others.” He states “nature always takes care of her own,” and we are “prospered as (our) expectation remains wholly unconditioned.”

He offers us the keyword of REWARD. He states that when operating in a positive manner, this degree is "an irresistible confidence in self and a tireless outreaching to all the wonders of an everyday world.”

This clearly implies there are rewards to be captured as we mobilize in the area of our chart this falls in, and of course, the aspects it makes to our planets shows how this larger global force will impact our particular planetary lights. As you sort out what fits where, you may see that you’re done with a chapter of life in your Scorpio house, and entered a new era of Sagittarius focus.

I believe those who are ambitious will “win the prize,” and find many gifts and harmonious blessings along the way via the trines and quintiles. So see what’s opening on the social, emotional, or cultural level in your life, see the universality to things, and enjoy focusing your will power, backed by courage, to redeem whatever needs redeeming.

On the material level, things will become very clear and stable over the next two years in areas in your charts where the late degrees of Earth and Water signs fall, with dynamic release in areas where you have 8-12 Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces. Much will become clearer later this Autumn when Venus, Mercury and the Sun cross this degree.

This begins a long cycle of using imagination and not hesitating when it’s time to leap into the future. Dance with possibilities, keep it simple as you expand into more enjoyable and rewarding realms, and regard much that presents itself these next two years as a series of experiments in Truth. Again, much will be clearer by December.

In part 2, we’ll take a look back at previous Mars-Saturn cycles to get some perspective.

The new is here. The Now is here. What adventure are you willing to live?

© Copyright 2016 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Sherry Katz]

Robert,
I appreciate your optimistic viewpoint and inspiring interpretations.

That the endpoint to feeling like no matter how hard, fast, or diligently I push the rock up the mountain, no one notices or cares enough to credit me with anything for doing so, will soon come to a close, is heartening.

Well, at least this is how I understood what you just wrote here!

[jon reddish]

when, is the conjunction?

[Nic]

"Now at the end of the cycle, the work of transfiguration is done, and stand on the threshold of new work, new futures, new adventures, and new truths. " Spot on! This I believe is where we are in then collective (and where I am personally too). There is a need to become conscious as a collective of the end of a cycle and that we are a the threshold of the new.

Blessings be to all.

[John]

THANK YOU!! This conjunction has been worrying me for some time. I have this conjunction in my natal at 9º-10º♐️ from 30 years ago and it is HEAVILY aspected in my chart. But I'm pursuing a career in the arts, (Film/photography) so this is surely comforting to hear. Watch out world! ^^

[Celeste Writer]

Hi there. I have a question about Scorpio in your writing:

Thus our Aries and Scorpio sectors and planets are now merged with our Capricorn and Aquarius sectors in the Scorpio house in our chart.

May I ask what which planet rules Scorpio? I thought Pluto Scorpio, and Mars ruled Aries.

My question is: How does Scorpio fit into this planetary equation as it relates to the Mars-Saturn conjunction?

Thanks!

[carmen]

Began a new job 8/22 with T. Mars/Saturn conjunct N. Sun in 11 house, with T. Sun conjunct N. Pluto in 8th house. Unusually was not overwhelmed or concerned as I anticipate great opportunities and rewards. And so it is...

[Robert]

Hi all - Thanks for checking in. This begins a long cycle, so breathe into the accelerated pace!

Hi Celeste - Mars rules Aries and Scorpio in the material world. Pluto rules Aries and Scorpio in the spiritual world. Pluto is the "higher octave" of Mars. This Mars-Saturn conjunction brings a Sagittarius energy to our Aries and Scorpio planets and houses. Now if you're asking how it may manifest in the chart of a Sun in Scorpio or Scorpio rising, that's a much bigger topic than can be answered in this stream, since it depends on where in Scorpio those things occur.

[Merrie Wolfie]

Greetings! Thanks for the fascinating article :) I'm wondering - what does 'dynamic release' mean in this sentence - "On the material level, things will become very clear and stable over the next two years in areas in your charts where the late degrees of Earth and Water signs fall, with dynamic release in areas where you have 8-12 Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces."?
It sounds positive but in the material realm it seems like it might mean a sudden loss. Just not sure. I'm very interested because I have Natal Mars 8 degrees Sag, and Natal Venus 10 degrees Pisces! Thank you :) Merrie