by Robert Wilkinson
Today we continue our look at the concept of dispositorship, and how it’s a primary factor in the ways a planet in any sign manifests. As I introduced in part 1, a dispositor provides the background material to why the "inner lights" (planets) work as they do.
To re-cap, even though each planet has their areas of influence, how that influence works is entirely dependent on a) what sign the planet is in, b) which planet rules the sign they're in, and c) where in the zodiac that ruling planet is. We call the planet ruling the sign another planet is in its “dispositor.”
By way of example, Mars in Libra will express itself entirely differently when Venus (the planet that rules Libra) is in Pisces than when Venus is in Aries. The Sun in Pisces expresses itself very differently when Jupiter, ruler of Pisces, is in Scorpio than when Jupiter is in Sagittarius. That’s why a person with Sun in Scorpio with Mars in Aquarius is very much different than a Sun in Scorpio with Mars in Cancer.
Dispositors give the backdrop for how a given planet expresses itself. It’s also why when planets shift signs it may also shift how other planets express their energies. I offered that the dispositor is like the key signature of a song, while the planet in the sign is like the melody.
There are three possible configurations to how planetary dispositors interrelate. There is final disposition, which is when a planet in its home sign disposes of other planets. There is mutual reception, when two planets are in each other’s signs and form the backdrop to all other planets in signs those two planets rule. And finally, there are “chains of dispositors,” when three or more are in signs ruled by other planets in that chain.
So let’s take a look at where the planets are now, and where they will be, so we can get a sense of how the outer planets will express throughout 2019-2020.
The Backdrop to Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto – Long Wave Key Signatures
As long as Pluto is in Capricorn it will be disposited by Saturn. Since Pluto is the spiritual ruler of Aries and Scorpio, then these two were in a spiritual mutual reception when Saturn was in Scorpio. Of course Mars, being the worldly ruler of Aries and Scorpio, was a major influence in the Pluto and Saturn expressions of that era.
That shifted in 2015 when Saturn entered Sagittarius, since Jupiter became the dispositor of Saturn through 2017. During those years Jupiter was in Leo, Virgo, Libra, and Scorpio, so Saturn had four different backdrops. Now Saturn is in its home signs of Capricorn. Throughout 2018 it was an off-and-on final dispositor for most of the planets, and will continue to be Pluto’s final dispositor until 2023 when it enters Pisces.When Neptune was in Aquarius, it had Saturn as its dispositor. It first entered Pisces in April 2011, when it became its own dispositor on the spiritual level, with Jupiter as its dispositor in worldly affairs. During the Neptune in Pisces era, Jupiter has transited from Aries to its current occupancy of Sagittarius.
So while Neptune currently is in its home sign, bringing the very vast dreamscape we’re all experiencing, during this time when Jupiter is in Sagittarius, it rules itself and makes for a combo of Fire and Water. Because both planets influence collective consciousness, we’ll see a shift from Fire to Earth when Jupiter goes into Capricorn, making Saturn its final dispositor.
Uranus in Aries has been disposited by Mars on a worldly level and Pluto on a spiritual level since 2010. That means we’ve had the Pluto in Capricorn spiritual energy as the backdrop to Uranus since then, with shifts in how that backdrop was expressed indicated by the signs Mars transited. Now that it’s danced at the edge of Taurus, it makes TransPluto its Spiritual ruler and Venus its worldly ruler. This is a long term change in which “key of Life” Uranus awakens in each of us and all of us.
TransPluto is in early Virgo, moving between offering us “liberating ordeals” and “divine help when human efforts seem to fail.” As it is showing us what we must leave behind so that compassion may come forth to purify our personalities, it is also offering us hidden unrealized powers within us that we should allow to come forth.
Uranus re-enters Taurus in March 2019 and stays there for many years to come. Venus is in Aquarius, and moving fairly quickly through the signs after its recent retrograde. That means the shading of the backdrop to how Uranus expresses itself will be moving quickly through the “signs of self” (Cap through Gemini) between March and June, and through the “signs of not-self” (Cancer through Sagittarius) between July and November.
Since Venus will only be the final dispositor of Uranus when it’s in Taurus or Libra, it means the rest of the time we have to look further down the chain of dispositors to see what’s behind Uranus’ awakenings. We know when it’s in Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces it has either Jupiter or Saturn as a final dispositor to the chain. When Venus transits the other 6 signs, it is disposited by the rulers of those signs.
Saturn – Ruler of Its Realm From 2018 through March 2023
As noted, Saturn is ruler of Capricorn and Aquarius, and very strong in both of these signs with a different emphasis in element and mode of expression. Saturn is now in its “Cardinal Earth” expression, giving us the power to take command of our lives by throwing off chains of mental slavery and useless fear. Saturn is teaching us the practical rewards of patience, organization, maturity, a sound plan, and taking the long view of how to move toward what fulfills us.
It is the final dispositor of all planets transiting Capricorn and Aquarius from now through 2023, and thus will be an extraordinarily heavy influence off-and-on for 2019. It disposited the Sun from late December through late February, and disposited Mercury for most of January and the first half of February. It disposits Venus in February and March. So Saturn has been the backdrop to all inner planet affairs in one form or another for the first three months of 2019!
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By late March Saturn’s influence wanes, since no planet (other than Pluto) occupies a sign Saturn rules. However, it will still be an occasional powerful backdrop when the Moon is in Capricorn and Aquarius between mid-May and early August. Saturn again takes command of the “stage management chair,” this time for over two years, when Venus and then Jupiter both enter Capricorn at the end of November 2019! Saturn’s influence is extremely strong from December 2019 through mid-May 2020 because of Mars’ transit of Capricorn and Aquarius during that time.
While Saturn dominated as a final dispositor for most of 2018 (since it disposited Mars for a huge part of the year), we are now in a year of “co-equal rulerships” between Jupiter and Saturn, since Jupiter now disposits all planets which transit through Sag and Pisces, while Saturn continues to disposit all planets which transit through Capricorn and Aquarius.
Jupiter – Looking Back, Looking Forward
Jupiter, ruling Sagittarius and Pisces, is the dispositor of any planets or houses involving these signs. Planets transiting Sag or Pisces will take on the shading of whatever sign Jupiter is in. Jupiter's spends about a year in each sign, and its dispositor changes each year at the time it changes signs.
From October 2017 to November 2018, Jupiter was in Scorpio. That made Mars the dispositor of Jupiter during that span. Mars was in Virgo for most of October 2017, entered Libra the end of October, transited Scorpio from mid-December through late January 2018, transited Sagittarius from then through mid-March, and then was in Capricorn or Aquarius until mid-November 2018. So Jupiter had a number of backdrops during its stay in Scorpio, with a focus on the span of experience between late Virgo and late Aquarius.
Now Jupiter is in Sagittarius, a sign it rules in its expansive phase. This makes Jupiter a very powerful backdrop in early 2019, since it disposits Venus in January, Mercury and the Sun in February, and Mercury and Venus in March and April. It then wanes (except when the Moon is in Sag or Pisces between mid-May and early August), and again becomes a dominant backdrop in November before entering Capricorn and surrendering the “stage management chair” back to Saturn for 2020 and 2021.
Seeing How This Works in Your Chart
Begin by finding the dispositors of your natal planets, and see how they’ve expressed throughout your life. If they’re in one of their home signs, then see how you’ve learned to be comfortable find and living various natural expressions of that planetary function. If your planets are not in a sign they rule, then see if they’re in a mutual reception, and if not, then how they were influenced by the chain of dispositors.
Then take a look at how progressions changed the various dispositors in your chart at key points of change in your life. You may find insights when your progressed inner planets changed signs, and also changed dispositors. You can learn a lot about why things took the general theme they did during long periods of your life.
Also take a look at the signs of transiting planets which disposit your natal and progressed planets. While your progressed planets show shifting backdrops in your inner “progressed” world of experience, the transits show the external phase shifts we all live with and deal with on an everyday “real world, real time” reality.
For example, if you have planets or angles in Sag or Pisces, regardless of your natal or progressed Jupiter position, I’m sure that outer circumstances in your lives showed a big shift when transiting Jupiter moved out of Scorpio and into Sagittarius! If you have planets in Aries or Scorpio, then regardless of your natal or progressed Mars position, you were definitely under Saturn’s instruction between mid-March and mid-November 2018, since Mars, the ruler of Aries and Scorpio, was in the Saturn-ruled signs of Capricorn and Aquarius during those months.
Though some of this is technical, by studying the principles I’ve outlined here you can understand why two different people with Saturn in Virgo, Venus in Gemini, or Mars in Capricorn (or any other planetary position) can be so radically different in their responses to similar areas or events. What we've covered here can also help to elucidate why some supposed "compatibilities" are not so compatible, and some supposedly incompatible planets in signs actually get along quite well. The answer to the mystery could very well be found in the dispositors!
© Copyright 2019 Robert Wilkinson
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