While stern Saturn and nebulous Neptune may seem like one of astrology’s oddest couples, there’s an exquisite, transformational power in their pairing. In 2019 they will form three exact sextiles, from January through November, and their meetings will color the entire year. If you’ve ever worked with rosary beads or a mala, then you innately understand this combination. Saturn gives us the physical structure (beads) and Neptune the connection to spirit (prayer). Practicing a spiritual discipline focuses our attention, opens up the channel to God (Light) and centers us. In a hyper busy world of seemingly endless distraction, ever shortening attention spans and tempers, and excessive drug use, a spiritual practice offers peace, clarity and purposefulness.

Another consideration of this transit is the elements that are present, earth and water. What is the material without the spiritual? What is the spiritual with no real-life application? In the three meetings of 2019, we are offered a dialog between these influential forces. And both planets are in their home signs, adding deeper resonance to their work. Neptune and Pisces have a reputation for getting too far out there, so much so that we become lost and incapable of accomplishing anything. At the extreme of addiction, we may lose the ability to even fuction in the world. Saturnian sobriety is an antidote. Achievement is the cornerstone of Capricorn, and Saturn rewards a job well done. You can think of him as the “A” you received in that course you had an epic struggle with, yet through your persistence somehow mastered. On the material extreme, the empty pursuit of goals or possessions at best yields temporary satisfaction. Upon attainment, the next mountain to climb emerges, but with no application and to no purpose. Interestingly this simply becomes another form of addiction, to more, whatever that more is. Neptune is sneaky like that.

This set of sextiles is offering insight and pragmatic wisdom. Through dedicaton (Saturn) and introspection, we can examine our underlying beliefs (Neptune), i.e. the operating systems we’ve been running on. Neptune’s oceanic presence can gently and slowly erode old places in the subconscious and their correlating, outgrown patterns in our lives. It can also help us download the Divine and install the needed cosmic upgrades, a clearer sense of our purpose. Ringed Saturn instills an awareness of time and limitation, and therefore creates urgency in our lives. Its austerity can steer us away from pointless distraction and towards the goals that have abiding meaning in our lives. The first sextile is on January 31st. Got beads?