May 22 - July 18: Saturn opposite Neptune: Saturn in Leo moves opposite Neptune in Aquarius for the third and last time in this series. The main energy flow: Mars in Aries is trine Saturn, and sextile Neptune, June 8 – 18. The Saturn-Neptune opposition is exact on June 26, and from the following day until July 5, Venus in Leo is conjunct Saturn and also opposite Neptune. The Saturn-Neptune opposition then fades out over the next two weeks.

See August, 2006 UFC Mythic Prelude for general features of the Saturn-Neptune opposition. The two "easier" aspects that synchronize with the opposition mollify its effect this time. The Mars trine favors clear planning and teamwork, and the realization of one’s aims through disciplined, even austere, effort. Venus crossing Saturn has a similar effect, though her being opposite Neptune may make late June and early July a time for getting distracted and lost in dreams and deceptions.

This third opposition in the series has the status of an examination, after the initial opposition in August-September 2006 and the second from early February through early April 2007. We shall see now how much we have learned from recent months about the best ways to manage and resolve this season's many tensions between religiosity and spirituality, practical "reality" and mystical perception, habit and challenge, and comfort and asceticism, whether the last of these comes by our choice, and is easier to play, or drags us against our will toward accepting new conditions that are, or soon will be, in effect.

Among these three trines, this is the only one that comes to exactitude. The ones that formed last year, and are coming in 2008, did or will come close, as one or both of the planets was or will be moving retrograde. The trine that comes now is the shortest in duration. But it does have strong production values elsewhere in the planet ensemble, as the Sun in Leo squares the Taurus Moon and trines Jupiter in Sagittarius, just as Jupiter is at the middle leg of a T-square with the Moon's Nodes in Pisces/Virgo.

In general terms, we note that the tenacity, perseverance and discipline of Saturn are well aligned with the intensity and all-out effort of Pluto, so that this aspect lends us an uncommon stamina and fortitude that either assists us in hitting record achievements, or at least helps us get through challenging conditions. The arenas in which this will likely play out are evident to us by now, as Jupiter, who embodies institutions of authority, is in stress to both the gathering force of the Moon's North Node, and the splitting force of the South Node, while traditional religious institutions (Saturn) and mass consciousness (Pluto) strive for the accommodations and possibilities that hidebound, habit-stiffened governments are too fearful to see. It has often been said that when the secular government is deaf or corrupt are both, the people will flock to the church, the mosque and the temple. The holy places had best mend the cracks and holes in their sidewalks, as there will be more traffic in this season, and next spring. Especially now, when both zeal and indignation are unseasonably hot, even for summer.

Sept. 2: Saturn enters Virgo: Saturn exits Leo and enters Virgo, where he will be until October 2009. In the coming years Saturn will form challenging aspects with the Dragon’s Head (next), and Uranus, then into the dramatic T-cross with Mars, Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto in the summer 2010.

 This is an important planetary transition. Saturn’s movement through Virgo over the next two years will bring him into opposition to the Dragon’s Head (see next) and Uranus (late 2008) in Pisces. As Virgo is the sixth sign of the zodiac and corresponds to the sixth house of the astrological chart, it will naturally follow that in the next two years the Virgo matters of health and illness, and service relationships, will come up for confrontation and clearing. Life changes in the interest of better health that we have seen as necessary, but have not yet made, may cause discomfort now, as Saturn tends to apply increasing pressure that can get more painful until the student finally complies with the lesson. Many service relationships that are all take and no give will be in for some systems busting between now and the end of 2009.

Oct. 2 - Nov. 10: Saturn opposite Dragon’s Head: Saturn in Virgo now moves into opposition to the Moon’s North Node in Pisces, and conjoins the South Node in Virgo. Their opposition will be exact on Oct. 23, the day the Sun enters Scorpio, thus forming a trine to the Moon’s Node and a sextile to Saturn.

As always, a “difficult” Saturn-Moon’s Node alignment may bring withdrawal from a group, even an estrangement from it, but the crucial difference here is that Saturn is in the exact and often hypercritical sign of Virgo, so that the separation may be caused less by feelings of unworthiness (as in Saturn-Neptune combinations) than by a feeling that one does not belong because of defects that one perceives in the others, or, equally if not more likely, in oneself. The emphasis and opportunity now are in recognizing our judgments of others, and their resemblance to the acts and issues that we will not yet forgive in ourselves.

Nov. 26 - Dec. 28: Jupiter conjoins Pluto in Sagittarius, and enters Capricorn: As he moves through late Sagittarius, Jupiter approaches and crosses the position of Pluto. The conjunction is exact on Dec. 11. A few days later, on Dec. 18, Jupiter enters Capricorn, but remains in conjunction with Pluto until Dec. 28.

A Jupiter transition from one sign to another is not a rare event, as this planet has a 12-year orbital period, and so enters a new sign every year. But this change is worth a closer look, as Jupiter leaves the sign that he rules in Sagittarius, where his power is greatest, and now enters Capricorn, where he is said to be “in fall,” so that his most “negative” and “difficult” energies will likely apply for the coming year. We can expect uncommonly arrogant and imperious behavior from governmental leaders, even by the standards of 2004 - 2007. With Jupiter in Capricorn, the reaction of control-obsessed authorities against the Aquarian momentum of awakening and freedom will be more pronounced than at any time during the Glamour Phase of 2007 – 2009, the third and trickiest of the four episodes in the drama of planetary transformation that may occur -- if human beings actually want and dare to do it -- from 1999 through 2012.

There’s an instructive parallel with a recent, similar event: Jupiter opposite Pluto from August, 2000 to May, 2001. As Pluto rules computers and all espionage and encryptation, this aspect lived up to its billing as a time of unprecedented conflict between the world cyberculture and computer industry against government authorities who fear the freedom and borderless communication of the internet. The US government’s legal victory-turned-defeat against Microsoft was only the best-known proof that the desire of people all over the world to conduct business, love and art online must inevitably prevail over the desire of governments to control communications, and along with them the collective human mind.

There are, however, strong motivators for easy, happy cooperation, even creative acts of empowerment and actual beauty at the moment of exact conjunction on Dec. 11 -- and under the unlikeliest conditions. Mars in Cancer trines Venus in Scorpio, both of them sextile to Saturn in Virgo. Mars and Venus are both in signs where they are said to be "in detriment," while their ponderous uncle offers sympathetic help that could be useful if it can only be seen. So the lovers are inclined to play Cosi Fan Tutte in reverse, with the passionately, recklessly empowered goddess and the bewildered god -- wondering if he'll ever find a way to get her to be less mad at him -- asking the advice of the mentor who now suddenly seems no longer world-weary and cynical, but ready to suggest a cure that is simpler -- not necessarily easier -- than either lover imagines.