What A Difference A Saturn Return Makes

A Study in Minnesota has been following the effects of Diet on Rhesus Monkeys. The effects are remarkable as shown in a photo of the 2 monkeys sitting side by side.

The one on the right, Owen, looks totally thrashed. Obviously he's born under intense Moon-Jupiter-Neptune set up. The one on the left, Canto, is remarkably well preserved. He's obviously got some heavy Virgo-Libra stuff going on. Dude was obviously born on a day when Pluto was taking a Holiday.

What the commentary leaves out is there is 2 year age difference between the Monkeys. Owen really is older. Why can't Scientists be Scientific? I hate it when they compete with Astrologers for lack of logic. And not only is Owen older, but he's 29 years old which means that he's probably just past his Saturn Return. And that is a Hallmark transit known to show off the aging process in all its gorey Glory.


The other transit, or set of transits, that I've noticed really ages a person physically is the Uranus Opposition-Neptune square that occurs in the early 40s. You just have to forgive people who are going through that one for a couple of years as they add that rubber tire around their stomachs. Life has gotten kinda boring at that point and people don't look good after they've supplemented it with extracurricular sugars and amphetamines.

How appropriate, though, that we find out that we have to eat 1/3 less calories in order to live longer just as Pluto moves into Capricorn. The 2 planets combined equals "Less is More."

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//090709/480/ebbd7c583fba45de86b64a88d932a556/

8 1/2

8 1/2 is the name of a brilliant movie by the Italian Filmmaker Federico Fellini. It is a semi-autobiographical story about a filmmaker who can't seem to finish his movie. It's told in a surrealistic, stream of consciousness, dreamlike style. It's the ultimate mid-life crisis movie. I was wondering if by any chance it was made by the maestro when he was going through either his Uranus Opposition or Neptune Square? I found out that the movie's original title was "The Beautiful Confusion..." Ah ha.... When the movie came out in 1963, Fellini was going through both his Uranus Opposition and Neptune square. The Title refers to how many movies Fellini had made while he was filming it. The next movie he made he did indeed not finish. Capricorns are total wrecks when they let their fears take over (in this case, a good thing).

Federico Fellini
b. Jan. 20, 1920, 9 pm, Rimini, Italy

Sun 30 Capricorn; Moon 26 Capricorn; ASC 16 Virgo; MC 13 Gemini; NN 23 Scorpio

8 1/2
released Feb. 14, 1963

Natal Uranus 30 Aquarius opposed by Transiting Uranus 4 Virgo & Prog. Moon 1 Virgo in the 12th House of Dreams and Confusion (and filmmaking).

Natal Neptune 11 Leo conjunct natal Jupiter 15 Leo squared by transiting Neptune 16 Scorpio (H3).

I pulled up Fellini's other movies and it's really amazing how the "Keywords" from the IMBD database of amazing movie information matches up with the transits that Fellini was going through when he made his movies.

As a Double Capricorn so maybe this gives him an extra sense of timing to the planets. I don't know, it's just a really interesting coincidence. I tried this with a couple of other filmmakers and it just didn't work as well. Fellini's Capricorn Sun and Moon dispose to Saturn which is in his 12th house of filmmaking and conjunct his Ascendant so the Saturn energy is super potent. It's also unaspected (by Ptolomaic aspect).

When Fellini was filming 8 1/2 he was going through another major transit which actually explains the Director's Block. Transiting Pluto was conjunct natal Saturn. Being a determined Capricorn, he simply wrote truthfully about what he was going through. It made absolutely no sense but the movie speaks to everyone who sees it.

Here's a list of some other films and aspects. Watching Fellini movies is definitely the best way to learn about astrology! I should also study his relationship with his wife, the actress Giulietta Massina who starred in many of his films as part of my True Love series but just am a little low on energy right now.

1950. Luci del Varieta (Variety Lights). About 2d rate Theatrical performers. Fantasy is often considered a Neptunian theme, but Grotesques and Carnival types are ruled by Capricorn. These figure strongly in all the Fellini Movies that I've seen. Major transits:

• 1st Saturn Return
• Prog. New Moon at 1 Pisces c. t. Jupiter and n.Uranus 30 Aquarius. Trines n. Pluto c. t. Uranus
• Prog. Venus 28 Capricorn c. natal Moon-Sun.
• T. Uranus c. n. Pluto in Cancer
  
• t. Pluto c. n. Jupiter-Neptune in Leo

1954. La Strada "The Road". Carnival.

• t. Jupiter-Uranus in Cancer opposite natal Mercury-Moon-Sun in Capricorn
• t. Neptune c. natal Mars

1957 Le notti di Cabiria "Nights of Cabiria" Prostitution, Depravity, Despair, Hope, Survival, Crooks, Cruelty

• Prog.Moon c. Gemini MC
• t. Saturn c. IC squaring n. Saturn
• Nodal Return in Scorpio
• Movie starred Giullietta and Fellini's progressed Sun was conjunct her natal Sun.

1960 La Dolce Vita "The Sweet Life" 7 days and 7 nights in the life of a reporter. Life imitates Art / Art imitates Life.

• T.Jupiter c. natal Venus in Sagittarius (H4)
• Prog. Venus in Aquarius H5 opposite Neptune in Leo

1963 8 1/2. Director's Block. Artistic and Marital Difficulties.

• Uranus opposition
  
• Neptune square
• T.Pluto c. natal Saturn/ASC opposite prog. Sun c. t.Chiron & Jupiter

1965 Giuletta degli Spiriti Surreal story about Housewife Mistress, Androgeny, Divorce, Private Detective, Hallucinations, Sex, Spirituality, Infidelity, Vision.

• Prog. Sun-t.Chiron c. DESC opposite n.Saturn c. t. Uranus and t.Pluto squaring natal Venus in Sagittarius in the 4th house.
• t.Neptune c. n. NN in Scorpio in H3
  
• t. Jupiter c. n. SN in Taurus (rules H4)
  
• t. Saturn c. n. Uranus in 6th House

1969 Satyricon. Historical reference to Roman Novel by Petronius. Pirates, Sacrifice, Avante Garde, Emperor, Decadence, Gluttony

• Chiron Return in Aries conjunct t. NN and prog. Mercury in 7th House.
• Pluto-Uranus conjunct n. Jupiter in Libra in 1st House

1972 Roma. Semi-autobiographical about Italy in 1940s and 1970s. Plotless.

• Prog. Moon and t.Jupiter in 4th House
• Prog. Mercury goes Rx conjunct n. Chiron

1973 Amarcord. Semi-autobiographical. 1930 Fascist pre-WWII Italy.

• Progressed Lunar Return c. natal Sun
• T.Uranus conjunct natal Mars squaring natal Moon-Sun
• t.Saturn and SN conjunct n. Pluto, Houses 4 & 10.
• T.Neptune approaching House 4 cusp.
  

You Think You Had It Bad

What if you had Augusta and Randy Roman for parents? If you had them for parents you wouldn't even be born yet and they'd have been fighting over you for the last 5 years. Mr. and Mrs. Roman have a set of 3 embryos frozen up like succotash in a laboratory in Texas where they've been languishing since at least April, 2002. Randy decided at the last minute that he didn't want to go ahead with the in vitro fertilization procedure that the couple had planned. They went through 16 months of therapy and then decided to divorce over this because Augusta wants the babies, er, embryos. Man, think of all the Christmases these kids are missing. They'd practically be in kindergarten by now. Are they just sitting there like 3 little pickles? This is easily the most stressful childhood I've ever heard of.

Augusta was 46 on May 31, 2007 and is now 47 on Nov. 1, 2007 so just to be gross I'm going to guess that she was born between June 1, 1961 and Oct. 31, 1961. Man, I'm routin for the Halloween Birth date because this has "Boo!" written all over it. Why doesn't she tank a fifth of Jack Daniels, go into a bar, find some guy and get it over with? I've seen Randy on the News, he's no great shakes. There was a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Capricorn that Augusta may have in her birth chart. Capricornian Paternity fight anyone?

The couple was going to try for an April, 2002 fertilization implant. They initially had 13 embryos and now there are only 3. Are the other ten dead? Did the Radiator Lady step on them? Where am I? And when you look at the planets you know where Augusta is. April 2002 was right around the time of Augusta's Uranus opposition and Neptune square. That's right. Uranus/Neptune. She's orbiting. Physically at this age you can still get pregnant, but mentally something's starting to unscrew itself...

The embryos were awarded to Augusta in 2004 during the Divorce proceedings but I guess she didn't have them installed. Hard to get pregnant with all this bickering. These two year increments seem like Mars Return issues or slow Court system, take your pick. There's all kinds of cycles these two could be hooking into.

2 years later, guess 2006, a judge reversed the initial decision in favor of Randy who wants to discard the embryos. Augusta had signed a contract saying that she would not use the embryos in event of divorce. Come on Augusta. Go Organic. You could put a wick in these kids and use them to repel mosquitoes at this point. (Don't mean to be cold here, but, am I really the one being cold here?)

According to one website I looked at (sorry no link) these fights are common; there are 190,000 embryos "in legal limbo" because their parents can't agree on what to do with them. In the end it is thought that this type of lawsuit will overturn Roe v. Wade if it is decided that the embryos are living beings.

The Implant Doctor said there was about a 10 percent chance that the Romans' implantation would work so I think Augusta needs a good astrologer to explain the Uranus-Neptune thing. Boy, it's tough. I don't blame her. Life just really sucks. Maybe the kids have the right idea.