Side by side, Elizabeth Wolf and I inaugurated the Star City Star*Talks the evening of November 5, 2009 at Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso in Lincoln, Nebraska.
In keeping with classic Star*Talk* form, before a relaxed coffee house crowd of about 20 people, Elizabeth and I each took a turn at the coffeehouse’s center stage. After she introduced me and welcomed me to Lincoln, I offered some observations on the movements of the planets, and their portents. Here are some of my notes:

Saturn
Saturn has been in the Earth sign of Virgo since September 2007, but now has moved on. It entered the Air sign of Libra on October 29 until April 2012. Saturn in any sign tends to bring the issues symbolized by the sign into focus. Its presence in Virgo highlighted not only the imperfections in life, but also the areas where we can learn or enhance skills. If people worked in synch with the energy, they were able to not only see what is wrong, but to take practical steps to accomplish something real and good.
Open Harvest Coop is a good example of this. Located right next door to the Meadowlark café, the coop recognized a couple of years back that they needed more space to bring clean food to the people of Lincoln via the coop tradition which is such an integral part of the Midwestern way. Working step by step over the last two years, Open Harvest arranged a lease for more space and built out to create a large, modern coop market. The project was completed – with the Mayor cutting the ceremonial ribbon – with Saturn in the final degree of Virgo. Mission accomplished.
Likewise, on a broader national scale, over the last two years the movement toward local and clean food has firmly established itself. Even the White House has dug up its lawn to plant an organic garden. These are all positive expression of Saturn in Virgo.
Now as Saturn begins a new phase in the sign of Libra above us, so below do we human beings. Libran themes of fairness, justice, and relationship will require direct attention. Libra is symbolized by the scales, and the defining force of Saturn will put those scales to work seeking balance in every realm of life.
Saturn Square Pluto: Saturn and Pluto, the two heaviest planets in the Zodiac, line up to form a square (90-degree angle) from Libra to Capricorn on November 15, 2009. Dramatically different times are swiftly coming upon us as a nation, as a planet. This Saturn-Pluto pattern will confirm and solidify the reality of radical transition, testing us and impacting virtually every sphere of life. Be prepared for intensity, even fanaticism, on a level collective as well as personal. What will we do with our power – in whatever form we may have it – when the pressure is intense?
Every pattern has a positive purpose and meaning yet some, like this one, are bound to test us before yielding desirable results. Saturn and Pluto are with us through the rest of November, perfecting on the 15th. They will square off two more times — January 31 and August 21, 2010 – but the forces they represent are strong throughout the whole of the 10-11 months ahead.
Saturn and Pluto are two Bad Boys who mean business. This stark reality came home the very day of our first Star*Talk. Just hours before we took the stage, an Army Major, a psychiatrist, stationed at Fort Hood, Texas went berserk. In his rampage he shot and killed seven people, wounding 30 others. This could well be a seminal moment for America.
Nationally, we are still divided between making desperate efforts to support and salvage the failing institutions of the past dealing with the economy and the environment that the economy is built upon, and making furtive, hopeful efforts to create new institutions and forms for the future. Saturn and Pluto will force us all – individually and collectively – to choose. We have no time to waste.

Uranus
Saturn opposite Uranus – This configuration manifests about every 40 years. It signals just what it sounds like: opposition. Tugs o’ war, right and left, up and down, vast seemingly unbridgeable differences. The Saturn-Uranus oppositions – which will happen five times — began in November 2008 as Barack Obama was elected President. They will continue through July-August, 2010.
Saturn opposite Uranus signifies the opposition between the status quo and the forces of change, and since they are both outer planets they theme also plays out in every realm of human experience. The new very much wants to come forward, and the old very much wants to stick around and stay the same.
One of the larger-scale facets of the Saturn-Uranus oppositions is a concern with social justice. Imbalances between different groups of people – economic and class distinctions — tend to be exposed during these periods.
The Saturn-Uranus oppositions personify a conflict between the real and the ideal. Their combined forces stimulate the idealistic and freedom-loving impulses of our psyche and pit it against the pragmatic, responsible, and limiting aspects. In response to the tension symbolized by Saturn-Uranus, both willingly and unwillingly many people will change their lives radically, abruptly.
A useful visualization exercise for this is first to conceive of the ideal circumstances of your life. How would it look if everything were perfect? Where would you be living, and what would you be doing? Place the image and the feeling of this ideal in your left hand. Then focus on your real life. Get a picture and the feeling for your actual circumstance, and place this in your right hand. Feel the distinctness represented in each hand. Breath into the hands and the images associated with the ideal and the real. Then – suddenly – clap your hands together. Experience the fusion, and feel it radiate throughout your psyche and your life.
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The next Star City Star*Talk is set for the evening of January 7, 2010 at Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso House in Lincoln, Nebraska. We will take a wide-ranging look at the astrological forces bearing upon the whole of the year ahead.
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* The Star*Talk concept and form was originated by my friend and colleague Arielle Guttman.
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