Solar eclipse at 0°25 Scorpio — October 23 2014 

Saturn has been in Scorpio for two years, and is now on his final tour through the last third of the sign. The old man is hobbling along rapidly too, and he’ll be out of Scorpio just before Christmas.

So it’s important to consider  what the affects of this transit have been on you personally. Which area of your life has the teacher planet touched? Think about it, because after a brief return next summer, he won’t be back again for 27 years.

Phew, I hear you cry, good riddance. Yes, it’s probably not been easy, but this transit may well have been useful. It’s also been quite a tough energy to deal with for many of us. This is because the Saturn transit this time around has come at the same time as the Uranus-Pluto square, and in fact, Saturn has been at a positive angle to Pluto for much of the transit.

Saturn, the lord of time, and Pluto, the lord of the underworld, have been in what’s called mutual reception. This means they have been visiting each other’s signs –– Scorpio and Capricorn –– reinforcing the strength and quality of the interchange of energy.

Pluto goes direct on September 23 at 11° Capricorn. Currently it is stationing on this degree. If you have any planets or points at this degree, think intensity.

Think of the relationship between Capricorn and Scorpio: final earth and mid-water, cardinal and fixed. Pluto in Capricorn is at the midnight of the Zodiac, the darkest hour. Saturn in Scorpio is at the threshold of night. Watch out for 2020 when Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto are all in Capricorn.

Before the discovery of the outer planets — Uranus, Neptune and Pluto — Saturn marked the boundary of the solar system. The furthest planet, the end, the omega. Saturn rules boundaries, and in Scorpio he is border patrol. What are his duties here in the sign of fixed water — ice? Debt, death, sex, investigation, surgery. These are areas which the collective has been rethinking or making new rules about: think of the euthanasia debate, the pedophile scandals, and your the level of personal debt.

Pluto in Capricorn, cardinal earth, the active practical, shamanic sign. Pluto brings transformation to hierarchies, ambitions, status, career. As we see, Pluto is changing who is in charge on planet Earth.

Now, since 2012 we have also had a series of eclipses across Taurus/Scorpio, bringing rapid change, or even evolution, across one axis of your chart. The final one of this series takes place on October 23 at 0° Scorpio. This may be an actual event in your life depending how it works in your natal chart. The eclipse energy carries on for a couple of weeks. Whatever it is, it could well be connected to final lesson of Saturn in Scorpio

But let’s look at how this might have worked by sign on a personal level. I suggest you read both Sun sign and Rising sign. These are really as jumping off points for you. Where has Saturn stopped you in your tracks and forced you to try harder?

Aries
Saturn in Scorpio may well have been teaching you some lessons about handling joint resources in your life — debt, inheritance, your partner’s money, investment. They may have become quite limited in the past two years, and you will have had to take responsibility.

Your sex life also may have suffered in some way. Did you have to reach for the Viagra? Hard to imagine for a feisty Aries. Have boundaries been erected where there were none before?

Taurus
Relationships, relationships, relationships: commitment? It’s that simple.

Gemini
There’s undoubtedly a suggestion of hard graft with this transit. Have you had to work harder than usual? Have you felt as if your daily schedule was devised by Mr Gradgrind himself?

The other way this could play is through a health issue, problems with teeth or bones, having to learn about and pay attention to your body. It’s possible that you’ve taken up a new discipline like karate or yoga that’s been very beneficial. There’s still time…

Cancer
Saturn in Scorpio is at a good angle to your Sun but somehow that may not have made it that much easier. What have you done in your spare time? Have you actually had any or has it been entirely taken up with duties? One of your children may have been forcing you to grow up. Since this is the house of creativity, you may have spent the last two years producing a magnum opus.

Leo
It’s been tougher for Leo than for many other signs. This Scorpio transit has been in the darkest part of your chart. A parent may have been ill or died, your house may have needed shoring up, if you have created your own family that is likely to have been under stress for some reason. Frankly, you may have hit a career low. It would not surprise me if there were a poverty element here. If you are the provider, have you provided enough? These are literal manifestations of this transit, but just as likely is that you’ve had to do some deep psychological work. You may even have been quite depressed. The good news is that it’s nearly over and the reward will be much firmer foundations — financial, social or psychological.

Virgo
In some ways, you are blessed with this transit, dear Virgo. Both Pluto and Saturn are at good angles to your Sun. You have never been afraid of hard work, so Saturn should not frighten you. He’s been transiting your house of communications, so if you work in this area – as a copywriter, editor, film-maker, journalist, for example — you may have been able to consolidate your efforts in the past two years and produce something of lasting worth.

If you’ve had any trouble with your neighbours — literal boundary disputes — these may have come to a head when Mars went through Scorpio in August.

One other  way this could be working is less cheery though. You may have felt like a big black dog has come to lie on top of your head, smothering your mind with worry and woe. This is Saturn asking you to organise your thoughts, channel your worry into something productive, make something.

Libra
Money. How you earn it, how you spend it.

How you value yourself and what you really value. Don’t sell yourself short… and don’t prostitute your talent.

That’s it.

Scorpio
This has actually been a fantastic transit for working on yourself — whether that means your physical body or your inner being. Any kind of therapy that required persistence and continuity would have worked well.

On the other hand, Saturn crossing your Sun can have an ageing effect, making you feel older and more responsible almost overnight. Did this happen at some point over the last couple of years? Have you grasped the nettle of maturity?

Sagittarius
It’s all been behind the scenes for you, preparing for the two-year Saturn transit through Sagittarius that begins in January. Saturn is said to “joy” in this house anyway, which means he likes it here — its dank and spooky just like Saturn himself —  so you may well have had the best transit of anyone. You might want to use the next few months with Saturn safely tucked into your 12th house to run amok before you have to get your nose to the grindstone in January.

Capricorn
Either you have consolidated your position as chairman of  PTA or you have met an enemy as powerfully ambitious as yourself. Extrapolate.

Aquarius
Career, status, bosses: which has it been? Maybe establishing a family. Often this is rather a good transit. Saturn is, after all, in his favourite house, the house of ambition and status. Sometimes with this transit, you will have felt that you’v reached a career or status high. The long and short of it is, hard work is rewarded under this transit. Now if it’s gone the other way and you have lost your job, reaped by the scythe of Father Time, then be assured that it was time to go. The sooner you face up to that, the faster you will be able to move on. Saturn does not reward crying over spilt milk.

Pisces
You may have been working hard on a thesis, or some kind of publishing project. It may have seemed as if you were essentially working for nothing on this, but reward could be just around the corner — that is when Saturn changes signs.Alternatively, a mentor or teacher or maybe an entire institution, harsh but fair, could have changed the way you think about the world. This transit is all about our worldview, what we believe in, how we philosophise. During this transit your ideas may have become much better defined.

Ancient Egyptian tablet with a scorpion