#transpersonal planets

(The strange faces of Saturn and Neptune)

Saturn has to do with inferiority, our unconscious perception and assumption of lack in ourselves. Fear of failure, insufficiency, cruelty, dying, pain, loneliness, isolation, becoming irrelevant, being overlooked, being disrespected and overpowered, being rejected or confronted etc. People who have this planet strong in their charts, and especially closely connected to personal planets, usually build constructs around themselves - coping mechanisms to avoid certain outcomes and consequences. These consequences are usually felt to be very real although they haven’t manifested yet. The fear is usually exaggerated to the point of assuming larger proportions than are healthy in order to live a life that’s rewarding and fulfilling. As a result, the individual feels trapped, imprisoned and stifled - even crippled. There’s no where to hide from pain and no way to free oneself from it. One gets criticized for being too isolated, closed off and fearful, one gets criticized for being too demonstrative, forward and even cruel. This often gives the native the feeling of never being able to win in life. There are no rewards, only punishments. This is a real dilemma and can give rise to all kinds of manifestations, such as overcompensation, radical stances and extreme resistance to any praise or critique. Caring too much and caring too little becomes equally problematic. Consequences are perceived clearly and there’s always a choice of which ones to suffer. It’s all equally bad and equally good, but there’s still a sense of freedom in the choice point. 

I have a 5-page document where I explore Neptune and the discovery chart which can be found and purchased here for $6. Neptune was discovered at 25° Aquarius conjunct Saturn. This is important to keep in mind, because Neptune, much like Saturn, has been linked to a sense of futility, of everything being meaningless or unreal, effort is only extended because one has nothing better to do. There’s a kind of idleness and boredom that can be insufferable, a sense of things not being worth it because it’s all going down the drain anyway. That being said, Saturn and Neptune are different planets with different significators and shouldn’t be taken as the same principle, but they both often give rise to a sense of loneliness and isolation, at least initially. The major difference is that Saturn is about deliberate action and consequence, of understanding the mechanics of life and how to work them to get the desired results - Saturn is essentially a crash course in how to gain something of substance through choosing the right kind of pain. Neptune is about losing a sense of foothold, surrendering and idealizing something, of putting any shape or form on a pedestal and using it as a gateway to experiencing something transcendent and divine. Both Saturn and Neptune have to do with disappointment - Saturn produces disappointment through clinging to a specific external outcome as a proof of one’s strength of will and character within society, Neptune through idealizing and unconsciously demanding that things cater to one’s specific version of what divinity looks like. Saturn is much more personal than Neptune in this sense. The stereotypical Neptunian individual usually delights in surrendering and being helpless because it confirms one’s own passivity, formlessness and universal belonging - the Saturnian individual finds this scary as hell because weakness is never associated with superiority to this planet. Things are black and white to Saturn - it’s either yes or no or maybe. Neptune likes things grey, it can be both yes and no and maybe - they’re all secretly the same because the end goal is one and the same. With Neptune, perception is used for a purpose. With Saturn, perception is reality. 

There are also similarities in the effort to disarm the world. Saturn wants to disarm and render its opponents weak and inconsequential for the purpose of self-protection. Neptune wants to disarm for the purpose of erasing difference between the fallen and the elevated - essentially undermining a sense of separation and solidity. That being said, there’s an ugly face to both of these planets, of wanting to achieve some kind of superiority at the expense of others. Saturn does it through becoming unconcerned, cold and detached, logical and rational. Neptune does it through escaping into a bubble reality of vagueness, seduction and slipperiness. Saturn usually becomes demanding, dry and matter-of-factly, Neptune becomes hurt with a curious performative quality to it. 

I think that there’s a good use to be had from both of these planets. Saturn strips reality of ambiguity and potential enough for us to see what is possible to achieve and what is worth it considering our current state, strengths and weaknesses both included without self-deception or cushioning. Neptune blurs the lines in order for us to experience infinite potential without purpose or inherent meaning, just an experience of perfect reality without any conditions on it. There are traps with these dynamics, as mentioned, but these exists with all planets.

the personal planets are Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars, directly influencing how we deal with specific issues in our personal lives.

in turn, social planets are those that impact our personal life, but that represent specific characteristics about the functioning of the collectivity as a whole.

in addition to these, we have the transpersonal planets: Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

💫 Jupiter represents human diversity, other cultures, languages, religions, optimism, what is different from us.

Jupiter can help us understand the expansion of something, international relations, diplomacy - whether it has been successful or just how it has been. Jupiter also relates to immigrants and refugees. Jupiter represents this idea of ​​human diversity as something natural. therefore, the placements of Jupiter as well as its aspects in a certain period can give us some hints.

💫 Saturn represents social structures, power, politics, the difficulties we encounter, what is orthodox, and especially social institutions. Saturn is what can hold us, limit us, but it also represents an opportunity to learn through difficulty and then build solid foundations.

hey 👋 the personal planets are: sun, moon, mercury, venus, mars. these orbit closest to earth and therefore have a greater impact on us personally/as individuals. therefore, in a chart, the personal planets can suggest who you are, how you feel, what/how you think, what you seek in love and how you show affection and how you assert your energy/handle anger/aggression

jupiter and saturn are known as the social planets; as they represent the middle ground between what we are/who we are inside, and who we are within our community/society. these planets represent quite opposing themes in life and show us what we need to learn in order to integrate into our environment successfully and function well within society

the transpersonal planets are: uranus, neptune and pluto. these planets are further away from us on earth and move slower, meaning that they affect/impact whole generations of people and those close in age as they stay in the same sign for a while. therefore, they give more of an insight into groups of people/generational groups rather than each individual, and show more about general themes of a period of time/society. they can still suggest things about people individually too, such as spirituality and higher selves etc

Mercury allows us to solve life’s problems, and communicate our ideas and desires. Venus connects us with others in order to satisfy our emotional needs, it shows us how to appreciate and be inspired by the beauty of others and the world around us. Mars is the drive that we use to accomplish our goals, and it is the life force with which we create.

  Social planets commonly manifest externally in the outer world as people that we meet and things that happen to us. We subconsciously program our environment with these energies so that we can grow and learn. While the energies of these planets can be internalized, it’s relatively uncommon and no one is able to fully control them. 

Jupiter becomes the lucky breaks we receive, and the teachers and mentors that we meet who help us along our path. Saturn manifests as the hardships that we face and the difficulties that we must overcome in order to mature as human beings.

  Transpersonal planets are largely inaccessible to us. We may feel the itch of Uranus making us feel stifled and oppressed, the dreamy intuition and delusion of Neptune, or the fear of Pluto calling us to crave power and control but for the most part these planets are expressed externally and play a large role in our interaction with larger societal issues and structures.