All transits from Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto normally make between 3 and 5 exact aspects to natal planets or points.
We feel the most heightened potency of the aspect when it is within a degree or two of being exact.
In practice, I have found that in the moments of an aspect’s exactitude, there is this kind of surrender and acceptance of the experience of the aspect. This leads to a sense of being suspended in the spacetime-world of the planet making the aspect. Utter immersion into the world of the transit.
In her book Predictive Astrology, The Eagle and The Lark, Bernadette Brady says that if an aspect makes only one exact hit, then you have come into this lifetime already steeped in the experience of the aspect. If lifetime and reincarnation talk doesn’t do it for you, think of it as you are a quick study, or this is a skill or experience that is second nature to you. Like your South Node, or your Moon.
Most aspects make three hits. Let’s say the aspect is a conjunction, and let’s say Saturn is going to conjunct your Moon. Saturn moves forward, conjuncts your moon, and keeps going past it. Eventually, Saturn retrogrades and as it moves backwards, conjuncts your Moon again, and keeps retrograding past your Moon. Finally, Saturn stations direct and moves forward again, conjoining your Moon for the third and final time.
During this process, the idea is to first become acquainted with the message of the transit, to have an opportunity to integrate the message into your life. Then with the retrograde, to meet the message again in an altered form, and to decide how you want to respond or relate to this second meeting. With the final exact aspect, the aim is seamless integration of the effect of the transit into your consciousness, carrying its experiences with you as “lessons learned, or not”, moving forward.
So, the question is, how is the time between exact transits best spent?
My answer is, it’s best spent in remembrance that the transit isn’t over yet. Remind yourself of what emerged in your consciousness with the exactness of the transit, and actively inject the messages you received into the new situations that emerge in your life beyond the transit’s exactitude. Play around and experiment with different ways of expressing the message, and see what happens and how that feels for you.
To me, the best part of astrology is knowing that there is this great ornamented pocket watch in the sky, ticking, keeping the beat, always gently guiding. I think this knowledge can really take a load off a person’s shoulders.
Warmly,
Ichrak
image: Burlington Chicago Pocket Watch by alexkerhead
