Saturn in Scorpio - Snake Charmer Karma

Silent Movie Actor/Sex symbol - Rudolph Valentino 

On the 6th October 2012, Saturn ‘The Teacher’, moved into the sign of Scorpio where it will stay for a couple of years. So what does a couple of years being 'taught' Scorpio 'stuff' mean? Well for one thing, 'Scorpio stuff' means sex and forbidden fruit. An examination of Saturn in Scorpio times in our recent history reveals those years to be when taboo subjects, sexuality and race, is repressed only to have it 'burst through' the suppression with a vengeance. Characters, events, some shown below, emerge as key 'game-changers' which impact culture and personal lives by their sheer power and influence. Saturn bestows a sense of gravitas but the sign of Scorpio likes to spice things up. 
                                         

Actors Tony Curtis & Jack Lemmon & George Raft & Actress Marilyn Monroe - Saturn in Scorpio
Every sign has its bad vs good qualities, one persons poison is another's cup of tea. Scorpio offers an embodiment of evil and/or a protective force that counters evil. A heartless predator or an avenger protector. A charismatic magnetic presence or a cunning machiavellian controller. Choose or get chosen. 

The Western European Union created when Saturn was in Scorpio.
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, President of France Francois Hollande
& his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy all have Saturn in Scorpio.

The last time Saturn passed through Scorpio was back in the 1980’s and after it leaves Scorpio this time, in 2014, it won't return until November 2041. It is every 28/29 years or so that Saturn journeys exactly to the spot it occupied when we were born. This is called a Saturn Return. For people born in the mid 1980's this will be your 1st Saturn Return and for those of us born in the early 1950's, your 2nd and for those born in the mid 1920’s well Saturn in Scorpio is here again and heralds your 3rd Saturn Return. All that time passed, all those lessons learnt or still to learn, homework to finish and tasks to complete. For anyone born in the 1920's, good work getting here at all. (Edvard Munch's Screaming Saturn Return)
The old USSR, for example, was 'born' on the 8th November 1917 and the liberals reforms in the Soviet Unions began with Gorbachev's election in 1985 resulting in 'amazing waves of revolution'. Throughout those eras, however, Saturn in Scorpio continued to hit the USSR chart by a T-square, 'Saturn first transited this point in February 1925 to August 1926. This was a period immediately following the death of Lenin, leading to an internal power struggle between Stalin and Trotsky. The second transit, November 1954 to October 1955, was the period immediately following the death of Stalin. Again there was a power struggle between Kruschev and Malenkov. The next transit..1984' 
Mundane Astrology, Michael Baigent, Nicholas Campion & Charles Hervey.....and in 2012, USSR is now Russia, with a new chart, still with a fixed Saturn at 14 degrees of Leo, creating a tense build up to a square with Saturn in Scorpio culminating in November 2013. This date is also the fourth of the Uranus squares to Pluto and Russia's Pluto is at 5 degrees Cardinal in Cancer. (Uranus vs Pluto)

So some of us have had thirty years to either learn the lessons or pay for not learning the lessons last time around and some of us have only had thirty years alive. Saturn's class is the one we really want to skip and get the notes from a friend later. This is an adult education institution. It's like taking the blindfold off our eyes after a game of hide and seek and finding ourselves blinking in a brand new light. 
Saturn embedded in Scorpio during the 1984 Apple launch of it's Macintosh personal computer using imagery from George Orwell's novel '1984', a book referencing a society with a controlling Big Brother who controls through an all-seeing eye. 

Many of these issues may well surface again in a slightly different form but recognisable all the same.

The power of Facebook, speeded up by these technological advances gives Facebook founder Mark Zuckerbergs uber influence. Whilst not exactly Orwellian, after all we can choose to opt in, or out, of Facebook, it has the potential and perhaps the intention to be all pervasive. Drunken images of us at a teenage party will seem cringe-worthy as a mature adult applying for a job, but erasing them from the internet can prove to be a harder job then blotting them out from our memory!

Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg - Saturn in Scorpio

We need little reminding that both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were also both born with Saturn in Scorpio (7-8 Degrees/SuperHighwayMan/Maps/MisApps).The competition between Microsoft and Apple drove the digital world forward. On the 5th October 2012 Apple's homepage showed only 'Remembering Steve' a tribute to Jobs on the anniversary of his death as Saturn returns. Apple has suffered a 'blip' in the market and came under a lot of criticism of being 'iterative' instead of 'innovative' lately. They will have to have to get back to bringing game-changing products to the market to justify their previous claims and reputation. 

There are many instances during Saturn’s stay in the land of the Scorpion when the restraining chains can come down hard on transgression of taboos or the transgression of cultural mores, Michael Jackson's album ‘Thriller’ was also released in 1984 was one example. The promotional video for the title track contained a vast array of Scorpionic themes. There were wild, vampires, zombies and seemingly deranged and dangerous dark underworld characters coming to life and prowling the streets. 

Thirty years earlier, beat poet Allen Ginsberg was also going through a Saturn Return with the karma teacher at the time. His poem ‘Howl’ was ruled as being ‘obscene’ when Saturn was in Scorpio, with its evocation of forbidden sexuality, racial prejudice and the scary underworld running amuck with ‘crazed’ and ostracised people littering the urban landscape. It has become his best know work and one which defied suppression.

Beat Poet Allen Ginsberg - Saturn in Scorpio

'I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,

Angel-headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection

to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night' 

As Saturn has now left its occupancy of the diplomatic sign of Libra and has slithered into Scorpio the lines in the sand will be redrawn by the scorpion. Deeply held issues that can generate so much passion do not go away unless they are aired, looked at thoroughly and dealt with some kind of integrity. Events which emerged under Libra look to be firmly dealt with under Scorpio. Two examples in the U.K both involving systemic and institutional cover-ups are: the shameful tragedy of Hillsborough (96 Echoes From The Past - Hillsborough) and DJ Sir Jimmy Savile, whose dark judgement arriving in the year of his Saturn Return (Jimmy Savile's Apocalyptic Saturn Return) both cases look set to increase in pace and accountability.

Ironically it is during times of powerful suppression that a counterforce will burst fiercely and ferociously through. ‘I will not be denied, I will not be repressed I will show you I exist’ it howls. Small apparently insignificant everyday events turn on a dime or turntable, they spin with the force of Medusa’s head and in fact grow ever stronger. 
Back in the 1950's with Saturn in Scorpio, Michigan Republican, Ruth Thompson introduced a law to ban the mailing of 'obscene, lewd, lascivious or filthy rock and roll records'. Around the same time in Memphis, Tennessee a young and unknown singer, Elvis Presley, takes a break in recording to mess around with his mates, playfully singing along to a song by Delta bluesman, Arthur Crudup titled 'That’s All right Mama'. Sun Record producer Sam Phillips’s ears pricked up when he heard them and rushed to record it. The rest as they say is history. 

One early evening in December 1955 Rosa finished a hard day at work and then hopped on the bus in Montgomery Alabama to go home. Events took a turn however, as when told to give up her seat to a white passenger and go sit with the other black people at the back of the bus, she point blank refused 'When that white driver stepped back toward us, when he waved his hand and ordered us up and out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night'. The rest as they say is history. 
During this current passage of Saturn in Scorpio America's first black president Barack Obama will go up for re-election against Republican Mitt Romney (Axis Of Power & Possessions - Scorpio/Taurus). President Obama has been faced with enormous amounts of racist hate mail. 'They are other-ing him, estranging him, he is not us, he does not belong..they're willing to crash the country in order to have him out..I've heard that he used to get like 200 death threats a day..they all get them but these are not casual..black peoples history is one of resistance, survival and triumph..all of which we saw with Martin Luther King.'  writer, Toni Morrison, book Pulitzer prize book Beloved required reading for high school students, speaking on the  BBC 6th October 2012.

Republican Mitt Romney vs Democrat President Barak Obama

In the past Saturn was thought to be the last planet in the solar system and therefore connected with boundaries, endings and limitations. In mythology Saturn is Kronos, the power crazed father who castrates his own father and eats his own children rather than give away any of his status and control to them. Other images for Saturn include, 'Old Father Time' with his hour-glass and also the Grim Reaper in a dark cloak with his scythe, hunting us down relentlessly. In any context Saturn does not appear to be a loose limbed party animal. 
In Scorpio, however, Saturn appears to be able to deal with its dark shadows in fact it could be said it hunts them out, preferring them dragged out into the light of reality and exorcised. Saturn needs us to take responsibility and to accept the limitations and to use these painful experiences to mature and develop. It does not need us to suppress our compulsions and disguise them with sugar and spice, no, I don't see the baddies anywhere, especially in the mirror. 

Comedy Director Mel Brooks - Saturn in Scorpio
(Young Frankenstein)

Saturn prompts us to be responsible for our actions and to gain control over our psychological darkness rather than project it out to constantly blame others. The fear is, that if left and ignored, the shadows will grow into an uncontrollable size, gain control and reign supreme. Jungian psychology suggests accepting the darker side of ourselves is vital and is actually the only way to greater self awareness and healthy development in life.  'It is only when the Beast is loved for his own sake that he can be freed from the spell and become the Prince'. Liz Greene, astrologer, psychologist and author 'A New Look At An Old Devil'.

Writer Yukio Mishima - Saturn in Scorpio

Saturn’s rings constrict, Saturn applies The Rules. Saturn is our conscience and Saturn teaches us a lesson. Saturn lays down boundaries and keeps a firm grip on reality. The sign of Scorpio in any style dives into dark, taboo, dangerous, forbidden, gut wrenching waters.(Mars in Scorpio - What Lies Beneath) 

The intoxicating cocktail of Saturn and Scorpio can tastes bitter sweet and it will not be held down for long. What is repressed most darkly seeps into through the cracks, this is like frozen water in a pipe, eventually leading to an uncontrollable bursting. 
The Truth will out, eventually.

Actor Paul Newman - Saturn in Scorpio

As we all prepare for Saturn’s vice like grip to grasp whatever is in the dark, hidden and healing forces of Scorpio we can make it personal by looking to that part of our birth chart where Scorpio pulses. It is here that Saturn will come calling with his test and exam papers. It is in this place where you may feel the reactive sting in the tail if stamped on too heavily and that toxin can either maim or heal. Scorpions hide, sometimes in the brightest of desert suns and we will never see them if we don't put in some time, thought, care and effort. Do not expect an immediate answer or Eureka moment, these treasures are hard fought for but deeply worth the time and trouble. So shake your sexy snake hips from time to time but do not keep your dark secrets hidden away in the shadows for too long. Saturn in Scorpio will be back believing that whatever goes around comes around. 

Singer/Songwriter Katie Melua - Saturn in Scorpio

credits: architecturestudent & burningaquarium & wikepedia & realisedsound & the independent & amc & reuters 
posted by pippa ponton & jphibbs