74th Solar Return

Figure 1 shows the chart cast for my 74th solar return that will occur on my birthday April 3rd 2023 at 2:17 am in Jakarta. Often the solar return occurs on April 2nd, the day before my official birthday, but this year the two coincide.

Figure 1: created using Astrolog

The chart is noticeable for its preponderance of planets in Aries. Apart from the Sun, there is Chiron in 15°41', Jupiter in 19°33' and Mercury in 28°32'. Jupiter will cross my Ascendant around April 26th so promises to be an expansive month where I have the opportunity to set my sights on new horizons and explore hitherto unrealised possibilities. Chiron remains behind in my twelfth house, maintaining a focus on healing, behind the scenes, both physically and psychically.

Figure 2 shows the transits to my natal chart at the time of the solar return.

Figure 2: created using Astrolog

The T-square formed by transiting Saturn's opposition to its natal position with the natal Moon at its apex is a dominant influence as I've discussed in related posts.

Neptune into Aries

Looking ahead to July of 2025, I noticed that Neptune turns stationary retrograde in 2°10' of Aries, right on my natal Mercury. However, transiting Saturn is also conjunct in 1°52' of Aries. Transiting Ceres in 12°55' of Aries is conjunct my natal Sun and transiting Chiron in 26°52' of Aries is conjunct the North Node of my Moon. Furthermore, transiting Uranus in 29°53' of Taurus is conjunct my natal Moon with transiting Venus close by in 0°10' of Gemini. Pluto in 3°03' of Aquarius is in sextile aspect to the Saturn-Neptune reaction.

This promises to be an intense time and what it presages I'm not sure. Perhaps my powers of communication (Mercury) will be affected. After all the Saturn/Neptune conjunction is aspecting the Uranus/Venus conjunction on the cusp of the Second House. Pluto promises it may be transformational. This is purely speculative so I'll have to wait and see.

Figure 1 shows a chart cast to the time that Neptune turns stationary retrograde.

Figure 1

By that date I'll be 76 years old and one can't help but wonder if this configuration could portend my end. That's clearly a worse case scenario. Looking at Desy's chart, it can be seen that the Saturn-Neptune conjunction sits right on her Ascendant. See Figure 2.

Figure 2

Whatever happens will clearly affect her as well. Many of these aspects will be ongoing. For example, Saturn and Neptune will again be conjunct in 0°45' of Aries in late February of 2026 while Uranus will continue to hover around my natal Moon. See Figure 3.

Figure 3

I get the feeling that whatever happens it will be ongoing. With Neptune already on the cusp of my twelfth house, the prospect of some sort of Neptunian healing has been playing on my mind. Chiron, the wounded healer, is currently transiting my twelfth house and will remain there for some time. The injunction, "physician heal thyself", is relevant as my thymoma remains an ongoing problem and I'd certainly like to cure myself of that affliction.

I've dabbled in finding a cure before or at least diagnosing why the problem had arisen in the first place. In November of 2021, I asked the following question:

Why did my thymus gland malfunction in the first place and create my current thymoma?

You have a hollow heart and you're trying to fill up the gap that has been created. The thymus gland is associated with the Heart Chakra, a centre of unconditional love and forgiveness. Since a falling out with a family member a couple of years back I've been containing a lot of resentment and anger. In a sense, I've been hollowing out my heart and ridding it of compassion and understanding for the family member concerned. 

This answer suggested some sort of meditation but I never took action of any kind to fill my "hollow heart" with "compassion and understanding". Perhaps it's time that I did. The practice of meditation has also been shown to be helpful in improving remote viewing proficiency, something else that I've recently become interested in. 

Neptune has a period of revolution of 165 years and so this is the first time that Neptune has been on the cusp of my twelfth house. In my natal chart, Neptune is strongly aspecting my Sun and Mars/Venus conjunction by opposition. I've always been interested in mysticism and spirituality and so Neptune's passage through this house will likely see a burgeoning of my interest and understanding of such matters.

Transiting Saturn Opposite Natal Saturn

I've written about this opposition before in a post titled Saturn Opposition on November 16th 2022. There's an overlap between that post and this but also some new observations.

The chart in Figure 1, showing my natal chart and the transits to it at 8:26pm in Jakarta on March 7th 2023, shows transiting Saturn in 29°59'57" of Aquarius. Very shortly this planet will enter Pisces and, on reaching 0°01', will be exactly opposite its natal position.

Figure 1: generated using Astrolog

Saturn takes about 29.4 years to orbit the Sun and, from experience, I've found that its squares, oppositions and conjunctions have been associated with significant events in my life. There's no reason to suppose that this current opposition should be any different. 

Before getting into that however, it's useful to remind myself of the significance of Saturn in Virgo on the cusp of my fifth house. Traditionally the fifth house is associated with creativity, self-expression and specifically with romance and children. Saturn's grating square with my Moon in Taurus is ameliorated only by both bodies being in Earth signs. Saturn has acted as a block to my self-expression (excessive shyness in my early years) but also a brake to the excesses that someone with so many planets in Aries is prone. 

It was late December 2014 that Saturn first reached the square to its natal position and thereafter it moved forward into Sagittarius and then moved back into Scorpio, finally stationing in 28°16' of Scorpio on August 2nd of 2015. This was the time that I received news that I would need to stay in Australia uninterruptedly for two years if I wanted to receive my pension while overseas. This was a major psychological blow because I was now separated from my family in Indonesia.

Going back to the previous conjunction, this first occurred in early September of 2007 and then there was a close contact in early May of 2008 when it stationed in 1°41' of Virgo. This was a period when my daughter ceased communicating for an entire year, a harbinger of the total and ongoing break in communications that would occur in April of 2017. That was nearly six years ago now. This leads me to speculate what the effect of this current opposition will be.

Saturn will move forward into Pisces before stationing in 7°12' Pisces on June 18th and then moving back to station again 0°31' Pisces on November 4th. This is a potent station and it will occur in the exact opposite degree to its natal position. See Figure 2. I can only wait and see how this transit plays out.

Figure 2: generated using Astrolog