A Stately Ingress

Last week I travelled to Hartlepool for the wedding of my friend John to his fiancee Anita. They live in Taiwan, and had flown over to be married in the country of John's birth and to honeymoon in Europe. The wedding service took place aboard a wonderful two-hundred year old ship called the HMS Trincomalee docked in Hartlepool Marina, which looks like 'The Bounty' of Mutiny fame - complete with cannons, rigging and masts. It took place exactly 24 hours before Saturn's ingress (entry) into Leo, through which it will travel for the next two years. Saturn takes around 29.5 years to complete an orbit of the Sun, and the same amount of time therefore to go round the twelve signs of the zodiac. Given that John has in his natal (birth) horoscope, the Sun and two personal planets in Leo (he is a comedian and comedy script-writer), it seemed apt that he should enter into the Saturnian commitment of marriage at the same time as the planet enters 'his' sign.

During a discussion evening at Aquarius Severn last Thursday, on the topic of Saturn's passage through Leo, a group of about 23 explored what lessons we and the world might face over the next two years. Saturn is the planet of structure, lessons (sometimes painful) and the realities of life such as work, responsibilities and duties. Leo on the other hand symbolises our creative spirit, self-expression, fun, entertainment, love and children.

Would Saturn in Leo bring a welcome end to so-called 'celebrity culture'? Would we all be challenged to be truer to ourselves and become more authentic? Would the creative arts generally become more serious, pared-down, rigourous, less concerned with brashness, shock-value and gigantism? Will the plight of caged lions make headlines? Will more and more children be placed under curfews or will we finally begin to take a more rounded approach to education, realising that values of respect for others, respect for nature, appreciation of beauty and practical life-skills are as vital as academic achievements? Will leaders (Leo) be held to account for their past actions? Will self-confidence be in short supply? Will large-scale entertainments be hedged with many more security restrictions (or will there be fewer of them) thanks to the threat of terrorism?

We also looked at what happened the last time Saturn was in Leo, in the mid 1970s. Over the next couple of years we will have the chance to discover the ways in which our world, and we, deal with Saturn in Leo this time around. Let's hope we make a good job of it.