IN THIS ISSUE:

• Upcoming teleseminar:
  Unsung adult rites of passage


• Where's your life going next?
  New group forming


• Saturn in Cancer retrospective


• Looking ahead to Saturn in Leo


• Mercury Retrograde e-course


• Send a friend and save!

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WHAT'S NEXT IN YOUR LIFE?

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MERCURY RETROGRADE E-COURSE

Mercury's next retrograde period runs from July 22 to August 15. Last time (March) I taught a teleclass on the subject, and it turned out to be very successful in helping people get their heads around what to expect during Mercury Retrograde and how to handle it. The class reduced the stress of this time significantly for many.

The distilled wisdom of the class is now available as a five-part e-course. Each lesson highlights a stress-reducing skill or attitude that, while it is targeted to address the particular challenges of the Mercury Retrograde period, can be applied to many other stressful situations.

To keep this course affordable, I'm charging just $9.99 for it. When you register, you'll get your first e-mail lesson immediately, then one per week during the retrograde period, to help keep you on track.

I'm still putting the finishing touches on this course, so I'll send you a separate message in a couple of days, telling you how to register. Meanwhile, feel free to e-mail me with any questions.

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SEND ME A FRIEND
AND SAVE MONEY!

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QUOTES FOR SATURN IN LEO

- Julia Cameron

- Rita Mae Brown

- Rollo May

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REMINDER: 1% FOR PEACE

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DON'T GET BLINDSIDED

UNSUNG ADULT RITES OF PASSAGE

THE TRANSFORMATIVE MIDLIFE-THRESHOLD YEARS

Most people have heard about the "Saturn Return", but not everyone is fully aware of the growth phases adults go through. They're there, though, and just as predictable as the more familiar childhood ones. And, just like children, we grownups can more successfully navigate these passages if we're informed about them and can tap into the support of our peers and our elders.

While we're always growing and changing, astrologers recognize several significant turning points in adulthood:

We attain majority at 21 with our first Uranus square, when we usually must choose a direction for ourselves.

At 28-29 we experience the famous Saturn Return and begin to own our lives and our actions on a new level of maturity.

A series of transformative events at ages 37-45 marks the threshold of midlife, a period of self-discovery, letting go of limitations and coming into our power. (I'll come back to this!)

We have yet another Saturn Return at 57-58 and another Uranus square at 62 or 63.

As it becomes more and more common for us humans to survive well into our 80s and 90s, we have begun to perceive another shift of consciousness in the early 80s that echoes and amplifies the midlife-threshold experience.

Right now I'm focusing on the remarkably powerful midlife-threshold phase. I'm asking around among people who have passed that point in their lives, and I'm hearing the most amazing stories of inner transformation and self-empowerment. People report really getting free of patterns they had thought they'd be stuck in forever -- and embarking on exciting self-directed adventures that they didn't think would be possible for them.

For some, internal pressures sufficed to get them started, but others had experiences that gave real, concrete meaning to the phrase "midlife crisis". The Universe has a way of holding our feet to the fire if we're not being accountable for our own lives at this time. Several people say they were laid low with debilitating stress-related illnesses before they started turning their lives around. For at least one, it was a divorce that opened her eyes. For others, empty-nest syndrome. What might it be for you?

The sad thing is that some people are too fearful to respond to the clarion call. We've all run into them -- older people who are bitter, timid, truculent, stuck, lost, living in the past. The decision to shut down like this can be made at any age, but if you miss this chance to open up, it becomes much harder later on.

Upcoming teleseminar series

I'm developing a series of teleclasses on this crucial life turning point, to be presented in the next few months. I'll announce the schedule when it's all set to go, but if this is a hot topic for you, I'd like to hear you whether you want to attend the class or not. So if you are between 37 and 45, or are about to be, and would like some context and some company for the changes that are happening, drop me a line. And if you're fifty, feisty, and fabulous, and would like to share your reflections (or join the class and gain some retrospective wisdom!), e-mail me at the same address.

SATURN CHANGES SIGNS

Saturn moves from Cancer into Leo on Saturday, July 16th.

SATURN IN CANCER RETROSPECTIVE

Saturn's themes are structure, discipline, responsibility and capability, priorities, law and order, blocks, restrictions, impasses, paralysis, reduction and contraction. Cancer is all about protecting and preserving home, family, land and country. Both world wars were fought under Saturn in Cancer. In the 1970s, these were the Watergate years and the heyday of the Cultural Revolution and the Khmer Rouge. During these phases, nationalism and patriotism come to the forefront and security is valued over freedom. This round has seen the growth of the "Patriot Act" and the "Department of Homeland Security".

The paralysis and contraction themes show up in the inflated real estate market, where prices have gotten so out of hand that homes aren't moving -- few can afford either to buy or to sell. The market is now quietly deflating. If you weren't taking good care of your own home, it started to show and to cause expensive problems. Home makeovers have become very popular, on television and in life. Meanwhile, the hospitality industry suffered along with the travel industry in the wake of 9/11, and this Saturn transit didn't help the recovery any. Hoteliers and restaurateurs have had to work harder and provide superlative service to survive.

Cancer also rules the life of the emotions. This is where each of us has had to take extra responsibility and extra care. We've all had to be more aware of our own emotional patterns and needs and more intentional about setting agendas that take our feelings into account. When we weren't paying attention, we've found ourselves unconsciously pulling our energy in, circling our personal wagons, tending our own emotional gardens but in many cases not reaching out for the help we needed. The eclipse in April, squaring Saturn, pointed this up with news of serious illnesses and suicide attempts.

If I had to pick a single keyword for Saturn, it might be "consequences". Your actions, positive, negative, or neutral, come home to you during Saturn transits, and you're forced to set priorities. Saturn in Cancer is a particularly challenging placement. They're not the most compatible energies. Applying good judgment and discipline to the ebb and flow of feeling is a delicate balancing act. We should all award ourselves gold stars and Recchiuti chocolates for surviving the past two years.

LOOKING AHEAD TO SATURN IN LEO

People won't be so reticent under Saturn in Leo. They'll be reaching out in pursuit of Leo's four A's: Attention, Appreciation, Acknowledgement, and more Attention. Our Saturn responsibility here is to make sure we're reaching out in a healthy way, feeding our energy without feeding on others in a grabby, manipulative fashion. As usual, nobody gets away with nothin' under Saturn -- so drama queens and other energy vampires will be called upon to clean up their act.

Speaking of drama, the performing arts -- and all creative endeavors -- are apt to suffer from a lack of sympathy and support under this transit. If you are involved in creative pursuits, here's a little tough love for you: it's time for you to get real and serious about your work. If you don't believe in yourself, and don't start taking steps to get your creative ducks in a row, you're not likely to be taken seriously by others. It all begins with you.

Others who may experience reality checks if they're not taking care of business: people who work with children and adolescents; gambling and other entertainment venues; the stock market; royal houses and heads of state (regime change in the US at last?) And, of course, people with significant placements in the fixed signs (Leo, Aquarius, Taurus and Scorpio) in their natal charts.

Watch Transit Alert for news of the following trigger points:

Mars squares Saturn from Taurus three times: July 31, November (with Mars retrograde) and December (Saturn retrograde).

Jupiter squares Saturn in December, right after it gets into Scorpio.

Saturn will oppose Neptune August 2006, February 2007, and June 2007.

Saturn will trine Pluto in August 2007.

What house is Leo in in your chart? That's where Saturn is expecting you to toe the line now. What planets and other placements do you have in fixed signs? Those will be the hot spots in the 2+ years to come, until Saturn moves on into Virgo in September 2007.