Making Dreams Reality

"Ganesha is Saturn's kryptonite and as his name suggests, he can help us overcome obstacles to our goals and dreams.  We can ask Ganesha for his help over the coming year as Saturn teaches us the lessons around building a rock-solid real-world foundation beneath our visions and philosophies."

Now for the Universe's next trick...helping you make your dreams reality.

Read on for an overview of recent astrology and to gain insight into how it has been setting us up for the upcoming Saturn-Neptune square, happening now through late 2016.  

For starters, if you've been feeling a little foggy, unclear, and sluggish the past few days, Neptune, ruler of the watery depths, has stationed direct and slowly begun forward motion again after being retrograde in his own sign of Pisces since June.  His position in Pisces strengthens his effect the area of our lives he rules - dreams, intuition, visions and illusions.  A planet stationing and changing directions can signify pivotal moments in our lives or just general confusion and Neptune in Pisces can definitely heighten confusion especially around fantasy versus reality.  

Neptune in retrograde June 12th through November 18th was preparing us for the upcoming astrological push of the Saturn-Neptune square that will be occurring through late 2016.  With Neptune in retrograde, we had a wake-up call.  We were able to more easily discern fantasy from reality and could no longer ignore the truth of certain life situations.  We given the opportunity and clarity to re-evaluate our lives and see a plan for the future.  

This retrograde came right as Saturn was completing his journey through the sign of Scorpio - also a water sign, signifying emotions and "that which lies beneath",  but while Pisces represents dreams and fantasies, Scorpio represents the very essence of transformation, of death and new life, of our subconscious world and our soul.  We spent from late 2012 until mid-September with Saturn, the Teacher and Lord of Karma churning up the murky subconscious waters of Scorpio, learning the lessons of our deeply held values and beliefs and reassessing our relationship to power, death and transformation.  Saturn had previously transited Libra, sign of relationships, and Scorpio is an extension of this, so these lessons may have even been showing up around power struggles in certain relationships or realizing where we give our personal power away.  (Remember the final in the series of the four blood moon eclipses on the Aries/Libra axis also occurred in mid-September, also strengthening this theme of the self versus relationship and the balance of retaining the self in relationship.)  Between September 2nd and September 17th, 2015, Saturn rolled through the anaretic degree of Scorpio - the 29th degree - the last degree of the sign.  This is a highly karmic degree associated with permanent endings, and permanent endings are a realm known intimately to Scorpio. You may even be able to look back and see what happened during your life at this time that had to do with a karmic ending.  With Scorpio being a sign of risk, death, and transformation, this ending may have carried a theme of giving up some sort of security.  Scorpio reminds us that the idea of security in this world is always an illusion.  Real security always lies within the depths of your being and in the knowledge that the only constant is change.

Right at the end of three years of transformative work, we reached a culmination, possibly signified by a karmic ending, and at the same time we had Neptune working retrograde in his own watery sign of Pisces bringing us a wake up call around situations in our lives that we have until now been able to ignore.  From our new foundation, our new inner identity that Saturn in Scorpio formed, we were then given a moment of clarity.  

With Saturn newly in Sagittarius, he is looking for us to work from the new foundation we have gained from his time in Scorpio and take aim on new ideals in life.  Sagittarius is about truth, high ideals and our personal philosophies.  Saturn is about practicality and the real world.  We are going to be asked to live from our new ideals and philosophies - our new personal foundation.  

The new moon in Scorpio on the 11.11 gateway then signified a MAJOR new beginning.  Not only was it on 11.11 (known as the "pillars"/gateway to a higher consciousness/gateway of manifestation), it was the first new moon in Scorpio since Saturn went into Scorpio in late 2012 that wasn't affected by Saturn's presence.  A clear path was presented.

Now Neptune turns direct, just a week before the first in the series of three Saturn-Neptune squares that will occur between now and September 2016.  Neptune direct means we will now get a good view of the "big picture".

So now what?  We have a heavily aspected full moon in Gemini on November 25th, followed by the first Saturn-Neptune square on the 26th.  

This full moon is the culmination of seeds planted six months ago on the Gemini new moon on June 16th, 2015.  The new moon in Gemini on the 16th would, "....bring us face to face with wounds we have around asserting ourselves, taking a stand or taking action in our lives....(and help us discern)....truth from lies, fact from fiction, fantasy from reality."  (From "New Moon in Gemini June 16th, 2015", via MysticMamma).  

Over the next six months, we would then complete the deep-psyche overhaul and personal transformation of Saturn in Scorpio, experience a realization of truth around some situation in our life we had previously been able to ignore with Neptune retrograde in Pisces, take the journey to wholeness of Inanna's Descent with Venus' retrograde, and experience the final of the four blood moon eclipses on the Aries/Libra axis.  All of these things relate to how we are standing in our personal power and involve inner examination necessary to come from a place of personal power and wholeness of self so that we are relating from that foundation.  It may have involved a Phoenix-style transformation of the inner landscape which signified the ending of some part of your life.

Neptune direct and Saturn now in Sagittarius now forming a series of three squares to each other over the next year signify a push to make a vision or new philosophy or ideal REAL.  Like a series of three contractions, you are giving birth.  Saturn is about lessons and a square can represent an obstacle, so you may be tested.  You may have to push through.  You may get a reality check.  

Saturn says it's time to work for the new visions and ideals you've recently realized.  It's time to put them to the test.  It's time to walk your talk.  You can read more about making the Saturn-Neptune square work for you in my recent article, "Pimping the Saturn-Neptune Square".  And if you are wondering how all this relates to hypnotherapy, I use hypnotherapy with clients as a means for getting to deeply held negative beliefs and changing them to ones that better support their vision of life, which is what a lot of this astrology has been about.

As a final note, anything that helps us hold our intention for a goal or vision is an ally.  For this spar with Saturn, Ganesha, the Hindu god with the face of an elephant, known as "Remover of Obstacles" comes to mind.  Ganesha is Saturn's kryptonite and as his name suggests, he can help us overcome obstacles to our goals and dreams.  We can ask Ganesha for his help over the coming year as Saturn teaches us the lessons around building a rock-solid real-world foundation beneath our visions and philosophies.  Two more of my choice allies are in the form of oils from the master at Alchemy Works:   Oil of Jupiter, which protects against Saturn's limiting influences and Uncrossing Oil, which helps in clearing obstacles.  

The best tool however is preparation.  Create a good, old-fashioned list of action steps grounded in reality for living your vision, and then use the tools and allies you have available to achieve your dream and consciously create your life.