A Promise Kept – When Transits Echo Natal Aspects

Each natal aspect holds a wealth of promise, as even the most difficult combination has gifts to bestow once we learn to use the energies of the two planets well. Throughout our lives, transits to a natal aspect represent windows of time where we are challenged to make changes in the way we use that aspect. If we are wise, we will gradually learn to let go of counterproductive ways of expressing the energies of those planets and instead capitalize on their strengths.

This is never more true than during periods when the transit reflects the natal aspect, that is, when one of the planets involved natally is also the transiting planet. For example, suppose Saturn is square Mars in the natal chart, and now transiting Saturn is opposite natal Mars. The appearance is not the same, but the pair of planets in the image (Mars and Saturn) are. Saturn makes hard aspects (such as squares or oppositions) to its natal position approximately every seven years, during its 29.46-year orbit around the Sun; therefore, at seven-year intervals, Saturn will echo all of the major difficult aspects it makes in your birth chart. (It also trines its natal position twice during that orbit, providing opportunities when Saturn’s best qualities can be developed with a little less stress.)

In those recurring intervals, you will be challenged again to master the lessons of Saturn and make substantial progress through self-discipline, hard work, and a more mature perspective on your old limitations. He may wish to consider how he has been using his Saturn energies in the seven years or so since the last aspect of this type. If he has worked hard in the areas of life represented by that natal aspect, the transit may very well be a time when his efforts bear fruit, provided, of course, he has been diligent and wise. Sometimes we work much harder than we need to, when not only our methods, but even our game plans are flawed. If so, it may be time to evaluate your priorities and redirect your efforts towards more suitable ends, so you don’t burn out.

The so-called Midlife Cycle of late thirties to mid-forties is a crucible for much change and growth, because the astrological picture at midlife includes a number of aspects of outer planets in transit to their own natal positions. Transiting Uranus makes an opposition to its natal chart position, transiting Neptune squares natal Neptune, and transiting Pluto squares natal Pluto. In the process, the transiting outer planets activate all the aspects that make up the outer planets in the birth chart, giving us the opportunity to learn how to better use those aspects and further develop our innate potential. (The exact ages at which these aspects occur vary from generation to generation, because the orbits of these three planets around the Sun are not as regular as the orbits of the inner planets.)

The energies of the outer planets are not as accessible to our consciousness, nor are they easy to express; instead, they require great maturity to handle them well. This kind of wandering through life and having a variety of experiences seems to be a necessary part of growth and evolution, as if life’s journeys were a long pilgrimage through a desert. It’s easy to lose your way with the outer planets; where these planets are located in our charts, we often do repeatedly, learning much from our mistakes when we stumble and fall flat on our faces. Usually in mid-life, when all the natal aspects of an outer planet are also triggered by transit, we bottom out in the less productive uses of these energies and are propelled, if we are blessed with enough maturity, to work toward more uplifting expressions.

For example, suppose you have a Venus-Neptune conjunction in your natal chart. The catchphrase for that combination could be: “Someday my prince will come, but first I have to kiss a lot of frogs.” (Of course, there are many ways to express that particular combination, but this is a fairly common pattern.) During the transits prior to that conjunction, over the years, frogs of countless varieties have likely turned up, searching all over the world. like princes. Unfortunately, your sincere efforts to turn the current frog into the prince you know might be doomed after heartbreaking failure. Reluctantly, you are forced to conclude that this particular frog will remain a frog until it croaks. Still, she may persist in the idea that if she could somehow manage to transform into a princess, her prince would surely show up.

A likely window to change this persistent pattern is during the midlife cycle, when transiting Neptune squares natal Neptune, because in the case of this particular conjunction, transiting Neptune will also square natal Venus. One of the many ways this transit can manifest is that the frog of your life arrives, dressed in such elegant and princely attire that you’re sure your soul mate has finally arrived. If he is not in fact a prince, the experience of trying one last time to kiss someone to make him a prince may represent the bottoming out of an old codependent pattern of relating through rescue. Under this transit, the romantic haze that has always clouded your ability to see potential mates clearly can lift. Sadder but wiser, he now begins to look more realistically at new perspectives. Relationships will never be the same again, and that’s a good thing! Until now, that same romantic haze has kept you from recognizing the occasional true prince who crosses your path (perhaps because you can’t get over his frog spots and his gruff voice). Now you can recognize it and learn to relate to it in a healthy way.

One way to assess the intervals at which natal aspects recur is to consider the type of angle (eg, square, trine, or quincunx) formed by the natal aspect and compare it to the type of angle in transit. The transit angle does help us review how we have worked with the planetary energies in the natal angle. Especially when these energies are used consciously through deep analysis of the meanings of current and natal planetary locations, the transit represents a fruitful time to enhance the way we express those energies. For example, suppose someone has natal Pluto square the Sun, involving the houses of career or money (2nd, 6th or 10th), and now transiting Pluto is trine natal Sun. This is an opportunity to address issues that this square may have highlighted for much of the individual’s life.

Perhaps that individual has always been visited by self-doubt, or even self-contempt, when confronted with people in powerful or wealthy circumstances. This self-esteem issue may have alternated with a sneaky sense of pride in not being as corrupt as “those terrible power mongers with all that dirty money” – a pride that may have created persistently self-sabotaging financial patterns, such as staying underpaid. Under the transiting trine, catalytic events, opportunities, healing work, or newfound self-awareness can create major change, both in self-confidence and financial dealings. The resulting increased prosperity could lead to a benign spiral during the transit’s two-year or longer duration: As a sense of self-esteem grows, the workplace can reflect that growth with additional well-deserved raises, which in turn grant new confidence.

Conversely, let’s say someone has a natal trine between Pluto and the Sun. Depending on the signs and houses involved, the mantle of authority or power often sits quite naturally on the shoulders of such individuals. This may not be worldly power. If the 12th house is involved, it could be the spiritual power where the presence of the person’s mother can heal and comfort those who suffer, helping the downtrodden to reclaim their own power. Likewise, if the 4th house is involved, this person could be the matriarch or patriarch of the family around which the entire family network revolves.

The problem with trines is that we don’t always go all out with them, it’s so easy to just slip by. However, for such individuals, a transiting Pluto square to the natal Sun is very energizing. It echoes the natal trine between the two planets, but it represents a golden opportunity to harness much, much more of the potential of that trine. Circumstances change, new demands are experienced, and while the resulting challenges may cause a person to doubt those gifts that are taken for granted, the end result is likely to be a new and more powerful way of expressing innate abilities. Through the pressure of the hard angle in transit, the natal promise can be fulfilled.

When I work with clients, I look very carefully at transits that echo natal aspects, as they are among the most significant transits of all. In our session, we spent considerable time dealing with this natal aspect and the life patterns, both self-defeating and self-fulfilling, that they represent. If you are in the process of a resonant transit yourself, take a hard look at that natal aspect to see how you are currently using it, as the transit can be a true gift that allows you to take that natal aspect to a new level. Unlike the often overwhelming transits that represent entirely new influences, that is, the combination of planets not natally aspecting each other, an echoed transit is like an old favorite song sung in a whole new key. The melody is eerily familiar, but in this new arrangement of the song, you discover exciting possibilities that never existed before.