The Resilient Power of Bliss

You won’t find a more uplifting description of Saturn’s placement in Sagittarius (where the planet will transit until December of 2017) than astrologer Marcia Moore‘s:

This position of Saturn “gives the capacity to concretize ideas and to bring abstract concepts down to earth. In this respect, Saturn is like a crystal which concentrates the light of the Sagittarian mind into a flame that can start a fire. Sagittarius, in turn, warms the austere formality of Saturn with the genial glow.”

Rational optimism like this is a welcome shift after Saturn’s final pass through Scorpio which often felt like a cathartic slog: A Roto-Rooter attached directly to the collective’s unconscious.

Astrologer Michael Lutin aptly associated Saturn’s transit through the last degrees of Scorpio with “death anxiety.” He listed several markers that were particularly difficult to resolve during the last couple of months. I’d imagine that you can relate to:

“The feeling of helplessness while awaiting a decision, diagnosis, judgment, revelation, miracle, change, or new direction.”

He also mentioned: “The anger brought by having to accept enforced change.”

And probably most painful and confusing, a kind of sadomasochistic “…holding on to improper attachments.”

I think we’re all welcoming the new Saturn through Sagittarius transit. So let’s talk about it.

Saturn’s New Abode

But first:

Imagine listening to only the trombone section playing a Haydn concerto. How weird. Something similar happens when astrologers attempt to define lone planetary transits, detached from the whole. Like I’m doing here, with Saturn’s transit through Sagittarius.

You can’t really pull out a single planet from the pantheon and then describe the possibilities inherent the transit. All of the planets participate in the solar system’s symphony simultaneously. So, keep this in mind whenever you read about significant planetary shifts in astrology. Only a facet is examined, a facet that is removed from the totality of the cosmic field. It is incomplete.

That said, of all the planets Saturn is the easiest to form a distinct impression of when you consider the planet’s placement in any of the twelve signs.

Meaning, wherever Saturn moves in the Zodiac, the reality principle under which we all abide, shifts. So you sense it palpably. It’s like changing the lenses in your glasses. The effect is immediate. Various qualities of the sign Saturn transits are made distinct and specific, and, Saturn being Saturn, we’re pulled in — like Brer Rabbit with the Tar-Baby — until we decipher the code.

So, if Saturn in Scorpio is tied to “death anxiety,” will Saturn in Sagittarius involve life anxiety?

Not exactly. But kind of.

Sagittarius, of all the signs, is related to the flame of optimism, a faith in the ultimate good that resides within or beneath every experience in life. It sounds corny, but think of where you’d be in life if you didn’t have faith? (Not belief, mind you — but faith. Think about the two words and faith’s meaning will become emphatic; Saturnine).

So this is the promise of Saturn in Sagittarius: The realistic benefits of exercising faith. This might show up in your life (at least initially, on the heels of the Scorpio transit) as a super-effort to remember why life is worth living.

The Fire Trio

All the fire signs (Aries, Leo and Sagittarius) are involved with the unchecked life force.

Aries, the first of the fire signs gets you out of bed in the morning. Moves your muscles, so you can go from here to there. It’s instinctive, flaming fuel.

Leo offers the continuity of the cardiovascular system, the constant beating of the heart that sustains life with a reliable, constant pulse.

Sagittarius is more complex. It moves the fire force into the realm of the psychological. The mind. And for this reason, the last of the fire signs is associated with our capacity to generate meaning. To have faith in life.

Faith enables each of us to continue. Not only to get out of bed in the morning but to do so with a vision and enthusiasm. What is the secret? Sagittarius — when operating at optimum level — connects us to bliss.

A life that is blissless is a dreary muddle. We are born alone — raised by neurotic parents. We kill in order to eat in order to live. Perhaps we have sex. And all the while we age; get creaky and then die. Alone.

Joie de vivre prompts us to engage with life. And I don’t mean with fake, pollyanna optimism. If one follows the various paths that Sagittarius follows, he will discover a condition of joy that is simply a function of the universe. And it really and truly is a kind of bliss.

So, more about that:

Hinduism makes bliss a primary component in its formulation of True Nature: The Sanskrit term sat-chit-ananda, translated, reads: “Existence, Consciousness, and Bliss.” You can imagine these three qualities permeating the totality of existence — a cosmic fire of sorts. And you can give it astrological correlates: Existence: Aries. Consciousness: Leo. And bliss: Sagittarius.

The real good news: Sat-chit-ananda doesn’t require any sort of belief system to comprehend its being-ness, its existence and function.

You can experience this for yourself, right now: Note your presence. You are alive, that’s undeniable. You exist. That fact doesn’t require a priest or expert to confirm its is-ness to you.

The same with consciousness. Your awareness of your existence is consciousness. This kind of knowledge is knowledge that is beyond acquired learning, it’s direct knowledge and every single item in the universe possesses consciousness. Even the chair you’re sitting in. Everything.

Sat-chit-ananda conveys a sequence if you will. The acknowledgment — the felt sense of existence and consciousness — releases bliss. It’s kind of tantric. Or at least it seems this way to our linear nature. What’s important to understand is that bliss is beyond the notion of pleasure, it’s beyond the ego’s notions of pleasure and pain. It’s divine.

So, we could say that Saturn in Sagittarius is a two-year inculcation in bliss. What it is. How we feel it. Why we don’t feel it. And how we return to feeling it.

The Natural Flow: Scorpio to Sagittarius

Grant Lewi described Sagittarius like this:

“More than any other sign, Sagittarius, with complete unselfconsciousness, usually leads the life of the spirit-in-action. Where Scorpio knows mystically, emotionally, and profoundly the unity that binds all of life, the essential seriousness of life, and the existence of happiness as a byproduct, Sagittarius seems to represent the externalization of this same view in daily living, so that all of existence becomes at once unified, significant, simple, and happy.”

Where Scorpio is the introvert of what Lewi calls Universal Philosophy, Sagittarius is its extrovert, living in the world of affairs with inspired and magnificent unconcern, secure in a quality of faith that comprehends — deep in the bones —  that a cohesive force not only holds life in harmony but also arouses everything in life to engage with life completely.

And that is the power of bliss.