“Conversation in the T-Room” by Michelle Piller

Venus: You’re no fun; you push me too hard – you obviously don’t love me.

Saturn: What’s love got to do with it? I’m trying to help you grow up.

Venus: I want to play, I want to create, I want to sing, dance, draw, listen to the music of the planets.

Saturn: Well by all means, please tell me how you’re going to survive in the real world if all you want to do is frolic with finger-painting and fairies.

Venus: I’m meant to explore new experiences; it’s part of my journey here – just ask Jupiter.

Jupiter: Oh please don’t put me in the middle of another one of your battles.

Saturn: Well of course you’re enlisting Jupiter’s help – all he does is enable your appetite for excess.

Jupiter: How do I end up getting maligned in a fight I didn’t even ask to be involved with in the first place?

Mercury: Uh, guys I’ve got something to say that might help.

Saturn: This isn’t about you!

Mercury: Well don’t shoot the messenger.

Jupiter: I can’t take this minefield you guys call a home. I’m going shopping. And then afterwards I’m going to reward myself with a big pasta dinner in my favourite restaurant, for having lugged home all of my expensive items all by myself.

Venus: I’m coming with you. Maybe we’ll stop in for inspiration at an art gallery along the way.

Saturn: Well that’s just great – don’t mind me as I try to figure out how we’re going to get through another lean month!

Sometimes the planets converse with each other in much the same ways as humans do – and it isn’t always pretty. The imagined conversation, above, highlights a tricky complex that our seeker is learning to master. It’s not just a battle of the planets, but also a battle that gets waged within her psyche. Our seeker is a mystic, as we shall come to see. We will call her T-Leaf Reader (or T-Leaf for short). She doesn’t necessarily read tea leaves; I am making a play-on-words with a challenging t-square in her chart. But I skip too lightly ahead. Let’s have a cup of hot brew in the t-parlour and get to the heart of it:
Virgo Moon is in her balsamic phase: this is the very end of Luna’s cycle. It speaks of endings, especially in the 8^th house: T-Leaf Reader receives psychic information, especially through contact with nature. Mind you, she is a reluctant prophet, owing to the intercepted energy along the Virgo/Pisces axis. When she stands in her full strength, she creates as if by magic (a word we can associate with the 8^th house). When she is out of her power she drifts along without purpose or direction. With an intercepted Moon, she’s had to learn for herself how to appropriately respond to others.
Moon is just one of 4 planets in a stellium (a group of 3 or more planets in the same sign). Dancing with Luna are Uranus, Pluto and Mercury, which rules this stellium. Although intercepted, Mercury is dignified in Virgo. He is also the oriental planet (having risen immediately before the Sun), so he fills T-Leaf’s head with thoughts from the moment she rises. Busy mind, busy mind. Mercury also squares the North Lunar Node. This refers to T-Leaf Reader’s mental expression and communication: she does not project her ideas as she would like, and therefore tends to be misunderstood. Perhaps she speaks out at the ‘wrong’ time or place. Moreover, she has been punished in the past (or in previous timelines), as the South Lunar Node in the secluded 12^th house suggests. This haunts T-Leaf, and the only way for her to grow is to work it out and get it right. There is an imperative about this, for Mercury hangs in the balance between past and future, as emphasized by its placement on the final degree of Virgo. To make matters even more obscure, Mercury is intercepted (trapped), as are all of the Virgo planets, so it is difficult for T-Leaf to speak her mind, or it wasn’t encouraged in her childhood and youth. For all of these various reasons, she is vulnerable to recreating the previous errors of the South Lunar Node (speaking at an inopportune or inappropriate moment, which pushes someone else’s buttons in a big way). It can be so hard to know when to bite your tongue and when to let it rip, am I right, T-Leaf?
Meanwhile Pluto is accidentally dignified in the 8^th house; because he is the natural landlord of the very house he tenants, he exerts even stronger transformational and psychic energy. Artistic Venus also lives in the 8^th house, though she isn’t as demure as her neighbours, being in the dramatic sign of Leo. She is a key to utilizing T-Leaf Reader’s psychic abilities, though Venus requires T-Leaf’s creative output in exchange.
The 8^th house refers to such issues as shared marital resources, sex, death, birth, occult practices, as well as the quest for self-transformation. In this chart, the 8^th house is jam-packed with cosmic energy, endowing T-Leaf with an abundance of psychic ability. How well does she utilize and master this energy? Whether she realizes it or not, she has ‘super-powers’ that she either locks away in a cupboard, or that she embraces and employs in her everyday life. It can go either way when the energy is intercepted.
For further evidence of a seer, we note the South Lunar Node conjunct (in the same spot as) the Galactic Centre in the 12^th house. This really intensifies T-Leaf’s psychic ability. The Galactic Centre (GC) is the very heart of our Milky Way galaxy, as its name implies, and it is located at 26 degrees of Sagittarius, for anyone who wants to see where that falls in your chart. We receive energy and cosmic messages from the GC, though we may not be conscious of this. But people who have this degree emphasized in their chart are the exception: they’re normally quite aware that they are somehow receiving information (often about the nature of the Universe, or the nature of other realms of existence), as if via a cosmic download. They may feel somewhat alien from the rest of the world, as though they don’t quite belong here. In this chart, there is a history of psychic energy coming through our seeker. We could imagine a seer, a prophet, a mystic who has spoken her truth (whether in her early past or in an alternate lifeline), who has then been faced with a huge penalty (imprisonment, torture, the stake) for doing so – because her truth is not in keeping with the prevailing zeitgeist (Mercury square North Lunar Node).
The North Lunar Node in Gemini in the 6^th house is a cosmic reminder that T-Leaf has agreed to be very clear-headed, less idealistic in this life. She must distinguish the forest from the trees. It will help her to cultivate objectivity and to develop her social and communication skills. T-Leaf, ask yourself how you can be of practical service to others without falling into the victim or martyr trap, or escaping your obligations altogether. For some clues, look to your Virgo Moon, in the 8^th house; it is your principal planet (making the tightest orb aspect to the Midheaven), and can be of help with your career. Your profound understanding of the esoteric elements of life need to be shared with others. This is echoed by the Scorpio Midheaven. With all of this energy in a secluded water house, and with it being intercepted, your challenge is to do, not simply to theorize. Progressed Mars and Transiting Saturn on your Moon invite you to take responsibility for your unique gifts, and to do something with them. Progressed Sun in the 10^th house of career awakens you to a necessary impetus to share your talents with us all. Notice how restless and stymied you feel when you sit on your superpowers? With this in mind, enlist the support of friends and organizations that support your inner and outer journey. (Progressed Mercury in the 11^th house of friendships and affiliations.)
And so we come to a crucial issue that disrupts T-Leaf Reader. She speaks of being overweight and feeling out of control: This complex is reflected in an aspect pattern known as a t-square (as dramatized in the opening conversation). Let’s break it down: Saturn retrograde (the authoritarian) is opposite Venus (the pleasure principal) and each of them square Jupiter retrograde (the planet of excess), in the 4^th house of home, in Taurus, the “foodie” of the zodiac. With the 4^th house being ruled by comfort-me-now Venus, we do love to indulge in our excesses. To be fair, Transiting Jupiter is touring T-Leaf’s 1^st house of self. This often coincides with weight gain. Jupiter will finally move out of this sector in January 2009. Furthermore, the Gemini New Moon on June 3^rd activates your health sector, giving you a fresh chance to make any necessary changes to your current health regimen, T-Leaf.
T-Leaf Reader also speaks of financial problems. Saturn retrograde and Chiron (representing a wound) are in the 2^nd house of earned income. There is some added complexity here: Saturn retrograde sits on the last degree of Aquarius. This 29^th degree adds a decision-making complication to T-Leaf’s financial affairs: able to see both sides of an issue, she wavers between one view and the other. Consequently, decisions get put off, or she continuously re-evaluates as new information comes in. At the end of her rope, she makes a quick decision, simply to do something, which then becomes too little, too late (what a fitting description of Saturn).
So let’s re-iterate the dynamic of the t-square, for it also relates to finances: Saturn retrograde (restriction) is opposite Venus (money), and each of them square Jupiter retrograde (the planet of excess), in the 4^th house, representing the foundation of all matters in life. Meanwhile, Uranus (the planet for “let’s keep it anything but consistent”) rules the 2^nd house – not a stable influence. Just for a really fun ride, Progressed Uranus has joined the party to keep shakin’ it up. Meanwhile, Transiting Neptune casts a foggy spell whilst sitting on Natal and Progressed Saturn. It requires great effort to clearly track the money’s comings and goings. Progressed Moon in Pisces adds to the Neptunian mist, making it all the easier for T-Leaf to either abdicate financial responsibility or to sacrifice too much. This cosmic weather pattern persists until April 2011. Of course by then, T-Leaf Reader will be proficient at managing these energies because life is nothing, if not ironic. (Just ask trickster Mercury, who can barely get a word in.)
Saturn retrograde is the stymied boss. Being the chart ruler, he acts as a filter for how life is experienced by T-Leaf. Because he sits in the financial house, money becomes a daily consideration, for better or worse. Just for added stress, he receives more aspects than any other planet in the chart. (Aspects are simply angles formed between the planets – rather like a planetary conversation.) In this chart, Saturn retrograde has a lot of speaking to do, and it’s stressful, even for this natural zodiacal manager.
The two issues of food and finances are hooked into each other, and the crux of it is about feeling out of control, whether with food or finances – in a sense, we could just as easily refer to any type of behaviour that makes us feel addicted. Jupiter is the apex (release planet) in this t-square; he’s right in the middle of the squabble between Venus and Saturn retrograde, and he doesn’t know how to mediate for them, so he eats or spends for comfort. He’s the kid caught in the middle of his parents’ wars and, as such, is often the unwitting bait. Much of the behaviour is unconscious, with Jupiter retrograde in a water house, and ruling the unconscious 12^th house. T-Leaf, you are asked to re-align your values (Venus) with a deeper faith (Jupiter retrograde) in your ability to govern yourself (Saturn retrograde). My friend, each time you swallow something you don’t actually need, each time you mis-allocate your funds, each time you suppress your truth, ask yourself what you are truly swallowing or misdirecting or suppressing. What gifts are you stuffing back inside you, and why? A t-square represents a life-theme, a difficult challenge – no doubt about it. So once we become conscious of how the pattern operates within our psyche, we can gradually learn to master the energy, rather than let it lead us blindly. T-Leaf, ensure that you have a woodsy sanctuary to go, wherein to shift as your deep inner awareness directs you, to create as Venus requires, and to speak, as Mercury so wishes to do. Saturn doesn’t particularly relish being cast as the control-freak while Jupiter numbs himself through excessive consumption. Reach out to your people – and beyond – through astonishing acts of channelled inspiration, and remember the magic in healing yourself and us at the same time. Namaste.