Explore the archetypal meaning of Saturn's transit in Aries. We discuss why this "fall" forges enduring courage, with horoscopes for all 12 signs.
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Transcript
Hey everyone. This is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology [https://nightlightastrology.com/].
All right.
Okay. Good morning. Everyone. Glad to be back. Another live stream coming down the home stretch of the Kickstarter campaign. I'm super excited to be here today. We're going to be taking a look at Saturn in the sign of Aries, trying to understand why this planet was said to be in its fall. What is it about Aries that makes things so difficult for Saturn? And more importantly, like, what's the wisdom of getting through two and a half years of Saturn in Aries? We're going to talk about all of that today.
Then we're going to do some horoscopes to prepare you... prepare you to work with Saturn over the next two and a half years. I don't know if nice is the best way of talking about Saturn in Aries, but yeah.
Someone said that there is an echo. Are you guys getting an echo? I don't have speakers, so let me just double check my audio, but, yeah, let's see here.
Ah, okay, good to know. Well, I'm glad we don't have any echo, that's good. Yeah, but let's start, as we always do, with a little roll call. Where are you all coming from? Let's get all of our countries and cities and states represented in here. Where are you all coming from?
Respect the general Saturn. We are welcoming you in Aries. I love that. Toronto, Canada, excellent. From Vienna. You're on Christmas holiday there. Wonderful. Montreal, Macedonia, Outer Banks, North Carolina. That's like a favorite place of ours. We used to take our yoga studio yoga teacher training retreats to the Outer Banks. We'd rent a big house, and we'd all hang out and go to the beach. Love it there. I've been there probably like 10 times. I love the Outer Banks.
Richmond, Missouri, South Australia. In fact, you may know there's a surf shop in Kerala. This guy named Gary that we would go surfing. He'd take us surfing. Did surf lessons with us. We really like him. Richmond, Missouri, South Australia, Fairfield, Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, okay, a town Washington, year one student from the French Quarter. I think you were here yesterday, Slovenia, Vermont, San Diego, Colorado, France, oh my gosh, I love it. New York, all right? Another New York. Rio de Janeiro. I love that.
Columbus, St. John's Newfoundland, okay? Bucharest, Romania, back in the house. Love seeing you here. Thank you for being here. Hollywood, Florida, from Vienna, all right. Ecuador, love it. Good morning. Philadelphia, Sweden, Adirondacks, Chicago, represent San Francisco, Milwaukee, New Hampshire, Greece, Guam, Italy.
You guys ready to talk about Saturn in Aries? This is a big transit. In this position, Saturn was said to be traditionally in the sign of its fall. Ooh. What does that mean, though? Do we have... can we... Yeah, I find that once I understand what something means, it's a lot easier to let go of anxiety that I have about it in astrology, especially when you hear that, oh, that's a difficult transit. But then you understand why. Like, what is the evolutionary purpose behind something like this.
Give me just a second. Okay, yeah, okay, one last thing here, just getting my notes all set up. Okay, I am just about ready, guys.
Okay, let's see a few more where a few more of you guys are coming from, and then we'll get started. Las Vegas, Kansas City, Columbia, Virginia. I'm nervous about it. Going through your eighth house, yeah, for sure. We're going to do some horary... we're going to do some horoscopes today. And the horoscopes ought to give you, you know, a little bit more grounded sense of what's coming. Not just, "Oh, my God, it's the eighth house," you know. But like, what might that mean, more specifically, that I can start to work with and, you know, and not just have this general feeling of doom.
So yeah, Emma from Park Rapids, Minnesota, that's awesome. Love my Minnesota folk. There may be a wee bit too much light and fast action for the general. Aries don't jive with restrictions, right? Love this Melbourne, okay? Alrighty. So I think you all know by this point in time that before we get into anything on this channel, I always ask you guys to like and subscribe if you're new to the channel. Subscribing helps us grow. We're seeing if we can get to 100,000 subscribers on the channel by next year, next summer, hopefully.
So if you listen regularly and you're not yet subscribed, take a second to do that. If you're live here, obviously giving us a thumbs up, but if you're listening later, all of that still counts and helps us. You can find transcripts of any of these daily talks on the website, which is NightlightAstrology.com. I also want to emphasize that if you're listening to the replay of this later, you'll be able to find the transcript of this later too.
Now the big thing is, of course, we are just 10 days away from New Year's Eve, which means we have just 10 days, almost nine left to go in our annual Kickstarter campaign. And I'm doing these lives as a way of rallying support for the Kickstarter campaign. So while we are live today, I'm going to put the link to the Kickstarter into the live stream chat box. Let's do a little quick math.
We have between nine and 10 days left to go, and we need 2043 backers. As of right now, we're at 980, which means we need 1063 more backers in just nine or 10 days. So we need about 100 a day. That is a lot, but we need that support to come in during this live stream.
So I've got a couple of things I'm going to tell you about, some rewards, ways that you can pick up some really cool things from Nightlight as a reward for pledging and supporting the channel in the year ahead. But also, there'll be a giveaway today. Yesterday, we did a giveaway every day for the rest of the Kickstarter. If you pledge on that particular calendar day, there's going to be, in addition to whatever reward you receive, you'll get a bonus gift if your name is drawn from the list of people who pledge on that day.
So today, the pledge reward... I'm going to take you over to the Kickstarter campaign right now. You find the link in the comment section pinned to the top after this is over or in the description of the video, and then I'm just going to put it again into the live stream comments. Oops. Okay, sorry, guys, I've got my screen jumping around here. Okay, there we go.
So the giveaway today, if you pledge today, on December 22, you're going to get a free master class for your donation. So the master class is a yearly class that I teach. There's one class per quarter, usually three different lectures per class. So it ends up being about 30 to 40 hours of content on the year.
And when you're on the Kickstarter campaign, you're going to scroll down and you'll see the previous year's master classes as well as this upcoming year's master class. You can pick any of them you'd like. So if you want to join us for this year's master class, it's on the decans. We're going to be starting in January, and over the course of 12 classes, over the course of the 2026 calendar year, we will be meeting to go through all 36 decans of the zodiac. That's kind of a deep dive into the decans.
So you'll find that if you scroll down, you'll see other yearly master class bundles, the 2025 archive master class bundle on the Purusharthas. If you've heard me talking about Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha, this is about 30 plus hours worth of content on the houses through the lens of the Purusharthas and Indian astrology. So if you want to get to know those philosophical areas that I'm always talking about, this would be an archive master class you could pick up.
The 2024 master class includes a class of three lectures on the fixed stars, Alchemy of the outer planets, lunar nodes in ancient astrology and the archetypes of the astrologer. 2023 master class includes Mysteries of the Moon, Cycles of Venus and Mercury, Zen and the Art of Zodiacal Releasing and Unlocking Temperament and Personality. So again, it's like about 40 hours worth of content for each master class bundle.
So you could join this upcoming year's master class, or you could pick up one of the previously archived master classes. We'll be giving that away, one of those bundles, whichever one you'd like, to one person today. We'll be drawing a name from the list of those who pledge. So keep that in mind.
The best deals through the Kickstarter campaign right now are our class passes. So if you want to come study at Nightlight, we have, in addition to yearly master classes, we have a first, second and third year in Natal Hellenistic astrology with a psychological and archetypal bent. We have a class in horary astrology. We have yearly master classes. We have a yearly guild membership that's for advanced practice and workshopping.
So lots of ways to study and learn with us at Nightlight, and you can pick up class passes. At the bottom of the reward list, you're going to find these are the best deal of the year, the best sale of the year for us at Nightlight. And when you start blending the class passes, like when you go to a two class pass, a three class pass, or a four class pass, the savings goes up to 75% off the cost of each individual program.
So easily, the best way to come study at Nightlight. The passes don't expire, so you can use them at your own pace. You could take one class or two classes in '26 or more in '27, so really good deal. Great way to save, great way to support the channel and the school.
Remember that we also have a few basic rewards, like the Astrology of the Year Ahead video, which is about two hours worth of content, hour and a half, I guess, on all the major astrology of the year ahead. We have year ahead horoscope readings that give you about four to five hours worth of recorded content. It's horoscopes for all 12 signs on the major astrology signatures of 2026. Those are all great gifts you can pick up.
You can get in on the new early release of my next book. There's also a couple guided meditations, if you like the guided meditation work I've been doing on the channel lately. So all sorts of stuff over there that you can pick up. I want to again emphasize that if you donate today, you'll be entered for a chance to win a master class bundle. You can go with next year's master class and join us live, or you can pick up the bundled archive of a previous year's master class, whatever you want.
So thank you in advance to everyone for all of the... let's see. Where are we at now? We're at 980 backers. We still need over 1000 backers before New Year's Eve, guys. So if you haven't yet donated, please consider supporting us. There are about three hours worth of work and effort that go into the production of content every single day, year round, a staff of 12 people. Of course, this is how I earn my living, and it's also how I support my staff and make sure that our school can offer really flexible pricing.
So that all of our programs allow astrology education to be really accessible. People who have very, very little and are really suffering or struggling financially are still able to take our programs. And the reason for that, we don't have to have a bottom line when the Kickstarter succeeds. When the Kickstarter does well, I've got my staff budget for the year. I've got enough to work with so that my programs can have a significant chunk of need-based tuitions going to people.
So that's our business model at Nightlight. We believe it works, and it's an innovative way of doing things that works out to make astrology accessible. So if you appreciate this work, ask yourself one simple question. I would recommend that everyone asks themselves as they're considering donating or not, which is, you know, does this channel regularly give you inspiration, insight, humor? Is this a warm, trusted place of astrology that accompanies you throughout your day, your year, your week, whatever the case might be?
If so, please consider pitching in and supporting us. We could really use it. We have a big, big push to make here with just days left. So on that note, I'm going to drop the link to the Kickstarter back in there. It is, one more time, in the live stream. You can find it pinned to the top of the comment section in the description of the video. Now we are off to the races. Let us go into Saturn in Aries.
It's a big, it's a huge transit. Obviously, one of the reasons that we tend to get really amped up about Saturn transits is that, first of all, they're long. So they last about two and a half years per sign, two years and five months to two years and six months. And as they work their way through, that's what makes them, that makes Saturn, of the traditional planets, the slowest to move through one whole sign house of our chart.
And Saturn is the great malefic. The great malefic means the slow-moving malefic. So the difficulties that Saturn, you know, visits upon us are really often like heavy, deep work, spiritually, psychologically. There's a lot to be carried. And I think the trick for any Saturn transit is knowing how to recruit Saturn to help us carry the weight, because symbols work as containers.
When you become aware of the fact that your life is moving through a season that's not just events happening that are good or bad, but that represent a quality and a meaning symbolically, then when we recognize that and sort of work with that... we use that phrase, but what do we mean by that? When we consciously acknowledge the symbolic field we're in on a mythopoetic level, imagistic level, ritual level, a conversational dialog we create, we start participating in a field of meaning, rather than just suffering through a series of events.
And that is what allows a symbol, a planet, a god, an archetypal field like Saturn in Aries, to help us carry the load. The planets are actually so willing and eager to help us carry the evolutionary journey of the soul, but they can't carry it for us unless we take time to get to know the field, just like getting to know a person. And by getting to know the field, there's a kind of intimacy that arises, and the intimacy helps us carry the load.
So what I hope to do today is... is Saturn in Aries really just terrible and jacked up to the point that we should all just get freaked out? There's some reason to understand why Saturn was considered in its fall in this sign, maybe one of the worst places of its debilitation. But what does that mean? And how can we see that as a field that still invites us to participate, that still is willing to help us carry the load as a symbolic container? It says, put some of this on my shoulders. I can help you.
So I wrote something, just a little introduction. And as you guys know, I'm prepping my next book, and I just finished one, and that's in the process of being edited right now. And then I'm going to start work on another book in the spring. And what I've been doing is just finding draft voices. So anytime I can get an opportunity to write in daily content is good for me right now, because it's helping me find the voice, the tone, the style, kind of experimenting with my prose.
So I wrote this today on Saturn in Aries, just as a little warm up for our talk. Now I also have three different layered I Ching readings that I did this morning, which I will synthesize and present to us as more ways of understanding Saturn in Aries. And then we have horoscopes as well. So hopefully we'll cover this from a nice, well-rounded perspective. All right.
So here's what I have. For starters, I called this "On the Difficulty of Beginnings." Remember Saturn in Aries is in a sign that is an initiating sign of spring. In Aries, this is when the light returns from the symbolic standpoint of the northern hemisphere. So the sign is associated with initiation of new cycles, light, life, etc.
Saturn is naturally in its fall in this sign, because its exaltation is in the fall equinox in Libra, when the light is dying for the year, and it sits, therefore, at the threshold of the dark part of the year, when it's more about endings and the resolution, the decay, the breakdown of the light cycle of the solar year.
So Saturn in Aries, on the difficulty of beginnings. There is a particular kind of difficulty that comes not at the end of something, but at the beginning. Not when something is breaking down, but when it's trying, maybe just a little too urgently, to come into being. I think this is the difficulty that we encounter when Saturn moves through Aries.
In traditional astrology, Saturn is said to be in its fall in the sign of Aries. When we hear the word "fall," it can sound moral or catastrophic or hopeless. It can sound quite ominous. But in the ancient language of astrology, a fall is not a punishment. It's a condition, a natural condition. It describes a place where a planet's nature is strained by its context, by its surroundings, and therefore its gifts are not easily expressed, and wisdom has to be earned rather than easily given or assumed.
Saturn is the planet of time, of gravity and gravitas, of patience, of consequence and of endurance. Saturn teaches us how things last, how structures hold, how limits form and protect, how maturity is formed slowly and often forged through tremendous difficulty and effort. Saturn doesn't rush anything. Saturn waits. Saturn measures.
Now, Aries, by contrast, is the sign of beginnings. Aries is the first raw, red breath in the world. It's the first step. It's the first spark. Aries has to move forward because something has to move forward. It acts because action feels necessary. It feels urgent. It feels alive. It feels immediate.
Aries is the moment when life pushes itself into form without yet knowing how that form will hold. It's like a baby coming into form out of the mother, and it can't even walk yet. But here you have... here you are. And so when Saturn enters Aries, we find ourselves standing at a kind of psychic gateway, where urgency meets delay, where immediate, fast impulse meets consequence, where the desire to act with strong will and impulse collides with the reality that not all actions are ready to be taken.
This is why Saturn is said to be in its fall in Aries. Aries is the place where light returns in the spring, where the days lengthen, where the sun, the symbol of vitality and will, is exalted. Saturn, associated with decline, contraction, the long shadows of time, death, old age, decay, doesn't thrive here. The season overwhelms Saturn's nature. The heat of Aries overtakes the cold of Saturn. Speed overtakes Saturn's slowness.
The future rushes in before foundations have been established. And so Saturn in Aries becomes the planet of caution in a landscape that rewards boldness and immediacy. It becomes a voice of restraint or constraint in a world that's eager to just get started. I added the swear words. Its wisdom isn't absent, but it's harder to hear.
Now the ancient texts actually described this plainly. Saturn in Aries is burdened. Its actions are frustrated. Its authority is tested. But beneath those stark descriptions that we find in ancient delineation texts lies something subtler and, I think, a lot more human that we can all relate to. Saturn in Aries reveals what happens when we try to move before we're ready, when we act before we've listened, when we push forward without knowing the terrain.
This isn't because Saturn's trying to say that beginnings are wrong and you're just youthful and immature and stupid for wanting to do something new or to move forward boldly. It's specifically because beginnings are vulnerable places. Saturn in Aries shows us the danger of mistimed movements. If you step forward too quickly, without structure, assert will without form, initiate without containment... the difficulty, I don't think it's the presence of challenge, but it's the absence of patience or maturity at the moment when patience and maturity is most required within a challenge. Aries is fine with a challenge, but this is a Saturn in Aries that may bring up what is absent that is most required within a challenge.
And yet Saturn's not just a planet of negation and denial. Saturn's a teacher. Saturn, in the sign of Aries, asks us to deeply consider what real strength looks like at the start of something new. It asks whether force is always required, or whether restraint might be the wiser form of courage. It invites us to take our time, to accept limitations without resentment, and to allow experience, rather than urgency, shape our actions.
And none of that is easy at 0ยฐ Aries, especially the point where Saturn will conjoin Neptune. We'll talk about that on another day. None of that is easy to do when there is such a strong urge to start, to pioneer, to launch, to live in an inceptional moment, a moment of starting. Saturn in Aries does not deny the need for bravery. It asks us to find a deeper form of bravery.
It's the courage to slow down when everything wants to move fast. It's the courage to begin again after failure, this time with greater care. One thing I've learned about Aries over time is that sometimes signs, planets, people relating to planets in Aries, if something they start initially fails, they'll be like a child that says, "Fine, I quit."
Do we have the courage to begin again after failure, with greater care, greater maturity, a slower approach? We might be tested in this way. The courage to let structures arise before momentum takes over, before we're just wildly taken off in a new direction. Can we let a structure arise to help us carry the new direction organically over time? Always over time. Saturn teaches.
Saturn in Aries will teach that the most meaningful beginnings are not always the loudest. They're the ones that survive. They're the ones that have longevity. They're the ones that learn when to advance and when to wait. They're the ones that bind themselves to things that are real, spiritually, psychologically, to what is sustainable, to what can last beyond the thrill of a first step or a great idea or a great, exciting new beginning.
This, to me, is why Saturn falls in Aries, not because beginnings are doomed or there's something wrong with Aries, but because these kinds of beginnings... this is a season of life in which these kinds of beginnings have to be handled with care. And if we're willing to listen, I have no doubt whatsoever that the willingness to listen will be Saturn's response. Saturn will teach us exactly how to move forward into something very exciting, very courageous, very bold, very pioneering, but knowing how to do it, how to succeed at doing it, how to make it last.
We won't get to that wisdom unless we're willing to listen. That is a perennial challenge for the sign of Aries: to listen rather than move. So start with that little meditation. I hope that was useful. That's me practicing my writing. Yeah. So I just, I'm also, I guess, setting up the audience to be interested in the new books I have coming out. If you like my writing voice, actually, you know, the next book I have coming out is not really in that writing voice, it's narrative storytelling. But this voice that I'm trying to work with is more about finding the essay-style voice. So it's been fun to just play around a little bit.
Now, listen, those are my first thoughts on Saturn in Aries. This is what I think makes it difficult. But I want to say more about the Hellenistic rationale of Saturn's fall in Aries. I've already implicitly said it, but Ptolemy frames Saturn's exaltation as seeking a position opposite the sun. That's common in both the rulership scheme and the exaltation scheme. Saturn in Aquarius opposes the sun in Leo. Sun exalted in Aries opposes Saturn in Libra. So the sun-Saturn dyad is at the heart of the rationale behind the dignities of domicile and exaltation, among other dyads that are present throughout that system of the dignities.
But Rhetorius also says that the reason that Saturn is exalted in the sign where the sun is in its fall, and in its fall in the sign where the sun is exalted (that's the Aries-Libra pairing), is that it happens because at the time when the night lengthens and takes over for the year in Libra, at the fall equinox, the Sun moves into its valley, its natural valley. And when the sun and the length of day takes over in the spring, that's where Saturn, ruler of darkness and of night and of decay and impermanence and so forth, that's where Saturn finds its valley.
And so very simply, the rationale of Saturn being in its fall in the sign of the sun's exaltation has to do with the natural contrast between day and night, light and dark, yang and yin. You know, and Saturn... sometimes we make Saturn into like a devil. But the truth of Saturn is just as basic and as simple as winter, as fall and autumn and endings and death and limits.
And also, so much of what Saturn has to do is the wisdom of time that comes with the knowledge of impermanence. Because we know that things will get cold and we can't just sleep out under the warm summer sky. You know, we build shelters. It's this kind of wisdom that Saturn knows. The fullness of a cycle. It knows the fullness of time, and it knows the reality of impermanence and coldness and death and survival.
And so Saturn is... we call it realism. But all we mean by that is that Saturn is the realism that comes when we understand the fullness of life cycle: old age, death, disease, decay. Almost every Eastern philosophical tradition begins with the knowledge of these things that will come in time. So as much as we'd like to just cozy up in the material energy and try to find warmth and enjoyment, disease will come, sickness and old age will come.
And your longevity as a spirit soul, your health as a spirit soul, is tied to how deeply you've been able to reconcile yourself to those realities. So we can't fall asleep in the spring and summer dream. We need the reality of fall and winter. And that's really all that Saturn is, and it's just as natural as summer and spring. It's not really any more benefic or malefic.
However, on a human level, old age, death, disease, are scary to us. Winter is a time of survival for thousands of years on planet Earth. So the categories of malefic and benefic pertain more to how we experience and classify things that are all thought of as eternal, divine and natural.
Keep that in mind, because it can help us to remember that Saturn in Aries, when we say that it's in its fall, it really has to do with the contrast and sharpness between archetypes that are both natural. The tension between them is what we want to understand. Once we understand that, we can understand why, on a human level, we might all, by consensus reality, describe it as difficult. But we can also understand why it's an evolutionary necessity and why the tension between certain types of opposites or archetypes is natural and normal, healthy, creative, even.
So here are some of the core reasons that Saturn in Aries is difficult, extrapolated from the writing that I just gave you. Saturn tends to be cold, dry, slow, cautious, restrictive and conserving. Aries tends to be hot, dry, fast, initiating, impulsive and martial, all as metaphors, all as like energetic archetypal metaphors.
So Saturn in Aries is therefore overpowered by heat and haste, and its virtues of slowness, time, patience, etc., tend to be weakened or distorted. So time, patience, consequence, struggle under the demand to act now. So when Saturn is in Aries, marking the surge of light, life and spring, Saturn, associated with decline, limits, winter, endings, is least able to operate as it's intended. It finds the environment very challenging.
And then you get a variety of difficulties that tend to arise as part of the pattern because of the tension: difficulty initiating things correctly. Action may be hesitant, mistimed. You can try to form things under urgency or pressure, rather than a sense of readiness or the right time. Delayed starts or abrupt, forced beginnings, for example, that lack sustainability.
Harsh or defensive assertion. So when Saturn has to act through the Mars and sun-ruled sign of Aries, assertiveness can suddenly become very Saturnian, which means rigid, brittle, punitive, authoritarian. Anger can become too formed and sort of heavy and restrictive and then expressed very sharply, suddenly and destructively. It's like having an angry, abusive, drunk person in your psychic home at times. I know that sounds really intense, but you would not be surprised to hear that I've had at least 100 clients with Saturn in Aries who had abusive father figures who were just like that.
Fear around leadership or authority. The desire to lead is very Aries-like, but the confidence to do so, to feel free and strong, is constrained because of self-doubt, insecurity, fear of failure. And so the tension can create the need to develop healthy self-confidence, leadership, and not overcompensate. Leadership can be learned through trials and hardships and oppression or conflict, rather than just given easily.
Even if you have natural leadership qualities, you may find that they're being tested or that you have to face oppositional resistance to something that's very good and natural about your ability to lead or start something, or your creative will and way in the world. When it comes to impatience, that's an Aries quality. The impatience will be met with really aggravating limitations.
So Saturn's need for gradual, slow, steady progress will meet with Aries urgency. And Aries can feel it. It can feel like a teenager who just wants to take the car before they've got their license, and they're pissed, you know? So that can result in a lot of rebelliousness and conflict with authority that's there for a good reason, but that your urgency doesn't respect.
You know, these are just, I'm just trying to give you a wash of how the challenges archetypally can show up. You can get isolation or alienation very easily, because Aries is a sign that's very individualistic. It's a sign ruled by Mars and the sun that rewards that individual journey of personal growth, heroic individuation, etc.
Well, put Saturn in this sign, and some of the traditional texts, a variety of them say that this is a friendless placement, friendless, or that it can speak to social friction, acting alone, feeling unsupported, especially in moments where you're trying to become something or become someone, but it's like there's no one there supporting you, validating you, or can even feel like people are actively opposing you as you are reaching a moment that feels like an important moment of personal individuation.
Let me give you an example. When Saturn was last in Aries, I was in late high school, and I was being bullied for at least the first year of Saturn in Aries. I was punched, I was... all the things. It was a bad time. And I ended up spending probably at least that first year to year and a half of Saturn in Aries in my basement by myself, in my basement bedroom, writing angsty poetry, playing my guitar and feeling like I didn't have a friend in the world because I was a new kid at a new school, and just getting harassed.
That was a really tough time. It was a very Saturn in Aries kind of time. Now I look back at that and I see how many important, pioneering, personal choices I made in response to being bullied for a period of time that I wouldn't be who I am today had I not had that experience. I chose to leave high school and go to a community college where I started studying philosophy. That philosophy degree led me into experimentation with drugs and then eventually psychedelics, eventually ayahuasca, you know.
So the things that Aries starts because of the adversity it meets and how it chooses to separate itself can at first feel lonely or isolating or alienating, but in time be one of the most pioneering moments of your life. It's those times where you get real "other," and then the otherness births a new chapter in life.
Your reputation can be shaped by struggle. Public image can come through conflict or endurance or repeated tests. I mean, that's what it felt like for me in high school. My public image was the stupid new kid who was getting his ass beat all the time, right? Respect comes late, if at all, and only after proving resilience. So, you know, by the time I got through that passage of my life and was very much on my own path, I went from being an average student to an all-A student and graduated with almost a 4.0 and a philosophy degree in college, and had really gained a lot of self-confidence and self-respect.
So, you know, the struggles... they forge you. You're being forged in fire by Saturn in Aries, which can be really amazing, but it does test your mettle. So another way of contrasting Saturn and Aries would be that hard labor with very slow rewards. Aries is used to getting rewarded in ways that are a little bit faster. Its actions can lead to results that sometimes actually won't be sustained over a long period of time, will be more immediate and quick.
But Saturn in Aries can actually reward effort that has to be repeated, that has to be slow, that involves failure and trying again, that involves conflict, pressure, social strain. Early attempts can collapse, and you have to choose whether you're just going to throw in the towel or get back up off the mat. It's very like Rocky. You know, you're going to be running up and down those stairs in Philadelphia.
Mastery develops through restraint rather than boldness. Saturn in Aries is like the best kind of personal trainer or gym coach that encourages you to get up off the mat and keep going, keep trying, don't give up. That's not easy for Aries, because Aries can feel oh, just thwarted and frustrated, and it's almost just easier to have an angry moment of "give up."
So Mars is present, but sometimes constrained. Action will sometimes require more planning than impulse. Now, courage that's forged through adversity, we just mentioned. The internalized pressure to prove oneself becomes a big thing with Saturn in Aries. But the question is something like, what does it mean for me, within myself, to feel strong or to feel like I've passed the test, or to feel like I have proven myself... to me? Not to someone external, not to something external. That is often the test of Saturn in Aries.
Who cares what other people think about you? What do you think about you? That's not easy, but that is the exact thing that, for so many people, becomes the difference between finding a path that you're actually committed to and one that is being shaped by your need for approval from people that, in the end of the day, you probably don't actually care that much about.
You know, why do I care what people think about me who I don't even admire? You know, that's a very Saturn in Aries-like question. Learning constructive ways to release anger, frustration. Constructive uses of willpower versus immature. I think the constructive potential is that this is a Saturn that gives exceptional stamina once momentum is built. If you build momentum, which means you figure out what actually works, what can actually be sustained through the initial push of a new beginning, while that may be slow to start, may involve failures, repeated efforts, Saturn in Aries can persist when everything else burns out.
The thing about a fall, a planetary fall, that you can find present in all these delineation texts is that there is no place to go but up from a fall. So while something may not start well, if you keep going, it has nowhere to go but up. That's also the danger of an exaltation. Something is lifted up on high, it has nowhere to go but down, which means pride is your enemy. For an exalted planet, you have to be very careful to preserve something that's in a great state by understanding that you're not in possession or control of everything, that entropy is natural, and that the only way to maintain something great is through humility, not possessiveness and controlling qualities. That's a lesson for exalted planets.
For planets in their fall, it's like, look, things might suck, but there's nowhere to go but up. You'd be surprised at how many people with planets in their fall become, you know, in a sense, that planet can kind of become exalted over time. Let me give you a simple example. My bodybuilding coach, who at one point in time won a major title. He was picked on in high school like I was, and this was one of the things that drew me to him right away.
I was listening to him on a podcast share a story about getting beat up in high school, and he was like, really, you know, scrawny or whatever. And he was like, and I took it as an opportunity to start working on myself. And so, you know, he got into bodybuilding, and he was like this little dweeb in the gym, you know. And then, you know, he becomes like a champion. That's a... and he has a fallen Mars. He has a fallen Mars in Cancer in his chart.
He felt like he was teased because he was sweet and sensitive and, quote-unquote, effeminate. You know, Saturn in Aries can work in very similar ways, where things... where you feel like your will, your creative impulse, your most like sweet, tender, vulnerable creative impulses... you know, like when I see my kids trying to create something and they're excited about it, you know, I have to be really careful I don't kill their joy in moments like that just because I'm tired.
"I really want to show you this thing I created." "Okay, let me see it." You know, I'm like half falling asleep. I'm dragging myself through the day or whatever because it's this time of year. If I don't take that moment, it can crush their spirit. Here's the thing is that Saturn in Aries isn't here to crush your spirit creatively. It's here to tell you, like, look, if you keep working, don't give up, keep going in the direction of your creative dreams, but take the feedback.
You know, wow, you're going to... you're going to sustain that effort over a much longer period of time. It's the warrior who learns patience. It's the hard beginning, but it leads to enduring strength. So let's pause here for a moment before we keep going. What I'd like to do next is show you the timeline of Saturn in Aries, and then plug the Kickstarter, and then we'll go into some I Ching, and then we'll do horoscopes. All right?
So we're going to see Saturn move into Aries in February. Of course, it will be conjoining Neptune in February, and I've got two full days worth of content at the end of the year. It's kind of our grand finale. We're going to look at the biggest transit of 2026 as Saturn-Neptune next week.
Here's Saturn in Aries, and you're going to see it's just kind of plugging along. Its retrogradation comes and then it goes forward again. We're not going to see it get to Taurus until right about here. This is the spring of 2028. So we have a significant amount of time prior to Saturn entering Taurus, about two more years. And we got a good chunk of Saturn in Aries last year already, too. So about two and a half years total.
So what we're going to do in a minute, here are some horoscopes. But you can think of this transit as about two years long, starting in February. You got two full years of Saturn in Aries. What's that going to look like for us? Right? So let me get this set up so we can go through all 12 whole sign horoscopes in a minute. What I'm going to do now is just take a moment to refresh the Kickstarter, and here we go.
So if you have not yet pledged to the Kickstarter, let me just refresh here and get this going. Sorry, a second. All right, guys, we have had two backers since the start of today's live stream. We can do better. We can do so... we're an hour, almost an hour, and we've got over 300 people here. We have had two backers. Let's go.
So here's the link to donate in the comment section. If you have not yet come study with us, pick up a class pass, make that commitment. Dive into studying astrology. Watch it completely transform your life. When you learn the language at a real deep, intensive level, it is game-changing. It completely shifts your paradigm. Whatever you think you know about astrology, too, if you haven't studied ancient astrology and gone really deeply into the philosophical, the metaphysical and the techniques of ancient astrology, it will blow your mind and it will change your life.
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So I encourage you, check it out. Come study with us while the class passes are on sale. Let me put the link to the Kickstarter back into the comment section a few times here. We need about 1000-plus more backers between now and the end of the year. So that means we really need your help to get there. We need, yeah, like 1000-plus backers in the next 10 days. By later this afternoon, with the way the clock works, it'll be nine days.
So if you haven't yet donated, please consider pitching in and supporting us. Yeah, I want to see, by the end of today's live stream, I want to see 20 backers. I feel like we can get there. We need to be... 18 more backers in the next hour or so. Let's do it. Okay? Thank you to everyone, all 982 of you who have supported us so far. We really appreciate it. Can't do this work without you. All right, let's get into the I Ching.
So the first thing I asked was... hold on. Let me see. There's a question here. What is this? And I also still have to complete the year one program. Is there still time? Yes, there's always time. I think I know what your question was there. If you ask your question again, if I missed the first part of it.
All right, Anita says, "I've been studying at Nightlight for six years. Can't recommend Adam's work enough. I'm very grateful to be a part of the Nightlight lineage." And Anita is one of our tutors. She is a tutor in some of our courses, and an absolutely fantastic helper. She... you'll be working... she'll be there helping answer your questions in our discussion forum. All right. Thank you. Yeah, it's a great community.
All right, let's talk about the I Ching. So as you guys know, I'll consult the I Ching, and I'll say, what is this about? Like, what should we... how should we understand this? So the first one I did three readings. The first one was just help me understand the signature, the symbol, the field, archetypally of Saturn in Aries. So it came back hexagram 29. I'm going to read you this one. I'm... it always takes me just a second to get to the right text. I should have it bookmarked. That would be smart.
All right, here we go. So the first one, hexagram 29 is called The Abyss. And let me get some banners up here, in case people are wanting to follow along. Here's the oracle: "A primal chaos before creation, a dark night with no glimmer of moonlight, sinking into the depths of an abyss. Such is the nature of the womb that births the imminent ones. A journey at this time is favorable for avoiding the pitfalls. Move to sidestep the path of the storm. Seek refuge and be refuge. Honor the gods and ancestors to receive further insight. Great depths, the abyss. Exercise caution. In such darkness and obscurity there is potential for danger. Be wary of pitfalls, entrapment and perils. However, there is a clear path to safety where there is trust and sincerity, and when a heart serves an important mission, there can be prosperity in spite of pitfalls."
"One entering the abyss, a dark fall in place, by the way, is one whose endeavor is a worthy cause. Only in the abyss can the worthiness of humanity shine. Who but the worthy would even dare face the abyss? Water flows without impediment toward the goal. Water flows around impediments. So there are no impediments. When you face a pitfall, you fill the abyss of the pit with the force of water until the abyss overflows, and in that way, you prevail in the abyss. Study the ways of water. The sage is one who remains steadfast in the path of virtue and beneficence. In all undertakings you need ongoing study in matters of faith and philosophy. This is how you will understand water over water, and how you can overcome all pitfalls and peril. Sign of the wounded healer, an auspicious omen for travel. A journey can bring great rewards."
So this hexagram has double trigrams, water over water, and it speaks to like a deep, cavernous hole that someone has fallen into. But the text is so interesting because it suggests that the hero, also implied the great person, the eminent person, the hero, the person with a great commission or a great vision or mission, is one who often finds themselves in such places, because these places are a natural part of that archetypal journey. Finding yourself in a pit and having to overcome, in other words, is a natural part of the arc of a hero's story.
Repeated danger, falling into difficulty through circumstances or missteps. Survival in these spaces, according to hexagram 29, depends on correct conduct, not just force or speed. That Saturn in Aries saying, look, when you encounter danger, adversity, peril, obstacles, when you're sort of in the pit, the appropriate thing to do is to be wise. That's why this hexagram encourages studying great people, studying philosophy, studying wisdom traditions, because those traditions tell us how to work our way out of really difficult circumstances in the name of a higher mission or journey.
This is why it's also favorable to have somewhere to go, to have a mission or a journey, because the wisdom of that greater goal teaches you how to escape places of peril. The first line was changing: "Entering the pit within the pit, misfortune." So this line reads like this: "Complacent to the abyss, entering an abyss to come upon another abyss, ominous to proceed. In the midst of many obstacles, you encounter more obstacles, pitfall after pitfall. One error is made and known, but instead of correcting the error, you continue with it, and doing so leads to more errors and more pitfalls. Losing your way at the start is innocent, but refusing to change is foolish, ominous if you don't change course even after you know you've made an error. Better to acknowledge false and start again. Delayed success is better than absolute failure."
Notice how this line in particular talks about the wisdom of failing at the beginning of something, which is a pitfall. It's like a pit that you have to work your way out of. "Oh, I tried it. It fell apart. It didn't work." But rather than just trying to keep going and persisting stubbornly or just trying to ram your head against the wall, you stop. You reflect on why things went wrong, you correct the error of your ways, and then you proceed. That's the wisdom of this line. This line says it's very possible right now that you'll just try to bang your head against the wall.
This line is especially Saturn in Aries, because Saturn in Aries doesn't deny action. It tends to punish unripened action, immature action, action that starts, fails, doesn't take the feedback and tries to just keep going. The danger isn't the pit itself. It's entering it before you know how to deal with it, or it's entering it, getting some feedback and not taking it.
Now the hexagram here transforms to 60, which is called Limitations. Let me read you this hexagram. I'm almost there. Okay, here we go. Hexagram 60: Boundaries. Oh, let me put up a banner for you guys, in case you want to follow along. "Right now, you are aimless. You have not set the proper limits on yourself. Without boundaries, there can be no identity. Without identity, you have no sense of yourself. Without a sense of yourself, you do not know what you really want, and feel no purpose. Without feeling a purpose, you will remain aimless. Your way to success now is through self-discipline. And through self-discipline, you will realize what you really want. Knowing what you really want, you will know who you really are. Knowing who you really are, you will know what limits to set on yourself. Then you will have an aim." Isn't that beautiful?
Yeah, so hexagram 60 is about boundaries, rules, restraint, correct measure, knowing what's enough. And so the arc between 29 and 60 is talking about a journey of self-knowledge, self-restraint, self-definition, self-commitment, as a way of dealing with perils, obstacles, difficulties that are coming up, so that you can specifically have this greater self-knowledge and self-definition. It's very beautiful. It's very Saturn in Aries.
All right, the second I Ching reading that I did: "How do we get the most out of this transit?" I asked the I Ching, and by that, what I mean is, not how do I get something for myself, but how do I work with this so that I learn, so that I grow, so that I become the best version of myself, so that I minimize stress and destructiveness in my life and around me. That's what I mean by "how do I work with this?" "Get the most out of it" I mean spiritually and psychologically. How does this become an ally in my life, this period of time, this field as a symbol?
So the first hexagram I got was number two, which is Receptivity. It's all yin, and it speaks to... you know what? I'm not going to read this one because it's so basic. It's hexagram two is pure yin, which is just called Receptivity, or The Receptive. So the core meaning of this hexagram is about yielding rather than initiating, allowing things to arise through patience and organic gestation and development. It's strength through receptivity, not assertiveness.
This is a little bit of a... I wouldn't call it a rebuke, but it's a little bit of it's talking directly about Aries excessiveness. Saturn in Aries will tempt us to push against resistance. And hexagram two says, don't lead with force. It says, let structures, let will, let way develop organically through receptivity rather than assertiveness. It sounds contradictory, but it's saying like, look, this is a very assertive, potentially very rigid, fiery, masculine place for Saturn. What's the... how do you work with this energy constructively? Take a receptive position. Become more receptive.
Now, line five was changing, which is one of the more auspicious lines in all of the I Ching. It says, "A yellow lower garment brings supreme good fortune." So yellow in ancient Chinese philosophy was the color of centrality and moderation, like the golden mean, the middle way. Lower garment on the body means humility and service, things that support rather than run the show. So the lower part of the body is about what is supportive to the top part.
So we're talking about a yellow garment on the lower half of the body bringing supreme good fortune. That classically would mean something like humility, service, moderation, centrality and receptivity bring very good fortune with this placement. Don't try to stand out, dominate, take, assert command. Instead, wherever you want to go, wherever your will, creative force, impulse is leading you, wherever the path of individuation is leading you, consider receptivity, centrality, moderation, humility, service as things that will curb all of the worst of Saturn in Aries.
Line five is the ruling line of hexagram two. So the I Ching is saying something like the way to work with Saturn in Aries isn't through assertiveness, but through remaining in a centered, moderate, receptive position and demonstrating restraint and service to something bigger than yourself. That's the way out of the pit. That's the way out of the peril. That's the path, paradoxically, of tremendous personal empowerment and self-definition or individuation.
Now it led in this hexagram sequence to hexagram eight, which is called Holding Together, or Union. Union means, what are you bonded to? This hexagram has to do with bonding to things outside of yourself. So the first hexagram says, be receptive, be humble, be in service to something bigger. Don't push your own will or way. And then the second hexagram says, what are you linked to? What are you joined to? People, principles, structures, visions, missions. Bond yourself to something outside of yourself, and be gentle, service-oriented, humble, moderate, and you will find tremendous success in this transit. Pretty, pretty amazing, right?
Really simple takeaway. It's like very simple advice, a lot harder to execute, though. Now I asked one final question, and that question was, "What is the evolutionary necessity of Saturn in Aries?" Like, if I had to think about this from the standpoint of, why does this have to happen? Why is it a part of cosmic order, so to speak, that this happens? So I thought that would be one last good question to ask in kind of my morning conversation with the I Ching.
And I got... on this question, I got... let me just put the hexagrams in. So when I asked, like, what is kind of the evolutionary purpose of a transit like this? Is there a way that we can think about this in terms of why it is here at all, what it functions to do at all in creation or the cosmos or our lives? First was hexagram 62.
So I wrote this, another little piece of writing to close us today. When we ask why a difficult transit exists, typically what we're really asking is, why does life require periods where this kind of difficulty is present? So in this case, why do we... why does life require a period where forward motion might be constrained, very Saturn in Aries? Why would some beginnings need to be slowed, tested or even frustrated? Why do we sometimes need to fail at the beginning of something we're very excited about?
The I Ching answered my question with hexagram 62, which is called Small Exceeding. Lines two and five were changing, and it transformed into hexagram 28, which is the opposite, called Great Exceeding. Hexagram 62, Small Exceeding, is not about greatness. It's about precision. It describes time periods in our life where structure is fragile and the margin for error is therefore very small, and when success depends not on bold gestures, but on careful, modest, correctly scaled actions.
It says something like, don't try to carry what exceeds your capacity. Don't attempt heroic efforts or measures when a foundation cannot yet support them. All sounds like Saturn in Aries, right? The changing lines two and five tell us why this kind of restraint is necessary from an evolutionary perspective. Line two talks about not reaching too far and not grasping for something that is beyond one's station, meaning one's dharma, and instead maintaining loyalty to what is immediately given.
So this line in particular emphasizes nearness of ambition over distance of ambition. You could also say that evolutionarily, this suggests that some phases of growth require us to focus on things that are very close to the ground, right in front of us, to tend to what is already alive and most immediately present, rather than chasing what is not yet sustainable or achievable, even though the image of what we would like on a distant horizon is clearly present to us.
Line five, on the other hand, the other changing line here, warns against attempts at grandeur that lack support. It describes effort that's expended without adequate return relative to our expectations. And that's not because our effort is wrong, but because the scale is mismatched to the moment. This line, line five, speaks directly to the danger of overreaching and asking beginnings to carry the weight of conclusions.
So if you put these lines together, Saturn in Aries is like a cosmic brake pad. It's not meant to stop life. It's meant to protect it from premature collapse. And then the transformation is to hexagram 28, which is called Great Exceeding. This is crucial, because hexagram 28 is about bearing great loads. And in fact, there's an image in this hexagram of a ridge pole bending beneath great weight.
The situation in hexagram 28 is extreme. Something has to be carried that's genuinely heavy. But the oracle is super clear: this weight can only be carried after preparation. Without prior discipline of the small things, the immediate things, without really getting good at the execution of the small things that are present to us right now, which means restraint, humility, receptivity, service to something bigger starts with service to things that are in front of us, attention to scale... if we don't have those things, the ridge pole will break, the support will not be there.
So this is the evolutionary logic, you could say, behind Saturn in Aries. Saturn in Aries exists because not all strength begins as greatness, even though it may feel great already before it's realized its greatness. You may have the world's most exciting ambition, and you may feel your own potential, and it feels great. But not all strength begins as greatness. Some strength has to be trained in modesty before it can serve magnitude.
Some courage has to learn restraint before it can carry the load of a lot of responsibility. Some leadership is denied its moment until it's capable of holding more than just its own desire to be a leader. Saturn in Aries is here to prepare us for much greater responsibility, big missions, heroic missions, the warrior's way. Saturn in Aries is not here to give us that. It's here to prepare us for that.
The frustration, the delay, the feeling of being held back right at the moment when we want to surge forward, these are not accidents. They're calibrations. The 16-year-old in me might want to drive a car because I feel ready for it. I feel ready to have my own car and drive it, but I still need Driver's Ed. These are calibrations.
These calibrations, from an evolutionary perspective, ensure that when something truly weight-bearing and consequential enters our livesโauthority, responsibility, leadership, where there's a lot of consequenceโthat we don't shatter beneath it. So evolution doesn't only advance through expansion. It advances through compression, through periods when our lives insist on careful steps, small gestures, correctly sized and scaled actions, the right timing, so that later, something much greater can be sustained.
The promise of what is great will be felt and seen and recognized, and we're just going to want to hit the gas pedal. But this is why Saturn in Aries falls, because the universe isn't interested in beginnings. It's interested in beginnings that last. So Saturn enters this palace of fire and says, "Not yet." Not because the fire is wrong, but because the vessel is being forged.
Saturn in Aries teaches us that small, careful acts, staying present while holding a vision, is the most evolutionarily beneficial thing we can do. Small, careful acts are strong enough if we trust that those are the best measures of our strength. Our capability, our individuation, can be carried in these small, strong acts that are preparing us for what we know we will eventually carry. It's like visionary preschool.
So anyway, those are my thoughts for the day. I hope that these are a blessing and service to you. I'm going to plug the Kickstarter one last time, and then we'll do some horoscopes, and let's take a look at what Saturn in Aries might be bringing for each whole sign house. Does that sound like a good plan? I think that sounds like a pretty good plan.
All right, let's... we just do one thing here. Okay, give me just a second, guys. Okay, okie dokie, let's see. How are we doing? How are we doing with the Kickstarter? Okay, we got... we're up to 989 backers. So we got seven, eight more backers during the past 30-40 minutes. We're gonna get to 20 by the end of this live stream. That's my goal.
Let's see. All right, here is the link to the Kickstarter in the live stream. We are closing in on... or 11 backers away from 1000. Could we push over 1000 backers in this live stream? I think we can. I feel like we could. 11 more backers in the next 30 to 40 minutes of horoscopes is doable. Let's try it again. Let's... I'm going to put the link in the Kickstarter.
Thank you to... alright now, 990. All right, we've got just 10 more to go. That's good news. Getting closer here. So remember, when you pitch in, pick a reward. Come study with us. Take the plunge. Do it. Come study astrology with us. All right, I think I need some chocolate. Just get 10 more backers between now and the end. Let's hit 1000. Let's do it.
We have between all of our platforms, our best data is like over 100,000 unique subscribers on all of our platforms combined. For this thing to work, we need, therefore, about 2% of our audience to support our Kickstarter. It takes 2% of the audience who is subscribed to say, "Hey, I value this enough to throw $5 in, to throw $10 in, pick up a class pass or one of our cool recordings, and support the channel." This is a patron-supported astrological school and YouTube community, and I thank you all so much for supporting us.
Remember, today, if you support on the 22nd of December, you're going to be entered to win a master class pass. You can join us for the 2026 master class on the decans, or receive any of our previously archived master classes from previous years. It's like 30 to 40 hours worth of awesome content. So if you donate here during the live stream, anytime today, we'll enter you to win that additional gift from us as a way of saying thank you.
All right, we're at 990. We need 10 more backers. Let's do it. Okay. Are you guys ready for some horoscopes? Let's take a look at Saturn through the houses. Kickstarter rocks. "I chose your book reward again this year." Thank you. Yeah, I can't wait to finish the editing of The Oracle Speaks. Share it with you guys, hoping I'll have like a book release party in person and online. So, yeah, super excited to start the next book too. Whoops. Okay.
All right, before we get into it, I'm going to take a quick, like, two-second bathroom break, so I'll be right back, guys. Give me just a second. All righty, excuse me, guys. Now let's get into it. And by the way, thank you. There's some people who are giving super stickers. I really appreciate that, but it doesn't help us, unfortunately. We need people to contribute directly to the Kickstarter campaign.
I do thank you. I don't mean to look a gift horse in the mouth, but yeah, if you want to help us, we really need it to be through the Kickstarter campaign. So there's the... I put the link right there. You can see it's on the screen right now, but I put it in the live stream chat. It'll be tagged to the top of the comment section or in the description of this video. So be sure to head over there and make your contribution. And thank you.
All right, let's now get into our horoscopes. Okay, so we're going to move through some delineations for Saturn over the next two years. Remember, it's going to be there until the spring of 2028 if you're in the northern hemisphere.
Let's talk about Saturn in Aries. So this would be for your Aries sun or rising sign horoscope. The first house is a place that is associated with body, identity, character. So for Saturn in Aries, you think of things like the forced maturation of your identity or character through challenges, resistance. There are tests of courage, of health, vitality that require patience and greater maturation.
This is about learning to act deliberately, rather than impulsively. It is about individuation and maturation of selfhood that's hard work. With Saturn in Aries in the first house, and it would be natural if you're an Aries to feel a little frustrated by this, but let Saturn in Aries forge within you the best possible version of yourself. Do that work. It's worth it.
All right. Let's talk about Taurus. Your Taurus sun or rising, this is taking place in your 12th house, a place of isolation, sometimes loss, sometimes unconsciousness. The 12th is also a place where we have to work through a kind of otherworldliness, or liminal space that's not only unconscious, but that we don't have easy, clear vision of. It's like a blind spot.
So you think about Tauruses here going through a period of withdrawal, sometimes exhaustion or confinement, confrontation with things that are buried or have been forgotten, or seeking integration. That could be anger, regrets. Learning to mature through periods of greater solitude or limitation. Looking at your unconscious relationship with something like anger, frustration, willpower and authority.
Having to deal with the forces within yourself that seek to undermine you versus those that are supportive. That could be socially or professionally as well. This is a deep opportunity to be illuminated from within. This is a moksha house that can grant karmic liberation, but not unless you're willing to look at this space as one that you have to kind of sink into in order to receive its medicine and its wisdom.
I think, for example, that I'm a Taurus rising... high school in my basement alone, being bullied. Somehow in that transit, I made the choice to go off on my own path to study philosophy at college. It was completely solo. You know, that was a hard period, very 12th house period.
All right, let's go to Geminis. So with Geminis, we're talking about the 11th house Saturn for two years. I would look at this as... because it's a house connected with community, with friends, with hopes and aspirations, with socially defined versions of happiness or success. You may go through a period of time where you feel like you're very isolated or alone.
You may feel like you have to separate from unreliable friends groups or allies, or forge your own path in contrast to what people are doing, what other people are doing around you. You may have to narrow or redefine what your heroic missions and goals are, and deal with periods of time where it doesn't feel like you have a lot of assets or support coming to help you.
But gradually the ability to build alliances, build new dreams and visions, find reliable allies and friends, will come. But it may take time and a deep level of refinement with respect to your dreams and ambitions, with respect to social, communal dynamics, with respect to who and what you seek validation from, socially, professionally.
All right, for Cancer, we're talking about the 10th house. This is obviously the vocation house, career, authority, reputation. So this can be about much heavier professional, public responsibility or public scrutiny. Your authority may be challenged here. Your leadership may be tested, and you may very slowly have to advance in a new phase of your work through sustained effort, through taking really deep, hard feedback about who you are, about what you're doing with your life, about what makes real success versus what is shallow.
This can be a transit that speaks to exhaustion and fatigue, professionally, that feels like you're not sustained, your efforts are not getting traction and going anywhere. But you have to persevere. You have to get the feedback. You have to try to focus on slow, sustained efforts. Maturing and growing with respect to your career and direction will reward you if you can slow down and not try to keep ramming your head against the wall professionally because you're not getting somewhere as quickly as you'd like.
This can also be about the burden of feeling alone or isolated in your perspective on something or how you work or what you're doing. Maybe a pioneering time, but also a kind of time of feeling a little alienated from others professionally. Could be a time where you have to look at life direction with respect to career very broadly speaking.
All right, let's go on to Leos. So if you're a Leo, you've got this coming into your ninth house. It's a place of dharma. It's about higher truth and wisdom, learning, education, gurus, spiritual traditions. And so when Saturn's in this house, we can think of a crisis of faith, a crisis of trust, a crisis of wisdom.
Where, you know, do you belong with the same spiritual or religious group or teachers? Are you meeting with alienation or ostracization in a learning environment? Are you having conflicts of will that reflect your own immaturity with people who are trying to educate you or guide you? That sometimes happens, even when people have our best interests in mind. We think, "I'm the one who knows best, no one else does," and so then it can be very tough to take guidance or advice from teachers, leaders, places that are really trying to just help us.
On the other hand, if you're dealing with tyrannical coaches or tyrannical religious structures or environments, you may have to depart and go on your own path. So a lot of individuating with respect to faith, learning, religion, philosophy, ideology. What is lasting and substantive? What are your most impatient, narrow, fanatical beliefs and convictions? How can they be settled down and made more mature, made more patient?
All right, for Virgos, we're looking at the eighth house, a place of karmic debts. It's a moksha house that has to do with liberation from debts and bondage. So a simple question would be, what deaths, what forms of loss are happening in your life that are maybe acting like an initiation, karmically? When deaths are cleared with Saturn in the eighth, there's often a feeling of great weights being removed, great burdens being removed. And sometimes that can be... there can be a lot of grief and loss and processing.
You know, when a grandparent dies that you were really close with, when something happens around you that tests your courage in the face of mortality, someone you love gets really sick. But Saturn in the eighth is here to forge a stronger, healthier, clearer, vital sense of self through the kinds of karmic exchanges that we find ourselves in, the kinds of karmic release that take place, the liberation from suffering that occurs.
It's a profound place for Saturn in Aries. Also, what are the forms of bondage that we keep ourselves in through fear or obligation? Looking very deeply at indebtedness, karmically, with this placement.
All right, let's go to Libra. So with Libra, we move Saturn in Aries into the seventh house, which is marriages and relationships. This can be about conflict in relationships that has to be faced and dealt with. This can be about an intensification of desire, but also an intensification of conflict and power struggle.
If the intensification is an intensification of desire, how do you make sure that desire is matched with reciprocity, with patience, with time, with things that will last and can be sustained? This might be a time where you have to examine partnership patterns that are very impulsive, immature and impatient.
On the other hand, this could be a time where you're very slowly working through the realities of wills in relationships. Librans love to balance things. Aries is very willful, but we have to have wills, and we have to find ways of harmonizing them and allowing for each individual person to be autonomous and to have agency. So the explorations of power in relationships can be really crucial for Librans during this time. Hard lessons about boundaries and commitment.
Also, the conflicts that arise during this time are meaningful and can grow you spiritually. And that doesn't mean it has to break or damage an existing relationship, but it may serve to tremendously deepen it because of the nature of the conflicts or stress that you're faced with.
All right? For Scorpios, we're talking about the sixth house, which is the chop wood, carry water house, for sure. So workload, duties, physical exhaustion, sickness, also service and sacrifice to things that we care about that are higher. This is a period of time where, if you're a Scorpio and you're dealing with lifestyle patterns that have made you sick, over the next couple of years, Saturn in Aries will tell you there is one way. It'll be unique to you. There's one way and one way only to get yourself out of a pattern of disease or sickness or hardship or servitude or exhaustion.
And it's going to be through refinement of character, through courage, through small, daily dedicated acts that strengthen, empower, make you more vital, give you something higher to serve that makes the work and effort worth it. This is like for Scorpios, if your heart isn't in things, and if you don't feel well, the Saturn over the next two years is going to be like a very good motivational coach that will say, "Look, this is either going to get a lot worse gradually. You're either looking at the beginning of a period of time that is going to become progressively debilitating and degenerative, or you're going to slowly work your way back to healthier condition."
And it's going to be because you've learned to do exactly what needs to be done in the order that it needs to be done, at the pace it needs to be done, regularly, as a matter of duty and devotion daily. And this can be connected to your work in the world, or the upkeep of your vitality and health, or your spirits and psychology. And Saturn in Aries here can also give you the vision that makes all of it worth it, when you get inspired by something that's worth the work and effort, that's worth the adjustment and revision of lifestyle. Saturn can help you find that.
All right, let's move along to Sagittarius, where Saturn goes into the fifth house. This is the creative dharma house, which means it's connected to the outflow of our essential nature in creative acts that bring joy and happiness: romance, love, procreation, creativity, childbirth. You know, all of the creative acts of the soul that come from our essence that ideally are meant to be a place of joy and fulfillment, like if you're being yourself.
Remember, we were talking about Aries in the general delineation portion of today's talk, and I said I was reading the I Ching text. And I said, if you know yourself, then you know exactly what you want, what your aim is, and then you know how to shape the path to achieving your aim. But none of that happens unless you know yourself, because if you don't know yourself, you won't actually know what your aim is, and therefore you won't know what to do to get there.
This is very for Sagittarians. This is like that on a creative level. What is going to bring you creative fulfillment that's in line with your authentic nature? Once you get clear on that, your creative direction can emerge slowly, progressively through dedication and steady, consistent effort. And if you fail at something creatively, don't give up. Just refine your approach. Take the feedback, learn. Take it as an opportunity to see your own authentic nature in a new light, and then keep going. Get back up off the mat. Don't quit. It's a very Saturn in Aries lesson.
All right, Capricorn, we've got Saturn in Aries in the fourth house: home, family, the roots. There could be a lot of conflict around home or family duties, obligations to parents, family members. The weight or burden of responsibility around home and family could be enormous, and there may be certain things that need to be released or let go of, new boundaries that need to be established within the home.
There could be some need to confront patterns of trauma or abuse or anger or inappropriate demonstrations or uses of authority or willpower around home, family, parents, kids. So, you know, there may be some deep ancestral work that's being done here. Building a sense of inner security that comes through your spirit and your vital force, not containment, control and willpower, that's essential for Capricorns during this time.
But working at the roots to create a stable base that comes from a confident, clean spirit, you know, that's not immature, that's not impatient, that's not willful, it's not angry and controlling. That comes from a genuine sense of quiet but secure confidence. How do we create that? And if we have to do some ancestral healing, cord cutting, rearranging of our home life, then so be it. We might have to do that. But can it be done also peacefully and patiently, incrementally?
Right, for Aquarius, we're talking about Saturn in the third house. This is in Indian astrology a kama house that's related to the pleasure body and how we experience a sense of happiness, psychologically and emotionally. But for Indian astrologers, the third house had to do with the formation of our mind, our intellect, our skills, how we speak and interact with people.
You know, I have a sun and Mercury in the third house. Writing, speaking, podcasting have all been a central part of my life. And interestingly enough, when I was a little kid, I was super shy all the way up until maybe like middle school. I was really, really shy, and then it felt progressively very sun-Mercury in my third house, like I had to develop ways of expressing or communicating myself, because every time I did it, especially through acting, theater, public speaking, anything like that, I felt so uncomfortable and yet so exhilarated, like, "Oh, my God, I did that. Wow. I can do this."
Anytime we get strong third house transits, we have third house planets, there's often a sense that I have to develop courage and confidence, mentally, emotionally, psychologically. I have to develop skills that make me feel happy with who I am as an ego, as a person that has a body in this lifetime that's here to cultivate certain things and sense of self that I feel happy with.
So for Aquarians, the question right now is, you know, where do you feel like you're not enough? Where do you feel like you could be more? Are you being too hard on yourself? Is there something you could legitimately cultivate that might make you feel stronger, more confident, give you more self-esteem, more security, emotionally and mentally?
But how do you forge that without becoming impatient or overcompensating? Another way of putting this might be, is there some feedback you're getting right now about being too mentally, emotionally, intellectually intense, rigid, inflexible, overly competitive? If there's feedback like that, you could also take that feedback and adjust to become stronger but gentler, stronger but more flexible. Watch for karma around siblings as well.
So Saturn in Aries in the second house is our final horoscope, for Pisces. The second house is about livelihood, finances, resources, that which sustains life and that which we acquire materially as a resource or asset that grants us some sense of happiness, well-being. It could be something as simple as, I like having a guitar and, you know, or I like my car or something like that. We all have things that make us happy. We also have basic concerns like security, survival, food, shelter, resources, paying rent.
So this house is one that supports our well-being through material things and assets and acquisitions and so forth. Well, Saturn in Aries in this house could put pressure on you to create resources or to deal with what feels like a lack of resources. You might need better discipline, better budgeting. You may have to evaluate how you use time, money, energy or resources. You may have to get smarter or wiser or less impulsive.
You may have to develop greater self-reliance, do something entrepreneurial. You may have to do something entrepreneurial, but also deal with some early challenges or failures and get up and keep trying. This is a time where your self-worth may be tested along the lines of your earning power or what you have or don't have. And the test might be not so much what you have or don't have, but how much false value you place on things you have or don't have for the sense of your self-esteem.
People always talk about the second house as self-esteem and values, but what we mean, specifically in ancient astrology, is we're talking about self-esteem relative to material things. All of us are going to feel good about ourselves to the extent that we can be self-reliant and pay the bills. That grants us a sense of worthiness in the world. "I can hang here." But how much does having a ton of wealth and things actually give you? That becomes a deeper question for the second house when we go beyond survival and into questions about greater material wealth.
So a lot of these deep questions coming up around values, self-esteem, assets, resources, creation of new resources, management of existing ones. A lot of work there for Pisces. So beautiful transit. It's going to give us so much to work with. And I hope that these horoscopes, as well as today's talk on Saturn in Aries, mostly, what I was hoping to do is just to clear up the fear. You know, like, what is this? Why is that? Why is it difficult? What is there to really be upset or worried by?
And once we understand that this is not happening by accident, it's not cosmic misfortune. Nothing's happening to you from some outer force that's causing you to just get jacked up. You know, it's not... we can't think of it that way. I love the way that Buddhists have of talking about reality as contingent, cooperative, interconnected, co-arising. There is no past, there is no future. There's just one thing happening all at once, co-arising. Everything is connected.
From that standpoint, as so many ancient mystical traditions told us, there's not an easy way of thinking about, well, one thing causes another thing in a domino sequence starting at some clean beginning. No, everything co-arises, is contingent, interconnected. What we do with symbols then, rather than saying Saturn is going to cause something to happen in my life, is we see what is arising right now and we look at the sky as a mirror.
Oh, what's arising right now is part of this mandala of interconnected mythopoetic images, metaphors that have all different kinds of outcomes baked into them that are also contingent upon my consciousness, you know, and how I recognize the field that I'm in and relate to it, not as a cause, but as a friend. This is my psyche, after all, that I'm connected to. This is my divinity that I'm also connected to, and yours. But it's not something outside of myself. It's something that's inviting me to see something in myself that I've never seen before. And it's the seeing of that that creates the participating in a way that shifts our lives.
Saturn in Aries goes from something trying to screw me over and throw a stick in the spokes of my bicycle, my Huffy... "I'm gonna mess your Huffy up," you know, that's what we think Saturn's doing. But no, Saturn is actually trying to give us a description of all the different things we can do on the bike that we find ourselves riding. You can take this interesting trail over here. You can pop a wheelie. You know, maybe put a helmet on, but... right?
So I hope that today gave you a sense of like, this isn't a mistake. There's nothing wrong with what's happening right now. In reality, there's no... you know, don't go into the new year looking at it and going, "Oh my god, 2026 is going to be so difficult." All that we're really saying when we say that is, "Oh my God, I am going to be so difficult in my future." You're not going to be difficult. You're going to be amazing. You're going to be wonderful.
Your psyche is beautiful. Your capacity to create intimacy and depth and meaning and curiosity, to cry and laugh and experience pain and bliss with all of these things is... it's so amazing that we can do that, you know. So don't back away from it, you know. Step into it. This is your psyche. It's your relationship with divinity. Lean into it. You know, that's what we're here to do. That's what the astrology is helping us to do.
So I hope that all of this today is just meant to be like a tip of the hat. Hey, Saturn in Aries, we love you. We're not scared of you. We welcome you in. I'm a little scared, but scared like Moses taking off his sandals at the burning bush, kind of scared. Like you're a holy fire. You're a sacred fire burning in the cosmos, along with Neptune in Aries, holy shit, you know. But I'm not going to be afraid of you, and even if terrible things happen, I'm not going to be afraid.
I'm going to be reverent. I'm going to tremble. I might fall on my knees, I might barf. I've done that stuff before. And you know what? What I found is that on the other side, if I just keep going and trust in faith, my spirit becomes lighter, and yours will too. So we just do it one step at a time, you know.
Alright, well, anyway, just a little pump you up today. I hope this was useful. I'll turn to some Q&A for maybe like 10-15 minutes. If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask, and what I'm going to do is promote the Kickstarter a bit and then answer any questions you guys have.
Hey, we're at 1002 backers. All right. We crossed that 1000 backer threshold. Thank you, guys. You'll be entered to win a master class today, either one of our archived master classes or the upcoming master class. There's the link to the Kickstarter campaign. Support this channel. Let's go.
You know, someone asked me recently, they were like, "Don't you feel uncomfortable promoting yourself?" First of all, no, because I value what I do and I feel confident in it, and then it's not just about me. There's self-preservation, there's self-interest, not free from those things. But I believe deeply in what I do, and I believe that there is good in what I do that is beyond my own self-interest.
If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't be able to promote this channel, to promote the Kickstarter, to promote our classes. But I really see astrology, and Nightlight as a little container for astrology, one contributing container at this moment in time, as a good thing. I believe that very deeply, and I try to carry that like as a sacred responsibility. I show up every day. I make the content. I've been doing it for... this is the 12th year that I've done it, 365 days a year.
It's my sadhana, and I believe in it, and I believe it's worth supporting. And I believe that the support that I receive... that God will continue keeping me in check, so that I don't use that support to get crazy egotistical, but I keep using that support to make it better, to make the content deep and meaningful and helpful. And I ask God every year to keep me in line with that. That's the truth. I do.
And that doesn't mean I don't struggle, that I don't have an ego, I don't have my own issues I'm working through, just like every single person listening to this, you know. But I believe in this place. I believe in what we're doing. I believe in the community around this place. I believe in the students that come through this place. So it's a joy to do this, and I'm always... that's why I'm always thrilled to see the Kickstarter do well, but I'm not surprised, because to me, Nightlight has come through a very deep level of dedication and heart and belief in myself, in astrology and in the people that are here.
So on that level, thank you to everyone who has supported the Kickstarter. There's the link in the comment section again. Pitch in. Let's see if we can get to 2043 backers. We're at 1002 right now, which means we need just over 1000... let's see, 1041 more backers to go. So we're almost exactly halfway, but we have about nine days to go, so we got to saddle up and do it. All right?
It all right. What questions you guys have? I'll open up for, like I said, I'll just do a little bit of Q&A, and then we'll close shop for the day. All right? "Any recommendations on learning about symbols?" Well, a really good starting point right now would be to read the works of archetypal psychologists.
Archetypal psychologists work through a therapeutic medium that leans on symbols as containers for psychic life, psychological life. So everything at Nightlight is ancient astrology with modern archetypal depth psychology as a foundation. So if you like the Nightlight vibe, if you like this work here, check out archetypal psychology.
There's a great starting point book that I would recommend for anyone called *The Soul's Code* by James Hillman. And it talks about the cultivation of our sense of life purpose through symbol, through myth and metaphor. And that's a great book. *The Hero with a Thousand Faces*, just a classic Joseph Campbell. Get into Joseph Campbell. Carl Jung, James Hillman, Liz Greene. Those voices in particular are going to be really helpful to start developing a deeper relationship with symbols.
And then study astrology. Like, honestly, you know, at some point when it feels right, come study with us, because you'll learn a ton about symbols. Yeah, you know what? Why don't we do... that's a great question. I really appreciate this question, and I actually feel kind of bad that I didn't think of this. Let's take a look at the last time Saturn was in Aries. That'd be a great thing to do today. Let me put it up on the real-time clock.
All right, so Saturn entered Aries in April of 1996, and it literally entered the very week that I found out that we were moving to the town where I would be friendless and start getting bullied. That was the week my parents told me. We then, I then started school in the fall at the new school. So, yeah, that was profound.
So it was April through... looks like it was April through... oh no, it actually didn't go back into Pisces. Yeah. So April of '96 it entered. Let's keep taking it along here. April of '96 to June of '98. April '96 to June of '98, so that's about two years. And then it's going to dip back into Aries in November of '98 and just finish up by March of '99.
So then you could say, like, '96 to '98 pretty evenly Saturn distributed through Aries in those years, and then a little bit in '99 as well. Yeah, I was... that was hellish high school for me. But so many important things. Wow. I mean, the alienation that I felt and the brutal start to high school in a new high school... that was my experience.
I'd be curious to hear what yours was as I'm going back over those dates. Does anyone remember what was happening in your life around that time? Yeah, yeah. "Glad you could use a reduced rate." That's awesome. Let's hear your stories. I'm going to highlight some of them if you... let's see here.
Okay, this is a fun question. "If horoscopes make you puke into your mouth, why did you increase on them so much in your content? Is it really that popular with the audience? I rather enjoy watching you enjoy... you know what? It's really interesting." But there's not, like, a tactical reason behind it. Well, I... let me save that and just say, during Kickstarter season, it's important for me to choose content that will have the highest engagement possible. Horoscopes are always that.
So every year I tend to do a little bit more horoscopes during Kickstarter season. I've done that for years that way, because they get more engagement, and that helps the Kickstarter. So, like, that's transparent, that's honest. However, I would also say that for a couple of months now, there's been an uptick in the amount of horoscopes I've been doing, and there's actually a really specific reason for that.
So I did a video... I don't know if you guys remember, this was a couple of months ago. I did a video that was like, "Why I Hate Horoscopes." It was so cathartic for me, man. I after I made that video, something shifted. I started... so something that I started doing is I started feeling like I was carrying a secret, you know, like, "God, I hate these things," you know. And I would sometimes grumble about them.
But once I made that video, and I talked like, with like, kind of just like, it was just really candid and honest and also humorous, and I just sort of told the audience about that as like a fun video, "Why I Hate Horoscopes," it really felt like something shifted. And I'm enjoying them more. So when you say you rather enjoy watching me enjoy, I would also say you may not have a very clear sense of what I enjoy.
I know I told you I don't enjoy horoscopes, but actually, since that video, I've been enjoying them more, which is really like... isn't that how it works? When you make something, when you say something and you release something, it doesn't necessarily mean like... sometimes when you tell a partner that you're mad at them, in your head you've been thinking, "I don't know if this relationship is sustainable," but once you tell them, and you find some receptivity for how you were feeling, you go, "Oh, I guess I don't need to break up. Like, everything's fine."
It's kind of how I felt like horoscopes. I told horoscopes how I felt, and that bad girlfriend looked at me and said, "Oh, I'm really sorry. I'm really sorry you feel that way. Can we... how can we lighten the load?" And then it just... I don't know, something shifted, and I've been really enjoying them a lot more. So I feel like my horoscopes have gotten a lot better over the past couple of months, especially.
I've also noticed, by the way, that when I do horoscopes live, rather than recorded, it also makes a significant difference. Like, I don't know if you guys can even tell that, but I can tell, like, on my end, when I do horoscopes live in a live stream, it's significantly easier for me, because I can see live people. And there's something about trying to talk off the cuff into a room when no one is there and it's just me and a microphone. It's just hard. It's hard because you're trying to generate delineations for a huge audience of people.
And I work better with personal context, with one-on-one divinatory containers. I don't mind talking about archetypes and transits on a big level, because I can talk about them from many different angles. But it's hard to do that fluidly and still maintain a narrative arc through 12 whole sign horoscopes off the cuff.
So one thing that I started doing was I started writing my horoscopes in advance. It takes a little time, but actually I don't mind writing, and writing actually allows me to be a lot more creative, and then I don't have to talk off the cuff because I have talking points. It seems like something that I would have tried a long time ago, but I was for a couple of years I was writing a book, and I didn't really have a lot of time to write outside of it.
Well, not surprisingly, I made that video about horoscopes at the same time I finished my book. I go into editing, and suddenly I have free space to be writing. So, you know, there's more free space to be writing something outside of my book. I found that it was an easy way to make horoscopes more enjoyable. So anyway, yeah.
"It seems to me like I'm experiencing transits up to a week before they happen. Is this real?" Yeah, for sure. You know, astrological timelines are like windows, and some people tend to experience them kind of prior to their manifestation. I've heard that a zillion times. Seriously, like, it's, yeah, totally.
"Who posts those Adam hearts next to our comments? Actually you or your social media person?" Me. I am usually the one who puts hearts. Sometimes my social media manager does too. So it's both of us. If someone says something really nice that just needs a thank you, and I'm really busy, my social media manager will often ask, like, "Do you want me to offer some thank yous and gratitude on posts today, because I'm super consumed with something?" And I want to make sure people know that I really appreciate kindness, you know. So he'll do that sometimes, but then other days I'll be like, "No, I'll handle it," you know. So it's a mix, but usually it's me that hearts things. Also my subtle way of saying when I think someone's a jerk. I'm just kidding.
Okay, "How does an astrologer approach delineating the charts of twins?" Actually, so some years ago now, I did an astrology podcast episode with Chris Brennan on the astrology of twins. So if you go back in the archives of *The Astrology Podcast*, Chris and I had a pretty good conversation about reading for twins years ago.
"I wish it wasn't so hard to find work in this field. It feels dharmically aligned, but nobody's ever hiring an instructional designer, trainer, content developer. I need meaningful work." Yeah, that's hard, you know, because it's a lot of solo practitioners, and a lot of practitioners like to develop their own content too. They don't necessarily trust it in the hands of someone else.
So that's a really tricky set of skills to find. You know, bigger organizations, Astrology Hub, that does a lot of big programming like those places, might be places to seek connection and just let people know what you do.
"How do you approach the I Ching? Is there a wrong way? How do you frame the question?" There's not a wrong way. There's a way that gets a result that may be less clear. So for example, when you approach the I Ching with sincerity, humility, curiosity, desire to learn, and a framing of the question that you've really thought about from the standpoint of wanting to understand the situation, not attachment to an outcome... like, if you approach the I Ching and you have really problematic emotional attachment to the outcome, it's going to be hard, because the I Ching may give a response that's more about your entanglement than the actual situation, and then you don't know what you're looking at.
But if you have a pretty clear, level place of asking or approaching from, even if you have some attachment (which is normal), and you have a clear way of trying to discern the answer that can set your attachment to an outcome aside, you're going to get much better results in general. You're going to understand the I Ching better in general.
There's a bravery required with the I Ching, because the I Ching can be very stern in the way that it delivers things sometimes. And so there's like a bravery required to work with the I Ching. You have to be willing to say, "I am going to be mind-blown by the truth in this situation more than I am excited or upset by an outcome. I'm more interested in the mind-blowing learning than I am in the outcome, even though I have some investment in the outcome." And if you can take that attitude, the I Ching is not going to steer you wrong, you know.
But you also need to be very patient. And when you don't understand a reading, sit with it, learn with it. Keep going back to it, rather than just casting again right away because you don't understand it. Just a few things I've learned about it.
"Adam, when I was in year one, I made a Bjรถrk playlist for the class of songs that corresponds to the signs. What music do you think matches specific signs?" First of all, set like... either send me an email or like DM me on Instagram with that playlist, would you? Because I would love that. That'd be super cool. It's just @nightlightastrology on Instagram. If you're on Instagram, send me a link, because that would be... I would love to check that out, because I love Bjรถrk. That was probably the best live concert, one of the best live concerts that I've ever seen in my life was Bjรถrk in Atlanta. Man, she's mind-blowing.
Sounds cool. "What music do you think matches specific zodiacal energy, if any?" I... you know, that's cool. That would be a cool project. It's not something I've done, so I don't know. I feel like there's... you could probably fit a lot of different genres within every sign, a lot of different songs within every sign.
"When Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls were popular... yeah, you were in photography school." Okay, cool. "'97 I began a very successful business." Yeah, a lot of entrepreneurial stuff that gets started. "I'm going to win the master class." Good. Go for it, Natalie. I love that. "My first marriage dissolved." Okay, yeah, that's a tough one. Yeah.
"Scorpio rising. I was in elementary school, and I too was bullied so bad, my mom had to put me in a new school." Yeah, that's hard. "End of my senior year, start of college." "I was born. Looking forward to my first Saturn return." All right, buckle up. "I got sober after my parents died." Wow, yeah, that's huge.
"Last time Saturn was in Aries was seventh to ninth grade for me. I learned extensively about facial hair removal. Greek girl problems." I love that. That's hilarious. That is awesome. "I'm also Taurus rising. In those years, my parents started doing meth, although I did not know that was happening. It was time I was parenting myself in a fallen relationship with my father." Yeah, that's brutal, man. You guys have all been through so much. You know, all of you out there listening to this, like, you're not alone. None of us are. We're all walking with stuff, you know. We're all carrying stuff, and it's so nice to be able to share some of that.
I'm genuinely humbled to hear some of your stories. I love stories, and I love hearing from... I mean, one of the reasons I got into astrological counseling is because it's just storytelling. My life path was graduate school in creative nonfiction storytelling, and that was where I thought I was going. Little did I know I was going toward astrology. You know, great way to share and tell stories.
"I attended Nightlight Astrology. I'm currently enrolled in Ashley's herbalism program." Yeah, later in the Kickstarter, there will be a day where one of the free giveaways is enrollment to Ashley's herbal program. Will be... can't remember what day it's on, but anyway, yeah. Let's see here. "Last time I injured my back." Ooh, that's brutal. Good you got therapies to help. That's good.
"Is that tattoo on your right inner arm new? Or have I just not been paying attention?" You're talking about this? That one right there? Cassiopeia? I think that's the one you're talking about. Yeah, this one's new. My wife and I got matching eclipse tattoos a couple years ago. Gosh, yeah.
Okay. "I don't have social media, but I will email." Well, good for you. You're probably saner than half of us here. All right, yeah, just email it to me then. "Saw her in early '90s on her debut tour. Scorpio legend." Totally, yeah. Yeah. My understanding is that Saturn at the midheaven can bring a time of leadership. My midheaven is 9ยฐ Aries. I'll be 70 years old. Time to... society. Time to get involved. You watch my channel, you know.
No, that's cool. I hope that, yeah, you may find a meaningful way of engaging socially right now, and that could be pretty powerful. All right, let's see. "Adam, I've always wanted to know more about your spirituality. Is there a book that has inspired you?" Well, I grew up a preacher's kid, so I grew up a United Methodist in the church. Bible camps, I was a camp counselor, you know, did a lot of that.
And then, you know, I just kind of started expanding, having a kind of interfaith dialog within myself. Got into drugs, unfortunately, during a time of real difficulty in my life, and then found my way out of it with ayahuasca shamanism in South America. And then that opened a lot of other doors to yoga, meditation, you know, Eastern philosophy. I was going through art school at the time.
And, you know, psychedelics became very important as entheogenic, ritualistic containers. And then astrology, yoga, a lot of other things came in, you know. So bhakti yoga has been a big part. I don't know a book that's inspired me, man. So many. You know, one of my favorite books of all time is a novel by a Japanese novelist named Shusaku Endo. It's a book called *Silence*. I love that book so much. I've read it multiple times.
All right, "Matching eclipse tattoos. Nice." Yeah, you know, when Uranus squared my natal Venus, we got those tattoos. And the reason behind it was... it was nothing like super dramatic. It was just when you have kids, and I'm sure a lot of you guys can relate, your marriage becomes more like cooperative fluid management: food and feeding and peas and poops and diapers and drool and sickness.
And as a couple, you're just like fostering little itty-bitties into the world, and your own intimacy, where you used to hang out all the time in the evenings, or you used to just go out whatever you wanted to, like that kind of takes a break. And that was a year in which we became very consciously aligned with... we need to... it's not like we weren't having date nights or intimacy or like we weren't hanging out, but it was like our kids were becoming more independent to the point where we could have more time.
And so we started creating some new rituals and containers for our marriage again, you know. And it was like, we decided to... we went to a bunch of concerts, we traveled for the first time without our kids, and just got to step back and be like, "Holy shit. There's been like five years of kids in our life. Like, wow. Like, where are we?" You know, because a lot of it is just like a change in mode, and you can start feeling like you're on a conveyor belt.
And so that you're like, I feel like... you know, my wife and I just really got back to us. And so along the way, we got those matching tattoos, because a lot of the intentionality around getting back to our relationship and not just being completely identified as parents happened around an eclipse. And it, you know, again, like it wasn't a breakdown or a crisis for us. It was just a slow, gradual awareness of like, "Wow, we have the time and space to be more like us again, because the kids are older."
You know, we hired a nanny for a little bit more hours, even though we felt a little guilty to do so, stuff like that. We're like, just so that we can have more of us back, you know? So that's how we got those matching tattoos. Yeah, yeah. It's real poopy, the whole thing. Kids are like puppies in a way, too, because we've just got Thor, and he's coming around a year old, and, man, that guy's... his whole head is a mouth. You know what I mean? Like, he's just... his mouth is his entire being. He's just drooly and... but he's awesome, too.
It's, but it is like puppies. You're just banging into things, and you're thinking, "I've got all these intellectual ideas about how to manage child-raising, and now I'm gonna impart to them all the beautiful lessons of the universe." And, you know, an hour into that idea every single day, you know, you're just sprawled out on the floor like, "Fuck my life," you know. And it's so wonderful. It's like so humbling. Like, nothing could possibly empty your hubris out more effectively than kids.
So, yeah, no, I love it. I wouldn't trade being a dad or puppy owner for the world. Oh, "Do you ever think you'll teach zodiacal releasing?" Well, my friend, I have, and I do. In my year two program, we cover zodiacal releasing in depth and at length. And there is an entire master class on the shop page, about 10 to 12 hours worth of a master class on zodiacal releasing.
So I've been teaching zodiacal releasing for years. I just... my YouTube channel is not the place where I teach methods and techniques. You know, that's the school. So if you come study with us, you'll find that there's a substantial amount of zodiacal releasing content in year two, or you can pick up the master class on the website as well.
"I only have vomiting cats, but it's definitely a fluid management lifestyle." Yeah. Isn't that fun? Oh, all right, I think I'm gonna close shop here. We're at about two hours and 20 minutes. I hope that this has been an enjoyable session for all of you today. I know that I've enjoyed being with you and talking about Saturn in Aries.
Here is the link to donate one more time. We're at 1006 backers, so we've got close to 30 since the start of today. That's fantastic. We need 100 to keep pace and meet our goal. We need 100 backers today. So if you have not yet contributed, please consider pitching in. There's the link. If you're watching the replay, it's pinned to the top of the comments or in the description of the video.
Thank you, everybody, for being a part of this community. I hope that this was beneficial for you. Don't forget, it is a Monday, so I... my candles are already out. They're like tea lights that only last a couple hours. I would show you my altar, but actually, you know what? Here, I will. I think I can, yeah, I can still do it here. There's the altar right there. My candles are out for the moment. I'll probably relight them in a little bit.
But make sure you tend to your altar. If you don't have one, you can make one just really simple. Have a place where you collect icons, symbols, myths, metaphors, gods, goddesses, rocks, if you're into that kind of stuff. Because tending to an altar is a little metaphorical way of tending to the psyche, and it is magical how effective it can be to work with planetary transits if you have an altar.
So something I recommend. Usually on Mondays, I tell you a little bit about my altar. Nothing special on it today. I haven't... I've been a little out of sorts with the Kickstarter. The Buddha is still hanging out there. So all right, take it easy, everyone. We'll see you again next time. Bye.





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