After going over some of the highlights of the month, we are going to dive right today by looking at Mercury and Saturn refraining from a square that they are about to make.
Transcript:
Hey everyone, this is Acyuta-bhava from Nightlight Astrology. Happy June, everybody. After going over some of the highlights of the month, we are going to dive in right away today by looking at Mercury and Saturn refraining from a square that they are about to make; they're not going to make the square because just as they're about to make it Mercury will turn direct. And Saturn will turn Retrograde, a concept called refranation, has a pretty famous place in horror area astrology, but it's a concept that can be applied to any type of astrology. We'll be going over that concept today. And taking a look at ten possible interpretations of Mercury and Saturn refraining from a square in order to give you a sense of how you might see that combination showing up for you guys this week, really all the way through the rest of this week into the weekend. So that is our agenda for today.
Okay, so what is a refranation? That is the topic of the day; let me go ahead and put the real-time clock up so I can show you what it looks like. And then, we will talk about what it means and then ten possible interpretations, things you may notice as the week goes on. So here is Mercury in the sign of Taurus at about 26 degrees, which is retrograde. Here is Saturn and about 25 degrees. So they are within; they're engaging with one another once planets get to within three degrees of making a perfect par tile aspect. They're said to be in an engagement, which means that the events related to the two planets coming together are likely to start manifesting. So you can see some manifestation of Mercury square Saturn right now, but it's when they actually perfect that it sort of seals the deal. So right now, through Mercury's retrograde, it is backing into a square with Saturn, who is in the superior position in terms of the square. Saturn has the sort of dominant influence right now. But what's going to happen? Watch if we advanced this by a couple of days; Mercury, you can see the little snow under Mercury is stationing June 2, And by the following day, June 3, is now turning direct. So what happens on June 4? Now you're going to see a little s popping up under Saturn, which means Saturn is stationing. And then go forward another day, you'll see the s turning red go forward another day by June 6, Saturn is retrograde. Now, by that time, on June 6, Mercury is still at 26 degrees, barely moving forward; it makes it a while to pick up speed again. And it's squaring Saturn within still about one degree. Let's take it forward a couple more days. It's still on June 7, still squaring Saturn within a degree, okay, on June 8, that moves now to 27 degrees, that's still two degrees off, it's going to then move off to the 28th degree and start separating from that three-degree engagement range by June 10. So you're looking at a frustrated aspect.
This is called a refranation. It's when two planets are about to make aspects, but one or both of them change directions, such that right before the aspect can be made, it is not made because of that change of direction. So the meeting that is about to happen doesn't happen because they both changed direction. Now let's, let's talk a little bit about what a refranation is or how it was talked about, by the way. So there it is, again, June 3, Mercury direct June 4 Saturn stationing slash turning retrograde over the next couple of days. So it's back to back Mercury direct changing directions. The next day, Saturn stations start to turn retrograde. So it's boom, boom, June 3, and June 4 that's coming up. That's this week. So then, overall, what we're saying is that squares frustrated it doesn't the two planets don't meet, and so that's called a refranation.
Here's what William Lily wrote said: "There's another manner of prohibition by some more properly called refranation." And then there's an example that he gives, which is lengthy, so I won't hash it out because we have one we've just looked at. He then says, "nothing signified by the aspect will ever be affected." Nothing signified by the aspect will ever be affected. It is as though, in other words, and this is from his classical horary textbook called Christian Astrology, the text is not really have anything to do with Christianity. It was named that for other political reasons during his day, in a sense, and that's a whole nother story in a story better told by an astrological historian, someone you know, who's more articulate on, you know, on such historical events in the history of astrology, but it's there's some really interesting podcasts too. I believe. The astrology podcast with Chris Brennan hosts a Christian Lily expert in one previous episode. He kind of talks about the naming of the text, which is really fascinating.
But the gist of what this means in horary is this in a horary chart, let's say, for example, that let me just I'll just put the, I'm actually going to do this, a stroke of inspiration, here we're going to look at the real-time clock. And let me just show you what this might mean in a horary. Let's just pretend that this is a horary chart. Let's go. I'm going to back this up and time again to the moment of the retrograde, So now, let us just imagine that we are looking at will my son get into the university? Okay, will my son get into the university in a horary chart? The sun, like if I'm a parent, and I'm asking a question about my son, the fifth house, and this is I have a whole sign horary up and usually in horary would use Regiomontanus because that was the quadrant based house system that I learned horary on. But in horary is interesting on the subject of house topics. If you ever take my horary class, we spend a lot of time talking about why horary almost seems to work better with quadrant-based houses and whole sign, but that's it's a really interesting topic; I do not want to digress into today.
So if you're asking the question, will my son or daughter get into the university that they applied for? You go to the fifth house ruler to represent your child, and in this case, that would be Saturn. And you are looking at the ninth house ruler to represent the university; that would be Mercury. The two planets are about to square one another. And if and when they square each other in a horary such as this, that brings the matter about it. It said to perfect the matter inquired about which means that you're hoping that they'll get into school and when you see the signifier of the school, the ninth house ruler Mercury coming into contact with the signifier of the child, the fifth house ruler Saturn, then that would bring about the letter that they get in the mail let's say that says you've been accepted. The university and the child are coming together in this case. Unfortunately, this would be a sad horary; they're refraining from getting together. So let's say instead, the child gets a letter. And the letter says, Well, you know, thank you, we had so many applicants, we put you on a waitlist. So they almost got together, but you put on a waitlist. Maybe you're even given a number like your number 10 or something. So the likelihood is very high that you get in because look at how close they came together. I don't know. But the point is that if you're a sensitive horary astrologer, you look at that refranation and you go, that prevents the matter from coming about. That's called refranation.
And what did William Lily say in the textbook? What did traditional horary astrologers say about such an event? Nothing signified by the aspect will ever be affected in horary speak, that means that you need to see the perfection of an aspect for two things to get together, like will Bobby Call me or something? Well, no, Bobby won't call you because the refrain the two signifiers, if your Saturn and Bobby is Mercury, for some reason, right? Then no, sorry, Bobby's not calling because the two aspects the aspect doesn't actually happen. It needs to actually perfect down to the degree and minute. So if that doesn't happen, then there's a traditional line of thought that says that something that you're hoping for, or wanting, or some potential outcome stops right before it's about to be affected and backs away or doesn't end up happening. So broadly speaking, when we don't have horary context, a question within which to read and assign the signifiers to meaningful moving parts of a question, then we're left to broadly interpret the potential meaning of a refranation, you know, in a mundane sense, like what could that mean for a billion different people right now. So what I've come up with is a list of 10 possible interpretations to help you interpret the meaning of this refranation in your week because you're likely to see this playing out, especially by the way, if you have Taurus and Aquarius on any of the four angles by whole sign house, meaning if Taurus is your first house, 10th house, seventh house or fourth house, that those tend to be a little louder and more dynamic as transits go, which would also place Aquarius into one of your angles. So if you are, if you have fixed or solid signs on the angles, maybe a little bit more likely to see this play out in a more dramatic or pronounced way. Or if it's hitting something, if you have planets, right around 25 or 26 degrees of solid or fixed signs, the same thing, just different names for the same kind of sign, which would be Aquarius, Taurus, Scorpio, or Leo, then you may also notice that those would be the big ones maybe there are planets, trine you know, some other another aspect or what have you. But it's at that degree, that 25-26 degree range of solid fixed signs, that you would perhaps notice this as well. But even, you know, in my experience, the more you study astrological transits, the in some ways, not at all the time. But in some ways, you become more sensitive to the presence of the transits. Regardless of what they're doing in your chart, certainly, you'll feel it a lot more if they're configured to your chart really dramatically. But it's as though the more you study astrology, the more sensitive you become to feeling these archetypal fields moving around anyway. So if you don't feel it, that's not something to get frustrated by; it's a reason to study your chart a little bit more carefully. And also probably in some ways, it's like, you know, almost always it's a part of the process of becoming sensitized to the language of astrology.
So, okay. Let's go through these ten possible interpretations of this refarnation. So number one, let's say Mercury Saturn represents a very severe way of thinking. One of the significations of Mercury and Saturn will be like rigid, rigidity of mind and thought and speech. Well, if Mercury and Saturn are about to square one another, but they hold before they can square each other, it is possible that this would mean that a sort of severe way of thinking or a severe conclusion of some kind is sort of halted or stopped in its tracks before taking too far before you can act on it or something like that. So wait a second, I'm being a little extreme here in my thinking, or I'm being rigid, or something, something like that could be avoided, which would be a very positive interpretation.
A second one would be the backing out of an agreement or contract or about Mercury Saturn can make things very solid. I do in sickness and in health, for example, especially Mercury and Venus-ruled sign. They're about to say I do, and then you know, we decide against it. Mercury Saturn, we, we almost get to a point where we're going to back out of an agreement or a contract or a vow, but then we decide to do it anyway. It could be the reverse. So you know, backing out of an agreement or almost backing out of an agreement, but deciding to stick with it. Either way, it's just getting to that edge, where you either are about to decide to do something but don't, or you're about to not do something that you said to do it anyway. It's getting to that breaking point almost.
Number three and all of these are sort of similar, hesitating and retreating from an obligation or responsibility. Let's say Saturn Mercury represents my word, my vow, my oath, my commitment, my obligation; Mercury Saturn is coming close to fulfilling that obligation and then backing away from it. Sorry, I can't do it. I told you I would. I know I said I would, but I can't. Something like that. Now, that could be something that's, you know, to watch for in terms of a compromise of your integrity or your word or a promise. On the other hand, it could be refraining from doing something that you really ought not to do or that you've committed to do but shouldn't have.
Number four is a problem avoided. Just, generally speaking, Mercury and Saturn coming into contact, especially with Saturn in the superior square, could mean trouble. This is just; basically, we're, I'm about to, you know, I'm about to hit the guardrail here, I'm about to hit something hard, and I end up avoiding it. So if Saturn represents an obstacle, a block, a problem in general, and Mercury is retrograding into it, but then stops and turns direction, okay, we've avoided a worst-case scenario or a problem, a strong decision reconsidered, similar to an oath or a vow. But let's say that you are about to make a really strong choice. But now you've decided. Wait; before I make it, I need to reflect; it doesn't mean you won't make it later. But for now, before you make it, you need to step up, take a step back. So even that doesn't necessarily mean it's overthrowing something you do later. But for now, there's some need to pause.
Number six, sticking to a plan rather than backing out at the last minute. And I sort of included that in number two or three. But so let's say you're about to back out of something at the last minute, right, you're like, the backing out would be the termination of something mercury, Saturn is the termination of, again, your word or a contract or decision or a strategy or an approach. And it terminates. But rather than terminating it, you decide, nope, I'm going to stick with it. So again, I'm just sort of flipping the same thing in different directions.
Number seven, the temptation to reduce something sensual to something rational, or to reduce something rational to something sensual, sort of the same thing, but different. The reason for this is that Saturn in an air sign is very rational. And Mercury tends to be rational. But in the sign of Taurus, Venus, the sign in the moon's exultation, we could be looking at some interesting blend of trying to sort of reduce something sensual to rational or vice versa.
Let me give you an example. So if we have the temptation to reduce something sensual to something rational, let's say I am trying to justify something that I am eating that is not good for me. So I pull up a study that shows that it's good for my pancreas to eat all that chocolate or whatever. So in some ways, we may try to rationalize as a way of justifying something sensual, or someone on the opposite hand could, on the other hand, could say something like, well, your love of chocolate is nothing more than some chemical, you know, record track that skipping in your brain somewhere, like, well, actually, I love the smell, it's sensual. It's embodied, you know, chocolate is romantic. There's a whole imaginative cultural dimension to chocolate, but you're just trying to reduce it down to chemicals and impulses, and appetite. Do you see what I mean?
On the other hand, there are people like, okay, let's say that you're, let's say that you're at dinner with some friends and you're trying to explain an idea that's really, really important to you. It means a lot to you, you know, and they're, like, only interested in eating food, and they're like, you know, get out of your head, just live a little, like, just be in your body, you know, and, you know, just smell the roses, you know, your idea is part of a tendency to be in your head, because you're insecure. And you're, you know, you overcompensate with your intellect or something like that. So the potential to try to reduce the rational to the sensual or the central to the rational in either direction could be almost like a temptation that appears right now as a way of justifying something or avoiding someone or something. I would, that's a little bit complicated, but I hope that makes sense.
Number eight, avoiding a bottom line or a rock bottom. You know, sometimes we have to hit rock bottoms. This could be the thing that it's like we're turning around before it gets too bad, which could be hitting rock bottom. But it also could be, Oh, I see where this is going. And if it goes any farther, I'm really going to bottom out here. So I need to change direction and course correct. So avoiding a bottom line or a rock bottom or hitting some kind of barrier or boundary that causes you to change directions.
Number nine would be a problem solved just in the nick of time, meaning not so much that you avoid a problem but that you find a solution to it before you know the detonator goes off. And there's some disastrous consequence. So a problem solved just in the nick of time.
Ten would be any kind of overly rigid mentality that you become aware of in yourself at work and, you know, in a relationship doesn't mean you know, you condemn anyone or like, you know, just, I find that there's I, I love it when I become aware of that kind of stuff. Because it usually means that there's an opportunity to change the way I'm thinking about something, right? So I don't know, like, I realize sometimes in the way that I parent or, you know, in certain relationships, or even the way that I do astrology, like, oh, wow, I've been thinking about that really narrowly, you know, and all of a sudden, something happens to like, expose the narrowness of, you know, the way that I approach something or do something, and then it's like, oh, okay, and now I have the opportunity to make a meaningful shift because I've, that some underlying pattern of narrowness or constructiveness, in thinking or actions has been exposed. And, and somehow there's an opportunity for reform or change.
So I see these as ten possibilities. But I really welcome your interpretations. Don't forget to share your stories using the hashtag grabbed or write to us grabbed at nightlight astrology.com. Tell us how you're seeing the refarnation play out between Mercury and Saturn this week. Because I'm just trying to provide a template, you know, as I always say, we're turning that archetypal jewel. I have been accused at times in the past of being sort of elementary in the way that I break things down. But in my experience, it is elementary, played out, like the most fundamental basic things that you just keep turning them and turning them and turning them, and you start to learn, and detect and feel like nuance. And to me, like I'm just I'm someone who I'm always curious. And I'm always discovering something new in the simple things; that's just a part of my, you know, my wiring. And I'm not saying it's the only way to do things, right, but So trust me when I say that I have no doubt that the simple ways that I've broken it down can be elaborated upon. And that's where we all have you come in; what would you add to this list? How would you elaborate upon it? Or what are you seeing in your experiences this week that refine your understanding of the aspect? I learned something new every time that I read what you guys are experiencing every time that I talk to clients and see how these things are playing out. So my list is always a working list. It's always my little, you know, steam coming out of the brainstorming office every morning. So I always appreciate hearing from you guys and hope that you'll have some good things to share there.
We will see you again tomorrow. Take it easy, everyone. Bye
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