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Katie Ussery

Week of August 21st-27th: Sun opposing Saturn (reality ≠ logic)

One of the defining summer of 2023 aspects (besides the retrogrades, of course) is the Saturn oppositions.


Mars in Virgo opposed Saturn in Pisces on July 20th

Mercury in Virgo opposed Saturn in Pisces on August 2nd

The Sun in Virgo will oppose Saturn in Pisces on August 27th


Even while the Sun-Saturn opposition perfects at the very end of the week, this will be deeply felt in the build towards the perfection of the aspect. The themes that were felt from August 2nd and July 20th will likely circle around in some way. Astrology is like reading a story about the patterns in your life. The effects don't just go away after we've read past that page, it should be looked at as a chapter, a book, a series. Planets are constantly creating stories that interweave themselves with other stories until you're looking back 10 years later to finally see how two seemingly separate experiences were so tightly dependent on one another.


Mars, Mercury, and the Sun in Virgo represent what is obvious. What you see is what you get.


But opposing Saturn in Pisces? What you see is definitely not what you get. This is a time where we feel limitation and as a result, we can fall into melancholy, feeling like things will never change. This is an illusion– the Sun is needing us to get creative about our circumstances, Saturn is asking us to accept the things we cannot change. It's a tedious balance.


Our collective lesson until 2025 is about trust, faith, surrender, impermanence, and the unknown. This transit has been like walking blindfolded with only intuition to guide you– know that the ability to trust yourself will be tested continuously until 2025 and it's better that we begin to master this now. We'll need this kind of independence later when the outer planets (Saturn and Neptune) begin to move into Aries.


That being said, the planets in Virgo opposing Saturn in Pisces might be a moment where you find out exactly why your intuition was saying xyz. Big "fuck around and find out" vibes. If that isn't the case, it may be revealing to you something that was previously hidden (especially internal issues) that are now manifesting physically.


This is why Pisces-Virgo and 6th-12th house placements typically experience health issues when something internal goes unexpressed. It's your body trying to say, "hey! pay attention!" The USA's chart has Neptune in Virgo that transiting Neptune in Pisces opposed during the pandemic. Sickness that alerted many people to the other "sicknesses" in their lives– overworking, hoarding, relationships that were poison. A lot has changed in our world and in our personal lives.


It's a similar experience this summer. Saturn in Pisces brings up the challenges of rebuilding. It begs the question– what do we do now? What happens after death, after other paths that felt tangible before, completely evaporate? I imagine too, with the Venus retrograde that has defined this summer, there is even more loss when it comes to our very identity. How we express ourselves has had to change over the years. If you're currently in a place of waiting, I think this is exactly right. Not knowing is purposeful. It requires us to sit in discomfort and this builds a certain kind of strength.


When Saturn was domicile in Capricorn and Aquarius (2017-2023), we had to build strength and learn lessons in a way that was inherently Saturnian: Through tangible hardship of the world. Now, with Saturn in Pisces, we are cultivating a very different kind of strength and resilience, one that isn't obvious or logical. Emotional depth is where no one wants to go. This is why Pisces rules over drugs, alcohol, euphoric distractions, fantasy, romantic delusions. No one wants to sit with the emptiness underneath. It is easier to chase, to distract, to bypass. On the other hand, as everyone's reaction is different, it became very easy for some of us to fall into skepticism and incredulity as a response to the pain that may have been endured during the 6 year Saturnian winter. So many fantasies and dreams squashed that some have become pessimistic in the name of realism.


You may be experiencing one of these, a tendency toward escapism and fanciful hope that is pushing you away from true growth and emotional freedom or maybe you have been so hardened by past experiences that you refuse to have faith in a benevolent universe. Or maybe you're somewhere in between, maybe you bounce between the two. Whatever the case there is a collective bereavement happening here. We need to grieve and mourn the things that didn't manifest themselves, we need to swan song our way out of the person we used to be, the people we used to love, the places that didn't survive Saturn. How is this being done?


Mars in Virgo brought up something rather frustrating, painful, or inconvenient that we could not ignore back in July. Mercury in Virgo brought (and is preparing for retrograde this week to bring) the mental processing and understanding of the healing left to be done. The Sun will light up Saturn to reveal the identity trying to emerge out of all of this. Again, these planets in Virgo bring mystical Pisces back to reality (not to be confused with logic– this is not a logical world we're stepping into). For some of us it's a wake up call, for some it's a signifier of deeper healing that needs to be done, maybe we thought it was over, it isn't. For some it may be the body showing us the emotional blockages still there.


Every. Single. Thing. In the body alerts us to something else. If your throat hurts? Communication is strained or blocked. Your shoulder is aching? You might be carrying too much responsibility or perhaps your ego feels threatened. Your hip? Belief wounds. There is a meaning for everything.


We may experience this with very visceral experiences with nature or in the environment around us too– this is what planets in Virgo will do, they bring mystical Pisces into a grounded reality (not a logical reality, but one that is undeniably real).


Early last week, right at the Venus Star Point no less, there was a poisonous snake outside my house that raised its head to strike at a family member. We had to cut off its head and burn it in a fire to ward off other poisonous snakes from coming up to the property. The smoke burned into my room for the rest of the evening, singeing the back of my throat. Nearly every religious or spiritual practice out there tells us to look closer at the signs in nature, what is it trying to tell us? There are so many things that the snake symbolizes, we just have to find the right meaning in this situation. We know that the snake can represent transformation, so can fire, so does Venus transforming into a morning star as a sacrifice to the burning rays of the Sun. Rebirth was the powerful symbolism in this situation. Sacrifice. Maybe even an act of protection from the past– This is what happens when you come into my space and threaten me.


And of course, there have been emotional and relational situations in my own life to reflect this same theme back. Nature is a tool for confirmation. Our health and body is a tool for confirmation.


These are the kinds of things you may be noticing this week as the Sun moves to oppose Saturn, as Mercury begins its retrograde in Virgo on the 23rd, as the Sun enters the same sign. We can expect a time of hermiting, a time of sacrificing the mindsets that have held us back from hope or on the other end, from truth. A time of revisiting the past for closure and integration. You can expect themes from August 3rd-August 23rd to come back around for reassessment and reorganization. We will emerge from this period very different and hopefully, better for it.


We have another Venus-Jupiter square this week too. The last one was on June 11th, this one is on August 22nd, and the final square will be on September 17th. There is a story here, pay attention to issues that came up the week of June 11th, something about this is coming back around for reassessment, especially themes of "too much" and "not enough", it's possible that we overshot something or that a risk was taken at that time that needs evaluation now.


As Mars enters Libra this week, we begin a season of co-presence with the South Node.

Mars = severing, cutting away

South Node = decrease

Libra = relationships, attraction, diplomacy, contracts


Expect the collapse and severing of many more relationships and agreements that are no longer aligning over the next two months. This is ultimately for a new path and greater harmony in our lives. Look to the house that Libra rules for more information about the kind of connections being disrupted (example: Virgo risings have Libra on the 2nd house. This deeply relates to their time, energy, value, and ability to make money– they are likely finding that their values have changed and no longer feel that what they are giving is reciprocal. Remember that "cost" is not just monetary– Virgo, does it cost your integrity?).


For personal guidance:


Small weekly schedule: (the most important transits are highlighted)


Monday: Moon in Libra conjunct South Node, Moon sextile Sun (connecting the Sun with Pluto at 29º). Moon enters its fall, Scorpio 7:00pm CST


Tuesday: Moon trine Saturn, VOC for majority of Tuesday. Venus rx square Jupiter (again- last time on June 11th) at 7:15am CST. Mars opposite Neptune 3:00pm CST. Mars trine Pluto 7:00pm CST.


Wednesday: Sun enters Virgo 4:00am CST. Moon square Venus rx, Moon opposite Jupiter, Moon sextile Mercury. Mercury stations retrograde 3:00pm CST. Moon sextile Mars.


Thursday: Moon enters Sagittarius 4:00am CST. Moon square Sun. Moon square Saturn.


Friday: Moon trine Venus rx. Moon square Mercury rx.


Saturday: Moon square Mars. 9:00am CST Moon enters its detriment, Capricorn. Moon trine Sun. Moon sextile Saturn.


Sunday: Sun opposite Saturn 3:30am CST. Mars enters Libra 8:15am CST. Moon trine Jupiter. Moon trine Mercury rx. VOC for the rest of its journey through Capricorn.


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