Venus Square Uranus, Venus opposed to Mars

Venus square Uranus was exact at 4:00 p.m. yesterday, Monday, the day I came back to New York from Silver. A relatively new friend - Venus? - one I've been playing tennis with, drove me to the airport (El Paso, a three hour drive from Silver - (unusual? Uranus?) She did most of the driving as I was barely conscious after what seemed like two solid weeks of trying to get the house ready for the tenants, with very little sleep the last two nights as it became increasingly clear I wasn't going to finish what I wanted to.

Sweet Pea was no help at all. He decided not to come home till 4:45 am on Monday, so every hour on the hour I was awake and opening all four doors to the outside one after the other calling for him, with him probably curled up on one of the wicker chairs on the front porch ignoring me totally. Finally, 15 minutes before the alarm was due to go off so I could get up and finish the cleaning I still had to do, I heard the little yip that passes for a miaow for him, opened the front door and in he came. Good in one way, as he had something to eat and promptly went to sleep, meaning I didn't have to listen to him whining to go out as would have been the case if he'd stayed in all night.

We made it to the airport with an hour to check in, plenty of time, and if Bridget driving me was a bit of a stretch for Venus square Uranus, maybe it came at about two as I was attempting to get the Pea out of his carrier so I could carry him through security, always one of his favorite things to have done to him. I managed to pry him out of the box with his head and front legs hooked over my right arm, back legs with all claws extended scrabbling furiously at my thighs, and as I staggered doubled over through the archway heard one of the security people saying "Beautiful cat."

As for the Venus opposed to Mars, manifesting at seven am today, it was probably the semi-emergency landing we made at LaGuardia at midnight. Evidently the pilot wasn't sure if the landing gears were down or not (?) and we were told to probably expect a loud grinding noise and sparks as we touched down, neither of which happened, but we were met by several emergency vehicles, lights flashing, and had to be towed to a gate. We'd already been delayed an hour in Chicago, all the kerfuffle took another hour, and the end result for me was I was so out of it by the time we were able to disembark I left my favorite reading glasses in my favorite metal case my sister gave me in the seat pocket of 31A.

Sun conjunct Chiron

I don't know what I'm missing here, but I'm pretty sure that as this perfected I was in Radio Shack returning the unopened piece of crap camera I bought in a frenzy on Saturday, when Jupiter sextiled the Sun. Two people I vaguely know were in the store at the same time, and as we acknowledged that we had met before, one of them said "Oh, you're the New Yorker from London", to which I gave my toss of the head and self-deprecating "uh" noise, my usual response to being so identified.

Was that Chiron? *Should* I have smiled and said "That's me", because it is and I am? Whether I should or not, I can't say that I was distressed and hurt, the way astrology cookbooks say I *should* have felt. Au contraire, I was feeling totally pleased with myself that I was taking the stupid camera back and getting the refund to my credit card immediately, instead of sticking the unopened box in a closet and paying $142 for something I bought on impulse that wasn't what I wanted.

So I dunno. The slowest moving planet wins, according to Michael Lutin. This must have been Pluto in the Eighth and self-mastery at last. Yeah, right.

The Saturn/Uranus Opposition and Me

With a natal Midheaven at 25 Capricorn and an IC at 25 Cancer, I feel incredibly fortunate that the degree of the latest of these oppositions fell where it did, handing me Saturn trine the MC and Ascendant and Uranus sextile the MC and trine the IC.

As far as I can break it down and simplify it, it's like this:

Uranus sextile MC - being accepted as an observer by the Actors Studio even though I don't have any of the qualifications.

Uranus trine IC - stumbling across tenants willing to fix up the barn at their own expense so they can bring their horses from Maine.

Saturn trine MC - being astonishingly productive about getting the house ready for new tenants. Paperwork not exactly up to date but I still have a week.

Saturn trine Ascendant - people seem very impressed to find out I'm a playwright.

Add in Jupiter to the Moon sextile the Sun and today was definitely the day to buy a new camera, as well as labeling all the shelves in the pantry so the new tenants will know where everything is. Not sure where tennis lessons fit into this, but it must be somewhere.

Uranus sextile the Midheaven Retrograde

The last time this happened – this is the second pass of three – was when I was in New York in April of this year and That Is What I Did was supposed to be performed at a senior center on the Lower West Side. As it happened, one of the scheduled actors died and one was sick, so that was the end of That Is What I Did.

Second pass, really and truly to my amazement, the email coming on the day the aspect was retrograde exact, was an email granting me Observer Status - no commenting on other people's work, no presenting my own work - to this year's Playwrights/Directors workshop at the Actors Studio. I think I commented on this with the "And I Thought It Was Me" headline, for Saturn trining the MC, but who cares? I've been accepted into the Actors Studio at worm level, and couldn't be happier about it – although having Jupiter stationed conjunct the moon might have something to do with it.

More to be revealed.

And I Thought It Was Me

I had such a productive week I was amazed at myself. I listed the house as a rental on Craigslist, both on the Las Cruces list and then on the Anchorage one after someone told me a lot of people from Alaska come to Silver in the winter. Two weeks before deadline, I proofed the special edition copy of Soldiering On that Oneactplaydepot is printing, then in spite of knowing I didn't meet the qualifications, applied to a Playwrights/Directors Workshop at the Actors Studio that a member friend told me about.

(Whether that last can truly be called productive could be up for discussion, as there's not a chance I'll be accepted, but it made me write a letter introducing myself as a playwright and send a writing resume, a completed one-act and 10 pages of the play I've been working on on and off for 12 years, and anything that makes me actually admit that I write plays can, for me, only be good.)

I paid the house insurance on time, remembered to transfer money from savings (hah!) into checking in time to cover my New York rent, ordered and picked up my Celexa Rx from Walmart, kept my appointment with Silver City's only dermatologist and happily found myself to be skin cancer free - the list of responsible and adult things I did would be even longer if I could remember them ha ha, and so help me God I had a few discrete moments of congratulating myself on my sudden ability to focus and - dare I write this even knowing no one will read it? - put it down to Pluto stationing in my eighth house of Self Mastery. Aaarrrggghhh!

Today, Labor Day, I played tennis if you want to be generous (batted a ball backwards and forwards with someone almost as pitiful as me if you don't), came home, dragged great big rocks around, which is known as gardening here in Silver City, for four hours, took a shower and began to look at what I have of Act II of the play I've been working on for 12 years. As it's Monday I turned the page over in my Week at a Glance desk diary where I keep track of transits and there, written in for Wednesday the 9th, in my very own hand-writing and in red ink, it says Saturn trine Midheaven exact. Talk about a letdown, but at least I can still laugh.