Semi-square Sun — Saturn
(Transit. Sun → Natal Saturn)
Avesalom Podvodny. Aspects
Semi-square Sun: A person must fulfill not only God’s will but also their own; they still need to consider that it is their own. This aspect makes a person’s will in the spheres of the planet imperfect, sometimes too crude an instrument. Their initiatives often turn out to be too straightforward (if the Sun is in Pisces or Cancer, the person will, accordingly, be too openly and awkwardly avoiding responsibility and hiding in their shell). If inclined toward self-observation, they may sometimes feel as though an alien, deliberately crude will is mixed into their own. A similar effect is observed in imperative external circumstances, which do not directly oppose or openly obstruct (a semi-square is not a square), but are unfavorably rigid and often actually destroy the most interesting, promising, or attractive moments for the person in the spheres of the planet. If, however, the external situation is favorable, an internal demon suddenly awakens, rigidly roughening things, which the person cannot handle at the level of their lower will. Here, the work involves forming ideals and incorporating higher will and higher direction, as well as carefully analyzing subconscious programs that govern the interaction of the principles of will and the planet: somewhere here (a hint should be sought in situations of simultaneous activity of the houses occupied by the Sun and the planet) the ego is deeply entrenched, buried in evolutionary levels much lower than the person themselves. Processing requires awareness and transformation of this program, after which the person gains the ability to exercise clear and subtle volitional control in the spheres of the planet. At a low level, this is an aspect of dictators who have a rigid apparatus of external suppression and their victims.
Semi-square Saturn: If the wheel of fortune is stuck in a ditch, the cross of fate can be carried on one’s back. This aspect creates obstacles in the spheres of the planet, similar to shackles: you can walk, but it’s difficult. However, the person does not always feel them (as with a square of Saturn), and sometimes they may develop a habitually awkward, inelegant manner of moving that is generally acceptable. If this becomes a habit, it becomes very stable, and the person tends to be skeptical of others who possess what seems to them unnecessary and even harmful freedom: a steam hammer has only one degree of freedom (up-down), yet it works so well that it crushes a ram’s horn into a pancake. Subconsciously, however, the person feels strong constraints in the spheres of the planet, which force them into a very narrow path of interaction with the outside world, and they may have strong inferiority complexes but try to suppress them into the subconscious. In their inner life, they seek—and for a long time fail to find—a path to deep mastery of the spheres of the planet, as the rigid initial scheme allows them only certain crude routes, as if blocking subtleties. Processing here transforms a dog’s strict collar into the flexible wisdom of a sage who sees the flow and branches of karma even in seemingly hopeless situations. To achieve this, however, one must overcome internal constraints in the spheres of the planet and realize that in the external world, service is much more effective than forced labor.
