Outer Planets and Liz Greene

I grabbed a few astrology books from the library shelf so that I can immerse myself in my astrology crash course.  One of the books, "The Outer Planets & Their Cycles" by Liz Greene was published while I was in college (a long time ago).  Yet, I turn to Greene's wisdom regarding the outer planets and several years ago, I recall reading her book on Pluto (the best book I've read on Pluto).  However, in 1980, when the Greene delivered the lectures in this book, she seemed apologetic for her lack of knowledge about the outer planets.  (I completed this book and enjoyed Greene's insights on the outer planets. The most interesting aspect of her talks was that Greene relegated the 10th house to the mother, not the father. Think about that.)



Astrologer Liz Greene

Expert or not, Greene engages in a Neptune-Mercury flow as she delivers information on these planets.  I'm not sure if she downloaded the information as she went along or if words just crept into her mouth, but the writing here  (and lectures) feel engaging.  I had a difficult time putting down this book at bedtime because I'm also fascinated with the outer planets, these generation markers, trendsetters, and predictors of global events. 







While Greene mainly talked about events that occurred in the 1980s with Saturn and outer planet conjunctions (I'm only on the fourth chapter), she did talk about important conjunctions that took place in the 1940s-70s, as well as, going back to medieval and renaissance times.  Her lectures come across as scholarly and entertaining to me since I love how the puzzle pieces of a natal or transit chart come together to create a whole person, events, or place.

While Greene, focused mainly on the outer planets conjunctions with Saturn, she mentioned that oppositions and squares between Saturn and the outer planets also define us, as individuals and generations.  A person, Greene mentions, that does not have any outer planets highlighted (heavily aspected or a focus) in a chart lives a relatively normal and peaceful life.  These people did not come to bring change or transformation to the planet and do not have to worry about being ahead of their time, scapegoated or treated like a heretic.

The Neptune symbol for me

These are the folks who fit in, get the right job, make money and support their families or endeavors.  They don't care if they change the world and probably think activists are hotheaded and unrealistic.  Why rock the boat, especially when they feel the waters are calm?  However, for people who do have outer planets playing key roles in their charts, life on the planet presents a different story.  They might struggle in their early life, work in the arts or healing arts, but live in poverty.  They might have ideas that are so far ahead of the times, that people avoid them or label them as crazy, especially if Uranus or Neptune are involved in the person's chart.

Uranus ruled by Aquarius plays the role as the monkey wrench thrown into the works, the radical on the street with the sign, or the medical researcher pioneering a healing modality that would heal the planet and liberate us from oppression.  Here you find the feminist, the first woman to fly an airplane or do anything a woman is not permitted to do. You find Hildegard von Bingen, a medieval abbess who healed with plants, composed amazing healing chants, and published books in an era where women were burned on the stakes for these things.  You will also find Joan of Arc here, Maya Angelou, Oprah Winfrey, as well as, Albert Einstein and Mozart.  These are the people who shake things up on the planet, and liven us up a bit.  The established order won't work for them so they rally against it, sometimes peacefully like Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. and sometimes through violent means.

Pluto ruled by Scorpio works more behind the scenes.  Often this planet feels as silent as a weasel sneaking up to its prey.  This planet abducts our souls and drags us into the darkness of the underworld where if we surrender, we eat pomegranates and grow wiser.  If we flail about and scream or act like a victim, Pluto poisons us with vengeful and self-abusing thoughts and emotions.  However, it is our choice to choose to cower like a victim or grab the hem of arc angels and wisdom keepers.  Pluto either empowers us or defeats us, but we get to choose.

Neptune ruled by Pisces desires to dissolve everything it touches into fog or mist.  It asks us to ascend and see past illusions, but even seeing past illusions proves challenging to most people.  What if we like the illusions? What if we enjoy starring in our own glamorous dramas? What if magic and the sleigh of the hand appears in the Neptune deck for us and we don't want to give it up? Getting lost in fantasies has its advantages in that we don't need to take responsibility and face reality.

On the flip side, Neptune is the most gentle of the outer planets.  Neptune doesn't need to rebel against Saturn or live in the shadows like Pluto.  In fact, I prefer Neptune transform the planet rather than Pluto blow up the old structure and Uranus excite angry mobs.  Imagine melting all this chaos that we feel and transcending into Unity Consciousness.  Why do people fear this process? I don't but then Neptune is the second most heavy player in my chart along with Mercury.  She acts as a visionary and a channel to the Divine, pouring into me what ever wisdom I need, which Mercury then writes it down or communicates it orally through me, the vessel.

I have three outer planets and Saturn highlighted in my natal chart.  Does this mean I'm so far ahead of my time that I'll never make a living? Does this mean that I'll ascend and become more invisible than I am now? And will I need to live in the uncomfortable tension that Saturn/Moon opposite Uranus/Pluto presents in my chart? Could Neptune dissolve all of that?

All I know is that I'll read further in Greene's book.  At least my fascination with the topic brings me some balm to feeling too far ahead of my time.  While in retrospect hanging out with the Van Goghs and Mozarts of the world would feel in good company, it's another thing when I'm stuck in the midst of invisibility and feeling strange looks from people when I present my case.  Still, I'm not the sort of person to toss in the towel and I have my eyes focused on the long view. Which I hope the other people born in the 2 1/2 years when Saturn was in Pisces and Uranus and Pluto hung out in Virgo will also do.  Keep your eyes on the prize, soul brothers and sisters.  At least in a hundreds years or so we will have made a name for ourselves.