The Greater Malefic

In the comments on the preceding post, ‘Nancy’ asked about the following configuration in a friend’s chart: “Sun 23′ capricorn in 10th house with mars and mercury 8and 9″ capricorn with Saturn in middle of the firth house at 15′ leo trine Neptune iat 15′ sag conjunct 9th cusp with a13′ aries rising?”

With the disclaimer that I am not a professional, I will offer my thoughts on this situation in light of the “learning to have fun” process described earlier.  Nancy has provided us with a very heavy Saturn/Capricorn/10th house configuration as well as a Saturn/Neptune trine in Fire.  Working from this information I am going to assume that this person was born in early 1977 and probably has Jupiter at 15 Taurus, Uranus at 11 Scorpio (these are critical to note, as they help form a T-square off Saturn), and Pluto at 14 Libra

Here then, are the influences:
—>Sun in Capricorn, drawing strength from the 10th house
—>Mercury conjunct Mars in Cacpricorn (I’m going to guess it’s in the 9th or the cusp of the 1oth)
—>ASC in Aries, further adding to the cardinality/angularity of the chart
—>Saturn in Leo, in classical detriment, in the fifth house (not a good mix with Saturn)
—>Saturn as part of a Fixed T-square with Jupiter and Uranus
—>Saturn trine both Neptune in Sagittarius and the ASC in Aries

I would definitely read this as one of the Saturnine types that really needs to learn how to have fun.  Saturn is not well placed natally and it is in hard aspect to Uranus, a planet that it obviously does not “get along” with.  I do not find the square to Jupiter all that alarming, but the trine to Neptune, if Venus is square, would cause me a little bit of concern in terms of being susceptible to what some might call the weaknesses of Neptune (self-delusion), but I would think the Capricorn Sun would provide some grounding there.  Along with Saturn being a bit of a downer in the fifth house, I would guess that this person’s communication style (something that I would see as a gateway toward having fun, at least in terms of flirting) can be very blocked–Mars conjunct Mercury tends to produce outbursts of communication even though the style is usually very careful.  The native might get frustrated with him/herself, especially around an outburst. 

The Saturn/Neptune opposition as well as Mars’s recent extended stay in Taurus have all been very difficult transits for your friend, I would imagine, and have worked to create a lot of stress.  I wonder if your friend has recently been too exhausted and/or overwhelmed to have fun or learn to have fun.  Sun and Mars in Capricorn in the 10th (or near the 10th) certainly provide a drive to work, and I know a lot of people with Earth Suns and Mars placements that have really driven themselves too hard recently.  As Saturn looks to join Jupiter and Uranus in Mutable signs, your friend, along with many other Fixed-dominated people, should see opportunities for resolving stressful situations. 

Perhaps after that time, your friend will have the energy to work on the process of gracefully “unaging” him or herself.