Most people experience despair at some point in their life. I’ve been through periods like this myself, more times than I care to recall. You look at your life and you can’t see a way out of whatever horrible scenario you’re in.
Nobody wants to feel this way. If you’ve ever had this experience, and recovered, you want avoid having it again it but this is not always possible.
Why do people feel despair?
A person can bring misery upon themselves but sometimes pain and hardship is delivered to you. It lands right on your doorstep when a loved one dies or you lose a job that you need very badly. You may suffer a catastrophic financial loss, or you or someone you love may have an major illness or a tragic accident. When these things happen, comfort may be hard to come by.
Can astrology help?
Astrologically, speaking, the outer planets aren’t much help in a scenario like this. The lights (Sun and Moon) and the inner planets won’t help much either. To illustrate, let’s say you child dies due to medical malpractice. What good is your ego (Sun) in this situation? What will your emotions (Moon) do for you?
Talking about it (Mercury), will not stave off despair, either will a big fat cash settlement (Venus). You can lash out (Mars) but you’re still going to have a horrible time.
This leaves Jupiter and Saturn to provide a remedy, which they do, without fail, when used in combination.
How can I apply this to my life?
Jupiter rules perspective and the big picture. I don’t care how bad your situation is, if you place it in a larger picture, you can scale it down. In fact, it takes about two seconds to find someone who has it worse than you do. When you consider your problem, next to yours, all the sudden you’re blessed rather than cursed. That’s perspective!
For example, the mother who lost her child as outlined above, is looking pretty good next to the mother who lost her three sons in a car accident, where her daughter was the driver and oh yeah, her house is in foreclosure and her surviving daughter has to have her leg amputated.
I realize that is an outrageous story but you see my point. Your problems can be scaled down in this way and immediately made more manageable.
Once you have your problem scaled, Saturn comes in to have you accept the reality of your situation and the limitations you face. This is a benefit because you’re not going to get out of your mess, waiting to rescued. It will take commitment and perseverance (Saturn) to work toward your vision of better times ahead (Jupiter).
What if I have no vision of better times ahead?
Even if practical application is not possible in the moment, you still want to use the energy of these two planets to improve your situation. Here are some ideas:
- Come up with a philosophy (Jupiter) that allows you better handle the difficulty (Saturn). Example – hardship builds character, where ease does not.
- Realize you are in a difficult (Saturn) part of your journey (Jupiter) but it’s part of a larger story (Jupiter) and will not last forever (Saturn).
- Discipline (Saturn) your higher mind (Jupiter).
- Develop beliefs (Jupiter) that support you (Saturn), rather than oppress you.
To sum up, when yourself in a state of despair, visualize (Jupiter) a light at the end of the tunnel. Make getting to that light, your goal (Saturn). Follow up by moving slowly and methodically (Saturn) towards that light, believing (Jupiter) you can do it. I think you’ll find his very effective. Move forward (Jupiter) even if progress is slow (Saturn).
Have you survived a period of despair and gone on to thrive? Tell us!
Thanks Elsa, good timing again. A lot of what you’ve posted lately has been relevant for me. This one is no exception. Keep on doing whatever it is you’re doing to stay connected to the flow. :0]
Great post!!
I have several times and I just told myself to keep putting one foot in front of the other. It’s one day closer to being over than it was yesterday.
A friend with a Sadge Moon told me “sometimes the only way to go is up” 🙂
I have Saturn square Jupiter in my natal chart and I actually like it. It keeps me from over doing the Jupiter in the first house.
I have definitely been in despair, most recently when a highly significant relationship ended a few years back. I still don’t think I’m quite thriving after that (I was seriously wrecked and more than one area of my life ended up kerflumped), but I am definitely on the upswing and further up the mountain than I was last year, or the year before that! And that’s just the most recent dire strait; there are more I could cite that I absolutely did recover from and thrived afterward. *smiles*
I don’t have any contact between Jupiter and Saturn natally, but I’ve used each and every one of the strategies Elsa mentioned at one time or another (and sometimes all at once). As ineffectual as you may think these will be when you’re at the bottom, it really will help if you keep at it!
Thanks Elsa, this is very timely. Although this is something I have done time and again, I needed a reminder of this today.
Much love
Yes, by explaining things to myself much like you described. I look at my life as a puzzle. What is happening now is a small piece. I can take that puzzle piece out and examine it and grieve over it and (Neptune) become addicted to the melancholy of it. But, when I put it back in it’s place within the puzzle, it’s brought back into perspective. It’s still important. The puzzle of my life wouldn’t be complete without it. But, it has a place as a small part of a whole.
Yes! And I did it by doing exactly what you state here. Fascinating, fascinating… I never thought of Jupiter and Saturn this way. So true that neither the personal planets nor the outer planets can do the work of Jupiter and Saturn.
Thanks Elsa! Excellent post!
I am just coming out of the worst 5 years of my life, I was helped throughout the process by a very good astrologer who helped me find meaning and a way out. Am I thriving again? not yet, but I am on the way up.
BTW Elsa, I was reminded of a woman that my parents knew when I was around 15, who lost all 3 sons in a traffic accident. Every time she saw me and my sister (we were the same age as her sons), I could see the pain in her face every time. It was soooo sad. I can’t imagine what she must have gone through. Perspective indeed.
I find that I persevere with my first house Saturn, and make use of my third house Jupiter for positive thinking.
Also..I agree with Sassafrass, very good timing, and relevant… I’m sure you are plugged in to the collective somehow Elsa!
“Once you have your problem scaled, Saturn comes in to have you accept the reality of your situation and the limitations you face. This is a benefit because you’re not going to get out of your mess, waiting to rescued. It will take commitment and perseverance (Saturn) to work toward your vision of better times ahead (Jupiter).”
Wonderful advice. This has definitely worked for me. I am coming out of a prolonged period of despair. I’m committed to better times ahead. I try not to give in to fear.
I have one of those charts with a zillion aspects and transits happening at the same time. The bad thing is, something is always happening. The good thing is, something is always happening! 😀
I have a jupiter sun and a saturn moon. I have mastered bullet #1 and bullet #2 still working on #3 & #4. I’ll get there, one step at a time as I continue to climb.
Excellent post and advice.
Amazing.
Jupiter has been opposing Saturn quite a bit in the last one year. Does this have anything to do with Jupiter not showering it’s greatness as much as it could because it is opposing Saturn and somewhat squaring Pluto? I have a Taurus Sun and Capri Rising and Taureans supposedly should be having a great year but I really had a lot of tough times and I agree I learned a ton that will be helpful for the rest of my life and will be greatful for. It was and still is very painful. I hope the light comes at the end of the tunnel soon. I am sure it will be great when it does. Time does heal all.
Another great post, Elsa. 🙂 <3
I love this article.
I have Jup-Sat opposition in my SR and it’s been in effect as a double-whammy (Jup on my Sat and Sat on my Jup both pairs opposite each other too!).
I am working hard (Saturn) to get where I want to be (Jupiter).
I also like the point about perspective.
Will be saving this offline to read again and again.
Thanks.
Thank you for the consistently brilliant posts! You are at the top of your game.
Thank you, Deglet. 🙂
Elsa this was just wonderful. And practical. Thank you. 🙂
I’ve been in the deepest despair more than once. Gratitude and staying connected to Source have helped greatly. Sometimes, it’s a hell of a lot of work to get out of that hole !
Beautiful post, Elsa <3
Excellent post, thank you, Elsa!
This was like a consult wrapped in a blog post – thank you.
Elsa you should have added hopeless and fearful.
🙂
I don’t know if Saturn caused this but eventually i gained strength.
or at least gaining.
Mercury Sextile Venus, exact at 21:13 (L)
Moon Conjunction Venus, exact at 12:48
Moon Conjunction Med.Coeli, exact at 14:27
Moon Square Ascendant, exact at 16:47
Moon in the 10th House, from 14:27
Moon Sextile Chiron, exact at 16:40
Moon Square Pluto, exact at 02:25
Moon Square Saturn, exact at 22:09
Moon Trine Uranus, exact at 22:32
It is crazy today!
(((xcd)))
This new phase of life just started with a very bad day 🙁 Thanks so much for this post :)It is exactly what I needed to hear/read.
Please write more posts like this one – ones that explain the planets and what they stand for and how they relate in real people lives. I actaully felt like I learned something. More “explaining” posts please…
I feel like I am the only one who isn’t sure how to interpret my natal Jupiter and Saturn.
Jupiter in Libra in the 11th (conjunct to both Mercury and Uranus) Saturn in Taurus in the 6th (all by itself).
The only thing I can think of is I am supposed to talk (Mercury) to my weird (Uranus) friends or groups I am involved in (11th).
See I suck at this? Because I don’t think that is right.
I can’t even begin to figure Saturn out because there are no major aspects to him. He is very lonely and and he to tough it out by himself in the 6th house – which sounds very reflective of how my life is.
That’s what I did and that’s what I am doing:
Switching on the TV to see people who have it worse then I do.
Than I started to discipline my higher mind through astrology. Catagorising each problem according to each planet, each transit. My 7 planets in Mercury are a great help in the catagorising, analysing and understanding of what was going on.
Still that wasn’t enough, I still wanted to die.
When I combined: – people who have it worse than I do with – Using astrology to make problems understandable, that’s when the zest for life returned. I, the eternal child, had found a way to make myself useful for other people. Or actually this was activated for me through transits and progressions.
8th house Capricorn
3 yods, all involving Saturn, one of them having Saturn as the apex.
This current phase of despair I’m experiencing is actually because of the effects (I think?) of my Saturn (2nd along with moon and mercury) squaring my Jupiter (all alone in the 5th) but having read your post Elsa I see that therein lies the cure too.
Challenge is; Jupiter just doesn’t want to knuckle down and perservere, just as I’m getting somewhere and perserverence is called for he chucks a spanner in the works and I get the irresistable urge to goof off and have some FUN. Trouble is these are not spending the day at the beach goof offs, though they do happen, but more complete and irreversable goofs; career, partner, residence, even country of residence. I have to find another, less traumatic, way to scratch those itchy feet.
very insightful – thx EP
I absolutely LOVED this style of post Elsa!! Very creative 🙂
Truth. Beautifully put. Perfect timing. As usual. 😉
*Perspective* is my key word, these days.
I keep getting stuck on the sheer volume and complexity of the responses your post brings to me. More properly I should/could leverage these on the Boards, and will try to do that.
So for here and now, I want to sincerely thank you for this lesson and advice. It has helped, and that is just in my fumbling, novice first attempts. (Some of these practices are very foreign and feel awkward!) I can sense that there is more that I can access through repetition and practice and faith.
Well, after reading the extreme scenarios, I am sitting pretty, when I think about it. I still am doing the 12th house way. Starting to do more Yoga, be in more silence and getting therapy. But interestingly, since my first house is Jupiter ruled and houses Saturn, I think I get what you are on about here. Great post Elsa!
Wonderful post – agree with Josephine it was like a consult wrapped up in a blog post for me, clearly for many here it has had the same effect.
I will be bookmarking this post for years to come I am sure! Thank you!
Thriving for me meant learning to walk away from a lot of expectations, preconceptions, etc. It meant recognizing and appreciating what may still remain when all seems lost: one’s humanity. And that is what you invest in when you’ve got nothing else.
When you have lost that which is most precious to you, you have the opportunity to be liberated from fear, from clinging to things you will eventually lose anyway, from trying to avoid pain. It becomes a lot easier to embrace uncertainty and risk, and as such, to live deeply. That has been my experience, anyway…
p.s. Sorry, I don’t really have any astrology behind any of that…
Like Josephine said, another consultation via your blog post. Jupiter! That’s how I see you, Elsa. Generous and wide-spreading.
Thank you.
Great post Elsa – Jupiter and Saturn are definitely our bridges into the deeper space of the outer planets where our egos start to dissolve piece by piece which both soothes and scratches our here and now concerns.
Thanks, Elsa, for this great post! Both inspiring and grounding..
Thanks Elsa. This was dearly needed and very much appreciated. I’ve bookmarked it as I need to read things over several times usually to really make it stick.
This is really helpful. I don’t have anything to contribute but just wanted to thank you for this one.
You’re welcome. 🙂
Thank you Elsa i will read this post again and again. I lost my job, my mother has cancer, I hurt all over and feel so tired but there is something i can do: create and see the light and make a plan to achieve that goal. Take charge!
Jean, I’m so sorry you’re in the midst of such pain. I hope your mother pulls through.
Utilising these contrasting (benefic/malefic) energies to help navigate through difficult times is a Brilliant suggestion. These planets work so well together when working towards goals/plans.
Thank you
Sending supportive energies to Jean above, and thanking you Elsa for resurfacing this post.
I have work to do (on myself) and you have provided the PROPER tools to get the job done, and instructions and examples on how to use them.
This will be very, very useful.
Thank you!
I’m despairing now.
Natal Capricorn moon=tr.Saturn &Pluto conj.
Now tr.Pluto squares my natal Pluto
Rn, progressed DESTINY asteroid conjunct natal VERTEX..what of that?!