We are, at this point (August 13th), eight degrees from the exact conjunction of Mars and Saturn in Libra; we would be foolish to expect things to lighten up to any great extent in the near future. The conjunction will be exact on August 25th, and these two planets will continue to battle with one another until September 5th when Mars begins his movement into Scorpio. 

I have noticed that the most intense time period of planetary influences happens as planets get closer to the exact degrees of the aspect and that once the exact aspect is past, the power lessens. Of course, we are talking about Mars and Saturn, so the relief may not come as quickly as with other planets. 

The Moon will join in this conjunction on August 30 and August 31 which will be two days during which it will be beneficial to not give into emotions and to expect the unexpected.  We’ve already had some jolting surprises this month, and expecting the unexpected for the rest of the month is a good idea. In our day-to-day lives, the approximate two-hour time period when the transit ascendant comes to Libra can be the most stressful time of the day.  The transit Libra Ascendant will take place from approximately 10:15 A.M. until 12:30 P.M., Eastern Time. Breathe deeply and try not to add fuel to the fire during that time period – whomever or whatever is causing the stress will most likely calm down quickly, and additional trouble can be avoided by not dancing to the tune of discord. 

As surprising as worldwide events have been, I think many were truly shocked and saddened by the death of Robin Williams. He was a comic genius who crossed generational lines. Those who follow this blog know that Saturn has been in Libra for over two and a half years, and eighteen of those months shared the space with Rahu along with Mars poking in and out of that sign during his retrograde time period.  

It is no surprise to learn that Robin Williams had a Libra Ascendant which has been under affliction for almost two and a half years.  Additionally, Robin had four planets in the sign of Cancer which Saturn has been aspecting from Libra for over two years.  Robin also had a close natal conjunction of the Moon and Rahu which gave him his incredible comedic skills but also played a role in his mental health issues.  There is a natural energy that comes with a Moon and Rahu conjunction, but once Saturn parked itself on Robin’s ascendant, I suspect that even such a powerful conjunction could not help shake the feelings of depression which were an affect of Saturn position in Libra. 

On the day he committed suicide, the transit Moon was in Aquarius where he joined the natal Rahu and Moon conjunction – the illusions of Rahu were magnified by the emotions of the transit Moon and added to the sense of hopelessness. Additionally, transit Mercury was exactly conjunct Robin’s natal Mercury with both being aspected by transit Saturn.  Mercury is the planet of discrimination and neutral mind, but after such a long transit of Saturn, it can be hard to experience neutrality over depression.

Would knowledge of Robin William’s Vedic chart have helped him? Astrology not only gives wonderful insights and spiritual perspective on life but it is also a time-keeper and, sometimes, just knowing the time-frame of the planetary configurations can be the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. To me what is tragic about the choice made by Robin Williams is that he had almost completed the Saturn transit and once Mars had left the sign of Libra in a couple of weeks, the burden he carried would have begun to lighten as the feelings of impatience and aggression would have been so much less.  From that point it would have been a matter of weeks before Saturn would have been off his Libra rising.

One of the most frustrating aspects of my chosen work is the fact that astrology has fallen father and father into irrelevancy. For a long time astrology concerned itself with the “foretelling of the future” which left the discipline open to the biblical condemnation of “soothsaying” and religion launched a strong campaign against astrology based on the condemnation of “prophecy” by human beings. The most well-known systems of astrology calculate the positions of the planets in such a way that the planetary positions do not match what astronomers know to be the planetary positions in the sky.  Astronomers use the same system of calculation as Vedic astrologers but Vedic astrology is not as well known as the other systems. The discrepancy of the planetary calculations most commonly used give modern science a good reason the disregard the “mother of all science” completely. With that disregard, the world loses the insights, the timing, and the knowledge of the energetic connections of the planets to our bodies, minds and spirits.

Brain disease and mental health problems are complex and I do not believe that Vedic astrology would have healed Robin Williams.  However, I will always wonder whether it would have made a difference if Robin had known how close he was to being finished with his long Saturn journey or whether it would have helped if someone who loved him had understood the extent of the negative influences on his chart on August 11th; perhaps he would not have been left alone long enough to make such an irreversible decision. Along with wondering about Robin Williams and so many others who made decisions while under such heavy influences, I will always be grateful that I had enough grace in my life to be able to study the discipline of Vedic astrology and to share it with others.