Okay, so, this whole astrology thing… man, sometimes the planets really throw some curveballs, right? I figured hey, why not actually track the tough times myself? See what really messes with people. Started scribbling notes whenever life got super bumpy.
How I Started Spotting the Rough Patches
First up, I just kept a super simple journal. Started like, 3 years back? Whenever I felt totally slammed – work crashing, relationships crumbling, or just waking up feeling completely defeated for weeks – I’d note the date. Also started paying attention to the birth charts of close friends going through it. Like, Sarah’s disaster year? Tracked that. My cousin Mike’s messy divorce? Tracked that too.
Then, every month I’d sit down with my own chart, grab a free online chart generator (so many pop-up ads, it was annoying!), and squint at where the planets were hanging out on those tough dates. Honestly, it looked like alphabet soup at first. Took me forever to figure out what aspects were tense. Felt like detective work, piecing together clues.
The Winners (Or Losers?) Emerge
After months of staring at squiggly lines and symbols that meant nothing until they meant something, patterns showed up. Loud and clear. Three things kept popping up every single time major crap hit the fan:
- Saturn Returns: Man, when Saturn parked itself directly opposite my natal Saturn? Brutal. Everything felt heavy. Responsibilities piled up like crazy. Felt stuck in concrete boots. This one showed up so consistently during life-upheaval moments – me and like 5 friends between 27-30. Jobs lost, big moves, existential dread you name it. It wasn’t a quick storm; it was a whole dang rainy season.
- Pluto Squares the Sun or Moon: This one was sneaky. It wasn’t always a sudden explosion (though sometimes it totally was!). More like feeling powerless getting steamrolled by stuff way bigger than me – corporate changes, family secrets blowing up, losing someone close. Deep, gutting transformation. Looking back at those times? Yeah, I was not the fun friend. It felt like life was tearing down everything I thought was solid.
- Uranus Opposing Your Personal Planets: Holy lightning strikes! When Uranus sat right across from my Venus? Boom. Long-term relationship ended overnight. Like, “peace out” text level. And Mars? Lost my cool at work, almost quit in a blaze of glory. It hit friends too: unexpected job losses, surprise moves across country, sudden accidents. Chaos level 1000. You feel completely at the mercy of weird luck.
Living Through It & What I Learned
Tracking this wasn’t magic, but damn, it helped. Knowing Saturn was doing its thing during that soul-crushing job phase? Made me grit my teeth a bit harder, knowing it wouldn’t last forever. Seeing Pluto square my Moon coming on the calendar? I braced myself before the big family drama blew up. Still sucked, but I wasn’t blindsided.
Here’s the real takeaway: these transits are not subtle. They force massive, uncomfortable change. You kinda just have to strap in and ride it out. Saturn made me grow up fast. Pluto made me face hard truths. Uranus? Taught me flexibility – though kicking and screaming sometimes.
Would knowing stop the pain? Nope. My cousin still got divorced. I still ugly-cried in my pajamas for days. But understanding the why and the when? It made me feel a tiny bit less like life was randomly punching me. Turns out the planets were throwing some heavyweight punches, and just knowing their moves helped me duck or roll with it a little better. Still totally sucked though. Big time.