The Lion’s leaden breastplate

If you live in the northern hemisphere, look up at the sky any clear evening this month to see the approaching dance between one wanderer you know well and one fixed star you may not know as well. The latter is the glowing heart of the Lion. The former is the cold planet of lead.

These spring evenings are the perfect time to observe the grand constellation of Leo, the Lion. Look up in the southern sky around 10pm any night this week to see a great backwards question mark (the lion’s head and mane) punctuated by the fixed star Regulus. Its name is Latin for “Little King,” and it’s also known as the Heart of the Lion from its location in the constellation.

Just to the left of Regulus these days, parking on the Lion’s chest, is the planetary wanderer Saturn, slow, cold, and elderly. A little distance further to the left, a small triangle of stars depicts the Lion’s crouching hindquarters. As spring progresses, you’ll need to step outside a little earlier each evening to see the constellation Leo at its height.

Saturn right now is retrograde in the early degrees of Virgo, about 2 degrees 18 minutes today. Regulus is poised just at the end of Leo, at 29 degrees 56 minutes. If you observe them carefully over the next several nights and weeks, you’ll see Saturn’s position verrrry sllllowly shift to the right, approaching, approaching, but growing slower and slower. The distance it has to travel to reach Regulus is small – just a couple of degrees of arc. The weight of leaden Saturn seems ready to drag down the Lion’s shining heart.

But the conjunction is never achieved. Saturn creeps to a fraction of its usual measured, ancient pace as it approaches its station. Finally, stationary at 1 Virgo 40 the first weekend of May, it comes as close as it will to the Little King at the end of Leo. And since, in this astrology, planets in two adjacent signs cannot be conjunct, its cold lead does not conquer the Heart of the Lion.

What can we expect from Saturn, ever the slowest of the classical seven planets, grinding to a halt in Virgo? I’d say inertia is the order of the day, the sense that you just can’t get projects off the ground. Lodged in Virgo, the sign ruling the intestines, stationary Saturn is a tummy ache that just won’t move. (Are you drinking your water? Getting enough fiber? Taking a walk after supper?)

Mentally, it’s a case of the doldrums, a penchant for melancholy thoughts. If Saturn’s station corresponds to an onset of inertia for you, perhaps spending time with your most regal, spirited friend – high-tempered, magnanimous, and generous – could help shake off those blues.