Cosmic Café Part Nine:
A Little Talk with Saturn

Oh, God. Saturn wanted to talk to me, personally? This couldn't be good. I stared at the phone, trying to decide whether or not to take the call. Of course, with Saturn, it doesn't matter whether or not you deal with him face to face. He'll stand there behind you with his arms folded until you listen. "And the longer you wait, the crankier he gets," Mercury added.

Jupiter  winced, made a face and pointed to the phone. "You let me know if he gives you any you-know-what. Okay, babe?"

I nodded and reached for the phone, as Mercury skated out the Café's door. I had a second to wish I were going with him before I spoke in my most "official" phone-voice. "Yes?"

"This is Saturn, Kim," he said. "I'd like to talk with you again."

Oy. I really wasn't looking forward to yet another lecture from the military general I'd met a few hours ago, but it wasn't a good idea to alienate the Lord of the Rings. "Okay," I said. "But can you give me a minute to catch my breath? It's been quite a day."

"Of course. Take your time. Call me when you're ready."

The phone went dead. I placed it carefully on the bar next to my wine, wrinkled up my nose and looked right into Jupiter's eyes. "Do I have to?"

"Well, babe, far be it from me to recommend that you spend time with that old pain in the butt, but maybe you'd better. He's in Taurus, so he's got nothin' but time, and you know how he gets when you try to blow him off."

I certainly did know. I was born with Saturn right on my Midheaven, first of all, the spot where he's the most powerful and the toughest, too. It's the astrological recipe for taking a bit too long to learn your lessons, even if you're not a Sagittarius and already prone to that sort of thing. Over the years, however, I had paid attention, done my homework and learned how to do my craft. So how bad could this "meeting" be?

The one thing that worried me was Saturn's position at the moment. He'd been opposite to my Mars at 11 Scorpio for what seemed like months, rigidly forcing me to take care of business, straighten up and get by on a shoestring. I was also getting used to living with the feeling that I'd fallen and I couldn't get up.

But now he was ready to move on, in a matter of just a day or so. That meant the physical and emotional heaviness I'd been feeling was about to dissipate. Gradually, but finally, I'd be able to smile again. Thank God/dess. After he left my Mars behind, he'd be coming up to trine my Venus. In other words, he'd be in a good mood, for a change, the next time I "saw" him. I decided to try and stall him until he was past Mars. It seemed like the appropriate thing to do.

The phone rang. I looked over at Jupiter, then put my phone-voice on again, sure it was Saturn calling to tell me there'd be no stalling him. "Hello?"

Blessedly, it wasn't Saturn. It was Mercury. "Hey, doll, lemme talk to Uncle J, okay?" I grinned and passed the phone to Jupiter, who plugged up one ear and strolled casually toward the back of the Café, laughing. He and Mercury obviously had a great relationship.

As soon as Jupiter was out of range, Neptune gracefully glided toward me, a wonderfully sentimental smile on her lovely face. "I know you've had quite the day, darling," she said, in the most compassionate voice I'd ever heard. She reached across the bar and patted my hand. "I want you to know that I'm here for you if you need to talk. " I smiled back. Neptune was exactly on my Moon that day—at 5 degrees of Aquarius. And my Moon is in the Twelfth House, Neptune's place. So, of course, she was "Mommying" me.

"Why don't you go home and take a nice nap?" she said. "I promise to send you a wonderful dream. You know, you're going to need your rest now, if you're going to be dealing with Saturn soon."

I glanced back at Jupiter, still merrily chatting with Mercury. Neptune smiled. "I'll tell him where you are. He'll wait for you. We all will. Now go get some rest, darling."

Next Week: Neptune's Dream