Assessing worth of fine-tuning a SSR

[Patrick Machado]

My 2023 SSR, even if I stay at home for it, will be excellent—unobjectionable. The year it covers will, however, overlap with a majority of Lunars that theoretically range from very bad to excruciatingly dreadful. How worth it would it be to perfect the Solar and set a higher baseline against which the Lunars will have to operate?

The SSR has transiting Jupiter partile conjunct-square natal Venus-Jupiter. For home, transiting Jupiter and natal Venus are both within 3° of IC, while natal Jupiter is almost 9° from Ascendant. (But it's square MC 2°10', for which TMSA puts it at 95% strength.) Solar Moon (also foreground) is conjunct natal Jupiter 2°50' in mundo.

For Criciúma, SC, all three of the aforementioned benefics get partile angularity (transiting Jupiter within 5'). Making the trip, however, wouldn't be trivial, and come mid-February it may turn out to not be doable despite my best efforts.

The difficult Lunars will be spread out all throughout the year, and their recurring feature is Saturn's upcoming transit to my Sun-Mars-Pluto (though mostly the latter two) on their angles. Here are some highlights:

• May 11's SLR: Transiting Saturn 1°07' from an angle, natal Pluto 0°17' from an angle, their mundane square 0°51'.
• June 21's DSLR: Transiting Saturn square natal Pluto 0°01'. Their angularity is moderate and the full Lunar alleviates it, but I had to mention this orb.
• August 1's SLR: Four malefics foreground.
• September 11's DSLR: Transiting Saturn partile on an angle conjunct-square natal Mars-Pluto partile, under an already heavy and toxic full Lunar.
• September 25's SLR: Transiting Saturn conjunct natal Mars 0°02' within 2° of an angle.
• December 15's SLR: Three malefics foreground, including transiting Saturn 7' from an angle conjunct natal Mars 0°10' and square natal Pluto 1°25'.

I'll say that it makes sense that there is this counterbalancing of sorts. My life doesn't seem yet ripe for what the SSR foretells, even the one at home; it almost feels like too sudden a shift. I expect that it will be a year of significant and continuing struggle, to the point that, if it weren't for the Lunars, the astrology might have had me puzzled. (I'm all for good surprises, of course.)

I feel like this gets quite close to "splitting hairs" territory, but does it get on there?

[Jim Eshelman]

Maybe splitting hairs, but I understand the question.

I agree: Your SSR at home is good. Transiting Jupiter and both natal benefits (in partile square) are the three most foreground planets, with Moon conjunct Jupiter foreground and Jupiter transiting Venus-Jupiter. Most people would happily accept this as a birthday present!

The only downside is that transiting Saturn is half a degree from conjunct your Sun. This is background so it won't have a strong effect on the year, but will float to the angles on and off. (You might want to calculate a string of Anlunars and Demi-Anlunars to see if/when it comes closely angular.) I don't at all think this outweighs the heavy benefics in the SSR, although - by itself, simply as an important transit - it will have its effect especially around your birthday. These transits are always of great importance. It probably will mark a clear threshold in maturing and require dealing with practical (if not quite "survival") matters. Consider it an early dose of your Saturn return in a couple of years.

But this really has nothing to do with the SSR, more of a parallel matter.

I think that if you can get away, you should do so for the sake of a vacation and adventure - these are always wonderful. However, if you can't, then don't stress it. (Especially since Saturn's transit to your Sun is exact just about then.)

I see that the angularities you want are essentially exact in Curitiba: t Jupiter 0°02', natal Venus 0°14', natal Jupiter 1°12'. But that's farther away, yes? (North of Santa Catarina.) I don't think you NEED to travel for this one, but, if you do, you might try the stronger effect of going a little bit further and stay on the west edge of Curitiba.

[Patrick Machado]

Adventure, yes, but not much of a vacation the way I imagined it—I'd be in town for one night, arriving one day and leaving the next, just for the sake of the SSR.

I hear you on the Saturn-Sun transit. Neptune will also be transiting my Saturn (middleground in the SSR). Though larger-scale than that, they could theoretically mean, in terms of immediate impact during that couple of days, the concerns and hiccups that come with travelling. For that matter, they could mean finding out I won't be able to go, and/or having to attend to something urgent. (I don't even know yet if I'll be on leave from my internship in February. There's at least a good chance.) I will have, of course, Jupiter transiting Venus-Jupiter at that time, so whether I end up going or not, I can count on feeling fine about the outcome.

Curitiba does win over Criciúma in angularities considering their central coordinates, but yes, the practical consideration of the longer distance takes precedence. For the theoretical sake of getting something as close to 0°00' of an angle as possible, it seems that would be feasible within Criciúma itself. But, in principle, I'd just be going for turning one Class 3 and two non-partile Class 1 angularities all into partile.