Nearly 18 years of years of serious societal dysfunction will have reached its peak during the period 2010-2012.  Losses of homes, jobs, and high personal debt will have brought many relationships to their breaking point.

On 30 October 2009, Saturn (the ‘get real’ factor) entered Libra (relationships) where it will remain (except during a dip back into Virgo from April – July this year) until early October 2012.   The impact on society, families, personal relationships, and marriages will be devastating.

Get ready to watch the fur fly.

Since 2007, the divorce rate has fallen dramatically because of the economic crisis. “It is very hard to refinance right now and many people are being forced to just stay put,” says one divorce lawyer.

Expect this to continue until mid July this year when Saturn begins its 2 1/2 year transit through Libra in earnest, during which time separations, annulments and divorces will rise significantly (especially during Mars’ transit through Libra from 30 July – 14 September 2010) generating substantial economic and psychological debris.

With Saturn, the “fear” factor always plays a significant role: fear of aging, fear of change, fear of the future – all of which are bugbears of huge chunks of Western society now faced with having to “let go” of those material things in life to which they’ve given much more importance than they deserved.

Personal happiness is the foundation of happy relationships and Saturn in Libra means to teach us that rather being an entitlement, happiness is hard work.

The most important thing you can do now is to focus on those relationships in your life that feature good old common sense and a return to the core values that make human relationships enjoyable.

We all need to take positive steps to counter the negative impact of a decade of the culture of “fear”.  The best way to do this is through “downtime” for BOTH children and adults in order to re-discover personal values for yourself and your family.  In other words, take time out of life to smell the roses.

Another way to make the best of Saturn’s transit through Libra is to reduce the amount of clutter and distraction in your life.  Take time off the Internet.  Watch less television and stop being distracted by pocketfuls of electronic gadgets.  With time and space to contemplate your life experience, you’ll gain wisdom, by which I mean the knowledge, insight, and good judgment required to live a full and satisfying life.  Saturn’s lessons are those of perseverance, commitment, and delayed gratification.

Learning these lessons are key to your ability to survive in the coming years as the effects of the economic crisis continues to have maximum impact on millions seeking to recover from the economic, social, professional, and personal damage that resulted from the internal fears of the collective that being projected negatively into the material world.

Times are changing.  There’s no turning back.  Transiting Uranus opposition to Saturn (April 2011- October 2012) assures that the “new” will win out over the “old’.

Good luck in the challenging times ahead and don’t forget we’re all in this together.