Q: My life is unrecognizable from the past of several years ago. I have been going through transformational changes that have to do with career, business relationships and interpersonal relationships. I used to characterize myself as "flighty," which is definitely something of the past. Since about 1999, I am much more serious about everything. My responses to situations are very different, and my priorities have significantly changed. I’ve arrived a very different person that I ever imagined. Am I done transforming? (Gemini 5/27/49)

A: I can understand why you might be ready to say "no mas." Since 1999, Chiron, Saturn and Pluto have been having their way with you. Here’s a summary of some of the astro patterns that have been prominent or active:

Your Chiron return starts in early 1999 by crossing your midheaven (aka the MC, or 10th house cusp). The return was exact in mid November 1999, and carried through the first part of 2000.

Then, in the spring of 2000, Saturn began transiting almost all of your personal planets (Mars, Moon, Sun, Venus and Mercury). Saturn stationed, or sat, on your nadir (aka the IC, or 4th house cusp) in August 2000, and re-crossed in late spring 2001. As soon as Saturn touches the IC, it’s conjunct your Sun. Saturn has been hanging out in your 4th house, conjuncting Venus and Mercury throughout the summer, at the same time it was opposing transiting Pluto in the 10th.

There has been a very strong emphasis on the continuum of experience represented by the 4th/10th house polarity. In traditional astrology, this polarity can represent your home (4th) and your career or status in the world (10th). It also represents your parents, with the 4th usually representing the influence of your father, and the 10th usually representing the influence of your mother. Traditionally then, transits of the 4th/10th axis would correspond with stress and/or changes in living situation, work or career, or parent/child relationships.

I think of the 4th/10th house polarity as a continuum of emotional strength and trust. The 4th house represents your foundation, or your inner feeling of emotional strength; the 10th house shows how your foundation supports you, or your strength in the external world. Technically, I call an emphasis on the 4th/10th continuum the ass over teakettle effect.

The series of transformations that began a couple of years ago seem to have turned your life inside out and upside down. These changes are linked to your Chiron return. When this kicked-in, it initiated a new stage of evolutionary, or karmic, development. Karma can be seen as patterns or habits that no longer serve our highest good. In this context, the Chiron return can sometimes be like a karmic intervention.

The changes that have occurred have literally shaken the foundations of who you thought you were. I wouldn’t be surprised if trust, or a lack or trust, has come up as an important relationship issue, both at home and at work. Check your memory banks to see if these issues are connected to relationships or patterns that may have started 12 to 14 years ago. Then look a little deeper and ask yourself what you were taught about trust and communication when you were younger. Specifically, were you taught to trust and express your feelings?

From an evolutionary perspective, the patterns in your chart suggest that you are working on achieving mutually supportive relationships. (There is quite a lot of this going around.) Learning to clearly and effectively communicate your emotional and physical needs is one of the keys in this process. At the return, Chiron intervened with another key -- "appropriate responsibility."

Appropriate responsibility means knowing what’s yours, and what’s not. It’s knowing and trusting what your feelings are telling you. Appropriate responsibility includes taking care of you. It does not include emotional overextension or emotional exhaustion.

Since the Chiron return, Saturn, with help from Pluto, has taken over this theme. Saturn has been bringing this message home, giving it physical form in your life. Appropriate responsibility lets you balance what you need to do for yourself, with what you need to do for others. It can let you be the calm in the middle of the storm.

Considering that Saturn is currently conjunct Uranus in the last degrees of Gemini, I don’t know if I would look for consistency just yet. (Have you felt inspired to say what you’re feeling, or noticed a tendency to spontaneously burst into iambic pentameter?)

With Saturn set to retrograde back into your fourth house, some of the existing situations may be re-visited, and hopefully resolved, by next summer.

It might be that this last bit is the process of getting your intuition wired back into the communication circuits, taking your "knowingness" from dial-up to broadband. When this is all done, you will be strong enough to trust yourself inside and out. ++