Thursday, November 3, 2011

Saturn Returns


First, a photo of a recent trip to New Zealand. I went to Queenstown for a research conference for work. What an amazing place and a wonderful way to escape the office for a week (minus the fact that I had previously traveled home from Africa for 32 hours, to stay in SF for 30 hours and then travel to NZ for 28 hours - I was a tad jet lagged). I HAVE to go back - this place is too beautiful for words. I even met Steven Colbert on my flight home. I asked him why he was visiting with his family and he responded "because of Lord of the Rings." Hilarious!



So, remember how I said I have a degree in Microbiology? I am incredibly scientific minded. What I mean is that I have a hard time understanding something unless I understand the scientific mechanism behind it.

About a year and a half ago, I finally broke down and saw an acupuncturist. I had a lovely long journey of a running injury and went through 2 orthopedic doctors, 3 physical therapists, an extremely painful MRI (involving a huge ass needle stuck into my hip), exercises, pilates classes, etc. You name it I did it. Except acupuncture. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around something so *out there.* But, alas, I finally took the plunge after one of my bf's, N, encouraged me to give it a try. Fine, I said...

I had no idea that my first appointment would change my life forever! The very first session I had with my acupuncturist, J, eliminated a horribly painful knot in my lower back and it has never returned. I could go on and on about J and acupuncture, but for brevity, I shall keep it short here. Besides, part of this blog is me wanting to explore my interests in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), so I’m sure I’ll write a lot more about it later!

Anyway, back to Saturn Returns. What is it you ask? Sounds like some sort of crazy astrological talk you’d expect from a card reader right? So, about a month ago, I’m seeing J for an appointment and it had been nearly 2 months since I had last seen her. I mentioned I had just turned 29 and she gets this knowing smile on her face and says, “aww.. you’re going through your Saturn Returns!.” And I’m thinking, “J, you were never into tarot cards or anything!” but kept it to myself and thought on it.

Later, I looked this weird topic up and find this article. I then even became more and more skeptical of J and her Saturn Returns. I read a bit more and found that in astrology, there is an idea that every 7 years you have a release of energy. Ok... well, I guess that makes a bit of sense. After 7, you change from baby to child. At 14, you change from child to teenager. At 21, you change from teenager to adult. And then, voila! Saturn returns and you hit a shit storm. Or at least that how it feels for me right now. Out of desperation, I mention to my husband, R, that I thought about seeing an astrologer for $75. He said he’d divorce me after 3 months of marriage. Haha! He’s right! I really needed a dose of reality. I even emailed another bf, S, who at the time was just starting an incredible teacher training class in Bali for 3 weeks. Funny, she said she met another girl there and they were talking about it. I’m going to Seattle to see her and N, so I cannot wait to hear more from her...

So there I am, last week back in J’s office, having a bit of an emotional break down and asking her more about Saturn Returns. Ah, then she stepped in with her calming, caring voice and advice and explained more. She isn’t into astrology (huge sigh of relief) and she stated that many cultures have this idea that every 28.5 years things go wonky for you. Old Chinese women, Tibetian monks, even ancient Europeans had this idea. It’s just that we don’t have anything like this in our culture. I was in awe. And then I promptly said that this really sucked. She responded - “it doesn’t have to.”

And so, it really doesn’t have to. Now, with renewed optimism (I’m a die hard optimist anyway), I decided to figure my shit out. Supposedly this lasts for a little while. I saw R go through it (he’s a few years older than me) and wondered why life was so turbulent for him at that time. He figured it out and is incredibly happy. Now it’s probably my turn...

As I am in marketing, trapped in my box of a cubicle, I would like to refer to Scott Adam’s most awesome comic that explains it all... and is even more hilarious because I used to be in sales!


1 comment:

  1. can't wait to see you!
    check out this saturn return calculator - pretty interesting
    http://www.astrocal.co.uk/saturn-return.htm

    ReplyDelete