Jonny had called
me during the last two periods of retrograde Mercury, responding
to my ad in a local newspaper and threatening to come and
get a reading someday. Him: "I'm not quite ready
yet, but maybe soon." Me: "Well, what kind of reading
do you want?" Him: "What are you offering?" He
had a wonderful New Zealand accent, and he made me laugh.
After about six months and numerous phone calls, he finally
made an appointment. I was intrigued: I had formulate
a complete visual concept of him in my head--a big, strapping,
red-headed, outback kind of guy--and I wondered if I'd be
attracted to him. I worked up the usual charts -- secondary
and solar arc progressions, solar returns, relocation -- scrutinized
them with more than the usual thoroughness, and looked forward
to our meeting.
Jonny's Sun and
Mercury in Libra are conjunct Neptune, so of course he completely
forgot about our appointment. I waited at my office
for a half hour, and then stormed home, fuming. I had
really been looking forward to the appointment, and besides,
I needed the money! He called an hour or so later, apologizing
profusely. He'd been in San Diego visiting his brother,
the note about the appointment was hanging in his office in
South Pasadena, and he just plain forgot. Could I ever
forgive him? I was still furious, and not in a particularly
forgiving mood. He coaxed. He wheedled.
Finally, he offered me an extra $25.00 to do the reading.
Fortunately for posterity, I needed the money.
To say that my
mental picture of him had been inaccurate would be an understatement.
He was a thin, dark-haired, bearded fellow with glasses and
suspenders, and we weren't remotely attracted to one another.
But we did hit it off as friends (his Jupiter trines my Sun
and ascendant) and within a few months we were inseparable:
dropping by each other's offices, chatting on the phone a
couple of times a day, having dinner, spending endless hours
outside the local cafe drinking coffee and talking about life.
He took me to the bus station, chauffeured me around for a
week after I blew up the engine in my car (bad Uranus transit!),
picked me up at the airport when I came home from the UAC
conference, fixed my refrigerator. Rarely had I so enjoyed
the company of a person I was not interested in dating!
Meanwhile, as
I kept telling my advanced astrology students, my chart was
displaying serious signs of impending relationship.
My progressed Moon, in the death throes of its passage through
Cancer (glad I won't have to go through that one again
for another 29 years!), would soon enter Leo and the ninth
house, opposing Jupiter and then conjuncting Mercury, the
ruler of my descendant. At the same time, solar arc
Venus was moving to conjunct natal Mercury. In addition,
major eclipses were activating Venus in the eighth house (the
last time that happened, I had my first really serious boyfriend),
then the Moon in the seventh house, then the ascendant/descendant
axis. Transiting Saturn was hanging around my third
house (contracts), and solar arc Jupiter (ceremonies) was
squaring my ascendant. I'm getting married, I kept telling
everyone, but who's the lucky guy?
By this time everyone
in my life was thoroughly sick of hearing about Jonny.
Nobody had met him, and everyone was asking: What's with this
guy? Are you gonna date him or what? Of course
not, was my vehement reply, we are Just Friends! But
even I was becoming suspicious. Surely I wasn't developing
deeper feelings for my very best, platonic buddy in the universe?
I certainly hoped not; I'd had that particular experience
before and it had, of course, ended badly. And I really
needed Jonny in my life. So, I dismissed all such thoughts
from my mind, resolving just to enjoy the friendship.
Then, just about
the time transiting Saturn opposed my Sun and my progressed
Moon opposed natal Saturn, Jonny's company closed its office
in South Pasadena and he was forced to move to San Diego,
about 120 miles away. I tried to be brave, but I was
suffering. So this is Saturn, I thought. After
three years of transiting Pluto squaring my natal Sun, I had
smugly assumed that nothing could ever hurt me again.
But Saturn was a new and different kind of hell. I can
truly say that I have never felt so lonely in my life as I
did for the first month or so after Jonny moved away.
We still talked on the phone and saw each other often on the
weekends. I was busy with my classes, my business was
picking up, and in an effort to cooperate with Saturn I was
dieting and working out every day. Nonetheless, I was
inconsolable. >> It gradually became
obvious to me that more was going on here than simple platonic
friendship... >>
