Astrology is a great tool for meeting your life head on.  It gives you a heads-up so that you are ready to meet every event, whether it's positive or negative,  with a neutral, cordial attitude.  Not reacting dramatically to life's warps and woofs, in turn, causes the fructifying karma to shed without imprinting new karma.

One of the greatest aids for cultivating equanimity is meditation.  Meditators, in general, seem to have an easier time going through the difficult periods of life.  But even meditation is no miracle cure. In spite of our best efforts, when certain planets, like Saturn, transit key areas of the horoscope,  sometimes you just have to put up with a little limitation. 

Consider the Hindu God Siva, for example.  In mythology, Siva was once sitting up at night talking to Shani (the sanskrit name for Saturn).  Shani said, "Shiva, tomorrow you are going into Sade Sati (a seven year period when Saturn influences the Moon in an adverse way).  Siva said, "No problem!  I am Siva, the lord of the universe. Nothing can touch me!"  Shani said, "I am afraid you are mistaken, you will feel the results of Sade Sati."  Siva said, "You are wrong, and I will prove it to you." 

So the next morning, at the break of dawn, exactly when his Sade Sati period began, Siva jumped into the Ganges river, went down to the bottom, sat in full lotus position,  and began to meditate.   He meditated in a state of bliss for the entire seven and a half years of the Sade Sati period.  At the end of the period, he came out of the Ganges, walked directly up to Shani and announced, "See, I told you, I was not touched by Sade Sati. There was no effect."  Shani said,  "Well, you might be the lord of the Universe, but you are still wrong."  Siva said,  "What do you mean?   I was meditating under the Ganges the whole time!"   Shani said, "My point exactly!"

Sometimes, no matter what strategy you use to  mitigate challenging situations in life, there are still things that you just have to deal with.  Here is a personal story, reprinted from my book, Path of Light, Volume 2, that further illustrates the point.

"You will need a permit if you are going trekking", the agent said.  I was sitting in the Yak and Yeti travel agency, a little hole-in-the-wall on a crowded lane in Katmandu, inquiring about a two week trek into the Anupurna sanctuary.  The agent sat at his desk, smoking a cigarette and drinking a cup of chai, as he described my itinerary.  "First, you will make a two week loop near Anupurna," he said. "You will stay at tea houses, we will provide a porter.  After your trip you can go river rafting for a few days if you like."  "River rafting?  uh...is it safe?," I asked.   I had a friend in California who led river rafting trips. He had been trying to get me to go on one of his trips for the past few years.  I had almost gone with him the previous year, but had to cancel at the last minute.  "Yes, completely safe, no problem!"  The agent said. A red flag went up in my mind. "Are you absolutely sure?" I countered, " I know that there are different levels of white water, I have a friend that runs river trips and he tells me that the levels go from 1-6.  Level 6 is unrunable. 5 is only for experts and is very dangerous. 4 is big water and also not recommended for novices, so I don't want anything above level 3."  "Yes yes," the agent said, "It's level 2, level 3, nothing bigger than that.  You can easily do it!"  

The next morning I got up early and went to the trekking permit office.  Before I left, I grabbed a book and put it in my day pack.  Saturn was transiting the seventh house from my Moon and during that year, it made its complete degree-wise opposition three times.  On the day of going for the permit, the opposition was exact.  I had planned this trip to Nepal, partly as a strategy for overcoming the influence of Saturn.  Earlier in the year, during the first exact opposition of Saturn to the Moon, I had been in Seattle doing astrology readings.  I was asked to do an interview on an evening News program on KIRO TV, hosted by Steve Raible, an ex Seattle Seahawk quarterback-turned TV anchor man.   On the way to the interview, I got stuck in a big traffic jam and arrived at the studio late. Somehow, the interview still worked out, in spite of my late arrival.  After that interview, nearly 200 people called for readings.  I let myself get so swamped with readings that I nearly burned myself out.  This Nepal trip was a reaction to over work, and a strategy for dealing with Saturn's second opposition to the Moon.  "Last time I got stuck in a traffic jam," I muttered as I picked up the book, "I better bring something to read this time.  

As I neared the trekking office I looked at my watch. It was 8:00 am and the line was already halfway round the block.  I found a place in line and sat on the ground.   The wait in line took eight hours, so I passed the time reading and talking to the other trekkers.  Although many of the trekkers were annoyed and impatient, I had expected the long wait.  I was secretly  proud of retaining my peace of mind and staying relaxed. I was the only person in line who had thought to bring a book. "Outsmarting Saturn just takes a little planning," I thought.

Trekking through the Annapurna Sanctuary was lifetime experience.  Each day my porter and I hiked for several hours along some of the most spectacular and exotic mountain trails on the planet, arriving at our tea-house accommodations, exhausted and hungry, in the early afternoon.   At the high point of the route, we crossed a 14 thousand foot pass next to Annapurna itself, stopping for a short while to take in the ancient mountain's mystical presence as it rose above the clouds to catch the morning rays of the Sun.

However, my smug attitude about "outwitting Saturn" was quickly leaving me.  Even though I was not stuck on a freeway or overworking to the point of exhaustion, I was still working hard in another way.  The trekking was hard, sometimes grueling.  The Nepalese  seem to be totally unaware of the art of making switch backs in their trails.  Instead, they make stairs out of stones which simply go straight up the mountains.  Compared to Himalayas, the California Sierras, where I usually hike, are like tiny foothills.  The Himalayas are gargantuan and totally intimidating.  As I stumbled into my teahouse- bed each night, I couldn't help but think that I had traded one sort of saturnine exhaustion for another.  At fourteen thousand feet, the temperature was also bitterly cold, about 15 degrees Fahrenheit, a fringe benefit of Saturn, the great significator of cold.  I don't mean this to sound like a complaint, because I thoroughly enjoyed hiking in Nepal. It's just an acknowledgement that when Saturn influences a planet in your horoscope, you are bound to feel it in some way.  If you plan ahead, you can sometimes choose the way in which you feel it, but there is really no "outwitting Saturn".  

This point came into focus, in the form of learning a lesson, during the river rafting portion of the  trip.  Now you might ask, "What were you thinking, to go on your first river rafting trip in the Nepal Himalayas, during a powerful Saturn influence?!"  I know it sounds fool hearty (maybe it was), but I don't believe in practicing fear-based astrology, so I usually do what I want to do, regardless of what the planets are suggesting.  In this case, I decided to proceed with caution, in spite of Saturn, and in spite of the little voice in my head that kept telling me that the travel agent may not have been telling me the complete story about the river.  "Don't worry", his voice kept repeated over and over, "only level two or three, no problem!"

Our rafting party was small, only two boats, and a total of ten people from various nationalities.  From Katmandu we took a three hour bus ride along a narrow road, which wound its way through incredibly steep mountains, frequently traversing narrow ledges next to thousand foot drops to the Trisuli River below.  

We arrived at our departure point and the guides set up the boats.  The crew in my boat consisted of a Japanese mountain climber, three Italians, and me.  Our river guide, Ravi,  began by showing us how to maneuver the boat.  River rafting requires team work. It is essential that every member of the crew work together and follow the guide's commands.   In order to turn the boat to the left, for example, all the paddlers on the right side of the boat must paddle forward, while those of the left paddle backward.  "Left back" was the command that signaled this maneuver, while "right back" signaled a right turn.  Ravi shouted these commands as we practiced turns on our first stretch of the Trisuli, which seemed totally calm and tranquil.  "The guide wasn't kidding", I thought to my self, "This isn't even white water."  I was secretly disappointed that the Trisuli River was so tame.  Although I didn't want to do anything dangerous, paddling all day on a calm river seemed like it might get a little boring.

Apparently the Italians shared my observation, because they started joking about the river and disobeying the commands of the guide.  They were irreverent and unconcerned, making  fun of the Ravi's military style, as we floated down the river.  As our raft turned a bend in the river, Ravi raised his voice and shouted.  "Now you people, see ahead one rapid.  This rapid's name is Roller Coaster. Now you do what I say or you die!"   We all looked ahead to get a look at Roller Coaster.  It was Huge!

As we entered the white water, Ravi began to shout commands. "Forward!" Both sides paddled forward.  A huge wave pounded the side of the raft turning it to the right.  "Left back!"  He yelled as he dug in his rudder-oar to straighten the raft.  The front of the raft rose as it climbed a giant wave.  As it came over the crest of the wave the Italians screamed "Aaaaahhh!" On the other side of the crest, the raft began to enter a deep hole. Roller coaster was living up to its name.  The Raft disappeared into the hole and buckled as the front smashed against the bottom of a giant wave, turning the raft to its side.  Two of the Italians were knocked to the floor of the raft.  The raft rode up the other side of the wave sideways and was hit by another wave from the left side of the boat.  The left side of the raft rose up, and from my place, sitting on the right tube, it became clear we were about to flip.  

I hit the water backwards, head first, looking up at a perpendicular raft, filled with flailing arms, and life jackets.  After five seconds submerged in the roiling bowels of the Trishuli river, I surfaced and looked around for the raft.  Miraculously it had not flipped, but had righted itself.  One of the Italians had also fallen out of the raft and was floating twenty yards down stream from me.  We had cleared the main part of the rapids and were now floating through a fast, but deeper part of the river.  I swam to my paddle, which was floating ten feet away, and slowly made my way to the raft.  The others pulled me on board.

This was the first of several sets of big rapids which we encountered that day, and the first of two times I fell out of the raft during the trip.  Later that day, we made camp on a sandy beach.  In the evening, around the campfire, I asked Ravi, "What level was that Rapid where I fell out?"  "Level 5", he said in a matter of fact way.  "Level 5?!" I said, "They told me that this was level 3!"   "No, this river has some level three rapids but it also has three sets of level 5." Ravi said.  "Isn't that sort of dangerous for beginners?" I asked.  Ravi was silent.  "Have you ever had any injuries on these trips?"  "Not in this part of the river," Ravi said, "but just below here there is a slightly bigger rapid and during a trip last year the raft flipped and one of the clients in my raft died!."  Thanks for telling me," I groaned.

I managed to make it safely through the next two days of rafting, and learned quickly how to paddle in big water.  Even the Italians changed there attitude towards Ravi, and started working as a team in the raft.

The rafting experience during my Saturn-Moon opposition was amazing, and I don't regret it in any way, but in retrospect I wonder at the wisdom of going on that part of the trip. Since that time I have rafted several class five rivers in California with my friend, but none of them have had white water as big as the Trishuli.  It's one thing to live an active life and do the things you want to do in spite of astrological aspects. It's quite another to tempt fate.  As an astrologer, I sometimes encourage clients to be cautious during difficult aspects.  Other times, I advise them to be courageous, and not to hesitate to make plans when challenging aspects occur.  In this case, however, I think the advice I have for those who read this story is, "Don't try this at home!"