The Mid-term elections are finally finished. The results give a changed landscape in Congress. The Presidential press conference I watched this morning (Nov. 3, 2010) held the steady theme of the message from the people being that of disenchantment and disconnect in relation to President Obama. The media asked him to be self-reflective about how his policies have affected the outcome of this election. While he took responsibility in some respects, he also continued to focus around the issue that working-class people are out of jobs for far too long. This is the biggest crisis facing America.

The USA is experiencing the closing few weeks before the Saturn return of the national horoscope. People who are familiar with this cycle will relate to what a big transition this can initiate. Due to Saturn’s speed and travel through a year’s period, it will take three contacts of Saturn to its natal place to complete the process. Saturn symbolizes the Congress in a national chart. This return represents a cyclic period relative to the adjustments of structural power within the nation.

The first contact will be Dec. 3, 2010. This first contact sets the focus on what topics will be important and what changes will ultimately fall into place. Not surprisingly, the hot topics are debt, military, and jobs. It seems that it will be necessary for the government to extend more support to the people, who will be facing the hardships of winter in a period of lack. The push for community outreach will prompt many new local services to help people. There is a revolutionary spirit coming up through organizations and groups that will inspire progress where communities volunteer together. One potentially positive movement could surface in ways people find to help each other with food and basic needs where government services do not stretch far enough.

The second return contact occurs while Saturn is in its retrograde motion. This contact prompts attending to matters that were important with the first contact, but had no conclusion. During the few weeks that this contact is active, matters will come to light that can change the course of decisions. It is unique that the Moon will be at the same degree of the zodiac on the first two Saturn return contacts. This suggests that the People are in the same condition and their problems are the same.

This second occurrence is the day after the Spring Equinox. Uranus, planet of change, innovation, and new ways of doing things will be conjunct as the Sun enters Aries, the sign of abrupt change. Uranus entered Aries last May, 2010, retrograded back into Pisces, and will now travel through Aries until 2018. This initiates a surge of motivation and ingenuity for the American people, for this influences homes, housing, agriculture, and community building. The last time Uranus was in Aries was 1928 to 1935. Looking at the general welfare of Americans in that period, we can see a similarity. The market crash of 1929 and the standard approach to economics of that time created one of our nation’s worse economic periods. There was a great unsettling of America. Something we are likely to witness again.

The final contact that will set the stage for the next thirty-year cycle is on August 27, 2011. By that time, other factors contribute a hope for stabilization and economic growth. One positive potential for this coming year’s process is that the protections for consumers are likely to have come much farther. The mortgage fraud will become clearer and changes around home financing regulations will help to give homeowners more options.

Saturn is the planet of order, structure and responsibility. In the national chart it represents Congress. The 2010 mid-terms have given a new dynamic to the 2011 Congress. It will likely set up a scenario that, like the 1930’s, brought out the gut-level struggle to survive in the American people at the lowest level of the economic pyramid. People pulled together when the wealthy ignored their plight. It took the uprising of the greater discontent to stand up to the corporate dominance and take back “the power of the people.”

When we face a similar winter in 2010-2011, it is important to be attentive now to what happens in Congress. Did the voice of the people reach the ears of the lawmakers and Administrators? Will the address the needs of the people and bring a healing to the pride of the country? It will be interesting to watch the progression of things in the coming months. The juxtaposition of the subtleties of politics against the dynamic challenges of the unemployed masses is going to expose the true nature of our democracy. Does money actually run our elections, or do the people really have a voice that our Congressmen hear in Washington? We will know when America goes back to work and people keep their homes.