One of the first guys I dated as a teen had the same birthday as my sister. What are the odds? Their personalities were similar but their lives couldn’t have been more different. And he ended up, in an odd way, leading me to astrology.
They both had the Sun in Aries square Jupiter, along with Mercury, Venus and the Moon in Pisces trine Neptune. The guy seemed to be much more impulsive than my sister, who has an angular Saturn. He had an untamed spirit, and despite coming from a nice family, he dropped out of school at 16. My sister went on to finish college.
Years later, when the two were experiencing their Saturn returns, my sister was working full-time while completing a Master’s degree. My former flame was married and his wife was eight months pregnant. One night he sat in a bar with friends (remember all the Pisces and Neptune) and said, “I’m so depressed I feel like putting a bullet in my head.” And he did.
The story is so disturbing and dramatic that it’s a shame I’ve never had his birth time. I’ve wondered if he had Pluto rising, which would put his Aries Sun in the 8th house squaring Jupiter in the 5th. The Sun’s ruler, Mars, would be widely opposite Uranus in his 12th house, relating to unconscious impulses. (True to the Martian archetype, my sister went on to a career requiring a firearm, but she always used it with care. )
Though my sister has remained consistent in my life, at 15, my relationship, predictably, hadn’t lasted long. I had transiting Uranus squaring my Sun, showing excitement and spontaneity, but also the short-term nature of our connection. Transiting Saturn opposed my Saturn then, too. And I was upset. My mom had already been studying astrology for a number of years, and brought out one of her cookbooks, turning to the page for Uranus squaring the Sun. The description so exactly described my situation that despite being a skeptic before, I was now completely fascinated. Uranus awakened astrology for me through a person who didn’t remain in my life. And Saturn put me on a path that would remain constant long after many relationships had run their natural course.