Did Saturn just cancel the Dalai Lama?

A defining moment in Saturn's journey through Pisces.

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people receives scathing criticism this week over a video where he asked a 7 year old boy to “suck my tongue”.

The clip went viral spreading outrage and child abuse accusations worldwide. Following an apology from his Holiness, defenders have responded with what is apparently a longer, unedited video of the public event, elaborating upon the cultural context of the interaction as “innocent and playful”.

Supporters also claim the shorter, viral clip is Chinese Propaganda distributed in ongoing attempts to discredit the Dalai Lama and disrupt the process of choosing his successor.

Current American/Chinese political tensions are also speculated as motivation to “cancel” the Dalai Lama.

While this looks like another wave of polarising clickbait designed to distract and divide people from broader agendas (and it probably is) I also feel that the decline in critical thinking and popularity of media bandwagons is a serious risk to our freedom in times of radical change. When our attention is hijacked, our consciousness can not participate clearly in creation.

Sensitive subjects like child abuse cut to the core, they trigger our collective and personal trauma. Inspiring reactionary, distressed states from which it is very hard to step back and view things from various perspectives.

I get it, organised religion, including Tibetan Buddhism has a terrible track record regarding abuses of power and for many, seeing that video would be distressing.

I watched the full clip multiple times and it felt awkward.

I didn’t get a gut wrenching hit of red flags but I didn’t think it was cute or funny either. Im aware that the Dalai Lama is 88 years old with hearing loss, he moves slow and comes from a totally different culture to me. I don’t know what I think about how “safe” the Dalai Lama is around children or was in that moment. I wasn’t there and I truly don’t feel like I have enough information to form an opinion.

WHAT’S SATURN GOT TO DO WITH IT?

When Saturn moved into Pisces last month I spontaneously attended a stunning local Buddhist centre in New Zealand. I was overcome with a deep sense of reverence for the transmission in that space and how much it aligned with the days astrology.

Saturn governs much about tradition, discipline, focus and patriarchal lineage. It also shows us our limits and the karmic consequences of our actions.

Pisces carries codes of compassion and unity consciousness, while also ruling over the great spiritual bliss states such as “nirvana”.

Put those two together and you get a very Buddhist flavour. Lineage based religion centred on disciplined practice aiming to dissolve karma and through compassion free all beings from suffering eventually entering the blissful oneness of enlightenment. Yip.

Pisces also rules over the media!

So although I anticipated some religious figures to come under the spotlight or spiritual censorship, I didn’t expect it to be so literal.

When I pulled the Dalai Lama’s birth chart (time unknown). It came as no surprise that he has just begun his 3rd Saturn return, probably around the exact time this event took place.

Lets take a look.

If that chart makes no sense to you, never mind… just read on.

If it does, tell me what else you see!

The Dalai Lama’s natal Saturn is positioned at 10 Pisces, meaning that his 3rd Saturn return will be exact early 2024.

Saturn returns are karmic initiations into new cycles of maturity, often associated with increased responsibility or being under pressure that feels like an endurance test for the soul. The consequences of our actions are bought to the fore for better or worse and whatever is out of integrity with out next stage of evolution becomes glaringly obvious. Maybe the Dalai Lama is a massive creep or maybe he just needed a reality check on behalf of the whole world, I don’t know, but the astrology is compelling.

This news broke when the moon entered Pisces a few days ago while Venus in Gemini was making an uncomfortable square to Saturn.

Gemini which is all about information, ideas and communication (or gossip) that spreads fast with lots of variability. This is how we see so many conflicting stories pouring out at once.

Venus has everything to do with sex & relationships, pulling in this the specific relational theme around his conduct and challenging it under Saturns weight.

Saturn is currently at 4 Degrees of Pisces sextile the north node of fate and the Dalai Lamas own Uranus. This gives us a sudden plot twist in shocking Uranus style that also comes with the heavy, authoritarian weight of Saturns legal and moral questioning. It’s an invitation to truly grow up.

The entire direction of this persons life has been altered although Uranus does currently sit on his North Node so there is an evolutionary theme. Change must happen now, like it or not.

Adding more sting to the story, Mars is approaching his Sun in Cancer which can indicate a boost of vitality or danger but also spotlights core masculine themes around desire, choice and conflict.

Jupiter, Eris and the Sun are squaring his South Node and Pluto in Cancer. This definitely brings some heat!

Squares are confronting, the require adjustment, they crunch!

Having Pluto conjunct the South Node indicates this soul is familiar with big power. Any misuse of that power is challenged by the Aries fire, the individual power rather than the inherited kind. This makes sense especially if he is used to getting away with things because of status in this life time or many others. It could also indicate entrenched patterns of “nurturing” which need to be purified and updated. Things like joking with a kid to suck your tongue…

Pluto has been opposite his own Pluto for some time now and only just moved away by sign in recent times. But when Pluto moves back into Capricorn in June he will be faced again with this direct karmic mirror. Hopefully his meditation practice will take up more space than media interviews at that point.

I’m not even going to get into the upcoming Aries eclipse on April 20th, but I would say this is pre-eclipse energy in the works. Aries can make people aggro and I certainly noticed that when I dared to question this topic on FB.

All up, this moment seems truly fated, karmic and inevitably will set in motion deep structural changes not just in the Dalai Lamas life but everything he’s connected to. His integrity is being tested by Saturn and the lunar nodes in all their chaotic, evolutionary glory.

The question is, how will the old fella transform through this?

How long will he last?

Who will be next?

It will take until March of 2024 for Saturn to reach 10 degrees of Pisces so this really is just the beginning of his 3rd Saturn return. Interestingly, the Sun will conjunct Saturn at 9 degrees Pisces just a few days earlier alchemising the Dalai Lama’s own Saturn in the process. Bathing it in the pure solar energy of consciousness and karmic renewal all at once.

Such powerful astrology for all that Saturn in Pisces represents and for his Holiness in all his human-ness.

Big themes of accountability, maturity, evolution and integrity arise as these planetary forces invite seemingly malefic forces to the fore. However the pressure test of a Saturn return is exactly that, it makes diamonds out of coal.

A FINAL NOTE.

Before we rush to judge anything, it’s important to remember that we are living through times of IMMENSE structural change on earth.

Pluto’s move out of Saturn ruled Capricorn and into Aquarius is demolishing old school Saturn style institutions and power dynamics. This absolutely applies to organised religion, but also the economy, political power and all manner of heirachical expressions.

Aquarius at best is altruistic, people power and individual genius, but also has a big sci-fi vibe that with Pluto involved at earlier stages is exposing the control and manipulation potential of technology, including the internet and all the stories it tells us. (That’s why I’m on Substack)

I choose to remind myself that divine paradox exists, everything is in flux and that we don’t always know WTF is going on. I choose to keep my heart open to the purity of wisdom traditions uncorrupted by human error. The Dhamma of Buddhism is a jewel that has much to offer us in times of intense polarisation, challenge and transformation.

Here is an absolutely beautiful song, that centres me in that truth and reminds me not to confuse the messenger with the message. May all beings, in all the worlds be free from suffering.

Dakini Night Poem

Avalokiteshvara - Diety of Compassion - Tibetan Thangka, artist unknown.