Which Transits Are Harsh?

harsh paintingCurious Gemini in the United States asks, “What is an example of a “harsh transit”? “

This is a good question because I use this phrase a lot, without defining it. “Harsh transit”.

The answer might depend on who you ask. But when I think of “harsh”, I think of a hard edge.  I think of something, rough, that you bang up against.

I think of something that hurts you with little or no apparent “silver lining”.  It’s “medicine” with no “spoonful of sugar”.  It’s bad, like a broken jaw as compared to a black eye.  I think of something that does not yield.

Astrologically,  I would look at Mars and Saturn; perhaps in combination.  Saturn transiting the moon is often harsh as well. It’s often cold and so very lonely.

Can other people weigh in?

What transits would you consider to be “harsh”?

37 thoughts on “Which Transits Are Harsh?”

  1. 😀 the ones that are happening at this moment are usually the harshest. You know, until the next one 😉
    For me, Saturn transits on my natal Sun, Moon and Saturn (they are natally connected, so it is always at the same time).
    Pluto is always on some of my planets, so I’m quite used to it now. Dreary effects of Pluto’s transits are like a constant flavour of my life (I’m also a Scorpio Sun) . It’s on my Ascendant right now, but I think that Saturn in 12th house is bothering me more: I’m redefining my career and I’m unsure who I am professionally right now. Oh well, I will have to find my place soon, there is no more time for wastin’ 🙂

    1. Well said, Danka – thanks 🙂 I have an interconnected chart, too.

      12th house can be like the seeds planted under the ground, germinating, getting set to sprout up when the conditions arrive.

      Or, another image, like a hen “brooding” on her eggs (keeping them warm, in fact… Brooding is how we describe her feelings through this time.) 🙂

  2. five years ago I had Saturn conjunct my Moon and AC. It wasn’t harsh. I started working on my health and fitness. that’s one change I remember making. It was harsh when Saturn was transiting 12th house. I had an operation, not life threatening, but still scary as hell.

  3. Avatar
    Kim Oliver-Kingrey

    Gosh, I’d say Saturn like many will say but after having survived transiting Pluto conjunct my natal Moon it takes the cake on the harshest. Pluto transits are Gabe changers, life changing and eye opening,albeit a time to learn to be braver than ever before. They’re very long, very raw and mostly very unforgiving. You learn a lot about yourself and others during this several year long transit – there’s no hiding or making it stop. It’s relentless . Not everyone will have a conjunction in their lifetime, but those who do often describe it as the most difficult time they’ve encountered in this lifetime. It comes with some blessings in the end , akin to the Phoenix rising from the ash pile.

    1. Oh yes, Moon Pluto transits are life-changing, and life-threatening, if I may add. I had an opposition of Tr. Pluto on natal Moon when I was seven, in 1992. First, I was diagnosed with epilepsy, and few months after, we had to flee our hometown because of the civil war. I might say that my mother took the blow for everybody: Pluto was on her natal Venus Saturn conjunction and squaring natal Pluto. Her health was never the same after those events.

      1. Whew. That’s harsh, Danka. And yet, you write to speak of it decades later. Tempered steel.

        I have Mars and Saturn in a natal trine with Pluto all in the 7th and 8th Houses. And my South Node is in Scorpio making POWER issues a long-lasting one. Like you wrote about Pluto transiting your natal moon, Pluto has been doing that for me in the 12th House and I keep being honed. I live in a wagon, share a kitchen and walk to a bathroom more than a hundred feet away. That’s humility honing harshness in real-time:)

        Out of these ashes I have awakened to a softened light that I’m going to keep on in my new year; like a shaded little night light. My North Node in Taurus in the 6th House reminds me that my own hard work (an inside job) is what brings nourishment for this immune system. I have Anonymoushermit and her North Node posts to thank. Another example of the oasis available on this site!

        1. Pluto/Moon .. this is scary. I have an approaching pluto transit that will conjunct natal mars/moon (Natally Moon/Mars conjunct @ 22 & 28 Capri)

  4. Transiting Saturn in a harsh aspect to my natal Moon gets me every time…I handle it better with the years and plan and live accordingly.

    Silver lining with this type of Saturn transit only appears in my case after the transit is really over in two ways: 1) the transit is over at last; 2) my priorities feel more real, worthy and realistic after the transit.

    Transiting Saturn square Venus can be a hard phase love and money-wise (plus added work duties that build character in the long term) yet the moon transit is the worst for me.

    Even worse than pluto to the moon imo.

  5. Saturn conjunct my Saturn/PLuto conjunction … That was a killer.
    Literally. It is quincunx (150 degrees) from Chiron on the Algol star. This energy is so destructive. It’s my 4th house, and my home was destroyed, my relationship was as well and me … I had just survived 3 years of unemployment during the financial crisis, had finally got a job, and thought things were finally looking up. Well… I got wiser.
    This transit happened at the same time Pluto was nearing my south node/12th house = kill them! Kill them all!
    My life as I knew it was forever gone.
    Add a Pluto square Uranus transit and you know nothing will be the same again…

    Pluto squaring my moon from the 12th, conjuncting Mars (which also squares Moon natally) = harsh! So alone I was almost dead to everyone, except my cat. My BF at the time grew even more narcissistic/autistic. I had severe back aches.

    Saturn will soon square my Moon.
    After that he will square The Saturn/Pluto conjunction.
    Shortly after, Pluto will square these two natal planets from the 12th house.

    #JustKillMeNow

  6. Pluto conjunct MC was very harsh transit for me and Pluto in 10th house in general was tough. Also Saturn transiting 4th was another difficult period.

    Over the next few years transit pluto will conjunct my natal moon. Saturn will also conjunct my natal moon at same time as pluto! This will happen in 12th house. Feeling a little nervous!

  7. Tr Saturn in my 7H (relationships) started crumbling my marriage. Then the day Tr Saturn ingressed my 8H (marriage; joint assets; divorce) was the day I filed for divorce. I received my consent decree five days before Tr Saturn ingressed my 9H.

  8. I agree with the pluto/Saturn conjunction it was harsh for me as well.Pluto in Capricorn in my second house and my hubbys 12th has taken away just about everything.

  9. Saturn on the natal Sun! Depressing, energy zapping and lonely. Authorities everywhere trying to bring you down or constrain you with their out-dated rules. Being trapped in renewed old situations that just won’t leave until you accept punishment or loss of some kind. Being in my 4th house didn’t help with natal Saturn opposite in the 10th.

    1. I second this. They ARE AWFUL! It’s like someone slowly torturing you with loneliness and coldness. It’s a horribly lonely and isolating transit.

      1. Imagine living through 29 years of Saturn chasing your progressed Moon! I had 14 years of it and that, combined with transiting Saturn to my natal Moon just about did me in. I had to learn all about the “internal authority (ME) versus the external authority (others)”. People judged me right and left until I finally found the gumption to know who I really was, and stood in my integrity. As always, with Saturn, “know thyself” is the best way to deal with the transit. Otherwise, people crawl out of the woodwork to pass judgment on you.

  10. Saturn transits are harsh for me, the transit of my South Node was a doozie…but Mars is the key planet in my progressed chart.

  11. Outer planets (from Saturn on out) transits to my Moon (Gemini).
    I like Mokihana’s metaphor of honing. Thinking, right now, that during those times, the saving grace for me was remembering to practice small enjoyments that I learned in – and since – childhood (mostly, from Capricorn Moons, who know the value of everyday joys better than most).

    PS Sudden feeling of gratitude. I learn so much, often, from the community here.

  12. Jupiter transits I find the hardest. They are like snake venom.

    Saturn is irritating but not ultimately that bad.

    1. I dropped out of college and stopped writing poetry during my Pluto/Neptune transit. I was like, what’s the point??

  13. I’ve just realized that when Saturn entered my 12th house, I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy 🙂 It wasn’t an easy ride, since it was a high-risk pregnancy, and it certainly is not easy being a parent, but it is the most meaningful thing in my life 🙂

  14. I’ve heard that Saturn and Jupiter transits can kill. However, in ST’s case, I’d say Pluto opposed his Saturn for awhile. Then he had his Uranus opposition. So I’d say Pluto weakened him and Uranus finished him off. 🙁

  15. I know you are not a Hand fan. But man oh man he is right about Neptune square Saturn. And I think this is a direct quote, ‘If you can make it through this one, you can make it through anything.’

    I made it through. Mine was a waxing square. Two of my sisters got waning squares coming up. Hopefully those won’t be as intense as mine was.

    I had heard the horror story. She said it was after 9-11. But I looked at her chart and sure enough Neptune was squaring her Saturn. She left the house for work and set her goal to get back home okay. She returned home and hid under a quilt on the couch. Harsh.

  16. Progressed moon in Scorpio.But at the time that it occurred it conjuncted my natal Scorpio pluto and transiting Saturn in Scorpio. That was a very harsh transit. Then Saturn in Scorpio conjuncted my natal pluto. I’m still reeling from some of the events that occurred during that time. All of my natal placements are harsh anyway…I’m a sun in the 10th opposite saturn in the 4th house. Saturn also squares mars.

  17. I am about to go through both a Saturn square moon and a Pluto square moon transit. They’re transitting my 12th house to my 8th house Libra moon but Saturn will be conjunct my ascendent by the time it is done.
    My 4 year old daughter has a cancer moon also 8th house and will go through the same transits except oppositions instead of squares.
    I am very scared I have predicted my own death. My health has been declining. I am consumed by anxiety over this. Can someone shed some light on my situation? I can share my chart. I would pay to know if I’m right and should prepare.

  18. Transit saturn in 12th was okay,conjunct rising/moon it was a bit depressing but nothing unusual for my natal cap moon . Transit pluto in 12th passed like in a haze. But pluto conjunct rising was life changing – illness and life adjustments. Pluto conjunct moon was the worst. Besides all of those things having to deal with nastiness coming from women, my own depression and demons and on top of that a ton of frustrating delays *pluto capricorn. You haven’t seen nasty until you get a pluto conjunct moon transit.

  19. It’s said that things come in 3’s. There are 3 different years of my life that really stand out as being the absolute worst.

    In one particular year, both my paternal grandmother and father died, only 3 months apart, when I had:
    *Pluto square Mars and Moons Nodes (6th/12th houses)
    *Saturn and Neptune square Uranus (2nd house)
    *Moons Nodes square Saturn/MC and Neptune (10th/4th houses)
    *Solar Eclipse square Saturn and MC (exact) (10th house)
    *Saturn inconjunct Saturn and MC (10th house)
    *Saturn semisextile Mars and North Node (6th house)

    In another year I had:
    *Pluto square Pluto (almost died, was food poisoned by a so-called friend with a Scorpio moon)
    *Saturn square Saturn/MC and Neptune
    *Saturn conjunct Sun/Ascendant
    *Mars Return

    And a 3rd:
    *Pluto square Moon (lost good job, emotionally challenging time)
    *Saturn square Moon

    Years later I was shocked to discover the food poisoning and job loss happened on the EXACT day of the transit. The greatest lesson I learned is to beware and pay attention to what’s going on around me during malefic transits I see now coming in the future.

  20. Oh wow…I think it really depends upon where you are in your life, what experiences, tools you already have to deal with a transit, as well as your perspective and expectations. Some transits can bring forward existing issues. And if you are interacting with others, the exchange in your energy there can affect it.

    My first Saturn return was rough but it was also a time for change. Looking back it could have been just another step in the path that led me to where I am now.

    Pluto transiting my Mercury and Venus in the 5H were very, very rough. But I didn’t go through that by myself. It was very much the whole of my marriage. TBF, Pluto was also square my husband’s Mercury and I felt it.

    I have a 0 Aqua sun so Pluto is on that. But I also have a 1H Pluto conjunct my moon. So it could be what you have in your chart, how you use it, and what’s in your toolbox. ❤️

  21. Let’s see… I have natal:
    – sun opp pluto, exact, conj AC/DC, tau/sco (fixed)
    – NN/SN squared by Jup 4deg orb, tau/sco/aqua (fixed)
    – mars opp sat, exact, tau/sco (fixed)
    – ven rx/merc conj, squared by Nept 4deg orb (cardinal)
    – moon conj chiron exact
    I view harsh transits like mere episodes of my personal novela… lol

    1. …note that starting in 2024 as pluto enters aquarius I’ll immediately have it in orb of t-squaring, first sun/pluto, then AC/DC, later on NN/SN, then mars/sat. And when I finally think I’m dead and buried, it will go into pisces and square my moon/Chiron in gemini. Ah… my hopes are high that I become lord of the underworld myself, provided I survive!

  22. I thrive on Saturn transits,get a lot done, buy houses, have children,etc. graduated nursing school.Maybe my Cappy Moon thrive son those kinds of challenges,I feel energized by Saturn challenges..I usually have to spend/borrow/lose money during those times but I make it back later. PLUTO/MOon was life altering.Lost many family members, and old friends, moved from a large home I loved to a smaller house as a part of retirement, a planned move, but a hard one nonetheless. Also sold a family business that was like a “baby” to me .. I floundered a bit after that.. but recouped. Pluto/Sun was not as harsh as Pluto /Moon. So glad it’s done with my Lights now.But will be in my 11th,still , or moving into 12th house now, depending on house system I use.. am feeling like withdrawing form social things quite a bit lately, and becoming annoyed with old friends.. so perhaps 12th house energies…. AM busy pursuing some new writing tasks, and developing a part time writing gig which will require a lot of solitary work..

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