That I’ve been writing horoscopes and related material for a while? Sure. That I get to spend a portion of my time in consultation with actual people? That helps. The almost random appearance of certain types, that shows up frequently? OK. Patterns emerge. The most recent? Four Degrees. Drilling down on that idea? Four Degrees of Aries.

Four Degrees

There was an eclipse, the Lunar New Year — Fire Horse — started, and Saturn closely followed Neptune entering the tropical zodiac sign of Aries. Mercury is in a watery retrograde cycle, just to add an element of confusion, already prefigured with Neptune and its influence.

Horoscopes for 2-17-2026… Horoscopes for 3-3-2026…

What showed up, repeatedly in recent weeks?

Four Degrees

Perhaps a dozen years past? I had a procedure for carpal tunnel on my left hand. An in-office procedure, nip and tuck, a handful of pain pills, plus a new fishing rod/reel and an alternative mouse arrangement — trackpad, no more mouse? No more problem. Last doctor check-up, the capable PA answered a question about a sore elbow: repetitive stress injury, similar to that old carpal tunnel. Simple enough, I adjust my working position, and it goes away. Still? That sore elbow? That’s what the Saturn/Neptune, looking around and gesturing at everything, that’s what this is about and the place where this hits hardest? 4°. Four degrees. It’s that sore spot that a simple adjustment can fix.

Four Degrees

Grabbing an ephemeris, Saturn hits 4° of Aries around 3/20 moving to 5° around 3/29, rough numbers, as an approximation. Slower moving Neptune hits 4° Aries in late May, turning stationary and then backwards in July, staying in retrograde motion until December, arriving back at that 1° Aries.

The American Ephemeris for the 21st Century

Realistically, the first four degrees of Aries, and by extension, all the cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) will feel its influence. Realistically, though, the sensitive points for this time is that first Four Degrees, and more pointedly, as with Saturn, it’s that first few degrees of Aries. Digging around, I found that I did post about this, a while back, about two transits. At the end of the post, there’s the long form of my (dated) assessment of Saturn conjunct the Sun, and Neptune conjunct the Sun. That applies, over this next three-four months, to the first few degrees of all cardinal signs, in varying stages, but more so? For the first Four Degrees of Aries. As noted.

Kramer Wetzel’s little book of transits

More as an aside, rather than as a hard-and-fast rule, but as a sidebar item? The fire signs, Aries, The Leo, Sagittarius? Especially the flaky Sagittarius and stalwart Leo? The Leo? The fire signs gain clarity through this as it is a trine. Aries? Good thing ya’ll like hard work.

The Ten-Year Affair

Intriguing premise, to me, as it starts with two characters meeting in a presumed baby group, mostly moms, but a heteronormative pair and the obvious, concomitant attractions. Right person, wrong lifetime, and an affair, of anything else, is out of the question. But what happens in the imagination?

This novel brought up a singular remembrance, and I’ve alluded to this elsewhere, but I couldn’t find the point. I was at a “writers group” meet-up, nominally San Antonio mommy bloggers, and there was a child weaving in and around my legs. The kid belonged to the mom I was chatting with, and then, out of habit, having just been around my fishing buddy’s kids, I reached down, scooped the kid up and let it rest against my shoulder. Kid passed out. Kindred spirit, felt safe, and the mom had two others in tow, “If you want, you can take that one home with you…” I didn’t think it would go over well with my girlfriend, show up with a new grand baby in tow.

So far, in the novel, there are two parallel story lines. Or single line with two or more stories? In the real world, “IRL,” pop up those antiquated acronyms, in the novel’s real world, it is a chaste affair, but as a parallel reality, there’s a second plot line where the two characters are having a torrid affair.

The Ten-Year Affair

In my own work, and even in my own life, I’ve been faced with similar situations and that’s why it’s both comforting and uncomfortable at the same time. In the story, the two characters are nearly the same age, and certainly the same station in life. In my own experience, it is usually, but not limited to, characters with a greater age discrepancy and from different positions, dissimilar backgrounds. For the bulk of my own career, this has been about affairs of the heart. Again, comfortable yet uncomfortable.

The Ten-Year Affair

It takes time. Then? Always a baseball link?

“He was tan already and had a tattoo on his pec of the famous Citgo sign in Kenmore Square in Boston.” Page 70.

It’s a Fenway Park characteristic, done, I suppose with the overlay of a Boston (kind) of accent. Difference, and intriguing as it crosses a decade, perhaps more, in less than two hundred novel pages. Emotional without devolving into maudlin, real-life, without being too sappy, and the answers? Like life, messy and ambiguous.

The Ten-Year Affair

Good book. Really enjoyable novel. Somers, Erin. The Ten-Year Affair. Simon & Schuster: NY, 2025.