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Consider
Norv Turner, the head coach of the Washington Redskins. In the wake of
his team’s aggressive off-season acquisitions of pricey superstars and
free agents, he finds himself in a uniquely difficult situation, the kind
that only vast amounts of money can buy. To those who have had to live
without it, money seems like the ultimate antidote, the quick answer to
life’s problems. However, the steady application of cold, hard cash to
any afflicted area—for instance, the Redskins’ defense—can potentially
cause as many problems as it solves. Everything comes at a price.
There’s certainly
no shortage of funds around the Redskins organization these days. Owner
Daniel Snyder is one of the first of a rising breed of Gen X, dot.com-billionaire
NFL owners. A brash new member of an exclusive old club, he is committed
to doing everything his way to buy back the team’s former glory. You can’t
fault his energy and commitment. Oddsmakers like the revamped Redskins,
and many are picking them to go all the way, but what if they don’t? What
then for Norv Turner? What if, after all is said and done, you can build
a great team, but you can’t buy one?
I have to ask these questions because, from a strictly astrological point
of view, this might not be Turner’s best year. Norv Turner was born on
May 17, 1952, at 1:38 am EST in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He not only
has the Sun in Taurus, but Mercury, Jupiter and Venus as well. The pressure
is certainly on, because Saturn, the cosmic taskmaster, has been lingering
in Taurus for some time. In late November and early December 2000,
transiting Saturn, moving retrograde, will back right over Turner’s natal Sun at
26 degrees Taurus. Transiting Saturn conjunct the natal Sun, while potentially
a time of great achievement and responsibility, can also be pretty depressing.
Saturn typically
gets the blame for a lot of problems, and let’s face it, he is hardly
the “happy planet.” For that, you want Venus and Jupiter, astrology’s
benefics. Saturn, and his cohort Mars, are traditionally considered the
bad guys, or the “malefics.” Whereas Jupiter expands whatever it touches,
Saturn, the ringed planet, contracts, limits and restricts. Jupiter grants
opportunities, Saturn burdens with obligations and responsibilities. Jupiter
is lucky, Saturn can be downright difficult. Those difficulties don’t
arise just to grieve us, but are more often the natural consequences of
our own immaturity. Saturn imposes necessary limits to instill strength,
patience and discipline, to help us to be more realistic. Great success
is often born from the lessons learned in dismal failure.
Saturn
in Taurus has been bearing down on Turner during the last two NFL seasons,
in the form of his wealthy, demanding new owner. There is no sign more
concerned with the issues of wealth and ownership than Taurus, the original
earth sign—except, perhaps its opposite sign, Scorpio. Between the two
of them, they cover all the ground from personal finances to investment
banking. Scorpio's specialty is joint resources, bringing other people's
money together to increase buying power.
Norv
Turner has Scorpio well represented in his birth chart too, with the planet
Mars, Scorpio’s traditional ruler, in Scorpio in exact opposition to his
natal Mercury-Jupiter conjunction in Taurus. This tends to create a perpetual
link,
as well as potential conflict (opposition), between his personal wealth
(Taurus) and the investments or OPM that we associate with Scorpio. So
while Saturn has been conjunct Turner’s natal Taurus planets and opposed
his Scorpio one, it’s been tightening the screws. As head coach, Turner
is personally responsible for Snyder’s investment, and Snyder wants immediate
and ambitious results.
Can
They Do It?
So are the
Redskins that good? They were good last season, but so were the Rams and
the Bucs. The Vikings, Giants and Bears have all improved, and even the
Panthers and the lowly Eagles are going to make some noise this season.
With Saturn crossing back over Turner’s Taurus Sun late in the season,
we might expect to see some challenging conditions that affect his authority
and control over the team. We can expect a professional like Turner to
buckle down and do the hard work necessary to get the job done. He’ll
be responsible and dedicated, but will he be lucky enough to satisfy Snyder?
Has Snyder mortgaged the team’s future by saddling them with aging and
expensive superstars, instead of building from the ground up and nurturing
his young talent?
Norv Turner’s
position in some ways reflects what all of us are undergoing with Saturn
in Taurus. Each of us is experiencing increased responsibilities for the
bounty of resources around us, relative to our own charts and our own
lives. These Taurean benefits all come with strings attached. Saturn wants
a good return on his investment, and he is holding us all personally responsible!
I don’t doubt that Norv Turner can give Snyder a good return on his investment,
but a trip to the Super Bowl? I think that lies a little further afield,
somewhere within Jupiter’s domain.
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