Dear Madame,

I hate my boss. Can I say that again, please? I hate, hate, hate my boss. He is a loathsome, foul-breathed, close-talking, beetle-browed, tyrannical dragon of the worst sort. And while he’s not come on to me outright, I suspect that’s not far from his teeny little reptilian brain each time he comes ‘round with his daily office inspections.

Harsh, I know. But the innuendo and subtle aggression is no longer tolerable, even if this position gets me the kind of professional credit I wanted when I first got the job. My jaw hurts from clenching it just trying to keep my disdain from flying out at an inopportune time.

I’m sending you birth details so hopefully you can judge if it’s time for me to safely get out of this situation. As you will see from my Capricorn rising, I’m not easily deterred, but this is the end of my rope here.

— Consternated Cappish.

Dear Consternated,

No one enjoys working for a dragon. They’re just not the right kind of leadership material. They hoard and heave, and fly around blowing hot air for the sole pleasure of terrifying creatures they perceive to be smaller than themselves. Displease them and they will flame you like yesterday’s shish-kebab.

The upside of working for a dragon is that close in, they’re more manageable. Like the Tyrannosaurus Rex, they often have tiny, helpless arms, which require others to carry out their plots. Helpless is the key word. Can’t do anything on their own. Which gives you a degree of agency. And that commanding ass-end? It’s hardly subtle when it begins to twitch. Easy enough to dodge.

I recognize you’d rather not become more intimate with your current boss. Barring any illegal behavior on his part, however, just this moment is not the most advantageous time to flee the cave. But I can offer hope.

You’re a Virgo Sun, Capricorn rising, with an Aries Moon. Tough work — and ‘dirty’ work — doesn’t frighten you, but bullying would be intolerable in your workplace. I get it.

However, if you jump ship now, you may risk significant reprisals against your reputation and future prospects. Saturn’s sitting at the last degree of Scorpio, high in the sky of your natal chart, i.e., your public service zone. And Mars, Scorpio’s agent, sits in your 7th house opposing you. The pressure’s on to stick it out for a bit, at least until Saturn shifts signs Sept. 17 and switches his allegiance to Jupiter, who has just moved into your Sun sign, Virgo.

But for now let’s look at Saturn in the last degree of Scorpio. It’s also important because of its association with your rising sign, Capricorn. In one sense it represents your own frustration of wanting a situation to just end, already. The story’s nearly over, so can’t we just rush to the last paragraph, find out what happened, and close the book?

Nope. This is Saturn, after all, and Saturn work requires no shortcuts if you want a reward at the end — like, say, a well-paying new position elsewhere. Saturn, particularly in Scorpio, also sounds a bit like your dragon boss — reptilian, hoarding, constipated, and secretly obsessed with and repulsed by human naughtiness.

So the story is not as simple as it first seems. Saturn’s grasping hold on that last degree of Scorpio could easily represent some aspect of both your dragoneering boss and YOU. There’s a very good chance you’ve got a bit of dragon within you, too. And as the sign says, “Those who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by them.”

What does that mean to you? Sit with that idea for a half-hour or two. Please.

Leaving before Saturn’s exit from this sign could lead to an entrenched attitude of resentment and vengefulness in both parties, one you won’t easily shake for a long time. Like a bad break-up, it could color your next relationship or job with negative feelings and dark expectations.

While you can do nothing about the boss, you can do something about yourself. For starters, these next three weeks might be better spent forgiving yourself. All those “why did I do this to myself?” conversations in the middle of the night need a different approach. You earned; you learned. You’ll move on, or your boss will move on, soon enough.

Besides, Jupiter will cross your Sun in a few days. Positivity, expansiveness and new opportunities won’t necessarily come flying in the door, but this is an optimistic rebirth of a 12-year cycle for you. What will you do to make use of it?

Are you sending resumés out, networking a little? Mercury in your 9th house now suggests it’s time to offer some charm to folks who may be outside your usual connections. (Get work out of town? State? The country?) But just as Saturn changes signs, Mercury will also station retrograde. If you’re throwing lines out and getting bites, you may not reel in your bona fide winner until late October.

Until then, might I suggest a stylish asbestos suit?

Happy Solar Return,

Madame Z