The querent was addicted to narcotic pain killers for a period. Recently he ran out of pills and decided to quit because he is fed up with the dependence and because it harms his body. So he simply stopped taking them cold turkey.
He’s been doing well overall but there are days when he feels strong psychological withdrawal symptoms. He asked the question during one of those lows, thinking that perhaps he should go back to it and quit gradually rather than so abruptly.
In a question about pain killers house 5 invariably comes forward. House 5 is the house of pleasure, which, obviously, is the opposite of pain. Here the Moon, his emotions, is also L5.
Saturn, L1, the natural ruler of depression is in house 8, the house of powerlessness.
Saturn exalts itself. Certainly. It thinks its state is the most important thing in the world, rightfully. With a twist: Saturn also rules his 12th house of self-undoing and addiction. So he is depressed, and he wants “death”, or the death of his depression; how to accomplish that? By indulging in his addiction that he knows all so well. Saturn exalts his L12.
Those who assert that L1 and L12 being the same planet do not link those houses, do reconsider. Or do more psychological horaries. It does not have meaning in most run-of-the-mill horary charts but in psychological horaries it happens all the time.
So will the painkillers help him with his condition?
The pain killer is L10, Jupiter. Jupiter is in its detriment and on the South Node. It could not be weaker. Its essential debility tells us that this is not a good way to deal with depression. The South Node tells us that it will have no impact, as Jupiter has no active power. In addition to that Jupiter is in no dignities of either Saturn or the Moon, so it will not help either.
The answer is simply “no”.
If he wants to get into it for the high that he gets that is another story. But it will not help him get out of depression; on the contrary, it will feed that fixed Moon in house 12. The Moon is peregrine in a fixed sign, he is not happy emotionally and that is a difficult thing to change. So, emotionally he leans toward his addiction.
Some extra details:
The Sun is his doctor who prescribes the pills. The Sun exalts Jupiter and being in Cancer in house 5 serves the Moon.
Not surprising to see Venus, the natural ruler of pleasure, and being Saturn’s dispositor, angular. Notice that it is on Aldebaran, indicating a new cycle of some kind.
The Moon trines Jupiter next. So, the question remains: Will he get the pills and start a new cycle of addiction?
Remember that he got fed up with the dependence on the pills and the harm it causes to his body. This change of mind is shown by Saturn turning direct.
With Saturn picking up speed and being dignified, there’s a good chance that he will drop the idea of the pills and find pleasure elsewhere.
