Uranus – for good or the opposite

A Uranian summer has not been a balmy affair with the USA election jolted onto a different trajectory plus an assassination attempt, the UK in turmoil, the Middle East poised on a knife edge and Russia startled by a surprise turn of events with Ukraine’s fight back. This coming Monday sees an Aquarius Full Moon exactly square Uranus which coincides with the Democratic Convention with tr Uranus opposing Joe Biden’s Sun as he mourns his forced exit.

The Full Moon chart when set for Iran puts Pluto on the Midheaven which may be relevant to what comes next after Israel’s recent killings inside Iran.

  Odd thoughts about Uranus.

As Urania’s children, astrologers usually have prominent Uranus aspects in their charts, prompting them to walk a singular path and explore hidden truths despite mainstream contempt.  

  In astrology Uranus, the lightning god, has a reputation as a disrupter – for good as a liberator and innovator when faced with overdue reforms, not so great when in a contrarian mood it rocks the boat out of sheer mischief.

  Both ancient myths associated with Uranus highlight its divisive nature. Ouranos, the sky god, married to Gaia the earth mother, rejected one or more of his children. Gaia persuaded her other Titan sons to rebel and Kronos (Saturn) castrated his father. The sky-god’s blood fell on the earth, producing the avenging Erinyes and the Gigantes (Giants). Thus producing an eternal war between the sky (= ideas and ideals) and the earth (= the flesh, practicalities, money and the limits of time.) 

 The other myth is Prometheus, an immortal god seen as the champion of mankind who defied his Olympian brothers by taking fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology and knowledge, thus promoting civilization. For this he was punished, bound to a rock, and an eagle (symbol of king god Zeus) was sent to eat his liver, thought to be the seat of human emotions. His liver would grow back overnight, only to be eaten again the next day in an ongoing cycle. Again the theme is a splitting apart – of Prometheus from his brother gods with their arrogance to benefit the formerly powerless, but at a physical and emotional costs to himself.

 In both above myths punishment of a grossly earthy kind followed their actions. Defying authority and power figures is a Uranian theme, no matter the consequences.  Uranus is also seen as anti-biology, not rooted in the body, and although it may promote Utopian ideas about nature, does have a visceral dislike of the grosser aspects of the materialistic and fleshly earth realm.

  Uranus shares with Mercury a trickster quality making it difficult to determine in advance whether the effect of Uranian influences will be liberating and progressive or one of anarchy and chaos. Defiance and lawlessness are in its repertory.

 Family and close personal relationships are not made easier by the presence of Uranus with its dislike of compromise, lack of adaptability and insistence on protecting individuality and independence over cooperation. Connected to the nervous system, it leads to a highly-strung temperament, prone to impulsive actions – and in certain cases to violence.

  Uranus is renowned as a mould-breaker, an innovator and reformer but it also has an interest in the far distant past.   

 More than anything Uranus wants to stand out from the crowd even if seen as a maverick, eccentric and an oddball.

 In a personal chart conjunctions or hard aspects to other planets ramp up the volatility of Uranus.

Uranus Mars is explosive, literally in conflicts, and reckless in personal behaviour. It leads to over-reactions since sudden events threaten to dent self-esteem and leads to macho gestures in response.

Uranus Saturn – can be autocratic, ‘do as I do not as I say’. In good aspect it can merge the best of the old with the best of the new.

Uranus Neptune – can be fanatical, hanging onto beliefs despite incontrovertible evidence. Associated with earthquakes. And with religious art.

Uranus Pluto – revolutions and rebellions which can sweep away outdated regimes and situations. But can also led to chaos and anarchy if stability is not established after the upheaval.

  There is an interesting analogy from plant biology of the need for a balance between creativity and structure.  Plants have to evolve with changing circumstances but they cannot be in a state of creative fluidity all the time. The changes once made need to be established and built into the plant’s structure over time. Uranus and Saturn need to come to an accommodation with each other’s given role.

  Uranus is by no means always a positive force. Located in the the 10^th house instance it appears in Trump’s chart and Joseph McCarthy’s, exhibiting its ability to cause division and spread disruption; as well as murderers Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer, intent on lawless lifestyle.

  The other counter-intuitive Uranian type is Prince Andrew who has it in his 1^st house on the focal point of a yod inconjunct Saturn and an 8^th house Mercury. No poster boy for progressive causes, he defiantly walks his own road in  contrarian fashion, is intolerant of convention and inordinately stubborn.

  Even in its own orbit Uranus can create division, its negative and positive poles far apart. At best it can be a trailblazer, a catalyst for positive social change and promoter of freedom and humanitarian causes.

Moon Uranus mothers – see post September 12 2022.

From a previous post on Uranus moving into a new sign. May 2 2020:

  Looking back over the past century plus of Uranus through the signs, which it changes every seven years, year it enters a new sign has coincided with a tranche of firsts in technical and scientific advances which altered the face of our culture – television demonstrations and transmissions, airplane development from the first 40 minute flight to plane bombing, first parachute jumps, and first set-up of commercial airlines, then space travel. In more recent times the internet moved from early computing in the 1955/6 Uranus into Leo, further advances in 1962, Microsoft being founded in 1974 with Uranus just into Scorpio, first computer virus on the next in 1981 when moving into Sagittarius, then 1989 into Capricorn the first commercial internet providers and the WWW.

   Delightfully Albert Einstein published his seminal papers which led to a century’s study of theoretical physics the year Uranus moved into Capricorn in 1902.

  What is also noticeable skipping down events is how many iconic performers, novels, films emerged/exploded onto the scene in the year Uranus changed sign.

1949 into Cancer: Billy Graham.

1955/56 into Leo: Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Rogers and Hammerstein at their peak, Doris Day’s most famous hit. First Eurovision Song Contest.

1962 into Virgo: Johnny Carson debut, Rolling Stones debut, Beatles firsts, first ever Bond movie Dr No, Bob Dylan, David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia.

1974 into Scorpio: Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

1981 into Sagittarius: film ET

1989 into Capricorn: Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verse controversy.

1995 into Aquarius: Toy Story – first computer generated animated feature.

  In the century before as Uranus moved into Gemini Darwin published his Origin of the Species; and Big Ben chimed for the first time in London.

  There are also intriguing repeats.  Bill Gates was born on the 1955 with Uranus just into Leo and founded Microsoft two later on Uranus just into Scorpio.

  The Beatles burst onto the scene in 1962 as Uranus moved into Virgo and made their last public appearance next time round in 1968 when Uranus moved into Libra.

  The Vietnam War started in 1955/56 in Leo and finished three Uranus cycles later as it moved into Scorpio in 1975.

  The Guildford Four who were imprisoned in 1975 in the UK in a miscarriage of justice for alleged IRA bombings with Uranus just into Scorpio were freed fourteen years later as Uranus moved into Capricorn in 1989.

   Revolutions are a key outcome of the Uranian push for freedom at all costs. The Eastern European uprisings of 1989 when the Berlin Wall was collapsed came with Uranus just moving into Capricorn. That year also apartheid in South Africa started to be dismantled.  The Arab Spring coincided with Uranus moving into Aries in 2011. The 1968 Uranus into Libra brought the start of the Irish Troubles and the Stonewall riots fighting for gay rights.

  The destructive side of Uranus comes out with brutal suppressions as in Tiananmen Square in 1989 (in Capricorn); the Holocaust in 1942/43 (in Gemini); Nazism on the rise and the Night of the Long Knives purge in Germany in 1934 with Uranus moving into Taurus. And the Titanic sank as Uranus moved into Aquarius in 1912.

  Uranus moving through Gemini as will happen from 2025 to 2032 is likely to have a noticeable impact on the USA since previous occasions coincided with the American Civil War during the 1860s; and the American Revolution in 1775/76; and the previous one to this in 1942/43 came on the back of Pearl Harbour and the USA moving into World War 11.