Mars opposition Uranus: The Road Signs

Uranus (top) and Mars (bottom) (photo credits: NASA-JPL)

 

Once Mars entered Aries back on December 7th it was inevitable – considering how Uranus is spending some eight years doing it’s sideways roll through Aries (manifesting as a periodic herking-jerking of our lives around like so much cosmic puppetry) – it was inevitable that Mars would end up opposing Uranus.

Well, that time has come…and I’m not sure whether I’m of a mind that this highly unpredictable patch of metaphysical is better crossed sooner than later.

But then, the universe didn’t ask me now, did it?

It’s always interested me that between Uranus and Pluto, Pluto gets all the drooling and panting. Uranus gets proper lip service, but Pluto gets groveling.

Then again, Uranus is the clean shot out of the blue – the thing which is over before you can register its begun, where Pluto is so much slower that we get time to tremble at life’s exquisitely painful joys and wallow in yearnings, fears and loss.

Let’s face it – Pluto energies are dramatic, and whether you’re an action-packed A-type personality or the I’d Rather Be Meditating type, there’s something innately Plutonic in us all.

The craven side of Pluto trends towards sex, carnality and violence. The productive side of Pluto leans towards the kinds of transformations which elevate and purify us.

And if that last sounds a little Neptunian, that would be because Pluto – the dwarf planet – is controlled by Neptune, intriguing and full-fledged planet that Neptune is.

Planet Neptune

(photo credit: NASA)

Have you ever thought about what this sort of ‘evidence’ by our solar system says in mythic terms? I mean…if you think of the Greek Olympus, there are three brothers. Jupiter (Zeus) is in charge of the whole Olympian shebang with siblings Hades (Pluto) and Neptune (Neptune) (sorry…couldn’t resist) in charge of the underworld and oceans, respectively.

I mean…gee wiz people – I’m a writer. The idea that in our solar system we have a planetary Pluto whose orbit is controlled by a planetary Neptune would tend to say that the Olympian Neptune (god of seas and thus water – which metaphysically equals emotions) controlled…or in ‘mythic-metaphysical’ terms should be seen to control all things Plutonic.

And before you jump to bite my copy yelling THEY DO! let’s remember…that would put the power which drives us to handle our Pluto effectively or not in Neptune’s court.

(I’m thinking water polo court here, personally.)

(That’s a joke.)

But it thus all comes down to: what are the cardinal rules for dealing with Neptune…which as opposed to Pluto is not what your emotions want but rather dealing with why you want – or desperately don’t want – ‘that.’

All of which has absolutely nada to do with Uranus, I know. But it was on my (alleged) mind, so I thought I’d stick it in today’s post.

(I’m just frivolous like that.)

Uranus – the planet which rolls along its orbit instead of spinning along it like every other self-respecting planets does – Uranus is the different thing. Whatever the status quo it, pure and simple, Uranus and Uranian energies represents that which changes it.

Or which changes us enough so that we understand things from a bigger, less ‘us-involved’ sort of perspective.

And considering how egocentric and me-centered humans are…? Well, let’s just say that the less flexible you are in life, the more drastic your Uranus transits are likely to be.

All and all it would seem that there is a ‘quotient’ of ‘change energy’ in each of our lives. Some of us let a little of it out constantly (a life built on ongoing change), some of us ‘vent’ the energy periodically – either intentionally or unconsciously (a life path built as an extended series of incremental steps) and some of us simply resist all change, and end up living a life which periodically experiences some terrible ‘breaking’ of the status quo (usually with aftershocks) which has to be weathered over some period of time before things settle back down.

And yes, Uranus is the metaphysical symbol of earthquakes. It’s also associated with lightning, explosions, anarchy, electricity, power grids, technology (including computers and the internet), ‘eruptions’ of social-mass movements, science, innovation, experimentation and modernization. Anything which changes ‘what was’ is Uranian.

We each know who we are and where we fall on the Uranus scale, no doubt – though we may have areas of our life which are more or less flexible, granted.

So then there’s Mars. Outermost of the personal planets which represent our daily life and ‘operation’ of our life existence, Mars is where our idea of who we are (the Sun), what we think (Mercury) and want (Venus) reaches the motivation-to-doing stage.

From where Mars orbits, in heading out into ‘the rest of what exists’ (the world, what we can learn) we traverse a lot of subjects and confront many facets of our Self and life (the asteroid belt) before we really have a clue what we are capable of being and how to be that person (Jupiter) and achieve our place in the world and – maybe more importantly – in our own regard (Saturn).

 
Motivation…initiation…doing. Mars symbolizes the pedal-meeting-metal moments of our lives. It represents that feeling we get when necessity builds to sufficient urgently to cause us to act.

But Mars is in Libra – the sign of the Other. Libra is the metaphysical hinge (a fact Gen X is slowly but surly learning!) where cause meets effect, where the fuse burns down to the powder – and a result is generated. And if that result is explosive, it is. What we put out there generates what comes back to us.

So the dynamics of that explosion? Whether it’s a little pop or a scene scarring blast?

That’s an attribute which would seem to be uniquely Uranian.

Thus we come to the crux of the issue: Uranus is in Aries, sign of the Self – the who we are, our physical existence and what we are motivated to become. So these years between 2011 and 2018 are not designed to be calm. We’re supposed to get rattled. We’re supposed to feel our flaws and learn to roll with our rocky times. We’re supposed to change. We’re supposed to become more of who we really are, regardless of what that is – for in that Self lies the energy, the attributes which we can turn to the betterment of all.

And in the process – so lore promises – we will become ever more enlightened.

Which is probably the thing about enlightenment, I guess…you can’t find it by hiding from your Self and who you (we) really are.

It’s not a neat process – and maybe that’s what this Mars opposition Uranus period is going to represent at some level: the meeting up with some new part of ourselves. Maybe for you it’s going to be something you can do in spite of all. Or it’s some attribute you thought you couldn’t do which you actually (shock!) like.

Still….let’s not be unrealistic here: if you were going to pick a couple of planets (from the astrological perspective) and say ‘these two, mixed together, are dangerous’ you would probably pick Mars and Uranus.

This pair is so well known it doesn’t really matter what aspect (conjunction, opposition, square, etc.) they are to each other. When Mars and Uranus start playing footsie, flexibility is our friend and staying on one’s toes is entirely sensible – either because you don’t want to miss a sudden opportunity, because things are simply hectic, because (probably after a lot of thought) you resolve yourself to make some sort of quick or unscheduled change….or because you don’t want to be caught standing in the line of fire when the sky falls. (Always a good idea, that last one.)

By opposition, any Mars/Uranus opposition can represent discussions, confrontations, ‘breakthroughs’ which lead to stronger understandings and even personal epiphanies. Such a transit will also have three parts: Mars approaching Uranus (development of dynamics), the actual ‘by degree’ conjunction (the change) and Mars ‘departing’ – the ‘moving on’ part of our experience. (And yes – specifics in your personal chart can cause these dates to flex by a day or two.)

Date-wise, these three ‘sections’ of this month’s Mars/Uranus opposition sort out as follows:

Approaching Orb: December 15-25

Conjunction: December 25

Departing Orb: December 25-January 6

I’m somehow sure a lot of people are going to look at that list and react to the fact that the conjunction date is Christmas.

For the record, me too. I have an odd feeling about this particularly because of the degree of the opposition as well. The degree is 8 Libra, and 8 Libra is one of a very few zodiac degrees of have a such a ‘reputation’ as to have acquired a nickname.

It’s called ‘the Widow’s Degree.’ And yes, this can mean violence or loss. Or it can be your experiencing of what you’ve learned through loss.

Or your realizing that you’re a whole new and different person…a changed person…because something startling – even shocking has happened.

You know more about yourself – and that’s a gift.

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If you would like to read more

about 8 Libra, click HERE

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