Uranus Station-Direct: Enlightening in a Bottle

 Original (1902) image: Lightning striking the Eiffel Tower

(photo courtesy of NOAA/re-colored for post)

During the week prior to any Uranus station there’s a tendency for life to feel unsettled. Or for us to feel unsettled about something in our life. This planet – where it appears in our chart natally and the house it’s transiting at any given time – represents areas of our life where we need to make breakthroughs.

That’s why Uranus is there. As humans (being only human and all that) we like to think of Uranus as freedom. And it can be that – or more precisely, the energy and energetics which ‘create’ a greater liberty to operate in or a freedom to operate. Where and when Uranus energies challenge us, we feel the urge to break out of some sort of restraint – and that’s sometimes a good thing and sometimes not so good. Where and when Uranus energies scare us, we want to run, retreat or hide. We’ll react irrationally – as far as others can see – and we often will not understand our Self (or why we’re reacting as we’re reacting) because that would require us to face something about ourselves or our life/life history we would find ‘shocking’ and perhaps disruptive in and on its own.

With this in mind we go to the calendar…and the calendar says that Uranus is going direct at 8 Aries on December 17th at 5:40 p.m. in the afternoon (UT/+0 time). That means that every since shortly after Mars entered Libra back on the 7th – or maybe even before that – we’ve been thinking about our approach to people, the ‘who’ of who we’re interacting with and on a more general level, whether or not we’re getting where we want to go and the results that we want.

As the days have moved forward, leading us towards Uranus’ station, we have realized that something needs to change. Maybe what needs changing too. With Uranus in retrograde and about to turn to direct motion, the shimmy of ‘I need to do something about this’ (or they’re going to do something about me) energy like as not is a response or reaction to something rather than life jabbing us with Uranian incidents, so whether we react well or badly to things during this period is really more about our ability to handle Uranian energies than anything else.

And no, we’re not likely to like that, either. The positive and negative here runs from excitement to terror, from fascination to alienation or rejection, from isolation, anarchy and elitism to universality and mass movements (or motion).

It’s all about insight. Some we like, some we don’t like and with Uranus, we’re talking about life forcing us to own all the perspectives – not just the ones that we like. This is a planet which doesn’t ‘spin’ on its axis going around the Sun, it rolls.

(Talk about your unusual influences, right?)

Literally. Seen against the rest of the planets in our solar system, Uranus rolls along its axis. And in doing so, it’s movements subtly evoke those things which are not so subtle in real life. Uranus operates on a wavelength of concept and perspective where preference has nothing to do with anything – and since we humans are all ABOUT our preferences, thus comes the strain, the stress, the breakage, the shattering of status quos we associate with such a moment.

We’re talking about a planet beyond Saturn – beyond our solid ‘grasp’ and ‘range of sight’ even on a good day. All we can do with Uranian issues is understand them. Hopefully we understand the whole of the parameter or situation. Where we do, Uranus represents the insight of ‘discovering’ what is up with us. Where we don’t, Uranus delivers the ‘shattering blow’ which whether large or small in reality, shakes us…BECAUSE we thought we understood.

And no, we didn’t.

And then there’s the fact that 8 Aries is one of those degrees which fosters the desire not to wait. Or not to have to wait. Uranus ‘turning’ on this degree is going to be hard on those who hesitate. Or those always hell bent on hanging on to the status quo. There’s a balance we want to strike…but can we strike it? Can we get things rebalanced? Or should we even try? Should we just cut our loses – and can we?

The influence here is ‘executive’ – which in your case may mean a “superior” idea or some sort of mentor, even a higher up at work. Or maybe you’re in charge of something and this period challenges your confidence. Or your control. Even your sense of being in control of your own life. Uranus stations have a thoroughly bizarre reputation for causing our perspective on things to fluctuate. Often we’ll flex back and forth between the ‘our part’ of it and how the whole of the process functions – the ‘all’ level of things.

What we ‘see’ now can grant us vision. Or it can manifest as indecisiveness, a ‘case of nerves,’ unpredictable anxieties or fears. We may need to be flexible. We may need to be adaptable - or to adapt ourselves to changing circumstances so that we have an opportunity to achieve something greater (or what we truly want).

Conversely, where things are wrong about 'Things Uranus,' though we want to think it’s about ‘them’ or life or that 'they're to blame, that’s truly not the case. Whatever is inciting us and whatever is being incited is the area of our life where WE don’t have perspective… where we aren’t seeing our Self as others see us.

Uranian energies do seek to free us – generally of our own shortsightedness, outmoded ways, inhibitions or fears. But how these energies manifest…? That’s not always so gentle – particularly when Uranus is passing through Aries (as it is now) as Aries energetics are always about our Self.

Metaphysically, that Self is either your consciousness or your physicality… and Aries is a fire sign, a vibration adeptly processed by us as the ‘idea’ of the thing – the vision, the motivation, the goal, aim or that thing we just want, want, want, want, want. Sometimes we want the glory. Or the simple knowing that we’ve done what WE wanted to do. Those are Aries’ “martian” (Mars-like) qualities. Aries can be all about our ego drives.

Then again, our Self can manifest as that thing we were born to be and do and bear witness to by being in this world.

Uranus’ eight year transit of Aries is meant to shake all of that up. During this time our view of the world will change and our view of our Self will change through what the world (and life) throws at us.

How we react…that’s our relationship to life not being what we thought it was going to be. And sometimes that process of reacting, responding, voicing, dealing with…it’s not subtle. Or genteel. Associated with the kind of energy which busts out and break through armored resistance be it physical, mental, irrational or emotional, Uranus is associated with undifferentiated, ‘explosive’ power.

That differs it from Mars – the planet which is about directed action. Mars represents the construct of the bomb and the decision to construct it and to set a bomb off. Against that, Uranus is the unfettered energy OF the bomb. It’s not ‘the thing’…it’s the energy of the thing as it does its thing.

Seeing that both planets are involved in this station we can assume matters of the moment are going to seem unpredictable and not always to our liking. We’re in a definite (Libra) I-them, my goal-their aim sort of dynamic. Libra-Aries indicates an Aries/personal-Libra/external component to the situation and the t-square indicates conflict.

But this isn’t conflict necessarily with others, though it might manifest that way. The root of our conflicts now are about who we want to be in this world, most of all in our own regard – the Capricorn ‘goal’ we have for our Self in this life as a person. Our Plutonic factors are our ‘hidden’ issues with that…with who we are in our own minds even when we think it’s about others. Or ‘the system.’ Or ‘life.’ Or ‘society.’

It’s never ‘them.’ Metaphysically it’s always about what we are supposed to be learning because they are there. Or because something has challenged or hurt us. Why we needed to learn anything – that’s the metaphysical perspective on life…and at least part of the Plutonic ‘transformation’ we would seem to need.

The curious thing here is the “goal” of the t-square as expressed by planetary positions. According to this conflux of energetics, we’re at a moment in time when what we need is to break (Uranus) free of – in our (Aries) Self – anything which we are (Medusa) afraid of knowing about.

With Medusa at 7 Aries, the myriad of meanings behind the word ‘love’ are part of the issue.

And yet, this is Aries. So this Medusa fear we are each facing has to do with love as we experience it in our Self or through our Self, replete with all the pluses and minuses there. Given the Sabian Symbol for 7 Aries (A LARGE WOMAN’S HAT WITH STREAMERS BLOWN BY AN EAST WIND), an emotional, perhaps spiritual ‘east’ energy is playing with us THROUGH whatever we leave/have left ‘free to be blown about’ in our life or out there in the world.

In his writings on this degree, astrologer Dane Rudhyar refers to the hat as a ‘defense from the elements’ which, if you think about the story of Medusa and who Medusa was in life before she got the snaky gorgon curse for her lack of attentiveness to the facts of what her commitment(s) meant… AND the Medusa ‘curse’ (isolation, retreat from the fullness of reality)… AND the how her curse was turned to good the moment the ‘snake head’ was cut off from her body – meaning the difference was at some level her (our) ability to act willfully or be unwilling to act which makes the vital Medusa difference.

(Sounds a little like a Madison Avenue ad that…’new, improved - that vital Medusa difference!’)

Sometimes, our (Medusa) fears are of the very power our essential being has. In ‘other hands’ - those of Perseus, in the case of Medusa – our ‘curse’ becomes a tool for helping others in the same way that Perseus saved Andromeda from an ‘oceanic monster’ (something horribly emotional or horrible and emotional). Or maybe they will witness or learn from our fears and ‘cut’ from that something which will help them take the ‘knowledge’ of something awful and turn it to good.

You know…the old ‘making lemons into lemonade’ thing.

Medusa-Uranus (in Aries) as the goal of a t-square is on a macro-and-micro level all about wanting to be free of fear. We think its from (Capricorn) life or life circumstances.

Is it?

Uranus in the ‘goal’ position here says whatever our status quo is, that gets blown apart. We may be startled, maybe even disturbed about something...in life, in our Self, in what we are working – consciously or unconsciously – towards making our (Capricorn) life SO terrible that we have the excuse to simply say ‘I’m done.’ in some very personal and individual regard.

If this station aspects your chart with any acuity (which – to make this easy – we’ll say concerns ANY planet, dwarf planet, Plutino, node or chart wheel horizontal or vertical axis point) between the degrees of 5 and 11 of any sign.

Put simply, the closer your chart position is to 8 degrees of any sign, the more pronounced Uranus effects are going to be in your life during the time of this station…which metaphysically is greatly the Uranus Effect, but also a bit about our relationship to Eris, Jupiter and Haumea.

Having spent at least 64 ounces of brain fuel over the past few months on Eris, I can give you a few new theorems on the subject. (Who knows…maybe this contributes to your Uranus docket?) Known as Eris Discord by some and as Discordia to the ancient Romans, Eris seems to have a very special sort of symbolism in our life in that for many of us, discord seem to arise not in but around the house that Eris is positioned in natally – and that often (not always, but often) these matters are linked.

For instance, Eris in the 10th might mean you have a sincerely hard time not just finding the ‘right’ career but that because you have that hard time you end up cutting corners in some way which ends up causing some very real, real world (10th house) consequences…problems with the law, for instance. Or maybe a loss of (10th house) public standing. Eris in the 5th might mean you have ‘discord’ around having children – and then end up feeling ‘out in the cold’ because all the people who do have children are sort of treating you as “a different form of life.”

Anyway, this t-square doesn’t involve Uranus. But being that it happens at the same time as the Uranus station, it would be sensible to think of this ‘other matter’ as something which is either going on at the moment, or something which has some influence or bearing on your issues of the moment.

The ‘baseline’ here is a great (Pelion) amount of personal (Aries) something. Pelion generally refers to a large amount of effort which is required, but whether that’s effort already committed to something or effort you’re boggled at needing to put out is individual. Coupled to Eris, this would be a quintessential ‘big deal’ (of real type OR tempest-in-teacup type) which in some way asks that you (Jupiter/Castor) grow in ability or (Jupiter-Hel-Child) grow up some or deal with the ugly things you really don’t want to deal with but NEED to deal with (Jupiter-Hel-Child-Castor) and deal with firmly, squarely and in a straight-forward manner…with all of this being liberally tied in a knot by a true and sincere wish that a.) either you didn’t have to deal with this/could just ignore this…or….b.) that society and/or social forces (including business standards) would get real about the tendency to marginalize, bypass or ignore the fact that real human beings are affected on an everyday basis by things which don’t take realistic things into account.

The ‘goal’ presented here is a curious one: Haumea, Ceres and TNO Typhon in Libra, a combination which would appear to be more about the wish value of our planning and what we learn when ideals go awry than anything else.

And yet…there is that Haumea quality of ‘shape-shifting’ which, by being included in this figure simply adds to and reiterates the entire aura of change or ‘willing evolution to evolve’ which seems to go with this Uranus station. Looked at in terms of Uranus’ stationing in a degree known for lack of patience at a moment when Mercury is in Sagittarius indicating rapid pace or overloads with Uranus own configuration including its opposition to Mars (which, by the by, one could see very literally as an ‘opposition to Mars/doing or having to do’).

And that would seem to mean we have a Uranus station recipe for a lot of ‘this shouldn’t be my problem, it should be your problem (and I really wish you’d stop trying to foist it on me)’ sort of stuff. Or maybe you’re on the ‘I know I should, but I don’t WANT to…and I especially don’t want to have to change anything or learn better about anything - even if it’s the best thing for me - if someone else is pressuring me about it.’

Ah yes…and it’s the holidays. AND Venus is about to go retrograde.

To address this Uranus-Venus thing: if you do move forward now, you will spend the time between your ‘move’ and Venus’ end-of-January turn to direct working things out and solidifying your gains. (Or yes, your losses.) If you blow off something you KNOW you need to change, break out of or some other tra-la like that…or if you avoid something you know you need to deal with, Venus in retrograde will provide you with all sorts of reasons to keep wanting to hide from the truth.

And let’s remember…Uranus energetics are and do have a very distinct relationship to the truth. The Uranus question vis-à-vis the truth (and facts) is only ever whether we are willing to join with that truth, or whether we are determined to part from the truth by substituting some preferred mantra which sounds good…but which isn’t really real.

Of course, we may have done just that at some time in the past, too. If so, Uranus’ station becomes a time when such forces ‘explode’ in our (Aries) face (i.e., consciousness).

Here’s a diagram for these next few days of the month…

As you can see, December 19th is where the Uranus and Venus stations overlap, indicating a day of turmoil or shift/shifting where outward or outbound (Uranian) motion is expended, reacted to or reflected on in a Venusian (‘how does this affect me…?’) manner.

Are we being hasty? Are we merely being practical? Are we escaping or abdicating - enhancing or detracting from our innate wholeness or effectiveness? Going into this station things would seem to be focused on ‘the idea of the thing’ with theories are abounding in the moment.

And yet, where we come out of this station we are under Sun and Venus in earth – specifically in Capricorn.That says realism. That says reality and a need for determinations which, whether pragmatic or not really have to fit who you are and be capable of generating personal growth to have any lasting effectiveness. 

All of which generates this question: if we go into this station in theory and come out of it in a pragmatic or realism mode, what's happened?

What changes?

That would seem to be our question.
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Sun in Aries: Courage, Change and Challenges

Taken by Japan's Hinode's Solar Optical Telescope, the photograph used in this

blog header is an image of a plasma limb flare on the surface of our Sun.

(photo credit: Hinode/JAXA-NASA, January 2007)

With the Sun’s moving into Aries, our pent up feelings break through and the inward intensity of all that Pisces energy begins draining away. The cracks felt days ago with Mars entering Aries now become an engine of self assertiveness.

It’s a bit like a chick breaking out of an egg. We’re seeing who we are. We seeing what’s possible in the world…and what we can make of ourselves. With Mercury still in Pisces, the possibilities are pretty much pouring in – and so are the things which need doing.

If Mercury was also already in Aries, we would look at this near-infinite myriad of options and need and see what needs doing first. And what needs doing after that. But Mercury isn’t in Aries. Mercury’s still in Pisces. So as the Sun enters Aries on March 20th at 11:03 in the morning UT/+0 it will usher in spring in the northern hemisphere and fall in Earth’s southern hemisphere and we’re still in something of an echo chamber of personal making…or at least human habituation.

For those who don’t realize it, this solar ingress is also the clockwork for Easter. Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first Full Moon following the Aries ingress. So…since that (Libra) Full Moon will be on the 27th, Easter falls on Sunday, March 31st this year. And yes, whether you’re Christian or not, that means it’s time to stock up on chocolate bunnies!

(Who doesn’t like chocolate bunnies, after all?)

A display of Lindt chocolate Easter bunnies

(photo credit: Bryan, March 2007)

While Venus remains in Pisces (a sign Venus is astrologically ‘exalted’ in) it’s a good time for being who you are while interacting with to others IF you are willing to not be agreed with 100%. Then again, though you may not like what others have to say, if you have some difficult conversation which needs having, this may be the time to have it, since once Venus enters Aries (this coming weekend) there’s less adaptability in the air.

And after that? Well, you may not like everything you hear, though that doesn’t mean it isn’t true! Once Venus, Mars and the Sun are all in Aries that’s a lot of willful Aries energy – in your life and the lives of those you deal with. But remember…Mercury is still in Pisces. And that sets up an astro-situation which is just ripe for (and which is likely to be rife with) defensiveness…if not out-and-out defensive-aggression.

And don’t you just hate that? People do snarky things under this sort of combination. And that means we’re likely to see a lot of fair amount (even a lot) of posturing and uppity-ness in the weeks ahead. For those who used to watch Happy Days it’s going to be like dealing with many a Fonz who just can’t admit they’re wrong. Or that they’re in the wrong. Or that they made a bad choice.

If (when, actually…) this happens, try to remember that it’s not you this person is resisting listening to. No, it really isn’t you. The problem we’re going to be dealing with on and off for these next few weeks is the fact that no one wants to hear that critical little voice in their head. You know, the one which on occasion haunts us all, causing us to feel doubt or self-critique or even shame.

Mind you, with Mercury in Pisces we can choose to listen to each other. And when we listen to each other with understanding and compassion for where the other person is coming from – as opposed to making it all about ourselves, that would be harnessing Mercury in Pisces on the high or plus side, and that will support all the Aries solar energy into allowing us to see how things really could be fixed. Or work better. Or become what we want them to be.

Every sign is a passage, one which asks us to understand the universality or universal precepts of the sign which precedes it – which in the case of Aries would be Pisces. In understanding the plus and minus of that previous sign – which we’ll shorthand with regards to Pisces as being vulnerability versus compassion to the degree that we incorporate that in our thinking, the sign we’re in (Aries) becomes empowered more to its high side than otherwise.

And in Aries, that’s the difference between being courageous, noble and productive…and being willful, selfish and probably put-upon or frustrated.

Granted, we’re likely to feel a bit of each. That’s the way life works. But this is the name of our current challenge-of-the-month: to not exclude understanding where others are coming from. There will be lots and lots of opportunities to do your own thing and be your own person now, which is easier, granted. But even then…to hold somewhere in your heart or soul (or wherever you hold things) that there are other people in this world and that your life is made better by considering their needs? That’s the Aries ace.

Mind you, Aries can go overboard in this direction too. Aries energy can be super-directed and super-directive, and that’s not useful either. It might be easier to do it yourself or to think you should run the show so you don’t have to put up with anyone else’s less-than-perfections, but that can very quickly get into the Aries domineering thing.

With Mars and the Sun in Aries, we’re likely to see a lot of insistence as a side dish to that posturing thing. When someone is doing something so that others can have the opportunity to flourish that’s one thing. But to just do things your way because you can’t tolerate thinking that there’s any other way? Whether you’re doing that in an office, as a matter of regard for ‘your family’ (and nuts to any other family) or your culture, your company, your tradition, your nation or national party, that’s patently unproductive if you do not allow for the needs of others.

That’s the tricky relationship between Pisces – last sign in the zodiac – and Aries, first sign of the zodiac. Not meaning to pick on men, but the males of our species (and many species, come to think of it) are famous for wanting to ‘fix’ things. Well, sometimes you can’t. And this is exactly what we’re talking about as the dichotomy between Aries and Pisces.

When the Sun was in Pisces, Aries was the 2nd derivative harmonic. That means it was the next sign in zodiacal line. In that position, we needed to value our Self enough to get things done. We had to feel our fears and learn how to do things anyway. We had to feel our losses and recognize what they said about us, and grow from that ouchy emotional knowing.

Now the Sun is in Aries and Pisces is the 12th derivative harmonic, which means it’s the sign just before Aries. In this position, Pisces represents all those squishy fears we have. All that ambiguity or maybe even guilt we don’t want to feel.

Tough. Feel it anyway. You’ll be a better person for admitting that you’re human. And yes, I AM speaking more to the men here than the women. Why? Because as little boys grow up, they rather quickly get sent into ‘male society’ where they’re taught to suck it up, to achieve, to be the leaders. And that’s all well and good, but while they’re exercising those mental pre-macho muscles, they’re not continuing to exercise the more receptive, more tolerant-of-their-own-emotions which astrology associates with the yin signs.

And that’s where guys (and women) tend to polarize. The more that she learns to play the femme fatale, the more likely she will be to attract a male who is domineering. And in such pairings – be they intimate or friendships or business partnerships, once we find the person who ‘feels on a level’ with us (meaning they fill in the yin to our yang and vice versa) we buck and kick if anybody tries to grow any more beyond that.

Once we understand how this works, it becomes plain to us why our Sun signs…and the sign the Sun is currently in…plays such a strong role in astrology. The female born into a yang sign (Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, Aquarius) will have a naturally self-assertive quality a female born into a yin sign will never have. She may act like it if (for instance) she has a yang sign rising, but there is a quality to what I call cross-gender signage which is really useful to many women because it compensates for the standard societal “conditioning.” And the same goes for men. Men born into yin signs (Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, Pisces) tend to be more receptive and understanding. How they handle that is another matter.

So we all have this natal quality we live and deal with. And that natal yin or yang-ness, against the question of our gender, is pushed and pulled as if by celestial magnetism as the Sun (and other planets) move through yin and yang signs.

The Sun is exalted in Aries. Aries is the sign of existing and of being aware of our potential, and the astrological qualities of the Sun (conception of what to do with our lives) ‘shines’ when passing through Aries because the Sun is all about life and our existing.

Then we add in Mars. Mars is going to be in Aries (it’s primal ruling sign) for the whole of the (yang) month of Sun is in Aries.

Without knowing anything else, we know this is a metaphysically energetic time, a time with muscles.

Then again, sometimes those muscles may come on a bit strong – for others and for our own good.

That difference…the knowing when to do and with what kind of strength to do it? That’s where our ability to be conscious (Sun in Aries) of others and understanding (Pisces as 12th sign to Aries) of who they are and their feelings, aims and needs.

This is NOT about coercion. This is NOT about having to stop and baby someone who may or may not be perfectly capable of doing for themselves. And whatever else it is, this is NOT about doing what you want because you simply want to do it or because it’s “your way” of doing things.

This last goes to the fact that after Aries comes Taurus. And when we consider Taurus as the 2nd harmonic TO Aries (in other words, the sign right after Aries in the zodiacal order)…that tells us that the things we do now, while the Sun (and Mars, and soon to be Venus) are all in Aries are in the end, about our ultimate sense of security and satisfaction and ability to feel respect for who we are and what we do in this world.

And that has to take into account those ‘others.’ Pisces being the BIG universal others (like, the whole-of-the-planet others), this lesson becomes a vital education in why we are only snug in the bosom of our family or our business or our culture or nation when the rest of the world is also secure.

Remember a couple of years ago when that huge earthquake and tsunami hit Japan? There for a couple of weeks we were suddenly all aware that we’re on this planet together. Suddenly all those prideful ethnic arguments didn’t seem so important. Having the latest IPhone or car wasn’t first on our list.

Our concept of survival was.

That event coincided with Uranus moving into Aries. Uranus is still in Aries. And wherever we see Uranus go, we know that’s the level at which we are going to get shaken so that we will understand exactly what we understood during those weeks: that mankind may be mighty, but we are only as mighty as our humility and willingness to work together and mind our limits allows us to be.

Sun, Mars, Uranus all in Aries is a time when we have an opportunity to change our ways and to break through the false limitations we have allowed to become our limitations. We are living with structures which may have at one point been our support, but which at this point have become our weakness. What once inspired us is now proving to be maybe a sham, maybe shameful. But that too is an inspiration – it’s an inspiration to think beyond that to bigger and more boundless ways of thinking.

As Uranus moved into Aries, Neptune entered Pisces. That’s the sign of the shift, the sign that we have to think more globally, not just in the physical here-on-Earth sense, but also in the human sense.

Planet Uranus (partial, at left) and some of its moons. Left to right are Puck, Miranda, Ariel,

Umbriel, Titania and Oberon in this composite made from Voyager 2 photos

(photo collage: Vzb83, original photo credit: NASA-JPL)

As the Sun enters Aries, Uranus is positioned at 8 Aries, a degree known for impatience, even violence. At the core of this degree is the need to use our lives and the energy which is our life and which we have in life for the betterment of life. Unfortunately, we are likely to see and hear of many who simply insist on having things ‘their own way,’ particularly during the first part of this month.

Things are going to build during the next few weeks. You’ll see it in your own work. You’ll feel it in your relationships. You’ll hear about it on the news. If you do nothing more than recognize this energy and how people tend to project it onto (or against) others instead of owning it as a force which they need to use in their own life, you’ll be doing well. Some examples will be totally present-tense. Some examples will be the playing out of things which have already happened, the reality of which are now becoming apparent.

Life teaches us in many ways. Sometimes that involves making it plainly – even painfully – obvious that someone did the wrong thing. You’ll see that. And hopefully, you’ll learn from that. The natural reaction being “I’ll never do that,” many of us will see what happens in this next little while and automatically turn to investing in what we can do, what we can learn, what we can achieve which makes for a better life and a better world.

That would be Uranus at 8 Aries manifesting to the positive.

It is to be noted however, that 8 Aries is obviously in opposition to 8 Libra. And 8 Libra is one of but a few degrees in the zodiac to have such a distinct lore that it’s earned itself a nickname: “the Widow’s Degree.” Here’s a piece I wrote on that degree a while ago:

(link to post)

To the Degree: 8 Libra

With Uranus at 8 Aries, the 8 Aries/Libra ‘doorway’ is opened. Some of us will experience losses, and some of us will finally begin coming to grips with losses already incurred but never really grappled with.

This is an opportunity. But to get the most out of this opportunity, you’re going to have to be willing to feel your loss, experience the sense of aloneness or personal defeat or angst or even guilt or shame which goes with that loss, then from that move forward.

This can be a healing time. But it is not one which is very Florence Nightingale. There is a cracking down which must happen within before your hard shell can shatter and a bigger, better you can come forth like that brand new chick.

But think of it this way…if you renew you, you can have new peeps! (Marshmallow and otherwise!)

All this is going to rev up in the first half of the Sun in Aries month. More to the point, there is a ‘critical mass’ point which will occur with the Full Moon (March 27) and during the couple of days thereafter. Those who have been working on their challenges will either get past them at that point, or bounce off their hard-headed ego walls then…rather as a handball would.

For those who do get past their ego sticking points (which is about as gracefully as I can put it!) the rest of this Sun in Aries month will be all about moving on towards personal goals.

For those who don’t get past their ego around the time of the Full Moon, you’ll face some new challenges in the lee of the Full phase and either deal with the fact that others aren’t cooperating or learn what you have to do to get along in this world, a lesson from which you will then begin to build.

There are, of course, the shirkers in the crowd…those who don’t think they have to change, those who think that all is just fine and dandy and fabu.

Maybe you’re right. Then again, maybe you’re not so right. Here’s the clue: if between now and the Full Moon you start getting dribbles and crumbs of disapproval from others…IF you recognize that you aren’t having the effect on others (and the world in general) that you want to have – or that you thought you were having, then you really have some reconsidering to do.

And for those who don’t want to reconsider? Well, for them there’s always the Uranus Effect.

Oh…and Pluto. Did I mention that Pluto is going retrograde next month, just before we head into a full-on eclipse season composed of one solar and TWO lunar eclipses? Heavens! Where’s Bette Davis when you need her to announce the impending bumpy ride?

A publicity still of Bette Davis with fourth and final husband Gary Merrill (her fourth and final husband)

who worked with his wife on the 1950 Warner Brothers film 'All About Eve,' from which

the (in)famous 'bumpy ride' comment is taken.

(photo credit: Warner Brothers/publicity department, 1950)

Wherever she is, she’s probably laughing at all of us, hoping we’ll get to fixing what needs to be fixed.

In any case, Pluto is already in the degree (11 Capricorn) that it will be sitting in not just at this month’s Full Moon, but all the way through the April-May eclipse season.

11 Capricorn is a complicated degree that we’re going to talk about going forward. At the moment what we need to understand is the idea that Pluto in 11 Capricorn is about the power of leadership and the responsibilities which go with that. Certainly we see examples of this energy being used in all sorts of ways even as I type.

The more important thing now is the natural square between Aries and Capricorn, which asks you how you are using your life to demonstrate – not just to others but to yourself – the benefits of leading and growing through working through our challenges.

With Uranus in Aries with the Sun, changes are due. Fortunately, with Sun (and Mars and Uranus) in Aries, the energy is at hand. As are the opportunities, if we are only courageous enough to own them.

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Uranus Station/Retrogrades

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Uranus as photographed in 2005 showing some

of the planet's rings (photo credit ESA and NASA)

Planet Uranus goes retrograde on Friday, July 13th (2012) at 9:50 in the morning, UT/+0 time. And because we give all celestial objects of mass (in particular, planets because they have more mass!) a ‘station allowance’ of two days, that means the days between July 11th and July 15th are going to prompt a bit of change.

Uranus represents the unusual – which doesn’t seem unusual at all when you consider that this is the only planet in our solar system which ‘rolls’ along it’s orbit. The rest ‘spin’ rather like tops. Oh sure, they may have a bit of a tilt. Even a lot of tilt. But only Uranus rolls along on its side.

Uranus is the black sheep. The odd duck. The thing you don’t want to deal with which won’t be contained. The change in circumstance which comes upon us because we’re so very utterly married to our current status quo, untidy, unworkable, unproductive or just plain wrong though it may well be. Uranus is the coldest planet in our solar system – a fact we interpret metaphysically as the ‘suddenness’ with which Uranus events tend to transpire. With Uranus there are none of that wistful longing and regretting stuff we tend to associate with Neptune. There isn’t even the long term effort (plus grumbles, plus sighs) which so often accompany the standard Saturn commitment.

With Uranus, there doesn’t seem to be any choice. It just is. Uranus is the irresistible force which moves immovable objects. It’s the blinding light which illuminates everything, changing our world. It’s the bursting forth from shackles, the overthrowing of insupportable circumstances, it’s…

…it’s going retrograde. In early Aries, to be precise.

The degree involved here is 8 Aries. By simple sign and early placement we know this is about ‘the basics,’ and something to do with how we live, or go about our daily life.

Except it’s more than about the errands, the efforts, the aims. During the years that Uranus transits Aries our very orientation to life will often change. Lives begin, lives end. Governments rise, cultures fall. Discoveries get made, preconceptions get blown out of the water.

Life itself…and our orientation to our life and towards what we are or what we do with our lives…all that changes now. And this last is right on the money now with Uranus going retrograde as any planet in retrograde symbolizes a time when the metaphysical precepts associated with that planet work to change us on the inside.

Or when we work to change ourselves on the inside.

Because Aries is the sign of physical existence, this shift to retrograde may coincide with a ‘surfacing’ (or a development) of physical issues. This is likely to be particularly true because of where Uranus is going retrograde as 8 Aries has a reputation for violence (i.e., physical disruption) and ‘unharnessed’ or spewing energy. There’s a lack of skill and finesse associated with 8 Aries which may well indicate bottled frustration which now gets released. Then again, difficulties which are due to lack of skill, ability or willingness to change may now come to the fore.

It's probably also worth remembering that 8 Libra is the oppositional degree here as 8 Libra is one of those special and very interesting degrees which has a truly well developed reputation of it’s own. I’ve written about 8 Libra prior to now (LINK) but for those who don’t want to dash off to a whole other blog the name which goes with 8 Libra – the widow’s degree – refers to the loss of something, with our learning more about life through that very loss.

Thus through whatever changes now – or that which you’re in the process of changing – you too will learn more. You’ll learn more about yourself, more about other people, more about how life works.

And doesn’t work. Yes, that too.

Having an orbital period of 84.3 years, the half life of a Uranian orbit is just around 42 years. Astrologically, we’d call that the opposition – and indeed Uranus opposition Uranus is one of the three famous (if not infamous) “mid-life transits” we all go through somewhere between age 38 and 42.

Why would it vary? It would vary because the orbit of Uranus is not entirely round. As the diagram below shows, it looks round when you draw it, but in truth it's a wee bit 'egg shaped' - as most orbits are.

Probably the easiest way to validate this is by going to the 'AU' (astronomical unit) measurement of Uranus' orbit. One astronomical unit is the mean (average) distance from the Earth to the Sun and at it's farthest, Uranus is 20.08 AU from the Sun. At it's nearest it's 18.37 AU from the Sun.

Uranus in orbital diagram

source: JPL Small Body Browser 

Even though that's HUGE as a real-time, real life distance, in planetary terms, that's not all that much. It's really not more than a shrug-and-a-half. Pluto (for instance) has an aphelion (far) point of 49 AU and a perihelion (near) orbital point of 29.65 AU. 

Pluto has a really eggy orbit which looks eggy when 
diagramed... 
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Pluto's orbit is here shown as the outer ring

While there are certainly celestial parties out there whose orbits ars a whole lot more intensely egg-shaped (Pluto leaps to mind…) the variation of the Uranian cycle does give us news to gnaw on. So here’s a chart…
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Probably the main thing to note here is that we are currently in the ‘longish’ (at least longer) part of Uranus’ zodiacal cycle. Does that imply that there’s more which needs changing now? Or that through the instability so often associated with Uranus we will ultimately benefit?

Perhaps so. That all Uranian situations ask us to be flexible and at least willing to consider new ideas – in light of our world being bollixed, confounded and seemingly hamstringed (if not out-and-out damaged) by those intent on not changing and not allowing and requiring personal and individual responsibility – all that seems emblematic of a time when Uranus would be in signs for longer periods of time.

Considered by ‘modernist’ astrologers as the ‘outcome’ ruler of Aquarius, the Uranus cycle centers in/on three signs: Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. These are the signs of the zodiac’s 4th and most worldly/global quarter. Thus the Uranian emphasis is most concentrated in matters having to do with personal freedoms and the responsibility and work which goes with being free and being responsible. It’s about ‘reinventing’ ourselves and our world on a constant and cyclic basis. As secondary ruler of Aquarius (a sign which has Saturn as its basis) freedom is defined astrologically as something which cannot work for some – which has to work for all of us. It requires an almost ridiculous amount of tolerance, most of all when it comes to accepting ideas which might be apart from the ‘norm.’

Let’s remember…once upon a time the light bulb was a ‘new fangled’ thing. Once upon a time (as I put it to planet hunter Mike Brown at Caltech) people though associating the Moon with Earth’s tides was simple lunacy.

Uranus stands for inventiveness. Where we cling, where we refuse to learn (or learn better), where we try to simply remain part of the societal ‘mass’ when our brilliance or our ‘purpose’ (calling, if you prefer) is to be the individual who does stand out, who does do that new thing, who isn’t beholden to culture or social status…then Uranus brings upset. Uranus brings fractures and breakage. Uranus fosters disaster personal, societal and often financial.

All those qualities now turn to retrograde. All that energy is now being seeded and seated inside of us, trying to get us to free our Selves. With Uranus currently transiting Aries, this is the most important time not to be bottled or shackled by preconceived notions – those we would like to hold onto ourselves as much as those imposed from outside. Energy denied under Uranus in Aries often will surface physically, whether in real-life circumstances involving rejection, severe consequences, ruptures in associations and reputations, even bloodshed. As someone steeped in astrology (it’s a tea) I listen to the terrible news coming out of Syria and I hear the sounds of Uranus. I listen to the political battles going on here in the United States and I hear Uranus.

Changes are needed. But if all people do is ‘change the new in order to revert to the old’ that will not satisfy the Uranian precept. We are now moving into the Aquarian Age and everything we do from here on for the next 2,100 years (give or take a nuance) is going to carry all the many facets of Aquarian Age thinking.

Computers are Aquarius – who thinks we’re going to give up technology and go back to clay tablets?

Gender equality, racial equality, equality of human beings as human beings regardless of sexual orientation or age or social status…in the eyes of society, all that is Aquarian.

The easy thing to do under Aquarian and Uranian influences is ‘separate from.’ The far harder thing to do is to ‘break out of’ whatever one’s personal limitations are so that we can learn from…and at least accept, if not embrace, those who come from a different way of life, be that a discipline, a culture, a religious heritage or simply a different way of living.

If you’re having a hard time now, if things are rocky or you’re in the midst of some sort of ‘outbreak’ of hostility or social/societal, financial, relationship or cultural fracas the worst thing you can do is surrender your individuality.

Just don’t do it. You need to be who you are while taking responsibility for being but one person in a society for everything to go right.

That ego and our drive to 'have it our way' while 'fixing them' (isn't that so often the human conviction?) is of the moment even more critical than ever is show ably by the fact that this station takes place in square to Pluto-Facies in Capricorn.

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Remember Pluto-Facies? If not, here's a link to that April 2012 blog...

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Pluto Station-Retrogrades in the Face of Facies

Facies being a nebula (though treated as a 'fixed star' by astrologers) and a nebula being a celestial object which 'looks' like one thing but in reality is a cluster of stars (i.e., 'many items') we know that there are a lot of ramifications and considerations and perhaps people involved in whatever it is we're now dealing with.

But at the core, all question are structural. And as defined by the Mars/Diadem - Pluto/Facies - Uranus/Chaldea/Pallas t-square defined above, the biggest problem in the mix involves ego. We WANT what we want, whether it works or not. Just the idea of being challenged will arouse the heap-plenty feisty qualities (even snarkiness) of Pluto/Facies.

How to tell what's right or wrong in the greater realm of choices? Functionality and legality. Added to that is a quality of social versus societal acceptability; where what you want from society runs afoul of what society would think of you or what you're doing were the truth to be known, you need to change.

This is a classic 'house of cards' sort of dynamic: truths not minded now will bring everything crashing down soon enough. Mars/Diadem (Diadem being the 'crowning glory') brings a LOT of 'wanting to look good' and 'what others think of me' into this mix. And that is a huge, huge challenge, considering Uranus' position in Aries.

It would also be the metaphysical rational for Uranus transiting Aries. Where we are out of balance with issues of 'what it looks like' or 'approval from others' this is a difficult time. And depending on where you place the emphasis of your 'value weighting' now, things can get a lot harder...or begin to improve. Particularly if you need to be seen or known as an 'authority' on any subject, or wise or smart enough to 'fill the bill,' this is a particularly testing time.

The good news is this: the greatest part of the test has to do with how honest you are with yourself. Pretense and pretending is your albatross. Those who choose to try to 'fake it until I make it' will pay substantial prices. Those who do that while involving others will end up undermining their personal stability. 

It may not happen instantly...but it'll happen.   

From now until early-ish December when Uranus goes direct, there is more fluctuation to be felt within than without. Social and societal influences may well drive your internal quandaries, but the quandaries themselves are yours.

Question: what should I do about….(insert subject)?

All ‘best’ answers here will involve retaining and respecting who you are. All ‘best’ answers will allow you to function more rather than less freely. All ‘best’ answers will not be ‘dictated’ to you, but be a natural outgrowth of that higher ideal which holds that while all lives may not be lived the same way, all LIFE has intrinsic, fascinating value.
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