Midlife Transits

Uranus in Aries is a very dynamic energy; quite different in character from Uranus in Pisces, which wobbled along uncertainly causing various upsets. Uranus in Aries will charge ahead very certainly, causing various upsets, but bringing with it plenty of spunk and the potential for some quite effective action in your life. Uranus in Aries has so much energy and so much action potential that various other planets will get alarmed at various points during its transit of the sign and attempt to stop it. Pluto in Capricorn will throw up some mighty resistance; Saturn in Libra will beg it to stop and consider the consequences of its actions, and every other planet that enters a cardinal sign will whine and complain or shudder in horror. On the other hand, Jupiter in Aries will make its effects even bigger.

Some of this interplanetary conflict and expansion will affect you at various points; some of it will pass without a blip on your screen. But the interplanetary vibes are not our subject today. Our subject today is what Uranus in Aries can do for you when he’s in a good mood and unleashed. On his first go-round, Uranus will only rush into Aries and back out again over the course of about 11 weeks. He’ll really only settle in for an extended stay in Aries  (about 7 years is Uranus’s normal tour in a sign) as of March 2011. But the times they are already changing, so let’s take a look at what’s on tap for each of the signs as the new Uranian era begins.

I’ll start with the premise that although Uranus is often thought of as a mentally oriented planet, it often has an effect (in my experience) on a person’s literal physical energy. With Uranus in Aries, your little legs may actually want to walk faster, as Aries energy urges them to hurry up, time’s a-wasting. Aries values speed and so does Uranus, so the very pace of your life may speed up. Not everyone is going to notice this immediately, and some people may not want their lives to move any faster than they already do, but it can feel good to have more physical energy at your disposal. Uranus in Pisces wants to absorb stuff (including, unfortunately, toxins) but Uranus in Aries wants to do stuff. Pisces is a mutable sign, so Uranus in Pisces keeps changing its mind. Aries is a cardinal sign, so Uranus in Aries sets goals and marches off with a sense of purpose. It’s like a dog that’s just barely restrained by the leash. Where this dog will try to take you depends partly on your sun sign or your rising sign. (If you know your own chart, you can get a more precise understanding of where Uranus will be in your chart. Astro.com offers free charts.)

Cancer and Cancer rising: Uranus is now in the part of your chart where it gets ambitious. Previously, it was in the part of your chart where it hankered after higher education, and it may still have some work to finish up in that department. But now it sets its sights upon getting you attention, moving you up, convincing you to be an entrepreneur, changing your career, or otherwise eventually making a fairly radical change. At some point, it will probably get its way. Somehow or another, it wants to throw its energy into getting you into a higher position (in its opinion) than the one you are in now, although that need not be in a strictly career sense. If you can gain prestige for climbing Mt. Everest or something, it will take that too. But it will want you to do something public, set some goals that it thinks are worthy of you. If it thinks you are in the wrong field–it will try to push you out. You would probably be wise to figure out now what you really want, since Uranus is going to try to drag you in that direction anyway.

Leo and Leo rising: Uranus here will be in your solar or natal 9th house and that covers a lot of ground. I’ll focus simply on the knowledge and information aspect of it, since Uranus does love knowledge and information. Uranus in Aries in the 9th tends to love knowledge and information it can get by going places, doing things, and experiencing stuff first-hand. Goodness knows where it will try to take you, but it tends to be hot for adventure. It also likes news, journalism, stuff that is up to the minute, and info that it can use immediately to make snap decisions. It will frequently try to persuade you to take up an intellectual project that will ultimately prove to be of great benefit to you, even if at first it seems unlikely. For example, it may encourage you to finally figure out how to do math, even though you used to think you were stupid at it. Don’t worry; it won’t take you too deep into a subject; it will just set a goal that you’ll finally figure out how to balance your checkbook or pass statistics class or whatever it is that you need.

Virgo and Virgo rising: Aries represents your solar or natal 8th house, a house that represents way too many things to go into in a single post. So I’ll pick an area that is often overlooked in discussing the 8th house–sex! More physical energy for sex. That can be one benefit of Uranus in Aries. Another benefit can simply be more of it and more interest in it. A stronger sex drive, a more assertive sex drive, a more experimental and open-minded approach to sex, more willingness to initiate sex, fewer inhibitions, more exploration, more willingness to learn and grow in this area of life. Not a bad thing for most of us.

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