I’m blaming Jupiter conjunct Uranus, not to mention eclipses and Mercury Rx adding to the general confusion. You may know that Jupiter is a patron planet of travel, but did you know that he is also associated with the weather?

Now that he’s hugging Uranus in a tight embrace into January 2010, he’s expressing himself in a number of weather related ways. Pisces is a water sign so he’s enlarging the general disruption (Uranus) that precipitation can bring. In Pisces, Jupiter also loves chaos, and I suppose travel chaos would be a specialty for him. Uranus is the crazy planet, and with Jupiter at his side, it’s just really crazy. True to Jupiter form, the wackiness hasn’t really been lethal, but it sure has been forcing people to slow down when they weren’t expecting to.

Knowing that this would be a week when we’d be forced to slow down, like it or not, this week’s podcast is all about The Art of Slowing Down. My guest, Edward Yu, wrote a book on that very topic and he describes a phenomenon wherein learning can be instantaneous when we slow down enough. Pretty darn intriguing. And very Jupiter/Uranus–because they’re all about insight and instantaneous learning–even if they have to disrupt our patterns to make it possible.

“To tell the truth, I am lost right now. It’s like I don’t know who I am or what I want or where I’ll be in the future. I kinda know what I’d like, but I doubt that I can get it or how I will get it. I’m in a free fall, letting myself get deluded and anesthesized by fantasy by escaping into music and T.V.: “Crossfire”, “Dog Days are Over”, Deadwood & everything with dreamy Timothy Olyphant.

I am sucked into the words and stories and don’t really want to pull away because if I pull away, there is nothing really here for me to do or to look at. I’ve surrendered to the fog and it has swept me up and thrown me off a cliff. When I hit bottom I could land safely and get up and walk away as if nothing happened or I could shatter into dozens of pieces. I kinda want to shatter….so that I can pick up each piece and really look at it, throw away some, pocket some, try to salvage the remaining.

I can’t say that I like it but I can’t say that I don’t. I’m curious and confused and at times content with the utter unknown of it. But it does try my patience. I feel isolated, albeit self inflicted. If there are answers it seems they are here somewhere inside me so if I stay put long enough they’ll come, rather than getting out and about and among others.

But is inactivity counterintuitive? Isn’t taking action the way out? Not if the inner me keeps cajoling me to  ‘stay put’. So I stay and listen to “Dog Days are Over” and Brandon Flowers’ “Crossfire” a zillion times, hanging on the words as if an answer is in the refrain, the songs a sort of anthem for my search.

I watch Deadwood over and over, vaguely thinking I’ll learn something but really just caressing my mind by being in this faraway place with Black Hills Shakespearan characters and their schemes. They may be somewhat conflicted, but their wants and actions are so clear, so doggedly executed and I am fascinated by that and how this wild town creates itself, disposing of those who aren’t of use and how it’s figuring out how to form and become civilized, how to get along with the various personages who are making their place, their way, their fortunes amidst good and evil.”

Such a profusion of Neptune feelings in the description above: lost, unknown, undecided, free fall, deluded, anesthetized, fantasy, escape, dreamy, sucked in, surrendered, fog, swept away, curious, confused, searching for answers, inactive, caressing, figuring out how to form. It’s pretty amazing how dead on this description is.

Why you ask, would the planets throw us into such a state? Well, the answer is that often such a state is the precursor to inspiration, to a new level of clarity, to opening up to possibilities romantic and artistic and spiritual. It’s a form of divine discontent and enthrallment that leads us to somewhere we never knew existed. The Neptune sea sweeps us up to exotic new destinations, new frontiers, new homes. The attachment to a celebrity or celebrities, to a story, a movie, a type of music, etc. is very common during this kind of transit. It allows for a safe exploration of feelings that real life often has little use for. And the attachment in its own way heals and allows for the processing of emotions and experiences that the daily crush of demands don’t honor. Neptune allows the imagination to become a vehicle for redemption.

If you surrender to a Neptune transit, it can be almost ecstatic. It re-sets your priorities and pulls you out of mundane worries into a land of exalted emotion. Although strange and confusing, it’s a good thing. And worth enjoying–for it won’t last forever.

P.S. Thanks to our anonymous contributor!

Interestingly, Pisces is the sign of slavery itself and, during the last time Neptune was in Pisces, the big issue was the expansion (Neptune) of slavery in the US. Ultimately, however, Neptune performed its undermining function and slavery was permanently legally abolished in the US.

Slavery is not the issue of the day today, of course. Neptune & Pisces are also associated with such things as medicine, including holistic medicine and drugs, diseases, the poor, alcohol, shipping and the seas, charity, religion and spirituality, films, fashion, movies, glamor, illusion, deception, fantasy, oil, art, shoes, compassion, water, psychic phenomena, the subconscious mind, institutions, prisons, chemicals, escape, withdrawal, meditation, and sleep.

Coincidentally or not, one of the most common predictions about the effects of global warming is a rise in sea levels. If there’s any placement that would encourage a rise in sea levels, it would be Neptune in Pisces. Neptune, the planet that melts, would be more than happy to melt glaciers and increase its dominion over the oceans by making them bigger. Indeed, Neptune with its gigantic holistic approach will be likely to increase global concern with the environment and the entangled effects we all have on it. This is good news for people who care about the environment; it may be bad news for those who fear a ‘one world’ approach to anything.

Compassion may become an explicit value, idealized and promoted in unlikely places. Again, good news for people who value compassion. It may be a bit more difficult for those who are not naturally compassionate and who distrust it as a weakening influence. Neither Neptune nor Pisces is the least bit afraid of weakness and vulnerability; in them they see spiritual strength and the power of surrender to prevail. That may be a bit hard to swallow for those who have built a life on appearing strong.

But what about Neptune in Pisces’s effects on the individual zodiac signs? Neptune in Pisces will theoretically be excruciatingly delicious at times for those born in water signs or who have planets or angles in water signs (although Neptune conjunct a planet in Pisces may be a bit more ambiguous in its effects). Earth signs and planets will also benefit from the Neptunian magic of exquisite sensation. Nothing feels better than a good Neptune transit. Other transits may be more practical, but for sheer transporting emotion, nothing beats Neptune.

Those in mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) or with planets therein may not find Neptune transits quite as thrilling, at least at first. Or it may be exponentially more thrilling, with a Neptune hangover and disillusionment to follow. Neptune’s like a drug, and under the influence of it, we sometimes fall in love with things that are not quite as wonderful as they seem at first. We fall in love with people, ideas, churches, gurus, quests, must-haves, dreams, fantasies, the unrealistic and the unobtainable.

Neptune’s purpose, at least one of them, is to lure us cleverly out of our comfort zones with the promise of easy, ideal riches–emotional, spiritual, or material. Once out of our comfort zones, Neptune abandons us and we are lost, forced to create a new path through uncharted territory.

That sounds pretty alarming and sometimes it is, but if Neptune didn’t lure us, we’d stay in metaphorical Kansas and never venture into the land of Oz. We learn a lot in Oz, even if it’s not what we expected, even if it’s only that reality is a lot better than we used to give it credit for. Neptune encourages gratitude, devotion, colorful adventures, hopeful dreams, fresh starts, and vivid memories. It allows us to do things we would never do in our right minds and opens up new worlds to us.

Neptune also encourages stuckness. Neptune is nature’s pause button, and it slows things down far more than Saturn. Neptune processes the whole, not the pieces, and the whole takes a long time to digest. During a difficult Neptune transit, you may feel like you are going nowhere at zero miles per hour, stuck in the same old fog and uncertainty for an anxiety-provoking stretch of seeming endlessness. Because Neptune’s not one to discriminate or distinguish but accepts all things, it’s hard to make out landmarks, so that one may feel overwhelmed by the inter-relatedness of issues in your life. On the good side, when Neptune solves a problem–it can solve a whole bunch of them at once, due to its holistic approach. Out of the fog, you arrive magically at a destination you only vaguely knew you were aiming for.

If you fight Neptune with enough skepticism, you may not fall victim to its wiles and deceptions. You won’t be tricked out of your money, your heart, your ideals, or your property. And you’ll miss the hallucinogenic trip through Oz. Is it better to lose a little and gain a whole new perspective or to keep yourself safe and avoid the quest? It’s up to you to decide.

Neptune will never be in a bad mood with you. It may affect you strongly and at some point it probably will, but it itself remains unaffected by human vagaries. It glides along, sprinkling its fairy dust and intoxicating anyone intrigued by its sparkling visions. But it will never chide you, nor blame you, nor yell at you. It simply is. Your reaction to it is your own choice.

Uranus is just finishing up whacking people with planets in late degrees of mutable signs and is looking forward to resuming the ability to pounce on people with planets in early degrees of cardinal signs next March. Since I happen to be one of those people with planets in early degrees of cardinal signs, I thought I’d respond to a reader query and venture a few unconventional thoughts on dealing with the most unconventional planet in the astrological system. Without further ado, a few strange ways for getting the upper hand on a contrary planet.

#1: Panic early. Uranus can be a rather hysterical planet and he loves speed. Get the jump on him by panicking as soon as you realize you have a Uranus square, opposition or conjunction coming up. There’s a bit of reverse psychology to this so bear with me.

Think of your worst nightmare under the upcoming transit. Let’s say Uranus will be conjunct your Descendant and opposing your Ascendant. Your worst nightmare is that Uranus will try to break up your marriage because you’ve seen that happen with Uranus in the 7th house and you’re a Libra, so you hate that idea. Panic productively by figuring out what you can pull out of your hat to prevent that. Does your spouse need more freedom? Has tension been building? Do you need to talk some things through? Could you separate briefly if things are really rough these days? Could you be more assertive now so that you’re not overwhelmed with anger later? Brainstorm; worry if necessary. Uranus loves brainstorming.

But here’s the magic of this trick. Uranus wants to surprise you. If you’ve already prepared and anticipated, there’ll be no surprise if the transit brings stress to your marriage. Uranus hates that; he hates to be predicted. So he will leave your marriage alone. Now admittedly, he will do something else, such as shake up your Ascendant by having you dye your hair shocking pink (Uranus loves shocking anything). But you can live with that. Better your hair than your marriage.

The same sort of reverse psychology is necessary if you’re actually looking forward to the Uranus transit (some people do). Let’s say you are thinking to yourself that Uranus squaring your Capricorn Ascendant is going to loosen up your Capricorn serious way of presenting yourself and you think that’s going to be great because you’re tired of being perceived as a Capricorn instead of the wacky Aquarian sun that you feel inside. Don’t count on it if you’re counting on it. Instead, announce loudly to anyone that will listen “I’ll bet you Uranus will attack my sensitive Cancer Descendant instead of my Capricorn Ascendant; I just know it. I can feel it. I’m sure of it. I’m intuitive that way. It will be awful.” Uranus will overhear you and say “Aha! Guess who’s going to get a big surprise when I go after the Capricorn Ascendant!” Mission accomplished.

Now this may seem crazy, and it kind of is. But I have experience with Uranus and in my experience Uranus really does hate being predicted. I have seen this technique work on more than one occasion. What you worry about doesn’t happen. If you don’t worry at all, you get whacked upside the head. Either way, Uranus achieves his goal of keeping you on your toes and engaged with your life, thinking about the possibilities instead of relying on the same old routine. By the time you’ve finished worrying about your marriage or whatever, you’ll have already achieved what needed to be achieved, the greater independence, the not taking it for granted, the willingness to take a look at it. Without the drama of being blindsided.

#2: If it’s too late to panic in advance, take a look at what kind of Uranus transit you are going through. There are at least 2 major kinds. One is internal and the other is situational. The internal ones make you feel like you are going crazy, partly because nothing’s happening and you want something to happen. You feel restless. You want to quit your job, flee to Europe or Tahiti. You want to dump your girlfriend, dump your friends, move across country, start a new life. You want to get married, force an issue, make a bold move, have a breakthrough or do anything rather than endure the same old situation that you’ve been putting up with forever. With Uranus in Aries, you will frequently want to scream at someone, because that’s what this placement encourages.

There are 2 ways you can handle this situation. One is to make whatever radical change crosses your mind. Sometimes this works. Sometimes it’s rough. If you’ve been thinking of ending your marriage or quitting your job for 4 years now and you haven’t been able to get your butt in gear, it’s probably time to take the plunge. Some people find it very hard to do what they’re planning unless forced by major stress. Uranus is helpful to these folks. Do try to prepare as much as possible for the major move you’re going to make because Uranus rarely sticks around to help you pick up the pieces. You’ll need to be responsible for yourself once the change is made. But if you understand that, you can use Uranus productively, even though you will be beside yourself until you make your move.

The other way is to get at the underlying boredom and need for excitement and re-engagement with your life that underlies the desire for radical change. Find a place and a way to scream on purpose, instead of by accident. Try not to entertain the idea that you will be able to get away without any metaphorical screaming or yelling at all. You will need to pitch some sort of a fit, even if you do it privately, because Uranus will not let up until you do.

Scream in your car to loud music, as long as you aren’t transporting the kids and you’ve got the windows rolled up. Find a therapist or even an astrologer and vent like crazy. Find some new friends and take up new activities with them that blow off steam. Take a karate class and make a lot of ‘hai-yah!’ noises. Get a punching bag. Learn self-defense techniques. Write an angry letter to your congressperson. Take a strong position on something and argue it with someone who is tolerant of debate. Watch a lot of action movies and vicariously thrill at blowing up the buildings and blowing away the bad guys. Become a sports fan and yell for the home team. Join a bowling league and jump up and down when you roll a strike. Attend a demonstration and chant slogans at passing cars. Take up a righteous cause and work for it. Start fist-pumping when you overcome a challenge. Act on a impulse. Stay up all night making a ridiculously long bucket list. Tell off a bully. Use a swear word that shocks you. Do something! Let Uranus know that you got the message that you need to be more alive, even aggressively so.

Some or all of these things will be counter to your nature, or you aren’t really going through a difficult Uranus transit. The point is to realize that Uranus is just activating the natural vitality that comes with experiencing your own Aries energy. Consciously choose what you’d like to do with it. If you keep at this, you will eventually realize (with a sudden flash of insight if Uranus has his way) what it is you are really discontented with and why. Often what you’re upset about is all the time you’ve wasted putting off taking control over your own life. That’s a pretty big, if jarring, insight, and once you gain it, you can decide how to get back that control.

#3: If you’re having a situational Uranus transit, you’re not the one feeling restless. Instead, you’re feeling shocked and disoriented because Uranus suddenly ended something you weren’t planning to end voluntarily. Instead of quitting your job, you’re fired. Instead of dumping the boyfriend, he dumped you. And so on. This is the sort of thing that gives Uranus a bad reputation. He does disrupt people’s lives. It can be very rough when this happens. In between being upset and disoriented, there are a few things you can do.

For example, you can revel in your new freedom. Yes, it’s terrifying not having a job. But…for the first time in 15 years you can sleep in, visit the beach on a Monday, grow a beard, not have to pick up the hubby’s dirty socks, go on a date with someone new, wear what you like, and escape the daily grind that used to be your life. This won’t last forever, so take at least a few moments, every day, to savor it.

You can also take advantage of the opportunity to be objective and detach. When your world’s turned upside down, it’s too painful to be subjective. So don’t be. Instead, step back, way back, and look at the situation as objectively as possible. At least for a few minutes every day, put your feelings aside and evaluate the situation as if you were an outside observer. From an outside observer’s perspective, it was a lousy job and a terrible boyfriend in the first place. Uranus did you a favor. He just did it more quickly and abruptly than you were anticipating.

You can also let go of outcomes and expectations.  I got this tip recently from a client. She was thrilled with her disruptive and upsetting and infuriating Uranus transit, once she bounced back from the initial shock. She was thrilled because she realized she had been building her life around expectations and desires to control the outcome of her life that just were not working out. She wasn’t living any more, wasn’t able to see what could happen, experiment, learn, open up, etc. because she’d been too busy predicting things. Trying different things with the attitude of ‘let’s just see what happens’ is a perfectly valid way to handle a Uranus disruption.

Finally, you can go in a different direction and build on a new foundation. If it’s hard putting up with the disruption of a situational Uranus transit, it’s even harder to try to recapture what just went away. Something is going to have to be different. Decide what you’re never going to do again and what you’d like to do differently this next time around. In a way, Uranus doesn’t care what changes you make, as long as you go forward and not backward. As long as you are clear that Uranus will not actually help you become the master chef of your lifelong fantasy, that he will just give you the chance to act on your desires, you can decide not to re-board the train you were riding and get on one to a whole different destination.

P.S. Just because you fail the first time you audition for “Master Chef” does not mean you made the wrong decision. Uranus believes in experimenting until you get it right. He was the one who told Thomas Edison that he didn’t fail to make a lightbulb a thousand times, he just discovered a bunch of ways that didn’t work.

Good luck with your transits!

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.)

Aries and Aries rising: At some point, Uranus in Aries will try to imbue you with more physical energy in a literal sense. It may not last forever, but it will probably be fun while it lasts. Your personality may also get stronger or more vibrant for awhile, and Uranus may push you toward being more effective in your actions, to see the end game and not just the beginning game. Uranus will want you to do new stuff and set new personal goals. Uranus in your own sign is more a ‘free choice’ placement than it is anywhere else. You have greater latitude to choose your own path.

Taurus and Taurus rising: Uranus in Aries will be in the part of your chart that is normally devoted to subconscious influences. When your subconscious mind is very active, stuff can break through to consciousness. On the good side, stuff can break through that can help you put old demons to rest permanently. Therapy and self-exploration can be very effective. On the not-so-good side, stuff that doesn’t break all the way through can turn into insomnia and anxiety or even chronic discomforts. Uranus in Aries will want you to deal with your discomforts, physical or psychological, forthrightly and do something about them. Set goals and try stuff until you have solved the problem. Stuff that was okay to put with before, Uranus in Aries will not be okay with putting up with anymore. He’ll want results.

Gemini and Gemini rising: Uranus in Aries will be in your natal or solar 11th house here, and he’ll have lots of different things he could get interested in while traversing this section of your chart. He may stir up all kinds of activity, but I’ll focus on one area that will probably get attention before his stay is through. Uranus will almost certainly look at your friends because friends are a specialty of his. If he’s in a good mood with them, he’ll pump tons of energy into your friendships and group endeavors and he may have you getting involved in some very physical activities with them. If he’s in a bad mood with them and doesn’t think they’re worthy of you, he’ll pick fights with them, attempt to throw them out of your life, overhaul your social circle, start with a clean slate, have you form your own groups, and generally rebel against what he thinks are substandard networks and support systems. If you’re not a joiner, he may suddenly decide that you ought to be one. If you are a joiner, he may suddenly decide that whatever you’ve joined ought to be a lot more effective at whatever it is it is supposed to be doing. And because Uranus loves this sector of the chart, he may just get a kick out of doing things like setting a goal for you to have 2,442 Facebook friends by the end of the summer.

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.

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.)

Libra and Libra rising: The conventional wisdom is that Uranus in the sign opposite one’s own is unsettling. That is what it is supposed to do sooner or later, unsettle you. It is supposed to change things up. You’ve picked someone to be in some sort of relationship to you (doesn’t have to be a mate or spouse, could be any sort of relationship) and then the person develops a new energy they didn’t have before. You respond. In the process of responding, you change. You gain the opportunity to learn how to take more effective actions than you knew how to take before, because you are facing new situations. The part people don’t like is the instability. They fight to get it back. That’s perfectly fine. It’s the process of fighting to get it back that forces you to learn more about yourself and become more of yourself. It all works out. It’s a kind of resistance training. Speaking of which, getting plenty of exercise during this transit will probably help.

Scorpio and Scorpio rising: Aries represents your job and health sector, but I’ll concentrate on the jobs aspect of it. Uranus in one’s job sector often correlates with a lot more job movement in all kinds of ways. Sometimes your own job will remain stable, but your co-workers will come and go, or there’ll be a lot of turnover at your workplace. Often you’ll switch jobs, or the workplace will become a lot more busy, or your work will involve a lot more running around. Uranus in Aries will generally set a goal of improving your work and work environment but will often engage in a lot of experimentation before settling on the right situation, and he may get all entrepreneurial, part-timey, or free-lance happy in the process. You may also have to learn a lot of new techniques to keep up with Uranus’s upgrade plans. In general, it is wise to figure out what you really want from a job and set out to get it, because Uranus is going to try to go after it anyway. You might as well be a willing and conscious participant in the process.

Sagittarius and Sagittarius rising: Uranus in Aries in the Sagittarius chart just wants to have fun. What fun means depends on you; it could mean playing soccer, playing poker, creating effective ads for upscale magazines, splashing in the pool with your kids, or partying in the Hamptons with an eligible bachelor. Its purpose is to try to make you feel free and special and happy. It won’t succeed all the time; that’s a pretty tall order. But when it does succeed, it will be a wonderful thing.

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.)

Capricorn and Capricorn rising: Uranus in Aries takes aim at your home. Sometimes Uranus in the home sector means literally moving a lot during the years that it is there, moving stuff within the home, doing renovations, improvements, re-wiring, structural work, energy efficiency work and so on. The thing about Uranus is that it wants to find the right place for you, or the right situation for you and it can be maddeningly picky and discontent, easily dissatisfied, and willing to try all kinds of things that seem promising but ultimately prove not to work. Sometimes you need to convince it that you do not need a television the size of an exterior wall in order to make your home life complete. On the other hand, if you put effort into deciding what would be the perfect home for you personally (not for everyone else, for you personally, because that’s what Uranus is interested in) and set yourself a goal of getting it, Uranus will help you eventually achieve it. And that’s pretty cool.

Aquarius and Aquarius rising: Uranus in Aries is in the sector of your chart where he wants to put a lot of energy into communicating. He could potentially try to persuade you to hop all around town giving talks or performing other activities that will have you sharing your Aquarian knowledge with people in your area. Uranus is your ruling planet and he is convinced you have all kinds of Uranian information to share these days that will just set the world on fire. His goal is both to have you do more communicating and to make you a more effective communicator. Your purpose during this transit is to share your thoughts and information and to get into discussions and engage in interchange with others.

Pisces and Pisces rising: Uranus in Aries will be in the part of your solar or natal chart that deals with money and money-making activities. Hence, you can expect a lot of energy to go toward money and/or the attempt to make it. For some the attempts will center around physical or sports-related activities. For others, the efforts will center around enterprises that require a lot of initiative. The idea is to focus on whether the initiatives will be effective and whether they will offer a good return. You can also expect Uranus in Aries to prod you to set financial goals and to keep setting them until you get the money thing right.

Here is a link to an article I  wrote almost 4 years ago on the 8th house and credit card debt: http://www.thirdage.com/today/horoscopes/astrology-credit-card-debt.

This article is featured in Pluto Problems Got You Perplexed? Here’s What Helps! published by Skywriter as Part of the 2010 International Astrology Day Blogathon. The purpose of this web-based event is to create a permanent library of articles about how to deal with the stresses of the Cardinal T-Square of Pluto, Saturn and Uranus. The main page for the Blogathon collections is at The Cardinal T-Square of 2010: Saturn, Uranus, Pluto.

The article is part of the ThirdAge.com website that I used to write for. Now you can read my articles on various astrological matters here at Midlife Transits.  You can also contact me for a personal consultation or find me in Culver City, California (Los Angeles area) at the Raksa Wellness Center.

Here are some links to other articles that deal with issues relating to Pluto, the cardinal T-square, or other relevant matters:

Inside the Mind of the Cardinal T-Square

Got Natal Saturn  in Libra?

Dealing with Difficult Pluto Transits

Saturn in Libra Horoscopes for the signs, Aries through Virgo & Libra through Pisces

Saturn

Note: This article will form part of the International Astrology Day Blog-a-thon, March 19-21. There will be links to an entire collection of articles on Saturn on March 20 at the following URL: http://mandilockley.blogspot.com/2010/03/look-after-saturn-saturn-will-look.html. Check it out!

If you were born between late November 1950 and late October 1953 and your natal Saturn is in Libra, you are either experiencing your second Saturn return or will experience it soon. The second Saturn return is a predictable astrological phenomenon that occurs for everyone between the ages of approximately 58 to 60. It marks the time when Saturn returns to the sign it was when you were born.

One of the issues that almost inevitably comes up during the second Saturn return is aging. Saturn rules the aging process, and it is obviously pretty normal for a person approaching their 60s to think about getting older. For the generation experiencing the second Saturn return in Libra during the next couple of years (Saturn will be in Libra, with the exception of a short break in spring and summer 2010, into October 2012), the second Saturn return will be impacted by the presence of Pluto in Capricorn and Uranus in Aries. Both of these other energies clash with Saturn in Libra and therefore throw issues into sharper relief.

Let’s look briefly at how Pluto and Uranus can affect, although not fundamentally change, the dynamics of the second Saturn return.

Potential dynamic #1: Uranus in Aries represents, among other things, a rush of youthful impulsive energy, the desire for heedless, even reckless change. You may feel that events in society are making you all the more aware that things are changing faster than you’d like. You may feel like, or even be accused of being, a fuddy-duddy who wants to stand in the way of change. On a more personal level, the opposition between Uranus and Saturn could make you even more aware that your body isn’t what it used to be, and maybe your outlook isn’t either.

Potential dynamic #2: Saturn is a pretty lonely planet by nature, and in Libra, the fear of aloneness can be quite acute. You might think about being lonely if you retire, about not having a spouse or companion, about losing friends to death or illness. You’re ‘supposed’ to think about these things during the second Saturn return, because Saturn, a realistic and self-reliant planet, wants you to understand your own resources and to plan for a deeper confrontation with yourself, now that typical life tasks such as raising children or building a career are essentially complete. With challenges coming at you from two important outer planets, you may even feel a bit isolated in your point of view on things, as though you have accidentally stepped out of the mainstream.

Potential dynamic #3: Confronting mortality. At the second Saturn return, you realize your actions have consequences because you will not be living forever. You need, in essence, to make the most of the time you’ve got. With Pluto in Capricorn closely squaring Saturn in Libra off and on during this cycle, you may feel that death and mortality are getting all up in your face these days.

So…how to confront these things? I have a few suggestions that should apply regardless of when your second Saturn return is. I’m not saying they will make the current times wildly fun or that they substitute for the hard work of being yourself. But at least they can give you something to think about as you face this important transition in your life.

Suggestion #1: Face the fact that you’re not going to be who you used to be and that’s a good thing. Do the Saturnian thing and prepare for your future. If fear of loneliness and isolation are creeping around the edges of your thoughts, run a movie of your future in your mind. Make it come out with a happy ending.

How wonderful could it be to be able to do what you want, instead of what everyone else wants? How wonderful could it be to be a mentor instead of an employee, part of a girls’ trip to Las Vegas instead of a doting wife, and so on. Play around with the pictures in your head. I can almost guarantee you that there are parts of your subconscious mind that are just itching to shed some elements of the identities you’ve built up. Remember, if society’s values seem to be morphing away from what’s familiar to you, that your values count too. It’s okay to speak up for your own Saturn perspective. Goodness knows, we’ll likely need it.

Suggestion #2: Learn something. Not something easy. Something hard. Something that could be of benefit in your community. Like how to be a volunteer mediator or arbitrator (great for Libra energy). How to speak Spanish if there are many in your town who do so. How to program a website. Okay, I know these kinds of things could be daunting, but there’s a big payoff. You will grow new connections between your neurons. Literally. New connections will help keep your brain healthy and your mood stable.

The key to Saturn’s heart is contributing your fair share to society (it rules the community-minded 10th house). It wants so much for you to leave some kind of a tangible contribution or legacy. Make it happy. Step up to the plate and make a contribution of a type you’ve never been able to make before. Not only will you make Saturn feel useful, you’ll soak up some of that restless Uranus in Aries energy, energy that also cares about society, learning new things, and making changes. It won’t exactly make you feel young again, but it will alter your understanding of what aging really is. Furthermore, since the clash between outer planets indicates that society is going through some fundamental shifts, any contribution you can make to the larger community helps us all by easing the transition a bit.

Suggestion #3: Confront mortality as directly as you can. Okay, this is hard for a lot of us, including me. But Saturn has every right to be curious about it, and so do you. It is only natural to want to prepare for something none of us are going to be able to escape. I’ll give an example of a woman I met who made exquisite use of the second Saturn return. She went to school to take classes in biomedical ethics. She learned how to give counseling to families who have to make end-of-life decisions for their family members. Talk about confronting an issue in a useful way. Talk about making a contribution to society. She got to satisfy the Saturnian (and Plutonian) urge to find out what death is all about and to prepare, but she also got to help other people in a very important way. And…she kept her brain, heart, and soul sharp by challenging them with a new activity. She participated in the changes in society rather than hiding from them.

You can do these things, too. Maybe in a slightly different way than I’ve suggested, but you can do them too. You just might find, as many of my clients do, that when the second Saturn return is over, you actually feel like you have a whole new lease on life.

Blogger Victoria Bazeley specializes in the astrology of midlife, the key time periods between age 38 to age 60. She has written for ThirdAge.com, started the website Practical Astrology and now blogs here at Midlife Transits. Become a Facebook fan!

Other Articles on Saturn and Saturn in Libra:

Got Natal Saturn in Libra?

Saturn in Libra Horoscopes for Aries through Virgo

Saturn in Libra Horoscopes for Libra through Pisces

What Changes Will Saturn in Libra Bring?

This article is featured in Look After Saturn and Saturn Will Look After You as part of the 2010 International Astrology Day Blogathon. The purpose of this web-based event is to create a permanent library of articles about how to deal with the stresses of the Cardinal T-Square of Pluto, Saturn and Uranus. The main page for the Blogathon collections is at The 2010 International Astrology Day Blog-A-Thon.

The URL for the Saturn collection is: http://mandilockley.blogspot.com/2010/03/look-after-saturn-saturn-will-look.html
The URL for the main blogathon collection is: http://2010astrologycarnival.wordpress.com/

If you were born between late November 1950 and late October 1953—you picked a heck of a time to have your second Saturn return. The second Saturn return is a much commented upon astrological phenomenon that occurs for everyone around the ages of 58 to 60. It signifies the time when Saturn returns to the sign it was when you were born.

Saturn’s been in Libra since November 2009, and it will stay there (except for a brief retreat into Virgo during spring and early summer 2010) into October 2012. So why is this a heck of a time for a second Saturn return? Because during most of Saturn’s current stay in Libra, Pluto will be in Capricorn and Uranus will be in Aries. Uranus opposes Saturn during this time and Pluto squares it. In blunt astrological terms, this means we are looking at a time period when three important planets are fighting each other tooth and nail.

What does this mean to you? Let’s look first at a really simple idea of what the second Saturn return can mean. The first time in your life that Saturn returned to Libra, you were close to 30 years old and you were asked to realize that you’re not going to die anytime soon and that what you do has consequences because it affects your future. You were supposed to grow up in a certain sense.

At the second Saturn return, you are asked to realize that you’re not going to live forever and that what you do has consequences because you only have a certain amount of time left to do what you came to do. You need to secure your legacy, fulfill your responsibilities as a member of the human community, and grow up into a hopefully wise elder.

Piece of cake, right? Of course not. The second Saturn return can be difficult because lots of people are not all that anxious to face mortality, don the mantle of wise elder, and accept their responsibilities to the rest of humanity.

One of the main issues during the second Saturn return is often challenges from the outside world to your particular Saturn style. No matter what sign your Saturn is in, part of the task of the second Saturn return is to use your innate Saturn gifts wisely, the ones that come with your Saturn sign. For your generation, society as a whole is scheduled to very overtly challenge your particular Saturn in Libra gift—and you need to stick up for that gift and do your part to help us all get through this rather momentous time of astrological transition.

For example, Libra is the sign of indecisiveness because its mission is to think through every decision with excruciatingly precise thoroughness, balance all factors, take into account all options, contemplate all ramifications and generally take forever to come up with the best possible decision. Saturn in Libra natally works real hard at this task, practicing it and practicing it until you think you are going to go crazy. It practices it until it gets good at it, better than all those other placements that breeze through to decisions without a second thought.

During your second Saturn return, people under the influence of Uranus in Aries are going to be manifesting the opposite approach. They’re going to be bursting with youthful impulsive energy, disinclined to think anything through, overly enamored with new technology while casting nary a glance at the potential implications, and they’ll be in a big hurry. They will look at you as hopelessly old-fashioned, excessively cautious, and as a stick in the mud.

Too bad for them. At your second Saturn return, it becomes your responsibility to stick up for the virtues of making considered, precise decisions, and worrying about the future impact of today’s rashness on tomorrow’s society. Saturn wouldn’t have gone to all the trouble to thrust himself into the big planetary debate of these few years if he didn’t know that sometimes you’ve got to slow the pace of change the heck down and think about what you’re doing. For the next few years, your Saturn contribution is important.

Libra is also extremely concerned with fairness. Saturn in Libra worries about justice, the rule of law, negotiating through disputes, mediating conflicts, and generally using codified procedures to keep people from indulging their instincts to blow each other up and commit acts of violence. Pluto in Capricorn meanwhile, is going to be urging people to use sheer force and power to impose their wills, under the guise of necessity. Pluto in Capricorn will try to convince everyone that we don’t need the rule of law, fairness, and due concern with true justice because our collective security is in danger.

Tough. Your job as a member of the Saturn in Libra generation is to hold out for justice, law, and fairness anyway. To play up the importance of negotiation, procedure, and deliberation even when people want to run around like chickens with their heads cut off, shouting for vengeance, and making earnest mob-like efforts to manifest their baser instincts.

That’s a big important job you have there Mr. or Ms. Second-Saturn-Return-in-Libra. Now I’m not going to tell you that world leaders are going to phone you up and ask for your advice during troubled times. I’m not even implying that you need to be especially politically active. Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn will find you even if you’re hiding in a peaceful stone cottage in Vermont. You will feel the unrest in the skies no matter where you go.

Maybe it will be your spouse who goes off the Uranian deep end or the corporation where you work that will trot out spectacular displays of Plutonian injustice. Maybe your investments will go south when you don’t want them to and you’ll need to keep your head, even as your children have decided that now is a good time to suck you financially dry by laying guilt trips on you.

Or maybe nothing all that dramatic in your life will happen at all. Maybe the Uranus and Pluto influences will be subtle.

It doesn’t matter. Your chart has been waiting all your life to call upon the very Saturn in Libra qualities it has worked so hard to develop. If you’ve lost touch with your Saturn in Libra gifts, you will get back in touch with them now and learn to use them.

And that’s important. It’s part of your legacy. No matter what happens, this is your moment, your crowning moment perhaps, to display the integrity and values you’ve always had inside.

Go for it.

A reader wrote in to ask if there’s a way to work with difficult Pluto transits rather than against them.  There are ways, and I’ll use this space to mention a few of the ones you don’t hear about too often.

So…what can a person do to work with Pluto energy instead of against it? I don’t have all the answers, but here are a few thoughts.

1.  Figure out what the heck the purpose of the transit is and start implementing it immediately.  How do you figure out what the purpose of the transit is?Sometimes it’s obvious because your insides are screaming with it.  “Get out of this marriage!!!” your miserable soul shouts at you.  “Get a different job; this one is killing you!” your gut keeps growling at you.  And so on. 

Pluto transits are so often about giving things up.  Often they’re about giving up things you don’t want to give up because it will be scary or difficult to do so.  A limiting friendship, a business partnership, a career, a home, a way of approaching life, a romantic attachment that will never work, a toxic relationship with a parent or sibling.  There are an awful lot of things in life that a normal person doesn’t want to give up even though they’re not good for him or her.  Pluto tries to force us to give them up.

If you can’t immediately tell what the purpose of your Pluto transit is by sheer instinct, move on to figuring it out astrologically.  My method is to look first at the house of the planet being squashed by Pluto.  Transiting Pluto squaring your natal sun in the 7th house–most likely Pluto is taking aim at your relationships.  What he’s usually trying to do is smash up your relationship template like a dinner dish.

It might be helpful to know why Pluto does this. In my experience, Pluto does this because your old templates are standing in the way of what you really want, the things you dream of.  You don’t necessarily realize this at the time (or at least I don’t), but Pluto does.  An unhealthy attachment to your aging mother might seem like a source of support and validation of your caring nature to you.  To Pluto, it might seem like the thing that holds you back from real physical and romantic connection with people of your own age.  Although what you have may feel like love, it may hold you back from the love you really want and are capable of experiencing.  You may not realize that you’re finally ready for a mature romantic love–but Pluto does.

If looking at the astrological houses doesn’t help you analyze the purpose, look at the planets involved and then the signs.  Transits to the sun, for example, often involve an update of identity or role in life.  They very often have to do with a deep inner sense of purpose.

Sometimes Pluto purposes are kind of abstract, so don’t feel you have to figure out some deep meaning to work with them. I recall having Pluto conjunct a planet in my 9th house once.  The 9th house governs one’s philosophy of life. I couldn’t believe I would be experiencing Pluto distress over something as simple as my philosophy of life.  Besides, I liked my philosophy of life. I thought my problem was related to my father or overwork or deep issues or the jerk in my life who was driving me crazy.  Then one day I was bitching and moaning and whining about my Pluto transit when I heard myself say “My philosophy has always been blah, blah, blah.”  The person I was with then snapped (in a rather brutal way) “And that’s wrong then, isn’t it?  Because other people aren’t always going to approach things as nicely as you do.”

Bingo!  The light went on. My freaking philosophy of life was wrong.  I actually started crying at that moment because I knew I was finally getting it, what Pluto was on about.  I updated my philosophy of life to take into account that no, other people aren’t always going to share my “nice” approach. Pluto stopped bothering me almost immediately.  What a relief! So don’t overlook the obvious.

2. Pluto’s lessons often have to do with the reality that other people can be bad, wicked, evil, unhealthy, toxic, or morally bankrupt.  I’ve come across many astrologers who swear that Pluto transits are always a manifestation of one’s shadow self, and that we are always just projecting our own bad qualities on to others when we have a difficult time with someone during a Pluto transit.  I’m tempted to acknowledge that this may be true on a deep level, but what I’ll actually say is that’s bull.

Sometimes Pluto doesn’t give a flip about your shadow self.  Sometimes Pluto just wants you to get it through your thick head that someone else’s behavior is morally unacceptable and you should stop accepting it.  Pluto is the most intensely moralistic planet there is.  Pluto believes in right and wrong.  The rest of us think we do and sometimes feel guilty (often for good reason) about our judgmental sides.  But in reality, our sense of morality is much more ambiguous.  Yeah, Mom’s a thief, Dad’s a child molester, and our siblings are sociopaths.

But…we kind of don’t look at it that way.  The situation seems so much more subtle and nuanced because we’re in the thick of things.  We have attachments.  Attachments that fog up our moral compasses.  We accept things because we don’t want to give up our attachments, ego-based ones and otherwise.  So even though the husband, wife, lover, boss, or best friend has betrayed you umpteen times and made it behaviorally clear that he or she feels no moral obligation to treat you with respect–you hang in there.  Then finally Pluto gets fed up with this, steps in, and essentially says “I will make your life miserable until you finally cut the damn toxic cord.  Enough already. Get a clue!”

You can really speed up the difficult aspects of a Pluto transit by getting in touch with your primal sense of morality.  Cut out the ambiguity that Pluto doesn’t acknowledge as valid any longer, and just make a bold and definitive acknowledgment of your moral compass.  ”Such and such behavior is unacceptable to me and I will not tolerate it any longer.” (It can be behavior that took place in the past, by the way. Sometimes Pluto likes to brood over past injustices.) Clearly identify what you believe is right and what you believe is wrong.  This is one of the most effective and under-utilized tricks I know of to tame Pluto.

3. Understand the role of emotions like bitterness and hatred. Pluto is the patron saint of bitterness and hatred. When Pluto gets mad, he doesn’t just get mildly peeved, he taps into a primal well of hatred and rage. Naturally, this scares the living heck out of us mere mortals.  Very few things scare us like Pluto on a rampage, and the really scary thing is finding all the hatred and rage inside oneself (it can happen).  Most of us are pretty much convinced that we’ll be kicked out of society and left to starve if we experience or express the hatred, rage, and bitterness that Pluto blithely embraces. Yet we all have it.  So we might as well know what Pluto’s got in mind.

What Pluto has in mind is that hatred can be cleansing and protective. Hatred, in Pluto’s decidedly unusual lexicon, is the ultimate moral emotion. Hatred and bitterness are the emotions that tell us that something is so wrong, so hurtful, so against the laws of human decency that only furious rejection will save our souls.  Think of a kidnapping victim who sustains herself with hatred of her captors.  That hatred is the last bulwark of her integrity, her inviolate self.  Victims who don’t generate hatred become entangled with their victimizers and subtly began to adopt their values and beliefs. This is usually called the Stockholm Syndrome and it doesn’t just apply to hostages. It applies to workers in punitive corporations, people in abusive marriages, and everyone else who comes to subtly accept their own victimization by believing that it’s okay.

Hatred is not a politically correct emotion, and probably never will be.  But Pluto’s not a politically correct planet.  Pluto hates things that are fundamentally wrong, and he has no intention of changing his mind about that. During a Pluto transit, you can safely (usually, if you keep your head) tap into your own hatred and in the process cleanse your soul.  Sounds a bit high-falutin’ but my goodness I’ve seen it happen with almost miraculous results.  Pluto is not the planet of rebirth for nothing.  Rebirth, it appears, is not pretty–but it sure is impressive.

4. Cry.  Literally. Pluto doesn’t just hate the things that are wrong in your life (even if they’re not as dramatic as what I’ve described), he grieves. He grieves for all that you’ve missed, all that could have been, for time wasted, for hurts endured, for things that can’t be taken back, for losses sustained, and for goodness knows what else.  Pluto is the ultimate grieving planet. Sometimes, you’ve just got to grieve with him.  Just cry it out.  The things you have to grieve may seem very small–petty insults, annoying obstacles, personal character flaws; or very large–deaths, disasters, and losses of gigantic proportion.  Large or small, though, they’re yours. You owe them the dignity of a bit of grief.

Pluto’s ultimate aim is to take what used to work in your life but doesn’t any more–and get rid of it.  Whether it’s an attitude, a habit, a person, a situation, a place, or something else–the sooner you are willing to work to get rid of what’s no longer functional, the sooner Pluto will reward you.

And Pluto does dish out some pretty handsome rewards when he’s done torturing you.  So you might think of what you most desire and set your mind towards the idea that if you can fulfill your Pluto task, you just might get it.

But if you don’t care about the jargon and just want to know what happens when a transiting planet stations in angle to one of your personal planets–take a look at Tiger Woods’s life these days.

In his case, Uranus in Pisces is squaring his Sagittarius moon. Uranus is the planet of ‘hey, let’s unexpectedly disrupt everything!’ and a Sagittarius moon tends to think to itself: ‘I’m really not sure I can be satisfied with just one person.’ When Uranus wants to disrupt a Sagittarius moon, outing it would be as good a way to do that as any.

Dropping the wife bomb on a philandering husband would probably be enough for a Uranus square that didn’t have much time to get juice in its grid. But Uranus stationed at the degrees of Tiger Woods’s moon (22 degrees) and is spending not quite 8 weeks there. That’s plenty of time to get juice in the system.

Tiger’s public troubles started when Uranus had only a few weeks at 22 degrees under its belt. It didn’t actually station until the beginning of December (right around the time when everyone figured out what was going on). It’s got another few weeks before it even gets to 23 degrees. The flaming spears of devil Uranus still have some heat on them.

The turning point has already come, though. Right around the time Uranus’s apparent motion stopped and then switched direction from retrograde to forward. The entire (very energetic) transit, which stretches back to 2008, will be over relatively soon. But the public’s perception of him has probably been forever altered. It’s not actually scheduled to stop getting altered until February 2010. For ol’ Tiger is not just facing Uranus’s wrath in square to his moon, but also in square to his Midheaven (reputation). The financial ramifications could stretch well beyond that, as Neptune is getting into the act and will square his Scorpio Venus in 2010. When it rains, it pours.

Supposedly, there’s a point to all this, at least from the point of view of Tiger’s chart. The point would theoretically be something like this:

Uranus in Pisces to Sagittarius Moon: Dude, grow up. Seriously. You’re playing around like an adolescent while people are making sacrifices for you. Namely, the person you are married to. Get a clue.

Moon in Sagittarius: I don’t want to grow up. You only get old once, but you can be immature and heedless forever!

Uranus in Pisces: The mother of your children is being betrayed here. You are warned.

Moon in Sagittarius: I don’t listen to warnings. That’s my nature! I’m Sagittarian. I have lots of good qualities and carelessness of danger is one of them.

Uranus in Pisces: ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!

Moon in Sagittarius: What just happened? One minute I was having Thanksgiving dinner, the next minute I was lying in street and featured prominently in the tabloids.

Uranus in Pisces: Perhaps you’d like to reconsider whether it is time for you to grow up a bit?

If Tiger is smart, his moon will grow up a bit. That’s what transits do for us. They update our birth chart placements. What was fine and dandy for a young man or a teenager perhaps, is not so fine and dandy for someone with two kids and the net worth of  a small country to worry about. When Uranus comes around to update your birth placements by square or opposition, let’s hope you get the message before he destroys your car.

One final note: the supposed astrological marker for an athlete is Mars in the 9th house near the Midheaven. Sure enough, Tiger’s got it.

I started seeing snippets on TV of controversial statements he made & saw other coverage, but didn’t investigate too much. I’ve seen his latest book, too. The cover makes me vaguely uncomfortable because the uniform on it reminds me of Nazi brownshirts. Every time I see it out of the corner of my eye, I think “Why are Nazis being prominently featured in America’s fine retail establishments?”

Then today I saw a quote from what Mr. Beck is billing as The Plan. Here’s the quote:

“I have begun meeting with some of the best minds in the country that believe in limited government, maximum freedom and the values of our Founders. I am developing a 100 year plan. I know that the bipartisan corruption in Washington that has brought us to this brink and it will not be defeated easily. It will require unconventional thinking and a radical plan to restore our nation to the maximum freedoms we were supposed to have been protecting, using only the battlefield of ideas.

- All of the above will culminate in The Plan, a book that will provide specific policies, principles and, most importantly, action steps that each of us can take to play a role in this Refounding.”

And I thought–is he an Aquarian? Turns out, he is. February 10, 1964. The clue is this: “unconventional thinking and a radical plan to restore our nation to the maximum freedoms we were supposed to have been protecting, using only the battlefield of ideas.” You can’t get more Aquarian than unconventional thinking, radical plans, maximum freedoms, and the battlefield of ideas. The sign of Aquarius eats that stuff up.

Turns out he’s practically the astrological twin of another popular pillar of post-Bush conservatism, Sarah Palin. They’ve both got Mars conjunct sun, at least three planets in Aquarius, and natal Neptune squaring the Sun, Mars, Saturn triple conjunction.

Aquarius is billed as a ‘progressive’ sign, but the Aquarian interpretation of progressive is rather idiosyncratic. Lincoln was an Aquarius; FDR was one, and Reagan was one. Quite different approaches to government. The highest-ranking Aquarian politician of late has been Dick Cheney, and he’s not high on the progressive’s most admired list.

So, a few words about the Aquarian approach (although Cheney is something of an outlier in the Aquarian pantheon). It tends to be populist and popular, bold, divisive, stubborn, and counter-intuitive. Aquarius has a bit of a superiority complex, and with it an often successful habit of playing dumb. They play the ‘just folks’ card quite often; perhaps it is true, perhaps not.They tend to be good communicators, although in an unconventional way.

Beck and Palin are Aquarians that share a feisty thirst for combat, due to the Mars conjuction. Both are hemmed in by a strict and conservative Saturn. Both, due to Neptune transits, have been perhaps a bit insane of late, quite lucratively so in both cases.

Both have had a nice long bout of Jupiter in their sign this year (economic success) squaring Neptune in Scorpio (conspiracy theories and irrational fears). Both perhaps have a tendency to delude themselves (Neptune square sun in the birth chart, also shared by our current President) as well as considerable charisma. Both also have Jupiter in Aries, which contributes to a philosophy of self-reliance and aggression.

Neptune has been melting the Sun, Mars and Saturn placements of Beck and Palin over the past couple of years. In combination with Jupiter in Aquarius this year, there’s been perhaps a bit of grandiosity and over-estimation of self, although it probably seems quite justified to both of them given their rapid rises to center stage. Until Neptune leaves their Aquarius conjunctions, both will likely have a somewhat distorted view of the world and themselves, perhaps coupled with strong idealism.

The thing that’s interesting to me about Beck is how overtly Aquarian he is in his idea for The Plan. Although Beck is seemingly a free-market type (bills himself as a libertarian), Aquarius is actually the sign of the collective, of socialism and communism, of an ideal of rational planning combined with The Support Of The Masses. Only an Aquarian would have the chutzpah to come up with a 100 year plan.

Most people are lucky if they can keep their plans on track for a week, let alone 100 years. Only an Aquarius would even think it’s a good idea to come up with such a plan on the belief that things wouldn’t change so much in a hundred years that all your former assumptions wouldn’t be outdated. Aquarius can be a very fixed sign, unwilling to admit the possibility that it would have to change. Even though individual Aquarians, like Beck and Palin and even Reagan, FDR and Lincoln, can change key details of their strategies in the blink of an eye.

A 100 year plan is the kind of idea that a socialist or old-style Marxist would eat right up. The masses will shake off the shackles of tyranny vested in The Powers That Be. They will not be held down by the economic elites but will take their rightful place through enlightenment and collective action. And an Aquarian will tell them how to do it–according to the Master Plan. Everything will be reformed and renewed and we’ll just all start over with a fresh slate and the errors of the past will gradually wither away. Everyone will be free once the nasty current structures are abolished.

In some ways, it’s a powerful and touching vision. It never works, though. Neptune, with its promise of Nirvana once restrictions are melted away, is a notorious liar. Things don’t go according to plan; the masses are fickle and contrary, and most of them are actually much more interested in the nuts and bolts of a semi-decent life than the battlefield of ideas.

I can’t blame Beck for succumbing to Neptune’s lure, though, and his ideas may prove influential. We’ll find out the real consequences of them when Pluto enters Aquarius in about 16 years, but til then, I admire the guy’s willingness to dream, if not his grounding in reality.