Midlife Transits

Note: I originally posted this over 3 years ago, in August 2009. It’s even more timely now. It’s taken quite awhile but the backlash from Pluto in Capricorn has begun to take hold. Generally, in a contest between two planets, the planet furthest out wins. In this case, that would be Pluto.

If I were Uranus, I’d be looking over my shoulder right now, as the slow crunch of Pluto’s boots inexorably draws near. Pluto doesn’t approve of Uranus’s attitude toward guns, for reasons that are probably clear given the recent tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. Once Pluto gets going, he usually doesn’t stop until something significant changes. Uranus may be wondering if he might have gone just a little bit too far this time. It’s not likely that Uranus in Aries will win this fight over guns.

From August 18, 2009:
I was sitting there wondering why I keep seeing stuff on gun rights in the news. Just today I saw something on people openly bringing guns to Obama town halls, apparently with the idea of encouraging other people to display their guns as a statement about the freedom to bear arms in the US.

And then it struck me: Uranus in Aries. Aries is the ruler of Mars. Mars is the gun lover among the planets. Mars loves pretty much any type of weapon, being the warrior planet, so of course he has a soft spot for guns.

Uranus is the planet of freedom. Aries is also a sign that puts a big fat emphasis on individual rights.

So…since the influence of outer planet changes usually shows up well before the change actually occurs (Uranus doesn’t actually dip his toes into Aries water until next year), does this mean we are going to get 7 years of people in the US making a big deal about their personal freedoms and liberty to own, carry, and use weapons? (Uranus transits a sign for about 7 years).

Could be. I wouldn’t count it out, especially since this is a recurring topic of controversy in the US. The Supreme Court will probably be hearing more cases on the issue in the next 7 years. The whole notion of gun rights will probably be before the American people on a more frequent basis in the years to come.

This sounds like a good deal for gun enthusiasts, what with Uranus finally stepping up to be their advocate. On the other hand, Uranus will spend a fair amount of its transit through Aries locked in combat with Saturn in Libra and Pluto in Capricorn. Which signals that things will not get any less controversial, and that Uranus will meet some stiff resistance to his ideals of freedom.

What I worry about is Uranus’s volatility and the Aries propensity toward violence. It may not be just gun freedoms that come into play, but the hazards of gun violence. Already someone in Pennsylvania killed a few people just in anticipation that someone would eventually try to take his gun away. Uranus may be smart (and he usually is), but he is neither calm nor rational in many cases. Aries is impulsive and frequently angry, at least when he gets involved in politics and world events.

These could be exciting times for the NRA, but everyone else may want to consider running for cover.

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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!

“Fear is afoot everywhere, and polarization prevails. Faith in institutions – corporations, government, the media – is down. Americans are angry, and they long ago grew accustomed to expecting the resolution of problems in very short order, even if reality rarely works that way.”
–From an AP story on the oil spill, dated May 30, 2010

BP Oil Spill, Part 2: In which we learn that yelling at someone to do something does not actually get something done.

The BP oil leak catastrophe started under the astrological influence of Pisces and Virgo. On May 27, Uranus moved into Aries and astrological phase 2 began. By June 6, Jupiter had also moved into Aries for a conjunction with Uranus. This shift was good in the sense that getting Uranus and Jupiter out of the sign ruling oil coincided with BP finally being able to contain some of the leak. On the other hand, Jupiter hadn’t stopped making the size of the leak bigger, at least officially. As of this writing, the official estimates of the leak size have ballooned enormously, taking an incomprehensible disaster and making it an enormously incomprehensible disaster.

The other thing the Aries energy has done is present a stark case for the ineffectiveness of yelling. Although the leak technically began under Pisces influence, Aries anger was butting up against this situation from the beginning. Aries is a cardinal sign, and cardinal signs feel entitled, maybe even obligated, to tell other people what to do. Pluto in Capricorn has cardinal energy too.

So the cardinal energy trotted into action when it got wind of this disaster, following its primal orders, and promptly learned what the clash of cardinal energy accomplishes. Nothing.

The President of the United States got angry and supposedly told BP to just ‘plug the damn hole.’ It turned out that when the purportedly most powerful man in the world yells at a corporation to do something, that doesn’t mean it gets done.

That little burst of presidential temper was only the beginning of the yelling, though. The public has yelled at BP. The public has yelled at the government. The government has yelled at the government. BP has yelled at journalists to get out. The government has yelled at journalists to get out. Journalists have channeled the yelling of others into various media outlets to feed it back to BP and the government. Commentators have called this a war. Ordinary people have yelled about the situation to no one in particular. Individuals gather on Facebook to yell or post videos of themselves on YouTube to yell. Congresspeople have yelled at whoever they can think of to yell at and will be hauling in more BP people to yell at momentarily.

Everybody’s the boss and no one’s in charge. Literally. There are swarms of government agencies and BP divisions and local government representatives swirling around the affected areas and all of them, apparently, have the power to block action, to pull the boss card. And no one’s in charge.

Getting things done takes cooperation. This is what Aries and Capricorn energies forget, in their mania for taking charge of things they can’t control.Too many bosses spoil anything.

Meanwhile, Jupiter in Aries energy brings out multitudes of enterprising individuals who want to be helpful. That’s the good part of Aries. It takes the initiative. It wants to help. Uranus in Aries brings forth all kinds of people with innovative and creative technical solutions to offer, some of them probably Uranian crazy, but all of them clamoring for attention. And yet these people get nowhere but on a fast train to Frustrationville as overwhelming corporate and government power try clamp the Plutonian lid on all that uncontrolled energy.

The astrological themes jostle against each other like symbols playing bumper cars. Pluto: power,  control, secrecy, wealth, conspiracies, resources, the underworld, cynicism. Capricorn: corporations, government, fear, delays, bureaucracy, reality, problems, bossiness, stonewalling. Aries: anger, initiative, drive, bossiness, energy, impulsiveness, hurry, impatience, individuals. Uranus: speed, technology, disruption, innovation, mass media, creativity, shortcuts, revolution, protests, the people en masse. Jupiter: generosity, expansion, optimism, catalyst. Squares: frustration, obstacles, problems, polarization, action.

It’s as if the universe threw a bunch of competing energies in a pot and gave them no one way to do anything but boil over.

That’s in the public arena, but I see this all around me in the lives of ordinary people. The impulse to tell other people what they ought to be doing is strong. The remembrance that telling other people what to do does not make them do it is not as strong. Frustration ensues. It seems clear what ought to be done, but no one else is playing along nicely. In our own lives, it can get easy to be at loggerheads and therefore in a logjam. The good news in all this is that it sometimes takes a logjam to get a person to become ready and willing to deal with underlying problems.

The bad news is that almost no one likes a logjam. It’s not fun to have planets challenge Pluto and point out to us that what we think we ought to have under control–isn’t necessarily something that we actually can control. It’s a wake-up call that other people have their own agendas, and their agendas count too. Aries is a sign that likes to think it’s right about everything. When Aries planets are under assault, we learn that thinking we are right is not exactly the same thing as actually being right.

As July gets going, Jupiter in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn will officially square off. By the 3rd week of July, Saturn will officially enter Libra and start playing the cooperation card. It’s scheduled to get mighty ticked at all the people who won’t sit down, shut up, and listen for a second. It will try to put the brakes on spontaneous anger as it opposes Uranus in Aries and then in August briefly squares Pluto. Saturn will have his work cut out for him, and there’s little to no chance he’ll be able to calm everyone down. But perhaps it’s important he try.

By late August, the dispute energy will slowly start to recede. Perhaps it’s a coincidence that all along the prediction has been that the oil leak won’t really be plugged until August. In the meantime, we’re all going to have to remember to breathe. Personally and collectively, we’ve been through stuff before. We’ll get through this. It may take us awhile to sort through what we learn, but we will get through it.

And in the end, we’ll all hopefully come out a little wiser.

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.)

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.

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.

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.)

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.

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.)

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.

A lot of people know that there’s an outer planet cardinal T-square coming up this summer. What that means is that Pluto will be in early degrees of Capricorn, Uranus in early Aries, and Saturn in early Libra. These energies clash with each other, creating a lot of stress. What not as many people know is that the stress from clashes between outer planets often manifests when there’s a considerable distance between the outer planets, often around 8-10 degrees from a square or opposition.

Right now, Pluto and Uranus are about 10 degrees from a square. Uranus is in late Pisces and Pluto is in early Capricorn, creating in effect what is a wide out of sign square. Saturn and Pluto are much closer to squaring each other, less than a degree apart.

Today, a man in Austin, Texas apparently deliberately flew a small plane into an office building that housed IRS workers. This link shows what was in his mind just before he did that.

You can see how his mind was banging around multiple points of conflict and couldn’t seem to find a resolution. Here are some of the planetary themes in his rant:

Laws and justice:  Saturn in Libra.

Government and taxation: Pluto in Capricorn.

Freedom: Uranus.

Greedy, powerful corporations: Pluto in Capricorn.

Healthcare, the drug companies, unions, and the American medical system: Uranus in Pisces with a little of bit Saturn in Virgo energy thrown in.

Accusations of totalitarianism: Pluto in Capricorn.

The corruption of big religious entities: Pluto in Sagittarius and Uranus in Pisces.

Grudges from the past: Pluto.

The system is based on lies: Saturn and Pluto.

The futility of trying to be independent: Uranus in Aries vs. Pluto in Capricorn.

Engineering: Uranus.

Anger over work and career issues: Pluto in Capricorn.

Time to revolt: Uranus in Aries.

Violence as an answer: Uranus in Aries.

Note that with an out of sign square, two signs are represented for each planet. In other words, if Uranus is at 24 degrees Pisces and Capricorn is at 4 degrees Capricorn, the square behaves as if it is both Uranus in Pisces and Pluto in Sagittarius, and Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn.

Note also that the man refers to patriotism, a concept associated with the remaining cardinal sign Cancer. Cancer is the release point of the cardinal T-square, the point at which a person can find some relief from the ‘storm’ of planets in his head. In this case, the concept of patriotism didn’t offer any relief. In fact, it only seemed to make things worse.

Obviously, most people are not going to do something as terrible as fly a plane into a government building as the pressure of the outer planets mounts. But people are going to be under pressure, and some vulnerable people will feel that there is a storm in their heads. It will feel to some people like there is no way out.

It is important to remember that these squares do not last forever. It is not a good idea to reinterpret your entire past in the light of current bitter or despairing feelings.

Yes, there will be problems in our collective and in our personal lives. We do need to address them. And we can’t do that if we let the storms override our basic sanity.

If you’ve got your natal Saturn in Libra, your Saturn return is staring you in the face these days. Today I’ll talk about the social and even personal importance of your second Saturn return in this sign.

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.

When I first heard about the protests in Iran over the suspicious election results, I immediately thought of Uranus in Aries. Uranus is still in Pisces as we speak, but it will move into Aries for the first time in about a year. There will be a bit of a bumpy transition period between Uranus in Pisces and Uranus in Aries, and I have a feeling we’re seeing the start of it. Here’s why:

Uranus in Aries will square Pluto in Capricorn, and,  in terms of world events, these influences usually start showing up before the aspects become exact.

In my astrological future-pondering mind, Uranus in Aries has always represented the possibility of dramatic or even violent individual actions (Aries) of revolution or rebellion (Uranus) against repressive or dictatorial (Pluto) governments (Capricorn). Leaving the astro terms aside, I’ve been having a feeling for awhile that violent clashes with authoritarian governments are going to get more  likely on the world stage.

The clashes in Iran have some of the characteristics I would expect from Uranus in Aries. The first characteristic is a reliance on technology (Uranus). The second characteristic is the spontaneous and even leaderless type of angry action (Aries) that is possible with the technology of today.

Now I don’t want to make it seem like I think these events are unprecendented. They’re obviously not. Uranus has been in Aries before, most recently from about 1928 through 1935. And protests against authoritarian governments are not exactly new–and by their nature, they are often spontaneous and seemingly leaderless. Nor am I at all sure that the current protests in Iran will amount to anything significant.

What I do think is that the restless and even violent discontent represented by Uranus in Aries will have important consequences for the world at large as ideologies evolve and clash in the post-Sagittarian world.

On the upside, Uranus in Aries is good for dramatic new technologies, and perhaps we’ll see breakthroughs in alternative energy during the next 7 or 8 years.