Tag Archives: Uranus

Notes on Uranus Retrograde, August 2021

24 Tuesday Aug 2021

Posted by in astrology, Retrogrades, Uranus

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Lightning cloud to cloud (aka).jpg
This image shows a cloud to cloud lightning in a very stormy and rainy night in Zwickau, Germany. Photo By André Karwath aka Aka Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5

Just a few things to take note of during this retro period. Technically Uranus gained retro status on the 19th, but it remained stationary until the 23rd. I like to look at the point a body retrogrades for the picture it presents in relation to other bodies, making a kind of birth chart for the retrograde itself. This can give us the general tone of the period, a snapshot of what to expect, though I have to emphasize, particularly with the slower moving bodies, that the point of retrograde just isn’t, well, as pointed as it is with a quicker moving body. That’s because a slower planet stations for some time both before and after status change, making the retro a window, rather than, once again, a point.

Uranus stationing and reversing always suggests shifts in the Zeitgeist, and in personal momentum, and in each case the individual experiences this in one of two ways: when Uranus is direct, one flows along with the greater ‘group’, accessing inventive and innovative energies relatively easily, with accidents swiftly righted and surprises usually the kind we look back on and say, ‘I knew it!’; then Uranus retros, and things take a somewhat negative turn, with Uranian energies overwhelming or shocking and relationship with ‘the group’ suffering static in the ‘who’s responsible for what’ category. Generally speaking, the individual oriented to this Uranus pattern finds Uranus-related circumstances during the direct phase to be, even if surprising, understandable, with those during the retro period seemingly more random or confusing.

The second type of individual experiences Uranus like this: the direct phase is the one that delivers the electric shock, the trouble with groups and one’s place in them, one seemingly being more methodical and less inventive as this specific energy seems to suffer a short circuit, with accidents feeling arbitrary, things sometimes prompting the question, ‘Why me?’ Then the retro comes along and this kind of individual is suddenly finding much less resistance to the inventive and innovative energies, with sudden events turning out fortuitously and the serendipitous signaling the individual flow within the larger Uranian energies. In this case, the retro gets the Uranian energy out of its own way, allowing the current (and therefore the capacity for understanding) to flow.

This time, Uranus retrograded at 14 Taurus 47, with Mercury soon to perfect a trine and Vesta soon to perfect a quincunx, followed by perfection of a trine from Mars. Everything within this picture is in Earth, except for Vesta in Air (Libra). This made me think that the material world will correspond precisely to the unseen, like a shadow made solid. Thoughts and communications will be shaped into our surroundings and events in surprising or unexpected ways–so be very conscious, during this retro period, with what you’re really thinking and expressing, and take communications from others with this same sort of ‘this is shaping reality’ awareness.

What we experience may challenge, or at least make uncomfortable, our attitudes or practices around those things we feel are sacrosanct–and likely what occurs will show us how we need to modify our values in theory so that they match our values in practice, and vice versa, align our real-world behaviors with the ideals we claim and identify with. And from these things, an awareness of the impact of thought on the material, and the need to modify and align ourselves with those things we genuinely find sacred, we will find the perfect (and perfectly applicable) actions and choices to move us forward.

Also, be aware of how on the 25th the Moon will pass over Chiron in Aries and then Venus will oppose it from Libra. That’s a recipe for emotional wounds to spill out into the open, for relationships awash in the full brunt of feeling, and for the cost of our own wounds to become apparent. Just take care, and be kind, especially with yourself.

Focus on: Uranus-Vesta Conjoined in Aries 4 February 2016

03 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by in astrology, current events in the sky

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George Bellows 'The Circus' 1912 {{PD}}

George Bellows ‘The Circus’ 1912 {{PD}}

Today could be a dangerous day, and by dangerous I mean exciting, over-the-top, fulfilling–it’s the aftermath we have to be mindful of. The individuality urge is fired by the need to be original, to experiment, to be radical, to make chaos, revolution, or something entirely new and modern–and the Vestal influence can be both highly constructive, aligning our urges with our highest values or service to home and family, or can lead us to believe that our impulses and intellectual conclusions are sacred, not to be questioned or thwarted, and so effectively sending us on a monomaniacal tear. How do we tell the difference? Perspective is necessary; with Mercury also parallel Saturn, we must admit we know the rules, the proper boundaries–it becomes a matter of honoring our uniqueness while remaining aware of the real world and its limits, if we want to succeed.

The Daily Image: an electrical wall plug on fire. What we see burn today may be entirely unintentional, coming from an energy overload or misdirection. Safety first! And have a great Thursday!

What You’re Asking: ‘How Do You Know?’

14 Thursday May 2015

Posted by in astrology, What You're Asking

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An artist's conception of a multitude of tiny diamonds next to a hot star. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) {{PD}}

An artist’s conception of a multitude of tiny diamonds next to a hot star. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) {{PD}}

The italicized terms below are taken from the search results that bring people to my blogs. This article appears in the current ECLIPSE.

When Do You Know A Friendship is Over?

In all seriousness, the answer to this is, ‘When the other person stops treating you as a friend.’ I’m not being glib when I give this as the way to know when a relationship has deteriorated. Once we’re in a relationship we’re much too prone as individuals to see it as existing in a static state, still being viable and following the old feelings and parameters even after something has definitely shifted. We don’t take the time to look at the state of the current interaction, and if something’s bothering us, to examine the attitudes involved—and that includes our own, as we are just as likely to change and not acknowledge it as the other person. Typically, though, unless we have some control-oriented pathologies going on, most of us won’t even notice that the interaction has changed—we just say we ‘drifted apart’, or summon some other euphemism to explain why we no longer talk, or we excuse our unease as being due to some new or upsetting event in our own or the other person’s life (“Janie is being so critical because she’s under stress at work.”) We don’t end a friendship unless we recognize that it no longer functions in a roughly even, give-and-take manner. And though each of us has a different definition of what it means to be a friend and of what we expect from friendship, even if we haven’t outlined those things consciously we know immediately when we ask ourselves the question, ‘Is this person treating me like a friend?’ whether they are or not. If the answer is, ‘No, they’re not treating me like a friend,’ then the relationship is over.

Is it worth discussing with the other person your feeling that you are not being treated like a friend? I would say it is, unless what alerted you to the change in tone was something consciously said or done by the other person that signals loud and clear, ‘We just aren’t friends.’ If the other person behaves in an inappropriately competitive manner or is unwilling to treat you with respect (and by that I mean, treat you kindly and with the consideration offered any other adult, equal to what they ask for from you), all you can do is gently walk away. And remember, if the actions don’t match the words, no matter who it is, you’re not in a healthy interaction.

Astrologically you can get clues about your own expectations within friendship from the ruler of, sign on, and bodies posited in the 11th House of the natal chart. Transits through the 11th or to the ruler of the 11th can signal you’re in the midst of a friendship learning curve that may mark some of those interaction experiences that stay with you forever.

Are you future queen astro aspects

I loved the optimism in this query, just because, there aren’t many of these jobs around! So how do you know if you are a future queen? Here I wrote about the prospects for Kate Middleton, which haven’t yet been realized—but what about the rest of us? Rather than a literal ascension to a throne, perhaps we should look at it in terms of being empowered within our own lives—and that is definitely Juno. True that she married a god and ruled with him over Olympus and the other gods, but she was a goddess in her own right, and would’ve been, no matter who she married—and this is something we may forget when reviewing her story, as we tend to focus on the vindictive nature of her actions well into the union, when her husband was cheating on her and disrespecting her. The image we too often capture of Juno is one after she has been emotionally battered repeatedly—would anyone want to be judged on her worst day? I think not. That still doesn’t answer what we can expect as aspects for a future queen. I would look for good aspects to Jupiter, for both the social support and the relative abundance being queen affords, and maybe a positive aspect between Jupiter (that might stand for the King) and one’s Sun or Moon, or even Venus, any of which might suggest an alliance. All the other things that usually pay off in real life—charm, beauty, talent, wealth—may not even factor in for this position, since circumstances of birth might override any other concerns. So we’re back to Juno, and the way she, though innately a goddess, still derives her greater status as queen from her mate and position on Olympus—suggesting that, at the mercy of the mate, being queen might be as frustrating as it is fun.

Does Uranus have tides?

To have tides Uranus would need two things: a moon or moons, and liquid oceans. We know it has at least 27 moons, with the largest named Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon (after Shakespeare characters). As to oceans, the latest theory is that it may have oceans of liquid diamond, formed due to the high pressure and high temperatures in the environment. So maybe it has tides—but until we actually send something to the surface, we can only guess.

The Push-Pull of the Tides: Uranus Retrograde, Saturn Direct

05 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by in astrology, current events in the sky, Retrogrades + Directions, Saturn in Scorpio, Uranus

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'The Seashore' Wm H Margetson 1900 {{PD-Art}}

‘The Seashore’ Wm H Margetson 1900 {{PD-Art}}

Saturn goes direct evening of the 7th Pacific time, at 4 Scorpio 49, and Uranus, stalling out at about 12 and a half degrees of Aries, retrogrades on the 17th. This may feel a little like shifting tides; we’re just realizing something has lifted and loosened (Saturn) when the tension of the Uranus turnaround becomes apparent. A Uranus retrograde seems to manifest in chaotic encounters, accidents, and uncertainty, always very close to the actual retrograde date (typically only a day or two before and after, at most). I’ve observed tension at the retrograde point of other heavyweights, but Uranus seems to be different: we really do seem to be plunged into a kind of confusion when he withdraws, with a much higher chance of inattentiveness, carelessness, and even, if I may be so dramatic, betrayal (this latter showing in abrupt and often bewildering changes to our role within the group). Be aware that just as what was holding us back seems to ease, we encounter a kind of riptide, not always discernible to the observer, which is why we’re so often taken by surprise, and overwhelmed, when we swim into its path.

If either of these planets is in hard aspect to a natal point or body at the time of turnaround, the associated energies, as well as any House ruled, should be watched; with Saturn, we look for clues as to what might progress, and where we might feel a removal of impediments–or, for those like me, who actually find themselves with restrictions lifted when Saturn is retro, we might see a slowing and inexplicable halt to what seemed to be sailing along just fine–while with Uranus it’s about the unexpected, with caution in related areas called for. In any case, it’s a chance to get a little bit of a jump on what could become trouble areas–and those not into astrology will swear it all comes ‘out of the blue’.

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6 September 2010: The Saturn Butterfly Effect

06 Monday Sep 2010

Posted by in Cardinal Activity, current events in the sky

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We all know about the ‘Butterfly Effect’ theory, right? How could we not, after its repeated mention in popular culture; with everything interconnected at a quantum level, the flap of a butterfly’s wings in South America ripples and magnifies and picks up energy along the way until it forms a tsunami in Asia–or so the theory goes.

So, I’m thinking that what’s going on right now is something of a Butterfly Effect involving Saturn, but in reverse: the massive energy of the much-discussed Cardinal energies of Pluto, Uranus, Jupiter are, rather than showing their considerable muscle directly (exceptions of course being contact to one’s natal placements), they are funneling the energy into Saturn–and it’s coming out in Saturn-related events.

This is just a guess; maybe it’s entirely personal for me. But, other than those Cardinal contacts, Saturn has been pretty lonely lately–and the Nodes are now just within a 5 degree orb of T-square contact, and I’m wondering if that isn’t creating an effect where it’s all about Saturn, with the energies of all the other contacts moving into reality, into visibility, through the Saturnian structures of our lives–and I’m seeing Saturnian upset all around me. Just this weekend within my sphere, there’s been a bone infection discovered, an infestation of the framework/ walls of a house, and the experiences of a few people I know who are getting a good, hard dose of reality–and reacting to this Saturn energy with some of their own Saturn stubbornness and stonewalling, a clear rejection of the need to modify their approach to the material–and yet the Nodes are moving inexorably into contact with the Old Man, and I’m thinking that when the T perfects (by degree, at 7 of their respective signs, on September 25th), the Saturn effect will reach a climax; we’ll all, at this point, see marked change/ effects in the Saturnian structures of our lives.

Anybody else feeling structures shifting beneath your feet, reality changing, or the framework of life threatened by decay (Pluto), untoward expansion or through social feedback (Jupiter), or the expression of one’s individuality and the consequences of this within the group (Uranus)?

We’re already in the Dark of the Moon for the upcoming New Moon. See ‘What You Won’t See on the Blog,’ and much more, here http://dogandsunflower.wordpress.com/new-summer-2010-eclipse/ Thanks! And here’s a look ahead at the Autumn Equinox http://judecowell.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/ready-for-autumn-equinox-2010/

Uranus into Aries: What Does the Group Want?

21 Friday May 2010

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As Uranus passed through Pisces, we spent a lot of time concentrating on how the individuality could serve the Collective; in fact, it became heresy to put too much emphasis on the Self. Statements of ‘I want’ were politically correct only when a want for the larger picture was included as well: “I want to be the next Lady Gaga, and cure world hunger, too!” Nothing wrong with that, just that we all began to sound like we were in the running for Miss America, with a lot of pressure to allow a sincere wish to help be almost our only public display of desire. At this time I’d like to blame it on Uranus in Pisces, naturally making the group/ Collective loom large in our consciousness. Higher Mind (Uranus) made us extremely aware of our interconnectedness (Pisces), and this was absolutely a positive evolutionary step–so what’s the next step, as Uranus enters Aries, the theoretical ‘beginning’ of the zodiac–and of course, hits the Aries Point, which has taken on almost mythical significance as a point of  extreme effect?

While Uranus was in Pisces, big goals and big canvasses were the style–we couldn’t just donate school supplies to the local elementary school, we had to gather money and supplies city-wide, then box them up and send them to Afghanistan–again, nothing wrong with this at all, but it’s precisely this kind of response to need, the kind and quality of innovation and progressive thought in solving problems, that I think will undergo a blanket change. With Uranus in Aries, the likely response may be that individual efforts will express a one-pointed group Will, and the effect will be that everyone must identify by their group and then assert their desires.

At first glance this seems terrible; the last thing we need is segregation by interests, financial status, nationality, or any of the other ugly ‘have and have not, are and are not’ strategies that have been employed in the past (and that are currently being peddled once again by Tea Partiers, among others). Yes, there is this regressive version of Self-motivated Uranian energy that will pop up–not everyone will lift themselves out of the mud, unfortunately–but I think the evolved version will actually be quite productive, introducing the idea of the citizen-soldier with the ability to lead the group as the identity of each member, not just as the identity of one or two.

This also might incorporate the idea of banding together without the kind of exclusivity that was popular during Uranus through Capricorn, where we judged judged judged other groups and drew strict boundaries according to some hardline Capricorn values. After the immense widening of our idea of the Collective of which we are a part and to and for which we are responsible in Uranus through Pisces, we come to this new stance as strong individuals who have forged our identity and can now act for and with the group without the need to close the clubhouse doors to keep out the riff-raff. Instead we are equipped to see to causes and forward the group agenda with the consciousness of Pisces as a backdrop, so that the individual Will works in tandem with the best interests of the whole–and the group identity simply becomes a loose affiliation of those with common interests who are equipped to aid each other, rather than a tight-knit circle that can’t see beyond their own noses.

Well, that’s what I think.

There’s more on Uranus into Aries here http://dogandsunflower.wordpress.com/new-eclipse-spring-2010/ along with material on Chiron into Pisces, Ceres as a major energy and possible health indicator, the Sun/ Earth axis, Soul Purpose, and the material reality needed for development, couples synastry, a bonus article, the Forecasts for May, June, and July, and more!  Comes with a free mini-reading on Ceres in your natal chart, prepared by me.

Today’s Link: Tony Vowles on the meaning of Gemini http://www.theastrologyblog.com/2010/05/sun-in-gemini.html