Shock Waves, Testing Points and Turnarounds
Checking Charts
If you want to see the sign and degree of the planets in your own or any other natal chart, so you can check against the signs and degrees important this week – as outlined in the blog – here’s the link to Astrotheme. Enter your data into the boxes provided:
https://www.astrotheme.com/horoscope_chart_sign_ascendant.php
The Astrology Blog 22 April 2019
All times given are stated in BST
“God bless the broken road that led me straight to you.”
Song, Bless the Broken Road, by Rascal Flatts
The week starts with a major aspect that will be exact just as we click into tomorrow:
Tuesday 23 April
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Sun conjunct Uranus 2 Taurus 00.08
Nearly always, these major aspects are at their most powerful when “applying”, ie in the process of becoming exact. They generally show during the 48 hours prior to the moment of exactitude and then their long lasting results are the things to be dealt with in the aftermath.
How major is this aspect?
To put it into perspective, the Sun “moves” one degree a day, (actually it’s everything else that’s moving, so it’s the backdrop that indicates where the Sun is).
So the Sun meets up with all the slower moving planets once a year:
- The last Sun – Uranus conjunction was 18 April 2018 but this fell in the previous sign at 28 degrees Aries.
- Uranus didn’t move into Taurus until 15 May last year, by which time the Sun is already two thirds of his way through this sign, too far ahead for Uranus to catch up.
- As Uranus has an 84 year cycle, this means that most of us have not experienced this combination in our lifetime. The last time Uranus entered Taurus was June 1934 (until May 1942) – and the first Sun – Uranus conjunction at the beginning of that 8 year journey was 22 April 1935.
With these rare aspects the starting point for the astrologer is always the nature of the sign/planet involved and considering how the combination might show. Events reflected by major aspects are usually unmistakable in their symbolic accuracy.
Uranus
Uranus – co-ruler of Aquarius was discovered in 1781. This coincided with the French and American revolutions, and the industrial revolution in England.
He is the planet of rebellion, anarchy, social advancement, ecology and technology. Both Bill Gates and the late Steve Jobs have strong Uranus/Aquarius features in their horoscopes.
In mythology, Uranus is the sky god and he rules all that comes “out of the blue”. He challenges all that Saturn stands for, such as hierarchy and traditional rules, and his nature is innovative, explosive, sudden, unexpected, erratic or unpredictable.
Typical Uranian types are primarily different.
Brilliant, quirky, nervy, eccentric, unstable, a wild child or a genius, a scientist or social misfit, they are always unusual, unconventional or original in some way.
Taurus
Taurus – sign of Fixed Earth rules money and produce of the land – everything from food to flowers.
Textbook Taureans find it hard to climb out of ruts, often mistaking them for cosy comfort zones and preferring familiarity, financial security and their creature comforts to the lure of new adventures.
The essential nature of Taurus is stoical, reliable, sensuous, appetitive, tolerant and risk averse.
So, this is not an easy combination.
Uranus heralds the winds of change. He likes to pull the rug or at worst blow things up, whereas Taurus is innately peaceable and likes everything to stay the same.
Uranus is linked to all that is groundbreaking, whether it’s new inventions, upheaval, disruption or spontaneity. Or at the other extreme, shattering events out in the world that are linked to the fanaticism of intolerance/terrorism (Sri Lanka).
It’s also unmistakable symbolism for:
- Violent acts of nature when the ground itself moves (earthquakes, when the “fixed earth” beneath your feet is liquefied)
- Or displacing chunks of fixed earth (avalanches, Canada last Wed)
- Or destroyed/weakened by man’s reckless interference (deforestation being the major cause of horrific landslides, Colombia yesterday)
Sun – Uranus conjunction in Taurus
A quick Google search for the first Sun – Uranus conjunction in Taurus last time around (as stated above, 22 April 1935) instantly brought up the news of the deadliest earthquake in Taiwan’s recorded history on 21 April, just one day before the exact conjunction.
Over 3,000 people were killed, another 12,000 injured and 18,000 homes destroyed.
In the US it was the time of the Great Depression, when many thousands of Americans suffered what was known as the Dust Bowl, a period of severe drought and dust storms that hit the American Great Plains.
1935 was an especially difficult year and millions of Americans abandoned their farms and looked for a new life elsewhere.
So Uranus in Taurus can whip up a dry storm and displace people as well as the earth itself.
Global and Personal Messages from Sun conjunct Uranus in Taurus
So, that answers the question about how major this aspect is. Shockwaves are currently reverberating around the world at the devastating news from Sri Lanka.
Climate change protests took place in London for five days.
If nothing else, Uranus wakes us up.
Wherever and as much as possible we need to practice and promote tolerance and awareness, rather than intolerance and sticking our heads in the sand.
There’s always the macrocosm v microcosm at work so we can take these worldwide messages to heart for our personal lives too.
It’s out with complacency because any of our lives can change in a heartbeat, and it’s out with ignoring the rumblings of our most important issues.
Psychologically Uranus is about “splitting off”:
- How we distance ourselves from the things we don’t want to deal with
- Or how we project our own less desirable qualities onto other people or how
- We play out our unconscious trauma and grievances onto the screen of those we can blame.
Think about the person who winds you up the most. If you’re cringingly honest with yourself, do they have a quality that you have/used to have – that you feel ashamed of?
I can definitely answer yes to that question!
In the pursuit of wholeness – integrity and integration – owning all of those disparate bits of us and accepting our fallible human state with some loving understanding instead of disowning them and “acting out”.
We acknowledge the crucial importance of good mental health and stop doing any further damage, to ourselves or others or the planet.
In my view psychology should be part of every school curriculum.
Uranus is also known as the divorce planet
So if you’re in a rocky relationship – and especially if you have planets in the early degrees of Taurus – the writing is on the wall.
A wall that is about to be demolished.
The choice and the challenge is whether to rebuild or walk away from the rubble.
The message is the same as The Tower in the Tarot. Something cannot be sustained in its existing form and if we don’t address it then it will collapse. Either because the foundations have been hopelessly eroded or because of outside factors that we couldn’t possibly have seen coming.
As I’ve said before, Uranus is the astrologer’s basic nightmare because he rules shocks and is unpredictable.
The Sun illuminates
So this major conjunction is a landmark on the broken road that many have been treading since Uranus first moved into Taurus last year.
Here’s the sequence:
- First Uranus ingress Taurus – 15 May 2018
- Uranus turned retrograde 02.33 – Taurus 7 August
- Then Uranus slid back into Aries – 6 November
- And Uranus turned direct 28.36 Aries – 6 January 2019
- Second Uranus ingress Taurus – 6 March 2019 (will not return to Aries again)
- Sun conjunct Uranus 2 Taurus – 23 April 2019
The best possible showing of this landmark moment is the wakeup call, finding the courage to make changes, striking out for what you want or meeting the person that you would never have met if your life hadn’t already been disrupted or taken unplanned twists and turns.
I can’t find Gary LeVox’s horoscope – lead singer of Rascall Flatts whose song I chose for this week’s lead quote – but doesn’t this sound like Uranus?
LeVox married Tara Vernon in 1999. He says it was love at first sight when they met backstage at a gospel festival concert. “I knew at that moment that I was looking at my future wife,” he said in a 2011 interview. “It was the weirdest thing ever.” (Wikipedia)
Turnarounds
If you’re a follower of astrology no doubt you’re aware that both Saturn and Pluto are currently trudging through Capricorn.
They’re both stationing – appearing to stand still in the heavens – in readiness for turning retrograde. Saturn turns early next week and Pluto turns tomorrow:
Tuesday 23 April
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Pluto turns retrograde at 23.09 Capricorn – 19.46 BST
The outer planets stay retrograde for a long time.
Pluto is the slowest of the lot and won’t turn direct again until 3 October! However it’s worth noting their turning points, especially if you have planets or angles at or close to (within 2 to 3 degrees) the same place.
If you’re experiencing any of the long transits of an outer planet (Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Chiron) to a personal planet (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter) then these will relate to an ongoing issue that takes time to play out, such as:
- Building a relationship, or
- The opposite of a relationship disintegrating
- Lawsuits
- Health issues
- Big projects with deadlines
- Changing jobs
- Moving house or country
- Having a baby and so on.
None of these things happen in a day.
In particular, Pluto is ultimately about total change in the shape of a long transformative process and here are his main themes:
- Pluto’s main principle is endings/beginnings
- Often starting with loss, death of the old and the birth of the new
- Darkness, obsessions, addictions, starting from scratch
- Those who are physically or emotionally absent
- Ttransformative processes, deep healing, resourcefulness
- Secrets, taboos
- Power, abuse of power, uncompromising, empowerment, wealth and control
As above, so below.
The turning points – when a planet switches from direct to retrograde or vice versa – can signal definite stages in the development of a major concern or life event.
This can sometimes breathe new life into something, or someone, you’d written off.
Finally we have a touchy square at the weekend:
Saturday 27 April
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Mars 18 Gemini square Neptune 18 Pisces – 14.05 BST
Mars entered Gemini 31 March and will be travelling through this sign until 16 May.
Looking at planets as a natal placing can give us the themes to look out for, so from Be Your Own Astrologer:
Mars in the double sign of the Twins can also signal the individual who is multi-talented or who holds down two jobs. They are generally not perfectionists and can make quick work of tasks and to-do lists that others would find time consuming.
Typically, they run off nervous energy, have countless ideas and spend a lot of time on the phone. They can talk anyone into anything or themselves out of any tight corner.
Mars in Gemini in O J Simpson’s chart is the significator for his lawyer.
As Mars is men, the women often have two significant relationships or marriages, such as Camilla Parker Bowles.
Universally, the action planet Mars in Gemini is quick, clever and versatile. However, squaring up to Neptune definitely blunts the sharpness.
Look out for the proverbial double-edged sword. Stay out of arguments, especially other people’s, and think before you speak. Careless words can wound. Or too much booze (Neptune) leads to indiscretion, perhaps saying or hearing things better left unsaid, because they might not be true.
Neptune by square confuses, distorts or escalates.
Two people’s (Gemini) version of the same event could differ beyond belief. Also look out for water and plumbing problems!
Gemini’s duality is so often about choices. Mars is a dominant player in next week’s astrology, so I’ll talk more about this next time. And there is a Taurus New Moon to show us how to get things grounded again.
Until then, hope you’re having a great Easter weekend. Or looking forward to Easter next weekend here,