Past Articles

AR 38
Uranus In
Pisces
2003-2011

AR 37
Twelfth Planet, Plutinos or
Planet X

AR 36
Eclipses – Promise or Peril?

AR35
Solar Fire

AR34
The Lunar Mansions of Vedic Astrology

AR 33
Children of the Gods

AR 32
Wheels Within Wheels

AR 31
Horoscopes of Destiny

AR 30
Zodicac of Dendera

AR 29
A Star Is Born

AR 28
Age of Aquarius

AR 27
Persia's Royal Stars of Ancients

AR 23
The Lore of a Shaman

Uranus in Pisces 2003 - 2011
by Julie Gillentine

"To know the thoughts and deeds that have marked man's progress is to feel the great heart-throbs of humanity through the centuries; and if one does not feel in these pulsations a heavenward striving, one must
indeed be deaf to the harmonies of life."
— Helen Keller

On March 10 of 2003 the planet Uranus will enter Pisces, the twelfth sign of the zodiac. For the last seven years Uranus passed through its own sign Aquarius, bringing a proliferation of the world-wide web. In 2011 Uranus will move into Aries, beginning a new eighty-four year cycle. Uranus last entered the sign of Aries in March of 1927. At that time radio, television, and remarkable advances in psychology occurred, but we also witnessed the rise of Adolph Hitler, the collapse of the stock market and building energy for World War II.

Then and Now

Planetary energies do not directly cause events, rather they create conditions which are conducive to certain kinds of choices. In 1836, when Uranus entered Pisces, the Communist League was founded in Paris, and in 1848 when Uranus moved to Aries, the Communist Manifesto exploded into print and outer awareness. During the 1836 transit the Chinese fought the Opium war, Emerson began publishing Nature, and the first kindergarten came into existence. In 1920, the last time Uranus entered Pisces, Prohibition began in America. On the same day America embraced Prohibition, the Senate voted against joining the League of Nations. Both choices led to difficulty and regret.

As Uranus once again moves into Pisces in March, the Homeland Security Act, with far-reaching potential effects for American civil liberties, has advanced to the Washington scene with amazing speed. As this article is written there are gathering echoes of war. The President of the United States is rattling sabers on several fronts and troops are being sent to Iraq.

The internet has grown exponentially in a decade to become a global voice and disseminator of information. Television has become a forum for liberating views expressed on Oprah and other programs which offer communications from departed loved ones. Anyone is now a candidate for a miracle, an angelic visitation, or near-death experience. Our consciousness and world view is being widened in preparation for the next cycle.

Uranus, The Awakener

Uranus is visible to the unaided eye only under exceptionally clear conditions when the planet is opposed to the Sun and appears as a faint star. Uranus has a system of faint rings which were discovered in 1977 by an earth-based telescope. Not much else was known until Voyager 2 cruised by in 1986, revealing additional rings and ten more moons.

Modern planets could not be perceived without the aid of technology. Uranus was the first to be recognized and astrologically this planet is said to have a direct relationship with science. Uranus was officially discovered on March 13, 1781 by William Herschel, a musician who took up astronomy as a hobby. Later it was realized that Uranus had been seen and recorded at least twenty times between 1690 and 1781.

The French astronomer Pierre Lemonnier (1715-1799), couldn't conceive that the faint trace of light he saw was significant enough to disturb a comfortable cosmological scheme. The presence of Uranus in the solar system upset a long-standing balance of seven sacred planets. Uranus, characteristic to its now-familiar astrological nature, became an unsettling eighth.

Uranus is twice the distance from the Sun as Saturn, so its acknowledgement as a planet vastly increased the size of the solar system and extended the frontiers of science. Astrologers consider that humanity's development had to reach a certain stage where we could conceive of the revolutionary and radical increase in knowledge heralded by this upsetting interloper.

For more than a hundred years Uranus was called "Herschel" after its discoverer, but the power of myth is strong. Uranus was the father of Saturn, grandfather to Jupiter and great-grandfather to Mars, so his proper name was suggested and accepted by Johann Bode (of Bode's law fame).

Uranus, along with Jupiter and Neptune, is one of the three gas giants and is four times larger than Earth. Uranus takes eighty-four years to make one circuit around the Sun, so its "year" is eighty-four times that of Earth. By comparison, Uranus rotates very quickly on its axis, making one rotation in just under seventeen hours, so its day is seven hours shorter than Earth's. Uranus has twenty known moons as well as nine faint rings. Uranus rotates almost on its "side." This seems apt for the independent and trail-blazing ruler of Aquarius. The axis of rotation lies nearly in the plane of its orbit, rather than perpendicular. Because of the strange tilt, one hemisphere can face the Sun for years at a time, leaving the other in perpetual darkness.

The mythical castration of Uranus by his son Saturn may have an astronomical origin. Astronomers speculate that a catastrophic collision with a large body may have upset the planet, tilting it onto its present axis, and at the same time ejecting gas and debris that coalesced and formed Uranus's moons. Remnants of this collision may also remain as Saturn's dramatic ring system.

Isabel Hickey, author of Spiritual Astrology, said "Uranus is the force which beckons us to the discovery of the undiscovered." Uranus is said to rule Astrology itself and to represent occult knowledge since it is hidden from the domain of Mercury's ordinary awareness. Astrologer Rob Hand has remarked that "Uranus represents the random element of mutation that is necessary for creative innovation." As a result Astrologers associate Uranus with science and inventions such as television and radio. Uranus also governs the realm of psychology and metaphysics, calling us to explore unseen knowledge.

Pisces, The Fishes

Pisces is one of the constellations in the "watery" portion of the sky which includes Aquarius, the Water Bearer, Cetus, the Whale, and Pisces Austrinus, the Southern Fishes. This group of stars has been associated with fish in all ancient cultures. Greek myth considered the stars of Pisces to represent Heroes and Aphrodite, who changed themselves into fish, plunging into the Euphrates River to escape the giant monster Typhon. In Piscean star lore, for a long time, there was only one fish.

Astrologically, Pisces is the twelfth and final zodiac sign and therefore represents the final stage in the hero's journey and the last phase of the evolving human on the path of return. This final stage is the transcendence of the self or ego-based personality. Pisces is the most fluid and the most sensitive of the signs. Piscean sensitivity can result in self-inflicted martyrdom. A colleague, himself a Pisces, says that any Pisces worth his salt will walk a mile over broken glass to have his feelings hurt. What aspect of mystical Pisces will Uranus awaken?

The highest expression of the combined principles of Uranus and Pisces can awaken compassion and destroy materiality. The most positive view of this combination is a breaking up of old and outworn thought patterns, making way for intuitive wisdom and understanding. As a result a collective shift to a more spiritual world view can emerge. Uranus in Pisces can engender a passion to know the truth at a deeply spiritual level, creating a willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of this knowledge.

The negative side of Uranus in Pisces brings a disillusioning belief that the ideals of Uranus in Aquarius did not rise to meet the expectations. It becomes more difficult to focus the will, and tests and challenges arise from unresolved subconscious difficulties.

Tests and Trials

Children born during this transit are likely to be more psychic and intuitive and to automatically tune into the thoughts and feelings of others. They may have the innate capacity to "read" others minds, startling those of earlier generations with their perceptions. Hidden agendas and secret motives will be difficult to conceal from them.

This generation will be ultra-sensitive, more in tune with inner space, and less concerned with outer trappings or climbing the corporate ladder. They will be a link between the outgoing age of Pisces and the incoming Uranus-ruled, age of Aquarius. These children will facilitate the awakening of collective consciousness and understand the unity of life. They can suffer as a result of a great longing for the world of spirit and a sense of imprisonment in the world of form. Spiritual focus is important or there is a risk of escape into drugs, alcohol or other mind-altering substances to numb this ache.

Grandmother Spider Technology is bound to be affected by this transit. The proliferation of technology during the transit of Uranus through Aquarius may develop into mental interfaces with computers. This may be the time where voice-activated computers really come into their own, and the Star Trek feeling of having a conversation with a machine becomes a reality. Potential abuses may come from implanting computer chips in human beings. At the same time telepathy and communication behind the veils increases, the use of technology for noble or spiritual purposes will be accompanied by secret files and policing of the internet.

Revolution or Evolution?

Revolution is Uranus's middle name. The purpose of Uranus in Pisces is to bring idealism to collective consciousness. Pisces holds the collective thoughts of humanity, and this combination holds the potential for true group conscious. Uranus breaks up Saturn's entrenched patterns and offers the chance for more evolved forms. Most of us fall short of this potential in the execution. Uranus acts to plant idealistic seeds for the future which may require an entire cycle to germinate. We may see certain things come to fruition which were conceptually planted seventy-seven years ago.

The shift of Uranus into Aries, the first sign of the zodiac, in 2011 coincides with the closing of a five-sun cycle in the Mayan calendar, and will also begin a new eighty-four year cycle for the planet of awakening. This is an interesting juxtaposition of cycles where the revolutionary planet enters the sign of action at the onset of a new 26,000 year cycle of precession.

If individuals or nations become responsive to the frequency of Uranus an inner feeling of right action becomes natural. Intuition becomes a guiding force and the mind learns to trusts these inner promptings. This faculty will become more valued and sought after. We may begin to choose leaders based on their intuitive abilities.

What choices will we make now and what consequences will we suffer? Will we replicate a pattern of unconsciousness and separation and begin another "war to end all wars," reaping the consequences of an ill-conceived act of aggression? On the other hand, what is the highest to which humanity can aspire right now? Religious tolerance? New forms of free and clean energy? Cleaning up the environment? Uranus's passage through Pisces offers the opportunity to feel the consequences of our choices for good or ill in the human race as a whole. The choice is up to us.