Past Articles

AR 75 Uranus & Neptune: Deconstruction & Dissolution

AR 74 Jupiter in Aquarius: The God of Light Visits the Waterbearer

AR 73 Planet to Plutoid: Pluto's Identity Crisis

AR 72 Mars, God of War or Brave Hero of the Sky

AR 71 Lilith; Goddess, Demon or Earth's Dark Moon

AR 70 Sign Language, Exploring the Enduring Archetypes of the Zodiac

AR 69 Venus The Mysterious Magic of the Morning Star

AR 68 Astrology and the Fixed Stars

AR 67 Jupiter in Capricorn

AR 66 Lord of the Rings Enters the Realm of the Celestial Virgin

AR 65 The Asteroids

AR 64 Chiron, Wise Centaur or Rogue Comet?

AR 63 Astrology and the Hero's Journey

AR 62 Aquarius Ascending

AR 61 Dwarfing Pluto

AR 60 Jupiter in Sagittarius

AR 59 Neptune in Aquarius

AR 58 Mercury, Messenger of the Gods

AR 57 Moon Signs

AR 56 Chinese Astrology

AR 55 Circular Logic

AR 54 Jupiter in Scorpio

AR 53 The Lion in Winter

AR 52 As Above, So Below

AR 51 The Ancient Quest

AR 50 Astrology and Alchemy

AR 49 Star of Wonder

AR 48 Jupiter in Libra

AR 47 Once in a Blue Moon

AR 46 Sedna Enters the Arena

AR 45 Royal Stars of Persia

AR 44 Ancient Formulas for Immortality

AR 43 Twelve Gates of Heaven

AR 42 Jupiter in Virgo

AR 41 Geometry of the Spheres

AR 40 Saturn in Cancer, June, 2003 to July, 2005

AR 39 The Poles of the Zodiac

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

Navigating the celestial high seas in rapidly shifting paradigms
“Space, the final frontier . . .” Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry

Uranus - Photo from NASA

Before telescopes, the night sky was thought to consist of two similar components: fixed stars, which remained motionless in relation to each other, and wandering stars, which appeared to shift their positions relative to the fixed stars. The earliest astronomers counted five planets--the moving “stars,” which were visible to the unaided eye. The term planet, asteres planetai in Greek, was broadened to include the Sun and the Moon, particularly in the Middle Ages. These were called "Lights," and brought the total to seven. The planets which required telescopes have revealed themselves to us over that last three centuries: Uranus in the 18th, Neptune in the 19th, and Pluto in the 20th. The 21st century is taking us “where no one has gone before,” quoting Star Trek again, into the outer reaches of our solar system.

Uranus - 18th century

Uranus was discovered in March of 1781 by British astronomer Sir William Herschel. Uranus is eccentrically inclined so far on its axis that it rotates on its side. Uranus orbits the Sun in 84 years, so a person may live long enough for Uranus to return to the place it occupied at birth. The revolution of the American Colonies from England took place around this time, and a few years later in 1789, the French revolution occurred. In art and literature, the discovery of Uranus coincided with the Romantic movement, which emphasized individuality and freedom of expression.

Uranus rules the sign of Aquarius and is linked to potential genius, individuality, unorthodox and unconventional ideas. Uranus is related to scientific discoveries, electricity, inventions, as well as the beginning of the industrial revolution. Socially conscious Uranus is said to govern groups which are dedicated to humanitarian ideals and progress. Uranus, which seems to act in sudden and unexpected ways, rules freedom, independence, equality and originality.

One critically important function of Uranian energy is to shatter forms, crystallized by Saturn, which have outgrown their purpose or time. The principle of form is not negative, in fact it allows the manifest universe to exist, but it is limiting and temporary. What shows up in our lives that looks like sudden, unexpected events without apparent cause, may in fact be earlier choices that are no longer perceived at the conscious level. We get these de-constructions harshly or gently, depending on our state of consciousness.

Neptune - 19th century

Neptune was discovered in September of 1846. Neptune takes 165 years to orbit the Sun, spending approximately 14 years (13.75) in each zodiac sign. Therefore, someone might live to see Neptune oppose the place it occupied at birth. Neptune’s appearance was linked in time to the rise of nationalist movements throughout Europe and coincided with the utopian ideals of Communism. Marx and Engels first published 'The Communist Manifesto' in 1848. In art, the impressionist movement began.

Neptune’s magic and mystery is connected to the illusory areas of film and mass media. Neptune is associated with idealism and compassion and connects us to faith and belief, and therefore with religion, spirituality and mysticism. The misty planet of illusions also rules drugs, hypersensitivity, fantasy and imagination, psychic phenomena and altered mental states. Neptune’s sighting coincided with the discovery of anesthetics and hypnotism. Neptune is linked to hospitals, prisons, mental institutions, and monasteries, where people withdraw from society.

The solidity of form is an illusion. Scientifically we know this, but the illusion is very compelling. Saturn is the Great Teacher, and his energy binds light so that forms seem to exist. This furthers the illusion by creating the sense that creation exists apart from us. Neptune is the ruler of Pisces, and is called the Dissolver. In this case Saturn’s forms are melted away, dissolved rather than deconstructed, and the process is more subtle.

20th & 21st Centuries

Pluto was discovered in February 1930, and then there was a long silence. Since 1992, coinciding with a conjunction between Uranus and Neptune, more than a thousand objects have been identified beyond the orbit of Neptune. Called Trans Neptunian Objects, the list of TNOs just keeps growing. Pluto is no longer considered a planet, but is now a member of a growing body of newly identified members of our enlarging solar system. It’s daunting to imagine what our solar system will encompass by the 22nd century.

Between Paradigms

Symbolically, the outer planets teach us about energies that are larger than ourselves, and because of the length of their orbits, they influence generations and groups more than individuals. Uranus and Neptune facilitate the breaking up of old patterns and hopefully inspire the creation of new ones at a higher level. Since 1993 Uranus and Neptune have been combining their energies in several ways.

Conjunction - Roughly every 172 years, they come together in a sign, combining their influence according to the nature of the sign. In 1993 they formed a conjunction in Capricorn. The one prior was in 1820. The next conjunction in 2165 will be in Aquarius. We might describe these periodic connections as idealism for social change inspired and infused with spiritual inspiration. Rapidly advancing technology has given us the global internet and cell phone proliferation, connecting people instantaneously in real-time around the world through mass communication, affecting mass consciousness. I can e-mail someone on the other side of the planet and have the message instantly translated into Chinese, for example. That was science fiction on Star Trek.

Mutual Reception - When Uranus passed through Aquarius and into Pisces in 2004 the two planets came into a Mutual Reception which will last until 2011. In Astrology, Mutual Reception occurs when any two planets are in the signs ruled by the other. At present Uranus is in Pisces and Neptune is in Aquarius. Uranus can be electrifying and Neptune can be sedating, but it’s like living in someone else’s home. The Fishes normally swim in the ocean of collective consciousness, while the Water Bearer dwells in the lofty heights of the higher mind. When they trade places they link above and below in a dramatic reversal.

The challenges from this energy exchange come as Pisces in Aquarius is like a fish-out-of-water, and the higher mental states of Aquarius can become drowned by Pisces emotions. Pisces is forced to breathe Aquarian air, and Aquarius gets a cold shower. This initial phase is a wake up call for all of us. Then, as the planets adapt to a new element, reflection and synthesis can occur. There can be a true humanitarian view of the collective and a chance to see the big picture in a clear light without emotional drama. A sudden awakening of transcendental awareness is possible, but a realization of the true nature of reality is called for. Self-centered ego, which can engender rigid fundamentalism, must be surrendered on behalf of a realization of oneness.

Semi-sextile - The third combination is a semi-sextile aspect of thirty degrees, 1/12th of a circle, which happens when planets are in adjacent signs. This aspect bridges different polarities, elements and qualities, and in this case, also blends the energies of the Piscean and Aquarian Ages. Aquarius and Pisces are always related to each other mathematically by thirty degrees of separation. Now, their ruling planets, in each other’s signs, are also thirty degrees apart.

Until 2011, essentially for the remainder of Uranus’s transit through Pisces, Uranus and Neptune will form a semi-sextile aspect, ranging from 23-28 degrees of Pisces and Aquarius. The semi-sextile is seen as a teaching aspect, presenting a karmic lesson which is created by low-level tension between sharply contrasting energies. There is a subtle friction that underlies ordinary conscious awareness. When we are open to the tension, rather than resisting it, a profound lesson can be learned. Our task is to open to the hidden lessons that Uranus and Neptune have to teach in each other’s signs.

Aquarian Age - Finally, we are poised at the changing of an age, and some scholars believe it is also the end of one complete cycle of the ages, which further strengthens the Uranian and Piscean influences as they are the rulers of these ages. Uranus is the planetary influence of the incoming Aquarian age, while Neptune is the ruler of the sign of Pisces, the outgoing age. After 2,000 years human consciousness is reaching out of the Piscean energy and into the Aquarian.

The Age of Pisces held a dispensation of hierarchy and patriarchy, and as the Age of Aquarius dawns, we are witnessing a reawakening of feminine energies. Ancient cultures coded their most sacred truths in myth, and in these archetypes the oceans were always the domain of a goddess. Mythically, Neptune had to marry the goddess Amphrite, the literal embodiment of the ocean, before he could become lord of the sea. Today our oceans are in danger, so regaining this balance of masculine and feminine is critical. Likewise, as Uranus, the sky god, remembers that Gaia, the Earth, was both his mother and his mate, a greening of the Earth is taking place. Around the world there is an unprecedented and spontaneous uprising of hundreds of thousands of grassroots movements for social justice and environmental change. New words like “bioneer” and “green-collar economy” have been added to our lexicon.

At the cusp of the New Age, we feel the impact of the shift, a blend of the outgoing energies and the incoming dispensation, along with a sense of temporal acceleration. With Uranus and Neptune in each other’s signs, and these signs representing the changing of an age, we are receiving an intense and heightened preview of coming attractions. But there is a power struggle as the old ways weaken but battle to remain in form. The new and unfamiliar energies flex their unfolding muscles and make their presence felt, triggering a consciousness revolution. The aeonian changing of the guard challenges our fundamental world view and offers a choice about how we see reality.

At issue, I believe, is humanity’s dawning recognition on a wide scale of how we participate in Being/Existence. Liberation of consciousness and synthesis of variant energies is possible. We are not simply created beings apart from, and at the whim of, a distant and temperamental Creator. Rather, in a Quantum sense, we partake of an immense Reality in which we participate. As consciousness moves into the realm of the Aquarian Age our awareness moves more into the domain of causes and interconnections.

We are waking up, rudely or gracefully, losing a sense of separation and difference in favor of awareness of our shared experience and common destiny. We can become awake in the dream of manifestation and learn to take responsibility for what we bring to the collective. We can choose to be conscious co-creators, claiming how our thoughts and states of consciousness affect the collective. In this way we learn, like Goethe’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice, popularized by Disney, stark lessons of responsibility. Reality is a shared dream, and this stranger-than-ficition condition is resolved when we recognize and accept the role of individual choice.

Julie Loar’s latest book, Everyday Goddesses: Ancient Myths for Modern Women, is now available.
Julie Loar
Queen of Cups, LLC
PO Box 1679 Pagosa Springs, CO 81147
Ancient Wisdom for the Modern World
http://www.queenofcups.com
970-264-7474