Uranus: I just gotta be me, what else can I be?
Hello reader! Every Thursday, I post the notes from this week’s episode of Maria Luz’s Conscious Curiosities podcast.
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Our outline:
Uranus context: briefly, the mythology and astronomy
Uranus Evolutionary Astrology associations
Transiting Uranus, and Uranus in your birth chart
Mythology
Ouranos or Uranus was the primordial god of the sky. To the Greeks, he was the literal sky, just as his consort Gaia was the earth. Together, they had 12 sons and 6 daughters. He locked the eldest of these away inside the belly of Earth. Gaia suffered so much pain as a result that she persuaded the sons (the Titans) to rebel. They managed to capture Ouranos and castrate him. Ouranos prophesied the fall of the Titans and the punishments they would suffer for their crimes, which actually became true when Saturn/Kronus’s son Zeus and the Olympians defeated the Titans and cast them into the pit of Tartaros.
Astronomy
Uranus is weird! Rather than spinning vertically, it appears to spin sideways and change its axis. It is the 7th planet from the Sun and 3rd largest in our solar system and was the first to be discovered with the aid of a telescope (in 1781). It is extraordinarily cold and windy and is believed to have an environment that is not habitable to life as we know it. It is about 4 times wider than Earth and its orbit is 84 Earth years.
Astrology
In the lineage of Evolutionary Astrology (The Jeffrey Wolf Green School) that I study, Uranus is associated with the archetype of the individuated unconscious. Which is, I realize, a mouthful. In Chapter 1 of “Uranus: Freedom from the Known”, JWG says:
Uranus correlates to individuation, liberation, freedom, and deconditioning. Deconditioning from what? Deconditioning from Saturn.
As I don’t want your eyes to glaze over from geeky astro-speak, perhaps just be aware that Uranus encompasses some of your past life shit, but only that which is relevant to what your soul wants to accomplish in this life. Most of us spend the first 40 years or so getting all conditioned up. It is like we are going through an auto factory assembly line and we may get to say what model or color or trim we want to be, and these seem like important and relevant choices, but after a while of being a Prius, we decide we want to be a 4Runner, and then at some point - Bam! - we don’t want to be a car at all. We want to be a tricyle or a boat or a hot air balloon.
That desire to not be a car at all was there all along, and you may have even had flashes in thought or dreams, or interests, or people placed in your path which triggered some unease. These repetitive flashes of seemingly disjointed ideas, etc. are Uranus coming to the surface. The fact that they are so disjointed with your life makes it seem like a 180° turnaround when you finally do admit to the unease and do something about it.
Unlike Saturn, you don’t have a Uranus return until your are 84 years old, but which time it is too late to become something else entirely. That is why I raised this idea of the unconscious right away. I want you to start allowing those unconscious nudges to come to your consciousness, so you can at least consider them, and if you like them, make a plan rather than ignore them until you can’t and then you have no choice but to blow up your life.
Yup, I did that! So have lots of others under the guide of a ‘mid-life crisis’. It just so happens that the Uranus had return, or opposition, happens around age 42. Which means you will have a square (challenging) aspect at around age 21. At age 21 you are likely in college if that is your thing, or you are floating along gaining job experience in something you happened into or pledged allegiance to after high school. And if you become traditionally successful, you will stick with that thing and ‘ace’ your Saturn return around age 28. But I want us to reconsider that! Why is it that there are so many unhappy 42 years olds?? Who end up going back to something close to what they dreamed of doing when they were 7? Because of conditioning. Which is Saturn.
And listen to my last podcast episode, in which I attempted to defend the old guy Saturn a bit. Of course we all need structure and discipline and the appreciation of effort. However, the individual should perhaps decide in what area all of those things come rather than be told or shown only limited options.
So, no matter what age you are, I invite you to pay attention to those little flashes of interest that keep coming up, despite the fact they do not seem to fit anywhere in your current reality. Investigate them. Its still Gemini season, which is a perfect time to do so.
What this looked like in my life is that at a young age, I remember mixing up soil, water, and plant material. I loved reading and writing. Its too long of a story to say how I ended up in corporate Pharma, but I would get these weird flashes of being a park ranger, or a gardener, or landscaper. I made my hobby ultra marathoning to be out in nature and away from people. And finally, when I started to wake up to Spirit, I started seeing myself growing medicinal plants in my backyard, working with them to support people’s well being and teach people to appreciate what plants do and how generous they are.
So here I am, studying herbalism and writing after a long-ass detour that involved key Uranus and Pluto transits to help me blow up my previous reality and step into what was extremely abstract. And now my next Saturn return is approaching in the next 5 years or so, and I will work with this to master my new reality.
Enough about me! Look at your birth chart to see which house and in what sign Uranus is to give you an idea of how your individuated unconscious may show up in your life. And pay attention to which house Uranus is transiting through in your chart. You may get some of those flashes popping up in that area of life, or if it is aspecting a planet or your ascendant or midheaven, it may raise some past traumas (this life or others) there. Because you see, there is a relationship to trauma in that when we are not aligned with our soul’s purpose, trauma usually ensues to get us on the right path. That trauma signifier applies to Uranus’s position in your birth chart as well. Sucks, I know.
A bit from medical astrology and Judith Hill. Uranus rules extremes. Its general action upon the body is to throw off necessary balances and/or disturb normal rhythm. Uranus produces unexpected reverses of balances, spasms, thyroid disturbance and ‘undiagnosable’ conditions related to electromagnetic currents.
Uranus in the houses
I thought it may be most helpful to summarize Steven Forrest’s description of Uranus entering each house, so you can look at your own birth chart with it in mind. As a reminder, you can download your birth chart free at any of the online sites, such as astro.com or astroseek and the houses go 1 to 12, starting on the midline on the left of the circle and going counter-clockwise.
1st house: After doing the work to understand yourself, you need to stand up for your right to be true to your authentic path, even if you are judged.
2nd house: How do I best utilize resources to set myself up to be free to live my authentic path? This will require some internal work to understand how much I truly need.
3rd house: Developing the knowledge, experience, and confidence to speak the truth of what I want to be and accomplish in this life, even if it is unconventional.
4th house: Defining what ‘home’ means to you, not what others say it should be. This will require emotional honesty about what your space, physically and energetically would look like.
5th house: What truly lights me up? Were did that inner child go to hide? How do I create romance in everyday life? Identifying how you express your unique creativity or sense of romance.
6th house: Assess daily responsibilities and tasks and your motivation to do them. Do they support you becoming what your heart desires? If not, renegotiate with maturity and confidence.
7th house: Is there space in my close relationships for my whole self with all my quirks to be loved? Am I willing to do that for others in return? How can our unique characteristics complement one another?
8th house: Eek!! Some traumas may need to be explored here. Tough stuff like death, sex, and betrayals of all sorts. How do I gain insight from them and avoid pointless drama and pain?
9th house: Exploration of belief systems outside of your own in order to find what resonates with you as an individual, travel or education to understand other cultures and ways of life so you know what is authentic to you versus your conditioned experience.
10th house: How do I ‘do a good job’ while showing up as authentically me, and honoring my unique genius? Do I need to carve out a legacy that aligns with my true path?
11th house: Do I find myself in a group that was once the rebellious crowd, but is now holding me back from growing to the next stage of my own development? Seeking out groups outside of the mainstream that align with your future.
12th house: Allow the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up so I can be psychically myself. Opening up to my unique spiritual connections and abilities and seeing my individual self within the whole.
References:
Astronomy from NASA https://science.nasa.gov/uranus/facts/
Mythology from https://www.theoi.com/Protogenos/Ouranos.html
Medical Astrology from Judith Hill’s book: Medical Astrology: A Guide to Planetary Pathology
Uranus through the houses from Steven Forrest’s book: The Book of Air: The Art of Paying Attention
Download your free birth chart here.