The vast majority of people are at work building a “landing base” for the Soul to anchor on the Earth, and hence the intense attachment to the material plane.  Others, a bit further along the Path, and are consciously at work shaping their physical, emotional, and mental vehicles for a purpose sensed but as yet unseen.  This is the stage in our lives in which many of us currently find ourselves.  It is that time on our Way when we take on certain disciplines of diet, exercise, and study. Our aspiration to Light leads us to love in ways that are new but essential to us.  And we often do not know the reasons why we are walking thus; our inner voice, our intuitive self, just reveals that this is the Way for us at the present time—and therefore are learning how to listen, so that we may hear.  The heart then combines with the will and we find ourselves in grateful obedience to that Voice in the Silence.           --AO      

            On May 15th for the first time in nearly 84 years, Uranus will enter the sign Taurus.  It will remain in the first 2 degrees of the Celestial Bull until it retrogrades back into 29 Aries on November 6th of this year.  It returns to Taurus on March 6, 2019 where it will remain until the end of April, 2026.  Except for some relatively brief periods[1] Uranus will be in Taurus at the same time Saturn will be in Capricorn from May 15, 2018-December 15, 2020.  Saturn will then move into Aquarius when its relationship to Uranus will take on an entirely different type of importance (stay tuned to Dell Horoscope Magazine for my future article on this subject!).

            Why do I mention Saturn’s position on an article primarily devoted to the transits of Uranus to your natal chart?  The Tibetan Master, Djwal Khul states in this monumental book, Esoteric Astrology: “Astrology is the science of effective energies.”  These “effects” not only indicate that Energy is Life but that the many streams of this Universal Life are linked, blend, and manifest into all the forms of that Life.  There is a very special link in this respect between Uranus and Saturn and although my comments in this article will place Uranus in the “foreground” so to speak, it is important that I mention some features of the “Saturnian background” to add substance and meaning to what I write.

1. Uranus is the planet which more than any other indicates our pathway to individuation.  When strongly placed in the natal map and/or powerfully aspecting that chart, Uranus gives us enormous opportunities to express or own individual character and consciousness.  But this cannot be done unless we have gone through “Saturn’s Door.”  We do not have the ability to be an individuated human being without first having to “pay our karmic dues” and prove ourselves worthy of the responsibility for expanded consciousness.  Unless that dues is paid, the most we can be is an inflated and narcissistic ego who will, when allowed, will cause great damage and chaos.

2. Uranus and Saturn in terms of Capricorn are antithetical.  Uranus rebelling again established structure, order, and form and/or indeed imposing same in terms of an inflated personal ego, i.e. North Korea under Kim, Russia under Stalin, or the USA under Trump.  Saturn absolutely steadfast in its urge to sustain established structure, order, and form and winning this battle as it alone rules Capricorn!

3. Therefore the current transit of Uranus in Taurus and Saturn in Capricorn will place Saturn in dominance. This is because Saturn is in its Dignity in its own sign of rulership, while Uranus is in its “Fall” when in Taurus.  Once Saturn enters Aquarius in December of 2020, we will see that Uranus will have more power and a battle for dominance will ensue via the political and social arenas of the times.  It will therefore be of important for you to consider the position of transiting Saturn in Capricorn through your natal chart to see how it will affect and interplay with the transit of Uranus in Taurus.  I will give you some definite, practical hints about how to go about doing this in my next article.

4.  During the entire period when Saturn is in Capricorn and Uranus is in Taurus, Pluto will be in Capricorn (once again, May 2018 to December 2020—refer to opening paragraph).  Briefly stated, this means that the battle for individuation of a political party, national identity, corporate dominance, and yes—our own focus of individualized creative self-expression, will take place via the material plane!  If you think that battles are currently being fought for economic dominance in the world—well as the expression goes: “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”  Uranus in Taurus, Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn will be “out there” energizing the physical/material plane in full force.  Please take note:  This will be a period when the Saturn-Uranus-Neptune in Capricorn generations will be moving into significant places in society and making their influences decidedly felt.  The first of these generations has all three of these planets in Capricorn (February 15-1988 to February 6, 1991).  The second of these generations no longer has Saturn in Capricorn but continues the energy with even stronger contacts between Uranus and Neptune conjunct in Capricorn (lasting until January 12, 1996 and exact in April of 1993).

            In order for us to explore the meaning of the transits of Uranus in Taurus in a more personal sense relative to our individual natal chart, we have to explore the significance of why Uranus is in “Fall” in the sign of the Celestial Bull.  What exactly does this mean?  The fixed signs speak about “values and worth.”  In Taurus these valuations specifically express self-worth, the sense of worthiness, personal values (esthetic and psychological), our nascent talents and abilities and of course, our material worth, in essence (though not limited to) “money!”  In the sign Leo, such values, talents, abilities, financial state are expressed dynamically in terms of our creative self-expression and unless otherwise tempered by Soul-Control, our personality/ego (“You carry that $5000 Gucci bag with pride, Miss Leo!”). 

            Things begin to shift in terms of quality once we arrive at Scorpio.  Here there is a great battle between the attachment to the desires of the personality and their accompanying “statements of self-worth” and the spiritual need to transform such desires and material wealth so that what we have and identify as when we own (separatism) become geared to the needs and values of the social collective in which we live.  These battles can get very bloody and lead us to the domain of the Water Bearer, Aquarius.  Here self-worth, values, and material abundance take on the themes of collective well-being, depersonalization, and the assumption of those ideologies, attributes, social contacts, and professions that seek to be of service to Humanity as a Whole.

            Uranus takes on a major energetic characteristic when placed in any and all of the fixed signs:

            In Aquarius it finds itself in “Honor” or “Dignity.”  It is here that he is truly the “Father of Archetypes” and inseminates new dynamics of social interaction that permit a sense of greater union between people on both personal and impersonal levels.  I am thinking here specifically of all forms of social media and their associated devices as well as groups and organizations that unite people under a transcendental cause or purpose.  This leads to one of the greatest gifts (and shocking expressions) of Uranus—its urge to blend and synthesize in order to produce new and often very challenging human (r)evolutionary patterns and forms. I am thinking now of themes as diverse (but linked as “Uranian themes”) as communism and transgendered people.

            In Scorpio, Uranus is in “Exaltation.”  In his never-ending production of the new and the more highly synthesized, Uranus is always challenging the status quo and the social structures produced by polarization.  This is why he is at the forefront of all social liberation movements, for example gender and racial issues of equality. In order to manifest such new social ideals and forms, old concepts and social systems must be destroyed.  This is a primary reason why Uranus and Pluto are such close “astrological friends.”  This is also why the conjunction of these two planets in the 1960s produced the amazing social revolutions whose seed ideas and social experiments are still promoting changes in the 21st century (and will continue to do so for centuries to come!). 

            In Leo, Uranus is in “Detriment” or “Dishonor” (although Uranus would definitely rebel against such a term!).  The Uranus-in-Leo archetype confuses the process of individualization with the expression of individuality.  This is the difference between a person familiar with the “zeitgeist” of his or her generation, (the common dynamics that give a generation a sense of collective identity and purpose), and an individual that wears tattoos or piercings solely because it is a cultural fad or fashion.  Such an individual has no sense at all of any profound connection to cultural identity as a statement of consciousness.  Indeed the very notion that such concepts exist is beyond understanding or even the urge to understand.  Uranus-in-Leo people bring thus planet out of detriment when they embody their social statements through highly creative acts that embody and dramatize the collective purpose of their generational matrix.

            This then brings us to Uranus in Taurus where it finds itself in “Fall.”  Taurus us the sign that embodies the desire for the materialization of form. It is the quintessential sign of incarnation.  When we examine the true nature and purpose of its polarity, Scorpio, we find this the Celestial Scorpion embodies the urge to dematerialize and dis-incarnate (i.e. dearth).  Indeed even the sexual act “kills” the forms (Taurus) of the sperm and the ego, for these two must lose their form (die in effect) in order to merge into the first cell of the embryo.  And Taurus hates to lose form and is totally repulsed by the death/loss of anything or anyone.  Taurus is the pyramid that holds the dead body (Scorpio) in suspended mummification for thousands of years!  This then holds back the process of total release (Scorpio/Pluto) and creates some pretty mean spirits on the lower astral planes of Hades.

            The “death of the personality” to the life of the Soul (often called in Western theology as the “second birthing”), when characterized by the Taurus/Scorpio polarity, has no greater strength (or struggle!) of expression.  Freedom from attachment to matter (Taurus) and the consequent establishment of your true spiritual identity as an individualized man or woman, are the results and rewards that come from this very profound process of transformation.  Uranus is intimately involved with his process.  His recent 7 year transit in Aries planted a seed for birthing in those sensitive enough to embrace the planting.  Now he comes to Taurus where a fertile field of form needs to be created for its growth.  Please carefully study these words, apply them to the House position transiting Uranus-in-Aries held in your natal chart.  The result of such efforts at studying your map will prove most fruitful for you.

            Which now brings me to address the questions that transiting Uranus in Taurus will evoke out of each of our lives:  1. What form or forms do we need to transform in order to free ourselves into a greater expression of our own, true individuality?  2. What are the personal values, sense of self-worth, relationship to matter that we hold that can be refined and regenerated into better and more worthwhile forms of self-expression?  3. Where in our lives does such a release have to happen? And 4, what situations or circumstances will help or hinder us in this process? 

            In Part II of this article, I will address questions 3 and 4.  Hint: Question 3 is answered by examining the House positions of transiting Uranus in Taurus through your natal chart. Question 4 is answered by studying the geometric aspects that Uranus in Taurus makes to other planets in your natal chart.  As you can imagine these two answers require a certain degree of space to deal with them correctly, so make sure to read my next article in Dell Horoscope Magazine.

            In your approach to answering the first two questions, you will be preparing yourself for the “Uranus-in-Taurus, Saturn-in Capricorn process.”  It starts this month!  The approach to the answers to questions 1 and 2 require the following:

            1.  Dedication to doing this type of inner work.  You may just need one session with yourself; or perhaps two or three.

            2. Making time to sit down without disturbances (so turn of your Smart phone.)

            3. Some fresh pages in your personal diary or notebook.

Things to contemplate:

A. What are the forms in your life that you definitely need to reform?  Keep in mind that “forms” are energy, usually emotional or mental in nature.  So the real question has to do with what type of (quality of) energy is contained in my thoughts and/or feelings about a given relationship, job, attitude to my body/health, etc.

B. Am I willing to let go?  If you are not, when Uranus comes into Taurus it will only strengthen the battle of release and/or make the situation even more acute.  Uranus wants us to see and identify the nature of its archetypal expression, which is actually what you have created as an expression of your own self-worth.  Now you have the opportunity to reform the form but not without first being prepared to “kill it off.”

C. Uranus-in-Taurus will allow us to be like Aladdin in “The Tales of a Thousand and One Nights” when we are given the opportunity to trade in our “old lamps for new.” The challenge with Taurus is that some of us cannot let go of the old lamps or even see that their form is an expression of our own self-worth.  Hint: Saturn in Capricorn will be helpful to show us the way to taking on correct responsibility for our choices as well as what happens if we do not take on such responsibility.