Tomorrow, Uranus moves into Taurus, after 7 years in Aries. And, the new moon on the same day is also happening in Taurus… that’s a massive new tide. It’s the first and one of the only major astrological moves happening this year.

A bit about the planet’s function first… Innovative Uranus is the strong impulse for rebellion, independence, and even shock. Exciting, unexpected, and liberating, Uranus will overturn anything traditional, conventional or orthodox that it deems has outlived its usefulness… Since Uranus also holds sway over social change, it also regulates the global brotherhood of man and all humanitarian concerns, including environmental issues. 

I’ve always thought of Uranus as Tesla – the man, not the brand – thinking and creating something(s) so unexpected and radical, communal, overhauling whole schools of thinking and moving the world forward in leaps. Of course the culture pushes back, stirred from it’s complacency, but it can’t unsee.

Now a bit about Taurus… Taurus the sign of earth, nature, sensuality, traditions, finance, luxury, food, work, art & beauty, values. I think of Taurus as Orson Wells – an unbelievably brilliant artist – a genius, a virtuoso summing up and aesthetically challenging his time, instinctive, successful, but ultimately (later) overindulgent, hedonistic, and obstinate. Sorta sloppy at the end — the shadow side of unchecked Taurus.

____________________________________

Uranus is an outer, transpersonal planet. Like Pluto, much of the work Uranus does is cultural — broad strokes (versus the personal planets closer to the earth, such as Mercury and Venus). Think of how in 2011, when Uranus moved to Aries, Kardashianism, tumblr, and selfies were just starting to reach an apex. Everyone’s parents and grandparents finally got on Facebook. The broadly named ‘Arab Spring’ was in full swing and it felt like a new protest or demonstration in the middle east was happening each day.

Uranus is departing Aries and Aries is the sign of the warrior, of the self… Me-ness, and self advocacy and self focus. While many roll their eyes at the idea of celebrity-for-no-real-reason, self study through the eyes of others has its place, especially for young women who have been denied self-hood in myriad ways for thousands of years. Many artists, including Cindy Sherman and Francesca Woodman (to name just a couple), taught us that. We have to understand how we are in the world — the identity of our self — that is encountering the world.

Uranus in Aries also saw the cultural impact of the outer planet resonate with the start of protests in the US around the Occupy Movement, Ferguson, Women’s March, RESIST, #metoo, etc., protests about holding the culture accountable to how it impacts individuals and therefore non-dominant communities.

Apply those functions to Taurus – sign of nature and its resources – and suddenly things like the shift in focus to water rights, Flint drinking water crisis, the volcano Kilauea, begin to set the tone of the transit. (The 2011 tsunami in Tōhoku Japan happened right before Uranus moved into Aries.) Now apply that kind of transformation and addressing of long standing issues to the self, and we can begin to understand how this transit might impact us culturally, and personally. What will be revealed are opportunities to dramatically overhaul our emotional status quo, transform long-standing issues and bad habits, and forge entirely new ground by unearthing new beliefs and philosophies, all related to the house this is happening in for you.

And to look more closely at the personal impact of Uranus in Aries, think of what was going on in your life in spring of 2011, when Uranus last changed signs… what is different? How are you different now? What was your emotional tone 7 years ago and what did a day in your life look like? What were the most significant events through those years?

Look up what house Uranus was transiting in your chart —  (I love this site b/c it defaults to whole house system, and shows current transits on the outer edge. Just start entering your birth city where it says Sydney, AUS) see what house Aries occupies. This will reveal which themes and narratives Uranus was impacting these last 7 years, and what running themes will be taking attention these next 7 years for you, in Taurus.

For me, Aries is my 12th… the house of death, self-undoing, subconscious, suffering… or so it’s called. I find it to be the house of psychology and our shadow selves – the decisions we make and how they impact us in ways we didn’t imagine. Ultimately, for me, everything that had to die — relationships, jobs, situations, friendships, beliefs, habits, did die. I leave that transit a distillate of myself, far more purely me than 7 years ago, but chrysallis-ing, with no excess. I am wholly pared down and what I hold close, is fiercely held. There’s no surplus — everything that was supposed to leave me, did. What was built on false, weak soil atrophied itself, removed itself, withered off. What’s left is: of the self, as the self, mine.

It’s curious then to now see the focus shift to Taurus and my first house of self, the house of my ascendant. What I know is that in 7 years time, I will likely not be very recognizable. My self will be transformed into new, and the nature of Uranus means that the changes will be innovative and unexpected. I’d imagine the places I’ve always been pushing for – living off grid in a wooded area or living abroad in Bruges or Malmö, but the nature of Uranus means the changes will likely not be ones that were able to be imagined.

Note: I just read this by Gray Crawford and turns out I was right about Tesla, whose natal Uranus was in Taurus… at least my instincts are spot on! It’s a great, insightful piece about the significant, cultural tides created by this transit.

A tarot spread I scrawled – hopefully helpful to begin conceiving of this transit.