Today brings the third of five oppositions between Uranus and Saturn. What have we learned from the planets this week? That humans can really annoy each other. Of course we’re supposed to act like this isn’t true. But then sometimes–perhaps when the planets are aligned just so, or more likely, when certain neurochemicals flood our cell receptors–disgust shoots out (Uranus-style) and the the fuddy-duddy forces of decorum get to wring their hands (Saturn-style) at the decline of society. Joe Wilson calls the President a liar and is sanctioned. Serena Williams threatens a line judge and is punished. Kanye West interrupts Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech to complain that Beyonce didn’t get it–and even Beyonce turns against him. Obama calls Kanye a jackass.
I like to think the planets want more from us, however, than embarrassment and forced apologies. The secret to all oppositions is that for that precise moment when two are opposed, they are looking in a mirror. The eruptions of the outraged Saturns are mirror images of the raw Uranian outbursts. When the two come round to realizing there is no difference between them, an opposition becomes a conjunction. Seeing the Uranus/Saturn opposition as a conjunction allows us to divine its truer purpose: to so utterly change our structures that we humans genuinely progress.
If we use Uranus/Saturn properly, we just might figure out how to pull ourselves back from the 2012 brink that the Mayan calendar implies is the end of our world. I did find inspiration for that this week too–in a story not as widely reported. Saturn (the Grim Reaper) took a Genuine Innovator (Uranus), someone who actually did change the world, although I never heard of him before.
Norman Borlaug died at 95. Many credit him with saving over a billion lives; by developing wheat with a higher yield, he single-handedly helped to avert a global famine. Borlaug often said that his real interest wasn’t wheat, it was improving people’s lives. Now that he’s passed from this world, it’s up to us to continue holding his humanitarian aspiration. When I’m asked to take my part in visioning a brighter future, I’ll take my cue from Borlaug, who in his Nobel prize acceptance speech outlined a simple formula for what a better world be: one where everyone has enough to eat, opportunities to learn, well-paying employment, comfortable housing, nice clothing, along with effective and compassionate medical care. It’s simple–but revolutionary. May we call on Uranus and Saturn to help us get there.
Grace Slick wrote the lyrics to White Rabbit in 1965-66 during the previous Saturn Uranus opposition.
Interesting correspondences, Chris!
Wonderfull insight! Made me think of Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871)Saturn and Uranus were in opposition! {from wikipedia}…a work of children’s literature by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), generally categorized as literary nonsense.[citation needed] It is the sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865). Although it makes no reference to the events in the earlier book, the themes and settings of Through the Looking-Glass make it a kind of mirror image of Wonderland: the first book begins outdoors, in the warm month of May, on Alice’s birthday (May 4),[1] uses frequent changes in size as a plot device, and draws on the imagery of playing cards; the second opens indoors on a snowy, wintry night exactly six months later, on November 4 (the day before Guy Fawkes Night),[2] uses frequent changes in time and spatial directions as a plot device, and draws on the imagery of chess. In it, there are many mirror themes, including opposites, time running backwards, and so on.
Thanks for writing about Friday’s new moon! I liked the line, “What have we learned from the planets this week? That humans can really annoy each other.”
The moon fell EXACTLY on my ascendant degree along with Saturn on Friday. I expected something momentous to happen, and had begun wondering about astrological timing when Friday night rolled by without anything happening…
Then my room mate (who knows no astrology) got into a fight with some shady characters on our street, and they came to give us a scare at 4 in the morning. After two calls to the police, we’ve decided to move out temporarily and look for a new place.
I wonder if the ascendant, as the “door” to the chart, can symbolize the front door, and Saturn the belligerent drunk who may or may not be in a gang.
I hope everyone felt Friday’s new moon with somewhat less excitement! 🙂
Yikes! And yes, sometimes the planets make their way into our lives in surprising ways… it’s indeed possible that the Ascendant functioned as your front door in this case… those nefarious characters certainly came close to your body, which is also the first house.
I’ve just found your blog – very interesting and informative. Just wanted to comment on this – and since I now know you’re a dog lover – on Wednesday, I observed two of my three dogs get into a serious all-out fight. This was not a play fight and I don’t know what would have happened if I hadn’t been there to stop it. This is the first time I’ve ever seen my dogs fight like this. (I have the mama dog – she was a street dog when I started feeding her – and the two fighting are her daughters from two different litters.) Anyway, within moments I observed the dog (Sweetee) who seemed to be the angriest in the fight, go over and make up (licked the other dog’s nose and head) with Mato. Even in the dog world, huh?
It is interesting how our collective impressions and responses to this phase of the opposition is seemingly superficial… lots of finger wagging and “corrections.” But humans are still children, gawd bless ’em, and apparently this is the bottom line on how evolved we are as a whole. On another note, I wish that people would get off this 2012 thing. The focus on some vague end-of-the-world scenario which really has little to back it up merely takes us out of the PRESENT. There is so much wonderful, juicy opportunity right now! Forward looking to 2012 does little to serve us which brings me to the most important point: It is all happening right now! Don’t wait for the opportunity to deepen your experience. Leverage the present!
Wow! This is so what happened this past weekend at my conference. I miss you.
Hi Dana,
Thank you, again, I appreciate your writing and insights. I thought of another meeting this week highlighting outbursts of the dark and dirty kind – the square between Mercury and Pluto. With Pluto just turning Direct, but Mercury still Retrograde, it’s harder to keep the stuff inside that’s been brewing. But unfortunately, when we do say something, it doesn’t come out how we meant it to. Does that make sense? It sure seems to be happening to me! (huh, should I be submitting a comment right now? LOL)
Retro Mercury and direct Pluto… yes!
I need to do this with my Saturn and Uranus: “turning your squares into trines.” I think I’ve been trying to do this ever since I accepted how strong (and repressed)my Uranus was.
Interesting idea! However- a conjunction in what, Virgo or Pisces? Those are two very different conjunctions indeed!
Tracy Marks used to talk about turning your squares into trines, which has always made me think of turning oppositions into a conjunction. You don’t choose either Virgo or Pisces, you blend both ends of the polarity. If they didn’t have a resonance, they wouldn’t be in opposition!