Uranus and Pluto will have made a total of seven exact alignments by the time the cycle ends in 2015.  Not all of them will be marked with disasters.  But when Uranus and Pluto enter into their dance every forty years or so, change is inevitable. These are the two most powerful planets in the astrological pantheon, and their interaction in a challenging interaspect creates destruction and rebuilding of any area of our life, political or personal, that is stuck in a past that no longer function.

Some of us are experiencing this on a very personal level if our own charts are affected by this cycle which will be especially intense for those of us who are 20-22, 40-42, 61-63 or 83-85 and undergoing a major Uranus transit of our own.  Understanding that the framework of the world in which we live is shifting – that’s the key to successfully navigating these interesting times.

One of the things I love about the mythological Mercury is that as the messenger god he was the only  one of all of the gods that was allowed into Pluto’s domain, the Underworld.  Our mental understanding helps to facilitate our movement through experiences and provides us with a way to process the events in our life in a way that enhances our personal growth.

Mercury is in Taurus at the moment, and the fixed earthiness of Taurus makes the flexibility that Mercury requires more difficult to achieve.  With so many Mercury aspects over the next few days, our minds will be very active and we are prone to changing our minds like our clothing, and shapeshifting and mercurial shifts of demeanor and manner will be the norm.  But Taurus creates resistance to change resulting in a push/pull force pulling us in both directions that may be difficult.

So over the next few days we will find ourselves in this duality of motion versus resistance.  Meditation helps quiet the mind and will help the reality of our situation become more evident and keep the mental confusion to a minimum.  When we can’t make a decision, the time is not yet right and there is more that needs to be known before that can happen.

In Taurus, Mercury loves comfort and security.  Over the next few days these things will be of paramount importance as we head into the New Moon in Taurus in which we will begin a new cycle of earthly comfort and pleasure.

Astrologically, this age group corresponds to the Pluto in Leo generation. Leo is the sign that needs to feel special, and no age group has been as determined to be special as the Pluto in Leo generation of which I am a member. Obsessed with youth and the need to stay relevant, we didn’t trust anyone over 30 when we were young, and refused to grow old (a determination which as I wrote a few years ago has resulted in a tremendous increase in disabilities among this age group.

The baby boomers also demonstrated an increased suicide rate in adolescence: “The baby boomers also experienced higher suicide rates during their adolescence and young adulthood, doubling the rate for those age groups at the time. Their suicide rate then declined slightly and stabilized, before beginning to increase again in midlife.”

The sign of Leo is all about learning to celebrate the Self and find authentic avenues of Self-expression.  Pluto in any sign tends to bring out the obsessive and self-destructive qualities of a sign and necessitates transformation in the areas that are governed by that sign.  Pluto in Leo tends to regard everything as a mirror – failure then has the potential to become a rejection of the Self and not just a momentary obstacle.

Without more data it’s difficult to generalize, but the fact that this age group has such a pronounced suicide rate at vulnerable times of life seems astrologically significant.

When your dreams are larger than your reality can hold, you are more prone to disappointment. The suicide rate is still relatively small, but the increase in this age group demonstrates the desperate need we have in our society today for a perspective that encompasses something greater than the worship of Self.

Meanwhile, here is the overview for May:

Over the past few months we have moved from a dreamy and creative emphasis in Pisces, through a fiery Aries stellium with lots of passion and incendiary events. We are now in a Taurean period where we crave stability and the kind of peace that comes from knowing t hat our lives are secure. However, with Uranus and Pluto moving into phase three of their big challenging cycle, this security is limited. Taurus inspires us to hold firm to our ground, but the Uranus/Pluto square is forcing us to let go of anywhere that we hold onto something that lacks a solid foundation. Our ideas of what our lives should be – fears that keep us from moving forward. The tide is turning now, and we have to somehow find a way to find that peace and serenity while the world around us is shifting.

You can catch up on that here (as well as read my take on last month’s bombing in Boston). Uranus rules surprising events that shatter the status quo and create change, while Pluto regulates the regular destruction and regeneration of that which has decayed and is no longer useful. When these two planets interact in strong aspect (conjunction, square and opposition) the result is an earthquake of social and political change.

This can sound frightening, and of course there are aspects of this dynamic that will create fear and imbalance as old ways fall away and are replaced by new ones. But this intense cycle of transformation does not occur in a vacuum. There are other, more harmonious cycles which add comfort and support. One such cycle is the harmonious sextile between Saturn and Pluto which has been in effect since December of 2012. Saturn adds structure and integrity to the deconstruction process of Pluto and helps us to handle change in a practical manner rather than lose our footing and slip down a vortex of chaos. Saturn and Pluto are both retrograde now, so their influence is more strongly personal as we discover ways to anchor our experience (Saturn) while still encountering the depth of our internal reality (Pluto).

Saturn is also in a trine to Neptune that began last October and will remain in effect over the next few months. In its role as master of the physical world, Saturn aids us in connecting our spiritual yearnings (Neptune) in a more practical application that can help us to find meaning in the change that is occurring all around us.

The Centaurs of Greek mythology were actually tribes of beast-like men who roamed through Thessaly and the Pelopenessian peninsula in ancient times.  Although Chiron was similar in appearance, because he was half horse half man, he was of a different lineage entirely.  His father was Cronos (Saturn) and his mother was the nymph Philyra.  Chiron’s bestial shape was due to Cronos having shapeshifted into a stallion in order to overtake and mate with Philyra, the object of his great desire.   So while Chiron shares a similar imagery to the race of Centaurs, he is completely unrelated.

In the same way, Chiron is very different from the other astronomically classified Centaurs. Most important is the location of his orbit which generally lies between Saturn and Uranus although that orbit is elliptical and peculiar.  Barbara Hand Clow has called Chiron the “Rainbow Bridge” between the personal planets (the visible planets through Saturn) and the transpersonal planets (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto).  The personal planets represent personality, and the outer planets are transformational forces.  Chiron serves the role of facilitating transformation through the healing of problems in the personality.

In mythology Chiron is often described as the wisest of the Centaurs, but in my mind this is erroneous on many levels.  Since he was not one of the Centaur race, his wisdom is in a category unto itself and unrelated to the Centaurs.  He was fostered by the god Apollo and became a mentor to the ancient Greek heroes and the tutor to Asclepius, god of medicine. He inspires the kind of wisdom that only life experience and conscious understanding of our inner wounds can reveal.

There are not many astrologers who work with the other astronomically classified Centaurs, and we are just beginning to learn what significance they offer to the astrological chart.  Pholus and Nessus seem to be the major Centaurs that are in use at the moment, although with new planetary bodies being discovered every day the landscape of potential symbolism is virtually unlimited.

Still, there is no doubt in my mind that Chiron is a unique key to understanding the challenges that we face today, in the twenty-first century, to grow and evolve beyond the limits of our past and move with greater freedom  into a new and unique future.

Uranus square Pluto 2011-2015

[There is] the arising of something new in humanity. I sometimes call it the unconditioned consciousness. But it is also a field of stillness, where you see the torn roots of the human mind. Once it emerges, it’s a process that cannot be reversed. It emerges more and more fully, and you become less and less identified with the structure of thought. And then thought is no longer dysfunctional. It is actually beautiful. It can be used for helpful purposes. It’s wonderful—you are no longer looking for an identity in the structure of thought because now you know that who you are is deeper. You are the very awareness prior to thought. You are the stillness that is deeper than thought, much vaster than thought. We call it “stillness” but it’s just a word. We’ve reduced it to something. It’s more than that. It’s consciousness itself, unconditioned. Which is the essence of each human being. It’s that when you meet anybody in a state of open, aware attention, without labeling them mentally or judging them, then that you are already operating as a current or conscious awareness between human beings.

That [will] dramatically change human relationships. When aware presence operates between human beings, they are no longer dominated by mind structures. On a deepest level, that is also love. That is the only dimension from where love can come into this world.

Eckhart Tolle, interview

We are in the transition from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius, and this ongoing planetary aspect between Uranus and Pluto is facilitating that process.  As the old ways are destroyed (Pluto in Capricorn) a new and radically different way of looking at the world through new eyes (Uranus in Aries) emerges and what is left, ideally, is a reality that extends beyond the boundaries of the small mind.

Uranus represents the Higher Mind – the intuition and insight that comes to us from a multidimensional reality that we are only now beginning to grasp.  In order to move into this new consciousness we must let go.  2012 was just the beginning – the process of consciousness shifting continues.

catastrophe (plural catastrophes)
1. Any large and disastrous event of great significance.
2. (insurance) A disaster beyond expectations
3. (narratology) The dramatic event that initiates the resolution of the plot in a tragedy.
4. (mathematics) A type of bifurcation, where a system shifts between two stable states.

As an astrologer, I am always curious about catastrophes in a person’s life, because there is nearly always something of great significance astrologically that provides clues to the nature of this apparent disaster.  I believe that when we are ignoring our lives or unable to face certain truths, the Universe will present us with a catastrophe to get our attention and create the change and transformation that is required.

In order to get there, though, we have to completely suspend our usual ideas of what is good and bad, life and death.  A horrible childhood event can serve as the tool to foster a lifetime of introspection and self-discovery.  A terrible accident can create a lifetime of pain, but also shock us into realizing that a change in our life is needed.  A natural disaster can wipe away a family, but allow us to put our grief to work in helping others.  A terminal illness will end a life, but can bring great richness and transformation to an entire family as well as the patient.

All of these events could be considered catastrophes in definition #1 described above: “a large and disastrous event of great significance.”  And certainly a disaster beyond expectations (#2), because most of us don’t expect to encounter these disasters – they sneak up on us and shock us into an altered state.

#3 is one of the most interesting, and it comes to us from the elements of Greek drama: The dramatic event that initiates the resolution of the plot.  Many of us become stuck in patterns and situations that we know are limiting us but we stay there out of fear or inertia.  A catastrophe can indeed be the dramatic event that initiates a type of resolution.

Catastrophe theory in mathematics is a little more obtuse but it still has an interesting connection to this discussion: “Small changes in certain parameters of a nonlinear system can cause equilibria to appear or disappear, or to change from attracting to repelling and vice versa, leading to large and sudden changes of the behaviour of the system.”  Here again we see the idea that a catastrophe plants the seeds of change.

The Tower card in the Tarot is a significator of this kind of catastrophe.  The Tower card is represented by the planet Pluto which presides over death and rebirth – destruction and regeneration.  In this card we see the Tower of the material world, representing all that we have accomplished, but which rests precariously on a craggy mountain which represents a supremely difficult spiritual challenge.  In order to accomplish the spiritual work, the Tower of materialism must fall.

The crown is falling from the Tower, showing that we must let go of our arrogance and righteousness during this process.  A bolt of lightning (Uranus – sudden and shocking experience) comes out of the blue to destroy all that we have built. In order to escape the destruction, a change of perspective (the people falling upside down from the Tower) is required.

To me, the biggest challenge in life is to face the reality of its tenuousness without fear and with trust in the Universal laws of consciousness and fate.  Astrology helps with this, because it can provide a context within which these supposedly meaningless events occur and offers a framework for understanding.

Scorpio is a water sign, but its traditional ruler is Mars which is the fire planet so Scorpio also adds a fiery and passionate side to the watery realm of feelings and intuition.  With the Sun still in a conjunction to Mars until early to mid-April, the fire of the past month has not totally subsided.  Still, when the Sun and Mars both moved into Taurus a few days ago there was a grounding of all of that fire that can help promote relaxation and a reduction of stress.

This event is an eclipse because the Sun and Moon are 11 degrees from the lunar nodes.  Eclipses are significant because of this nodal connection – the nodes of the Moon are simply points in the sky that mark the passage of the Moon around the solar orbit (ecliptic), but in astrological symbolism the lunar nodes are connected to fate.  Not always, but often something arises during an eclipse that is later seen to be a pivotal point in our lives.

The tighter the connection of the nodes to the lunation (Sun/Moon aspect), the more powerful the eclipse.  Astronomers give a wide orb of 15 degrees to an eclipse, but from this astrologer’s point of view the psychological impact is strongest when the nodes are closest to the lunation.  This eclipse is a partial eclipse of the Moon so its personal impact will likely not be stronger than a “normal” Scorpio Full Moon, which is powerful enough.

Saturn is tied into this Full Moon which suggests that this is a time for isolation and solitary work rather than group celebrations.  The square of Uranus to Pluto is tightening now, and this is embedded in the chart of the Full Moon which means that there is a tremendous energy now for letting go of something in the past to make way for a radical change that may be shocking and surprising.

Still, Chiron and Neptune are linked harmoniously to both Sun and Moon, aiding in the healing and restoration of the soul as it takes the Scorpionic journey into the Underworld, and with Chiron in a harmonious sextile to Venus, our relations with others can experience healing as well.

Any Scorpio or Pluto cycle forces us to face our fears and let go of our hesitations.  This Full Moon is no time for superficial fluff – it’s a time of depth and intensity and letting the soul do the talking.

Pluto entered Capricorn in 2008 and began to turn the structures of our life (Capricorn) upside down, tearing down our economy so that it can be rebuilt.  Of course our economy didn’t actually break down and it’s not being rebuilt in a healthier way.  In fact, things are progressing pretty much as they did before the Great Recession which means that we are heading for ANOTHER breakdown.  If a tornado (Pluto) tears down your home because it sits on a weak foundation (Capricorn), and you rebuild your house the exact same way, you can’t really expect a different result.

Uranus represents new ways of doing things, and it also represents technology.  Uranus is in Aries right now where it is radicalizing individuals and forging fresh new ways of innovating our society.  Because it is in a challenging aspect to Pluto in Capricorn right now, these fresh new ways are challenging the old ways and potentially leading us to radically different forms of business entities, family structures, and money.

One such radically different forms is the Bitcoin, a form of currency that lives exclusively on the Internet.  There are no actual coins, and the value of the Bitcoin isn’t tied to anything tangible.  It isn’t administered by any state or nation (Capricorn).  It is a purely Uranian form of currency.  It’s an interesting “coincidence” that Bitcoin was originally conceived in 2008 when Pluto entered Capricorn.  But its use as actual currency didn’t begin until Uranus entered Aries in 2010 and began the square to Capricorn.

Of course, our whole financial system is not that different from Bitcoin.  In our family we hardly ever see any real currency.  Our salary is automatically deposited into our account. Our bills are automatically drafted.  We pay for everything with a credit card and then pay the credit card every month online from our bank account.  Our financial world is already on the Internet.

The fact is, as the Onion pointed,out, “money is, in fact, just a meaningless and intangible social construct.”

At one time our currency was actually tied to gold and silver, and the dollar bills were a representation of a tangible currency that had intrinsic value.  But in today’s world, money is just an idea – an agreement that something has value.

On March 18 of this year a division of the US Treasury, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, attempted to assert control (Pluto in Capricorn) over this independent currency (Uranus in Aries), something that Bitcoin is resisting.

Meanwhile, the aggregate value of Bitcoin is now somewhere around $1 billion and the currency is in somewhat of a bubble.  Hedge fund investors are seeking out Bitcoin plays.  When the financial establishment (Pluto in Capricorn) takes ownership of Bitcoin (Uranus in Aries), the currency will lose its anti-establishment qualities and become a part of the stodgy status quo. This will help Bitcoin to succeed as a market currency, but at the cost of losing its independence – the classic Aries/Capricorn dilemma.

Art from Senor Codo

Uranus square Pluto: revolution and counter-attack

As you may know if you follow this and other astrology writings, we are in the midst of a major planetary event: the opening square of a new Uranus/Pluto cycle.  Uranus represents the breaking apart of the established order – the rebellious force that resists conservatism and the status quo.  Pluto represents destruction and regeneration as well as power, and tends to create obsessive behavior in the sign through which it is traveling.

Pluto is in the sign of Capricorn now – the sign of business, corporations, marriage – all of the structures that create a foundation upon which our societies depend, so with Pluto going through this sign since 2008 we are seeing the destruction of many of these structures as well as an attempt to consolidate power and authority.  Uranus is in Aries – the planet of the revolutionary in the sign of the individualist.  The major theme in this planetary dynamic is individual (Aries) liberty (Uranus) vs. the power (Pluto) of the status quo (Capricorn).

This cycle began back in 2011 when the two planets came within a degree of an exact square (90 degree angle), but did not begin in earnest until last June when the angle reached exactitude.  We are now moving towards the third phase of that cycle.  This is a major cycle indeed, with seven exact stations within seven degrees.  Here are the dates of the Uranus/Pluto square:

• June 24, 2012 at 8 degrees Aries/Capricorn
• September 19, 2012 at 7 degrees
• May 20, 2013 at 11 degrees
• November 1, 2013 at 9 degrees
• April 21, 2014 at 13 degrees
• December 15, 2014 at 12 degrees
• March 15, 2015 at 15 degrees

This month of April has been particularly fiery as we moved from the watery emphasis of a Pisces stellium in March to a fiery stellium (grouping of planets) in April that peaked on April 10th at the Aries New Moon with five planets in Aries and with the Sun, Moon, Mars and Venus tightly connected within two degrees.  Mars is the ruler of Aries, the sign of Cardinal (initiatory) fire,  and is the fieriest of all the planets.

Fire is an essential element of the human experience.  It motivates and inspires – it creates the need for action and gets us up off the sofa.  But it can also be extremely destructive, and has a wild quality that cannot be tamed.  The Aries New Moon on April 10th can be seen as a trigger for the upcoming Uranus/Pluto square which is tightening every day as we approach the exact event on May 20th.

Pluto turned retrograde on April 14th, and it had been stationary for most of the month as it prepared to change direction.  When a planet is stationary, its influence is at its most intense and stationary Pluto is often associated with destructive events.

Boston Bombing and the Tsarnaev brothers

The bombings at the Boston Marathon turned out to likely be not part of a global revolutionary conspiracy, but an act of two isolated and disaffected brothers in a country into which they felt unable to assimilate.  However, we can see the workings of Uranus and Pluto in the (in my opinion) radically overblown reaction in which an entire metropolitan area of over four million people was shut down by order of the state (Capricorn) and its fear of radical extremism (Uranus in Aries). This kind of reaction is unprecedented, even after the London bombings which killed 52 people and injured over 700, and the Oklahoma City bombings in which 168 people died.

In a square formation such as this, each planet reacts against the other.  So we have the rebellion of Uranus reacting against the imposition of power by Pluto, and Pluto’s compulsion to maintain power reacting against the radical actions of Uranus.

I predicted long ago that the entry of Uranus into Aries in 2010 would change the landscape of global warfare from nations and large terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda and Hezbollah to rebellion (Uranus) of individuals (Aries) instead.  I believe we will continue to see this more and more as we move through this cycle of Uranus and Pluto through 2015.

Eric Francis posted the chart for the event on his Planet Waves site here along with an interesting analysis of the mundane aspects of the chart. The Sun and Mars had been in a very tight conjunction ever since the Aries New Moon on April 10th, and culminated in the exact conjunction a few days after the bombing.

I am always more interested in the psychology of the event.  The older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died in the aftermath of the bombing, had an exact square between Mars and Pluto in his chart.  This is a difficult aspect that often (but not always) involves abuse in childhood and difficulty in getting one’s needs met.  With the Sun in Libra he would have tried to please others in order to make his way in the world, but the underlying rage of Mars/Pluto would make that a challenge.  Saturn opposed his Moon which can make it difficult to connect with others and especially in younger life can denote loneliness and isolation.  Tamerlan competed in boxing tournaments but was thought to be a coward underneath a veneer of arrogance.

We don’t know what sign was rising in his chart without a birth time, so we can’t really assess that veneer astrologically.  But the isolation and rage is clear from the chart.

The younger brother, Dzhokhar,  is a Cancerian at the last degree.  Sensitive and committed to family, he also has a Virgo Moon which needs to have a sense of safety and security.  That Moon conjoins Mars, so he too has anger issues like his brother.  These difficult lunar aspects in the two brothers suggest that the relationship at home, particularly with the mother, threatened their security.

With Mercury (mind and mental function) opposite both Uranus and Neptune, which are conjunct in the chart, he likely suffered from some kind of attention deficit disorder that would have made it difficult to concentrate, and he did not do well in school.  Saturn is retrograde in his chart which generally denotes someone who is particularly self-critical, and it opposes Chiron which suggests a deep wounding and emotional sensitivity.  I suspect this younger brother went along with the plan out of a need to belong and be accepted by the older brother. It appears from news reports that both of the boys’ parents had moved back to Russia, and that they were living on their own.

Moving through these  incendiary times

When our lives are falling apart and being reconfigured in new and unfamiliar patterns it can be difficult to find a perspective that has any meaning to us.  The traditional concept of faith, that good things happen if our faith is only strong enough, doesn’t really work in the real world.  But there is a different type of faith – a faith in a process of Universal Intelligence that is unfolding in ways that we are unable to imagine and which will bring us exactly the lessons that we need to learn and the experiences that we need in order to progress in our lives.

A friend of mine told me yesterday:  ”This is where you are in your story.  This is not the end of the story.”  I love this concept, and know it to be true.  The experiences which seem like they will destroy us in the moment, can be the most amazing times of our lives.  Even when we are faced with critical illness and death, there are gems of wisdom that can be given, including an insight into the very nature of life and the passing of time.

The only way I know to reach this level of understanding is through meditation.  Meditation helps us to let go and connects us with the inner guidance of the higher self.

Pluto’s lesson is that we can only control so much of our lives – the rest we must let go.  I like to use the example of tubing down a river – if you try to reach out for something to slow down, you and your tube are whipped against the rocks with sometimes disastrous results.  If you let go and let the flow of the river take you through the path of least resistance, you experience the exhilaration of the journey.