Once we’ve developed the maturity and responsibility associated with Saturn something strange happens. We begin to have doubts, things happen in our lives which we can’t explain and our orderly view of the world may be shattered.
This is the influence of Uranus, the planet of revolution and change.
Interestingly, Uranus is visible to the naked eye but because it’s so dim it wasn’t formally identified as a planet until 1781 by William Herschel using a telescope. This was the first time in human history that a new planet had been discovered, thus changing our view of the Solar System (which is completely consistent with the energetic influence symbolised by this planet).
Also, the cycle of Uranus, ie the time it takes to do a complete circuit of the zodiac, is 84 years. Thus, it’s the last planet for which a human being can experience a return within their lifetime. (A planetary return is when the planet returns to the same place in the zodiac that it occupied at the time the person was born. It represents the completion of one cycle and the beginning of another.)
Astrologically, Uranus is associated with science, technology, the New Age (it rules Aquarius), Astrology, genius, elderhood and more.
In our personal development we reach a stage of maturity and responsibility – this is represented by Saturn. This phase can last for quite a while because we become locked into living a life of ‘shoulds’. We are responsible for a mortgage and raising children and so on.
At some point this changes. The children grow up and leave home, the person may lose the job they’d devoted themselves to or the industry they are part of ceases to be viable.
Sometimes, it comes as a result of something the person is feeling – they’ve been dissatisfied for some time and feel the need to make a change resulting in a sea-change or tree-change – or it can be something that’s forced upon them like being retrenched, retired or a health crisis.
Women seem to be able to deal with this transition more effectively than men. In the Industrial Age men would often die within 5 years of retiring. This is because a man would get locked into the Saturn stage and when it finished his view of himself could not readily move into the new way of thinking. The new situation requires flexibility and an ability to respond to change. Men tend (as a generality) to be more rigid and structured in their thinking than women and so this transition can be very challenging for them.
Our lives tend to have three stages: childhood, adulthood and elderhood.
Childhood is covered by the planets; the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter (which is also the transition into adulthood). Adulthood is represented by Saturn and Uranus is the beginning of elderhood.
There is a harmonic relationship between Mercury & Uranus. Just as Mercury is flighty, airy, swift and mercurial, Uranus has similar attributes. It seems to bring about change for changes sake and often creates chaos and confusion in our lives without an apparent reason or purpose.
If fact, there is reason behind Uranus’ influence. It’s purpose is to prepare us to see beyond the limitations of the material world. In order to do this we must break down or break out of our restricted, logical thinking. We must open up to creativity and move from left brain to right brain. Ultimately, we will incorporate both and Uranus helps us gain perspective.
Once we’ve opened up to a new way of thinking and experiencing the world we can begin to gain the insights and understanding that Neptune brings.