Transits of Uranus

Transits to Mercury

Transits to Venus

Venus also governs sex and the erotic, an area that has long troubled the so-called “spiritual” crowd. Across cultures, especially in societies that pride themselves on being civilized, religious traditions often struggle to accept this facet of Venus. Yet sexuality is a fundamental life force, and rejecting it is, in a sense, rejecting Life itself. At the opposite pole lies the highest expression of Venus: the love called agape in Greek and caritas in Latin — best translated as “loving-kindness.” Most spiritual seekers embrace this form of Venusian energy, yet their fear of the erotic sometimes throttles loving-kindness with a noose of self-righteousness.

Transits to the Sun

When the disturbance comes from outside, bringing sudden radical change, it is usually possible to adapt. The question is whether you are willing to do so. Consider this example.

Suppose that during a Uranus-Sun transit a natural disaster strikes your home. (Such events are not the most common manifestation of this transit, but the example serves.) Most people simply rebuild and carry on. Often that works. In the case of repeated flooding, however, the disaster may be a sign that rebuilding in the same spot is unwise. Whatever the external event, especially under a Uranus-Sun transit, consider the possibility that you cannot continue exactly as before.

Transits to Mars

The combination resembles Uranus-Sun contacts, which always contain a search for authentic self-expression and personal truth. When Uranus and Mars link up, however, truth — any truth — often becomes collateral damage, not by intent but by default.

The explosive nature of the Uranus-Mars pairing may appear to burst in from outside, yet astrological experience suggests that something in the natal chart must allow for such eruptions — mass events being a possible exception. As noted elsewhere, Uranian energies can manifest through social movements and large groups, but they rarely point to mass catastrophes.

Transits to Jupiter

Therefore, when Uranus contacts Jupiter you may have to integrate new material into your life — or weave fresh aspects of your inner being into existing structures — very quickly. Natal Jupiter can facilitate this, transforming what might otherwise be a disruptive Uranian blast into something you can assimilate. Even so, the outcome is not always a sudden windfall; it can just as easily be an unexpected downturn, or a mixture of both, as circumstances inside and outside you swing between extremes while you attempt integration. Even in the most favorable Uranus-Jupiter combinations you must stay grounded and avoid becoming swept away by the energy’s intensity.

Lottery winners of modest means illustrate the Uranus-Jupiter dynamic. Some integrate the unexpected fortune and go on to build better lives. Others, overwhelmed by the windfall, squander it, fall prey to con artists or cultivate costly habits that consume the winnings. The good news is that these transits can deliver sudden luck; the bad news is that the same sudden luck can lead to ruin. Fortunately, most Uranus-Jupiter events are less dramatic than hitting the jackpot, making them easier to manage.

Transits to Saturn

1. Saturn is near the Ascendant, Midheaven, Descendent or I.C. (The angles).
2. Saturn makes close powerful aspects to the Sun, Moon or to another planet which lies upon an angle.
3. The individual has many planets or other important points in the signs Aquarius or Capricorn.
4. Saturn makes many aspects to the various points in the chart other than those listed above.

If none of these conditions apply, the transit’s effects may still be observable but are unlikely to be powerful.

In many ways the energies of these two planets clash. Uranus stands for breakthroughs, the utterly new and sudden change — often chaotic and unsettling. Saturn stands for adherence to structure, discipline and a rigid social order. When they meet, the resulting tension can be extreme. Under a hard Uranus-Saturn transit pressure may build until something snaps: a relationship you have been trying to preserve may end abruptly, or you may suddenly decide to end it yourself. People sometimes bolt and run wherever this combination appears. It can indeed feel like an irresistible force meeting an immovable object — something has to give!

Yet Saturn has another side — accessible to all of us — that can render this combination far more constructive. Embracing that side is not easy, but once you do, the two planets together can become extraordinarily productive in your pursuit of self-realization. This alternative path will be emphasized below.

Transits to Uranus

1. Uranus is near the Ascendant, Midheaven, Descendent or I.C. (The angles).
2. Uranus makes close powerful aspects to the Sun, Moon or to another planet which lies upon an angle.
3. Uranus makes many aspects to the various points in the chart other than those listed above.

If none of these conditions apply, the transit’s effects may still be observable but are unlikely to be powerful.

Like all planets returning to their natal positions, Uranus transits to natal Uranus mark a rhythm in your life that can be significant without being inherently difficult. The specific meaning of each phase in the 84-year cycle will be discussed in the individual transits below. Because the symbolism differs depending on whether the aspect occurs between birth and the opposition in your early forties, or between that opposition and the Uranus return in your mid-eighties, I will distinguish the 60° sextile from the 300° sextile, the 90° square from the 270° square, and the 120° trine from the 240° trine. Minor aspects will be handled as usual.

Transits to Neptune

1. Neptune is near the Ascendant, Midheaven, Descendent or I.C. (The angles).
2. Neptune makes close powerful aspects to the Sun, Moon or to another planet which lies upon an angle.
3. Neptune makes many aspects to the various points in the chart other than those listed above.

If none of these conditions apply, the transit’s effects may still be noticeable but are unlikely to be strong.

Both Uranus and Neptune are transcendental planets — their effects reach beyond ordinary reality. Consequently a Uranus transit to natal Neptune can manifest in one of two ways: either something markedly otherworldly occurs, or something confusing and sudden erupts. The latter possibility often makes people uneasy, especially when the transit is a conjunction, square or opposition, aspects that signal change and flux. Remember that Uranus embodies sudden, potentially disruptive change, usually of the kind for which you are unprepared, and even astrologers find it hard to predict exactly how its energy will unfold.

Neptune’s influence, by contrast, is rarely sudden. If Neptune has posed challenges for you, you have probably sensed them most of your life, even if you could not trace their source. Its lower expression includes feelings of weakness and inadequacy born of hypersensitivity and an inability to keep negative energies — whether environmental or interpersonal — from clouding your mind. Paradoxically this same sensitivity can become one of Neptune’s gifts, though it requires growth and learning to use it well. Neptune also signifies confusion, from mild vagueness to deep delusion — all the ways we may lose touch with reality. Indeed its energies prompt us to ask what “reality” actually is. Both Uranus and Neptune challenge conventional notions of reality, and Neptune’s energies are not particularly helpful for worldly concerns that demand control and forceful action.

When these planets interact it helps to set aside ordinary ego concerns and view “reality” from a perspective other than the one you absorbed as a child or receive from society. Doing so requires sufficient calm and balance — a tricky feat during such transits. Ultimately, though, neither planet is inherently negative; together they are simply odd and unfamiliar. The faster you adapt to that strangeness, the more successfully you will navigate the experience.

Transits to Pluto

A natural image for the Uranus-Pluto combination is the earthquake. An earthquake occurs not through normal plate slippage but when plates lock, pressure builds over time, and the lock finally breaks, unleashing a massive shift. In human life Uranus-Pluto transits signify situations in which problems or tensions have been accumulating for years until the pressure becomes irresistible and the metaphorical quake occurs. In principle the resulting change could be entirely beneficial, but only if opposing forces have not resisted necessary adjustments at every turn. Two historical illustrations are the revolutionary mid-1960s, marked by the last Uranus-Pluto conjunction, and the period from 2010 to 2015 when the two planets formed a square — a configuration still lingering as of early 2018.

The mid-1960s saw urban riots, the New Left, the counterculture, the Black Panthers and other movements that led some to fear full-scale revolution — yet none occurred. The square in the early 2010s brought the Arab Spring, revolutions in several Arab nations, the Syrian civil war, ISIS and growing political polarization in the United States. In both eras long-suppressed changes erupted only after dominant cultures failed to respond, producing explosive, earthquake-like events.

Earthquakes do not strike everywhere; they occur only where plates lock long enough for pressure to build. Where plates slide past or under one another without locking, only mild tremors appear. The analogy extends to social revolution: Uranus-Pluto changes can be benign or even beneficial if shifts are allowed to happen gradually. They become destructive only when change has been resisted for too long. The same principle applies when Uranus transits natal Pluto.

In Uranus transits to natal Pluto both planets are slow-moving, so the influence lasts a long time and can feel intense. Yet because you share your natal Pluto’s position with millions of your cohort, these interpretations matter only if Pluto is particularly prominent in your chart. Pluto is strong — and the transit more significant — under the following conditions.

1. Pluto is near the Ascendant, Midheaven, Descendent or I.C. (The angles).
2. Pluto makes close powerful aspects to the Sun, Moon or to another planet which lies upon an angle.
3. Pluto makes many aspects to the various points in the chart other than those listed above.

If none of these conditions apply, the transit’s effects may still be observable but are unlikely to be powerful.

Transits to Chiron

Transits to Midheaven

There are also times when you must make fundamental changes in what you are doing. You simply cannot continue on your current path because it no longer reflects who you truly are. Uranus transits to the natal Midheaven often signal such moments — or at least strongly hint that change is needed. The core symbolism here is that long-term goals and intentions may have to yield to the truth of your identity, regardless of how valid your current activities seem. The resulting adjustments can range from sweeping overhauls to more modest but still significant course corrections.

The Midheaven and its opposite point, the I.C., also describe your relationship with parents and authority figures and the foundations you lay in your personal life and home. These areas, too, can undergo radical shifts during Uranus-Midheaven transits. The difficulty you experience will be proportional to how rigidly you have fixed your sights on a goal and to how far that goal diverges from your authentic self.

Transits to Ascendant

These shifts tend to fall into two categories. First, you may feel a strong urge to break free when life becomes too regimented. Second, events in the outer world may seem to force significant change upon you. The first is usually straightforward; the second can be baffling, like a piano falling from a window and narrowly missing you. There may be no obvious way you “caused” the event, and asking how you did so can become so abstract that it is useless for practical living.

In short, strive to understand the Uranus-Ascendant events you can understand, and do not obsess over those you cannot — unless you notice a repeating pattern. In that case pay attention. For example, if you walk out the door and suffer an accident that seriously injures you, the incident will eventually reveal how it pushed you to redefine your life, and that insight should be your goal. But if minor mishaps happen constantly — the proverbial banana peel always lies under your foot — it is time to examine the behavior patterns that invite those accidents. Quite simply, you are not paying enough attention to what you are doing.

Transits to the Lunar Nodes