U R A N U S I N A Q U A R I U S
Uranus in Aquarius is the "natural" placement for Uranus since it rules Aquarius. When Uranus is here the people look at the world through the eyes of Aquarius. They see in terms of humanitarianism, idealism, eccentricities, reform, revolution, and science. Aquarians take pride in their "wierdness", their oddities and eccentricities. Aquarius has a detached (at times, aloof) scientific view of the world. There is little distinction between the high and the low of society--all are part of the sea of humans interacting. To Aquarius, all are "friends". The primary goal of Aquarius is freedom. Freedom from any social, political, religious, clothing, or philosophical restrictions. One effect we might expect from Uranus in Aquarius is that people feel they will have to make changes (Uranus) in the way they make and have friendships (Aquarius).
During the Uranus in Aquarius periods many of the greatest scientific theories were born. Since
Uranus rules electricity, you would expect many theories to be about electricity. However, the
breadth of the theoretical breakthroughs with Uranus in Aquarius went far beyond just electrical
theories. Here is a list (the bold style highlights the most famous scientists and theories):
Galileo: pendulums having equal time
Newton : calculus, theory of gravity, reflecting telescope
Jeans: Quantum Theory
Rutherford: atoms can be split
Bohr: atom theory
Einstein: General Theory of Relativity
Darwin was on the HMS Beagle
Babbage: the first computer
Jung: Theory of Psychoanalysis
Benjamin Franklin: Lightning Rod
Faraday: Law of Electrolysis
During Uranus in Aquarius some of the greatest minds made some of the greatest theories in science. Galileo is considered the father of modern science--he was the first to actually observe nature rather than relying on the writings from authorities. He discovered many counter-intuitive laws: that a pendulum that is swinging in a high arc takes just as long as a pendulum swinging in a shallow arc, that a small, lighter object takes just as long to reach the ground as a much heavier object when dropped from a height. It was these observations and the discovery of laws in nature through observation that is the root of all science.
Newton discovered calculus, the mathematics of change, which enabled him to explain the planetary motions. He also invented the reflecting telescope.
The Quantum Theory which explains how objects at the atomic level interact was discovered with Uranus in Aquarius. During the same period, Einstein discovered the General Theory of Relativity which has been used for the last 80 years to understand how time, space, energy, and matter are interwoven in ways that are highly counterintuitive.
Darwin discovered the laws of evolution by observing animals in remote habitats while on the HMS Beagle. Faraday, one of the great experimenters, uncovered many of the laws of electricity and magnetism through his experiments. The first computer was conceived, and actually built out of mechanical relays, by Charles Babbage.
In psychology, Jung came up with the law of synchronicity. He brought more of the spiritual into psychology proper.
By now you are probably seeing the pattern of Uranus in Aquarius. These are times when great minds come up with incredible and revolutionary, counter-intuitive insights into nature which are expounded as theories or as new forms of mathematics (the language of science).
But it was not just in science that revolutions occurred. New religious movements came into being: Chassidism with the Baal Shem and Mormonism. The Revolutions of 1830, Henry II - Thomas a Becket feud, and the Henry IV of Germany - Pope feud showed that these were times when shifts in power caused reform and readjustment of the power structures (usually without bloodshed).
A surprising number of great writers, social thinkers, and reformers were born with Uranus in Aquarius: Ibsen, Jules Verne, Emily Dickenson, Goethe, Joan of Arc, John Wycliff, Tolstoi, many of the Pre-Raphelite painters, etc. Many of these people were great, but either reclusive and a bit odd or gregarious, humanitarian, and friendly (the two sides of Aquarius). They all have a similar quality, a sense of the extraordinary, the wonderful, in life.
Ibsen broke open the hypocrisy and lies of everyday life. His works showed how women could be powerful in their own right, and not just passive to men, and how the influential politicians and newspapers could distort reality creating a hell for the people who had to live with the realities of the situation rather than the lies coming from the influential "compact majority". Jules Verne was the father of todayıs science fiction. His most famous works are "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" and "Journey to the Center of the Earth". Goethe and Tolstoi both have an incredible breadth and warmth of understanding of humanity which pervades their writing. The Pre-Raphelite brotherhood broke with the other painters of the time and went in for vivid paintings with classical themes but which showed people in the midst of profound, often emotional, situations.
All of these writers and painters showed people how to break out of the mundane and enter a world of extraordinary and strange happenings or to see more profoundly into what is happening in the "everyday" world that is profound and unusual.
During these times, some of the most unsettling and humorous works were penned by the following writers in their prime: James Joyce, T.S. Eliot, Edgar Allen Poe, Balzac, H.L. Mencken, Victor Hugo, Samuel Johnson, Jonathan Swift, Fielding, Gray, Moliere, and Milton.
Nearly all of these writers had an ascerbic wit and a penetrating awareness of the absurdity or oddness of what was considered "normal". Many, such as Swift, Mencken, and Johnson, were satirists. Milton placed all the people he didnıt like in various levels of hell. Gray and T.S. Eliot spoke to the loneliness of people and the molding power of society.
Much of the writing during this time was about communities of people and their interwoven humanity and eccentricities: Spoon River Anthology, Winesburg, Ohio, Pygmalion, James Joyceıs works, etc. The detached humor of Aquarius comes through in many of these. Aquarians often see themselves as detached, outside observers to all the strangeness going on around them. Of course, in part, the strangeness comes about because the Aquarian views life from such an odd angle. Yet, there is a warmth and love of humanity that comes from this Aquarian viewpoint that pervades the writing of people born with Uranus in Aquarius or who wrote during such a period.
"Observation" is key during Uranus in Aquarius. Work on the microscope and telescope went forward during Uranus in Aquarius. Major discoveries about microscopes, perspective, diffraction of light, and reflecting telescopes took place during Uranus in Aquarius. Oddly enough, many observations on gases (well, Aquarius is an air sign).
Letıs look at some of the Uranus in Aquarius periods going backwards through time:
1912 through 1920In politics, Woodrow Wilson epitomized Uranus in Aquarius. The Uranus in Aquarius period completely encapsulated World War I which ran from 1914 to 1919. When the war was over Woodrow Wilson, an idealistic college president originally, tried to remake European politics based on ideals and principles which were in his fourteen points: no secret treaties, freedom of the seas, free trade, arms reduction, an international organization to prevent wars (the League of Nations, the predecessor of the United Nations), and self determination were the chief points.
As you would expect, a major revolution occurred while Uranus, which rules revolutions, was in its own sign. The Communist Revolution, brought about by the collapse of Russia in World War I, resulted in a major change in Russia. The Tsar was thrown out and the Soviets came to power. The results of this revolution last to the present day. The prior comparable revolution was the French Revolution, which occurred with Pluto in the same sign, Aquarius.
The art of the time was eclectic, discordant, and wierd. The birth of modern art took place during this time -- Picasso and his cubism with its linear abstractions of form, its disjointed and mechanical look, was one symbol of Uranus in Aquarius. Another symbol was Dadaism with its emphasis on an abstract principle, art for arts sake, taken to extremes such as fur-lined teacups which symbolized that art need not have any utilitarian purpose other than pure, abstract expression.
Uranus in Aquarius affected art by allowing artists to develop art based on pure abstract principles and to see where that led, however impractical. In fact, the impracticality or strangeness was useful since it furthered the revolutionary quality of the art. In music, a similar flavor came through in the music of Bartok and Stravinsky who based their works on principles, like the artists.
George Bernard Shaw wrote with deep wit and some sarcasm about social class, and how a flower girl could appear to be a princess if she wore the right dress at the right occassion and spoke with perfect Queenıs English. Aquarius is interested in how social classes intermix, Aquarians like to appear impervious to social class. During Uranus in Aquarius times, social class distinctions are broken through, at least momentarily.
Charlie Chaplin represents another side of Uranus in Aquarius, the "freak" who bursts through the social fabric. Charlie was often a tramp who somehow got inside of posh settings and wreaked havoc. His quirky mannerisms were beloved by many.
In science, this was the time of the simultaneous breakthroughs of Relativity and Quantum
Mechanics. Einstein, Jeans, Bohr, and Rutherford made their marks during this period.
In the more practical branches of science, sound on film was experimentally achieved and the
100-inch telescope was built (the reflecting telescope was invented during a prior Uranus in
Aquarius period). The telescope allowed people to look farther than ever into the larger universe.
1828 through 1835
Andrew Jackson becomes the first "populist" president and founds Democratic party
Revolutions of 1830 change balance of power from landed gentry and clergy to mercantile/upper
middle class city people creating a liberalization
Liberalization in England, U.S.,. Switzerland, France
Born: Ibsen, Tolstoi, Jules Verne, Rossetti, Emily Dickenson, Lord Leighton,
Maxwell, Louisa May Alcott, Dore, Manet
Noah Websterıs Dictionary published
Police in London started
Edgar Allen Poeıs poems published
William Tell overture
Catholic emancipation in Great Britain
Chopin
Mormons founded
Balzac "La Comedie humanie"
Delacroix "Liberty Guiding the People"
start of anti-slavery literature
Victor Hugo "Notre Dame de Paris"
Darwin sails on HMS Beagle
Faraday studies electromagnetic induction
Bolyai "non-Euclidian geometry"
Babbage invents "analytic engine" (first computing machine)
Abraham Lincoln enters politics
Politically, Andrew Jackson was the first "populist" president who founded the Democratic Party. The all-inclusive nature of Aquarius and its ability to break down social class structure is shown by the propulsion of Andrew Jackson into the presidency based on an appeal to the common man. This comman man appeal is the basis for the Democratic party, which also tends to be towards the progressive end of the spectrum (Uranus) rather than the conservative (Saturn) end.
The Revolutions of 1830 changed the balance of power from the more conservative land-based power to the more commercial, and hence more liberal, power of the city. People in a city deal with more levels of society in a more fluid manner. This interaction is more Aquarian, and more "liberal".
Abraham Lincoln, an Aquarius, entered politics. His entry foreshadowed the start of the Republican party but also the freeing of the slaves during the Civil war. In parallel, the anti-slavery literature started. The emphasis here is on Aquarian freedom. It is interesting that slavery was abolished in Europe at around this time, for economic reasons -- it made more sense to use a machine for grunt force and a man for oversight of the machine. A slave is much less efficient than a peasant at operating machinery. Hence, our present day outlawing of slavery and our embracing of peasantry (ie economic rather than physical/legal chains).
Look at the above ist of people born during this time who made revolutionary changes in art, literature, and science. People born during Uranus in Aquarius often are involved in breakthroughs into new art forms or scientific theories.
Darwin thought out his Evolution of Species theories during this time. Bolyai broke with
thousands of years of geometry when he invented his non-Euclidean geometry (non-Euclidean
geometries are based on parallel lines meeting, a counter-intuitive supposition). Babbage
invented the first computer (a Uranian invention if ever there was one). Faraday studied the
laws of Electromagnetism. This is just a sampling of the scientific breakthroughs of the time.
1744 through 1752
writers: Samuel Johnson, Jonathan Swift
Capacitor, lightning rod invented
muisic: Bach, Handel, minuet
Euler: "Pure Analytical Math"
Fielding: "Tom Jones"
born: Goethe
sign language invented
Baal Shem starts Chassidism
Neoclacissicism
Gregorian calendar
Hume
William Law
Jonathan Edwards (religious leader)
Samuel Johnson, Fielding, and Jonathan Swift poked through the hypocrisy of the times with their sarcastic wits (compare to Joyce, Mencken, Ibsen, etc in later times). Bach and Handel started modern music. The equal-tempered scale was a musical breakthrough.
Judaism was revitalized by the Baal Shem. He brought mysticism and Kabbalah back into Judaism.
The Gregorian calendar changed the whole way people told time. Jonathan Edwards made similar
changes in the world of Christianity.
1660 through 1668
Louis XIV begins rule (Sun King)
Moliere "Don Juan" "Le Misanthrope"
early attack on air pollution in London
manometer (elastic force of gases)
Versailles started by Louis XIV
Conventicle act against nonconformists forbids meetings
of more than five people
Trappist order founded
Great Plague of London 69,000 dead
Robert Hooke invents microscope
Newton does work on gravity, calculus, reflecting telescope
painters: Vermeer, Rembrandt
Milton "Paradise Lost"
Leeuwenhoek discovery of red corpuscles (using microscope)
National Observatory of Paris founded
Scientifically, the microscope enabled people to look into the world of the very small while the reflecting telescope and the founding of the National Observatory involved looking into the distant. In both cases, the observation qualities (Aquarius rules observation) of mankind was extended.
Plagues and air pollution both involve the Aquarian element, air. Itıs interesting that plague is a worry at the present time. The manometer is for studying air.
"Paradise Lost" is a look into what happens to rebels (Satan rebels against God, the people in
hell rebelled as well), who go outside the moral laws of the universe.
1577 through 1584
St John of the Cross "Dark Night of the Soul"
London Earthquake
Galileo discovers pendulums take same amount of time
independent of height of swing
Sir Frances Drake finishes circumnavigating globe
and harasses Spanish shipping
first life insurance
St. John of the Cross expounded religious laws involving personal transformation. Galileo,
the father of modern science, observed nature and discovered some counter-intuitive laws
(that a high-swinging pendulum takes just as long for one swing as a low-swinging one).
1493 through 1500
Columbus returns from 1st trip and makes succeeding trips.
By end of period, Columbus thrown in prison.
first systematic study of musical instruments
Pacioli "Algebra"
"Pots of luck" introduced in Germany
Hieronymous Bosch "Garden of Worldly Delights"
(truly bizarre paintings fitting Uranus in Aquarius)
Da Vinci "Last Supper"
height of Renaissance, some people of the time:
Botticelli, Michelangelo, Durer, Cabots,
Vasco de Gama, Leonardo da Vinci
During this period the eclectic geniuses of the Renaissance created their greatest works.
Da Vinci did the "Last Supper" and Hieronymous Bosch did his weird painting, "the Garden of Worldly
Delights". Columbus did the majority of his voyages during Uranus in Aquarius, and those voyages
changed the way people viewed the world. As with later Uranus in Aquarius periods, music took a
step forward with the first systematic study of musical instruments.
1409 through 1417
Joan of Arc born
"Rules of Perspective" written
end of great schism (of Popes)
Joan of Arc was a revolutionary of her day. She heard voices and acted upon them (in some ways,
she was similar to the Mormons in a later period).
1326 through 1333
John Wycliff born (church reformer)
Bubonic plague starts in India
zenith of Arabic culture in Granada
"Ars Nova" music
Plague, church reform, and new forms of music. These themes reappear in later periods.
1242 through 1249
University College, Oxford founded
1158 through 1166
the feud between Henry II and Thomas a Becket, church-state battle, occurs
Notre Dame Paris started
Fights over principle are common with Uranus in Aquarius, and the Henry II-Thomas a Becket
battle was such a battle between "friends". Henry II rebelled against the church, a Uranian action.
1074 through 1082
Henry IV of Germany fights with Pope
tower of London started (for holding of dissidents)
excommunication of married priests
How to deal with dissidents and revolutionaries? This is a question that comes up strongly with Uranus in Aquarius. This completes the sections on individual Uranus in Aquarius periods.
The above should give you a feeling for the tone of the Uranus in Aquarius periods. As history shows, these are breakthrough times.
This Uranus in Aquarius will be particularly intense because the energy freed by Uranus pulling away from Neptune in Capricorn will start to show results from the breakdowns and new paradigms which occurred under the Uranus - Neptune conjunct. This is an equivalent period to the late 1960s in terms of the Uranus - Pluto conjunct (as Uranus pulled away from Pluto and at the same time enteed Libra. This created the counter-culture.) This will be a time for some of the craziness and fun inherent in Uranus in Aquarius to be expressed, but also a time for true reform in government. It is as if the Uranus - Neptune broke through some of the myths of the Capricornian structure and Uranus in Aquarius will put forward pragmatic reforms to fix the structure.
copyright 1993 - 1996 by Ed Rose