"These are the times that try men's souls." - Thomas Paine, 1776
Uranus enters the constellation Taurus for five months (June 17 to November 20, 2024), then returns next April for its usual seven-year run 2025-2032. Based on past transits, we can expect a time of
bloody war coexisting with
erupting, flourishing, inseminating, liberating enlightenment.
WARS: For centuries, each time Uranus has passed through Taurus has brought a major, pivotal war, often of world scale. Astrologers, seeing that the American Revolution was followed at 84-year intervals by the Civil War and World War II - our most terrible wars - suggested these were "Uranus return" phenomena for the U.S. uniquely. Though this may be true to some extent, these effects reach beyond one nation's borders. Besides
World War II, the
American Civil War, and the
American Revolution (which was part of a larger European war), one cycle earlier (1688-1696) was the
Nine-Years War (1688-1697), a "world war" of its day unrelated to the North American continent. Even the unusually peaceful, artistic 1604-1612 included the Gunpowder Plot. Other wars marked earlier passages.
Uranus in Taurus, therefore, primarily signals
disruption of peace, resembling Venus-Uranus aspects that mark substantial changes in relationships between nations, realignment (forming or dissolving) alliances, and war. We should expect these themes to saturate the character of the next seven years.
These wars were fruits of the preceding
Uranus in Aries periods defined by authoritarianism if not monarchical autocracy. Uranus in Aries years were politically volatile with acute binary polarization and a persisting sense of emergency and threat. Personal choice had been surrendered for safety's sake. (Comparisons to our own times are obvious.) Historically, Uranus in Taurus has reacted against and expelled dictatorial dominance with a Uranus-Moon sort of
spirit of rebellion. Though usually shockingly violent, Uranus in Taurus periods were periods of social enlightenment and demands for personal, democratic freedom. Emerging from Taurus times leaves a "fresh new world" sense (sometimes overwhelmed by the horror of what has been required).
SPIRIT OF ENLIGHTENMENT: Whether the period was called the Reformation or the Enlightenment, marked the rise of Rosicrucianism or the Illuminati, saw the birth of the first nation conceived in liberty and committed to human equality or the eventual outlawing of slavery, a spirit of enlightenment and new thought, especially involving the rejection of institutional domination, widely infuses these times.
THE ARTS: These have been times of remarkable flourishing and patronage of the arts. Especially was this characteristic of 1604-1612 during the reign of King James I, called
Rex Pacificus and devoted to a peaceful Europe. Expanding even on the momentum of the Elizabethan era, decorative arts became richer in color, design, and detail. Intricate and richly elaborated works of wood and silver and in architecture flourished. Arguably the two greatest extraordinary bodies of writings in the English language - the works of Shakespeare (in the era of
Macbeth, King Lear, and
Hamlet) and the King James Bible - emerged from this time. A later passage of Uranus through Taurus marked the era of Mozart and the founding of the Bolshoi Ballet and La Scala Opera House. In the most recent transit were the revolutionary
Fantasia and an explosion of
avant-garde movements in the arts.
SEXUAL ENLIGHTENMENT: Increased liberty and understanding in matters of sex and reproduction have occurred with consequent shifting of social values. During the last months of Uranus' last pass, the first Kinsey Report,
Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, was published. From this trend, I make two predictions: First, the strong anti-sexual wave of the last decade or so will reverse, with increased sexual activity and sexual awareness - a refreshed sense of sexual liberty - and an increase in fertility. Second, we can hope for (and I now expect) a restoration of full empowerment of women regarding reproduction.
SCIENCE & NATURE: Besides Mendel's genetic research, Uranus in Taurus eras of enlightenment have brought the type of landmark scientific breakthroughs that cascade forward, permanently altering scientists' understanding of nature. In chemistry, the discovery of basic elements and compounds occurred during the American Revolution era. During Jacobean times, the so-called "Copernican revolution" leapt forward with the work of Kepler and Galileo (discovering the laws of motion and seeing moons about Jupiter, respectively). Bacon permanently altered the model of objective, empirical scientific inquiry (another example of overthrowing prior authoritarianism, this time in academic science). Later revolutionary science breakthroughs included Watt's invention of steam power and Jenner's invention of the first vaccine.
RELIGION: Parallel breakthroughs in science were reorientations in philosophy and institutional religion, often marked by a
spirit of awakening and, often, movement in religious government (such as the "year of three popes"). The most significant, of course, were the Protestant Reformation (especially in Germany) and, one Uranus cycle later, the consequent appearance of the Rosicrucian manifestoes that spread inspirationally across Europe for decades.
Guru Granth Sahib, the central religious text of Sikhism, was compiled at the same time. In another Taurus passage, the Lourdes apparitions of the Virgin Mary began. (It is unclear whether to include the religious extremism of the Salem Witchcraft Trials in the same bucket.) In our times, I anticipate a spirit of reason penetrating formal religion.
SUMMARY wrote:Pivotal, bloody war (likely of world scale) coexisting with erupting, flourishing, inseminating, liberating enlightenment. - Disruption of peace (perhaps shockingly violent). Changes in international relationships, realigning of alliances. - Spirit of rebellion rejects existing authoritarianism and autocracy. - An era of social, personal, and philosophical enlightenment that demands personal, democratic freedom. - Flourishing and patronage of the arts (crafted arts, architecture, literary and theatrical arts); a new avant-garde wave. - Increased liberty and understanding regarding sex and reproduction, shifting social values, increased sexual activity and awareness, refreshed sense of sexual liberty, increase in fertility, restoration of reproductive rights. - Landmark scientific breakthroughs that cascade forward, permanently altering scientists' understanding of (and process in exploring) nature. - Reorientations in philosophy and institutional religion marked by a spirit of awakening: a new spirit of reason penetrating formal religion. - Ends with a "fresh new world" sense.
