Uranus/Neptune, a 170 Year Cycle

How the Astrology of Uranus and Neptune Works

In the astrology of Uranus and Neptune, the synod takes place about every 170 years. Governments can rise and fall, new political parties are born, styles in writing, music and the arts take different form, new sciences are born, and in some civilizations, people become more free. For example, Neptune in Capricorn in 1989 brought about the collapse of the Berlin Wall, freed the peoples of Eastern Europe from the domination of the Soviet Empire, and then it dissolved it. This synod, though not as powerful as Neptune/Pluto, exerts a subtle but far-reaching influence on the historical process.

Below are some important dates.

794 AD, Uranus/Neptune 26° Virgo 

In 800 A.D., when Charlemagne was crowned emperor, in Rome, on Christmas day, at noon, Uranus (at 25° Libra) was 15° ahead of Neptune (at 10°Libra). The conjunction had been exact some six years earlier. The crowning of Charlemagne is considered the founding of European civilization, so one might say that Europe began on a Neptune/Uranus.

965 AD, Uranus Neptune at 11°Libra

1136AD, Uranus Neptune at 27° Libra

In 1307 A.D., when as has been mentioned , the Italian poet Dante published The Divine Comedy, a work that marks the beginning of the end of medieval times. UR/NE was exactly conjunct that year at 13° Scorpio.

In 1478 and 1479 AD, Uranus/Neptune at 29° & 30° Scorpio, the Renaissance in Italy was at the height of its expression: Lorenzo the Magnificent ruled in Florence; human achievement in the arts and sciences had reached a very high level. At that time, the synod occurred in late Scorpio and early Sagittarius. Its energies served to enhance the creative opening of the Renaissance.

1649-1650, Uranus/Neptune at 15° & 16° Sagittarius.

On Jan. 30th, 1649, in London, Charles the First of England was beheaded. The synod had recently passed over his natal Sun. Uranus was within two degrees of the conjunction to Neptune (12° and 14° of Sagittarius respectively), and the synod was within 5° of a conjunction to the king’s natal Sun. There was also an exact Saturn/Pluto synod in opposition to his natal Sun that probably assisted in making his end so miserable.

This Saturn/Pluto synod in opposition to the UR/NE synod marked one of the most stressful periods in English history. It marked an era of genuine revolution, like later occurred in France, and even later in Russia. Reigns of terror, political murders, the beheading of a king, civil wars—all these occurred during this synodic opposition.

The most powerful aspect of the time of Charles’ execution was the Uranus/Neptune synod. It did away with a whole system of rule, the sovereign power of monarchy. Then it introduced another—­rule by aristocracy. This type of governance would guide England (and later Great Britain) for several centuries.

It also saw the rise of Cromwell and the Parliament, and the birth of John Churchill. In North America on the Atlantic seaboard, British, French and Dutch colonies were developed at this time: Massachusetts and New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia and Maryland were prospering and growing.

Uranus/Neptune 1817 – 1827 Exact degrees: 0° through 4° Capricorn.

This time heralded the transformation of old political structures and the birth of new ones. Some took this synodic conjunction and used it in their creative field of chosen endeavor. At the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon was finally defeated. This occurred six years previous to the conjunction, when Uranus and Neptune were twelve degrees apart at 4° and 18° Sagittarius respectively—a degree of separation some astrologers would not term a conjunction, but others would. It is definitely a synodic aspect. These two planets were also in the aspect called a parallel of declination. So whether Waterloo was a Uranus/Neptune phenomenon is not certain. I will leave it up to the reader. It is absolutely certain, however, that the conjunction was exact in 1821, at 2° and 3° Capricorn, when Napoleon died. Another interesting aspect of the Battle of Waterloo is the exact Saturn Eris conjunction. I believe that aspect with the Erian influence guaranteed that this battle would lock in place British dominance for the next century, and that the British Empire would become for a while a power in European history.

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Of those born during the early 19th century synod, Karl Marx (Uranus 19° Sagittarius, Neptune 25° Sagittarius) and Frederick Engels (Uranus 28° Sagittarius, Neptune 0° Capricorn), the two main founders of communism, both had the synod.

The American poet, Walt Whitman, and the American novelist, Herman Melville, both had a Uranus/Neptune. They used it in different ways . Louis Pasteur, the scientist, had it with the Sun placed between the two (with Neptune and the Sun at 5° Capricorn and Uranus at 7°Capricorn). And Dostoyevsky, the Russian novelist, had the synod conjunct Venus. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, had it at 0° and 1° of Capricorn.

It would seem that one “purpose” of UR/NE is to bring two very dissimilar energies together in order to create something entirely new. In the example of Mary Baker Eddy, Christianity has traditionally been ruled by Neptune and science has commonly been attributed to the Uranian influence: thus Christian Science.

Communism is a secular religion (Neptune) based on egalitarian principles (Uranus); it had an enormous effect on people in the world. It was born during that synod and underwent many transformations in its Soviet and Eastern European version during the 1989-91 synod, and the Chinese version was transformed by that synod, starting in the Tiananmen Square demonstrations and massacres, into an authoritarian Confucianism.

That synodic energy of egalitarian love and brotherhood is found in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, which was first performed in 1823 in Vienna, when the conjunction was less than three degrees apart.

The UR/NE synod seems to bring more freedom to the human race. Often, freedom can flourish for a while, and then be taken away, as it was in Antiquity in the Greek city states, or in Central and South America: The 1820′s synod was responsible for the collapse of many of its colonial dictatorships, only to have them replaced with non-colonial dictatorships.

When King Charles the First of England was executed and all those who were with him were thrown out of power, the personal freedom of the individual eventually progressed to a higher level. Yet Cromwell’s rule, which replaced the rule of the king lasted only a few years, and it embodied a mini reign of terror. It would be replaced by a parliament filled with aristocrats who would share rule with a returning  sovereign, Charles II, whose power would gradually diminish over the centuries.

In America, during the 1820′s synod, there were no revolutions, no political executions, no mass collapses of society. Only quiet but fundamental changes were at work affecting our government. An old group of politicians, who had earlier replaced the Federalists, had dominated government. They appointed all the judges, they elected themselves to Congress, mostly had held the presidency, and they made certain that their friends got the easy jobs that one always finds in government bureaucracies.

When the synod occurred and became exact, (as discussed in the section on Jackson) these politicians were challenged by Andrew Jackson and his faction, and by all the new people he represented from the frontier regions, and the elites in power were thrown out. The ability of a republic, like ancient Rome, like present day America, to allow the peaceful creative destruction of its elites, especially when they have lost touch with the people, is one of its chief strengths.

The issue of slavery did come up and was supposedly solved in the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which limited slavery to the slave states. That agreement fell apart in 1854, under the influence of a Pluto/Uranus synod, when it was dissolved by Congress. Its dissolution led to the American Civil War seven years later. Sometimes the creative destruction of elites is not so peaceful as evidenced by the war.

The Law of Style: A Uranus/Neptune synod will always transform cultural style in the arts.

Artistically, culturally, Uranus and Neptune together exert an intense influence on cultures. Styles of musical composition tend to change. Bach and Handel and Domenico Scarlatti were all born in the new Uranus Neptune synod in 1685 (when Uranus was 60° ahead of Neptune), a period which would span the 1650 to 1820 synod. It was during that period that a whole new style of classical music was created, that new instruments were designed and built, that generally new ways of expressing music were invented. Renaissance music began to die out during the mid to late seventeenth century; the baroque style was introduced into culture. These three composers represented the new expression in its highest forms.  Their compositions were disciplined, classical and austere in form. These composers were all of a kind—they used many of the same instruments.

In the 1820′s synod of UR/NE, classical music began to undergo another transformation. Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony was written (1828). The romantic symphony format began to be popular. Severe, rational form gave way to emotional, intuitive flights of fancy.

Wagner’s mature music is a fine representative example of this 1820 to 1990′s synod. Many others exist, and the music we have today, even that which is “classical”, has different forms, tones and structures.

In 1992, Uranus and Neptune were within one degree of being exact. That means that music, as it is presently perceived and known today, will be transformed all over again into something different, and it may within fifty to a hundred years be quite alien to what we know today.

Music is only one example. The same transformative influence will occur in literature, the visual arts, and in fact all forms of artistic expression.

Uranus/Neptune 1989 – 1999 Exact degrees 17° through 22° Capricorn. Exact years: 1991 -1993

This synod coincided with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. If you place it in the chart for the founding of the Soviet Union, the first aspect Uranus makes is the opposition to Pluto in late 1989. This was the loss of the Outer Empire, the Eastern European countries, the Baltics, the Caucasus, the Ukraine. By December 31, 1991, the synod had moved to an inconjunct of the Soviet Union’s Saturn and a sextile to its Sun. The Soviet Union was dissolved.