Saturn Uranus

Uranus and Saturn work together to bring into the human realm all sorts of new ideas, circumstances, inventions, discoveries, etc. Uranus acts as a lens, a focal point for a channel I call Divine Mind—the source of all new concepts, creative ideas. Saturn functions to crystallize structure, to build, taking ideas from an infinite intuitive faculty, that the human race hardly understands even today, and births them into form. Saturn Uranus synods have often worked to make tangible strides in the advance of human civilization. These breakthroughs occur sometimes in the new phase, sometimes at full, and sometimes at other phases, like the closing 90°, or the last quarter phase.

This cycle takes an average of 45 years from conjunction to conjunction. Saturn orbits out from the Sun at about nine astronomical units, and Uranus is out at about nineteen astronomical units: Uranus is roughly twice as far out from the Sun as is Saturn. In their motion together they exert a profound influence on human affairs. I will cover some of these; they are all fascinating.

The conceit that Uranus and Saturn are “ancient enemies” is a concept that I have never liked—it smells of malefics and afflictions. Such beliefs are dangerous to the well-being of the human spirit. The implication is that the individual lies helpless, at the mercy of the conflict of these two gas giants: This mythology is an approach to life based on fear. In a world of such enmity and evil, it must be absolutely necessary to attempt to manipulate events.

In ancient Rome, if a strange event occurred, like the birth of a two headed-baby, an augury was taken, or the Sibylline Prophecies were consulted. If the gods needed to be appeased, a sacrifice was ordered by the Senate, performed by the consuls, the tribunes.

Today, when we see a blood-red, partially eclipsed Full Moon, or an eclipse shadow passing over the capitol city of a great nation, we don’t perform a sacrifice to appease a “bad sign”. So why do we still interpret configurations and aspects in the sky as “good and bad”? Perhaps our perceptions of these influences need to mature, become more experienced and knowledgeable. Perhaps that knowledge might grow into wisdom.

The workings of synodic phases are often subtle, and not often easily readable. They can bring major advances into whatever area of human activity they touch. While too many Sat­urn/Uranus cycles occur to be able to discuss them all,  a brief review of some of the more intriguing ones would include:

1215 A.D. Rebirth of the Rule of Law

In 1215 A.D., a Saturn Uranus conjunction (its dynamic impact point is located at 5°, 6⁰,7°,8^o and 9⁰ of Libra), took a position in the 7th house of the 1066 chart for the founding of England, and squared its Sun. On June 15th, 1215 A.D., the king was forced to sign a document called the Magna Charta. This document limited the power of the king. In the English speaking world this was the beginning of the idea, as voiced by Thomas Jefferson some 561 years later, that all human beings are created ‘with certain unalienable rights”.

The Magna Charta said that the king could impose no tax, except by permission of the Great Council. No freeman could be arrested or deprived of property without due process of law. Immediate trial by a jury of peers was guaranteed. This synod timed,in tangible form, a major advance to the freedom of the human spirit.

1398 A.D. The Neptune/Pluto synod that occurred in the late 14th and early 15th centuries brought in the High Renaissance. A Saturn Uranus synod in 1398 occurred roughly in opposition (dynamic impact point: 12°, 13°, 14° Sagittarius) to that NE/PL (4° & 3° II). Both these synods took place in the information signs, Gemini and Sagittarius, and probably brought about the flowering of modem science, Renaissance art, music, poetry and politics etc.

1440-42 A. D.  Forty-five years later, Saturn conjuncted Uranus at 11°-16° Gemini. Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press; it was called movable type. In making the written word available to millions, this technology transformed the collective mind of humankind. In a tangible and uniquely Uranian way of bringing light to the mind it made people more free.

1851-52 A.D. Saturn Uranus occurred in late Aries and early Taurus (28° AR- 02⁰ TA), and was part of the Uranus Pluto synod for that period. America was quiet, or at least quieter than it would be some ten years in the future. The Compromise of 1850 allowed slave-holders to pursue fugitive slaves into free states; Texas became a slave state. The Compromise of 1850 allowed the slave states to increase slavery, especially in the new territories that were applying for statehood. Slavery was lucrative for those who grew cotton for import around the world; and it was corrupting the laws and culture of the nation. Many felt this new attempt to legalize slavery all over America was an abomination: One of them was Abraham Lincoln. It was around this time that he devoted his life to fighting it. The synod was exact at 2°, 3°, 4° Taurus in 1851, conjuncting his South Node, an indicator of past karma.

Saturn Uranus and the American Civil War

At the first quarter square of that synod, in April of 1861, when transiting Uranus was at 9⁰ Gemini (conjunct natal US Uranus, 1776 chart, and inconjunct its Eris) and transiting Saturn was at 9⁰ Virgo, at the synod’s 1^st quarter square, the American Civil War began. The war was a conflict about human freedom and slavery in America.

On March 4, 1865, with the American Civil War due to end within two months, Lincoln delivered his Second Inaugural Address, one of the greatest arguments against human slavery ever made. It summed up the meaning of the whole war, and that synod had moved into a trine 25° Gemini for Uranus, 29° Libra for Saturn. On the day he died from an assassin’s bullet to his head, it would be an exact trine. Also, on the day he gave that speech, Eris, which often confers immortality, was conjunct his Natal Mercury 10° Pisces, trine his natal Uranus 9° Scorpio. This 700 word speech will be around for thousands of years.

Other things were happening.

Herman Melville published what was possibly the greatest American novel, Moby Dick. In 1852, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly was published by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Within a year it had sold 300,000 copies, and slavery became the central issue of America. During these years (1851 and 1852) the first sewing machine was patented by Singer, and the technology for a safe elevator that would not come crashing down was developed by Otis, allowing the later construction of skyscrapers.

1897 A. D. The SA/UR that occurred in at 25⁰– 29⁰ Scorpio was even more subtle. Research and scientific investigation were emphasized and since it took place within the NE/PL influence, it placed its stamp on the next 500 years of history. Scorpio gave the synod high-tech overtones, pointing the way towards such diverse fields as nuclear power and computers and depth psychology. In that era, America was relatively quiet. A Monetary Conference was held; America decided to stay on the gold standard; the first subway was built in Boston. This synod was sextile the 1776 U.S. Pluto, and America was by then one of the most prosperous nations on the planet.

1942 A.D. This synod heralded major technological advances. On Oct. 1, 1942, Uranus 4° II and Saturn 12° II), the first American jet aircraft, the XP-59, was tested in California. On December 2, 1942 (Saturn 11° Gemini and Uranus 2°Gemini), Enrico Fermi and Arthur Compton, in an undertaking at the University of Chicago known as the Argonne Project, demonstrated the first sustained nuclear reaction, initiating the nuclear age.

Political Cycles

Uranus/Saturn synods help define political cycles, as do Saturn/Neptune synods. Uranus is a political influence; Saturn is political. Politically, Uranus can express itself as anarchic, fascist, Hitlerian, Flat-Earthian, radical, conservative. All these articulations of the planetary energy require the free expression of originality, and even the most eccentric Uranian is seeking to communicate this. The combination of Saturn and Uranus together tends to be conservative, placing itself politically on the Right, as Saturn/Neptune tends to place itself on the political Left, representing Liberalism, Socialism, and Communism. The synodic cycles involving Saturn, Uranus and Neptune often define the political fortunes of the political Right and the Left.

Astrology & Saturn Uranus

The Uranus/Saturn synod rules astrologers and astronomers, astrology and astronomy.

In the world of astrology, during the balsamic phase of this synod, which lasted from 1981 till 1988, the conjunction occurred upon the Milky Way galactic center at 27°Sagittarius. During this period many of the best and most well-known astrologers died, including Dane Rudhyar and John Addey. Many astrological publications went out of business. Yet this was a time of rebirth in astrology. We can expect the rise of new advances in this field, and, since it occurred on the galactic center, some incredible discoveries, exponential leaps forward in knowledge, new realities, and/or breakthroughs in science.

Saturn/Uranus 1987-1989

Exact degrees 27° Sagittarius through 3° Capricorn.  Exact all through 1988. A new level of digital science is reached. Already thousands of people who were rich enough and could afford it owned personal computers (as opposed to corporate mainframes or workstations); after this synod millions of people owned them. The use of older inventions, a century earlier at the cutting edge of technology, like typewriters, died; desktop publishing and printers became available to everyone. Use of the internet by hundreds of millions, then billions,  followed. By the year 2010, where Saturn and Uranus are at opposition of 28° Virgo and 28°Pisces, a synodic time of flowering, people are carrying smart phones that take pictures and transmit them to friends, that play online songs and download them when desired, that receive and send messages anywhere in the world, that allow their users to take classes on line, that can even show exactly what star is directly above you no matter where you are on the planet. All of this is right out of a science fiction literature of the 1940’s and 50’s. Saturn Uranus is one of the rulers of science fiction. 

Astronomy

The science of astronomy has exploded. New planets around distant stars are being discovered. We know more about the interior of the Sun. Planets are being mapped, sampled, tested.