Uranus turns retrograde this week, until mid-December. The effect of any retrograde planet, like with Mercury, is that its energy is exacerbated but internalised. Uranus is all about revolution, invention, technology … it is the expect the unexpected planet. As it transits through Aries, this suggests some kind of cultural and technological revolution at the same time as a strong and potentially disruptive drive for freedom and independence. During this retrograde period it again closes up the Square with Pluto (exact at the end of October), giving us an opportunity for deep evolution at a personal, the kind of evolution that can eventually play out in a global and political level (hmm, it’ll be interesting times for an election … expect more of the unexpected when it comes to power plays). For the moment though, combining Uranus retrograde with the Grand Water Trine, I anticipate that the next week will offer flashes of brilliant intuitive insight … take note of the wacky stuff, there’s likely to be a message in it somewhere, but it won’t be the one you planned for!!
Category Archives: Uranus
Activating social upheaval
As Saturn is in Scorpio, turning direct at about 5 degrees, there is a powerful link to the Pluto-Uranus square, the evolve or evaporate energy. The reasoning goes like this … Pluto is in Capricorn which is ruled by Saturn, while Saturn is in Scorpio ruled by Pluto, which is called mutual reception, and it tends to exacerbate the power of both planets. So, all that Pluto in Capricorn stuff about fundamental transformations of our economic and social structures is affected. What we’ve come to accept as normal organisation and building blocks of society are collapsing, with Pluto involved it is inevitable that our social forms must change … and fundamentally change, not just a few tweaks around the edges. So, as Saturn moves forward, expect more disruptions on a global political scale. The rumblings that have been building during the retrograde period will turn into more decisive and planned action. It is fascinating how Egypt seems to keep reflecting these energetic changes. It was during the earliest Pluto-Uranus squares that the people power based, social media lead uprisings in Egypt caused the deposing of Mubarak, and it is while this square is now being energised again that the Egyptian people have decided to do something about his replacement. It seems to me that Egypt might just be a barometer of the Pluto-Uranus upheavals of our social systems …
Julia Gillard’s 2013
Julia was never going to have it easy this year. After last weeks’ goings on I was intrigued to go back and have a look at what this year had in store for her, and this is what I found … her solar return chart last year showed that the Sun was exactly opposite Uranus and Square to Pluto at her birthday (29th September). The Solar 
Return chart is calculated for the time that the Sun returns to the exact position it was at your birth … the idea gives rise to the saying “many happy returns”. And the chart is an indicator of the energies to expect over the coming year.
So, for Julia, while it is nice to have the Sun in the First House of a Solar Return, suggesting that she would shine and make a strong impression on those around her, the risk of this placement is that it can be quite self-focussed, and fail to see and feel what is going on in the world outside the self. With the Sun Square to Pluto (in the Fourth House), it was inevitable that she would encounter power struggles that challenged her to transform, and that it would only be through compromise that she would get any resolution from this. With Pluto in the Fourth House, her base was not secure … and it seems that Kevin Rudd, Simon Crean and Bill Shorten made certain of that!
At the same time, her solar return Sun was exactly opposite Uranus (in the Seventh House), suggesting radical, unexpected and impulsive changes in her partnerships and alliances. Hmmm … seems that was an opportunity too good for an embittered ex-PM to ignore!
The added challenge for Julia is that her next birthday chart (29th September 2013) is still closely wrapped up in the Pluto-Uranus square, with the Sun only 3 degrees away from an exact square to Pluto, so she will still be experiencing powerful forces to evolve … or evaporate. Interestingly, Pluto will be right on her Ascendant, suggesting that she will be exuding power herself (something that she might have appreciated a little more of this year) and she will have the capacity for incredible depth of insight (again, something that might have been useful this year). The bonus for Julia with her next birthday chart is that the Moon and Jupiter will be in her Seventh House, so she should at least find comfort, meaning and growth in her personal relationships. And with her solar return Sun in the Tenth House of social status, and Uranus in the Fourth House of home base, it will be fascinating to see what stage she plays on over the next year or so.
Uranus Rising 