Happy Halloween, if you celebrate it. Remember last Halloween, the first pandemic Halloween of our times? There was that Full Moon, that Full Blue Moon in Taurus, the 2nd Full Moon of the month. The Full Moon in Taurus, last year, opposing, as it always does, the Sun in Scorpio, packed an extra punch …. It was in a tight conjunction with the planet Uranus. All October long, astrologers, including me, were sounding the alarm, predicting that something shocking but unpredictable would take place. This is the nature of Uranus — in astrology, Uranus is characterized as the cosmic game changer. Associated with lightning, electricity and the future, restlessness and rebellion, among, of course, many other things, a transit to Uranus may instigate a moment in which everything changes in the blink of an eye.
By its very discovery in 1781 by Sir William Herschel using the very latest technology, a new fangled more powerful than ever before telescope (Uranus is associated with technological progress), Uranus literally heralded the dawning of a new age. Hitherto, for millennia, Saturn had been believed by astronomers and astrologers alike to be the furthermost planet from the Sun, representing the outer limits of our solar system. With the discovery of Uranus a paradigm shift in which the unknown universe beyond Saturn, (Saturn is visible from Earth to our naked human eyes) was acknowledged … Uranus is also associated with the unknown. The discovery of the planet changed everything, forever, instantaneously.
It was soonishly observed and calculated that Uranus takes 84 years to orbit the Sun. This means in astrological terms, the planet spends around 7 years in each of the 12 Zodiac signs. So wherever Uranus falls in your personal natal chart, it lumps you in with a generation born 3.5 - 7 years either side of you. Not so personal at all, until a deeper dive shows you how Uranus shows up in your chart by house, and in relation to other planets. (I'm always happy to chat with you about this). The newly discovered planet was designated by 19th century progressive astrologers to rule Aquarius, hitherto under the rulership of Saturn, the planet also associated with Capricorn. And so in astrological thought, Aquarian themes of freedom, progress, innovation and modernity came to be associated with the planet Uranus and vice versa … these themes also tie in with the themes of the 11th house. In popular culture, I encountered these Aquarian, Uranian themes as a child, most specifically spelled out by The Fifth Dimension song, Aquarius, miraculously accessible in my parental home on the far side of the earth through the modern technology of radio and TV. There is a great live performance of this song in the documentary Summer of Soul. It actually moved me to tears.
This Halloween we don’t have a Full Moon … the Last Quarter Moon is in fact in Virgo, making a harmonious trine to Uranus in Taurus. Pleasant surprises may be more on the menu this year than they were one year ago -- let's hope so.
However, on November 4, there will be a New Moon at 12 degrees of Scorpio. I don’t care to be an alarmist, but the Sun and Moon will conjoin in the darkest sky of the month exactly opposite Uranus at 12 degrees of Taurus. New Moons are always a time of new beginnings, but there cannot be a new beginning without a preceding ending. The proof of this is everywhere. Halloween originated in the Celtic festival known as Samhain, which heralded the last harvest of autumn. Halfway between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice, the date is perched on the precipice of the beginning of the end. In the northern hemisphere, the days now grow unquestionably shorter and colder. During the period following Samhain, the veil between life on earth and a place to which we might transition after death was said to be at its thinnest. This supposition can be found in many cultures and is reflected to this day around the world, most extravagantly in the USA where over $10 billion is spent on Halloween as children and adults alike create ghoulish costumes.
Getting back to Uranus and Halloween of 2020, I've decided to share a very personal anecdote. Halloween came and went, I didn’t venture out because we weren’t venturing out back in 2020 if we could help it. November 1, still under the light of this Full Moon, slow Uranus having not even moved a minute, I was lying on the couch doing something Uranian on my laptop (that is, using the utterly Aquarian internet), thinking about how the Full Blue Moon in Taurus hadn't bothered me, and my laptop somehow slid down my thighs where it was propped, hit me on the chin and popped out my four lower front teeth, instantly turning me into a day after Halloween toothless hag. Clean, swift, painless, life changing. In my Uranian shock, I laughed, thinking thoughts such as, at least I don’t appear in public without a mask, and at least I don’t have any saxophone gigs. And thanks to Aquarian principles of friendship (my Aquarius best friend is helpful and practical and got me to a dentist lickety split) and technology, and with a little help from Jupiter, I soon had new teeth. But the whole episode left me bowing down to Uranus, and also wondering why witches are depicted as toothless. A www search for the answer to this question left me in the dark. I’m honestly curious, so if you know, please share your enlightenment.
Hang on to your teeth this Scorpio New Moon. Uranus, the planet which shows up again and again as I use timing techniques to reflect upon major turning points of my life (I'm happy to chat with you about how this plays out for you) will be boldly opposing the lunation. One of my teachers, paraphrasing CJ Jung, suggested that every planet just wants to be expressed. So on some level, I encourage all of us to acknowledge Uranus. There are many ways to do so. I like practicing mudras (yogic hand positions) which incorporate the Uranus finger! (Please Google). But Uranus in our charts points to ways in which we are unique, idiosyncratic, or even eccentric. I heard the word "peculiar" mentioned repeatedly in relation to Uranus, and I find that word quite appealing. We're all peculiar in various ways, and Uranus wants us to feel free to express these tendencies, as long as they don't harm anyone else.
And in the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy the remainder of your Scorpio season to the sounds of my Scorpio Days Plutonian Nights Zodiac Soundtrack. Carried away, unable to stop, I invariably add to these soundtracks as the month goes along, so the more you listen, the longer the Zodiac Soundtrack grows.
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