Uranus in Aries and the Lunar Nodes: Time for a Change of Focus

One of the most direct indicators of societal shifts—the Lunar Nodes—are changing signs on March 3 at 12:38 (UT/+0). Since August 2010, the Nodes have been slowly counting down through Capricorn and Cancer’s first decanates (degrees 0 through 9) with the North Node in Capricorn and the South Node in Cancer.

As signs, Capricorn and Cancer are a polarity about life’s basic constructs. Capricorn is the “worldly” or public end here, being all about structures upon and around which we build our lives. Thus we associate Capricorn with achievement, career, government and our “place” (position) in the world.  Against this we have Cancer—the polarity’s personal end. Cancer is all about home, family and homeland, culture, upbringing and heritage—and beyond that, our innermost sense of Self and all the many ways (habits, likes/dislikes, etc.) we describe our built-up sense of life.

Where the Aries/Libra polarity describes what we do in this world and how we go about doing it (I’m strong, I’m dynamic, I’m caring), Capricorn/Cancer is more of an internal/external identity (“I’m a dad,” “I’m an Australian,” “I’m a scientist”).

Since it moved into Capricorn in late August 2009, the North Node has symbolized all those things we knew we should (and needed to) deal with, attend to, or fix. The degree of difficulty and breakdowns or social disagreement, debate, contentiousness or difficulty we’ve encountered during this period were supposed to clue us in not only as to what we needed to do to get along in this world, but where we needed to do some personal growing in order to be better equipped to get what we want from this world.

However… against this we had the South Node—representing all the many things we preferred to do! And even if you just think of Cancer as our habits and personal likes/dislikes, add that to the South Node’s tendency to always want us to do what we like and not necessarily what we should do—and you have a heck of a recipe for personal stubbornness. Or if you prefer, reluctance. Or maybe even nostalgia, except in this case, those “good old days” would have been greatly about not wanting to make any effort to evolve with changing times.

As a whole, this would have turned into various personal versions of that good old debate of Fate versus Free Will. The Nodes make it pretty plain how often enough fate is merely all that free will we can’t be bothered to get around to making ourselves do or deal with!

Given that transits and placements reflect the energies of an  E=mc² contiguous universe, the aim of which is to prompt growth not just for today but for next week, next year, next decade, next century (etc.), one would hope deprivations/problems would prompt us to gear up and tackle tasks—if not for the benefit of others, then at least for our own sake! But alas…if North/South Node cycles have taught us anything over time, it’s that human tendency is to do exactly the opposite. The harder things get, the more people tend to want to protect what they have. They pull back. They dig in.

It’s a pretty interesting human deviation from what seems the natural process of life. After a growing season ends in harvest, then comes a period of biological rest and bio-recuperation. So it is in our world: things sprout, then grow, then mature, reach their peak and in time, whither and pass away.

And when this die-back happens, does nature go “OMG! No foliage! Quick—hoard every seed!”? Of course not! Nature spends its resources in reseeding. Far from being “protective,” it invests huge amounts of energy in regeneration, sprouting and early growth.

Meanwhile people pull back. We deepen our winter by bundling up and digging in. Instinct, we say. Yes, and a very Cancer instinct at that one would think, considering how Cancer’s totem emblem is the crab, and whether in tide pools or reefs, crabs are notorious for disappearing back into their holes as soon as danger threatens.

This is not to say we should all go out and try to be Great White Sharks, never backing down. Heavens no! But to some extent, the basic concept of whether to put in the effort or take the easy (or easiest) way out is always Lunar North/South Node-ish, on top of which, with this last couple of years having had the Nodes transiting Capricorn and Cancer, we’ve gotten very protective.

And now we ask ourselves … should we have been? The Nodes—which move backwards through the signs—entered Capricorn and Cancer’s first decanate (degrees 0 through 9) back in September 2010. The first decan is where a sign manifests in “basic” form and greatly through physicality and action, and that’s where questions really centered from that time to this.

Pluto was already in Capricorn (making this a time of structural and worldly/public changes), there was a January Solar Eclipse in Capricorn, and then Saturn (ruler of Capricorn) went retrograde, setting off turmoil in the Middle East, shootings in Mexico, another shooting in Arizona involving not just an American Congressperson (Capricorn = government) but also bystanders (Cancer = citizenry).

In the US, as abroad, great debates regarding “entitlement” welled up and sent people in the streets. For some it was a matter of the “ruling classes,” and for others it was about the “rules” which govern pensions—and any time you refer to the word “rule” you’re talking about Capricorn. And that it was citizens being for or against any given rule or ruler or ruling—that was the Nodes counting down to the end of the Capricorn/Cancer transit.

The closer we get to zero, particularly with Lunar Nodes, the more and more basic things get. In this case, it was our identity with life and as part of this world: Capricorn/Cancer. And all came down to life and death—human, financial and national. It hardly gets any more basic.

Since the Nodes do cycle backward, they enter a sign at degree 29…the astrological reflection of “critical mass” sort of energy across the board. The Nodal cycle works in reverse, so the fervency of its having “stripped everything down to bare basics” is what they come in with. Lunar Node shifts can thus be expected to be a pretty fervent time.

What we know about 29 degrees (of any sign) beyond its intensity is that it’s also an “external/externalized” degree. It represents things we don’t control, but which we react to or deal with. Life happens (or as they say in geology, silt happens…) and we react, respond and go from there.

In this case, the North Node is moving into Sagittarius as the South lunar Node is moving into Gemini. Together, these signs are a polarity about making a choice and following it through, complete with stubbed toes and frustrations, making corrections and learning better along the way. Optimally, that’s the thing to do now, and moving forward.

But let’s be realistic…a lot of us are very into doing what we like and pointing the fingers at others, pointing out their flaws while doing very little about our own! That’s one thing Sagittarius tends to do very well—Sagittarius, like all fire signs, being expert at envisioning ideals and getting disappointed when reality isn’t so idyllic!

So to have the “should do” North Node in Sagittarius…does that mean we should be pointing out flaws? Well, yes. But only if we remember that the North Node always requires effort—not just finger-pointing!

What we tend to do is break North and South Node apart—and that may be our biggest astrological misconception. Just as opposing signs are part of a unified polarity, the North and South Lunar Nodes are best when we work with them as a continuum which leads to a greater unity.

So while the South Node traverses Gemini we can expect a bucketload of endless talking, planning, discussions and making up of elaborate excuses as to why we haven’t gotten in gear. But the far better choice will be to find that which we understand and have an aptitude for as a starting point (South Node in Gemini), which we then develop and carry through come what may—learning more about it, ourselves and how “the thing” and the world in general works as we go along.

The last thing to note about this Nodal shift is that while the full orbit of the Nodes is 18.6 years long (which should mean Node take about two and a half years to move through any given sign), in this case the Nodes change signs now—in March—and change signs yet again in August 2012. And any way you slice that, it isn’t even close to two years, nevermind two and a half years!

Does this mean we should look sharp, think quick and hop to things? Maybe so. Or maybe it means that events now are going to be fast moving and involve a lot of changes? Yes—and maybe both things will prove true!

Moreover, it’s not just the Lunar Nodes which are signaling life changes. Having moved into 29 Pisces—the last degree of the sign and the current zodiac round—as of February 22 (2011), Uranus will enter Aries on March 12 at 53 minutes past midnight (UT/+0).

Now…! Wherever Uranus is, that’s where destabilization happens, as Uranus is a symbol of innovation, discoveries, breakthroughs, instability, avoidance, things unexpected, destruction, surprises and (yes…!) change. And Uranus doesn’t just symbolize the occurrence—it also represents the energy invested in whatever happens, or that which results from whatever happens.

So Uranus is entering Aries, and Aries is our conception of Existing. Not existence as in being part of the world around us (or that said world exists) but existing—the essence of being. Aries is about the “now” of life, the moment and the recognition. It’s our physical being. So as Uranus enters Aries, it will rattle our sense of being. And since Uranus is going to be in Aries’ first and most physical, personal, experiential and experimental decanate into the year 2013, that gives us a good long time to get more in touch with ourselves and what we are and aren’t capable of. Or maybe how we are or aren’t using ourselves…our physical being or our “being-ness” all that well. Or maybe extremely well! Things may well happen now which change your entire life. Even if you’re not into changing anyone, things are likely to change.

In fact, those who aren’t looking to change or who aren’t craving new opportunities are likely to feel Uranus more than most. When we work with/for Uranian innovation, life gets interesting, exciting and invigorating. When we resist Uranian change, life disrupts us and breaks up our status quo.

Given that Uranus will be wholly in Aries’ first decanate between now and August 2012 when the Nodes shift signs again, we can challenge ourselves to get out there and do something (in spite of all the effort it takes) or we can have life throw challenges and roadblocks at us. It’s as simple … and as confusing … as that!

A little more sign theory here. Aries, Sagittarius and Gemini are all yang signs. So the Nodes (North and South) and Uranus are all moving into signs which promote being proactive. Sagittarius has a wee little bit of reactive/responsive nature to it because in the “natural” zodiac its part of the western hemisphere, but that’s well understood as being part of the Sagittarius “trial-and-error/try, try again!” mantra. Sagittarius does ask that we try and that we be willing to make a few flubs so we learn from our errors.

North Node in Sag to Uranus in Aries is a trine. Trines are ongoing energies. So those who are in the process of trying to make something happen or change their life are definitely assisted by this transit, bumpy though the road may still be at times!

Uranus to South Node is a sextile…so how about breaking out of your mold? New ideas and changing things up and getting out of old habits—particularly old mental habits—is a plus!

Uranus to North Node a ninth house harmonic, suggesting that the best thing we can do is expand our horizons, reinvent our world through exploration and being willing to in some way, “live a new life.”

Looking back over the past eight years of Uranus in Pisces, we’ve seen a lot of heartaches, escapism and emotional acting out of various kinds. Everyone felt like things weren’t “what they’re supposed to be” and everyone has their own quirky (Uranian) solution. Given that Pisces is a sign which learns about life through emotional experiences, whether we were disrupted or elated, we probably learned a lot. In fact, considering human nature, the hard parts were probably the most educational!

But this would also have been about a greater Pisces process which seeks to strip us of our ego defenses (so we can be available to having faith in others) and to a great extent, ego—which may stand us in very good stead now that Uranus is in Aries, sign of the I-AM-ME-EGO self. Hopefully, through Uranus-in-Pisces “shakeups,” we all became more realistic with ourselves, and thus with each other. Hopefully we lost some of the ego defensiveness which either made us out to be “all that” or “nothing/nobody” with all the attendant shame, envy and comparing ourselves to others stuff. Hopefully we’ve learned that when we drop the ego defense/wall-of-pretense, that’s when we can actually get to a place where we can afford to try new things because we’re comfortable with not being “perfect” all the time.

At its best, Uranus in Aries is a time when we reinvent our notion of what’s possible. In the destruction of our self image comes the freeing of our power and our abilities—and thus our best chance to harness our potential, growing ever more confident as we “create” success through offering, displaying, revealing new parts of ourselves to others, prompting the sorts of reactions and responses which feed our process.

We are the seed. And Uranus is telling us that we have arrived at a new personal spring.

This shift takes our learning not to be afraid of life. The “die-back” of societal hard times and cold markets affords us time and space for restocking and that internal reorganization which prepares us for new growth. When we aren’t willing to risk the new, that failure limits what we can be, have and become. And when enough people become afraid, it becomes not the world which is “freezing us out,” it’s our fear of life which is stunting our opportunities and possibilities.

Fortunately for us, the universe is far bigger than we are. When and where we resist, evolution rejected becomes revolution enacted. Moving forward, we have the chance to opt to put forth shoots of new growth in a thousand different arenas. And if we don’t, life will just dig us up and shake us loose of that big dirt clod we’re clinging to in our head, heart, bank account or however else!

You are who you are. What you’re going to become, you can choose or have inspired. Uranus in Aries is the energy of social dynamics being brought into our individual lives. The Nodes in Sagittarius and Gemini ask us not to think of ourselves as “just one person” but as someone who counts.

Most of all in our own mind.

Boots Hart, CAP

Boots Hart is an ISAR-certified astrologer of 30 years’ experience, with some 20 years as a magazine and online columnist.

Writer by habit and philosopher by bent (some say very bent…), Boots is a metaphysical science geek spiritualist—a person as inspired by the workings of time/space as touched by the often painful adventures of mankind. Through writings public and private, her aim is to use astrology as cipher, helping us understand. Can we learn how to live a happier life? What does that take? Why are the times as they are? These are the questions. And that answers can be gleaned from cosmic cycles and the reflections of those in our lives? That would seem to be part of our journey—the one path we all take and walk together.

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