F E B R U A R Y   2 0 0 3   F E A T U R E   A R T I C L E

by Maya del Mar

(Before you begin to read this article, read General Influences in this issue of Daykeeper. It would also be helpful to read About Aquarius in the archives.)

How does Uranus act?

Uranus rules Aquarius. Aquarius is where you learn to be independent. Uranus is the next planet out from Saturn, and to reach it, you break through Saturn’s rings of earth laws and culture laws. You break free to find your own unique identity, and your own destiny in the larger universe. You cut the umbilical cord.

To do this, you need to develop detachment. And doing it helps you to develop detachment. Uranus is the ruling planet of Aquarius, and Uranus insists that we be independent. It helps us to change situations and relationships, or to see them in new ways, so that we can gradually break free of these bonds of familiarity which hold us in thrall.

Uranus can be like a bolt out of the blue, disrupting the status quo, so that we must change. It can separate us from outdated situations. It can suddenly catapult us into brand new circumstances. It can destroy those things nearest and dearest to us. It can be an agent of dispersal. It can be a source of inventions for new ways of doing things. Uranus is a rule-breaker.

In some manner Uranus transits are always exciting, because they open new horizons. But they are not always comfortable, because Uranus can rip us away from known security, or rip the veils from our illusions. I used to wonder why those famously benefic Jupiter transits were so often heart-breaking for me. I finally realized that in my chart, Jupiter conjoins Uranus and thus always carries that Uranian influence of separation.

The goal of Uranus’ work is truth, clarity, and "enlightenment." As we become more and more separate from the personal, we learn to encompass a wider and wider perspective.

For the past seven years, we’ve all been experiencing a double whammy of Aquarian energy, i.e., Uranus traveling through its own sign of Aquarius. Starting next month, Uranus will begin testing the waters of Pisces. Before we start predicting that trip, let’s take a look at some of the results of these last years of Uranus in Aquarius.

And before we do that, let’s take a quick look at how Uranus has accomplished its goals of separation during its last two transits through Aquarius.

The two prior transits of Uranus through Aquarius show drastic changes in daily life.

Uranus traveled through Aquarius from 1913-1920. Those were the years of WW1, when all of Europe, including Russia, was at war. The Russian Bolshevik Revolution occurred then, with enormous dislocation inside Russia. The Balkan countries were adjusting to new borders with the finish of the Balkan Wars. Some of the other revolutions were the Turkish Revolution, the Arabian Revolution, and the revolution in Mexico. The Turks massacred one and half million Armenians. Sun Yat-Sen began his rebellion in China. The Balfour Declaration, in which Britain authorized the creation of Israel, was issued.

This is the tip of the iceberg of world conflict during this period. Countries, borders, rulers, power, and people moved and changed enormously. We are still dealing with the disruptive ramifications of that time.

Science made giant leaps, again sowing seeds for much of what is developing today in science. Einstein developed relativity theory, Niels Bohr proposed a "solar system" model of atomic structure, Earnest Rutherford discovered the proton. And again, this is the tip of the scientific iceberg.

A massive flu epidemic occurred, spreading throughout the world, and killing 25 to 50 million people.

A Red Scare took hold of the U.S. government. The government passed drastic anti-espionage laws, and came down hard on suspects. Isolationism set in. The U.S. refused to join the League of Nations, even though its president, Woodrow Wilson, had proposed it.

Many, many developments, discoveries, and inventions which radically changed lives occurred during the years 1913-1920.

The prior transit of Uranus through Aquarius was from 1828-1835. A spirit of reform was sweeping the world. Many nations abolished slavery, and the Abolitionist movement began to take hold in the United States. The Indian Removal Act pushed all native Americans west of the Mississippi. Many of the tribes fought this dislocation. There were movements in favor of temperance, women’s suffrage, and educational reform. Our two-party system developed then.

Have we made a step in "leaving home?"

Indeed. No matter where in the world we live, none of us have the security of home that we did even a decade ago—whether it be location, nation, culture, worldview, basic necessities, sustainability, safety, infrastructure, or simply the harmonious living which we felt in the past.

Aquarius has insisted that we cut our umbilical cords in almost every way. We no longer feel secure, even in what we have considered to be this last bastion of security, the United States. We are detached from the comforts, the good life, and the insularity which we have taken for granted.

Worldwide, there are millions of refugees, no longer with homes. Even in the United States, welfare cutoffs have left millions of families struggling on their own, many without homes.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict is changing the land and the identity of the people, as well as destroying their security. This is also true in Colombia, where the U.S. works to protect its oil interests.

Fear of terrorism is endemic, even in the United States. We’ve had an explosion in the Federal Bldg. in Oklahoma City, and destruction of the World Trade Towers. Might we not consider the World Trade Towers as a symbol? Especially since there have been hundreds, probably thousands, of demonstrations, with millions of people participating, against the World Trade Organization during this time?

Nuclear development, which poisons us and the earth for billions of years, has become acceptable.

Nuclear energy has been a big issue during these seven years. As soon as Uranus entered Aquarius, the U.S. resumed reprocessing nuclear fuel. And now, at the end of this period, the U.S. is poised to use nuclear weapons, in the Middle East and wherever they choose. The nation has, in fact, spread depleted—but radioactive—uranium throughout Iraq during the Gulf War, and now in Afghanistan, poisoning the earth for billions of years.

Yes, we’re doing quite a thorough job of separating ourselves from Mother Earth.

Mother Earth is speaking up, and the rapidity of the global warming process is awesome. In Alaska whole forests are sinking into the melting permafrost, in the Arctic polar bears find themselves stranded because the ice around them has melted, in Antarctica huge pieces of the Larsen Ice Shelf are breaking off, and in the seas species niches are changing rapidly.

The World Trade Organization has developed as a world government. It can now, and has, ordered the U.S. to lower its clean air standards, because those standards inhibit "free trade." Detachment has gone very far, indeed.

The present Administration seeks the exemption of all nature protection on "national security" grounds.

Uranus likes science and invention, and Aquarius encourages it.

The United States is tuned into invention and "progress." Its natal moon is in Aquarius, with an easy connection to Uranus. However, Mars is also part of the equation, and much of the U.S. inventiveness is focused on weapons, particularly during this last decade. Missile "defense" has been a very important weapon, and is written into U.S. plans for the domination of space. Development has proceeded apace.

President Clinton announced the U.S. use of nuclear retaliation against the use of chemical or biological weapons in December of 1997, when Uranus sextiled Pluto.

Natural birth is no longer the only way of reproducing in mammals. Cloning is beginning, and cloning of a human has been announced. What does it mean to be human?

Astronomers are making great strides in understanding the universe.

As Uranus entered Aquarius, two new planets were discovered. Many more have since been found. Galaxies are also being discovered, as well as anti-matter. Black Holes are confirmed, and it is confirmed that at the center of our galaxy is a huge Black Hole. Jupiter has become a star. It was explored and reported on by the probe Galileo. And most of us watched as 21 pieces of Comet Shoemaker pierced Jupiter.

Health is threatened.

Pollution and radiation are degrading the health of all life, and the planet itself. And we do have our pandemic health crisis—AIDS. There are "new" plagues like Ebola, and resurgences of once-quelled plagues like TB and malaria, The security of good health is not nearly as firm as it once was.

Financial conditions are worsening.

When Uranus entered Aquarius in 1995, the dollar began to fall, and the economy has been more or less sliding since. Our financial security is going. This is another way of detaching from known security. Now, as we near the end of this transit, financial indicators look bleak.

As does the fate of corporations. Many of them are beginning to have their fraudulent practices exposed. With others, their exploitation of people and of the earth are seeding rebellions—both direct, and in the form of economic boycotts. Corporations are no longer the safe havens which they once were. Many thousands have had their retirement nests crudely swept away.

Corporations have destroyed many of the small farms and businesses which were once people’s secure way of life. Many have been forced to work as peons on corporate farms, or flee to the alienation and problems of big cities.

Even our food is no longer something we can depend on to nourish us. Corporations are trying to highjack the food chain, with combined use of chemicals and genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is filled with promise and conflict.

Do we see signs of the vaunted Aquarian democracy?

We do. Democracy is returning to Latin America, and in the U.S., the tiny Green Party is a growing force. People all over the world are demonstrating and speaking up for their rights.

All of our hallowed institutions are crumbling, even up to the very top of the nation.

Our current president was selected, not elected. And he was selected by the political machinations of Florida’s state government and of the Supreme Court, which did not act in impartial justice.

The majority of Congresspeople, as well as the people at the top in the Federal government, have been bought by corporations. We can no longer trust them to do the will of people. Consequently, only a small percentage of the electorate votes.

The Catholic church is being sabotaged from within, through widespread sexual abuse by its priests. Just in the Boston Archdiocese, hundreds of perpetrators are now being uncovered.

What about war?

We have had a war on the poor, which began with a bang with the Welfare Act of 1996, signed by Pres. Clinton. Since then, real wages have gone down for everyone, and especially for the poor. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been cut. Education costs have risen astronomically. Health care has become super expensive, and difficult to get as well.

And of course there is the war on terror, which may never end, according to GW Bush—certainly not the way he’s approaching it. This is, in large part, a war on the rule of law, both international and domestic. The American people’s cherished political institutions, such as the Bill of Rights, are simply being done away with. Many protections of privacy are also going into the paper shredder. Being a private person, with civil rights, is fast disappearing in the United States, the country of freedom. This is particularly so for immigrants.

Indeed, many of our security props have disappeared, or finished disappearing, during this transit of Uranus through Aquarius.

We are left with our computers, our cell phones, our televisions, and our automobiles—as long as we have power, which has become undependable, and gasoline, which is threatened.

We do have friends and family, and we have our connection to our higher self, ultimately our only true security. This is the enlightenment which Aquarius teaches.

So, what will Uranus in Pisces do with this residue of Aquarius’ social isolation? We get to find out by being on the spot, like a star reporter. We have seven years to experience it, and you can read my writing about it beginning with the March Daykeeper.

Pisces is a sign of unification, and we do need it.