The big news this month is the inauguration of the Jupiter-Uranus cycle. On April 18th – 26th, they conjoin, overlapping in the sky. But the conjunction has meaning beyond that single transit.
A conjunction is the beginning of something. When planets meet up in the sky, it’s less a singular event than a starting gun: a cycle is being launched. The days around April 20th mark the birth of a decade-and-a-half-long teaching, one that blends what Jupiter is about (progress, reform) with what Uranus is about (unknown territory).
Both planets are symbols of freedom. Both disdain the ordinary. Each tries to open us up, by taking us away from complacency and confinement. But whereas Jupiter (foreign experience) propels us into worlds that are at least somewhat relatable, Uranus (alien experience) confronts us with worlds that are radically different from what we’re used to.
Jupiter is an American traveling to Europe. Uranus is a rocket to outer space.
Alien territory
Jupiter,”the greater benefic”, carries the presumption of positive change. Consider the feisty cachet
that used to be associated with the term “modernism”. Think of the sunny optimism of “The Jetsons.” Wherever it resides, Jupiter encourages us to leave our old ways, by promising that we and our society will find improvement beyond the horizon.
Although our current politics have weaponized the term “progressive,” progress (Jupiter) used to be universally presumed to be a worthy societal goal.
Transits of Uranus, on the other hand, have always been met with more ambivalence, and it is no wonder. Uranus pushes us so far beyond our old ways that we may not even have a reference point for where we end up.
Imagine the mixture of excitement, awe and terror the Wright Brothers must have felt, when their flying machine lifted off the ground at Kitty Hawk (Uranus was conjunct the Sun that day).
Uranus is the propulsive force of change, urgent and impersonal. It is an outer planet, and, unlike Jupiter, it has no benefic/ malefic designation. We may not even know for years afterwards how to evaluate what a Uranus transit has brought us.
Material world
Uranus speeds things up, and Jupiter provokes ethical questions. Case in point: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus [Uranus], a tale of moral and technological hubris, appeared at the conjunction of 1818.
When these two planets conjoin every 14 years, they accelerate societal advances already afoot. This time round, they’re in Taurus, the sign of the material world, of which money is the quintessential symbol.
The last time the conjunction was in this sign, in 1941, Rosie the Riveter was inching the Western world a little closer to equal pay for equal work. This time, Universal Basic Income is a flash point.
And money is being Uranized: fully abstracted by the digital revolution. Over the course of this Taurus cycle, we can expect coins, paper bills and credit cards to be hurried along towards extinction. Instruments of value — historically, gold, salt or spice; now, silicon numbers on a screen — will take a flying leap free from the physical realm.
Reckless thrills
How might the Jupiter-Uranus transit play out on a personal level? Its location in your chart tells the tale.
Convictions have a lot of juice right now. If you feel a
reckless thrill attached to some project — be it intellectual, interpersonal, job-related or deeply introspective — you’re on the right track. You may be feeling an urge to venture boldly where you have not gone before. That prickly excitement is a signal from the body-mind-spirit, telling you that an important growth spurt is beginning.
But as with all leaps forward, this one should be handled with care. Check your parachute before you jump.
