HERE COME THE WARRIORS FOR TRUTH AND FREEDOM

One by one, six planets are steadily marching into the sign of Aries:  Uranus, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, the Sun, the Moon.  These six planets, lined up like a phalanx of warriors, will receive two powerful triggers on April 3^rd.  Just as the New Moon becomes exact that day, Mars moves into a precise conjunction with Uranus.  The New Moon is the herald of new beginnings and Mars typically uses its fire to light a fuse.

The fact that the six don’t come in peace is reinforced by their position, arrayed in opposition to Saturn—the planet of authority and the status quo—and square Pluto—the Lord of the Underworld and the planet of transformation.  What they are set to destroy are the obstacles to truth and freedom.  Many of us will feel the push to not only take a stand, but to act upon that stance.

Truth and freedom are particularly the concerns of Jupiter and Uranus, who will be shoving against Saturn and Pluto for liberation from the outworn past.  For the rebels in the Middle East, the momentum of events will swing in their favor at this time.  Victory will not come easily.  Indeed, those in power will become more ruthless before justice ultimately prevails.  But it is against those who have been in power too long, and have acted too much to their own advantage, that ALL of us need to proceed.

Revolutionary fervor isn’t the only force insisting on an outlet.  Uranus rules uranium, Pluto rules plutonium, and they are square.  April could easily bring an entirely new nuclear incident, or a final, fatal meltdown within Japan’s reactors might occur.  With or without such an event, however, anger about the consequences of nuclear power will mobilize a growing storm of opposition, of world citizens demanding accountability. 

Speaking of storms, Uranus is their ruler, especially of electrical storms.  On April 4^th, the day after the other triggers occur, Neptune enters the water sign of Pisces for the first time in 165 years.  Given the stresses on the two planets, we can expect some wild weather—specifically, increased storm activity and sudden flooding.

Uranus brings eruptions; Pluto represents the depths of the earth; Saturn is the ground, rock, and mountains.  These three planets will be in the most tense of formations—a t-square.  So new eruptions from deep within the earth—volcanoes, earthquakes—are likely to rumble to life throughout April as Mars marches through Aries and lights a fire under each of the other planets on the way.

On the sidelines of all this upheaval, Mercury will have just turned retrograde, sextile Neptune, on March 30^th.  Venus will move into a sextile with Pluto.  The intent of these quieter aspects is to utilize the upheaval to rethink our direction, to reorient toward deeper values, and to search for inspiration.  Neptune in Pisces (April 4^th) is idealistic and appeals to our higher selves.  We must become better than we have been, more loving, more compassionate.  The last time Neptune was in Pisces was before the Civil War—years that saw a peak in the abolition movement and a recognition of just how imperative the principles of justice and equality are.

To say that April will be an interesting month is an understatement, and especially for those of us born in a cardinal sign—Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn.  ‘Interesting’ isn’t necessarily my favorite word.  I’m always mindful of the ancient Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.”  However, the crises of Uranus serve to awaken our humanity, while Neptune—in Pisces for the next 17 years—guides us along a more promising path.

URANUS IN ARIES: SETTING THE WORLD ON FIRE

Eighty-four years ago, Uranus entered the fire sign of Aries.  The huge mid-section of the United States known as the Great Plains slowly dried out during a prolonged drought.  The topsoil loosened and lifted so that by the time Uranus left Aries, seven years later, the fertile part of the land simply blew away, carried on giant windstorms.  The Great Plains became the Dust Bowl, the banks foreclosed on farms, and the farmers became the Great Depression’s migrant workers—driven off their land and hitting the road for California with all their possessions in tow.

On March 11^th, 2011, Uranus enters Aries again, for the first time since then.  The next seven years are likely to be a time of excessive heat, drought, and fires.  Because Uranus will be square Pluto in Capricorn, much of the upheaval it creates will come from deep within the earth—earthquakes and eruptions.  Man-made upheavals—the revolutions we are already seeing—will probably become more violent, consistent with the warrior nature of Aries. 

Presumably, the United States is now better equipped to deal with natural disasters than it was during the Depression.  After all, a lot of safety nets were built into our society in response to the suffering of the 1930’s.  In addition, we’ve learned a great deal about conserving the land and, in the near future, Uranus in Aries should bring pioneering breakthroughs in science and technology.

Last time around, Uranus was also square Pluto, but Pluto was in Cancer.  So the destruction was to the homeland, the heart of America (which, after all, is a Cancer nation, born on the 4^th of July).  With Pluto in Capricorn, much of the destruction will be to the institutions and rules of society, to governmental authority—and to the bedrock of the land.  We might also see a reversal of the direction of some wars, for good or ill.

Currently, a systematic dismantling of the safety nets by certain political factions is underway, as well as a willful disregard of the lessons of human suffering from the past.  The coming unrest and upheaval, symbolized by Uranus in Aries, are bound to be directed at those in governmental and financial institutions (Capricorn) who threaten the wellbeing of the people.  Uranus is the planet of equality and brotherhood and pushes to attain these ideals.

Capricorn not only represents the structures of society, but as an earth sign, it also symbolizes the most solid natural structures of the land, so Pluto will bring upheaval from the Earth’s depths.  How devastating all of this will be depends on how quickly we can reverse course regarding destructive policies, and how quickly we can embrace the idea that we’re all in this together. 

The Great Depression wasn’t the end of the world (though it must have seemed like it), and this period won’t be, either.  But the next seven years will be a very great test of our character, our will, and our humanity.  Let’s buck up, locate our courage, and join hands to work for the common good.