Uranus square Pluto: 2012 to 2015

Uranus and Pluto are going to square each other (i.e. be exactly 90° apart) seven times starting in 2012 and ending in 2015. Between those times, and probably for a good time afterwards, serious astrologers will be interpreting the alignment. As a person born under the Uranus-Pluto conjunction and with (arguably) seven squares in my horoscope, I thought it apt to share my thoughts.

Even before we reached the first exact hit, the themes of the Uranus-Pluto square are evident. Time Magazine, because of the demonstrations in both the middle east and the west, made “The Protestor” the person of the year; Uranus and Pluto share an antipathy to the status quo. Then there is what is happening in Syria and Egypt.

Richard Tarnas in his book Cosmos and Psyche discusses the nature of Uranus-Pluto symbolism best: “widespread radical social and political change and often destructive upheaval, massive empowerment of revolutionary and rebellious impulses, intensified artistic and intellectual creativity, unusually rapid technological advance, an underlying spirit of restless experiment, drive for innovation, urge for freedom in many realms, revolt against oppression, embrace of radical political philosophies, and [an] intensified collective will to bring forth a new world.”

Well it better. Never has the world been in greater need of change. We need remedies to the multi-environmental crisis and the unequal wealth and resources distribution both within nations and between continents. We need new solutions and new answers and we certainly need a new world consciousness in people most able to bring about global change. 2012 has an ominous ring, largely because of well-known end of the long count of the Mayan calendar on December 21, 2012. Predictions were made in 2011 that the world was ending but so far, it’s still here. I think we need to assume that the world will continue to be here: the question is whether it will be a world in which human beings can survive.

One of the square’s keywords is crisis. Unlike the  opposition where two sides pull against each other, the square aspect is more like two principles trying to occupy the same space at the same time. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a transpersonal planet in the individualistic signs: Uranus in Aries is like the young (Aries) armed with social technology (Uranus). It is battling with rotting (Pluto) hierarchical social orders (Capricorn) for who is going to run the show. But the key of unlocking the inherent dynamism of the square is to pull the principles apart and use both ends towards the same goal: both sides must learn to respect each other and generate productive change rather than violent or paralyzing crisis. It’s a matter of respect for both sides while being traffic cop and keeping them apart.

Uranus-Pluto is playing out in all our horoscopes: we are all being called to reject surrendering to the apocalyptic feeling that doom and gloom are already our fate and drive change where we can. In some ways, it’s a cop-out to worry too much about the state of the world: what we should be focusing on is our own spheres of influence. It really is all we have to work with. In what may appear like small ways, we can have an effect. We can change our ways about the products we buy and how we manage them after they have served their purpose. We can support the causes we see as most fundamental to improving our world with our resources and our time. To the people we know who aren’t astrologers, we can spread the consciousness that the next few years are a window in which the stars are aligned to best make dynamic change in themselves and in the world. Fortunately we are not alone; many on our planet without astrology to guide them are already deep in the struggle. What we can do is to find the courage within ourselves to more deeply enter the fray.