Astrology For January ~ A Fresh Start & A New Promise

Welcome to 2011!

Early January sees two big celestial events coinciding ~ An Eclipsed New Moon in Capricorn and a Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Pisces, both on the 4^th. 

I always think the Capricorn New Moon is the start to the New Year proper. New Moons are seeding times, when we can  ‘plant’ our  intentions and watch them grow. Therefore, if you do have any New Year’s resolutions, start them at this New Moon, when the sky provides an extra dose of discipline and determination to help you on your way. The New Moon squares Saturn in Libra, but before you get depressed at that thought, remember that Saturn is exulted – happy – in the sign of Libra. Use the positive New Moon energies wisely, be patient and you are sure to get your rewards in time. In fact, make a note to check back in on those resolutions around the time of the Aries Equinox in March, which is the beginning of the astrological New Year.  

Want some help with your resolutions? See Auntie Moon’s Show Me Your Saturn and I’ll Show You A Resolution You Have To Keep, or for an irreverent look (and a good giggle) see The Radical Virgo's Zodi-Yuks New Years Resolutions. 

That this New Moon is a Solar Eclipse, makes it even more powerful. Eclipses tend to signify endings – something is eclipsed – making space for something new and positive to come in. The Eclipse falls at 13 degrees Capricorn, so you will be particularly affected if you have planets or points in your chart between 11 and 14 degrees Capricorn or Cancer. See my article Working with Eclipses for more on how to track and use Eclipses that fall on important parts in your chart.

The day of the Eclipsed New Moon sees the third and final Jupiter-Uranus conjunction. This conjunction had its first ‘hit’ in June 2010 in fiery Aries ~ bold, seize the initiative energies. This one is in dreamy, inspirational Pisces, at 27 degrees. It’s time to think outside the box (Uranus) and dream big (Jupiter). Yes, Jupiter-Uranus alignments make us feel like anything is possible and that’s true....but to integrate your big dreams with the energies of the Capricorn Eclipse, take some time to plan your ambitious dreams, work out a goal and a strategy and apply a little pragmatic realism and a splash of common sense. This conjunction will be particularly buzzy for you if you have planet or points in your chart in the late degrees of the mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius or Pisces).

Want to know more about how amazing Jupiter-Uranus energies can be? See my article Jupiter-Uranus ~ Science, Discovery and Revolution.

The rest of January’s astro-action:

January 7: Venus – the planet of relationship, giving and our values -  enters generous, enthusiastic Sagittarius. Time to express your affection freely and adventurously.  Venus stays in Sagittarius until February 4.

January 13: Mercury – the planet of communication, thoughts, ideas and connections - enters pragmatic, ambitious Capricorn. Time to re-apply some mental discipline to the goals you set around the Capricorn New Moon. Think realistically, but try to avoid negative thinking. Mercury stays in Capricorn until February 3.

January 15:  Mars – the planet of action, desire and how we assert ourselves – enters independent, individualistic, innovative Aquarius. Time to rebel a little and do things with a ‘twist’. These are great energies for campaigning, reforming and putting ideas into action. Mars stays in Aquarius until February 22.

January 19: Full Moon in Cancer. This Full Moon occurs at 29 Degrees of Cancer.  Interestingly, we ’re having a series of Full Moons at the 29^th and final degree of their sign – October 2010 through February 2011. The last degree of each sign is known as the Anaretic or Critical degree. There’s a sense of urgency about this degree, a need to quickly wrap up any issues to do with the sign involved, because ‘any minute’ the planet involved is changing signs and new energies are about to rush in.

 So what could be urgent about this Full Moon in Cancer? Look towards your home-life balance. Have you got the balance right? Certainly, the Saturn-Pluto energies of last year have seen many of us working very hard and expending so much energy as we battle to cling on to our jobs, incomes and security. The effect this has had on our home family lives could come to light now and we may need to consider whether we’ve got the balance right. While this Full Moon makes us very aware of the need to be financially secure (Capricorn), we also need to remember that emotional security (Cancer) is just as important.

January 20: The Sun moves into friendly, people oriented Aquarius. The creative energy of Capricorn is all about making tangible progress, while staying within the rules, but in Aquarius the creative energies need freedom from rules in order to express themselves.  Aquarius wants to do things in its own way, however eccentric that way may be. A good use of the Aquarius energy is to help others – groups, communities, friends, societies - while at the same time remaining intellectually connected, but emotionally detached.

January 22: Jupiter moves into Aries. We already had a taste of Jupiter in Aries from early June to mid September 2010, after which it retrograded back into Pisces. Now, Jupiter leaves Pisces behind and stays in Aries for the duration. In Aries, growth is found through positive self assertion and self confidence. While Jupiter in Pisces asked us to have faith in life, the universe and everything, Jupiter in Aries takes us back to basics and reminds us to have faith in ourself and act courageously from that point of view. Opportunities are there to be actively grabbed, we can’t just sit and wait for the universe to provide, we have to ask and act. The danger is that we can act too selfishly, recklessly and aggressively with Jupiter in Aries, so we must carry the lesson of Jupiter in Pisces in our hearts and remember to spare a compassionate thought for others as we go for what we want. Put simply, we need to share our winnings, otherwise what’s the point? Enjoy Jupiter in Aries.

January 26: Saturn in Libra stations retrograde. See my article Saturn in Libra Retrograde: Relationship Revision Time for some ideas on how to use the Saturn retrograde energies in a positive way. Saturn remains retrograde until June 13.

I hope you enjoy January, I wish you a happy, healthy, prosperous and joyful 2011.

With love,

Mandi

www.mandilockley.com   

Astrological Review of the Year ~ Part 2

2010 is over…but there’s still time for a quick look back over some of the year's big news stories from an astrological point of view. Some of the stories angered us, some upset us, some awoke our compassion and others served to remind us of the strength and grace of the human spirit.


January to June: Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Oil Spills and Elections


January ~ Earthquake in Haiti

On January 12, at 4.53 local time, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, the epicenter 15 miles WSW of Port-Au-Prince. The earthquake almost totally devastated the capital, which was already suffering from extreme poverty and lack of basic infrastructure. Casualties have been estimated at upwards of 200,000.

Astrologically, the Jupiter-Neptune-Chiron conjunction falls in the 8^th House of the chart for the Earthquake (set for Port-Au-Prince). In previous posts I have associated this triple conjunction with health issues and the resulting health issues from lack of hygiene and overcrowding are unfortunately ongoing, with deaths from cholera and other diseases still claiming many lives almost one year on, with over a million Haitians estimated to be living in unsanitary, overcrowded camps, leaving them vulnerable to increasing violence. As you would expect with the conjunction in the 8^th, the disaster resulted in a huge outpouring of international compassion and monetary aid, but this has not been without scandal (Neptune) with accusations that only a tiny proportion of the aid was released by as late as July.

At the time of the earthquake, Haiti was having its Saturn return and it’s a grim observation that this Saturn return – which was accompanied by the transiting square from Pluto - has led to the country having to completely restructure itself, a long, slow, hard process.  Another indicator of the drama was the lunar eclipse on 31 December 2009, less than two weeks before the earthquake, falling exactly on Haiti’s natal Sun at 10 degrees Capricorn. Additionally, there was a build up of planets in cardinal signs, a phenomena sometimes associated with earthquakes, including Sun, Venus, Mercury, North Node in Capricorn and of course Saturn and Pluto.

For more on the Haiti Earthquake (and to see the charts) see:
Haiti: Astrology of a Disaster by Pathea 
Astrology of Haiti Earthquake by Planet Waves 

April ~ Grounded by Ash, Drowned in Oil

For several months, Iceland’s Mount Eyjafjallajökull had been periodically erupting, but when eruptions resumed on April 14, the resulting cloud of ash grounded most of the air traffic into and out of Europe for almost a week, leaving thousands stranded and disrupting travel worldwide.

Naturally, the volcanic eruption and ensuing crisis correlates with the Saturn-Pluto square, but a closer outer planet alignment (and a part of the same picture) was the last of the Saturn-Uranus oppositions in the mutable signs. Disruption ensued and the status quo was challenged, as our freedom to travel (Uranus) was curtailed (Saturn). Jupiter’s applying conjunction to Uranus only served to expand and exaggerate the problem.

For a more in-depth look see:
Astrology of the Iceland Volcano by Lynn Hayes 
Aviation Shutdown by Jamie Darkstar
Rollan McCleary looks at Iceland’s chart and makes some interesting observations

On April 20, The Deep Water Horizon drilling rig exploded, taking the lives of 11 men. It took BP almost three months to cap the leak, by which time over 5 million barrels of crude oil had flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, causing environmental and economic disaster.

Astrologically, we can look to the Saturn-Pluto square (oil, the rupture of the earth), connecting with the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Aries (science and technology, the call for urgent action, the finger pointing at BP and its CEO Tony Hayward). However, it’s the Neptune and Chiron conjunction in late Aquarius (which was transiting conjunct the Moon of the USA) that really completes the story. The Earth’s very structure (Saturn) was wounded (Chiron) and ruptured deep underground (Pluto in Capricorn) by the oil (Pluto) leaking (Neptune) into the sea (Neptune). Notably, Pluto was conjunct Ceres (Mother Earth).

Astrologer John Wadsworth looks at the charts for the spill, for the USA, for BP and for Tony Hayward and makes some excellent observations in The Astrology of the Gulf Oil Spill 

May ~ Parliament Hangs

On May 6, under a Mercury Retrograde, the UK went to the polls and the result was a hung parliament, which led to what has predictably become a very uneasy coalition government between the right wing Conservatives and mid-centre Liberal Democrats. A few days before the election I looked at the election chart in detail and predicted the coalition government (although between Labour and the Lib-Dems ~ a bit of wishful thinking on my part), but my analysis of the chart stands up pretty well. Read it here:
UK Election Day Chart. 
 
July to December ~ Floods, Riots, Wikileaks, 33 Chilean Miners and a Taste of Freedom

July/August ~ Floods and Blood Diamonds

In July, monsoons brought mass flooding to Pakistan, leaving almost a fifth of the country underwater. Around 2,000 people lost their lives, but the devastation affected over 20 million.

Lara Owen looked at the chart for Pakistan on her blog and observed that its natal Mars at 0 degrees Cancer on the MC, was under assault from the transiting cardinal t-square of Saturn, Uranus and Pluto, forming a moving grand cross in the chart. Not an easy picture, by any means. It’s also worth observing that while the Haiti earthquake led to an outpouring of compassion and aid from around the world, there was a feeling that there was less sympathy for the plight of those in Pakistan when disaster struck there, which not surprisingly angered (Mars) many there.

The War Crime tribunal of Sierra Leone’s former dictator Charles Taylor, hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons after supermodel Naomi Campbell was called to give evidence, revealing that she had received alleged ‘blood diamonds’ from Taylor.

No stranger to controversy, Campbell’s chart has Neptune on the MC opposite Sun natally, describing the fashion, beauty and glamour, but also the scandal and accusations of deceit that seem to follow her around. Venus in her chart, in the last degree of Gemini, was at the time of the court case being transited by the Saturn-Uranus opposition, so controversy and exposure (her Venus sits on the private becomes public Aries Point) seemed destined to come her way.

September ~ The Power of a Pluto Transit

On September 25 British politician Ed Milliband, known for his left wing stance, took a surprise victory over his brother David in the election to lead the opposition Labour Party. While David was the favourite to win the contest, it was Ed who had transiting Pluto exactly conjunct his natal Sun in early Capricorn, so the power was always going to be his!

October ~ Los 33 Mineros

On October 13 the World rejoiced as the 33 miners trapped underground in Chile were finally all brought back to the surface. After 69 days trapped, it was the longest time anyone has ever been underground and survived. Overjoyed relatives, who had been living in Camp Hope beside the mine, were there to greet them as they rose to the surface in the space age Fenix capsule, one by one.
 
This story, with Pluto in Capricorn (Hades, under the ground, the fight for survival) conjunct Ceres (Demeter, mother earth), evokes the Greek myth of Hades releasing the abducted Persephone to her mother Demeter from the darkness of hell to the light and hope of Earth. The Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in mutable Pisces symbolizes the space age technology that was adapted in a race against time in order to free the men. And of course, the Neptune-Chiron conjunction in Aquarius stands for the hope and brotherhood of the trapped men and of those waiting for them in Camp Hope. Nobody could fail to be inspired by the bravery of the men, proof of the enduring strength of the human spirit against the odds.

For more insights, see Lynn Hayes’ Musings on the Chilean Miners 
See also Resurrection in Chile by Adrian Duncan Ross at World of Wisdom, which looks in detail at the charts for Chile, for the mine collapse and for the rescue.

November   ~ Dreams of Freedom in Burma

On November 13, Burma’s pro-democracy leader and Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi was finally released after being detained for 15 of the last 21 years. The Oxford Astrologer blog took at look at the themes of Moon-Neptune ~ sacrifice, dreams and spiritual yearnings ~ an astrological signature in Ms Suu Kyi’s natal chart, the chart for Burma and the chart for her release date. Read her analysis here:  Aung San Suu Kyi: Embodying the People’s Dream 
                                                                                                                     

November also saw the US midterm elections, with the Democrats retaining the Summit, but being pummelled as the Republicans took the House. This was no surprise to anyone and a good example of how the changing sky was reflected in events. Obama’s message of hope and change you can believe in was a perfect channel of the Saturn-Uranus oppositions, by the time of the mid-terms we had been through the Saturn-Pluto squares – hard work, losses, grim reality and politically, a move to the right, most notable in the rising stock of the Tea Party Movement. Jupiter and Saturn, at the opposition phase of their cycle, points toward a time of austerity, following the expansion phase of the first half of the cycle.

December ~ A Fight for the Right to Information

In the UK, a series of increasingly violent student protests against the government’s plans to raise university tuition fees came to a head on December 9 when a car containing the heir to the throne Prince Charles and his wife Camilla was attacked. However, much of the anger has been directed at Lib-Dem leader and deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who in his pre-election manifesto pledged not to raise tuition fees. Now, as part of a coalition government with the Conservative party, he has been forced to vote for the raising of fees. In Clegg’s chart, if the 6am birth time is reliable, Saturn was transiting his Midheaven (symbolizing the restrictions placed on him in bringing his pre-election promises to bear and the need to face reality and take responsibility publicly, thus making him an easy scapegoat). The Jupiter-Uranus conjunction has been transiting his third house (education) Saturn, so it’s not surprising his ideas have been upset. (Clegg data: 7 Jan 1967, Chalfont St Giles, UK, approx 6am).

In the UK 1066 chart, transiting Saturn has been squaring natal Mercury (restrictions to learning) and in the 1801 chart, Saturn has been squaring natal Sun. In both charts, Pluto in Capricorn has been hovering close to the angles for some time and with the revolutionary energies of the upcoming Uranus-Pluto squares also hitting angles of both charts exactly, we can expect many more protests and direct action to come over the next 2-3 years. Life as we know it on this small island is about to take an evolutionary leap.

Also in December Julian Assange becomes one the world’s most talked about men, after releasing diplomatic secrets on his Wikileaks website. He was subsequently arrested in London after rape accusations, but released on bail. Meanwhile, ‘Hackivist’ supporters of Assange caused havoc to banking and retail websites in protest against efforts to close down his freedom of speech website. In Assange’s birth chart, a rebellious Sun square Uranus and a freedom fighting Mars in Aquarius square Jupiter are a good reflection of his anti-establishment work. Saturn in Gemini in the 7^th (the restriction of public information) opposes a Jupiter-Neptune conjunction in the first (leaks and scandal of big proportion). There’s also a Scorpionic feel to  the chart (the keeping and exposing of secrets) with the Moon and possibly the Ascendant in Scorpio. Additionally, Pluto (that which is buried and unearthed) makes aspects to Mercury (news, information), Venus in Gemini (the value of information) and Jupiter in Scorpio (skepticism about believing the ‘received’ beliefs of others,  – in this case the establishment view – especially as Jupiter is part of Assange’s Saturn-Neptune opposition. This story, I believe, will run and run.

For more on Assange’s chart, see Darkstar Astrology’s piece, which looks at Eris and The Shadow Side of Julian Assange from Astrotabletalk. 
Birth details for Julian Assange: July 3, 1971, Townsville, Queensland
Mountain Astrologer gives a questionable birth time of 2.05pm 

And that's that! Another year’s over and a new one’s begun and guaranteed, it too will be full of drama and also full of hope.

Happy 2011 and see you soon.

With love,

Mandi

www.mandilockley.com

Jupiter-Uranus, Harry Potter, Bridget Jones and Avatar

In The Jupiter Uranus Cycle – Science, Discovery and Revolution, I presented an overview of the cycle and detailed some of the amazing scientific, technological and political developments that occurred under Jupiter-Uranus alignments.

Wizards and Singletons

When I was doing research for the first article I found that the Jupiter Uranus conjunction of 1997 spawned two instances of remarkable literary success both of which ballooned into something massive and created a lasting cultural legacy.

It was in 1997 that JK Rowling published the first Harry Potter novel, the beginning of one of most successful series of novels ever published, selling many millions of copies and breaking sales records worldwide. Rowling has since been credited with starting a renaissance in children’s literature and with bringing the written word back into people’s homes, paving the way for many of the other successful children’s and fantasy fiction authors who followed.

Also in 1997, the paperback edition of Bridget Jones’s Diary was published by Helen Fielding, a book following the fictional adventures of a hapless 30-something single woman. The book and its sequel enjoyed massive worldwide success and led to two equally successful movie adaptations. Named as one of the ten novels that best defined the 20th century, Bridget Jones’s Diary seeded the vastly popular ‘chick-lit’ genre of humorous and confessional fiction which addresses the issues and concerns of the modern career women.

When I looked at the birth charts for Fielding and Rowling, I discovered that they were both born under Jupiter Uranus squares, in 1958 and 1965 respectively. That they both went on to publish their most famous works under a Jupiter Uranus conjunction demonstrates how they each fulfilled the Jupiter-Uranus promise of their natal configurations beautifully.

There are of course many other factors in the charts of both women which point towards their talent and their success, but their natal resonance with the Jupiter-Uranus cycle and the timing of their most successful published works, I think has a lot to say about how Jupiter-Uranus alignments so often coincide with the beginnings of phenomenally big successes that grow and grow into something much bigger than themselves. Both books had been in print for a while before they really took off. Word of mouth recommendations played a large part in their early success, after which the media caught on, turning both writers into ‘overnight sensations’!

Phenomena that seems to become suddenly huge and influential, but in actuality has been around for quite a while (Fielding wrote a newspaper column about the fictional Bridget Jones for a couple of years before the novel came to popular mass attention), seems to be a hallmark of the Jupiter-Uranus effect. It also seems to be the case that the influence of these phenomena eventually reaches an unexpectedly large scale. For example, Harry Potter is now so much more than just an enjoyable series of books, just as Stonewall became so much more than just a violent protest against an unfair police raid (as discussed in my previous article in terms of uprisings, protests and revolutionary events).

Harry Potter went on to become a massive industry, a big brand in its own right. It’s not only made Rowling as rich as the Queen (reportedly!) but it’s also made huge stars of the young kids who were chosen to represent the book’s characters on the big screen. As for Bridget Jones, it too made a lot of money for a lot of people and made a big star of Renée Zellweger who played Bridget in the movie version. More than that, it defined a whole generation of 30-something female ‘singletons’, giving them freedom from the old-fashioned spinster label and allowing them to enthusiastically embrace single life as long as it lasted. It also created a very hungry audience for the many new female writers who followed in Fielding’s wake with stories and characters that their readers could really identify with.

Birth data for JK Rowling: 31st July 1965, Bristol, England. Birth time unknown. Jupiter in Gemini (widely) square Uranus in Virgo. Source: Astrodatabank
Birth data for Helen Fielding: 19th February 1958, Morely, West Yorkshire, England. Birth time unknown. Jupiter in Scorpio square Uranus in Leo. Source: Wikipedia.org

Jupiter-Uranus Blockbusters

Movie director James Cameron is a great case study for the Jupiter-Uranus effect. Born with a Jupiter Uranus conjunction, square Neptune, he released two of the biggest movies ever made under transiting Jupiter Uranus alignments. Titanic was released under the 1997 Jupiter-Uranus conjunction. It won eleven Academy Awards and was the most expensive movie ever made and became the highest grossing film of all time. This record was only broken when Cameron released Avatar in December 2009, which became the first film to gross more than $2 billion. Although Avatar was released around three months before the current Jupiter Uranus conjunction fell within the 10 degree orb usually allowed for mundane transits, I still feel that this was a relevant Jupiter-Uranus event. In any case, the DVD was released in April 2010, when the aspect was easily within orb, and broke the record for highest first day DVD sales! Cameron has also announced that that there will be a theatrical release of an extended version of the film in August 2010, bang on for the current Jupiter-Uranus conjunction.

In Cameron’s chart (pictured below) Jupiter is conjunct Uranus in Cancer, in t-square with Neptune in Libra and Chiron in Capricorn. Jupiter-Uranus also trines his Moon in Pisces, which in turn is quincunx Neptune. It’s easy to see how these configurations reflect the themes of both movies. Avatar is rich with spiritual themes, idealistic ecological messages and a strong healing metaphor in which the wounded hero saves the Na’vi people and himself becomes whole again. Titanic is ultimately a tale of epic, undying, transformational love, that evokes a sentimental romanticism for a bygone age. The depiction of the ship itself as huge, indomitable and magnificently opulent, serves to magnify the immense tragedy of its sinking. Underlying themes of compassion, belonging and sacrifice strongly permeate both movies.

Cameron’s natal Mercury, Sun and Pluto stellium in Leo also describes the fact that his movies are huge productions, peppered with noble heroes, dramatic, over-the-top story lines and deeply intense transformational themes. Saturn in Scorpio, un-aspected save for creative quintiles to Pluto and the Sun, provides the opportunity to diligently transform his (probably) obsessive visions and desires into tangible creative reality through hard, hard work.

Interestingly, Cameron also describes himself as a scientist as well as a film maker and is noted for his contribution to underwater filming technology, another wonderful expression of his natal chart generally and his watery Jupiter-Uranus-Neptune-Moon configuration specifically.

Birth data for James Cameron: 16th August 1954, Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada. Birth time unknown. Source: Wikipedia.org The chart pictured uses the solar sign house system.

It may be a while before we get to understand the next big Jupiter-Uranus influenced creative phenomena, scientific discoveries and technological advancements, but I’m sure we will have great fun finding out!

Please see The Jupiter Uranus Cycle – Science, Discovery and Revolution, for an overview of the Jupiter-Uranus themes and for astrological data for the current cycle.

Research reference: wikipedia.org

What other astrology bloggers are saying about the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction
Jupiter-Uranus ‘rocks your world’ at Depali Desai’s Celestial Space Astrology
Lynn Koiner looks at what the conjunction might mean for you, depending on where it falls in your chart
A Saturn Perspective from Elsa Elsa in Jupiter Uranus - The Truth Will Set You Free Redux
Observations on Jupiter-Uranus in Aries Colliding with Saturn-Pluto from Libra Seeking Balance
John Townley looks back at the historical meetings of Jupiter and Uranus in Aries

http://www.mandilockley.com/

The Jupiter Uranus Cycle - Science, Discovery and Revolution

[Updated 21.5.10: Scientist Plays God - scroll down for the full story]*

The current conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus marks the beginning of a brand new Jupiter-Uranus cycle.

The major alignments of this 14 year cycle, notably the conjunctions and oppositions, are associated with evolution and growth in human consciousness, with ever expanding horizons in our understanding of the world and our universe and with exciting major breakthroughs – quantum leaps – in science and technology, leaps which seem to invoke the myth of Prometheus (Uranus), who stole fire from Zeus (Jupiter) and gave it to man.

Under Jupiter-Uranus alignments, science fiction becomes science fact, birthing colossally significant developments which in turn, pave the way for further huge leaps and bounds in scientific progress. For example, it was under the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction of 1609/10, that Galileo pointed his new telescope towards the heavens and afterwards began publicly supporting the heliocentric view, which placed the Sun at the centre of the universe. This paved the way for Newton, who during the opposition of 1686, did the foundation work for his Law of Universal Gravitation. Gravitation is of course the force by which the planets revolve around the Sun!

As the planetary coupling that appears to know no boundaries, it’s also not surprising to see Jupiter-Uranus active during key developments in space travel, with alignments coinciding with the launch of Sputnik; the first American to orbit the earth and the 1969 moon landing, from which Armstrong’s famous quote sums up the spirit of Jupiter-Uranus beautifully. "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Of course, without an understanding of planetary motion and gravity – the discoveries of Galileo, Newton and others - we would never have been able to travel into space in the first place.

A Jupiter-Uranus conjunction also saw the birth of quantum physics, attributed to Planck, who in 1900 presented his Planck's Postulate which became one of the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics.

So it seems that under Jupiter-Uranus alignments we witness quantum leaps which changed the way we view the larger perspective – our very place in the universe – but these alignments also appear to coincide with inventions which have truly enhanced and changed the way we work and live in our daily lives. For example, Jupiter-Uranus alignments bore witness to the invention of the electric light bulb, the first radio broadcast, the first speaking movie, the first television broadcast, the prototype for the personal computer and the birth of the internet. Fancy a month without your TV, your PC, the internet and electric lighting? What would we do with ourselves?

In the field of aviation, Jupiter-Uranus alignments coincided with the first hot air balloon flight, the first flight of the Wright brothers in the Kitty Hawk and the first solo flight across the Atlantic, Now, thanks to cheap, commercial air travel, the world is wide open to most of us.

Jupiter-Uranus alignments are also associated with rebellion, collective uprisings and revolutionary ideas, manifesting as dramatic events which have a far reaching impact. In retrospect, it appears obvious that these events had been brewing for a good long while, but at the time they seemed to occur suddenly, spontaneously. Examples include the American War of Independence, the French Revolution, the Mutiny on the Bounty, the Stonewall Riots (an event which galvanised the gay community to fight for equal rights), the fall of the Berlin Wall (which symbolised the death of Communism in Europe) and the release of Nelson Mandela (the beginning of the end of apartheid in South Africa).

In the cycle that has just concluded, the conjunction occurred between Nov 96-Dec 97 (using the 10 degree orb generally used in mundane astrology) and the opposition occurred between Sept 02 and Aug 04…let’s see if this cycle might give us some clues on what this new cycle has in store for us… see if we can connect a few dots….

In ’97 General Motors launched the first electric car of the modern era. Under this 2010 current conjunction, a number of manufacturers including Nissan and Mitsubishi are launching fully electric cars to the mass consumer market for the first time.

It was also in ’97 that the largest strikes in South Korean history began and in the same year there were widespread student pro-democracy protests in Burma. In 2010, it seems almost certain that the mass wave of strikes and protests we are already seeing in Greece and other countries, in reaction to job losses and government austerity measures, will continue. At the time of writing, anti-government demonstrations in Bangkok, which have been ongoing since March, have led to violent clashes with authorities and talk of revolution.

It was also in ’97 that the disarmament crisis in Iraq began and by the time of the opposition in 2003 – when the inevitability of a US-led invasion of Iraq became clear – an international group of protesters went to Baghdad to act as voluntary human shields, hoping to avert the invasion. This was followed by global protests against the Iraq War, with more than 10 million people protesting in over 600 cities worldwide, the largest protest ever to take place before a war has even begun. Despite that, in March ’03 the Iraq War began with an invasion of Iraq in which the U.S. and allied forces swiftly seized control of Baghdad, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein.

In the UK in ‘97, the Labour Party ended 18 years of Conservative rule by winning an historic general election with a landslide majority. Interestingly, Labour’s tenure in government ended in May 2010, under the current Jupiter-Uranus conjunction - one whole cycle later - after an election which resulted in an unprecedented Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government. The Economist magazine has dubbed this surprising alliance Britain's accidental revolution!

The Jupiter-Uranus cycle is also associated with the theory of evolution and with developments in cloning and genetics. It was in 1838 under a Jupiter-Uranus opposition that Darwin conceived his theory of natural selection and it was under the conjunction of 1858 that he published his theories jointly with fellow naturalist Wallace. Moving forwards, it was in ’97 that a team of scientists in London reported their DNA analysis findings from a Neanderthal skeleton, which supported the out of Africa theory of human evolution, placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. But then, during the opposition of ’03, the journal Nature reported that 350,000-year-old upright-walking human footprints had been found in Italy! It was also in ’03 that the Human Genome Project was completed, with 99% of the human genome sequenced to 99.99% accuracy. This was the same year that the first cloned deer and horse were born and in ’04, South Korea announced that they had cloned 30 human embryos.

In astronomy, it was under the 97 conjunction that the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft was launched. It arrived successfully within the orbit of Saturn in July 04, when Jupiter opposed Uranus! It’s still there and it’s work has been extended through this current Jupiter-Uranus conjunction. The remarkable pictures the Cassini Mission has sent back and an overview of the discoveries it has made, can be viewed on line at: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm

As we are now into a new Jupiter Uranus cycle, what’s next? Time travel; teleportation; the indisputable discovery of dark matter; mass riots, strikes and protests; commercial space tourism; proof of life on other bodies in the solar system (already scientists are very excited about the possibility of life on Saturn’s Moon Titan which they believe has a warm underwater ocean, thanks to the evidence sent back by the Cassini Mission)? It really is hard to predict when we’re in the realm of Jupiter and Uranus, especially as the full significance of the events and discoveries that occur under these alignments often only become clear in retrospect. Whatever happens it's bound to be exciting!

*It has today (21 May '10) been announced that scientists have for the first time successfully created artificial life in a laboratory. Evoking Armstrong's famous words, The Independent's headlines reads, "synthetic cell is a giant leap for science, and could be bigger still for mankind". Critics have raised ethical concerns, accusing the scientists (Uranus) of playing God (Jupiter). To me this is a perfect manifestation of Jupiter conjunct Uranus quantum leap events and it brings to mind the myth of Prometheus whole stole fire from the Gods and gave it to man. For the full story, click here.

Data for the current Jupiter-Uranus Cycle:

• The exact conjunctions are as follows: 18 June 2010 (at 00 degrees 17 minutes of Aries); 19 September 2010 (at 29 degrees 42 minutes of Pisces) and 4 January 2011 (at 27 degrees 02 minutes of Pisces). Using a 10 degree orb, the time span of this conjunction falls between March 2010 and March 2011.
• The exact oppositions are as follows: 26 December 2016 (at 20 degrees 33 minutes of Libra-Aries); 3 March 2017 (at 22 degrees 11 minutes of Libra-Aries) and 28 September 2017 (at 27 degrees 22 minutes of Libra-Aries). Using a 10 degree orb, the time span of this opposition falls between November 2016 and November 2017.
• Please note that if you are looking at transits to an individual's birth chart smaller orbs should be used (a good guide is to use approximately 2 degrees of orb or less either side of the natal planet or point which is being transited).

Next Up: Jupiter-Uranus, Harry Potter, Bridget Jones and Avatar!

Bibliography:

Mundane Astrology by Michael Baigent, Nicholas Campion, and Charles Harvey
Cosmos and Psyche by Richard Tarnas
Additional research (particularly around the events of the 97 and 03/04 alignments): http://www.wikipedia.org/

Picture credit for Saturn's Moons Dione and Titan from Cassini: NASA/JPL/SSI. Colour composite: Emily Lakdawalla.

http://www.mandilockley.com/