The U.S.
presidency is in trouble. I’m not just referring to the deadlock in
the current election. Our sitting president was indecorously impeached,
and whoever eventually emerges victorious from the Sunshine State Smack-Down
is in for a rough term. Half the country is going to hate him. Something
strange is afflicting the executive office. The usual suspect in all
things unusual is the planet Uranus.
Astrology
can seem arcane and otherworldly, but its most important principles
are beautifully simple and direct. Consider, for example, the natural
antipathy between the Sun and the planet Uranus. The timeless conflict
between these two unyielding forces not only forms the crux of the matter
at hand, for the Sun and Uranus were plainly at cross-purposes on November
7, but it has also driven the development of our political system from
its very inception.
Long
Live the King
Think of
the Sun as the king of our solar system. By virtue of its size and nature,
the Sun governs the workings of the system, and in turn is affected
by the various meetings and partings of the planets in their orbits.
The Sun, with its golden light, is considered the natural ruler of the
royal sign Leo, the king of beasts.
As it manifests,
the Sun represents the king, leader, CEO or father figure in any situation;
it even represents the ego as the organizing principle within each personality.
That is all well and good, for every system needs a hierarchy of authority
to function properly. Ideally, power supports order, and vice versa.
But there invariably comes a time of imbalance when power begins to
serve itself, and disorder follows. This is when the nature of the planet
Uranus comes to the fore, to rise up in rebellion against the status
quo, to redistribute power from the one to the many.
Rebel
With a Cause
Uranus
is considered the natural ruler of the sign Aquarius, which is found
opposite the sign Leo in the zodiac. Opposite signs complement and complete
each other, like the two poles of the same magnet. If Leo/the Sun is
the king, Aquarius/Uranus is the people, especially as they are represented
in a legislative assembly. If Leo/the Sun is the boss, Aquarius/Uranus
is the union. If Leo/the Sun is the parents, Aquarius/Uranus manifests
as rebellious teenagers with green hair and jewelry stapled to their
faces.
The stage
is set for an unending drama. These two opposing forces perpetually
clash, reconcile and evolve into the next level of their conflict. In
time, congressmen become presidents, workers are promoted to management
and teenagers are blessed (or cursed) with children of their own. We
all experience some combination of Sun/Leo and Uranus/Aquarius within
our own personalities and lives, in accordance with our unique birth
charts.
History
of the Republic
The idea
of a modern republic led by an elected president is a fairly new one,
and sprang up at the same time as the discovery of the planet Uranus.
We can look to ancient Athens as an example of classical democracy,
but at the time of our revolution, there was no contemporary parallel
to the American experiment. Thomas Paine, the herald of the revolution,
compared the colonists’ rejection of the English king to children outgrowing
the need for a father. A government by the people and for the people,
with no hereditary nobility or monarchy, was a radical innovation, a
response to the habitual abuse of power by the European monarchies.
It marked the beginning of the emerging new age of Uranus.
William
Herschel’s discovery of a trans-Saturnian planet in 1781 shattered the
boundaries of the known universe, igniting revolutions in science, industry
and government. In the conscious discovery of Uranus, the attributes
and qualities that astrologers have come to associate with it, (i.e.,
inventive genius, eccentric individuality, disruptive rebellion, etc.)
were unleashed throughout society, forever changing the world order.
We can trace the persistent influence of Uranus and the sign Aquarius
throughout the charts of the major events and personalities of that
era.
The American
Revolution worked; the French were not as fortunate. Every major turning
point of the French Revolution coincided with tight planetary alignments
between Aquarius and Leo, Uranus and the Sun. The upshot of the tragic
overthrow and execution of the Bourbon king was to pave the path to
power for the biggest, baddest Leo of them all, the Emperor Napoleon.
Napoleon’s ambition, in its turn, was laid low by the combined forces
of the resurgent European monarchies. The upshot of the American Revolution
is that the duly-elected American president is now the most powerful
ruler in the world.
Why
Now?
Currently,
Uranus occupies its own sign, Aquarius, where it is free to express
its iconoclastic nature. Obviously, this is not good news for the most
powerful ruler in the world. There’s just something in the air that
makes congress want to rebel against him. The last time Uranus was in
Aquarius was during World War I, a conflict that resulted in an apocalyptic
sweep of the royal houses of Europe, dethroning the Romanov, Hapsburg
and Hohenzollern dynasties. Fortunately, America is pretty comfortable
with that whole Uranus vibe, so I think we’ll survive.
Getting
back to the crux of the matter, our recent election was held as the
Sun at 16 degrees Scorpio formed an exact 90 degree square to Uranus
at 16 degrees Aquarius. Not only are the rulers at odds with the people,
the people are at odds with the people. This unprecedented modern crisis
should ultimately revolutionize the way we choose our leaders. It should
also serve as a lasting reminder of basic astrological principles in
action—simple, direct, obvious and written in the sky for all to see.