Saturn conjunct Uranus

RIP Dr. John

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My younger readers may not know anything about Dr. John the Night Tripper, whose Voodoo-styled brand of psychedelic rock was one of the more intriguing sounds to come out of the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Although he continued to play music throughout his life and won six Grammy awards, the magical persona of the New Orleans shaman draped in feathers and beads was uniquely suited to the cultural revolution of the Uranus/Pluto conjunction in Virgo that marked the 1960s and early 1970s.

Dr. John (born Malcolm John Rebennack Jr – Dr. John was his stage persona) died on June 6th of this year.  We don’t know his time of birth so we don’t know his ascendant (rising sign), but with his birth date (November 20, 1941) and place (New Orleans) we can see that he was born with the Sun in Scorpio, the sign that rules intense experiences that transform us from the inside out.  His Sun was opposite Uranus, the planet which expires radical behavior.  Individuals with strong Sun/Uranus contacts are often iconoclasts, blazing their own trail, and that was certainly true of Dr. John.  He was a rebel from his early years, quitting school to play music and develop his unique style.  He refused to follow rules of the musician’s union and was subsequently kicked out.

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Saturn conjoins Uranus in the chart, combining the Saturnine influence of repression and restriction with the urge to break out of routines and shackles that Uranus inspires.  These two planets are naturally in conflict with each other, and they are each opposite the Sun which makes for a complex personality.  Saturn opposing the Sun puts a lot of pressure on […]

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By |2019-06-09T16:30:46-04:00June 8th, 2019|Death, People|2 Comments
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Stephen Hawking and the supernatural

Stephen HawkingInteresting timing, as Jupiter and Uranus continue their conjunction in Pisces, blowing apart (Uranus) the conventional wisdom and accepted belief systems (Jupiter) having to do with all that is transcendent and beyond ordinary understanding (Pisces).

Stephen Hawking has created a firestorm in his new book, The Grand Design, in which he declares that an intelligent creator was not necessary for the creation of the Universe. This is nothing new – Hawking has long argued against the need for a supernatural being to create the Universe, but in this new book he speaks out with particular clarity, saying that the laws of physics can create the universe out of nothing, it doesn’t require God.

Though not a scientist, I will argue that the creation of the Universe and the planet is a separate issue entirely from the creation of consciousness. Human beings are conscious creatures, and there is growing evidence to suggest that most animals and birds possess a level of consciousness as well. I am certainly not arguing for the Genesis-tale of creation, where a god variously termed Jehovah, Yahweh, and the Elohim (Plural) created the heavens and the earth. But it is difficult to imagine a scenario where conscious beings formed without a conscious intention of some kind.

Hawking’s Sun is in achievement-oriented Capricorn, and he has a Grand Trine of planets in earth that includes Mercury, Uranus and Neptune. Uranus opens his mind (Mercury) to fresh new insights, and Neptune adds a creative note which helps to raise his mental abilities.  Hawking was an underachiever in college until ALS began to rob his physical body of its abilities, after which time he began to work hard and focus all of his energies through the mind. […]

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By |2019-11-10T18:43:39-05:00September 5th, 2010|Astronomy|4 Comments
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Generation Next: The Saturn/Uranus influence

A column by David Brooks the other day intrigued me when he wrote about students he taught at Duke University last fall, calling them “Children of Polarization”:

Today’s college students, remember, were born around 1987. They were 2 or 3 when the Berlin Wall fell. They have come into political consciousness amid impeachment, jihad, polarization and Iraq. Many of them seem to have reacted to these hothouse clashes not by becoming embroiled in the zealotry but by quietly drifting away from that whole political mode.

::snip::

For many students, the main axis of their politics is not between left and right but between idealism and realism. They have developed a suspicion of sweepingly idealistic political ventures, and are now a fascinating mixture of youthful hopefulness and antiutopian modesty.

This struck me as being a signature of an outer planet combination, and sure enough I found that in 1987 when these kids were born, Saturn and Uranus were conjunct in Sagittarius, linking the restriction and limitation of Saturn with the rebellious idealism of Uranus. The suspicion (Saturn) of sweeping idealism (Uranus) and the combination of hopefulness (Uranus) and modesty (Saturn) express the collision of these two planets which are very different in nature. Saturn seeks to build form and establish firm structures in society; it sets rules and boundaries and frowns on rebellion. Uranus, on the other hand, seeks to destroy the status quo – to break down barries and build a new order.

Brooks goes on to say, “If my Duke students are representative, then the U.S. is about to see a generation that is practical, anti-ideological, modest and centrist (maybe to a fault).” It sounds as though the hard line of Saturn in these Duke […]

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By |2018-06-11T13:05:36-04:00February 7th, 2007|Generations|Comments Off on Generation Next: The Saturn/Uranus influence
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