Working with Uranus Retrograde
Uranus Retrograde – Rebel with A Cause
Uranus stationed on August 19th to officially go retrograde and join all the other transpersonal planets. Where Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn and Pluto go direct in September, Uranus will remain retrograde until January 18, 2022.
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and moves very slow. It takes him about seven years to travel through each sign, therefore taking him around 84 years to complete the zodiac. Currently he is in Taurus and has been there since 2019.
He is on the hefty side, coming in about four times wider than Earth. He may not be the planet furthest from the Sun, but he does have the coldest atmosphere in the solar system. He is pretty much one gargantuan piece of ice, composed of water (80%), methane and ammonia, which gives him his blue-green colour.
Discovered in 1781 by astronomer William Herschel, he was the first planet discovered by telescope. Although you can see Uranus with the naked eye, he is so dim and slow moving that for a long time he was believed to be either a comet or a star. It was another two years before he was officially recognized as a planet. Around the 1850s he was commonly referred to Uranus, after the Greek god of the sky Ouranos.
Like other planets, Uranus has his own moons – twenty-seven to be exact. Traditionally, celestial bodies are named within mythological traditions. But this time, the moons were taken from works of English Literature. The first four moons were named after the magical sprites in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Alexander Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock”. This practice was continued by other astronomers even centuries later. In 1787, Herschel discovered Uranus’ largest moons naming them Oberon and Titania. The next two moons located were Ariel and Umbriel, and in 1948 Miranda was discovered. In 1986 the Voyager 2 (the only spacecraft to fly past Uranus) discovered an additional ten moons: Belinda, Bianca, Cordelia, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Ophelia, Portia, Puck and Rosalind.
Uranus has some truly distinct attributes:
Like Venus, he rotates from east to west, unlike most other planets.
Contrary to every other planet, Uranus rotates on his side.
He is the only planet named after a Greek god instead of a Roman one.
In Greek mythology, Uranus was one of three primordial deities created by Gaea, Mother Earth. His brother Pontus was god of the sea, Ourea, god of the mountains, and Uranus was the sky god, the first ruler. The union between Uranus and Gaea created eighteen offspring: the twelve Titans, the three Cyclopes, and the three Hecatoncheiries. Uranus had immense hatred toward his children, and kept them hidden within Gaea's womb. Cronos (Saturn), the youngest Titan, overthrew Uranus, liberating his siblings and crowning himself the ruler of all gods and men.
Uranus goes retrograde for about five months every year; and because of his slow movements, he travels back only about 4 degrees. A retrograde Uranus is what astrologers associate with inner change in response to outer diversity. Known as the “Great Awakener”, Uranus is a true rebel and therefore his energy is rebellious. He rules Aquarius, so this is a good way to gage his influence – unique, unpredictable and wild.
As Uranus is currently in Taurus, he deals with Taurian issues. The themes are the same: earthly manifestations and possessions, money, the physical body, security and stability.
Take the headstrong Taurian energy and add the chaos of Uranus, mix well, and "walla". You gain the opportunity to adjust old perspectives and feelings about established issues.
Uranus challenges you to revise your thinking and get out of the old comfort zones. Just because it’s always been this way, doesn’t mean it’s the right way, or the only way. This is the time to work past ‘stuck patterns’ – the job, the relationship, the situation - and see it through a different lens. As a result, lessons are learned leaving you with greater sense of self-awareness .
Uranus compels your transformation and there are great consequences when you resist. Not life threatening, but quality-of-life threatening. In order to evolve, it requires growth and expansion. Without it, you wither – creatively, emotionally, spiritually. You cower within the zone of safety, that which is familiar, and you fail to thrive. You stay the same, whereas life (and planets) moves on.
