One fun thing about the world ending is that there are so many ways it can happen. I’ve always been into edgecrafting things, so I found myself utterly dissatisfied with the basic Mayan 2012 scenario. That’s why I early this year, I suggested more interesting possibilities like Chicken Shawarmageddon. I also happen to dabble in astrology (a potentially embarrassing fact I’ve previously shared here  and in my Astrology 101 piece), which meant that the revolution and protest of 2011 was no surprise to me. In fact I was predicting it a full year early. That’s probably why I haven’t gotten rich off my astrology skills. Anyway, events are in fact moving along more or less as one would expect when Uranus is squaring Pluto. The two planets began their little square dance in early 2011, coming within 5 degrees of squaring each other for the first time in January, around the time of the Egyptian uprisings. Pluto switched between retrograde and direct motion in short bursts until July, when it got in closer square with Uranus. The two planets remained in a close retrograde orb until Pluto broke away and went direct on September 17, 2011, which interestingly was the first day of the OWS occupation of Zucotti Park. Who knows, maybe the planners did this on purpose. A lot of them are old hippies, you know. In any case, this motion of Pluto pulled the two planets into a wider orb, reaching their greatest separation around the end of December, when they were about 7 degrees apart. You can blame Occupy fizzling on cold weather, I blame it on Uranus and Pluto. In any case, the two have been zooming back together since then, and will have their first transit “hit” (one of several) on June 26. We’re already seeing flareups of revolt and unrest around the world; most recently in Quebec, and prior to that, the May Day protests around the world that were most vigorous in Europe, where austerity is being shoved down the masses’ throats by an affluent elite. We’re also seeing things like (so far failed) attempts to recall leaders in the US, where the battleground again is over the working person fighting to retain their dignity while deceitful and affluent politicians legislate it away through things like union-busting, “emergency manager” acts, and teacher layoffs and pay cuts. So those are the planets involved, and some events that have occurred recently in the real world and their dates, but what is the supposed meaning of the phrase “Uranus square Pluto”?

Well, first of all, the “square” part means that using a standard American Ephemeris, the two planets appear to be at 90 degree angles to each other in the sky. So what right? Well you can stick your “so what” up Uranus, because as we said, the last time this transit occurred was in the middle of the depression, and almost exactly at the moment Hitler truly began to seize power by exploiting angry impoverished citizens with lies. The exact date of the first Uranus/Pluto square back then was September 1, 1932. This is when Herman Goering was elected President of the Reichstag, which paved the way for Hitler becoming Chancellor a few months later. The 1960′s were influenced by a different kind of Uranus/Pluto transit known as a “conjunction”. This is when two planets appear to occupy the same location in the sky, something that was presented rather graphically with the recent transit of Venus and the Sun.

You Still Haven’t Explained What This MEANS Though

Alright already! Hold your horoscopes. This is complicated stuff. One of the basic ideas in astrology is that all planets represent certain kinds of energies in life. Mercury has to do with travel and communication; Venus symbolizes things related to love and beauty; Mars, the will and ego drives; Jupiter, expansion and benefic events; Saturn, restraint or oppression, and so on. The “inner planets” – which in Astrology refers to the Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars – generally make more sense in a personal context because their cycles are much shorter, because their orbits are smaller. Lunar transits can seem almost ignorable, because they can pass in hours, but Mars, for instance, takes over two years to orbit the sun, so its transit effects may linger a bit.

The “outer planets” however – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto – are often associated with generational influences or even paradigm shifts in social evolution, as in the shifts in fundamental human belief like the shift from the mystical to the scientific, and within contexts like that, the shifts from Newtonian to Einsteinian thought. For an incredibly in-depth look at these concepts, check out Cosmos and Psyche, as I previously suggested in my (Not Terribly Vigorous) Defense Of Astrology

The next part of this is the “aspect” in question, which in this case is a “square”, which as we explained above means that two planets appear to be at 90 degree angles to each other. Squares, on a superficial level, are perceived as “difficult” transits. To outline the other types of transits in this superficial fashion, here’s a quick rundown:

Conjunction – Simply merges or combines the energies of the two planets
Sextile (60 degrees) – An “energizing” combination of the two planets’ energies
Square (90 degrees) – The energies interact at “cross purposes” to each other
Trine (120 degrees) – The energies are in a relationship of “ease”
Opposition (180 degrees) – The energies are “opposed”

There are many more types of aspects, and the combination of various planets’ energies in transits can be complicated. Some planets work well in opposition, some are disruptive rather than energizing in a sextile, and so on. The big scary thing about a Uranus/Pluto square is that these are two of the most intense energies in human experience, and they’re in what is typically considered a “difficult” aspect.

Uranus represents change, invention, disruption, revolution and higher awareness. Its effect can be experienced as shocking, and it is by nature unpredictable and erratic in its manifestation. Pluto represents deep unconscious drives, power and authority, and destructive transformation and renewal. Its effects can feel grinding and sinister, and are often associated with the death of something as a necessary step in transformation.

As a result of the intense symbology and historic context of this transit, the focus here is obviously on some kind of disruption of a status quo, but which way will it go? Will the masses rise up and overturn the greed and corruption of political leaders that are destroying the common good, or will this be a segue into even MORE Plutonian oppression, but this time via corporate rule rather than nation-state rule?

Who knows. But one other thing you might want to keep an eye peeled for are disturbing disruptions of security in technology, and more widespread use of secrecy in authority. For more in-depth explorations of the symbology and timelines of this astrological event, check out Revolution & Revelation The Uranus-Pluto Square by Nick Anthony Fiorenza, which goes into exceptionally well-presented detail, including graphical timelines and much more thorough explanations than I’ve gone into here.