I’d like you to sit back and think about an outstanding experience of the planet Uranus. Most of us will come up with some sudden shock or turnabout during a major Uranus transit or progression. Most of us will associate Uranus with the unexpected. Uranus is all that’s new, Uranus is exciting, Uranus is all about discovering new paths and new directions. Uranus is supposed to guide us into the future via flashes of lightning.
But think about it. It depends on how astrologically savvy you were during the transit or progression, but what really happened? No matter what 
happened afterwards and how it had to be processed for you to squeeze wisdom out of it, Uranus was first responsible for taking away something–and taking it away suddenly and unexpectedly. Before he communicates anything to us, anything at all, he is the Great Severer. Now, mind you, he’s fast–he works before we can see him coming, the quickest hatchet man around–but Uranus’s first order of business is to disconnect us. What is he disconnecting us from? Our ordinary, ego-bound patterns and definitions and our habitual ways of understanding our world. Uranus is impatient. He’s bringing us the future the way he sees it, how dare we get mired in the past? The Uranian disconnect can be ruthless. Sometimes it’s so fast it seems bloodless, or it can be as bloody as the French Revolution and then some. [Remember that the guillotine was invented (during the discovery of Uranus) as a humanitarian advancement.] But when Uranus is active, the first thing he does is pull the plug. He will shake us off no matter how hard we hold on.
In his severing mode, Uranus can be the most frightening of the Three Bullies, otherwise known as the transpersonal planets. I associate Uranus with a particular kind of trauma in the chart, one that lingers on with nerve-shattering results. It results in a kind of personal Post Traumatic Stress Disorder–wherever Uranus lies in the chart, it is responsible for a violent taking-away, a traumatic removal. And unless you really understand this part of Uranus, the rest of Uranian behaviour doesn’t really make any sense.
Say Uranus falls on the Ascendant of a chart. This person would identify with being out of the norm, different, more advanced, unusual. He or she might identify with and fight for humanitarian causes. Dig under the surface, the reasons for this behaviour can be a denial of the individual “I”, which can occur because the person involved is somehow robbed (usually in early life) of the sense of individual identity and belonging. We have a choice of joining the rebellious ‘group’ and finding an identity within it or we remain forever scapegoats and outsiders, exiled from our own sense of legitimacy in the world. The erratic Uranian pattern reinforces the behaviour–if ever do try to fit in, I get cut off. Or I only fit in with the strange and the unusual, . The best route for Uranus here is the Path of Mind. We are initiated into a new awareness because we are forced to confront circumstances which remove us from the ego. All three of the outer planets teach us lessons about getting our egos out of the way. With Uranus, it’s our ‘little world, little mind’ tendencies that fly out the window. We are challenged to stretch our definitions. As anyone with a Mercury/Uranus connection will tell you, the minute you think you understand something, Uranus will step in and take you further.
All three of the outer planets initiate us into their awakening by removing us from the primary quality of the lower octave planet. With Uranus, we are severed from our connection-making abilities. Mercury is the connecting planet which allows us to make sense of and understand our worldly experiences. Uranus removes the logical processes of Mercury and replaces it with sudden shifts of awareness. Mercury is the way we make meaning out of information. When Uranus pulls the plug on us and then rudely bombards us with universal truths beyond our ordinary understanding, we often feel on shaky ground. Sometimes, where Uranus is concerned, we might know things, but we don’t know why. Again, our lack of support for our convictions leaves us high up, but on very unstable scaffolding.
The infamous Uranian ‘fascination’–electric, and so different from the spell-weaving fascination of Neptune–has to do with this initial severing. So much of it has to do with the ‘shock of the new’–whatever we are fascinated by removes us from our ordinary reality. We remain fascinated until we gradually begin to understand the fascination, or we can no longer take the pressure of the removal from ordinary life, or we decide that the changes that will be required of us to fulfill the promise of the fascination will be beyond our capabilities.
Whether or not Mercury and Uranus have a connection in the chart, it’s Mercury that struggles with the new information. If your Mercury has an aspect to Uranus, even a difficult one, then you’re in luck, because your Mercury has been put on the fast track to Uranian wisdom. The quickness of mind associated with Mercury/Uranus is not always pleasant in the easier aspects–I’ve seen troubles with both the conjunction and the sextile, because Mercury can get overloaded with the flow of Uranian energy, and can mentally cut out because of it. The mental processes of strong Mercury/Uranus can easily affect the body, often with nerve issues and mental exhaustion. If Mercury isn’t ready to process the wisdom of Uranus, there can be difficult consequences. Uranus is always urging us to let go, to allow distance, something Mercury is often not prepared to do in its struggle to understand. When Mercury learns that it is capable of making connections at great distances, greater than it ever assumed, then its impact on our lives grows and we allow ourselves to create new concepts of the greater Mercurial connections. These concepts then become the building blocks of the elevated Mind. When Mercury stretches its wings, we are no longer confined to the prison of our day to day reality. We understand that there are new lands to conquer, off where the gods reside and the mere rules of man no longer apply. And Mercury can now help us lay down the plans to get there.
The more we allow Uranus in, and the more we let go of our limited understanding, the greater influence we have over our own charts. We use Mercury to process all of our experiences, not just our Uranian ones, and if Mercury is operating on a higher vibration, the entire chart becomes illuminated. Mercury often gets short shrift in chart interpretation (unless he is retrograde and causing havoc with our plans), and it’s sad, because without Mercury we have no way of making sense of our experience. It’s our ideas about our lives that determine what we make of those lives. (Or, in the words of Epicetus, “We are not troubled by things, but by the opinions we have of things.”) When Mercury has been elevated through its struggles to comprehend Uranian experience, the range and scope of our lives becomes infinite. We then see that we are connected to the everything and the all in a very intimate, personal way. Our individuality then is created not by ego, but by the way this universal energy flows through and expresses itself through our individual consciousness.
Please read, “The Music of the Spheres: Octaves” before this piece.
Next time: Neptune and the Path of the Heart, See also: Pluto and the Path of Right Action
Hi Dawn,
Great article as usual. One of the best skills this Mercury/Uranus square (and Moon/Uranus conjunct) has ever learned is the ability to know what one thinks, but at the same time to not be attached to those thoughts. I know my opinions, but at the same time I know that it is only MY OPINION, and not necessarily objective reality. And considering that my Mercury is in Taurus, that makes me less dogmatic than I would otherwise be. I don’t know that it works that way with the moon. I consider myself a very emotional person, but others tend to disagree. Apparently my feelings don’t show as much as I feel them. Some attribute this to me controlling the feelings themselves, but it isn’t. It’s more an assessment of whether a full scale expression of those feelings would help or hinder my cause, and if full scale emotional expression would hinder my cause I can discuss things much more rationally than I feel them. There are times, though, when all of that goes out of the window and there is a major explosion. then too, there are other times when I decide the best course of action is what my son terms “complete and total instantaneous excommunication”. When that happens there is very little chance of any type of reconciliation. I have a feeling that is really the expression Uranus in action in my chart.
Hi, Pam. I have the Moon/Uranus conjunction, too, so I understand what you mean about making a decision whether or not the expression of feelings is appropriate. Some would consider this cold or intellectual or distanced, but you’re right, it doesn’t lessen the feelings and emotional responses themselves. There is a distance involved (as always with Uranus) which allows a perspective. And yes, there is always the possibility of, as your son so colorfully puts it, “complete and total instantaneous excommunication.” It’s a uniquely Moon/Uranus quality, which no one believes until they actually experience it. Moon/Uranus can cut the deepest of ties in an instant if the circumstances are right. Moon/Uranus is ultimately about getting rid of unnecessary attachment and moving on to the new. And sometimes it will do a lot of cutting along the way. No one gets in the way of Moon/Uranus and its future.
Hi Dawn,
your posts are alway so enriching to read, I enjoy the depth of focus you provide, although “enjoy” isn’t quite the word, it’s more like I am invigorated, excited and illuminated by your insights.
Having said that, I could go deeper still, and wouldn’t mind at all being stretched more if you could provide it!
I have Uranus conjunct moon, trine mercury, and sextile mars -the deeper, more challenging the concept the happier and better for me; I like to give my Uranian intuition a good, good work out!
Go on, give it to me Dawn,please give me more – stretch me!
Thanks, great post. I will be in touch soon for a synastry analysis.
Regards,
Sass
Hi Sass–What a lot of Moon/Uranus conjunctions here! When an outer planet aspects one of the lights, especially in conjunction, the light becomes a superhighway to the strongest expression of that planet. The light’s expression is filtered through that planet, and it’s not uncommon for that planet to dominate in expression. For example, if you have Moon/Uranus or Sun/Uranus, you might be taken for an Aquarian by others. We may not feel it ourselves, but other people will pick up very strongly on that vibe. That’s because it’s so big and so influential that we don’t really grasp it, it’s as if the light hijacks it for its own purposes. With Moon/Uranus, we are instinctively drawn to circumstances which will continue to develop the Uranian in us, and these circumstances will dominate our lives and our worldview. For example, Moon/Uranus may start out feeling an outsider within its own family and grow up in insecure circumstances; as it grows, it grows more comfortable with the outsider status and may see the world in a unique way. The world then responds by gifting Uranus with opportunities to release whatever is holding it back, so that it can progress in its wisdom at an accelerated rate, unfettered by convention. Uranus then learns to navigate both the conventional worlds and the Uranian one, so that it might bring improvements into the lives of others. We learn to nurture ourselves and others in a new way..
both these articles are brilliant – taking me over the bridge from my well-learned limiting beginnings. Thanku…especially for the insight into Mercury as messenger within. He is so fundamental!
does the word dissociation fit in with a discussion of Uranus ? before coming up on the more mature and positive facets of Uranus mentioned here – I found myself working thru its dissociative influence from emotional pain and trauma. “sitting thru” the recapitulation of pain – reassociating Uranuian emotional disconnects – something very surprising and previously unknown is restored ….
One of the most painful things about Uranus is not that he disconnects, but the fact that, at some point, we will have to reconcile ourselves to what we have been disconnected from. We will have to come to terms with our Uranian loss, which is often traumatic. Uranus in aspect to the Moon, Sun, Venus or Mars can be especially traumatic, because it will divorce us from what is our birthright as human beings–the right to be authentic and to express ourselves and connect with others in a genuine way. Often, with Uranus, we believe we are detached or just don’t care. And then later, usually around the time of the Uranus/Uranus opposition, we find that it matters very much, and we go around trying to pick up whatever shards are left of our authentic selves. Sometimes it comes back to us just as quickly as it was taken away, especially during a Uranus transit.
“No matter what happened afterwards and how it had to be processed for you to squeeze wisdom out of it, Uranus was first responsible for taking away something–and taking it away suddenly and unexpectedly.”
Indeed! i witnessed this via a uranus/ jupiter transit . The unexpected gifts of uranus were built on the bones of sorrow in the months prior to the transit 🙂 as usual I loved this piece dawn.
However, I was wondering how would natal moon conjunct uranus manifest with moon conjunct pluto in an individual? Is the uranian indifference overpowered by pluto in this case?
Hi, Amrit. Are you talking about having the Moon natally conjunct a Uranus/Pluto conjunction? This is difficult to interpret, because it depends on whether Uranus or Pluto is the more dominant planet in the natal chart. But it’s good to start with thinking of Uranus/Pluto as a unit–or at least, as a unit with a massive internal war going on. Uranus strips us clean of the past and Pluto makes sure that we’re on a pure course as far as the soul is concerned. Having the Moon, that planet of attachment , comfort, and habit, there would be very wearing on the Moon. The energy would be so intense, and so focused, that the easiest way to deal with it would be to turn it outward, to fight for a cause, to use rebellion and reform for a purpose. Otherwise, this combination has the potential to be very destructive (mainly self-destructive). Fortunately, the Pluto/Uranus in Virgo generation had the Virgoan zeal to ‘clean up’ whatever came their way–much less ‘me’ oriented than the Pluto and Uranus in Leo generation who came before them. But no matter what, the urge to detach and then turn things inside out is a rough one, and comfort would have to be taken where it could be found.
Ah yes! i meant the same 🙂 Thank you for the prompt and ellaborate response… It definitely resonates well with someone I have been dealing with a lot lately. However, his chart is more plutonian and that too the pluto being in virgo.
And I thought my own sun opposite pluto in natal is bad 😛 phew! I guess it can get worse with other people! 😛
Thanks for this interesting article Dawn. I find it hugely relevant to what I am currently experiencing.
I have an Aquarius ascendant with Uranus as the ruler in the 10th house, which squares Venus and closely trine Mercury. The quick mind has always been an asset (Mercury in Aries), but periodical mental stress and information overload is not at all uncommon.
Last year when transiting Uranus conjuncted my Sun, it definitely revealed a few flashes of insight, but like you described in your other post on Uranus, it tends to deliver the package but leave out the instructions. Ever since then, I have been on a path to uncover the mysteries and whys, and that is also when I got into studying astrology.
I do sometimes feel like an outsider. The thing you believe to know or to be true can only be attested throughout time. And it rarely marries the present reality. So people do think you are off and the worst is, you become to doubt yourself.
Thanks for this post, it has helped me with understanding my experience better and consequently be more accepting towards it.
Hi Dawn,
Thought i’d read this article again after discovering the draconic uranus – natal sun/mercury conjunction. Combined with the natal uranus sextile sun/mercury I think I now understand why I can get so mentally frazzled at times haha. Although do you think mars squaring the sun/merc conjunction would also contribute to that?
Mars squaring anything gives it fire and volatility.
Hi dawn, thank you for the uranus enlightment;-) how would you sugest to use best a composite in which
uranus is ascendant ruler and being in 8th house composite squaring venus trining sun and mars and conjunct pluto jupiter? Does it mean that the relationship will be torn apart or rather be used for sexual transformation via uranus? I think my question about these composite aspects is what is the purpose of such an uranian relationship? Mars in aquarious by the way in 1st house
Thank you for your wisdom and insight! Much appreciated
The Aquarian element (Uranus/Mars) is asking you to have detachment and perspective. The first house Mars is very important, as is the chart ruler in the eighth. Move away from relationship drama and be rational in your relations with one another.