Uranus Squares Pluto Again: Two Down, Five More to Go!

Plenty has already been written about the implications and manifestations of the notorious Uranus square Pluto in effect between June 2012 and March 2015, including on my own blog (check my June 2012 archives): the wars, the various collapses and brutalities, the global economy and climate in a tailspin. Well, it's back again on May 20, for the second of seven exact squares.

The last era we experienced this square was back in the early 1930s, the peak of the Great Depression and birth of the "New Deal," the rise of fascism in Germany, and -- on a more positive note in the United States -- exciting new developments in architecture, automobiles, home furnishings, and everyday objects that we now call "art deco" but back then signified a conscious move away from the more ornamental French deco style of the '20s in favor of a sleeker, more streamlined, "modern" look. This may sound frivolous in the context of such harsh realities as the Depression, soup lines, and dust bowls, but it was inarguable that the "look" of things changed beyond mere necessity. (There was also the WPA, which merged pragmatism and technology with aesthetics.) Radio (Uranus) came into its own during the '30s, and "talkies" as well as the implementation of the Hays Code (basically a refutation of the decadent Jazz Age) transformed the cinema from their silent, morally ambiguous days. Interestingly, this code was broken about thirty years later, during the mid-1960s conjunction between Uranus and Pluto; one of the first films to flaut the code was appropriately entitled Blow-Up.

Today's cultural markers include the Internet, but I believe that we are now on the verge of important breakthroughs in this medium. Television has entered a new Golden Age, with articles being published in such serious publications as the New York Times about binge viewing, "Netflix infidelity" (i.e., watching a TV series behind your SO's back), and how a show like Breaking Bad has for many bookworms become the equivalent of Great Literature -- in some cases supplanting the act of reading books altogether (you know, those square things with pages that kill forests). Just like the Depression, people are in need of escape -- but unlike the Depression, this escape can be indulged in without ever leaving home or seeing friends face-to-face. (Who needs to, when we've got Skype?)

Also, such seemingly everyday things as smartphones, iPads, and Kindles are not nearly as affordable as other "modern" things, relative to inflation, of the 1930s. What is pretty much a "want to have" is now considered a "have to have" -- otherwise, you'll be out in the figurative cold and unlikely to keep up with the middle class (whatever that means -- someone making only half a mil a year?). Just like today, in the early 1930s, Uranus was in hotheaded Aries -- but the square was to Pluto in Cancer, so the emphasis really was on survival, on having a home and food (both Cancerian concerns). Now Uranus squares Pluto in Capricorn, which emphasizes authority, power, and status. As a Sun in Cancer, this not surprisingly rubs me the wrong way.

The second Uranus-Pluto square falls on the Sun's entrance into Gemini and the Mercury-Uranus sextile. This means we have a wonderful window in which we can communicate with our siblings, neighbors, and friends -- with potentially far-reaching positive effects in the very high numbers, the cosmic equivalent of chain mail in which no one breaks the chain because it is important enough to keep alive. In other words, May 20 would be wasted on binge-viewing five episodes of Mad Men.

Astrological Grab Bag

Moon's in the last degree of Virgo. Feeling jittery and scattered, yet in the mood to astrologize even though my thoughts are all over the place.

My progressed Moon is exactly midway through Gemini, and traveling through my 9th House. In that time (about 15 months), I have become simultaneously more interested in (and outraged by) politics and the failure of democracy in the United States (which seems to be more a reflection of 9th House concerns than Gemini) and...television.

For most of my teenage and adult years, I did not watch TV, period, with the exception of one or two guilty pleasures (Melrose Place; the local time-to-panic news hour). I preferred watching movies, MTV when they still showed music videos, and revolting public-access cable shows that by now have rightfully been flushed down the toilet of history. When I had an office job as an (il)legal secretary, I was able to contribute abolutely nothing to the buzz over Sex and the City. I was also unable to debate the true meaning of the series finale of The Sopranos. But since my Moon progressed into Gemini, I have probably watched more TV shows than I have in my first 41 years.

I only watch one of these shows, Mad Men (which I glommed on to from the very first season, with my progressed Moon in Aries), in real time. One of these shows is still on (like my newest addiction, 30 Rock). At least one was cancelled shortly after I got into it (Bored to Death). Some are vintage (The Fugitive, The Prisoner, The Twilight Zone). Some hail from the United Kingdom (Extras, Father Ted). It is tempting to credit my Roku box with my new interest in TV shows, but Roku has only been in my life for a couple of months. No, much of the credit goes to a few people in my life whose taste I mostly respect...and, I suppose, my own curiosity and desire to keep an open mind (Gemini). In a way, I feel retroactively embarrassed not to have watched some of these shows on television when they were new, but then again, even when I had cable, I lacked HBO (hello, Sopranos!). In another way, I am currently embarrassed that what soothes me even more than a good book (I am finally reading Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay) is watching three back-to-back episodes of 30 Rock.

Television may or may not still be the opiate of the masses; after all, texting, sexting, Facebook, Twitter, and Wii are also vying for our glazed eyes and sore fingers. But in these uncertain, grim times, maybe it does make more sense to veg out with a good TV show...and there are more of them out there than I had previously imagined possible.

Lest this post turn out more focused than I'd originally intended, I am truly outraged that all this talk of the "fiscal cliff" is taking the focus away (once again) from the millions of people in the United States who are unemployed or underemployed. Back when I was a relative youngin and had my first astrology article, "The Astrology of Generation X," published in the December 1999 issue of Dell Horoscope, I noted that "Pluto in Virgo natives may suffer from lousy job karma." Keep in mind this article was written during the dot-com boom, so many people disagreed with me. However, the dot-com boom went bust, and turned out to be a big, fake-out blip on the radar.

Meaning no disrespect to the trillions of out-of-work baby boomers born in the 1950s who stand a snowball's chance in Hades of ever regaining gainful employment before collecting social security, I believe that my Pluto-in-Virgo generation was hit right out of the gates by the nation's 20-year trend of downsizing, offshoring, and an increasing unwillingness on the part of employers to train bright, educated individuals in the latest software technology that are destined to become obsolete in a year or two anyway. Things are only slightly better for the Pluto-in-Libra group because their relative youth (28 to 41 years old as of December 31, 2012) gives them a leg up in the hiring process, which may or may not result in their earning a living wage. And let us not forget those crushing student loans incurred by recent Pluto-in-Scorpio college graduates. But hey, it serves those impractical dreamers right for not majoring in Something Practical! We Need More Engineers! We Need More Entrepreneurs! The liberal arts really shouldn't exist at all -- although it's a nifty dodge for trust-fund brats and slackers who do not wish to enter the Family Business because they'd rather sleep late or work for a nonprofit or an art gallery or some such nonsense.

On a related note, I propose that we have a ceremonial burning of the phrase "the new normal." It lets far too many people and philosophies off the hook, and is even more objectionable than "it is what it is."

Although I am highly educated and only in my early 40s, my job applications are routinely ignored. But by now, I should be used to the constant stress of freelancing. With Aquarius on my 6th-House cusp and its ruler, Uranus, in my 1st House, perhaps it was inevitable that I wind up working for myself. And with Gemini on my MC, having more than one career at once is in the stars. I have to juggle all my aspirations, dammit! Yet when all is said and done, I am a Cancer Sun, and Cancer can get pretty damned insecure even on a sunny day. And with Uranus still opposing my natal Uranus, I am beginning to crack under the strain. I try to keep focused on my current creative project -- my version of the brass ring, the Golden Ticket that could change my entire life for the better. But constantly having to hustle for my next gig, and not even being able to relax when I land one because it won't bring in enough money for me to do anything more than tread water, can be a real energy drain. Plus, the grim implications of Saturn in Scorpio transiting my 2nd House are scaring the shit out of me. Especially when Saturn goes over my natal Moon next October. (It gets really close in February, but retrogrades within half a degree of the conjunction).

I think I'll close this helter-skelter post with this appeal: if you are looking to have your chart read by a compassionate, experienced, true-blue astrologer, please check out my testimonials on my homepage and contact me for my rates. Yes, I do astrocartography. Yes, I do relationship charts. Yes, I am the real deal.