Mars/Uranus: Equal-Opportunity Shit-Disturber

8.9.06


Wham! Pow! Holy cow! Didn't you see that one coming?

The week's astrology is dominated by the aspect of startling surprises and abrupt departures from the 'normal' way of being: Mars opposing Uranus. Under the influence of such a planetary aspect, the best advice to give? Expect the unexpected.

Mars, the warrior-god who controls our physical energies and self-assertive drives, has been minding his own business (rather innocently, I must add) for the past few weeks. Traveling through Virgo, he's kept our noses close to the grindstone, steadily working our butts off with double-doses of precision and efficiency. All the while, no one's made much of a fuss.

But Mars in Virgo is a stickler for the small stuff… and sometimes misses what's going on around him. He can toil for hours on the finest point, to get it 'just so' (as close to perfect as humanly possible)—without noticing the time that's passed or the revolution brewing in the next room.

It's nearly impossible, after all, to hold both the microscopic view necessary to pull off Mars in Virgo's workmanship and a big-picture perspective at the same time. Something's got to give.

Along comes Uranus, the planet of clear-cutting chaos and quick-trigger change, to knock Mars right off his workbench, laughingly devilishly as he does so. 'You've been so careful to maintain untainted control over what you're doing here,' Uranus taunts Mars, 'you're totally unprepared for what's springing up over there.'

And with that, he turns the other direction and points off at something approaching, fast and fierce. What IS that, anyway?!?!

When Uranus opposes Mars, the disruptive force usually comes at us from the outside. A major shake-up at work. A sudden announcement from a family member. A radical separation from a lover, or an unforeseen reunion with an ex. A rapid change in fortune, one way or another. No matter how on top of our games we've been, there's no way we could've known. (That's why it's also wise to be super-cautious in situations where accidents are likeliest.)

Uranus is without value judgment on the conditions and conventions he overturns. He's an equal-opportunity shit-disturber. His astrological purpose is to break us out of patterns, breathe fresh air into stale circumstances, and send us scrambling for creative solutions. Uranus liberates us, and for that we must thank him—even if, in those first moments of liberation, we're shocked, furious, frightened or otherwise upset.

Change is life's only constant. Sometimes, it moves slowly. And sometimes, as in this Mars-Uranus week, it comes on in jarring jolts. Why fight it, when resistance is futile? Your worst reaction would be to hold tightly to the way things are. Whether or not you like it, something's got to give.