Saturn-Uranus Trine: Sustainably Directing the Disruption

12.26.16


I've given planetary shit-stirrer Uranus a lot of press recently, in light of Jupiter-in-Libra's having moved into an opposition with Uranus and simultaneously reactivating its square to Pluto.

As a result of its energies being magnified by this Jupiter opposition (and Pluto square), Uranus has lately played many a wild-card in our lives—including, but not limited to, an utterly Uranian figure ascending to the US presidency—leaving plenty of shock, disruption, and volatility for us to contend with. And this trend is far from over.

But Uranus isn't merely an agent of destruction, though, yes, it often must first rattle, rupture, or rip apart a stale circumstance or entrenched institution in order to liberate us from its restrictive grip. Uranus also strikes us with spontaneous insight-flashes… 'a-ha!' moments of enlightening breakthrough which, not uncommonly, are born out of the very same volatility or disarray that initially left us so anxious or uncertain. Uncertainty compels us to embrace innovation, epiphany, and discontinuity because we have to do something different (if, that is, we wish to keep moving ahead in life) now that our 'old ways' no longer function effectively. Uranus essentially forces us to innovate; otherwise, we'll just flounder in the wake of whatever's broken down or busted up.

Promisingly, in addition to the other aspects I've mentioned, Uranus is now also making a symbiotic trine with Saturn in Sagittarius… an aspect which first formed to exactitude this past weekend (Sat Dec 24) and remains in effect throughout 2017. If Uranus wields a disruptive, discontinuous pressure, Saturn's main purpose is to help us responsibly stay the course with the efforts and intentions necessary to build lasting structures, achievements, and practices. When these two planets are working cooperatively (as they do when in trine), we can more capably combine visionary Uranian brilliance with on-the-ground Saturnine realism, deconstruction with constructive action, dazzling inventiveness with mundane functionality, radical change with steadying sustainability.

I believe it's useful for us all to knowingly keep awareness of this Saturn-Uranus trine's supportive influence in the forefront of our minds, due to the concurrent impact of Uranus's edgier and more erratic aspects to Jupiter and Pluto. While perhaps we've rightly identified this increasingly urgent need to 'do something different', we must also acknowledge that not every course of radically-different action will serve our life-goals on an ongoing and/or longer-term basis. Some acts of radical change could worsen our situation, by throwing out precious babies along with dingy bathwater and/or firing up a reactive resistance which unleashes collateral damage that proves even more devastating than whatever we're reacting against. Some Uranus-provoked deeds (especially when under duress from Jupiter and Pluto) are carried out in desperation, and thus lack much forethought. After all, Uranus is in Aries, the most immediate and impulsive sign of the zodiac.

This trine from Saturn encourages us to first consider the potential results, consequences, payoffs, and logical conclusions we might expect from a Uranian action once we're a few steps further down the road it opens for us, before we actually take it. Will this move propel us in a direction that's assuredly aligned with our overriding aims, interests, and/or ethics? Will it accomplish something we'll find meaningful, inspiring, and/or morally decent? And what's liable to happen next? Saturn expects us to pause in our breaking-free and busting-forth at least long enough to address such questions.

To be clear, though, even when we work with Saturn's deliberative diligence to responsibly direct our Uranus-spurred departures, we are never sure exactly what will happen next. We can make our calculations and preparations, but they only serve us to a certain point. That's the nature of Uranus: We take our gamble on an unknown, then stay on our toes, ever-ready to stumble upon what we hadn't (and maybe couldn't have) anticipated and to improvise our response as necessary. Even with Saturn's guidance, there's no getting around that essential charge to just do it… to take the leap, to dive off the cliff, to risk dulling safety for reinvigorating vitality, despite the terrifying unknowns.

The essentiality of such an orientation toward action is only reinforced by the fact that Saturn and Uranus form their present trine across two fire signs, the element most strongly associated with vital activity and motion. Fire signs instinctively proceed to where the action's hot, boldly consumed with courage and venturesomeness. They rarely wait for permission or worry too much about what might happen, confident they'll know what to do once a situation demands some response. Saturn's current position in Sagittarius does seek to somewhat tame such fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants instincts, warning us against forsaking the functional details as we chase our big-picture ideals… and threatening us with consequences such as crucial missing-pieces, broken-down processes, and seemingly hopeless messes, should we hastily throw all caution to the wind. Yet, obviously, it's impossible to factor in every such detail prior to action—and still we must act.

Positively speaking, Saturn in Sagittarius helps us keep Uranus in Aries on the 'right track' by continually reminding us of the defining premise, motivating belief, and/or driving purpose behind whatever shakeups we're effecting. What's the most important facet(s) of what we're trying to do? That must never be overlooked or ranked below a momentary whim or surge-of-passion in our list of priorities.

Holding to our explicit understanding of what matters most will allow us to make the correct on-the-spot judgments that support (rather than convolute or thwart) our aim. Making such judgments is critical to our continuing to advance down that certain path of our choosing over the others, and to resist a heated moment's temptation toward destabilizing distraction or dishonoring detour. We must choose a direction or conviction at every fork-in-the-road, left or right, this way or that, in favor or against. When we productively utilize Saturn in Sagittarius to determine our particular course based on virtue or value, it's that much easier to determine the correct choice at each turn; we simply assess the options in front of us according to our predetermined principle-based criteria.

Of course, it's the Saturn-Uranus trine's same positive capacity for keeping us on the right track that also bears the potential to limit the breadth of possible innovations, improvisations, and departures in our sightline. If we are too unwavering in our singular perspective, belief-system, or agenda, we narrow our range of choices before we've ever given them all a fair chance… which can inhibit us from taking any truly radical or transgressive actions and/or commandeer our displays of disruptive change to impose a particular ideological program that necessarily restrains all other expressions which fall outside its bounds. Saturn in Sagittarius can guide us with its perspectival focus on what really matters—or it can blind us to other contrasting perspectives, encoding a streak of fundamentalism that fosters a liberatory vibe only within certain contexts, meanwhile regressively limiting the freedom of those who don't conform.