A Last Hurrah

9.26.17


This week's third-and-final opposition between Jupiter in Libra and Uranus in Aries (on Sep 27) brings us one last pungent aftertaste of the decade-disrupting Uranus-Pluto square.

Coupled with Jupiter's third-and-final square to Pluto in Capricorn last month (on Aug 4), this latest reforming of the aspects which have dominated our astroscape throughout the year promises us one 'last hurrah' before Jupiter moves on… and we leave the '10s-defining Uranus-square-Pluto energy largely behind us.

As I've already described at length, Jupiter's current transit through Libra has reactivated the waning square between Uranus and Pluto (a slow-motion doozy which featured seven exact hits between 2012 and 2015), framing a cardinal T-square that's kept us on our toes since late last year.

Perhaps it's gotten hard to remember there was a time before Uranus and Pluto were in such stark tension with one another. I've been writing about this powerhouse influence since at least 2010, the year in which a similar cardinal convergence of outer-planet hard aspects first kicked it into high gear. On the macro level, I spied its earliest expressions in the apparent surge of populist outrage and a parallel emergence of the Tea Party and Occupy movements… political uprisings which followed a not-so-straight line to the 2016 candidacies of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, respectively.

Since then, we've faced a relentless amount of collective discontinuity and disruption… with such subversion of, and rebellion against, our most familiar pillars of social cohesion (for better? for worse?), many of us look around at this strange new chaotic reality, with a jarring lack of recognition, and wonder: What happened? How did we get here? What is all this, anyway? To put it into broader perspective, not all decades are like this one has been. Yes, evolutionary discomfort and chaos is always part of life's deal—but the pressure's not always as extreme as it's been these past several years.

As Jupiter completes its transit through Libra over the next couple weeks, we're invited to review these past years' revolutions and reorientations… and to determine whether there isn't still one more bold advance or game-changing move yet to initiate. While our free will allows us to take such steps whenever we want (within reason, of course, factoring in circumstances beyond our control), some times are better than others for overcoming inertia, tapping into courage, and/or leaping forward into the unknown—and this current intersection of cardinal-sign hard-aspects (along with a still-in-effect fire trine between Saturn and Uranus) is a sure signal of such a moment.

Looking back at all that's already been shaken up or knocked over... glancing around at what's now teetering so delicately on its edge… acknowledging outmoded circumstances or long-decaying relations which have persisted past a healthy point, thanks to their pleasant-enough surfaces or our own tacit avoidance… we ask: Which essentially revitalizing step still begs to be taken? Which last sacred cow is due for a toppling? Which gamble awaits our one-more-big-bet? What's left to deal with?

Breaking through with this 'last hurrah' could mean initiating a necessary (though potentially scary) conversation which might be a first act toward reconciliation or the beginning of an irreversible end. Maybe you dare to advance toward a self-determined goal—without seeking anyone else's permission or trying to sell them on it—and let others respond as they will. Must you cut somebody loose, if you ever hope to buy yourself the freedom to pursue your path?

With the Jupiter-in-Libra influence in tow, please be acutely aware how the rhetoric of compromise, accommodation, and justice is sometimes used to promote a one-sided story or mask self-interest. To muster the uncontaminated strength to pursue what's right, we may have to accept that our supposedly noble stance is more informed by personal preference or desire than we originally realized or wished were true—not that there's anything wrong with just wanting what we want, provided we own it with sincerity instead of projecting it onto some phantom sense of ethics.

And with Venus and Mars (the respective dispositors of Jupiter and Uranus) still moving towards a conjunction in Virgo, please rely heavily on close observation and careful maneuvering. Just because taking a risk is involved, that doesn't mean we won't still benefit from gathering as much data as possible, treating each move with delicacy and focus, aiming for practical precision over performative pizzazz.

Once Jupiter moves into Scorpio on Oct 10, no other slower-moving planet will re-trigger the square between Uranus and Pluto as it continues to separate, allowing its life-altering impact to only further decline until it's just a speck in our rear-view mirrors. This ushers in an early shift in the outer-planet backdrop… one which becomes more pronounced once Saturn departs Sagittarius for Capricorn in late December, then heightens further as Uranus crosses from Aries to Taurus starting in mid-'18, two big astrological developments which swap out a fiery vibe for greater emphasis on the earth element.