The Future of Astrology

Some time ago there was a discussion among astrologers about the planet ruling Astrology. Some people thought Uranus rules astrology, but there were many who came up with every conceivable planet under the Sun and beyond it, I think maybe with exception of the Moon. Nobody apparently thought that the Moon rules astrology and neither do I of course, but it was amazing to see people come up with all the other planets.

How can any other planet BUT Uranus rule Astrology I ask myself? Uranus is the quick mind, the process of distancing oneself (i.e. jumping to another planet and then observe from the outside in..) and of awareness. Aquarius, the sign under rulership of Uranus has a boundless interest in people, notably, in the minds of people, in what makes people tick. If we look for instance at the caring professions, we can easily see that nursing belongs to Neptune and Pisces, psychology to Pluto and Scorpio, and psychiatry to Uranus and Aquarius. This interest in how the human mind functions and from there, in consciousness itself, is the center of astrology. Most people do admit that astrology made them more conscious of themselves. So becoming aware and the process of Awakening, all these Uranian processes, are the plain and simple result of astrology. But also: deconditioning, standing apart from what is generally told and learning to think for yourself. This element of becoming yourself, this element of finding your own unique qualities, all this is one of the main gifts of Astrology! Uranus is the planet of individuation and Astrology's purpose may well be individuation.

In Greek mythology Uranus was the god of the sky (Ouranos), and reigns everything to do with the sky: from spaceships to astronomy to astrology. Astrology uses the solar system as its basis, and thus it looks at the"sky" to learn something about ourselves. Really, we are not contemplating astrology floating in a boat on top of the sea or even below sealevel, we look up, towards the sky, with astrology. As much as Neptune may be the "Answer" to Uranus, in reality it is Uranus which is the planet ruling astrology.

On the spiritual path we could speak of the process of Awakening, first the waking up from the sacred beliefs of the status quo and of what others tell us. But waking up too much and asking oneself too many questions can eventually lead to isolation from those around you. Precisely at that point Neptune enters the stage, as the next step on this spiritual path, because Neptune denotes Compassion. The compassion of Neptune comes from the notion that we all are One, and this does fit the symbol of the ocean, the mothersea, where all of us belong to and are part of. So Neptune will provide one with a higher state of connectedness, after the isolation of Uranus. Poeple often say that astrologers live in ivory towers, and indeed this is the danger of Uranus. Most professionally working astrologers do work in absolute isolation, alone, and indeed it is high time that we generate support groups for one another, the true Aquarian/Uranian way: forming groups guaranteeing the respect for the individual.

NEPTUNE IN AQUARIUS
If we look at the planet Uranus and the sign of Aquarius at this moment in history, two things come to the fore which are very significant for the developments in the Western World vis-a-vis astrology as a whole. To start with Aquarius: the planet Neptune is inspiring this sign ever since 1998 and will stay there up until 2012, so we have 12 years of "Neptune-in-Aquarius' to go! Neptune is the planet of everything which has no boundaries, and concretely this does mean that indeed there are no borders, that everything is open to everyone. When Neptune transitted Sagittarius in the 70íes, higher education became open for everyone. (Open universities for example). When Neptune transitted Capricorn, the world of investing as well as 'design' (functional form) became fashionable and accessible to all. In fact, astrologers all of a sudden appeared with design letterheads and they all of a sudden took on the look of the professional (Capricorn). Because yes, Neptune rules fashion. And when Neptune started to transit Aquarius, the sign of astrology itself, the computer became accessible for everyone (computers and electronics -- this flashing mind-idea of Uranus -- also are ruled by Uranus to a large extent).
So Astrology is fashionable (Aquarius) for the mainstream (Neptune) right now and don't we notice it in the enormous growth in demand for astrology everywhere!

Of course, the flipside of Neptune in Aquarius with respect to astrology, is that Neptune also can water down everything, and popularize it to such an extent, that all is accessible on mainstream level, i.e. the horoscopes which so many websites now promote and which in reality have nothing to do with serious astrology of course. If Uranus rules astrology, it indeed is no longer in the serious sign of Capricorn but it has also arrived in the acceleration timewarp of Aquarius, the computer age, made virtual by Neptune as well, and thus quick and fast and not necessarily serious on many (website) fronts.

ASTROLOGY AND URANUS THROUGH THE SIGNS
If we look at Uranus' transits through the signs, it is obvious that when Uranus passes through a 'yin' sign of the zodiac, astrology deepens and becomes more introverted, and each time when Uranus transits through a 'yang' sign of the zodiac, seven years later, astrology becomes extrovert and changes from low profile to high profile in the outer world. Uranus obviously is in a 'yang' sign right now! Because of the 84-year cycle of Uranus, each transit through a sign will last 7 years. If we look at the recent history of astrology, keyword style, it is fascinating to see how astrology adapted the coloring of the sign it was transitting in!

LIBRA 1969-1975 approx: flower power astrology was born.

SCORPIO 1975-1981: the timeframe of indepth study and the birthplace of modern approaches of depth psychology in astrology (Liz Greene, Dane Rudhyar). Astrological research (another Scorpio thing) was strong in those days too (Michel Gauquelin, and Dean and Mathers with their "Recent Advances in Natal Astrology").

SAGITTARIUS 1981-1988: more and more congresses as well as books became available, and the current astrologyschools at least on the continent where I live were born in those days. In 1981 we had the first "International" (Sagittarius) conference in astrology in Switzerland, followed by the UAC conferences in America. This trend culminated in 1988 with the Saturn-Uranus conjunction.

CAPRICORN 1989-1995: Many attempts at internal organizations were made, and in general astrologers tried to provide a basis for more solidity professionally speaking. Financial astrology was born, and astrologers started to work from offices rather than the backroom in their houses.

AQUARIUS: 1996-2003: then the acceleration started, and astrology and the internet was born. A humanistic astrology also fits this timeframe by the way. We do not have much time left to form support groups in astrology, this is the time to do it! Up until the end of 2003, when Uranus will leave Aquarius, we can truly profit from an old Aquarian ideal, and an ideal situation for astrologers: belonging in freedom to a greater whole. The internet indeed provides us with exactly that which we always wanted: a supportgroup, but each in our OWN time, not dictated by the timing of other people. What more can we really want?

PISCES: from 2004 onwards: the immediate FUTURE of astrology from 2004 onwards looks quite watery again, Uranus will then again be in a YIN-sign, a more intuitive sign, and a more medically attuned sign. Visual communication is likely to become accelerated too in these years to come. Rationality will make place for intuitive perception in astrology, and it may not be until Uranus enters Aries, which only occurs in 2010, that we become interested in astrological technique and chartcalculation again after this Piscean period.. In fact, by the end of Uranus'passage through Pisces, there may not be many people left who actually know how to calculate a chart themselves... :-)
Spiritual forms of astrology as well as medical astrology will be the positive outcomes of Uranus in Pisces. With Pisces knowing no boundaries, we may also experience a massive burglary of copyrights by the way, so be aware that you do not become one of those astrologers who, brought up by the ease of availability of information in these internet times, thinks nothing of stealing some information for yourself.

ASTROLOGERS & URANUS IN THE SIGNS
If we take a quick look at the charts of wellknown astrologers, especially at the sign where Uranus is placed in in their charts, it is incredible to see how much the astrology of these individuals is colored by this signplacement also.
Again in keywordstyle:

URANUS IN ARIES: the statistician Michel Gauquelin and also Robert Carl Jansky (known for amongst others his technical information about eclipses) were born with Uranus in Aries.

URANUS IN TAURUS: William Lilley, who probably earned a good living as an astrologer doing horaries as well as the productive Noel Tyl (production is also Taurus), were born with Uranus in Taurus.

URANUS IN GEMINI: Alan Leo, the first international "networker" in astrology who started with his Astrological Magazine and helped many other countries set this up too, was born with Uranus in Gemini. The current generation of top astrologers also were born with this communicative Astrology quality, writing, speaking everywhere, and doing readings: Alan Oken, Jeff Jawer, Raymond Merriman and so on and so forth. Funny, all these are names of men. Uranus is in a "yang" placement here. But it would soon be followed by a yin-sign:

URANUS IN CANCER: and lo and behold, the first well known female astrologer of the recent history, Evangeline Adams, was born with Uranus in Cancer. So is Karen Hamaker-Zondag by the way. Uranus-in-Cancer astrologers are also astrologers very much occupied with the deconditioning process.

URANUS IN LEO is a sign of leadership and creation in astrology, in Holland the well known astrologer Thierens who led the way for Dutch astrology is a good example of this.

URANUS IN VIRGO is found in charts of many people who contributed with detailed and/or technical information for the world of astrology, such as Elsbeth Ebertin, Tycho Brahe, Wilhelm Knappich and Leo Knegt in Holland again. Elsbeth Ebertin specifically was instrumental for the anatomical correlations of the zodiac. Virgo does deal with medical analysis. Many astrologers born in the 60íes are born with Uranus in Virgo, and they may feel in part, needs for improvement technically and on the level of astrology as a true helping profession.

URANUS IN LIBRA was found with amongst others in the charts of Charles Carter and Marc Edmund Jones, and no doubt, these were people who brought people together in astrology.

URANUS IN SCORPIO was found in the charts of three of the most influential astrologers of the last century, and also astrologers whom many find "difficult" : Dane Rudhyar, and in Germany: Thomas Ring and Walter Koch.

URANUS IN SAGITTARIUS was found in the chart of an astrologer who wrote a bestseller with the title: 'Heaven Knows What', Grant Lewi. It is a title that is being reprinted and reprinted and certainly contributed to the spread (Sagittarius) of astrology! And this title itself is such an incredible metaphor for Uranus & Sagittarius: Heaven (Uranus) Knows What (Sagittarius).

URANUS IN CAPRICORN was found in the chart of Charles Jayne amongst others: his "Horoscope Interpretation Outlined" denotes a good structuring approach of astrology, where Capricorn is famous for. One of Holland's most wellknown female astrologers of the last century, Mellie Uyldert, was also born with Uranus in Capricorn. Capricorn indeed is a yin-sign, a female sign.

URANUS IN AQUARIUS was found in the charts of many astrologers who invented their own systems: Morin de Villefranche, Edith Wangeman, to name but a few. But also Alexander Ruperti, advocate of Humanistic Astrology, was born with Uranus in Aquarius.

And then to look at those astrologers born with Uranus in Pisces, because these also could tell us about the immediate future of astrology. Unfortunately, the first two examples I did find in a book were those of an astrologer pretty wellknown for his addiction to alcohol, and of another one who plagiarized a lot. These indeed are the less fortunate outcomes of Pisces on lower levels. But whom did I encounter also? Nostradamus (Michel le Nostradame), maybe the world's most famous "clairvoyant" in astrology, and, a medical doctor by profession. An esoteric astrologer with Uranus in Pisces is also Douglas Baker, and a mystic is Theodor Landscheidt. Sydney Omarr is a prototype of the popularization of astrology, which is like Neptune in Aquarius -- indeed Uranus in Pisces is a reverse signature of Neptune in Aquarius. (Uranus and Neptune will be in reception from 2004!) John Addey was another mystic with Uranus in Pisces. Some idealists were found also: Marion March, Louise Huber and Zipporah Dobyns.

So, in simply looking at the planet whom I truly believe to be the purest "ruler" of astrology some general trends of the past were easily found, and from this some indications as to what awaits us can be seen also.

© Joyce Hoen 2001-2003