Looking Back on Saturn-Uranus aspects

This is a bit late since the Saturn-Uranus opposition is old news by now but I thought I'd finally do a little study exercise using Richard Nolle's tables which list the planetary aspects through time.

Major aspects to outer planets are listed here and that's where I'm pulling up Saturn-Uranus transits from: http://www.astropro.com/homeNS45.html. Trines aren't listed. If I ever buy Alphee Lavoie's astrology program I can probably pull them up someday. Someday... I guess I could look in the ephemeris, so slow... Trines show great harmonizing influences which can lead to empire building. The conjunctions, squares and oppositions show tensions in societies. Instead of showing an emphasis on Elements (Earth, WAter, Air, Fire) they will show an emphasis on the Qualities: Cardinal, Fixed, Mutable.

I looked up Essential Dignities for these planets and then realized that according to Lilly and those before him, Saturn and Uranus share Essential Dignities because in the days of yore Uranus wasn't discovered yet and Saturn ruled Aquarius. So, these planets, Saturn and Uranus, are on the same page and are considered most active in the Cardinal Signs.

Domicile: Capricorn; Exile: Cancer; Exaltation: Libra; Fall: Aries. (Note: It is extremely interesting when comparing Barack Obama's chart because he was born in 1961 with that big conjunction of Jupiter-Saturn over the Capricorn-Aquarius cusp.)

Interesting to realize that these two planets are both related to the Horoscope Wheel angles and so would give the aspects between them a very action oriented / mobilizing type of energy. Probably less introspection than an outer planet connection to Jupiter, Neptune or Pluto which are related to non-angular houses.

First I noticed something obvious that the conjunctions and oppositions happen less frequently. But their transits are longer lasting due to multiple Retrograde passes. There are 4-5 squares per century. One happens about every 22-23 years. Conjunctions and Oppositions happen about every 45 years, about 2-3 per Century.

I looked to see what Quality influence occurred, if any. All these aspects seem to happen in order by Quality emphasis: Cardinal to Fixed to Mutable and back again.

The Conjunctions seem to change Element about every 100 years, normally switching after 2 conjunctions in one Element. An exception was between the years 1852 and 1942 when there were 3 Saturn-Uranus conjunctions in Fixed Signs (Taurus, Scorpio, Taurus).

The squares work in a 200 year cycle where they come full circle by element.

The oppositions seem to shift element every 100 years like the conjunctions so would have roughly a 400 year cycle.

The different aspects seem to work against each other, perhaps "balancing" each other out. Example: Recent 1988 conjunction in Mutable (Sagittarius); followed by square in 2000, Fixed (Taurus-Aquarius); followed by Opposition in 2008-2010 Mutable to Cardinal; followed by square 2021 in Fixed (Aquarius-Taurus); followed by conjunction in 2032 (Cardinal); etc. It looks like we're going to be missing some Mutable Energy for awhile.

I looked back to around the beginning of the 18th Century to see how if this pattern persists.

In the 18th Century the conjunctions had a Mutable (Virgo, 1714) conjunction and then a Cardinal Conjunction (Aries, 1761).

In the 18th Century the squares had a Cardinal aspect (1704, Aries); 3 Fixed Squares (1728, 1749, 1771) and then a Mutable Square (1795).

In the 18th Century, there were two Oppositions in in the 18th Century, both Cardinal in Cancer and Capricorn.

In the 19th Century, there were 3 conjunctions. The first was in Cardinal (Libra) and the last two were in Fixed (Taurus, 1852 & Scorpio, 1897).

In the 19th Century, there were 3 Mutable squares (1819, 1840, 1861) and one last one in Cardinal (1885).

In the 19th Century, there were two oppositions. The first transitioned from Cardinal to Fixed. The second one (1873-75) was in Fixed.

In the 20th Century, there were 2 conjunctions. First conjunction was in Fixed (Taurus, 1942) and Second Conjunction was in Mutable (Sagittarius, 1988?????).

In the 20th Century, there were 4 squares. The first 3 were in Cardinal (1909, 1931, 1952) and the last one was in Fixed (1976).

In the 20th Century, there were two oppositions which show a transition from Fixed to Mutable energy. 1918-20 switched from Leo-Aquarius to Virgo-Pisces. 1965-67 was in Virgo-Pisces.

The 21st Century will have 2 Conjunctions; First in Mutable (Gemini, 2032) and the 2d one in Cardinal (Capricorn, 2079).

The 21st Century will have 5 squares: Fixed (2000); Fixed (2021); Fixed (2043); Mutable (2067); Mutable (2090).

The 21st Century will have 3 Oppositions: Mutable to Cardinal (2008-2010); Cardinal (2056-57); Cardinal (2098-2100).

In the 21st Century the Cardinal Influence will be part of all Saturn-Uranus oppositions. The current one lasts from Nov. 4, 2008 through to 2010. It starts in Virgo-Pisces and ends on Jul. 26, 2010 right on the Aries Points with Saturn 1 Libra opposite Uranus 1 Aries (with Pluto squaring from Capricorn, that's a potential clunker).

Saturn and Uranus will also oppose each other two more times in this Century, both times in the Cardinal Signs of Libra-Aries. In 2056-57 Saturn will be in Aries opposite Uranus in Libra. In 2098-2100, Saturn will be in Libra opposite Uranus in Aries. I haven't checked for big aspects to other planets but that would give more of an idea of how the energy might be used. This is showing a need to organize and regulate in a new way. It could be a time of organized innovation as well as a time of military idiocy. Oppositions demand Relationship and Balance. Saturn and Uranus are both Political and emotionally cold. The Lesson that I'm learning from Barack Obama is that they can show a great sense of Unity. If the Leaders are not in denial of people's Individuality and Inner Natures at the same time this can be an awesome influence. If the Leaders are jerks, they can gather people into very negative groups such as Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, Fascist Italy and whatever happened in China and other Countries. People seem to want to cooperate under this aspect for the "Greater Good." One hopes that the Leaders (and the people) will still retain their ability to deal with Doubt and Certainty over right and wrong. Uranus seems to demand both Individuality and Unity at the same time which is a very advanced concept to put into motion. Saturn is simply demanding and bossy which is a lot easier concept to grasp, but Saturn does have to deal with the concepts of Guilt and Loss. And Saturn has organizational abilities and discipline and deep insights about human nature from all those years of offending people.

Okay, step down from Soap Box. Leo Mercury square Jupiter, perhaps I should get a job blowing up helium balloons.

The 20th Century was all about the Virgo-Pisces expression of this sign. Great lessons were learned (hopefully) about War and Human destructiveness as the ability to destroy huge amounts of people was perfected in the first part of the Century and the ability to destroy the entire planet was perfected in the last part of the century.

Here's an interesting prediction for October, 2008 aspects written by Richard Nolle. http://www.astropro.com/forecast/predict/2008-10.html. He says that no significant planetary aspects to look at just as the Financial Markets were tanking. This might form a sort of "stasis" which creates an opening for the floor to fall in. He provides another answer. I know that other phenomenon are acting strangely. The Sun Spot activity stopped in August just before the crash. This hadn't happened in a hundred years.