Modern organizations have to have a bit of wizard in them to make a difference and shine. The Industrial Revolution occurred alongside the discovery of Uranus in 1781. Uranus is the planet associated with those “ah-ha” experiences or those big ideas that we all have. It operates somewhat as an electrical shock in consciousness. It is the energy associated with such inventions as Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, Elias Howe’s sewing machine, and Bill Gates’ Microsoft. Uranus is associated with magic and alchemy. Think of Michelangelo’s wonderful painting on the Sistine Chapel entitled “The Creation” where the hand of God touches the hand of Man and humanity begins. This is the energy of Uranus.
Uranus (mythology)
Uranus, in mythology, was the Sky God, an archetype that is present in every creation story. Out of Uranus came everything else. In the Greek stories, he is called Ouranos. Uranus would come together with Gaia, mother Earth, to have children and then without warning, quickly depart. This image describes the process of creation as an energy that fuses and separates. Where Uranus is in your horoscope is where you experience incongruities, sudden changes, where you grasp onto that area of your chart and, just as suddenly where it leaves you. Its placement implies an area of your chart or your company’s chart where you are unique, invent or, where you think in a non-traditional futuristic ways.
Uranus rules the sign of Aquarius, the sign of group and global consciousness. Aquarius’ opposite sign is Leo, which is a sign that describes more of the individual’s expression. Uranus symbolizes group expression, the networks, the people who know the people who know you and the ability to receive work from referrals. However, even though Uranus rules groups, Uranian energy doesn’t really want to be a part of the group. Uranians have the ability to tell the group what to do and give viable solutions to heal their problems and issues. When that task is complete, it just as swiftly departs as it arrived. This is the same type of energy of some of those groundbreaking actors such as James Dean, who had a new and unique style of presentation, presented us with that style, and just as quickly were gone, but not before pioneering an entirely new genre of acting. This is very similar to the story of how Uranus merges with Gaia, quickly creating new progeny and then just as quickly departing.
Just as in the story, the effects of Uranus in your chart are where you wake people up, where you do not conform. This is your storehouse of knowledge where you are comfortable in challenging the status quo. In other words, Uranus shakes things. Along with its charismatic appeal, it has the power to sway and convince others of that same new insight. Everyone, companies included, has Uranus placed somewhere in their chart, in a house or field of experience where it is best expressed. Uranus in your tenth house of career, or the sign of Aquarius, the sign which it rules, placed on the tenth house cusp may indicate that you are seen by the world as a revolutionary. You challenge authority figures, bosses and parents (all denoted by the tenth house) to think differently. Although you effect a change, it doesn’t guarantee that you will remain in that position of change, for as quickly as you stir things up, you may just as quickly be gone. Why? Because your job as catalyst is complete or you may be bored and no longer feel mentally challenged.
Your energy challenges people. If there is a like-minded intelligence and the organization is ready for change, then your maverick thinking can be of great benefit. However, if your ideas are too far ahead of the group, then you may not be able to continue in that position. Uranus can make those unprepared and uncomfortable as it always challenges and threatens the way things are done.
The placement of Uranus on any angle or highly aspecting an angle, can act the same. The nature of Uranus is to shake things up, to question tradition and authority. As one of my young clients studying facial and skin care in Paris recently told me, and who has her natal Sun opposing natal Uranus, which is placed in her first house, “They just never have my major!” Uranus is the planet prominent in charts of those who march to the beat of a different drummer, are visionary, future-oriented and who start the new trends and ideas.
Uranians are revolutionaries. Since the planet Uranus takes approximately seven (7) years to move through one constellation at a time, these are the people whose careers seem to be on seven-year cycles. As a result, these individuals may head down one career path that excites and inspires them, but then, because they learn quickly and get bored easily, may suddenly have a yearning to move on. With the first hints of change, they send out a psychic signal that can bring groups, acquaintances or friends in who offer them new possibilities, new roles, and new experiences. Often this new direction is very different and extremely foreign to their previous life roles. And yet the new role fits if their interest is stimulated and their individuality is allowed to shine through.
The Uranian individual is torn, like the God, Ouranos, between belonging with others who are in more traditional roles versus being autonomous and individualistic in their lives. They never really fit until they accept the fact that, in fact, they are different. The awakening to this possibility is triggered in their early twenties, but when transiting Uranus opposes their natal Uranus, then they truly awaken to their soul’s purpose. Their work usually finds them; they don’t find the work. By letting go of trying, or fighting, and just being okay with trying something new that inspires them, the opportunities present themselves and they figure out their direction. Many anarchists and entrepreneurs have strong placements of Uranus. Uranus is usually in the picture when a sudden departure from a company occurs or when there is a sudden change of direction.
Prometheus is associated with Uranus/Aquarius. The name Prometheus, translated, means, “he who has foresight”. Prometheus was the God who stole the fire of creativity from the Gods and gave it to the people. Because he believed that it would be of great comfort and use for the
“people”, he was condemned. He was tied to a rock and by day an eagle, the symbol of enlightenment, ate away at his liver. The liver grew back at night.
I have found that people who struggle with their visions and creativity sometimes struggle with liver problems. The struggle for enlightenment presents itself through physical illness and, sometimes, mental illness. Those that have major conjunctions of Uranus to the personal planets and angles such as the Sun, Moon and Ascendant may also suffer from manias or hypertension. They can have a mind that is going too fast in a world that is still stuck in third dimensional movement and thinking. Geniuses have these placements and many geniuses throughout history have struggled with manic depression and cyclic behaviors.
There is a great challenge in the charts of Uranians similar to the struggles of those who have prominent Chirons (Chiron will next be discussed). They do not want to be part of a formal movement and yet want to invoke lasting change. One of the spiritual lessons for Uranians is to temper their tendency towards extremism by learning to find a viable middle ground working within groups to create change. Resolving this disparity can result in individuals who concurrently work at several different jobs or types of work at one time. Part of what they do may be more traditional while another is more in the pursuit of creative freedom. People who have strong influences of Uranus in their charts are the corporate anarchists, the ones who do everything a little differently, and if they are blessed with a strategic nature, they can often maneuver a company into progressive new products, services, or a new direction. They are given autonomy as a reward. Their foresight moves them through doors that open for no one else. This is when the possibility of corporate magic can occur, when leaders of the organization recognize the need for change and engage those who are able to facilitate the change.
The action of one Uranian individual within a company can trigger a long-needed revolution for which this individual becomes a leader unless, like Prometheus, change is so terrifying to the “corporate Gods” of the company, that this individual is forced to leave the company. With Prometheus the Gods realized their wrongdoing and released him from the rock whilst Chiron took his place. It follows that any individual or corporate revolution has a certain number of casualties. Careers and traditions may be sacrificed for the greater good. The Promethean employee is left to lose his liver by day and grow it back by night perhaps with a stronger ability to “digest” that which was previously intolerable.
The American Revolution illustrates the possibilities of Uranus as a far-reaching agent of change. The American Revolution was a war that involved a very common Uranian theme, human rights where all are created equal. Uranus is the archetype for human rights, freedom, and independence. The old-world businesses of yesteryear have been forced to move into new models as downsizing occurred during the passage of Neptune through the business sign of Capricorn. As more individuals left their companies and began their own businesses or worked as independent contractors, the form and structure of business changed radically. When such ideas as Tom Peters’ theory of Management by Chaos were birthed, it introduced a new paradigm of business called team management and team leaders, a democratic way of working. Ultimately, the success of a company in the new Millennium will be based on individual contractors joining together for specific projects.a type of temporary company whose form is time and task specific. While a base is created upon which other ideas can be built or structured, the whole team is really very temporary. The kinds of people that these companies hire must not only manage the fire of anarchy and creativity, but, ironically, must be
grounded in the world of Saturn.
Saturn’s realm is the world of structures, law and order. It was Mother Earth’s plea to her son, Saturn, to bring order out of the chaotic unions with her consort Uranus. It was Saturn who brought the order out of chaos. Though these two archetypes are diametrically opposed to each other, it is the successful integration of these two: of anarchy and freedom. It is the saturnine form that creates the chamber wherein the alchemical process of innovation (Uranus) is possible. The question is how do we make these two worlds come together? The answer is found in the mythology of Chiron.
The previous is excerpted from Georgia’s new book…
Business Astrology 101
Weaving the Web between Business and Myth
About the author:
Georgia Stathis, professional astrologer from Pleasant Hill, CA, works with individuals in helping them draw out these aspects of the self so that a more fertile field of possibility in relationship emerges. She is author of Starcycles calendars and appointment books. She has an M.B.A. degree, and her latest book is Business Astrology 101. She lectures widely on such topics as mythology, relationships, and the correlations of planetary cycles with history and future possibilities.
Last updated on May 15, 2014 at 10:05 pm. Word Count: 1931
