Uranus is the archetypal force of change and revolutionary transformation. Uranus breaks down, breaks through, and deconstructs old structures that have outlived their usefulness. It displaces and overthrows established attitudes and systems. It liberates us from the confines of convention and urges us to create anew. It is a hurricane-like force destroying that which no longer serves us, or limits our freedom to grow and progress into the future.
Uranus rules sudden, unexpected and unpredictable changes of a radical and shocking nature that shake us up. The force of Uranus rushing through our lives and disrupting our routines can feel disquieting, unsettling, even traumatizing. The world we knew has lost the form and structure we depended upon for security and stability. We perceive the world as chaotic.
The word chaos is borrowed from the Greek word for “abyss,” the primeval emptiness of the universe, a formless, empty void. The Roman philosopher Ovid later described chaos as a formless, disorganized mass.The force of Uranus reduces systems and constructs to pure energy, without order, or structure. Within this formless chaos, we have the greatest power to bring about significant change. We can choose to create new systems and structures based on new values and organizing principles, new paradigms.
With Uranus expressing its archetypal force through the sign of Taurus, we are witnessing the break down of old systems and structures we have depended upon for physical safety and material security. Conventional farming practices have poisoned the earth. Food production systems no longer support human health and well being. Air pollution, the destruction of forest biomes, and increasing use of traditional fossil fuels is causing global warming with its dire consequences. We are destroying the resiliency of nature and its ability to support life on our planet. Attitudes that led to commodifying nature, extracting her resources to maximize short-term financial gain for the elite few are ripe for change.
Conventional ideology about the natural world and the role of humans on the planet contain notions that we are above nature, we are superior and of greater value than other living things, and therefore can exploit them. We view nature as inefficiently designed for our myopic needs, superfluous or unnecessary, even dangerous and to be eliminated. We believe we have the power and the right to control and exploit it.
It is time to adopt some humility, and recognize we know very little about the complexity of the natural world, the interconnectedness and interdependency of its constituents. We understand very little about the ways myriad forms of life adapt to changing conditions and cycles of time within their ecosystems. We need to shed the belief that we can control nature for our own selfish reasons. We need to radically change our view that that we are separate from the natural world, which leads to us feeling disconnected and outside of it. Instead we need to understand how we are part of it, and reform our ways of living and participate in life within it. The land does not belong to us. Rather we belong to the land.
We can restore our sense of peace and security in a chaotic world by grounding ourselves in nature, in the web of life. Feel the life force in the soil beneath your feet. Breathe the air slowly and deeply. Find calm and nourish your spirit in water. Tune into the cycles of nature with its seasons, the monthly lunar cycle, and the daily cycle of light and dark. Pay attention to how your animal body is synchronized with these cycles. Sensing the interconnectedness of all living things in nature, and being a part of it, is life affirming.
“The body is condensed Soul.” ― LiYana Silver
