Uranus, Neptune & Pluto in Astrology

Contents:

Preface

1. Uranus & Prometheus
2. The Uranus transit cycle
3. Uranus aspects with inner planets
4. Prometheus & astrology

Afterword

Comment: In 1978, Richard Tarnas had the breakthrough idea that the mythical symbology of the god Uranus did not fit the planet Uranus as well as the mythical symbology of the god (Titan) Prometheus. In other words, that Uranus was misnamed. As Tarnas explains,

I had been conscious of this discrepancy for some time when, one day, I noticed that those same astrological qualities fit another figure in Greek mythology with extraordinary precision. This figure was Prometheus, the Titan who rebelled against the gods, helped overthrow the tyranical Kronos, tricked Zeus, and stole fire from Mount Olympus to liberate humanity from the gods' power.... The more I examined the matter, the more I realized that every quality astrologers associate with the planet Uranus was reflected in the myth of Prometheus: the initiation of radical change, the passion for freedom, the defiance of authority, the act of cosmic rebellion against a universal structure to free humanity of bondage, the urge to transcend limitation, the intellectual brilliance & genius, the element of excitement and risk. (pg. 18)

In the second chapter, Tarnas looks at the Uranus cycle as a bringer of revolutionary or transformative change to the lives of various individuals. You break free of your conditioning when Uranus opposes itself, around age 40, etc. Which is here described as the activation of the Prometheus archetype.

In the third chapter, Uranus in aspect with inner planets, Tarnas considers that revolutionaries in all fields would have Uranus in aspect with the planet ruling the subject in question. Therefore, Napoleon, a revolutionary military commander, would have Uranus in aspect with Mars (trine). Leonardo would have Uranus in aspect with Venus (sextile). Goethe would have Uranus in aspect with his Mercury (opposition). In this chapter Tarnas mentions around 90 individuals, but none of the charts are worked out, all the observations are casual. In my case, I, like Napoleon, have Uranus trine Mars, but am not a military commander. I, like Richard Wagner, have Uranus opposed to Venus, but am not a composer. (I might have fancies of both, but I didn't make the cut.)

Chapter 4, Prometheus & astrology, deals with Uranus & cocaine, Uranus & Pluto, Uranus & Jupiter, Uranus & Saturn, which gets an extended section under Prometheus & Saturn. Much of the writing here is similar to what he would later write in Cosmos & Psyche.

This is by far the best book on Uranus, though it notably lacks a cookbook section. You must gather up Tarnas's ideas & apply them, but it will be worth the work.

Spring Publications, the publisher, is headed by James Hillman. It specializes in archetypal psychology, especially those authors inspired by the work of C.G. Jung.

Spring Publications, 95 pages.

6. Neptune transiting the first house, Neptune/Mars transits
7. Neptune transiting the second house, Neptune/Earth Venus transits
8. Neptune transiting the third house, Neptune/Air Mercury transits
9. Neptune transiting the fourth house, Neptune/Moon transits
10. Neptune transiting the fifth house, Neptune/Sun transits
11. Neptune transiting the sixth house, Neptune/Earth Mercury transits
12. Neptune transiting the seventh house, Neptune/Air Venus transits
13. Neptune transiting the eighth house, Neptune/Pluto transits
14. Neptune transiting the ninth house, Neptune/Jupiter transits
15. Neptune transiting the tenth house, Neptune/Saturn transits
16. Neptune transiting the eleventh house, Neptune/Uranus transits
17. Neptune transiting the twelfth house, Neptune/Neptune transits

Bibliography.

Comment: From the back cover: "Take a fascinating astrological look at a planet associated with our emotional waves of highs and lows, and with our spiritual yearnings. Learn how to effectively dream to unfold your hidden talents and direct them towards creative fulfillment and future success." Chatty.

Llewellyn, 285 pages, paper.

3. Living the dream: The Neptune cycle: Neptune in Taurus, Neptune in Gemini, Neptune in Cancer, Neptune in Leo, Neptune in Virgo, Neptune in Libra, Neptune in Scorpio, Neptune in Sagittarius, Summary

4. Neptune & associates: The Neptune groups
5. Tuning in: Neptune in aspect
6. The mission: Neptune through the houses
7. Solutions: Transits

Reflections, Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography.

Comment: From 1977. In the first half, Neptune through the decades as it influenced society & the arts, and as the author hoped it would influence the future. In many of the post WWII books, up to the early 1980s's or so, there was the expectation that a wonderful new world was just around the corner. This book was one of them, it has a cheerful outlook. Nowadays only hard core new agers still think the world is getting better.

The second half gives delineations of Neptune with the various planets in the natal chart. These are quite good, some of the better delineations I've seen, though she tends to emphasize conjunctions & squares.

AFA, 141 pages.

1. Understanding Pluto in Your Chart: The meanings of the planet Pluto, an overview of Pluto's placements, how to use the delineations, delineations of Pluto placements, Pluto as a generational planet

2. The Personality & Character of the Plutonian: Recognizing Plutonians, how they got that way, the power of the family secret, emotional secrets & their contribution to isolation, Plutonians in relationship, sex & the Plutonian, the vengeful victim, Plutonians & the death wish, the hermit, the scholar & the researcher, the Plutonian as healer, psychotherapist & reformer, charts of positive Plutonians, helpful books for Pluto problems

3. Healing Tools for Pluto Problems: The purpose of this book is not only to give insight into Plutonian problems but to find tools to help heal them, the healing crisis, astrology & metaphysics, visualizations & affirmations, explanations of the flower remedies & how to use them, light & color therapy, the chakra system, easy does it, bibliography of books on healing

4. Guilt, Resentment & Pluto: Don't be beguiled by guilt, the guilt trip as a power trip, guilt as resentment turned inward, getting caught as a ploy in the revenge game, a litmus test for guilt, existential guilt & where it comes from, when guilt is justified & transformative, symbiosis, power & resentment, resentment as poison, how to get free of resentment & guilt, flower remedies for guilt & resentment, guided meditations, forgiveness & its healing power, bibliography of helpful books

5. Incest & Domestic Violence: Pluto in Scorpio - why it's all coming out into the open, facts & statistics on incest & domestic violence, the psychology of the perpetrator as Plutonian, the long range of psychological effects of being a victim, charts & case histories of incest & domestic violence victims, help for the victim, bibliography on sex abuse & domestic violence

6. Pluto, Death & the Transformative Power of Giref: How grief became gauche, death & the Pluto in Leo generation, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross & the liberation of the dying (her chart), what to expect from grief, being a friend to the bereaved, resentment as a component of mourning, guilt toward the deceased, consequences of avoiding grief, transformation of the lliving as a result of a death, dying with dignity despite it all (a case example of an AIDS victim with chart), mediumship as a form of healing (case example with chart), indications of mediumship, can you - and should you - predict death astrologically, healing tools for grief, bibliographies on grief, death & life after death

7. Transits: If This is Transformation, How Come It Hurts So Much: There's got to be a pony somewhere, what in the world is transformation, why does it hurt so much, the concept of theraputic isolation, power & empowerment, Pluto & the pregnancy trap, Pluto transits to natal planets & chart angles, affirmations, beating the post-transformation blues, is it possible to predict absolutely for Pluto transits?

8. Counseling People with Pluto Problems: Counseling considerations in dealing with Pluto people who come to you, advantages & disadvantages of working with Plutonians, healing tools to use, metaphysics & counseling, Kundalini rising - sex & the single astrologer, counseling the potentially suicidal Plutonian, the issue of separation

Appendix: Help for the beginner: For the person who is new to astrology, sources of computer charts & how to find your Pluto aspects in the birth chart & your Pluto transits, in order to make the most use of this book. Bibliography of recommended basic astrology books.

Comment: Our favorite book on Pluto & not what you would expect. Understanding Pluto in the chart, the Plutonian personality, healing tools for Pluto problems, guilt & resentment, incest, domestic violence, death & the transformative power of grief, why Pluto transits hurt so much, counseling people with Pluto problems, and, in an appendix, help for the astrological beginner (all those whose first taste of astrology was from Plutonian desperation). One of the classic Pluto books.

Weiser, 218 pages, paper.

Contents:

Acknowledgements
Introduction

Part 1: Pluto in principle:
1. The dark
2. The parable of the beer can
3. Think it out or live it out
4. Hope, purpose, and possibility
5. Fire

Part 2: Pluto in the birthchart:
6. Astrology grammar school
7. Pluto in the houses
8. Pluto through the signs

Part 3: Pluto happens:
9. Recognizing Plutonian passages
10. The Plutonian triggers
11. Pluto and planets
12. Living with the dark
13. The proverbs of Hades under Plutonian stimulus
14. Jerry Brown
15. Joan of Arc
16. Mestre Gabriel
17. Eric Clapton

Afterword endnotes

Learn more about your chart

Comment:

At the top of the back of the book are the large words,

Turn Wounds Into Wisdom in
Pluto's Alchemical Cauldron

Which I think sums the book up fairly well. Wounds are nowadays given to Chiron, alchemy is whatever is trendy this week, while cauldron generally refers to witchcraft, which is now safely spooky and awe-inspiring.

Opening the book at random,

Pluto-Ascendant/Descendant: The natal square aspects
In the natal chart, squares between Pluto and the Ascendant suggest a perilious skill: the ability to misrepresent oneself with style and panache, or at the very least to keep secrets effectively.

Life is complex and situations arise in which one can make a moral case for obscuring the truth. I have this particular square in my own chart, for example [22 Scorpio rising, Pluto at 16 Leo in the 9th, orb of six degrees - Dave], and being a professional counsellor involves honoring confidentiality - a noble enough notion, but in practice it often calls for a degree of verbal nimbleness reminiscent of con-artistry. Often, I must "pretend I don't know" or distort my own biography . . . simply in order to honor the higher principle of client confidentiality. (Ellipsis in original. - Dave)

These same skills can be abused. Weaving a web of lies is one. Shadow-aspect here; another lies in getting trapped in a web that is woven unintentionally often for the highest of reasons - the man or woman, for example, who smilingly abides a sham-marriage "for the sake of the kids."

Regarding the inevitable Pluto/Descendant square that accompanies any natal square of Pluto to the Ascendant, there is throughout the life a pattern of meeting soul mates whose task is to keep us psychologically real, often through rather shocking confrontations and interactions. There is always some sorting out to do here. On one hand, this configuration suggests that friends, lovers, and associates with real insight and psychological intensity will appear whenever we need them, often telling us what we don't want to hear, helping us unmask. But the same configuration also presents a second possibility, and threatens a third: those soul mates, for all their love and confidence, may be incorrect in their "insights" sometimes! Worse, such a configuration suggests that there may be some "karma" with dark Plutonian corrupters, power trippers, and faux-gurus who can prove stickily seductive and convincing. (pgs. 237-8)

This is, by the way, the entire delineation for Pluto square the ascendant/descendant. While most other delineations are longer, they are all similar in nature. Which is why I was so perplexed as to how to present this book.

I could pick this apart. Steven has a wide, applying, Moon-Neptune opposition, which is telling lies because you are lied to. He has Mercury very late in Capricorn conjunct a Mars (chart ruler) very early in Aquarius which gives him good intelligence and a lot of verbal energy. He has Venus, ruler of his 7th, in his 2nd in Sagittarius. Which is the 8th of his partner and would account for his encounters, presuming he is describing himself. I was going to chime in and say, "I've got this square, too!" but I do not.

Oh, for me, Steven is wonderful. Pluto is sextile my ascendant/trine my descendant (or vice-versa, Steven does not distinguish). I have "charisma." Or at least, depth. I get lots of soul-shaping teachers, along with the occasional false guru with glib rationalizations who charges much too much. Thank-heaven I am not a woman with this aspect, as they are victims of maestros who prevent them from falling into their own, well-deserved pits of hell. Better fall into that pit and get it out of the way, darlin', your biological clock is ticking. (Warped from pg. 239.)

It might help to see what kind of classes Steven teaches. From his website:

Steven Forrest’s style of evolutionary astrology is centered on a philosophy of freedom and choice. Steven encourages people to use astrology to make better, wiser choices rather than attempting to “foresee the future” in some limiting way. There is less “description” and more “prescription” in his approach. Steven’s interpretations are psychological in tone, but assume that the soul is on an evolutionary path. Reincarnation is generally assumed, but not a required belief for the system to work. Technically, Steven’s astrological style is modern.

It's not the sort of astrology that I do but I am not everyone. There is Pluto in here somewhere. This book is termed the second edition, but the only new material is the new Introduction, in which Steven explicitly states he does not revise a book once he's finished with it. He uses the new Introduction to talk about Pluto's demotion to a minor planet, as well as making brief mention of Trojans, Kuiper-belt objects, Trans-Neputian Objects, etc.

Seven Paws Press, 371 pages.

Section 2: The cycles of Pluto: Pluto in Taurus, Pluto in Gemini, Pluto in Cancer, Pluto in Leo, Pluto in Virgo, Pluto in Libra, Pluto in Scorpio

Section 3: The Pluto principle
Section 4: The Pluto generations
Section 5: Pluto through the houses
Section 6: Pluto in Aspect

Conclusion; Footnotes; Bibliography.

Comment: From 1974, an early treatise on Pluto, before it was eaten alive by the astro-pyschology crowd. What was that? Here is the conclusion of this book (complete):

When we learn to express the finest qualities of Pluto we will be able to annihilate negativities in our world, instead of each other... to push past the barriers which divide people... to use our Plutonian strength to dominate our own weaknesses... to make universal goals such as peace & brotherhood realities. FDR put it well:

"Our earth is but a small star in the great universe. Yet of it we can make, if we choose, a planet unvexed by war, untroubled by fear or hunger, undivided by senseless distinctions of race, color or theory."

This is the message of Pluto.

The underlying concept is that Pluto is both intense and collective, not individualistic. This book is only a sketch, but it is full of ideas that might repay study.

AFA, 85 pages, paper.

Contents:

1. Pluto's alchemy: the gift
2. Pluto - Sun alchemy
3. Pluto - Moon alchemy
4. Pluto - Mercury alchemy
5. Pluto - Venus alchemy
6. Pluto - Mars alchemy
7. Outer planet fusion zones. >

Comment:

New age types throw the word "alchemy" around a lot, I've never been sure what they meant by it. In the American Heritage Dictionary 3rd edition (1992), alchemy is defined as either a medieval method of transmuting base metals into gold (which is erroneous, by the way), or "a seemingly magical power or process of transmuting." So far as I can tell, Rose does not define the word herself. In the text of the book, she uses the word, "fusion" instead, which I think is clearer.

This book is about Pluto/planet conjunctions in the signs Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius & Pisces, which Pluto will enter January 19, 2044. This looks to be fairly pedestrian writing about Pluto, with all the usual ideas about reincarnation, death, regeneration, etc.

AFA, 135 pages.