Saturn square Uranus; the hard work of awakening

This week Saturn in Aquarius squares Uranus in Taurus (exact on Wednesday 17th here in the UK), the first of three Saturn Uranus squares which are the defining astrological energy of 2021. Last year we had conjunctions in Capricorn - Saturn and Pluto, then Jupiter and Pluto, focused and merged energies which showed us the reality of the imbalances of power and deeply entrenched structures which keep the rich rich and the poor, even poorer. Now that we are more aware than ever of these structures, the dynamic energy of the square gives us something to work with, possibilities for movement and action. Perhaps more accurately, an urgency of action which we can’t avoid any longer. There’s still plenty of resistance - Aquarius and Taurus are fixed signs, sometimes preferring an illusion of permanence to acknowledging a desperately needed change. Uranus is quite the perfectionist - in mythology, Ouranos consumed every one of his children because none of them were quite good enough. And it was Cronos, Saturn, who put a stop to it. In combination these two are hard task masters. Its time to act with integrity, to be our fullest authentic selves, for the good of all. It will take time and there are likely to be some shocks along the way. Letting go of what is established can be painful but there’s no chance of a Uranus paradigm shift without it.

How do we balance structure and space…

This last year has awoken us all from whatever level of complacency we were at, at least I hope it has. Now its time to act on that awakening. The hard work of awakening is the key theme here - the word “awakening” gets thrown about a lot in spiritual circles, perhaps to the point of over-use. It might seem easy - we wake up one day and have a revelation - boom! - and the world is different, we are different. And maybe that’s how it happens. But then comes the hard work. We need to integrate our new consciousness into ourselves, not to mention the world around us. We see where we don’t fit and no longer have the option of simply pretending that we do. So if we no longer have the option of limiting ourselves to fit in, can we awaken the world along with us? Uranus may bring the revelation but we need Saturn to make it real, to commit us to keep awakening, day after day, instead of lapsing slowly back into our old mindset or reality. Saturn in Aquarius demands commitment - complacency is history now. It has to be, as our Uranus in Taurus awareness of the world’s resources shows us. Not only do outer resources need to be distributed much more fairly but also our inner resources. No more wasting energy on the unfulfilling, no more gathering stuff to cover up the lacks in our lives. Taurus knows that Mother Earth is abundant and ever giving - but Saturn knows that here in the “west” at least, we need to severely limit how we take advantage of that abundance, to make the Aquarian ideal of a fair and just world a reality.