Hammered by the Gods (and Goddess)

Pluto, Uranus, Black Moon Lilith – And Mercury Retrograde

Remember when the first two or three weeks of the year seemed to pass in this weird, foggy limbo state?  That’s how I remember it – “nothing happens in the first two weeks of January anyway.” From Christmas until about the time the Sun enters Aquarius, it was a dead zone.

Seems to me that for the last few years – since Uranus and Pluto entered the cardinal signs of Aries and Capricorn – January has become this super-intense month. It’s like a baptism of fire and ice designed to prepare us for the changes we will be required to make in the coming months.

(This is Part 1 of a little series I posted for my Patreon supporters. Based on conversations I’ve had this week, it’s widely applicable (though your symptoms may vary). So I’m reposting a condensed and edited version here.)

Since the start of the year Pluto, Uranus, and Black Moon Lilith have been waging a metaphorical battle for supremacy from approximately 16 degrees of Capricorn, Aries, and Libra respectively. This pattern is called a T-square or T-cross in astrological jargon. These patterns tend to force change upon us, especially when they involve the zodiac’s heavy hitters.

Everyone feels this kind of astrology. (Just look around.) However, if you have important planets or points at or near 16 degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra, or Capricorn, you’ve likely already taken a direct hit or two.

Oh, and for good measure, we also got to start 2016 with a Mercury Retrograde in Capricorn. Mercury squares Uranus and Black Moon Lilith today and makes a conjunction with Pluto that peaks early Friday morning. After stationing direct on Monday (1/25), Mercury hits Pluto and Uranus again Jan. 29-31 before catching up to Black Moon Lilith on Feb. 1.

Outer Planets Transform Whatever They Touch

The first challenge in all of this is that these planets are not interested in how you feel. These are big-picture “Higher Ups” who demand feasance and won’t hesitate to blast your life to smithereens if that’s what it takes to get your attention.

The second problem with January’s picture is that Pluto, Uranus, and Black Moon Lilith all have the same goal, but they each have specific ways of forcing us to transform. A quick and dirty breakdown:

  • Pluto – Lord of the Underworld. Pluto says, “Evolve or die.” Whatever in this part of your life properly belongs to the past and has no place in the future – it gots to go! You can give it to me, or I can rip it from your cold, dead hands.
  • Uranus – God of Lightning. When Uranus flashes, he shows us the future in a nano-second. We see who would could be, where we should be, how we can be evolved in the future. The only problem is that we now have to figure out how to get from here to there. And, if you take too long, Uranus will just destroy whatever is in the way (your relationship, your crummy job, your bank account, whatever.)
  • Black Moon Lilith – Goddess of the Oppressed Feminine.  Lilith brings rage, defiance and cleansing – sometimes violently cleansing, like a good purge – release. Although Lilith is the champion of the feminine in a world that has not yet emerged from the shadows of the long age of patriarchy, we should remember that everyone – even Donald Trump – has a female side. Lilith stands for the artists, the misfits, the rebels of the world. She has written in her diary the name of every talented woman or sensitive man who never got to shine because some asshole with a badge or a bible repressed her (his) talent with the blunt force of authority.

When Lilith comes a-callin’ you’d best prepare to vomit out all that anger you stuffed because you were trying so hard to be a good girl or good boy. Lilith says, “You’re as good as that person. You deserve better than this. But you can’t get it unless you stop being such a pathetic pushover!”

Uranus’ suddenness is accentuated in the impulsive fire sign of Aries. Positives here include sudden turning points, declarations of freedom, flashes of belief that we can do what we want. Negatives include: impulsive destructive acts, impatience, misdirecting anger at people who really are trying to help, and unexpected circumstances that wipe us out (usually because we have been resisting the evolution Uranus demands of us).

I’ve written tons about Pluto in Capricorn, but in brief: Pluto transiting the sign of world systems functions as the harbinger of a a new world age. The ruin of systems like “health care”, education, banking/credit industries, and Capitalism (business built on monetary rather than human values) must decay and fall into ruin before newer, more evolved systems can take their place.

I see Lilith’s role in this pattern as activating awareness of how the shadow of our feminine side has habitually caused us to be disempowered in relationships – and in the life area governed by Libra in the natal chart. Further, in opposition to Uranus, Lilith can cause us to act out in sudden, extreme ways – or to take self-destructive behaviors to sudden extremes.

A typical shadow pattern Lilith would bring to light would be the realization of the extent to which we have repeatedly sacrifices our own dreams and desires on the altar of accommodation. So many of us sensitives, artists, and healer types have spent a lifetime trying to accommodate needy, manipulative relationship partners, friends, and family members – the people Julia Cameron calls crazy-makers.

Lilith exposes our nasty little secrets to ourselves, but it can be really easy to either slide into self-pity or self-hatred, or to go to extremes of blame. With Lilith in Libra, it’s important to assign accountability. “Yes, you used me because I invited and allowed you to use me. So, my bad. But you still used me, and that sucks!”

In Part 2, I explore some perspectives you might find helpful if you’re caught in this heavenly/hellish crossfire.

Generational Turning Points

If you were born in one of the date ranges below, this aspect pattern has been triggering a built-in generational crisis/opportunity point:

June 1952 – July 1953 — Uranus in Cancer. You are going through the 3rd quarter Uranus square. This is a time in life when you passionately desire to be free of arbitrary restrictions. There is often an intense desire to change society by moving into positions where you can pass on your hard-won wisdom.

Oct 1971 – Oct 1972 — Uranus in Libra. You are experiencing the Uranus opposition that happens for everyone between age 40-42. This is the time when you must decide: do you have the courage to live as your Authentic Self? Or are you ready to pack it in and start dying? The train of your real life is leaving the station. Are you going to get on it?

By the way, I do not think I am overdramatizing the importance of this period. Some souls miss the train and then miraculously catch it when it comes around again at age 84. Most do not.

Sept 1977 – Oct 1979 — Pluto in Libra. This is a time when you get pushed deep into all the stuff you never wanted to have to feel again. Shame, rage, self-destructive thoughts and patterns, abandonment, abuse, lack of love. Pluto insists that you face your demons now. He will often remove whatever stands between you and the soul-searching he demands. This transit can make you feel you’ve lost everything. But if you do face the monsters hidden in the psyche, you emerge from this period with a newfound sense of power, mastery, freedom and opportunity.

Jan 1992 – Jan 1993 — Uranus in Capricorn. You are in your 1st quarter Uranus square period. The challenge for many of you is that your generation knows how to change the world, but you don’t have the power, resources or social standing to make everyone else stand up and listen. This is a time to consciously cultivate your inner knowing and test it against the Saturnian constraints of the world we still live in. Self-mastery now leads to bigger and bigger things in the coming years.

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