Does The Discovery Of The Outer Planets Invalidate The Astrology Of The Ancients?

When a new planet is discovered, it is

By Daniel Heydon

Saturn in astrology rules the status quo       bellion, for synchronous with its discovery
and Uranus rules change, which seems             were the American and French revolu-
to make sense when we consider Saturn         tions. As a result of those wars, a new
was known as the outermost planet since         principle of liberty, freedom, and justice
time immemorial. The discovery of Ura-            for all was introduced to humanity. In 1783,
nus in 1781 signaled a revolution in          the hostilities in America's War of Inde-
the planetary hierarchy. However, we       pendence ended; in 1789, with the French
shouldn't be confused by the fact that in         Revolution, came the end of a social order
mythology it was Saturn (or Cronus) who         that had its roots in feudalism.
took Uranus' place as head of the gods,                The question is often asked of astrol-
whereas in terms of the planets, it was the       ogers whether horoscopes delineated be-
other way around. Myths aren't to be in-          fore the discovery of a new planet are ac-
terpreted literally but, nevertheless, are            curate. The answer is "Yes." Before the
still symbolically helpful. The conflict be-           discovery of Uranus, Saturn was the rul-
tween the gods Saturn and Uranus for       ing planet associated with Aquarius, the
heavenly rulership is what should interest          sign of friends and group activities. In the
us, for everything that Saturn represents          13th century, a person did not have friends
in astrology has been challenged since the         from all walks of life as we do today under
discovery of Uranus.                                         Uranus' rule of Aquarius. Under the feudal
     Uranus is aptly named the planet of re-        system that was prevalent from the 9th to

the 14th centuries, society was strictly divided into the classes of nobility, clergy, and peasantry. There was no social mobility.

With the rise of towns and increased commerce, guilds came into existence; but these associations of craftsmen were business-oriented and reflective of meanings inherent in Saturn. There was only a limited number of guilds allowed in a community. If you had finished your apprenticeship under a master (or owner of a shop), you could not go off on your own and start your own guild. Instead, you became known as a journeyman and continued working under the master. There was little room for advancement in those days, and guilds were often a closed society tending to hereditary membership. They weren't abolished until 1791 in France, 1835 in England, 1915 in Russia.

Uranus' discovery signaled the rise of the "bourgeoisie and capitalist classes in France —today known as the middle class. The proletariat also made its first appearance in the social milieu; and under Uranus' rule, conflicts soon emerged between the middle and lower classes. The rigid Saturnian structure of the old class system was broken down by Uranus. Today, Saturn represents the establishment; Uranus is still associated with groups which seek liberation, such as the Women's Liberation movement.

Presently, friendships extend beyond class barriers, though some people still adhere to Saturn's corulership of Aquarius and number among their acquaintances business associates and those who can help them get ahead in the world. So modem astrology is correct to include both Saturn and Uranus as co-rulers of the sign of friendship and group activities.

THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

The seeds of these revolutionary wars which brought widespread political and social changes to humanity were sown during the Age of Enlightenment in the writings of Locke, Rousseau, Voltaire, Thomas Paine, and others. The question arises whether or not these enlightened men were influenced by Uranus and the other outer planets before they were in fact discovered. The answer is "Yes." The meanings of the outer planets are often reflected in the creative efforts of poets, artists, philosophers, scientists, and novelists centuries before the planets are actually discovered or their impact is felt on a mass level. For example, the Age of Enlightenment that occurred during the 17th and 18th centuries is clearly shown astrologically by a series of meetings of Uranus and Neptune in the mutable signs during that period.

Conjunctions between Uranus and Neptune occur every 171 years; the sign in which the conjunction occurs influences thematically the whole period, though related developments also occur at the time of oppositions and squares between these planets. In addition, the squares, conjunctions, and oppositions of Neptune and Uranus to the place of the conjunction are also important to note.

In 1650, Uranus and Neptune met by conjunction at 15°03' Sagittarius. A revolutionary epoch was begun the year before with the beheading of Charles I of England by the Puritans and the proclamation of a Republican Commonwealth. What is interesting is the link that exists between the American Revolution and the conjunction of 1650. Many of the American patriots had a planet in their charts at the 15th degree of mutable signs'. George Washington's Neptune at 14°44' Gemini was exactly opposite the Uranus-Neptune conjunction at 15 03' Sagittarius. Some of the other notables who shared a planetary placement within close orb of the 15th degree of the mutables were John Paul Jones, Alexander Hamilton, George III, James Madison, and Lafayette.

What is of even greater significance is the fact that the Sun in the chart of the Constitution of the United States which guarantees the human rights that these patriots fought for is located at 14°06' Pisces; and the ascendant which Dane Rudhyar gives for the chart of the Declaration of Independence is 13°10' Sagittarius, conjunct the Uranus-Neptune conjunction that occurred in 1650.

The issues that divided the colonies from the mother country are more clearly shown by the opposition in 1735 of Uranus in Gemini and Neptune in Sagittarius. The right of freedom (Uranus) of speech (Gemini) is certainly a third-house matter, and freedom (Uranus) of the press (Sagittarius) is a ninth-house concern.The revolt against taxation without representation has its philosophical roots in the then-popular belief in natural law (Sagittarius).

It was believed by philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) that men by nature were rational (Gemini) and good (Sagittarius) and that they brought with them into political society the same rights they had enjoyed in earlier stages of society, among them freedom of worship (Sagittarius) and a right to a voice in their own government. Natural law teaches that these laws (Sagittarius) are fundamental to human nature and are discoverable by reason (Gemini) without reference to specific legislative enactments, which are man-made.

Other indications of the influence of Gemini at work during the American Revolution include Paul Revere's midnight ride through nearby locales (third house) to give warning of the imminent arrival of the British, and Patrick Henry's skilled oratory (third house), as witnessed in his famous speech: "Give me liberty, or give me death." Curiously enough, we remember John Hancock today for his signature (third house).

These three men were born at the time of the opposition, as was Thomas Paine, whose pamphlet, Common Sense (1776), was a factor in convincing Americans of the right to revolt. Other revolutionaries with a natal planet aspecting the Uranus-Neptune opposition were Benjamin Franklin, James Monroe, and John Adams. It is not surprising to learn that the year 1776 saw Neptune at 22° Virgo making a square aspect to this opposition and that the charts for both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution have planetary points in common with the conjunction of 1650 and the opposition of 1735.

There are deeper implications to the Uranus-Neptune opposition of 1735 which reveal a picture of human nature that is a composite of meanings inherent in both Gemini and Sagittarius and are also reflective of intellectual thought derived from many different thinkers of the period from 1650 to 1735. From Locke and Rousseau, we obtain a belief in the natural goodness of man (Sagittarius) coupled with a faith in rationality (Gemini). As these ideas are further molded by Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, the right to revolt for a democratic ideal becomes evident. A belief that moral good (Sagittarius) will come through scientific progress (Uranus) is wed to this ideal by other thinkers until we arrive at the basis of today's modern philosophy (Sagittarius) of liberalism (Uranus).

Behind the philosophy of liberalism are Newton's mechanics, Locke's empiricism, Rousseau's popular sovereignty, the Puritan ethic, and Jefferson's democracy—all culminating in a Declaration of Independence that declares freedom (Uranus) is an inherent right of the individual (Uranus) and a legitimate basis for a government by the people (Aquarius) and for the people (Aquarius). Here we have a concept of the collective that is rooted in individuality; and this is the meaning of Uranus, especially as reflected in the sign it rules, Aquarius.

Though we see evidence of the workings of the outer planets in the writings of Paine, Rousseau, and other thinkers of the Enlightenment, we have the birth of a new principle of freedom coinciding with the discovery of Uranus. A planet is never discovered until humanity has evolved to the point where it is ready to embrace the principles that the planet represents.

JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID AND FRIEDRICH VON SCHILLER

Though Uranus is primarily associated with democracy and scientific inventions, its symbolism was also evident in the paintings of the French artist Jacques-Louis David, who is considered the father of modern art, with his groundbreaking Oath of the Horatti (1784), Death of Socrates (1787), and The Lictors Bringing to Brutus the Bodies of his Sons (1789). These paintings reflected the revolutionary political climate of the times; as did Germany's Friedrich von Schiller, in his then popular play The Robbers (1781), with its themes of liberty and protests against tyranny. The Robbers was first published in the very year of Uranus' discovery. Thus we see that the symbolism of Uranus at the time of its discovery was evident in science, politics, literature, and art.

SATURN, MECHANISM, AND THE DISCOVERY OF URANUS

Though 1650 saw the death of Descartes, his mechanistic philosophy continued to live after him and dominated scientific discovery during the period from the Uranus-Neptune conjunction to the discovery of Uranus. In 1687, Isaac Newton invented calculus and combined mechanics and astronomy into a single system to describe the workings of the universe.The aphorism "As above, so below" seemed once more to apply to human affairs. The heavens were thought to be empty space in which material bodies moved in strict accordance with rigid mechanical laws; on earth, technological innovations made the factory system of large-scale machine production widespread in its use.

Five years after the conjunction of 1650, Christian Huygens, a Dutch mathematician and physicist, improved the telescope and discovered a satellite of Saturn and that planet's rings. Once again, there seemed to be a correlation between planetary discoveries and events on earth. A year later (1656), the same man invented the pendulum clock, which made the owning of a clock practicable for the ordinary person. Prior to the 17th century, clocks were weighty, cumbersome devices and most often were found only in cathedrals and public squares. The invention of the pendulum clock became a stimulus to clock-making. Soon after, the grandfather and banjo clocks came into existence. Saturn in traditional astrology is "Time," and the clock is what we use to measure time. In a society that was switching from an agrarian to an industrial base, the clock and the city are two appropriate symbols of a world whose outermost planet was known to be Saturn.

Though we have seen evidence of Uranus and Neptune working in unconscious ways in the writers of the Enlightenment, the average person was still living very much under the influence of Saturn, even though a scientific cosmology had replaced a Christian one.

However, the same Christian Huygens was the earliest person to propose a scientific theory about the nature of light, which in traditional astrology is ruled by Uranus. His wave theory, which is known as Huygen's principle, says that every point on a wave front of light is itself a source of new waves of light.

But Isaac Newton in 1704 came up with an alternate concept known as the corpuscular theory. He believed that light is composed of tiny particles instead of waves, and he combined his corpuscular theory with his laws of mechanics. Because of Newton's enormous reputation and the fact that he was able to demonstrate some truths about optical phenomena with his system, his view was favored, even though it was partially incorrect

For over 200 years, the true nature of light was kept in the dark until after the discovery of the quantum theory in 1900, which states, among other things, that light has a dual nature of both particles and waves. When light is transmitted, its wave nature predominates; when light is absorbed, its particle nature is emphasized. Thus, both Huygen's and Newton's theories about the nature of light are correct under certain conditions.

What is of interest to the student of astrology is that a Saturnian view of light prevailed during the period when Saturn was thought to be the outermost planet. It wasn't until after the discovery of Uranus that the earlier wave theory was revived by Thomas Young, whose experiments on the diffraction (1801) and interference (1809) of light finally vindicated Huygen's principle 150 years later.

For the rest of the 19th century, the wave nature of light dominated scientific experimentation and was favored over Newton's theory. This accreditation of the Uranian aspect of the transmission of light, which was first postulated in 1690, did not come until after the discovery of Uranus. (Note how the glyph of Aquarius resembles waves of light.)

The same can be said of Harvey's work in medicine on the nature of the circulation of blood. In 1628, he published his book on the circulatory system; but it wasn't until 1827 that his theories were substantiated. In traditional astrology, Leo rules the heart, Aquarius rules the circulatory system, and Uranus rules the sign Aquarius.

TIME, SPACE AND LIGHT

After the discovery of Uranus, the world witnessed a speedup of scientific discoveries. It should be pointed out that the full nature of a planet's meaning is not revealed in its entirety at the moment of discovery, but rather unfolds gradually as time goes by. For example, Uranus has a special affinity with light and electricity. After Huygen's wave theory was revived by Thomas Young in 1801, subsequent experiments over the course of the years expanded our scientific knowledge of the nature of electricity.

In the experiments of Maxwell in 1873, electricity and magnetism, which once were thought to be separate, are linked and related to the speed of light. Later research has shown the electric (Uranus) basis for the magnetic properties of matter (Saturn) exists right down to the level of the atom. With the discovery of the electron in the late 19th century, we have been spun into an electronic age in the 20th century.

Here we see proof that Uranus in the guise of an electronic revolution has superseded Saturn and its mechanistic reign. A world that was once thought to be composed of matter is now seen to consist of force fields as a result of Einstein's research into the nature of relativity. Time and space, which were once thought to be absolutes in Newtonian philosophy, are now interconnected in a complicated relationship, with time existing as the fourth dimension.

The three-dimensional world of Saturn still exists; and from that perspective, our laws pertaining to gravitation and planetary motions still work, but within the context of a greater reality which is Uranian in nature and contains a dimension beyond the realm of the five tangible senses ruled by Saturn.