I was doing a workout in my lounge room the other day. I use the Jazzercise on Demand app where I select from a range of workouts and instructors to keep my fitness routine fresh and fun. I’d sweated through the cardio section and we were on the floor doing some strength training when the instructor (who was motivating us to keep at it with the hard push ups) said, “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.”

I stopped and stared at the screen, then got up and ran into my study to write down that little pearl of wisdom.

If it doesn’t challenge you it doesn’t change you.

Huh.

Years ago I was a Jazzercise instructor. And as a fitness professional I knew this all too well. To get stronger you have to lift progressively heavier weights, to increase your stamina you have to prolong your cardio sets, to improve flexibility you have to push beyond your current limits even if your hamstrings are screaming.

To change, you have to challenge yourself.

Now, as a full-time astrologer and coach, it struck me like a lightning bolt that this pearl of exercise wisdom applied to astrology, and life, as much as it did to my tired shoulder muscles.

Astrology and Structure

Astrology loves its rules and structures. Planets rule signs. They have certain qualities. They are deemed to be dignified, exalted, in detriment and fall in certain places. Houses govern distinct areas of life. The signs tell the story of a journey around the zodiac, picking up certain qualities on the way. They are grouped according to element and quality. The planets too are grouped: the personal planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars) correlate with aspects of our personality. Jupiter and Saturn as the “interpersonal” planets connect us with the wider world. Jupiter as ruler of Sagittarius connects us with the concept of meaning and where we stand as individuals amongst the vastness of the cosmos. Saturn as ruler of Capricorn connects us with the wider physical world of governments, organisations, business, our careers and our public image.

And in the ancient astrological traditions, that’s where it ended. Conveniently, Saturn rules boundaries, limitations and restrictions. As far as these early astrologers (and philosophers) were concerned, Saturn tied their system, their neat little structure, up with a nice big black bow.

Enter the Liberator

Fast forward a couple of thousand years and along comes Uranus. Sitting twice as far from the Sun as Saturn, the previous outer boundary of our solar system, this new planet, discovered by accident, presented a serious problem to the tradition of astrology. After all, astrology was settled. It was a matter of fact, of ancient wisdom even. Wasn’t it? What to do with this interloper? This planet that sat at an odd angle and spun the wrong way?

While the traditionalists wrung their hands and argued behind closed doors, another planet was discovered. In 1846 Neptune appeared in the sky exactly where the mathematicians said it would be, then in 1930 Pluto rounded out the holy trinity. Suddenly there wasn’t just one interloper, but three! What to do? Those with a more progressive mindset began charting these newcomers as they moved through the sky. They also examined their retrospective movement in efforts to measure their impact. They began to ascribe energetic qualities to them and correlate them with existing signs.

The traditionalists however had no foundation, no guidelines, no rules to follow with regard to these outer planetary interlopers. When challenged, they did the easiest thing: they dismissed Uranus, Neptune and Pluto as largely irrelevant. Unless they formed hard aspects (conjunction, square, opposition) to a personal planet. Then they were partially useful. Ultimately with the passage of time, the traditionalists begrudgingly conceded that these new planets had a noted impact by transit, so they agreed to allow them into the pantheon.

But they had a very strict condition. Under no circumstances would these outer planets ever rule signs. After all, the signs all had rulers. The system was set, in concrete. And nothing would change that.

How very Saturnian.

Uranus loves nothing more than a challenge. It loves to blow your structures, habits, patterns and safe ideas out of the water. If you let him, he’ll challenge you, and liberate you from your own self-imposed limitations. If you don’t, you can’t ever hope to change.

When challenged, the traditionalists refused to change. If they were doing my Jazzercise class they’d stop doing those push ups as soon as it became hard. They would never grow stronger. 

Uranus as the Liberator

As the first planet discovered beyond the boundaries of the known solar system, Uranus was always going to be labeled as the revolutionary and the disruptor. With its extreme side tilt and backwards rotation (as compared to earth, Venus too rotates in the opposite direction to earth) it soon earned the additional moniker of rebel. In the minds of the traditionalists it was an outcast, set to be exiled from any astrological discussion. Being the same distance from Saturn as Saturn is from the Sun earned it the label of detached and disassociated. And orbiting so far away from the previously known solar system, it signals our ability to break free from the limitations and restrictions of societal boundaries. All these labels ring true. But for the purposes of using Uranus as a tool for transformation, it’s the label of liberator that I will hone in on.

Uranus broke through the barrier of what we could see with the naked eye. This moves us beyond the realm of the physical–that which we can experience with our five physical senses (sight, touch, taste, smell, hearing). It turned previous beliefs and understandings on their heads, and revolutionised our notion of our own solar system. It stands to reason it could also turn our understanding of ourselves, and our place in the cosmos, on its collective head.

Wherever Uranus is in your chart, by both sign and house, shows you where you can turn your own world on its head. All right, perhaps you’d prefer not to invoke the classic Uranian chaos in your every day life. So let’s put it another way. Wherever Uranus is in your chart, by both sign and house, shows where you can initiate change. It also shows where you can rise to a challenge. In today’s terminology, Uranus’s placement shows your growth edge. This is where you feel uncomfortable as you step into the unknown, away from your former safe harbour.

And it’s in that discomfort that growth occurs.

Uranus transits are seen as disruptive affairs, marked by sudden upheavals, turnarounds and ultimately freedom from that which went before, whether we like it or not. Rather than waiting for the disruption of Uranus transiting a natal planet or point, all the while clinging to whatever or wherever you feel safe, why not harness the power of Uranus, and its ability to initiate sudden and sweeping change, on your own timeline and in accordance with your own agenda? When Uranus transits a natal planet, the initiating action always comes from Uranus’s natal house placement anyway. Stop and read that again. No matter where Uranus is currently transiting your chart, the change is instigated by the affairs of Uranus’s natal house placement. (NB: the natal house placement will be the originating factor in any planetary transit, not just Uranus). Knowing that means you are aware of where you are naturally restless, inventive, and desire change. Work with that placement regularly and the chaotic impact of the hard Uranus transits diminish.

Soul memory

In transformational and evolutionary astrology, Uranus is known as the higher octave of Mercury. As Mercury rules the mind and perception, Uranus rules the higher mind, or the soul memory. Soul memory is not held in the mind the way Mercury holds memory in the mind. Mercury memory is your conscious awareness of everything from where you were born, to what you ate for breakfast to the date you’re taking your next holiday. Your Mercury memory is accessible, like a filing cabinet in your mind. It might take a little time to find the right drawer or folder, but the memory is accessible nonetheless.

Soul memory exists unconsciously in your energy field. It is not something that can be tapped into with the conscious mind. Instead it manifests as patterns of thought or behaviour that we repeat with no idea why.

Working with Uranus as the storehouse of soul memory is an exceptionally powerful tool for transformation. It enables you to identify any repeating patterns, and once identified, these patterns can be corrected. Look to the sign and house placement of Uranus as well as the house ruled by Aquarius for where and how these memories can be processed and integrated or released.

Trauma

Not all soul memories are positive and happy. Many of us hold painful traumatic memories within our energy fields, whether from past lives or from earlier in this life. These traumatic memories are repressed by the ego self and transmuted into patterns of thought or behaviour in this life designed to keep you safe from whatever trauma you experienced in the past. The only problem is that you are unlikely to be facing anything like what happened to you in the past. But your unconscious remembers the pain, the shock, the trauma, and your ego wants to keep you safe from that pain. Unfortunately this manifests as self-sabotage and other destructive behaviours that have no apparent root cause in your current life experience.

The following placements indicate where/if you carry trauma signatures in your chart:

• Planets or points in hard aspect to Uranus (conjunction, opposition, square, quincunx, sesquiquadrate)
• Planets or points in Aquarius
• Planets or points in the 11^th house.

For example, I have South Node, Mercury and Jupiter conjunct in Aquarius. I also have Saturn in Aquarius. Neptune squares my nodal axis from the 11^th house. Uranus is conjunct Pluto & my North Node (ruling my South Node), and quincunx my Sun and Venus. My Moon is part of a Yod configuration with Uranus/Sun/Saturn and my Mars if part of a Yod with my North Node/Moon.

Basically my whole chart is a trauma signature.

Without going into the details here (maybe in a future article), working through the trauma signatures in my chart has liberated me from a lifetime of self-sabotage and survival anxiety that had no root in my present life circumstances. By working with every placement in my chart, identifying the traumatic memories, and reprogramming myself to believe I am safe, and not constantly in soul danger, I am able to move forward with creativity and confidence.

And Uranus has been my primary liberator in this experience. Its placement by sign, house and aspect, along with its rulership of my 2^nd house and my South Node pinpoints the core trauma, or as I call it, the deal breaking trauma. Once knowledge of that core trauma came into my conscious awareness I could do something about it. Viewing my Uranus and other trauma placements through an evolutionary lens, i.e., how can I raise these placements to their highest expressions and move my soul further along its evolutionary path? I was able to dismantle the core beliefs I held around the trauma signatures and forge a new path forward. The whole thing is kind of like installing an entirely new operating system.

And the results have been transformational.

Uranus challenged me. And it changed me.

The ruler of astrology

Possibly the greatest irony of Uranus’s place within the realm of astrology is that it is the planet that is commonly thought to rule astrology. To me it’s obvious. Astrology challenges us to believe that a system of constellations located trillions of miles away from earth has an energetic impact on our lives, both collectively and individually. Sounds pretty far-fetched, doesn’t it? Just like Uranus. Way out there, tilted on an angle and spinning the wrong way.

And yet even the ancient philosophers knew that astrology was real. They knew that the apparent movement of these far away bodies had an energetic effect on us. And they knew that the closer bodies, the planets in our solar system, carried correlations and meaning that impacted us. So it stands to reason that a planet that can’t be see with the naked eye, that’s been loitering around in the outer solar system since the dawn of time, having an invisible yet powerful impact on our thinking, would be the planet that rules astrology.

Like I said. Obvious.

Uranus and the What if? question

In many ways, Uranus poses the ultimate ‘what if?’ question. What if there was a planet in our solar system beyond Saturn? What if this planet contained the energetic blueprint to break us free from restriction and limitation? What if it represents our soul memory? What if it lights the pathway to individuation? What if it shows us how to break free from destructive unconscious thought patterns?

What if indeed.

My Challenge To You

Start thinking of the outer planets–Uranus, Neptune and Pluto–as living breathing archetypal forces who pack a punch just as, if not more powerful as any of the other planets. They may not correlate directly with elements of our personality, or connect us with the physical world, but to my mind they do something far more important. They transcend the ordinary. They urge us to look both within and without, to grow and expand beyond that which is commonly known. They challenge us to interact with something far greater than our limited physical senses can discern.

And that is a challenge I accept every day of the week.