Uranus, the planet associated with radical change, willpower, weirdness, and higher awakenings went Retrograde at 5 degrees Aries on July 9th and is now ready to turn Direct at 1 degree on the 9th of December. Often considered as the “higher octave of Mercury”, Uranian energy often puts us on edge, scatters things around – like our keys, our minds, and our relationships for instance, and creates a very strange sort of divine chaos that helps us come to certain conclusions much quicker than we would if we were organized (that’s Saturn’s department).

Uranus, the 7th planet from the Sun, is named after the earliest supreme Greek god of the Heavens. That’s some pretty serious business, in the grand scheme of the Greek pantheon of things. He was the father of Saturn, grandfather of Jupiter, and both the son and mate of Gaia – the Earth Mother.

Although it was not officially named until William Herschel spotted it through his telescope on March 13, 1781, Uranus has been seen many times by many people for thousands of years. Everything about this planet is considered to be eccentric, including the tilt of its axis, in comparison with the other planets that rotate perpendicularly to the ecliptic plane. On some level, Uranus is taken to remind us that there is always more than meets the eye, that things are often not what they seem, and that the only thing certain is that nothing is certain. It will heighten intuition but does not promise enlightenment. It has no qualms about zapping illusions, obstacles, and even good things that we cherish – all of a sudden, and without warning. Uranian energy bursts may or may not work in our favor, depending on the circumstances.

Just as Uranus’s stationing retrograde coincided with a Solar Eclipse in Cancer 7/1/11, it’s stationing direct coincides with a Lunar Eclipse in Gemini – 12/10/11. This has greatly intensified the effects of both eclipses, which in and of themselves tend toward intensity with effects that can last for many years.

Since late May leading to the 3 eclipses in a row within June and July, we’ve collectively undergone all sorts of internal and external shifts around our personal and collective identities. Uranus in Aries, retrograde in motion has brought many hidden relationship issues into the light, and many inner facets of our beings out into the open as well. See my blog post Uranus in Aries – Urgency in Action for more information about the influence of Uranus in Aries. It has been extra challenging for many to reach the levels of security or success that they’ve been aiming for during this period, because of the energetic stretching rubber band effect that Uranus in such an introspective phase has had…often bringing with it a sense that “either this – IT – or I’m about to snap!”

The recent Occupy protests during the past few weeks are one example of people responding to sudden (Uranian) economic changes that don’t make any sense on some fundamental levels, that don’t have peoples’ best interest in mind – in any sense of the word interest. Further illuminating the so-called dirty rotten tactics that appear to be used against us with banners, media streams and internet campaigns are a few other examples of Uranian functions.

It’s as though those beautifully glowing eccentric rings have been jittering and wobbling, setting off sparks and jolts that have caused other things on Earth to jitter as well. It really also seems to compound matters when on top of Uranus, Mercury appears to be going backward, leaving our apparently pressing human affairs on Earth in total disarray. This is all just an illusion of course, in more ways than one.

At its best, the influence of Uranus brings greater awareness of our interconnectivity and therefore stimulates the intellectual as well as humanitarian sides of our natures and Nature itself. At its worst, it appears to yield nothing but chaos, disorder, and shocking events. Can anybody really prepare of for what Uranus does, energetically or otherwise? Not specifically. But what goes on within our inner worlds is what determines how much we will be influenced by outer influences.

I will just close with this little nonsensical story. In the grocery store today a man in shorts approached me as I held my thick cream colored scarf close to my ears – still cold from the crisp wintery air.  I was wearing a long dress (my casual clothes) and a long hooded sweater over it. Over my shoulder he crept up and made a ‘wise crack’, saying “That whole gettup you’re wearing looks pretty WARM!”, with a weird snicker. I turned my head in slight dismay, and then found the whole statement to be so hilarious that I wandered down an aisle laughing hard, and had to stop walking for a minute because the more I thought about it, the funnier it got.

The point is, Uranus’s “interjections” and revelations often have a way of making perfect sense when they are revealed, as well as no sense whatsoever, at the same time. They may or may not be useful. They come regardless of our emotions, what we happen to be wearing, what we think, or who we know. They come unbidden, and may surprise us with obscenity, absurdity, or one might even come to save our life from a danger we didn’t see coming. Perhaps Uranus’s greatest gift to us is in showing us how to live in the moment. We may not always know what comes next, but we can begin to become expert at being present.