Today, after a long stay in the early degrees of Taurus, Uranus has moved back into the sign of Aries for a solid 4 month stay. After that, Uranus will move back into Taurus to stay for approx. the next 7 years (!). Needless to say, this represents a major shift. The timing of this shift is somewhat uncanny given that today is officially Election Day in the U.S., as both Aries and Uranus represent freedom, individualism and standing up for our rights.

In this post, I’ll go through what Uranus represents in the signs of Aries and Taurus, respectively, and what this Very Real Retrograde period holds on both a personal and societal level.

As a planetary symbol, Uranus represents non-conformity, asserting our individual differences, rebellion and impulsiveness. When Uranus moves Retrograde in any sign, these traits within ourselves can feel increased: we feel a stronger than usual urge to assert our individual needs, likes and dislikes, or to stand out in some way. This is especially true with Uranus Retrograde moving back through the sign of Aries, a sign that embodies individualism and self-assertion.

Uranus in Aries: Sweet Freedom

Uranus moving back into the sign of Aries will reinvigorate our urge to “do something,” so to speak. On an individual level, this will likely mean going back to whatever personal projects or “baggage” we may need to shed in order to catapult ourselves forward. It helps that Uranus feels especially "happy” in Aries, as it inspires not only the drive to assert our personal agendas but the action to back it up.

With this in mind, if you have put some of your personal needs or goals on the back burner of late, now is the time to go back and finally attend to them once and for all. My one caution here is that, with Uranus having occupied the sign of Taurus since May 2017, this change may feel so urgent, even desperate, at first that we plow ahead impulsively. Because while we may feel freedom or a sense that the fog has finally lifted, the sudden, dogged pursuit of our personal passions may come at the expense of cooperation or compromise when it comes to important others in our lives (this is especially true for the first few weeks, as Venus will also be moving Retrograde and thus cooperation and compromise further de-emphasized).

Yet for those of us who typically have trouble asserting our personal agendas, preferring to go along with the group or the status quo, this final four months of Uranus in Aries could prove to be just what the doctor ordered, forcing us to revisit any old “ruts” that have been holding us back.

Uranus in Taurus: Out with the Old, In with the New

Speaking of Ruts, the major theme of Uranus in Taurus has been forcing ourselves to break out of them. Since May 2017 when Uranus first moved into Taurus, the focus of change—Uranus symbolizing large-scale reforms as well as Change overall—was on revolutionizing the very basics of our foundation, both personally and as a collective. Uranus forces revolution of corrupt or defunct systems, for better or worse.

The most cited example of this to date is the Great Depression, when the transit of Uranus in Taurus eviscerated the American financial system, introducing massive reforms with the creation of large-scale Federal programs to alleviate economic burden while massive food shortages and environmental catastrophes (think “Dustbowl”) threatened the essentials people needed to survive. Though certainly an extreme example, it sheds important light on why Uranus’s move into Taurus can feel, well, more than a little uncomfortable.

In fact, from mid-May 2017 to today, the concept of Change in general may’ve felt awkward to the point of nerve-wrecking. This is because the sign of Taurus is concerned primarily with comfort, ease and maintaining the status quo, while Uranus (ruling planet of Aquarius) drives us forcibly out of the status quo as it flings us into the future (seemingly) against our will.

Uranus and the sign of Aquarius represent the long-term future, as well as technology and Revolution. In short, they represent Change, particularly along the lines of anything that’s corrupt or dysfunctional in our lives. The issue here is that Uranus/Aquarius goes about change in a sudden, often erratic fashion, especially when such changes are avoided and thereby pushed to a point of no return. Thus it makes sense that Uranus doesn’t feel particularly “at home” in the sign of Taurus, though it has already brought with it some fascinating advances.

For instance, the current Uranus in Taurus cycle has already brought harbingers of technological advances that have emerged as forces that are radically changing our relationship to food, money, and how we meet our physical (even sexual) needs—all the “basics” we rely on to feel secure and at ease.

Read: the increasing ease and dependence (Taurus) on technologies like Apple Pay and Dating Apps like Tinder; the sudden yet erratic (Uranus) rise of BitCoin, as well as the marked proliferation of businesses involving alternative and complementary medicine, from Yoga and Acupuncture to Colon Hydrotherapy. Regardless of how long such practices have existed, our attitudes toward them have slowly begun to change as they’ve become more mainstream ways of meeting our basic needs.

Uranus in Taurus has even begun to introduce an open-mindedness to alternative methods of increasing spiritual awareness—consulting an Astrologer rather than a traditional bread-and-butter Shrink is one pertinent example here. Even sex dolls/robots have become a common, or at least not-so-shocking, topic of conversation. Again, since Taurus is all about the meeting of our most basic needs, changes that improve our bodies, comfort our souls and generally make both financial and social transactions “easier” are sure to proliferate in the years to come.

What Does Uranus’s Shift Mean For You?

Well, that all depends. First and foremost you must consider how any Uranus transit affects your personal birth chart to determine its impact on you as an individual. However, without that information, my final Words of Wisdom on this shift is that it’s best to use the next 4 months to re-awaken yourself to your personal needs, complete personal projects that may’ve been left hanging, and “Do You,” as they say. But (and this is a Big But): It’d behoove us all to keep in mind that both Venus and Mercury are currently in flux this month, meaning there’s a TON of confusion in the air.

My advice? For the time being, it’s wiser to reflect and observe rather than take action now, as impulsivity and mixed signals will continue to abound, flooding our minds and bodies, for the next months or so at least. So do tend to yourself, but it wouldn’t hurt to wax Biblical for a moment and keep in mind the Golden Rule—that is, to do unto others as you would have done unto you. Oh, and watch out for those sex robots.

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