How to Get Through the Seven Partile Squares of Uranus-Pluto (Through 2015) Without Really Trying

Forewarned is forearmed through the changes and upheaval ahead. In some ways, both personally and on a larger scale, it won't be as bad as originally thought. And in other ways, it will be far worse than anyone could have imagined. It's a wild swing of extremes. But there's no need to fear; as old-time radio personality Paul Harvey once noted, "In times like these, it is good to remember that there have always been times like these." 

If it's true that predicting the future is nothing more than making a realistic assessment of the past, then you don't really need astrology to see what's ahead. Just take a clear and honest look at the problems in your own life, in your community, in your part of the world, and in the world at large. And what needs to be done about them. And the gap in between, meaning the resistance to making the changes to resolve them. Here is a perfect example on the larger scale:

"The United States today lacks the policy postures necessary to address climate change, migration, and conflict in a systematic and proactive manner."

Scientists and analysts at the Pentagon agree. (See also: http://bit.ly/dZT12w and http://bit.ly/Xd8Gr)

At its simplest, the Uranus-Pluto square is economic havoc—plutocracy, debt, market rigging and crashes—and the battle against them, as well as the struggle to survive and bounce back from it all at the individual level. It's a rude awakening and living life on the edge with no going back to the old ways of life. Ever. Not even after 2015. It's an enforced march forward into the unknown, and not always for the better.

Since you won't be free from the cyclone around you (no matter how rich you are, or how many cans of food you have stored), you'll have to find a way to find peace within the storm via whatever your preferred method of handling turmoil (meditation, heavy drugs, etc.). Below are ten keys to understand, cope with, and eventually prevail over the Uranus-Pluto square.

1)  Realize that you are not in total control. Circumstances will often dictate the moment and the response. This is especially true financially. Expect permanent, long-term changes in your life that are not comfortable or necessarily for the better. This can range from foreclosure, job loss, etc., to loss of earning power, increased debt or bankruptcy, lower standards of living and relationship endings.

2)  Here's a crystal-clear idea of what Pluto troubles look like up close and personal, courtesy of astrologer Anne Beversdorf, via her article entitled "Meeting the Pluto Archetype," which originally appeared in the Mountain Astrologer in 2009:

You don’t need an astrological chart and an ephemeris to know you’re dancing with Pluto.    Here’s a short list of Pluto Symptoms:

IF YOU FEEL LIKE THIS IT MUST BE PLUTO.

1. How DARE they! 

2. It’s Not Fair.  It’s Not RIGHT.  I WILL make them stop.

3. Obsessed.  You can’t get this issue out of your mind.

4. They WON’T get away with this.

5. 40 jillion get-even fantasies.

6. 30 jillion get-it-back-to-how-it-used-to-be fantasies.

7. Boiling blood each time you think about it (which is all the time).

8. Freezing blood when you think there’s nothing you can do.

9. How DARE they!   …

So expect to feel like that a lot for a few years. And just know it's perfectly normal.

3)  Uranus in Aries is the battle against compliance, as astrologer Michael Lutin has so aptly put it. You want to do what you want to do, when you want to do it, but Pluto's in the way compounding the obstacles as fast as your frustration level can rise. Interestingly, Lutin calls attention to using the midpoint of the square (a.k.a. a semisquare, currently 23 degrees Aquarius) as the outlet for the square. So wherever you have 23 Aquarius natally, that's a refuge point from the tension. Unless of course, it triggers other parts of the chart harshly (e.g., Moon 23 Scorpio, a square which makes the stress unbearably intense and personal, such as a relationship betrayal.).

4)  Activations by transit. Every time a planet travels through a cardinal sign over the next few years, the Uranus-Pluto square will activate a flash point, both personally (when the Moon hits it four times a month) and in the world (when planets transit). A cardinal grand cross with the Sun and Moon joining the Uranus-Pluto square in late June dialed up the anxiety for everyone, as a harbinger for the upcoming Mars-Uranus-Pluto T-square over the coming week. Expect a jolt in late September when planets transit Libra to form another T-square, with the outlet leg again in Cancer. Power struggles will really intensify at the end of the year when planets transiting Capricorn line up behind Pluto, and with extra zing because Saturn will be mutually recepting Pluto when it begins its Scorpio transit.

5)  At the personal level, the Uranus-Pluto square will force you to make changes you would normally eschew because they are outside of your conditioned comfort zone.

6)  Expect loss. Pluto in Capricorn disposits to Saturn in its final months of Libra. It's about endings, not new beginnings. Then, when Saturn ingresses into Scorpio in October, it will both mutually recept AND sextile Pluto. But there's a catch: Saturn will still be via combust for awhile. So there will be enforced, constructive changes, but at a stressful cost.

7)  Face the fact that things cannot continue as they were. There's no going back. The changes are long-term and permanent. Grieve and move on; don't wallow.

8)  The stress will NOT last forever; just a few years intensely, and at times, very uncomfortable. And as the Uranus-Pluto square transits closer to Eris at 22-23 degrees Aries, things will get worse before they get better. That's how tremendous, slow, deep, permanent change works. There are no overnight results. Check out astrologer Bill Herbst's thorough and in-depth histories of this specific type of transit in his archives.  (Note these especially: http://billherbst.com/News120.pdf , http://billherbst.com/News80.pdf , http://billherbst.com/News81.pdf ).

9)  The ray of hope, the saving grace throughout it all, is Neptune in Pisces. At home, in rulership, it's above it all, sextiling Pluto and semi-sextiling Uranus. Hold on to your dreams and keep the faith in spite of the turmoil, and when you're down and out, Neptune will send a ray of light out of nowhere to give you hope. It can also bring an outright miracle, or an enormous desire to escape, depending on other factors in your natal chart. Know that there will be days of peace sandwiched in between the strife.

10)  Look back on your life pre-Pluto in Capricorn; before January 2008, and after. How is your life better, and how is it worse? What did you have to part with that you thought you couldn't live without, and are now glad to be rid of? Remember the pain and anguish?

Now imagine that on a larger, worldwide scale for awhile and you'll have the essence of the transit.