Uranus in Taurus: Raging Bull

Transiting Uranus enters sidereal Taurus on June 1st 2024, before retrograding back to the last degrees of Aries on December 13th. It then re-enters Taurus on March 18th 2025 for the next six years altogether, up to July 6th 2031. Uranus is visible to a sharp human eye under the right conditions, which undercuts the reason trans-Saturnian planets are not traditionally used in Jyotish, but visible or not, Uranus, along with Neptune and Pluto, has great symbolic power, especially longer time cycles of mundane and political astrology.

Uranus is sometimes associated with Prometheus, the bringer of fire and craft, and also has parallels with Prajapati, the great progenitor in Vedic myth. It was discovered in 1781, in the Age of Revolution: American, French, and Industrial, and is associated with rebellion and technology. Uranus’s association with Aquarius separates this Saturnian sign from its earthier and more conventional cousin Capricorn, and describes its contrast of individuality and conformity. Aquarius is idealistic, but can also be zealous and hyper-rational in pursuit of a political aim, and represents the new order after the old regime has been overthrown. Symbolically, Uranus has something in common with Rahu in Vedic astrology, by being disruptive and rebellious, and also The Tower in Tarot; a building struck by lightning, showing a sudden break with tradition.

In Taurus, the quintessential earth sign, Uranus is sure to enflame the worldwide Farmer’s Protests, from Europe to India, as farmers strike back against tighter agriculture laws, guaranteed pricing, and higher costs. Red tape, they say, is making their already difficult industry unsustainable, and is alleged to be part of a concerted Globalist land grab. Massed tractors have blocked roads in France, Holland, Czech Republic, and caused major disruption in Brussels’s European district, and have parallels with the Truckers’ protests in Canada, and now threatened in the US. This rebellion is probably also influenced by Pluto in Capricorn since 2020 – politics and resources - but Uranus in Taurus (conjunct Jupiter) will surely make the demonstrations more widespread and radical.

Pesticides have been used since the 1930s, but really took off in mass use immediately after WWII, with the previous Uranus in Taurus 1940-47. A revolution in agriculture began, partly through a necessity to grow more food after the war, but also on the back of developments in biological warfare, which it was discovered, could temporarily give greater yields. Between Uranus in Taurus and Pluto in Capricorn, a battle over the food supply should play out.

Uranus, as Sky God, is said by some to be the ruling planet of astrology, at least 'modern astrology' (traditional astrology is Mercury-ruled). The last transit of Uranus in Taurus, 1940-47, saw the revival of Sidereal Astrology in the West, resulting initially from Irish astrologer Cyril Fagan’s work. Fagan’s first published articles on sidereal Solar and Lunar returns appeared in February and late April 1944, as Uranus was at 14° Taurus, within a degree of the royal fixed star Aldebaran, the Eye of the Bull, one of the key ‘fiducial’ stars of the Babylonian Sidereal Zodiac.

The most commonly used Jyotish chart for the USA, July 4th 1776, has been rectified by James Kelleher to 18:30pm (giving Sagittarius rising) while the familiar Western version, named for the 18th Century Freemason, Ebenezer Sibley, is timed for 17:10pm and gives 20° Scorpio rising. It’s unclear, however, whether this meant 5:10pm local time, or adjusted for London, England, which is 12:10pm in Philadelphia, but, at face value, 12:10pm gives Saturn rising in Virgo. Perhaps this describes the American Dream of self-reliance as founded by the Puritan Fathers, but whichever chart one uses, USA’s Uranus Returns so far have all seen the country being drawn into a major war. From its roots in the Revolutionary War of 1776, USA's first Uranus Return 1857-64 came to exact in Taurus barely two weeks after the opening shots of the US Civil War were fired, April 12th 1861 (accompanied by transiting Mars in Taurus).

USA Uranus’s second entry into Taurus came with the Pearl Harbour attack, 1941, and culminated with the D-Day invasion, June 1944, when the planet approached to within two degrees of its natal place. The exact date of this second return incidentally (Lahiri ayanamsha), was April 30th 1945, the day Adolf Hitler committed suicide and effectively ended World War II in Europe. The dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 6th & 9th 1945 occurred a few degrees after America’s exact Uranus return, but precisely as transiting Mars approached then hit 18° Taurus.

The USA sustained its greatest losses in Vietnam after the Tet Offensive in 1968, where Mars was in Taurus from May 1st to June 11th. (Late 1968, incidentally, saw Uranus and Jupiter coming together in Virgo, as they do in Taurus in 2024-25. These conjunctions are strongly revolutionary – most obviously Uranus-Jupiter in Cancer, Paris, July 1789 – and suggests an excessive and ruthless evangelizing, in pursuit of a political or philosophic ideology). The First Gulf War also took place January 16th to February 28th 1991, with Mars in Taurus throughout. Uncle Sam is a raging bull.

The Twin Towers attack on 9/11 occurred with Saturn and Pluto opposing each other in Taurus and Scorpio, across the exact degree of USA’s natal Uranus. Mars was not directly involved, but at this point, USA was the country under attack. The ‘Sibley’ 17:10pm chart in the Sidereal zodiac puts Uranus close to the descendant (and using the Fagan-Bradley ayanamsha also gives USA natal Mars at 29° Taurus), and this transit, for some astrologers, is testimony for this particular rectified horoscope.

All the above conditions being considered, the periods June 21st to August 2nd 2026 and especially May 31st to July 12th 2028 are major red-flags this time around, with Mars-Uranus coming together in Taurus, on and around the USA’s natal degree. America is currently also experiencing a Pluto Return, and spoiling for a fight with, in no particular order, Russia, China, and Iran, as well as dealing with a border crisis at home.

Israel’s national horoscope is timed for May 14th 1948, at 16:00pm, giving 29° Virgo rising, precisely conjunct the all-important fixed star Spica-Chittra, and close to the USA’s possible ascendant-Saturn conjunction in Virgo. Israel’s ruling planet, Mercury, sits on the USA’s Uranus at 17° Taurus, and the USA’s Mars in Gemini (Lahiri ayanamsha) is within a degree of Israel’s natal Uranus. Hmm. USA defends Israel’s independence, and one wonders how influential Israel will be in negotiation should Uranus spark America into a fight, as historically it always has. Israel’s Sun at 0° Taurus gets the first impact of transiting Uranus, from June 1st 2024, then again in March 2025, and this dynamic will be ‘live’ effectively from December 2024 through the whole first half of next year.

Unlike the birth of a nation for the USA, Uranus in Taurus in the 1770s was a historic defeat for Great Britain and a loss of a branch of its Empire. Two transits previous to this, Uranus in Taurus saw the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, the near-successful attempt by Catholic saboteurs to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Eighty-three years later, 1688, Uranus in Taurus brought the culmination of 'The Glorious Revolution' in England, where the Catholic James II was deposed and replaced by Protestant William of Orange: December 17th 1688 was the final handover of power in London (with Uranus at 0° Taurus exactly opposite transiting Mars in Scorpio).

The Glorious Revolution, incidentally, gave birth to the English Bill of Rights, of 1689, which became a central part of the unwritten English Constitution. Among other items, it declared, ‘Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted’, provisions which were adopted more-or-less verbatim in the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution in 1791. This Amendment is invoked today by once-and-future President Donald Trump’s defenders; not over the threat of his being drawn and quartered so much, as his recent $350m fine in a New York court. Uranus in Taurus warns against the Government attempting to bankrupt its enemies: perhaps Mr Trump will have a better chance on appeal after June 1st 2024.

The Uranus transit of Taurus, beginning 1857, saw the Indian Mutiny (aka, The First Indian War of Independence), another major uprising against the British Empire. This began May 10th 1857, incidentally with Uranus conjunct Mars in Taurus. Again. The most recent Uranus transit, 1940-47, began with the Blitz and the Battle of Britain and ended with the return of sovereignty to India in 1947, with all-out war in between. Modern independent India, incidentally, has Taurus ascendant, and should emerge more with its own character over the next seven years. Will the UK also see a different type of power-handover from one King to another?