So: the Uranus-Pluto square is finally over, having it reached its last exact peak on Monday. We can all stop worrying now, right?
Not so fast.
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The Uranus Pluto conjunction of the mid 1960s is the single astrological aspect which most clearly defined that era… but it reached its last exact aspect in 1966. You may have noticed that many of the cultural and historical firestorms it set off continued for sometime afterwards, or didn’t even really get properly started until afterwards. That’s how it works. If the storm blows away your home on Monday, you’ll still be picking up the mess on Tuesday. Even if your insurance company gives you a fully furnished new home by the end of the week, your old stuff is still gone. Furthermore: the psychological issues about losing all your stuff to a storm could well last the rest of your life.
The Uranus Pluto Square will be within orb for at least another year and a half. It still has great potential to give us important breakthroughs or cause a lot of mayhem yet, depending on whatever transits you’re having on any given day. Of course, that’s the way any astrological transit works, but it bears repeating.
Put another way: Last night I saw a police car drive by with only one headlight working. I was strongly tempted to pull him over and give him a ticket. In theory, I might even have a legal right to do so. It might be some sort of “public safety” thing. And since the last peak of the Uranus Pluto conjunction is now behind us, it would be perfectly safe and wise for me to do so next time I see that, wouldn’t it?
Ummm, I’m guessing “no.”
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Uranus Pluto aspects always represents a struggle between deep and powerful Absolutes one way or another. That sort of thing tends to leave a mark which carries an effect long after the transit itself is over.
Here’s an example from popular culture. The original Twilight Zone TV series began in 1959 and ran until 1964. It ended at the peak of the Uranus Pluto square, and yet its influence continues to this day.
Here is the standard formula for a Twilight Zone episode:
– Ordinary people leading ordinary lives are suddenly exposed to an influence that is magical, science-fictional, or just plain weird (Uranus)
– A liberal application of Human Nature results in something terrifying or depressing as a result (Pluto)
– As a result, something about human nature is shown to us… maybe something we don’t like to see.
Now consider another television program that has arisen during the Uranus Pluto Square, one that follows almost exactly the same formula… a show called Black Mirror.
There are only a few episodes of it (because it’s a British series and the British often steadfastly refuse to produce more of anything than they have decent scripts for). Black Mirror follows the same basic formula as The Twilight Zone, except instead of “magic” The Uranus factor is, in each story, a different extension of current technology and/or cultural trends that either exist or is a reasonable projection from current trends.
Like The Twilight Zone, that child of the Uranus Pluto conjunction, it deals heavily in irony. Unlike The Twilight Zone, and perhaps more appropriate to our modern era and the Uranus Pluto square, the results in Black Mirror are absolutely brutal. How brutal? So brutal that for me to give you a plot description for the first episode alone would be the quickest way for Beliefnet to show me the door. In a hurry. Look it up if you like.
Both shows deal with the eternal verities of human nature when challenged or exposed by the strange and unusual. The difference between the two shows is the difference between the Uranus Pluto conjunction and the Uranus Pluto square.
The Twilight Zone was inherently a little pessimistic, but usually… well, often… tried to hold out the best for humanity. Black Mirror holds its reflective surface up to your face, then smashes it over your head, and says something like “how did you like that? Want to watch another episode now?”
This, I figure, is the big difference between the Conjunction and the Square.
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So yes: let’s all start waving goodbye to the Uranus Pluto Square now. But let’s not get cocky about it, and let’s remember that – as both The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror would remind us – things in the rear view mirror are closer than they appear — and sometimes they catch up to us later.
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