Under Wartime Skies—Uranus enters Gemini—April 25th
Progress is never permanent, will always be threatened, must be redoubled, restated and reimagined if it is to survive—Zadie Smith.
Artemis II explored the light and the dark sides of the moon this month, reminding us of the preciousness of our fragile blue planet, this “mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam” as Carl Sagan famously said in 1990. The naming of this space craft after Artemis the mythic huntress, who embodies the untamed, savage force of human nature, is apt as tech billionaires and Trump focus on exploiting new worlds in preference to tending to and protecting the one we have. The bloodshed and destruction in the Middle East continues to continue, as this war drags into its sixth futile week. Cities are razed to rubble, children are ophaned, and still, arrogant war-lord-politicians seek their brief moment of glory at any cost. War has ravaged more human lives than any virus. There is no inoculation against the long-term malaise of this conflict.
The astrological sky-story for April is loaded with urgent Martian fervour, unexpected twists and turns. Uranus is the main protagonist, poised like a lightning bolt at the final, critical degree of Taurus, dubbed the degree of fate. Uranus changes sign and enters Gemini at the end of this month. As outer planets change sign, something stirs in the collective nervous system, breaking news brings something to our attention.
Uranus transits so often accompany those “out of the blue” events that leave us baffled and blindsided. As western economies shudder precariously and Donald Trump continues to unleash havoc, Melania Trump’s stilted scripted statement, delivered as Mars entered Aries on April 9th, denying that she was a “victim of Jeffery Epstein,” comes as Uranus lingers over her Venus in Taurus, and Pluto makes a series of squares to her Taurus Sun. We know nothing about the woman from Slovenia who is now First Lady of the American nation apart from her carefully curated public image/brand, her stiffly armoured posture, and vacant eyes. The astrology reveals her inner turmoil and certainly some painful trauma beneath that unresponsive veneer.
Mars meets nebulous Neptune in Aries this month (in close orb until the 27th) in a steamy combination that speaks of helplessness in the face of impossible odds, which could play out as intense frustration, or not knowing which way to turn.
Mercury impatiently joins the fray, entering Aries on April 15th, but is soon enveloped by Neptune’s mists, which may cloud rational thinking, amplify our human propensity for compassion and imagination, or deliver a lingering sting of disappointment. On April 17th, the new moon (27° Aries) conjoins Chiron (in our birth chart this is the tender place of our woundedness) and Eris, sister of Mars in myth (goddess of discord and strife). This may set in motion challenging events that demand self-regulation as Mars and then Mercury meet Saturn, suggesting the need to be discerning as we grapple with a situation that will demand time and patience to resolve.
As the sun moves into Taurus on April 20th, Venus conjoins with Uranus, anticipating the most notable astrological event of this month: Uranus entering Gemini on April 25th.
A strange new energy crackles like lightening through the collective nervous system, offering a glimpse of a new reality that is inimical to individual expression.
Uranus circles our sun every 84 years, spending about seven years in each sign. Uranus remains Gemini, an unstable mercurial air sign, until 2033/34. Over these next seven years, how we learn, communicate, and think about our future here on earth,will be rapidly rewired. Uranus’s passage through the mutable sign of Gemini will energise Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces placements in our birth charts as we play with Uranian fire with caution. Liz Greene writes in The Art of Stealing Fire: “No planet is malefic or intrinsically destructive. But collective energies of this kind must be monitored, contained, processed, and articulated through an individual human psyche with an individual human heart and individual common sense. Without this, Uranus can unleash incredible destruction on a collective level.”
America’s birth chart has Uranus at 8° Gemini, conjunct the descendant, that point of projection, opposition and Other. The American Revolutionary war and the divisive Civil war both tore a nation apart as Uranus moved through Gemini in the 18th and 19th centuries. As Uranus returns to Gemini once more, a divided America again goes to war.
Uranus entered Gemini in August 1941 and remained there until 1948 coinciding with WW II. In 1945, a Uranian idea quite literally exploded into our consciousness as the atom first bomb was detonated.
For those born between 1941-1949 (Donald Trump was born in 1946 with Uranus at 17° Gemini) these next seven years will mark a Uranus Return.
Both America and Israel were born as Uranus was moved through Gemini.
The Israeli/US war with Iran began on February 28th as Mars and Uranus formed a tense square in the heavens. The transits to the birth chart for Israel (shown here) show no sign of peace this year or next.
Mars squared Uranus again in late March, and Saturn squared Venus in the birth chart of Israel. All through this year, Pluto opposes the Moon (the people) suggesting another year of survival, trauma, and intensity.
Benjamin Netanyahu was born on 21 October 1949 in Tel Aviv. He has sun in Libra (27°) sextile Mars (26° Leo.) His Libran sun conjoins the Ascendant of Israel’s birth chart, indicating Netanyahu’s strong affinity with the identity of Israel.
Like the slain Ali Hosseini Khamenei, Netanyahu was born on a solar eclipse. Donald Trump was born on a total lunar eclipse and Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei, Ali Khamenei ‘s hardline son, was born on September 8th a few days before an annular solar eclipse.
All four men seem destined by fate and the eclipses at their birth, to play their part in this chaotic conflict.
As Trump begins to tire of the conflict, Netanyahu’s stamina and resilience will be tested first by Saturn (2026-April 2028). Having been thwarted in Iran, Isreal’s horrific mass airstrikes on Lebanon now have added fuel to an already inflammatory situation in the Middle East. Will he pay Saturn’s coin, admit that failure was baked into his hubristic war plan and accept a new reality?
Next, Neptune (2026-2039) will oppose Netanyahu’s planets in Libra, undermining and washing away any remaining illusions that he is a divinely/intuitively guided leader with a special mission and any future hope that he will continue to get US backing in sustained hostilities.
There are no winners in war. Yuval Harari taps into the confusion, the complexities of humans at war as he writes: “Most Israelis are psychologically incapable at this moment of empathizing with the Palestinians. The mind is filled to the brim with our own pain, and no space is left to even acknowledge the pain of others. Many of the people who tried to hold such a space… are dead or deeply traumatized. Most Palestinians are in an analogous situation—their minds too are so filled with pain; they cannot see our pain.
But outsiders who are not themselves immersed in pain should make an effort to empathize with all suffering humans, rather than lazily seeing only part of the terrible reality. It is the job of outsiders to help maintain a space for peace. We deposit this peaceful space with you, because we cannot hold it right now. Take good care of it for us, so that one day, when the pain begins to heal, both Israelis and Palestinians might inhabit that space.”
Amidst the geopolitical turbulence and uncertainty, may we find peace in our hearts, empathy with those who are caught in the conflict of war.
Carl Sagan, in his book, Pale Blue Dot, writes prophetically: “to me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”
To book an astrological reading, please get in touch: ingrid@trueheartwork.com
If you are in Exeter on Sunday, April 12th, Ed Gillam will present An Astrological Diary of the 17th C astrologer and merchant, Samuel Jeake of Rye at the Exeter Astrology Association.
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