Uranus in Aquarius: The Late 1990s

When Uranus transits through Aquarius signifies the social aspect of society and introduces big social experiments. The transition describes the need to break free from social prejudice and snobbery in order to achieve a more enlightened social interaction. During the process, boundaries are likely to be broken down.

The Jupiter-Uranus conjunction which happened in Aquarius also brought the comet Hale-Bopp in the night sky. It was referred to as the ‘Great Comet’ and was the most spectacular astronomical sight of 1997. Observations conducted in N.A.S.A observatories estimated that Hale-Bopp’s nucleus is between 19 and 25 miles in diameter. By comparison, the comet that was thought to have struck the Earth 65 million years ago, probably causing the extinction of the dinosaurs, is estimated to have been 6-9 miles in diameter. After the 1997 appearance, it is calculated that the Hale-Bopp comet will disappear from sight again until the year 4397.

The ‘Heavens Cult Mass Suicide’ believed that the Hale-Boppcomet was a sign that they should leave their earthly bodies behind to join a spacecraft flying behind the comet. Thirty-nine members of the cult committed suicide by drinking a deadly cocktail of vodka and barbiturates. The transit of Uranus-Neptune (Neppy at a critical degree) was still pretty powerful and the ‘mass spiritual enlightenment’ and disillusionment influenced this time. The emphasis on ‘brotherhood’ would be evident and more socializing via the World Wide Web. Political movements, social, cultural and group vision was the flavor of this transit. Uranus’ duration through Aquarius highlighted areas of social intolerance, futuristic vision and heightened interest in outer-space and universal ideas.

Deadly Cocktails and Space Adventure

(Uranus and Neptune must be active together when you read the words Mass Suicide, deadly cocktails, Spacecraft, and a comet all in the same sentence!)

Uranus in Aquarius Natally

• You belong to a generation (born between 1912 and 1920, or during the late 1990s to the first years of the first twenty-first century) whose intention was or is to reform and shed light upon the human condition. This means that the very essence of human nature is what concerns you deep down. Negatively or unconscious, this could just amount to feeling a bit of a misfit – simply because humanity as a whole is off-track and at odds with its true nature.

• Positively, though, you are aware of the importance of individuality, brother/sisterhood and the essential uniqueness, freedom and inventiveness of the human being. The first period bore witness to the revolutionary thrust of Uranus traveling through its own Sign in the form of the Great War and Russian Revolution. In the first case, human beings had to be used as cannon fodder before we stood up and noticed that this was not what human beings and human rights are for and about. The second case was archetypally Uranian/Aquarian in that it was revolution in the classic sense: the liberators and radical of the day becoming the future oppressors and conservatives.

• This second period should and will be a lot more positive, conscious and creative, with amazing happenings to match – occurring above and below, within and without- that will jog us into remembering what Humanity and human nature actually are: sensitivity as an essential quality rather than a painful liability; consideration for all as the only way of continuing to exist rather than merely as some lofty ideal. By The Watkins Astrology Handbook