The Jupiter-Uranus Cycles - Taking the Long View

by Anne Whitaker

In this extract from the author’s updated ebook Jupiter Meets Uranus (details at end of the piece), her unique historical research sheds further light on what we can expect from this momentous conjunction in tropical Taurus in April 2024.

On 20 April 2024 the Jupiter-Uranus exact conjunction occurs in Taurus – and this is not just an aspect for one day. Its ‘influence’ occupies a considerable timeline from build-up to aftermath, and here I examine what the past tells us of its historical correlations when these two powerhouse celestials join.

Jupiter meets Uranus every 14 years. It is described in Baigent, Campion and Harvey’s Mundane Astrology as connected to the “growth and awakening of human consciousness”. This seems a very appropriate way to sum up the core themes of exploration and innovation contributed by Jupiter and Uranus together. The larger Uranus cycle spans nearly 84 years, within which unfold no less than seven 12-year long Jupiter cycles. Each time they meet, Uranus has moved on two signs of the zodiac, and Jupiter has travelled 14: thus in 1969 they met in Libra, in 1983 in Sagittarius, and in 1997, Aquarius.

In these extracts from my book Jupiter Meets Uranus (details at end of this piece) I have set out three tables which give different takes on the patterns made by Jupiter-Uranus conjunctions over 500-year epochs, covering two-and-a-half millennia in all.

Table 1 shows the cycle’s pulse beat through the 20th century. Over longer time periods, as will shortly be seen, some intriguing pictures emerge. In common with other planetary conjunctions, Jupiter and Uranus together follow their own regular pattern. (Neil F. Michelsen’s Tables of Planetary Phenomena (2nd edition, ACS Publications, 1995) provided me with essential reference material to construct the tables.)

Jupiter, Uranus and the four elements: 500 BC-2050 AD

The next part of this brief historical overview deals with just one of the range of patterns which could be analysed: the movement of the conjunction through the four elements. I chose this because the four elements are the basic platform on which any astrological analysis rests, whether one is preparing an individual horoscope or looking at a chunk of historical time. I should add that my focus is mainly on Western history, although as the late great mundane astrologer Charles Harvey observed to me in 1997, the symbolic effects of major planetary events are felt “across the map”.

Table 2 provides an overview of the pattern of the conjunction’s appearance in the four elements between 500 BC and 2050 AD. From this we see that the conjunction occurred only in earth and water signs during the period 500 BC -76 BC. What are we to make of this?

The 500 BC-76 BC period roughly covers the time of the huge conceptual shift which occurred as mythological consciousness gave way to a more rational, objective view of the world and our relationship with the divine. The work of the great Greek philosophers, culminating in Plato, which emerged during this period, had a huge influence on the course of Western civilisation from that point on. Symbolically, the movement of the Jupiter- Uranus conjunctions through earth and water could be read as significators for a time in history where the existing foundations of civilisation, and continuity of beliefs and the social order, were utterly disrupted at the most fundamental of levels.

75 BC to 146 AD saw the conjunction going through a mixed transition period featuring all four elements, until the last conjunction in the earth element in 146 AD. This could be seen as the period where e.g., the struggle between the old order (earth and water) and the new (fire and air) was particularly potent, exemplified in the West by the battle between rising Christianity and the old pagan beliefs of the dying matriarchal religions.

A much longer period from 160 to 588 AD saw the conjunction taking place only in fire and air signs. This could be seen as a time when – in Robert Hand’s vivid terms –

the past has minimum hold upon the present, but the present has a maximum hold on the future.
- The Astrology of Crisis (Llewellyn Publications, 1993)

It roughly covers the period of the rise of the Roman Empire: its colonial expansion to bring civilisation of an entirely new level of technical innovation and sophistication to large swathes of the known world, its Christianisation, and its fall.

1500 to 1845 AD

The next time that the conjunctions took place only in fire and air was between 1500 and 1845 AD.

This period of history, set within the context of the mighty Neptune-Pluto cycle in Gemini which began in 1398, is renowned for its optimism, creativity, faith in human progress, and huge scientific and technological leaps forward. There was the rise of European colonialism beginning with the great sea voyages of discovery. We had the Renaissance, Reformation, Agrarian and Industrial Revolutions, and American and French Revolutions all during this time. Most significantly of all, in the 18th century we had the unfolding Scientific Revolution and the European Enlightenment, and with it a view of life more influenced by scientific materialism than religion for the first time in human history.

Since 1845, we have been in a mixed transition period again which will last until about 2045. There is increasing realisation that the fire and air march forward into an exciting, rationally and scientifically based future has a hefty price tag attached to it. That is the literal survival of earth and water: the root of our being, Earth itself. At the start of a new millennium (when I wrote up the 1997-2003 study), scientific progress rushes on ever faster. But disquiet increases, as evidence of the cost to our planet and our collective health becomes more and more compelling.

The future – heading for a new paradigm?

See Table 3 above for an overview of the conjunctions, in their elements, by century. From around the middle of the 21st century we will once again be moving into a period where the Jupiter-Uranus conjunctions occur only in earth and water for between 350-400 years. What paradigm shift will take place then?

In the first example I gave (500 BC-588 AD), there was a move from an earth and water period to a mixed element period, to a fire and air period. In the second example, there was a move backward: from fire and air (1500 to 1845 AD) to the mixed element period we now occupy, then earth and water still to come.

By the time Jupiter-Uranus conjunctions occur in only earth and water, roughly from 2050 (1) to 2400 or so, we may have to use our exploratory and innovatory energies in the service not of ‘progress’ as was the case from 1500-1850, but of survival. We may by then be a species on a planet seriously damaged by the shadow-side of the Jupiter-Uranus combination: arrogant pursuit of exploration and innovation regardless of the physical, emotional and spiritual cost.

On the other hand, taking a more upbeat view, the conjunction’s move through earth and water may bring a paradigm shift involving reinterpretation of what it actually means to be human, resulting from changes wrought by the revolution which is already taking place in genetic modification and cloning. Perhaps we will see the beginnings of the evolution of a new humanoid species where micro-technology implants into the human body, and genetic tailoring, will vastly extend the range of which we are capable?

Given life’s eternally paradoxical nature, we can probably expect to see both facets unfolding simultaneously.

Author's note:
This is a slightly edited extract from my book Jupiter Meets Uranus: From Erotic Bathing to Star Gazing. It was completed in 2003, first published in print by the American Federation of Astrologers in 2009 and included the research I did on the 1997-8 Jupiter/Uranus conjunction in Aquarius. This extract is taken from pp 25-30 of the e-book version published in Scotland, UK by Writing from the Twelfth House Publications in 2014. This updated e-version also includes all the research I did and all the articles I wrote during the 2010-11 conjunction in Aries/Pisces.
Further details on the e-book at: https://anne-whitaker.com/guests/.

Endnote:
 (1) This significant date provided by the planetary picture is backed up by a recent quote: “… The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was set up in 1988 and produced its very first science report in 1990…a further report published in 2018 clearly showed that to achieve 1.5˚C there had to be zero carbon emissions by about 2050 and then negative carbon emissions for the rest of the century (IPCC, 2018)…”.

Published by: The Astrological Journal, Jan/Feb 2024

Author:
Anne  Whitaker has been an astrologer since the 1983 Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Sagittarius. She holds a Certificate from the Faculty of Astrological Studies (1983) and the Diploma from the Centre for Psychological Astrology in London (1998) as well as several academic qualifications. She writes for a number of international magazines and journals, and mentors international students studying with reputable courses. Her latest book Postcards to the Future: Mercurial Musings 1995–2021 is an acclaimed collection of 60 essays, articles and columns from the many publications to which Anne has contributed over the years. Website: https://anne-whitaker.com/ Email: info@anne-whitaker.com

© Anne Whitaker, Astrological Journal, 2024

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