The planet Uranus moves today, July 7, into the sign of Gemini. It’s worth taking a look at this transit and its correlation with USA wars. I began exploring astrology during the first Trump presidency. During that time, serious people were willing to occupy cabinet positions. Like many, I was consumed with opposition to his administration. I never dreamed it would return in a more virulent iteration. Now, grossly incompetent people serve at the highest positions of government. We enjoyed the best economy of any nation during the Biden presidency. But that brief respite appears to have only delayed the gross “shittification” of America. Again we face the destruction of our lives at the hands of this lawless, evil man.

The Uranus in Gemini transit is about disruption, change, innovation and opportunities in communication, technology, and our social organization. Disruption is difficult for me. It is difficult for about everyone I know. If we can let go of the fear, I have hope.

Daily, we watch our Chaos in Chief create confusion, a Mad King issuing democracy-destroying edicts. We engage in acts of resistance. We hope for a better future. Only a people’s revolution will suffice to take on a corrupt Supreme Court, Congress and the right wing tech bros. Being adaptable, embracing change and keeping a firm grasp of the ridiculous are my go to moves.

Corporate media is in total chaos, bending the knee to our aspiring dictator president. But independent talented journalists are emerging as reliable sources of reporting. I like The Contrarian by Jen Rubin and Norman Eisen. Historian Heather Cox Richardson is a steady voice.

When I feel overwhelmed by distressing events in our country, astrology helps me gain perspective. The Uranus in Gemini planetary cycle we’re entering on July 7 has a history of USA military conflict. This go round of the planet in transit through the sign of Gemini will last until 2033. Nick Dagan Best, author of “Uranus USA,” has studied this cycle. He discusses it in this video. Uranus was in Gemini during the US involvement in World War 2 from 1941 to 1945. It was also in Gemini during the US Civil War from 1861 to 1865. The transit of Uranus through Gemini from 1774 – 1782 includes the American Revolutionary War.

Why astrology?

Astrology is fun for me. Having planets and their archetypes living in my head is a blast! Today, transiting Mars is conjoining my natal Pluto. Mars and Pluto together unleashing the fires of hell, Old Testament battles and massacres. It’s a death and rebirth struggle raging toward freedom kinda’ week! I’m living a 3D life with interstitial dimensions!

But fun be damned, the critics have scorn for this “pseudoscience.” Critics who worship ALL the science and ALL the rational chuckle among themselves about us vibrating weirdos. Sometimes to our face they cushion their critique of our love of astrology with a kindness one shows to children. Others don’t bother and will without hesitation scoff directly at us laughing, unserious people. Conversation about astrology with these people does not interest me.

Hell, maybe the cosmos is devoid of spirit life. Maybe the heavens are filled with dead, non-spirit matter. Maybe we are floating around on our earth marble within a lifeless universe.

Angry stardust

But I don’t think so. When we pass from this earth does anything of our soul survive? The writings of mystics and religious leaders throughout recorded history say yes. In her song, Woodstock, Joni Mitchell sings about people as being eternal stardust, million year old carbon. I think Mitchell nailed it, that we are all little sparks from the eternal flame. I am deeply disgusted with my childhood Southern Baptist friends over their support of our criminal president. However, if I squint hard I can see their stardust. It’s a stretch but if I squint even harder I can see angry stardust in the MAGA people.

Astrology has become a major weapon in my arsenal of self care. When the daily disaster events make the news, I find solace in my studies. Listening to history wrapped with planetary influences helps me see beyond my short lifetime. I can listen to astrologers Chris Brennan, Kelly Surtees, and Austin Coppock talk for hours. They use astrology to discuss political, economic, and social trends. It’s called mundane astrology, astrology applied to world affairs instead of individual horoscopes. These conversations are dense and fascinating. If I don’t understand it all that’s fine.

What kind of Astrology

On some days I read about archetypes in Renn Butler’s excellent book, “The Archetypal Universe.” Other days I listen to a daily astrology meditation produced by Adam Elenbaas. I credit Adam’s example in helping me develop my own spiritual practice. Chani Nickolas is a powerhouse astrological communicator. I use her app daily.

I spent the first few years of my study sorting through the different schools. I explored the work of a variety of astrology educators. Jeffery Wolf Green, founder of the Pluto School of Evolutionary Astrology, drew my attention early on. I had a few readings with evolutionary astrologer Mark Jones. He is a modern astrologer who trains people to use astrology in their counseling practice. Not my path.

Tired of western psychology’s reductive defining of human experience, I moved quickly past “crunchy” self-help modern astrology. For a few years now I’ve settled into Hellenistic astrology. Broadly speaking it is the study of fate and fortune. It is based on ancient Greek texts and is enjoying a revival. Hellenistic Astrology emphasizes the predictive potential of the practice.

Hellenistic astrologers use the whole sign house division. Communication powerhouse astrologer Chani describes house systems here. This division places my cluster of five planets into the 9th house. The 9th house is the house of education, religion, and travel. These house topics are dominant themes of my life. Pluto falling into my 4th house of parents, home and family speaks loudly of my early life struggles.

Is Astrology Backed by Science?

The effort to make astrology respectable to the science community has consistently failed. Astrology doesn’t answer the same questions posed by science. In this BBC article, “Is Astrology Backed by Science?” the writer Sofia Quaglia describes the failed studies applying scientific principles to astrology.

“A test similar to Carlson was recreated more recently in August 2024, where 152 astrologers were asked to match twelve people’s birth charts to questionnaires they’d answered about their personality and life.⁴ Once again, the astrologers got less than a third of the matches right and even agreed on their matches among themselves less than a third of the time too. No more than chance.”

That these studies failed is no suprise to me. I see astrology is a subjective, divinatory art. According to New Oxford Dictionary divination involves seeking the unknown by supernatural means. Quaglia concludes her article reflecting my own thoughts on the relationship of science to astrology with this quote:

“The core premise of astrology is the belief that people are all intimately connected to the wider cosmos. “This view is fundamental to most worldviews, philosophies and religions, and only rejected by modern Western philosophy and science,” says Nicholas Campion, an astrology historian from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. “The attraction of astrology is therefore found in the way age-old worldviews provide a sense of belonging and purpose.”¹⁰

I took an online class last year to learn the I Ching, an ancient form of divination. I use an app on my phone to toss coins when I feel the need for it. The yarrow stick method is complicated. I’ve just begun exploring Tarot. All of these tools I hope to explore as I develop my relationship with the divine. It takes time to edit out a lifetime of religious conditioning to do this.

The book “The Moment of Astrology” by Geoffrey Cornelius has helped me tremendously. It helped me understand astrology reading of charts as a subjective act of divination. His article, “Is Astrology Divination and Does it Matter?” published in the Mountain Astrologer is a succinct summary of his book.

Geoffrey Cornelius: “It’s quite possible for something to have a genuine physical reference and connection to a mysteriously organized universe, in the way that astrologers over millennia have discovered, and, at the same time, for each of our acts of horoscope interpretation to be very purely subjective, an imaginative creation. It’s possible for both to exist together.”

I’m comfortable with keeping some mystery surrounding the question of how astrology works. Who wants to live without mystery? Without enchantment? Not me.

Finally, I’ll conclude with this excellent definition of astrology by Nick Dagan Best. I return to him regularly for personal readings.