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Geography & the Uranus-Pluto Square

When major news stories flash across our screens, it’s often relatively easy to sense which planetary energies are prompting them. This is especially true of the ongoing Uranus-Pluto square, the defining aspect of our times, which elicits volatile, destructive energies that carve a big, bold statement as they manifest on earth.
But why do these events play out where they do? Is there some celestial connection between the major planetary energies being unleashed and the terrestrial locales they highlight? If we look more closely at some recent Uranus-Pluto related events, the answer seems a resounding, “Yes!”

Take the recent tornado that devastated Moore, Oklahoma on May 20, 2013, the very day of the third exact square between Uranus and Pluto. The tornado was perhaps the strongest ever recorded, an EF5 with winds of up to 200-210 mph, with a wedge as much as a mile wide and cutting a 20-mile-long pathway through Oklahoman farmland and suburban developments, a meteorological behemoth worthy of the square. (1) Pluto’s effect is seen here in the total destruction wreaked, with Uranus supplying the explosive power and the relative rapidity of the event. (Although the twister was on the ground for 50 minutes, that’s a mere fraction of the time it took to build all the infrastructure it annihilated, let alone how long it will take to rebuild). The propensity of this particular square to elicit major weather events might be foreshadowed by the presence of TNO (Trans-Neptunian Object) Typhon at 9° Libra, closely t-squaring Uranus and Pluto. Typhon, from whom we derive our word “typhoon,” was a mythical Greek Titan responsible for massive storms, and although his natural element is water, Typhon the mythic monster also had the power to control the winds. The eponymous TNO shows up often in charts of all types of weather-related disasters.

There was, therefore, a strong predisposition for some disastrous weather to manifest somewhere, but why Oklahoma? When the tornado hit, asteroids Oklahoma (#13688) and Storm (#12182), at 3° and 5° Capricorn, were moving in on Pluto at 11° Capricorn, within orb of conjunction. Moore is in Cleveland County, and asteroid Cleveland (#6296) at 12° Cancer was even more closely tapped into the Uranus-Pluto square; along with Typhon, this created a Grand Cross. There is also an asteroid Moore (#2602), and while it was not aspected directly to the square, at 27° Pisces it was highlighted on the Descendant, which moved from 23° Pisces through 29° Pisces during the period from 3:01 PM to 3:35 PM (CDT) when the tornado was destroying Moore.

Speaking of Cleveland, another Uranus-Pluto related story broke on May 6th, with the release of three young women from a decade-long captivity in Cleveland, Ohio. Ariel Castro had allegedly abducted Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight, and Gina DeJesus, repeatedly raping and beating them, and holding them hostage in his house for ten years. The elements of abduction, rape, and abuse are represented by Pluto, who equates to the Greek god Hades, famous for his abduction and rape of Persephone, while Uranus’s role is seen in the release and freedom of the captives.

When they were discovered and released on May 6th, asteroid Cleveland, at 5° Cancer, squared Uranus at 10° Aries and opposed Pluto at 11° Capricorn, accompanied by asteroid Ohio (#439) at 12° Capricorn, identifying the state where the horrific events occurred.

Two other stories emerged in April of 2013 with direct ties to the celestial geography making contact with Uranus and Pluto. When the Tsarnaev brothers allegedly set off two bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15th, asteroid Massachusetts (#4547) at 11° Aries was conjoined Uranus at 9° Aries and exactly squared Pluto at 11° Capricorn, which had turned retrograde just days before. Pluto rules terrorist acts and deaths, and Uranus rules explosives of all kinds, from the pop of a handgun to the detonation of a nuclear warhead. (There is also an asteroid Marathon, which, at the time of the explosions, appears just three degrees off the Midheaven, the focus of all eyes.)

Just two days later, on April 17th, a massive explosion in a fertilizer plant rocked the town of West, Texas, killing 15 and obliterating dozens of homes in a five-block radius. Again, Pluto here generally represents devastation, but, more specifically, also rules fertilizers, with Uranus once more providing the spark of explosives. When the plant blew, asteroid West (#2022) was at 9° Cancer, opposed Pluto at 11° Capricorn and exactly squared Uranus at 9° Aries. The difference in magnitude of the two explosions (those at the Boston Marathon were relatively small blasts, as explosions go) may be due to the difference in specificity of the asteroids involved (one representing an entire state as opposed to a specific community), and also the fact that asteroid Massachusetts, while in a close conjunction with explosion-ruling Uranus, was not in exact aspect to it, as was asteroid West.

Mass shootings seem to be another predominant theme of the Uranus-Pluto square, with numerous incidents since their first exact aspect in June of 2012. Uranus rules shootings, Pluto rules murder, and the pair together has ramped up the carnage considerably. One of the first and most publicized of these atrocities was the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado on July 20, 2012. James Holmes, dressed in SWAT team garb, with several semiautomatic weapons and hair dyed fire engine red, shot up the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises, killing 12 and wounding 58.

At the time, asteroid Aurora (#94) at 17° Capricorn was just within orb of conjunction to Pluto, at 7° Capricorn, but also just four degrees off the Midheaven for the shooting. But the real focus on Aurora from Uranus and Pluto can be seen in the chart of the shooter. Born December 13, 1987, James Holmes’ nativity shows Aurora at 9° Libra, squared by Pluto at the shooting and tightly opposed by Uranus at 8° Aries. (Transit asteroid Holmes (#5477) and planet Mars were also exactly conjunct natal Aurora when he opened fire in the theater.)

Another example of the transiting Uranus-Pluto square impacting natal asteroids of a geographic nature is the case of Paralympic gold medalist Oscar Pistorius, who shot his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, to death on Valentine’s Day 2013 in his home in Pretoria, South Africa. Asteroid Praetorius (#4889), here standing in for Pretoria, appears at 12° Capricorn in Pistorius’ birth chart (born November 22, 1986), with transit Pluto at 10° Capricorn for the shooting (along with asteroid Oskar (#750) at 9° Capricorn), and squared by Uranus at 6° Aries.

These few examples seem to confirm the importance, in the old real estate dictum, of “location, location, location” when looking for clues to where the Uranus-Pluto square will manifest next. There are four more exact squares to the cycle, extending into 2015, likely giving us many more opportunities to test the theory.

Editor’s note:

(1) EF5 (Enhanced Fujita Scale) is the scale for rating the strength of tornados.

Bio: Alex Miller is a professional writer and astrologer, author of The Black Hole Book and The Urban Wicca, former editor of “The Galactic Calendar,” and past president of The Philadelphia Astrological Society. His pioneering work with Black Holes in astrological interpretation began in 1991, when his progressed Sun unwittingly fell into one. His work with deep space points and asteroids appears monthly at DayKeeper Journal. Alex can be reached for comment or services at glaktix@verizon.net

3 Comments

  1. moon conjunct pluto square uranus oppose ceres over hades 8am pst…..I place the 4/7/1776 2am chart over the map of the united states which puts pluto in capricorn in the southwest which I believe is manifesting in drought and earthquake activity in an area which has had active earthquake activity pluto being natally in capricorn…..uranus in aries over the mid eastern, the heart of the area dubbed tornado/hurricane alley

  2. Hello Alex,
    read your text today. The headline made me curious!
    Here`s my astrogeographical data for the town centre of Moore: 3° Aries and 22° Sagitarius.
    The Uranus – Pluto square was “activated” by the Moon at 3° Libra in exact opposition to one of the two coordnates of the town while Jupiter ar 22° Gemini was in exact opposition to the other: http://blog.astrogeography.com/?p=5728.
    Just as if the topics of time were plainly opposing the
    town centre.

  3. Quote :

    ” His pioneering work with Black Holes in astrological interpretation began in 1991, when his progressed Sun unwittingly fell into one.”

    PLEASE : – how can you tell where the black holes are , astrologically ?


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