The Saturn Uranus Square in the Natal Chart

We are born gentle and weak, but at death are stiff and hard.
Green plants are tender and filled with sap. 
At their death they are withered and dry. 
Therefore the stiff and unbending is the disciple of death. 
The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life.
Thus an army without flexibility never wins a battle. 
A tree that is unbending is easily broken.
The hard and strong will fall. 
The soft and weak will overcome
—Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching (Ch. 76)

There’s a moment in life when we need to take responsibility. It’s hard, and even though we don’t want to—we have to. Our steadfastness and rigidity become discipline, enabling us to move forward. We hold tight and we push till the end, to make it. We’ve all been there, right?

But how long can we last? What is our limit, or what’s the limit we give ourselves? We know it’s not going to work on the long run. Quickly, we are going to consume our life forces, running out of energies. As they say in hermeticism, we get drier and drier. We become frail. And quoting a verse in the introduction: “A tree that is unbending is easily broken“.

In Astrology, it is the forces of Saturn to bring this challenging impulse to us. On the other hand, the forces that enter this process—as a sort of breaking point—are brought by Uranus. This is especially true in this context, where we are trying to deal with the Saturn Uranus Square. A transit which started this year back in February, and that’s going to last till the end of 2022.

In previous posts, we discussed about it in general terms, trying first to understand the energies involved. And then, giving the transit a bigger picture in a 44-year cycle.

In this article instead, we are going to talk specifically about the Saturn Uranus Square in the Natal chart. We are going to talk about the same energies but on a more personal level, in order to understand how it is affecting us.

The Saturn Uranus Square in the Natal Chart

What’s interesting about this Square is that it almost inverts the natural roles that Saturn and Uranus have. Saturn in fact is usually a conservative force, whereas Uranus is a bringer of change. But the zodiac signs in which they are, tend to express their forces differently.

This because Saturn is in Aquarius, a progressist sign. While Uranus is in Taurus—a fixed earth sign. As you can imagine the element of Earth, as well as the fixed mode, don’t tend to change things at all. So how can we interpret them?

Here’s a list of significations to help us out in this process:

The Square

Saturn in Aquarius is going to take responsibility and to make his move in order to bring change. It is going to accept all the work needed in order to do it, as well as new boundaries and limitations. It is also going to harshly criticize all existing structures and rules that don’t serve his purposes anymore.

On the other hand, Uranus in Taurus brings change, but only if inside known boundaries (Taurus). We said that prolonged efforts and responsibilities (Saturn) could result in a mental breakdown or an energy burnout. In this sense, Uranus can be the trigger—the thunder that’s going to make these efforts collapse. This because change for Taurus become a threat for the foundations of life itself.

Here, Uranus seems to be the leader of the resistance rather than the leader of the revolution. Hence he’s going to channel his rebel impulses in this way. Especially because the quiet nature of Taurus definitely prefers to scale down and compromise rather than enrage in an endless war. After all, it’s ruled by Venus. And in this sign, Uranus knows the strength that comes with enduring in the trenches.

How to interpret the Square in Your Chart

On June 14, 2021 Saturn at 13° 06′ Aquarius has perfected the square with Uranus at 13° 06′ Taurus. As we know this is a very long transit, so the position of the planets are going to change a little bit. However we are going to use those as reference points.

So the first thing you want to do, is finding 13° 06′ Aquarius and 13° 06′ Taurus in your chart. In order to do it, bear in mind that a zodiac sign is 30° wide. So those points are located roughly at one third Aquarius and Taurus, respectively.

Once you have them, you can check which Astrological House they fall into. Houses are the areas of life, and they are crucial to understand how the transit is going to affect you.

• The house in which Saturn in Aquarius is, represents the area of life where we are going to criticize the status quo, in order to bring change. With Saturn we are going to have more sense of responsibility and realism to make a change in that area of life.
• The house in which Uranus in Taurus is, represents the area of life from which resistance to change, second guessing, and also self-sabotaging are going to manifest. All this in order to maintain the personal freedoms that current living conditions guarantee us.

You also want to pay attention to any planet that fall on those spots. For transits I use a 2° orb (degrees of tolerance), but due to the nature of triple transits, it makes more sense to take a 4° orbs that enables us to see the transit more as a continuous time window rather than three unrelated peaks (see graph below).

How to make the most out of the Transit

Our I, our spiritual nature, is superior to the astral forces. This means that it can recognize them, know them, direct them and transform them. Astrology can help us to recognize them and to know them better.

This transit can be an important opportunity to change our lives. Yes, it definitely comes with tension. But change always come with challenges that make our life more dynamic.

It’s true, Saturn requires hard work and it’s not an easy planet. However, we can take advantage of the Saturnian impulse, directing it in all the projects we’ve been postponing so far. Sense of responsibility, discipline, and long-term vision are all Saturnian gifts we can use to our advantage.

Uranus on the other hand, is going to highlight all the personal freedom our current lifestyle grants us. In this sense, it can be a tempter who seduces us with comfort and ease (Taurus-Venus).

But it can also help us to recognize that our vision of the status quo might have been shortsighted, and that we can really make baby steps towards our goal. And even though these might be minor changes, they are still quite valuable.

Thanks for reading, as always if you enjoyed this article please subscribe to the Astronomicon Newsletter with the bar at the top of the website to receive weekly updates and not to miss future posts about the Main Transits and Configurations. Thanks again and have a good week.

Roberto Corona

I consider myself a free researcher in western spiritual disciplines, in particular Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy and the Neoplatonic Hermetic tradition. I have a three-year training in Astrology at the CIDA delegation of Trieste, the Italian Center for Astrological Disciplines. I graduated in Computer Engineering from the University of Trieste.