Uranus first enters Taurus: May – November 2018
Uranus retrogrades back into Aries: November 2018 – March 2019
Uranus in Taurus main event: March 2019 – July 2025
Uranus pokes its head into Gemini: July – November 2025
Uranus retrogrades back into Taurus: November 2025 – April 2026

There’s plenty to say about the cosmic context for Uranus’ ingress into Taurus, which is, on its own, the biggest astrological event of 2018. Uranus takes 84 years to complete a full cycle, which means the vast majority of us are waking up to this potential for the very first time. We also have a new moon in Taurus occurring just hours before Uranus officially changes signs, as if to underscore that we’re now in a very new place. Mars is also on the precipice of Aquarius, and it’ll change signs early Wednesday morning and make a volatile square to Uranus, a combustible aspect that’s been brewing for the last week or so. Uranus in Taurus is announcing itself with an exclamation point, and we may find ourselves scrambling this week to keep up with external changes and internal impulses.

In a bigger-picture sense, though, Uranus and Taurus are not the most natural bedfellows. When you consider the active principle that animates these two, you get revolution on one hand, and continuity on the other. Taurus is a sign that wants everything to stay as is, and Uranus only ever wants to mess with the status quo.

But even if it’s easier to imagine Uranus taking to the streets in an Aries-style uprising (as it has for the last 7+ years), there’s something vaguely reassuring about its slightly more begrudging rebellion in Taurus. Ultimately, Uranus brings surprises no matter what sign it’s in, so I hesitate to say that it’ll assume the measured, plodding pace of the serene, predictable bull (then again, boring everyone to death would probably be the most Uranian plot twist of them all).

But if Uranus was previously operating through the “act before you think” urgency of Aries — where impulse is sure to get you the fastest results — then Uranus could very well tone down some of this recklessness over the next few years in favor of a more practical, sustainable form of innovation.

If the last seven years of Uranus in Aries taught us anything, it’s that complacency rarely gets things done.

This period came with all of the combustible stirrings you’d expect with the planet of popular revolution riding a wave of cardinal fire: the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, the Women’s March, and the overarching mobilization of identity-driven activism. This particular mode of unrest has everything to do with claiming our right to exist and take up space — and even revolutionizing the way we go to war for ourselves and for each other.

Uranus in Aries has also historically been linked to the rise of fascism, both in its previous incarnation of 1927-1935 and very recently. This was certainly a manifestation of the lower Aries qualities of militarism, aggression, and “might makes right.”

Uranus is also associated with scientific advancement and technological innovation. Its discovery in 1781 was a major example of this (it literally redefined the known limits of our solar system), and it continues to shatter paradigms in every conceivable way. During Uranus in Aries, we also saw the rise of the independent worker and solopreneur. Most of the people who have taken their career prospects into their own hands (how’s your personal brand these days?) did so out of necessity, what with the economy and the erosion of traditional employer benefits. But what could possibly signify Uranus (technological revolution) in Aries (the self; the individual) better than this?

With Uranus now about to fiddle with Taurean themes like labor, money, and security, we’re sure to see this narrative continue — perhaps in the form of better benefits for contractors, or a new type of safety net for freelancers.

When Uranus was last in Taurus from 1934-1942, the U.S. was deep into the Great Depression, a period that saw plenty of instability around Taurean themes like wealth, currency, and security (and actually, the implementation of the social safety net in the form of the New Deal, which was enacted between 1933-1938). If the markets went a little crazy in the coming few months, it wouldn’t be much to anyone’s surprise. Many people are already talking about another recession, and with social security programs we’ve relied on for decades now looking rather vulnerable, it seems clear that we’re due for another reinvention of the social safety net.

Currency itself is likely to be the hot seat for a lot of wild invention and flux. The most widely echoed Uranus in Taurus prediction: the rise of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as a viable model in its own right.

If Uranus has domain over technology, and Taurus has to do with security, it makes sense to predict that these next few years will provide a major overhaul to the way we handle online data. Europe’s GDPR regulations are going into effect on May 25, just days after the Uranus ingress into Taurus. Among other things, these sweeping new changes will grant more control and ownership to private citizens over their personal data. And ultimately, it’ll contribute to a more secure online environment as businesses take extra precautions to guard against data breaches (Uranus in Taurus = digital security).

Taurus also implicates agriculture and farming (read: earth in general). The last time Uranus was entering Taurus, the Dust Bowl had already begun stirring up the earth and ravaging enormous swaths of American farmland, peaking on Black Sunday in April 1935 — just weeks after Uranus entered Taurus again following a brief dip back into Aries. It was partially high demand for crops and overtaxation of the soil that led to this, and it’s hard not to see some of the parallels now in all the ways we’re still currently abusing the Earth and its resources. We’ve poisoned our food supply and the surrounding environment that sustains it. Perhaps these next few years will come with reinvention and change that will help us begin to dig our way out of the hole we’ve dug for ourselves.

Uranus in Taurus may also very well reinvent how we relate to our stuff in general. Some of us may shun materialism and pursue a lifestyle of extreme minimalism. Others might question the assumptions that we built our nest egg around (especially if we ever took it for granted that we’d collect a pension at 65 just like our parents did). For many millennials, homeownership is out of reach, and with it, the financial security that it brings. Our relationship to personal finance and possessions is likely to shift dramatically during this time, especially with the potentially fluctuating value of certain assets.

On a more emotional level, though, this period could very well show us what it means to do the one thing Taurus hates the most: let go of control, let go of attachment, and experience change without putting up so much of a goddamn fight. We live in weird, wild, and unfathomable times. They have the potential to terrify, and they have the potential to thrill. Leveraged in the right way, the stubbornness of Taurus could provide a useful cudgel as we dig in our heels against the very worst possibilities of our current reality. The paradox of this is that we’ll need to let go of what we’re used to in order to make it possible (and in order to make it last).

This post was originally published on 5/14/2018 on thedailyhunch.com.