URANUS & The Radioactive Metals
URANUS & The Radioactive Metals
“Uranus represents the extension of perception into realms of superconscious mentality” Stephen Arroyo
Within the vast span of the Milky Way galaxy our solar system exists as one point of stellar light among billions, one tiny cell in the greater galactic body. From Earth we watch the Sun and Moon rise and circle across the sky. We also see the inner planets navigate the dark oceans of night, the luminous points of Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter sparkling with colour, inscribing spheres of energy unseen but powerful in their influence upon us. Fainter is the cold glow of Saturn and beyond this ancient guardian, in the far reaches of our system, lie the mysterious outer planets.
Referred to as the ‘ambassadors of the galaxy’ by the eminent astrologer Dane Rudhyar, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto symbolize forces which are not completely of the solar system but are within its sphere of influence “to link our small system (of which the Sun is the center and Saturn’s orb the circumference) with the larger system, the galaxy.”1
Before the discovery of Uranus, Saturn marked the rigid barrier which the church had imposed on the universe for centuries. Only heretics dared to question the validity of this old system on pain of excommunication, or even death. So the advent of Uranus marked a revolutionary breakthrough in human consciousness, and the beginning of our liberation from the thralldom of an all powerful church.
Astrologically the outer planets symbolize cosmic, or galactic forces which penetrate the deepest levels of consciousness bringing about profound change and transformation. The energies of Uranus manifest in sudden, often disruptive changes producing the unconventional, often eccentric bohemian character who is impelled to break through old structures, inspiring the borderland scientist, the artist and musician, the occultist and inventor. In a more extreme way it also incites the anarchist and the violent revolutionary.
Like Prometheus who stole fire from the gods the Uranian native seeks to bring down the knowledge of higher worlds through radically new and original modes of self expression, hungry for excitement, freedom and experimentation, acting “as a channel through which powerful forces flow with electrical rapidity.” This analogy is particularly appropriate because Uranus, which rules the zodiacal sign of Aquarius, has a strong kinship with electricity and the transference of information through sudden impulses and flashes of insight.
In the physical body Uranus is associated with the electrical impulses of the nervous system. In the occult realm it represents the power of the universal mind, fuelling the “esoteric engineering” of the gnostic scientist, and is concerned with “the perfection of the electrical mindfield.”2
The discovery of Uranus ushered in the age of global communications using electronic technology and synchronistically, with the unearthing of uranium, established the seeds of a far-reaching nuclear religion.
URANUS – THE COSMIC GIANT
It was an amateur astronomer and professional musician named William Herschel who, on March 13, 1781, discovered a new planet far beyond Saturn’s orbit, a planet so distant from Earth it is almost invisible to the naked eye. He gave this faint sea-green tinted disc the unimaginative name Georgium Sidus after his patron King George III of England, but the name was soon changed by popular opinion to Uranus, father of Cronus (or Saturn) and the most ancient god of the heavens in Greek mythology.
For the ancient Greeks Uranus was both the son and father of Gaea, the Earth, who brought forth the first mythological race, the twelve Titans. He was the Sky, the Father Sky, and the father of the gods. But he feared his monstrous children and imprisoned them deep within the earth as soon as they were born. However, with the help of his mother Cronus attacked Uranus while he slept and with “the strongest metal,” an unidentified substance called adamant, castrated him. After that he was of little interest to Gaea and soon faded from the mythological drama.
But back to the planet… It is possible that Herschel had only rediscovered a planet that had been mentioned in ancient Burmese writings, an invisible planet they called Rahu. After all, the Dogon tribe of Africa had described the four major moons of Jupiter, and the halo of Saturn’s rings. Also, to the amazement of modern astronomers, they were not only aware of the recently detected white dwarf star which orbits the bright star Sirius, they also knew its orbit to be 50 years!3 So much ancient knowledge has been lost. So much remains for the Uranian explorer to rediscover.
Uranus is truly a giant, about four times the size of Earth and the third largest of the known planets. Its atmosphere is said by scientists to consist mainly of hydrogen and helium; its frigid body of methane and ammonia ices. But it is a strange and eccentric giant, in true Uranian style, and differs radically from the other outer planets in that its axis is tilted almost on the plane of its orbit. In other words, Uranus spins through space on its side leading scientists to speculate that it may have collided with another huge body in the far distant past, a catastrophic impact that thrust it into its present position.
If you could imagine standing at one of the poles of Uranus with its 84 year orbit, you would experience a 42 year-long day followed by 42 years of darkness. Another curious deviation from the other outer planets is that Uranus does not appear to emit more heat than it receives from the Sun.
The satellite system of Uranus also displays a turbulent history. Photographs returned from Voyager 2 revealed 10 new satellites as well as previously unseen details of the five satellites already known. They showed the evidence of a violent and complex evolution, from the bizarre topography of Miranda with its mosaic of intricate fractures, grooves and craters — looking as though it had been shattered to bits and then patched back together — to the long rift valleys and craters of Ariel, the pockmarked craters of dark Umbriel, and the lunar-like cratered surface of Titania. They are landscapes to thrill and awe the inhabitants of our seemingly placid planet Earth.