URANUS -- The Queer Planet

(c) Jack Fertig 2003

Uranus is the Sky-god, stormy, windy, unpredictable, the first male principle who joined with Mother Earth in the very beginning and has not embraced a woman since. But we do find in mythology a number of same-sex lovers with connections to the sky. Ganymede and Zeus I’ll come back to later. Hyacinth was beloved by Apollo and Zephyros, the East Wind, who killed him in a fit of jealousy. But our tempestuous sky-father lost his reproductivity when he was castrated by his son, Chronos – Saturn to the Romans. Chronos threw the gonads into the sea where they arose as Venus. Rather than sire more children our sky-god’s seed is channeled into art and beauty. How gay is that? It is very easy to say simply that Uranus rules homosexuality and to take off from there. It serves us far better to examine the history of the Uranian principles, both planetary and sexual. Of course same sex love has been with us since the earliest days.

From Hadrian to Hammarskjold gay people have been recorded all through history, but our modern terms and any notion of a gay community are entirely modern, and come out of the demographic shifts and scientific ideas of the industrial revolution.

Uranus is the impulse towards science, humanitarianism, and anti-authoritarianism. It relationships are collegial, anti-hierarchic. From its first sighting it was as disruptive as a drag queen in an NFL locker room. And it continues to be. The anti-authoritarian nature of Uranus makes it extremely difficult for leaders to emerge in the gay community.

There are seven planets visible to the naked eye. -- And in astrology we count the Sun and Moon as planets, not the earth. Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are all visible to the naked eye at least some of the time. The planets out to Saturn were known to the ancients and for several thousands of years that was it.

Saturn, long known the outermost planet, rules the structures, limitations, and authorities that define our lives.

Way back in 1610 Galileo discovered that Jupiter has moons! He thought he saw five, but then there were only four. Uranus was then in conjunction with Jupiter and it's very likely, but unprovable, that Galileo saw Uranus without realizing what it was. The conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus signals futuristic discoveries, startling advances in technology and philosophy. Certainly Galileo's work fits that description, but all too typically, Uranus was way ahead of itself and not formally discovered for another hundred-seventy-one years.

On March 13, 1781, Frederich Wilhelm Herschel (picture left), a German born musician living in England was indulging his hobby of sky gazing and saw what he thought was a new comet. He alerted the astronomical authorities and after tracking it for a few months they realized that it wasn't a comet at all, but a planet -- the first one ever "discovered" and not just out in plain sight.

This was absolutely without precedent and nobody knew what to do. (And that's exactly what Uranus is about!) Well, for one thing they didn't know what to call the planet. As the discoverer, Mr. Herschel had the privilege and he very patriotically dubbed it "Novum Sidus Georginium," George's New Star -- to honor King George III.

Uranus loves a good fight and of course it had to be the French. Not wanting such an honor for an English King they called the new planet after its finder, Herschel. That name stuck for a while until it was agreed that any new planets should be named after classical Gods like the old planets.

In more recent years we've learned that Uranus is rather queer in certain astrophysical regards. All the planets have tilting axes, and rotate at a bit of an angle to the orbital plane. Uranus' axis is less than 8 degrees from that plane so rather than rotating upright he just keeps rolling over. If that's not gay enough for you, clock this: Uranus is 47 times the size of the Earth, but the Uranian day is only 10 hours. He doesn't just roll over. He spins!

And while other moons are named after mythological figures related to their planets, Uranus' moons -- of course they h ave to be different -- were first named for characters from Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream". Actually they are Shakespearean fairies! More moons discovered and less fey heroines from Shakespeare were added, but the first known moons of Uranus were Titania, Oberon, Umbriel, Miranda, and Puck.

 

Uranus rules astrology so few astrologers have anything bad to say about Uranus, but he can be so stubborn. Y'know that politically correct business of "I'm right about everything, and it's for your own good"? Yes, there's a lot of that in the gay community! Maximilien Robespierre had Aquarius (ruled by Uranus) rising.

Uranus' willfulness and tendency to go off half cocked are part of why Uranian/Aquarian people do best in groups. Such people generally have 100 crazy ideas a minute and three of them are brilliant. They need their friends to help sift through the crazy ideas and help figure out which ones really are great. (Ever been to a gay political meeting?)

While Hershel was making his discovery Britain was having a little bit of unpleasantness with some of her colonies and six months later General Cornwallis surrendered to the United States of America, which is a very Uranian nation. One of the many reasons I like the Gemini rising chart for the US is that it puts Uranus at the Ascendant.

URANIAN AMERICA

America is a very Uranian nation. Its founding was based on the ideals of democracy developed in the Enlightenment. Before I get too far with this, I should stress that I am frequently very critical of my government and nobody would take me for a nationalist cheerleader. But our constitution enshrines the freedom of speech exactly because our founders knew that governments make mistakes and the nation will thrive better if critics can speak freely.

One frequent criticism of America is that as a nation we have no sense of our past, that we are in constant rootless re-invention, looking to the newest thing and oblivious to the past. It’s a very Uranian fault!

We are not a unitary state, but a federal association of states, an organization with fifty members, and each of those members has a great degree of autonomy. Just how much autonomy is a question that remains contentious, and is invoked occasionally under the banner of “states’ rights.”

As a very Uranian nation we overtook Britain as the world’s industrial leader, and advanced to the forefront of industry and science. Organized mass-production techniques were developed in the US, and Henry Ford further applied them to make automobiles almost universally affordable. The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk put America at the forefront of aviation, another Uranian frontier. For better or worse, America lead the world in nuclear technology, and when the Soviets launched Sputnik we quickly demonstrated that where we apply ourselves our scientific and innovative capacity is second to none.

The wealth and size of our nation allow Americans a tremendous amount of mobility and freedom, allowing us to re-locate much more easily than most other people. We have more intentional communities, artists’ colonies, and now gay neighborhoods. Inter-urban gay travelers can network between West Hollywood, Greenwich Village in New York, San Francisco’s Castro District, Dupont Circle in Washington DC, and Chicago’s Boy’s Town, and out of these centers a distinct gay culture has emerged as a model that has spread through Europe. In Madrid there’s La Chueca, in Paris Le Marais, in Berlin Schöneberg, etc… Each district has its shops with tight fitting t-shirts, rainbow-motif paraphernalia, pink triangles, and magazines and bars that follow similar styles around the world.

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

The year after Uranus was discovered, the first hot air balloons gave people the ability to fly, liberating us from Saturnine gravity to soar into the realm of the sky god. In 1782 also James Watt invented the double acting rotary steam engine, improving on his recent invention. And the next year saw the first paddle wheel steamboat. In 1784 the oil burner was invented, and so on and so forth and the Industrial Revolution was born.

The industrial revolution sparked intense urbanization, required general education of the masses, and these furthered the promotion of the sciences, and demands for greater democracy. These forces also broke down the villages and extended families to promote individual mobility. As nuclear families replaced extended families each man could be the master of his home. And yes, that is sexist, but in 1792 Mary Wollstonecraft published her "Vindication of the Rights of Women" and feminism has been growing ever since.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

While the Industrial Revolution was taking off in Britain, Uranus was kicking up a political revolution in France. This revolution is much different from the one in America. It ends up being more plutonian in many ways, with the prolonged decapitations, the Reign of Terror, and a military strongman taking over, but even then the Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire persist in at least paying lip service to the ideals of the Enlightenment, and the Rights of Man (sic). This is the birth of nationalism which is a defining ethic for people being united and equal citizens under a banner of nation – language, culture, common roots – rather than divided by class.

So with the discovery of Uranus we see the beginning of a whole new world of machines and democracy, and with that a world in constant and accelerating innovation.

With all this urbanization and mobility, familial expectations began breaking down and it became easier for queer people to meet in anonymous settings, and we get the beginnings of the modern Queer community.

Uranus is also a good indicator for queer community historical development.

In 1862 Uranus was in Gemini which rules "words, words, words" -- and ideas and communication. That year in Germany the first gay activist, Karl Ulrichs, (picture left) coined the term Urning -- or in English, "Uranian" -- to describe men loving men, and a friend of his, a Dr. Kertbeny, coined a new word in a letter to the Prussian parliament. He wrote in defense of people who were constitutionally "homosexual" and should not be persecuted by sodomy laws then being considered.

"Homosexual" is such a clinical word, so clearly defined and delimiting. Sexuality, ruled by Scorpio, is fluid and illogical, even anti-logical. Sexuality and sexual orientation inform every level of social interaction and spiritual experience. As much as we try to define such pigeonholes as homosexual, heterosexual, and bisexual. Personal experiences will always defy these boundaries. And outside of western industrialized culture, the labels as we understand them simply don't apply. Uranus is both scientific and contrarian

On May 14, 1897 Uranus conjoined Saturn in Scorpio breaking open sexual restrictions a bit further and the first group was organized to work for what we would call Gay Rights. The Scientific Humanitarian Committee then was founded by Magnus Hirschfeld. (picture right)  Note that Science, Humanitarianism, and Committees are all considered Aquarian, ruled by Uranus. And this committee was set up to protect and further the interests of "Uranians" -- that is, homosexuals.

Hirschfeld was born May 14, 1868, with Moon in Aquarius and a Venus-Uranus conjunction in Cancer.

Gay people participated openly in movements for social change that catalyzed the history of the early twentieth century, and as Uranus went into its own sign, Aquarius, we participated in uprisings and revolutions, including the Bolshevik revolution which immediately repealed Tsarist sodomy laws.

Stalin and Hitler violently suppressed the gay movements in their countries, but Americans who had been inspired by the earlier work in Europe built on their efforts. American Queer history clearly shows stages of development in tune with the motions of Uranus.

URANUS IN GEMINI (1941 - 1949)

Gemini is about talking and getting about. sharing information and developing new ideas. During the War American men were pulled out of their homes and sent abroad as never before. Opportunities for homoplay abounded and a lot of enlisted men found very enjoyable layovers in the big port cities where they would return after the war. This was an unprecedented time for getting out, finding new ideas, learning and further developing gay slang (The Queen's English). If you were a friend of Dorothy's you might drop a few hairpins. As ideas were developing along with communications, Harry Hay, a gay communist living in LA, started reading about the "two-spirit" shamans in Native American cultures, and queer traditions in medieval Europe. With this knowledge and his own circle of queer friends he developed the notion of homosexuals as an oppressed minority.

URANUS IN CANCER (1948 - 1956)

Cancer is about home, clans, community, patriotism, and group identification. In 1950 Hay started The Mattachine Society became the first gay rights organization in America. Its first members were communists, but as the group grew they renounced communism, mostly to broaden its membership and focus its purpose, but they affirmed their patriotism and began the new course of gay political activism. Mattachine societies popped up all over America, but they were, by current standards, cozy, protective little groups -- very Cancerian. These were men's groups but Lesbians were also coming together then in similar groups including the Daughters of Bilitis.

URANUS IN LEO (1955-1962)

Gay bars were nothing new, but the new communities that had grown tremendously since the end of WW II fed a new gay culture. A famous example of the era was the Black Cat, on Montgomery St. in San Francisco. Jose Sarria is a now famous drag queen who back then would get up in fabulous operatic drag and sing famous arias. His signature song was "God Save Us Queens." Jose had brought this leonine glitz together with the sense of growing community and in 1962 ran for the office of County Supervisor. He was the first openly gay man to run for public office. Also during this period Hollywood's self-censorship was breaking down and gay themes in movies were coming out: Suddenly Last Summer (1957) The Children's Hour (1962) Spartacus (1960). In 1959 the California Supreme Court struck down an obscenity charge against Kenneth Anger's homoerotic art film "Fireworks", making the world safer for queer culture.

URANUS IN VIRGO (1961 - 1968)

A new wave of critique and analysis opened up as homophobic shrinks like Socarides and Bieber were railing against homosexuality while Evelyn Hooker and other progressive shrinks took our side. As it came out more openly, homosexuality was viewed ever more analytically. Virgo is also about service, and about learning and applying techniques. In the sixties many of us were involved in the civil rights and anti-war movements, and much of the politics from those movements could be applied later in our own cause.

But something else was happening through the 60's. A conjunction of Pluto and Uranus which signaled the major rebellions of the 60's -- political and sexual. A background was developing for massive social and sexual upheaval which includes the renaissance of the movement for women's rights.

On the heels of that conjunction something tremendous happened.

Uranus had just gone into Libra. There was a full moon. It was a hot Saturday night June 28, of 1969 and Judy Garland had been buried that day. What was supposed to be a then-routine bust of a gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, exploded into a riot when the bar patrons struck back. Riots and demonstrations filled the weekend and that marked an explosion of gay activism. This is the event commemorated with huge “Pride Marches” at the end of June every year.

URANUS IN LIBRA (1968 -- 1975)

The balance shifted radically when we saw queers coming together, forming societies, political groups, clubs as never before in history. The Stonewall era of gay liberation turned everything around for us. America's closet door started blasting off its hinges. Gaymen and Lesbians had come together in the Libra period, but sexism quickly drove us apart when Uranus entered Scorpio.

URANUS IN SCORPIO (1974 -- 1981)

Scorpio is about sex, death, and transformation. This was a time of incredible sexual eruption and transformative challenges. For men, backrooms in bars and bathhouses became erotic playgrounds that would have scandalized Imperial Rome, and forced the ancient Greeks to invent new words. Lesbians were perceived as a threat in the women's movement -- the Lavender Menace! Scorpio is about transformative challenges: Anita Bryant managed to overturn a gay rights ordinance in Dade County Florida but in the process she galvanized the movement she opposed and made us stronger than before. John Briggs' Proposition 6 (to keep Gays out of public school systems) went down to defeat, but these challenges brought us into the mainstream of political discourse. Also in this time we had our first elected officials, one of whom became our first martyr. And Harvey Milk's death also transformed the community.

Scorpio also rules viruses. This is then an astrologically appropriate time for a new kind of virus to start appearing. At the very end of this period, we started noticing KS and PCP in startling numbers.

URANUS IN SAGITTARIUS (1981 -- 1988)

The Sagittarian themes of religion, broadcasting, teaching, and internationalism became dominant in the eighties. The so-called "Moral Majority" was leading a religious campaign against queers when psychiatry had given up the fight and laws against us were falling. Gay religious groups proliferated. This was the heyday of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The Pope declared that homosexual orientation was not in itself sinful, and for the Catholic Church that is a radical step forward! This time also saw tremendous growth in queer publications and bookstores. (Pictured right:  Sister Boom Boom, SPI as candidate for SF Board of Supervisors 1982)

URANUS IN CAPRICORN (1988 - 1996)

When Uranus went into Capricorn we started seeing queers in prominent positions of power. Four congressmen came out, though not of their own volition.... Uranus is not always co-operative and graceful. Some of the largest and most established companies have started offering Domestic Partners' Benefits and for the very first time America got a chief executive who articulated queer concerns. We also saw the rise of Gay conservatives and Gay Republicans gaining visibility in their party. (Republicans may be gay, but they are never queer!)

URANUS IN AQUARIUS (1996 - 2003)

Uranus in its own sign should be especially queer! Uranus is also in and out of a long running sextile with Pluto articulating some of the rebellious energy of the 60s. In terms of sexual politics I see more and more transsexuals coming out openly. Not just male to female, but especially now female-to-males. The literature and experiences of transsexual men is going to challenge a lot of ideas about sex and gender. The issue of same sex-marriage and the growing number of out queer parents challenged notions of family structure like never before.

With Uranus in his own sign, in many respects gays and lesbians have come home. There has been a remarkable spread of acceptance – and it’s still far from universal, I’m not suggesting that it’s all done and over, but gay people and gay issues have moved from invisibility to common awareness. On TV we have “Will and Grace” and gay and lesbian characters on many shows.

With Uranus in Aquarius President Clinton made the first ambassadorial nomination of an openly gay man, Jim Hormel. Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond objected, insisting that it wasn’t because he’s gay, but rather that he admitted to being amused by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and thus he would be an offensive choice to represent America in Catholic Luxembourg. The homophobia was thinly veiled, but considering the source, it’s quite amazing that it was veiled at all! When George W. Bush appointed a gay man as Ambassador to Romania, there was nary a peep. Don’t count on any progressive political moves from Bush, but he has jokingly flirted with gay congressman Barney Frank’s partner. We also have gay radical groups criticizing gay establishment groups as exampled by a group called “Gay Shame” that protested a fundraiser at San Francisco’s Gay community Center because they viewed one of the benefit’s sponsors – a straight mayoral candidate, Gavin Newsome – as being too conservative.

URANUS IN PISCES

The last time Uranus was in Pisces – in the 1920’s -- we saw a flowering of new spiritual movements. Any number of these new sects sought to make spirituality more scientific and/or to strip away conventional morality in search of deeper truths. It was the beginning of the Church of Light, the era of Aimee Semple McPherson. It was also a flowering of openly gay involvement in the arts scenes, most notably Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas with their famous salons in Paris. The “decadence” of Hollywood could only be alluded to in the strait-laced American press, but as Kenneth Anger would describe it later in Hollywood Babylon Tinseltown was wide open to all kinds of love whether devoted or debauched.

I rather think all this is really old hat this time around. What I do expect to see is a dramatic expansion of organized religion being challenged by gay groups and thinkers. There are small organizations of Gay Muslims and even a few mosques where gays are out. This could emerge more as a highlight of the culture clash between the West and Dar-al-Islam.

This could also be a big time for the Metropolitan Community Church, a “non-denominational” church started on October 6, 1968 in Los Angeles by Troy Perry and a dozen friends as a church where Gay people could feel welcome. The MCC now has over 44,000 members in over 300 congregations in 16 countries, making it probably the world’s largest gay organization.

The next passage of Uranus in Pisces brings with it a mutual reception to Neptune. That is, the planets are in each others’ signs. (Uranus – in Pisces from 2004 to 2010 – rules Aquarius, Neptune – now in Aquarius – rules Pisces.) This happens about every 170 years over a few centuries and then not at all for about 4 millenia.

The current series started from 1507-1509 during which time Marti Luther began preaching and Henry VIII took the throne. The reformation is still a few years off, but its star protagonists are moving into place. Leonardo and Michelangelo are hard at work bringing renaissance artistry to its peak.

From 1672-1676 we see the early enlightenment authors Moliere, Racine, and Milton, the philosopher Spinoza. The first Arabic language Bible was published, heralding an opening of missionary work into Islamic lands. Peter the Great was born in this time, and with the Uranus-Neptune mutual reception in his birth chart young Peter defied tradition to go incognito. He went to Italy, worked as a sailor, and when he ascended to the throne he transformed Russia from a land-locked backwater into a naval power. Looking for musical brilliance? Stradivarius was also born at this time. Lines of Church and state were drawn in England as the Test Act excluded Catholics from office in Britain, but there was also a new law protecting observance of the Sabbath. That’s not just a religious ruling, but also an early labor protection, guaranteeing the right to a day off for workers.

The next passage was from 1837-1844, a period which opened with Victoria’s coronation and ended with revolutions across continental Europe. Electricity was put to new and greater uses in this time and Daguerrotype photography was introduced. Good year developed the vulcanization of rubber making its commercial use feasible. Imperialism grew with ideals of civilizing barbarous races – which we now recognize as racist, of course, but at the time it was considered a humanitarian ideal and service to humanity. Whether that or a cranky, self-righteous delusion it’s a very Neptune-Uranus notion! There were the Opium Wars in China and the use of both narcotics and petroleum began opening up towards becoming world industries. The rise of Romanticism included Wagner’s Flying Dutchman. Chopin, Poe,and Tennyson were among the creative geniuses of the time, and Dickens’ fancies revealed the plight of British workers. Great impressionists and post-Romantics were born at this time: Rodin, Renoir, Monet, Tchaikovsky and Dvorak

Now we stand at the threshold of a catalytic period. This mutual reception occurs while Pluto is in Sagittarius so the religious and philosophical changes are likely to be emphasized. Capital has effectively buried the Socialist movements that erupted on the last Mutual Reception and now the Islamic World is poised in juxtaposition to the Western World in an odd dance of hostility and mutual dependence. Christian churches are riven by sexual scandals in the Catholic Church and squabbles over the roles of homosexuals among the Protestants.

Technology and Art have already combined to create both new effects and accessibility and new problems in copyright protection. New technologies are bursting forth at an amazing pace and will be used in dazzling new creative directions.

Workers’ rights – in long decline – are likely to see a revival as the global economy spreads industrialization and dislocates work from old industrial centers. The rich have been getting exponentially richer and the middle class has been sliding into poverty. The precedents for Neptune-Uranus suggest that labor will demand its due!

AQUARIUS

Uranus rules Aquarius. The myth behind Aquarius is that of Ganymede, a boy so beautiful that Zeus fell in love with him, turned into an eagle, and snatched the lad into the heavens to make him the cup bearer of the gods, the water carrier.

On the Christian Calendar, January 20th, the day that the Sun usually goes into Aquarius, is the feast of St. Sebastian, perhaps the most famous of gay icons, and like Ganymede, a favorite subject for gay renaissance painters.

In many large American cities there is a leather bar called "The Eagle."

The moons of Jupiter were named for his lovers and one of the four spotted by Galileo was named for Ganymede. In recent years NASA has provided close up views of those moons and when they saw Ganymede they were quite taken with his color, which these scientific men described as "Lavender".

The archetypal Aquarian is very much like the stereotypical gay male. He is a creative non-conformist with strong political ideals, but he usually prizes friendship over dogma. He has a variety of interesting friends (but none as interesting as he!) many of whom you would never expect to find in the same room, except at one of his parties. He is a step ahead of the latest trends, and more likely to create fashions than to follow them.

The physical image of Aquarius is tall and lean, perhaps even "willowy" with strong clear eyes, fair skin and dark hair. In activity he tends to be a bit nervous; in repose he seems aloof.

With acceptance comes normalization, and even in conformity gay men often reflect the Aquarian notions of self-redefinition, even if only through the gym and new fashions.

DAEDALUS & ICARUS

Daedalus and Icarus show two sides of a Uranian coin. They are generally described as father and son, but mythological relationships are often vague, convoluted, even incestuous. They are instructive as well as the classical Greek pair of mentor and protégé, or in today’s parlance, “Daddy and Boy”.

Daedalus was a brilliant inventor, a truly Uranian figure who designed the labyrinth to trap the Minotaur, but he and his boy were trapped by King Minos inside that maze. Most modern gays, having had to spend at least part of life in a closet of subterfuge, can easily identify with being hidden away in a maze. To escape this trap Daedalus devised wings for the two of them to fly out, free of earth’s entrapments, through Uranus’ realm to safety.

Wise, old Daedalus warned his boy of the dangers of flying too high, but the lad was impetuous, and once aloft forgot the warning. I skydive and can assure you that there is nothing more exhilarating than soaring in the open air! But caution is of utmost importance, and poor Icarus was dazzled by the brilliance of the sun, and the glory of flight. Elevated above Saturnian constraints he became entranced with the Sun – his ego – and sought to rise higher and higher until his wing melted and he crashed to Earth. Daedalus flew on to Cumae where he landed safely, but grieved for the rest of his life.

Those of us who have survived the AIDS crisis can identify with Daedalus’ grief. We’ve seen our loved ones through a glorious arc of indulgent flight, the unrestrained passions of the 1970’s and ‘80’s, when we were just coming out and building a new sense of freedom. We’ve somehow survived and on some safe shore will ever be haunted by the death of our beloved ones, knowing how we participated constructing the wings that led them to death. But the Uranian impulse reminds us that without taking that risk we would have remained trapped in the labyrinth, a living death with its own dangers.

We should all have learned form the experience, but Uranus has no memory. There are still many bright and beautiful young boys, young men we may yet love, but they are seduced by Apollonian dazzle, by appeals to ego and vanity. Too many boys struggle to “perfect” themselves in gyms and fly off to circuit parties, indulging in drugs and unsafe sex, soaring into the shining Sun.

 

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