Our solar system has a total of nine planets, not including our moon and sun. Each one has a special set of functions and qualities for astrology. Being unique in substance, size, and location, each of these nine planets (which are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto) rotate on their axis at different speeds and orbit around the sun at different speeds as well.
A few of these planets take much longer than most of the others! These “slow–moving planets” are Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
Although we refer to Pluto as a dwarf planet, (depending on the year you’re in), it still has a major role in astrology. Therefore, I am going to include it in this post as a planet.
Uranus orbits the sun in 84 years, while remaining in each sign of the zodiac for 8-9 years. Neptune takes about 165 years to orbit the sun and spends around 14 years within each zodiac sign. Lastly, our smallest planet, Pluto, creeps all the way around the sun in roughly 248 years.
Because Pluto’s orbit is quite elliptical (a wonky oval), it spends different amounts of time in each sign. In fact, it spends about 9-11 years in the sign it rules (Scorpio), while hanging out in Taurus for somewhere between 30 to 32 years. On average, however, Pluto will remain in the other signs for 20-22 years.
Ultimately, what this means is that Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto have a huge impact on entire generations as they sweep through each different sign. For this reason, these three planets are often referred to as the “generational planets.”
Although most of humanity won’t experience their lives with Pluto moving through more than three or four signs, we are alive during a time that Pluto is moving through the shorter parts of his orbit. It isn’t often that people get to experience Pluto in 5 or 6 signs in their lives!
For me, I was born in 1991 while Pluto was in the sign of Scorpio and shortly after, it moved to Sagittarius. Now, it is in Capricorn and will move to Aquarius in the year 2024, where it will remain for about twenty years until it moves in Pisces in 2044. If I’m still alive in 2068, I’ll be 78 years old and will watch Pluto as it begins it’s orbit all over again in the sign of Aries!
Aside from this personal association, we can look through history and see different events and cycles that have happened during the aligning of these planets in different signs.
For example, Uranus is currently in Taurus and nearly a century ago, the last time Uranus sat in Taurus, it was the eery calm before the storm as we headed into WWll. We suffered a financial crisis known as ‘The Great Depression’.
Are we seeing similarities to this now?
Sort of. This is where the house the planet falls into the aspects the planet has with other planets come into play.
During the 1930’s Uranus was in the 12th house of prison, the shadowy parts of the psyche, and institutions. Currently, Uranus is in the 6th house of health, jobs, and daily life. Because Uranus is the planet of rebellion, freedom, and invention, it doesn’t like being tied down by loving, comfort-seeking, pleasurable Taurus. Perhaps this has been just one of the marks of the appearance of the Covid-19 outbreak and how it has provoked many changes in our world at large.
For more information on these planets, make sure to sign up for email notifications that let you know when new blog posts are released. The next few will go into more detail individually about Uranus, Neptune, and then Pluto.
From Within the Labyrinth,
-Lakin
