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Uranus
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Uranus is the planet of change and independence: originality, invention, rebellion, freedom, and the sudden break that opens a new direction. It describes where a person is most unwilling to conform, where life tends to bring surprises, and where they are most likely to think for themselves. Modern astrologers give it inventors, reformers, technology, electricity, groups and causes, and every abrupt turn of events.
Nature
Uranus was discovered by William Herschel in 1781, the first planet found with a telescope, so the tradition before then knew nothing of it and gave it no nature. Modern astrologers generally describe it as electric, cold and erratic, and treat it as neither benefic nor malefic: its effect depends on whether a person welcomes change or resists it. It is usually counted as masculine. It belongs to no sect, since sect was defined for the seven visible planets.
Signs it rules and where it is strong or weak
Modern astrology gives Uranus the rulership of Aquarius, which Saturn ruled alone in the tradition and still co-rules in many modern charts. Its detriment is therefore Leo. Many modern authors place its exaltation in Scorpio and its fall in Taurus, though this is not agreed by all. None of this is part of the traditional dignity scheme, and astrologers working in the older style do not weigh it.
Motion
Uranus takes about 84 years to go round the Sun, spending roughly seven years in a sign. It is retrograde for about five months every year. Because it moves so slowly, everyone born within a few years shares the same Uranus sign, which is why its sign is read more as a mark of a generation than of an individual; its house and aspects are what personalise it.
In a chart
Uranus by house points to where a person tends to want freedom and to do things differently: in the 1st, an unconventional manner; in the 10th, a career that breaks a mould or changes direction suddenly; in the 7th, relationships that need space; in the 4th, an unsettled or unusual home life. Close aspects to the Sun, Moon or an angle make it a strong signature of individuality.
In transit
A transiting Uranus lingers on a natal point for a year or more, and its contacts are often read as times of awakening, upheaval or sudden opportunity, when life asks for change and a long-held arrangement may shift. The half-cycle, Uranus opposite its natal place in the early forties, is widely known as a mid-life turning point.