uranus

The astrological archetype of Uranus is associated with rebellion, freedom, emancipation, as well as innovation, technology, and that which is exciting, new, forward-thinking, future-oriented, and thrilling. As such Uranus is associated with Prometheus in Greco-Roman mythology. Prometheus was the titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to the humans. As the story goes humans were living on the plains in darkness, while the gods were partying on Mount Olympus by torchlight. Prometheus saw this and decided to rebel. He crept up to Mount Olympus, stole the torchlight, and brought it down to the plains to give it to the humans, who thereafter lived in torchlight. This story illustrates not just Uranus association with rebellion, but also freedom, because humans became free from darkness. Not only that, the story can also be contextualized to be about innovation. If we think of fire as technology, then Prometheus brought technological innovation to humans, which freed them from the limitations of darkness.

Like all astrological archetypes, Uranus has a spectrum of symbolism ranging all the way from it’s rewarding associations, to its challenging ones. While the rewarding side of Uranus is associated with freedom and innovation, the challenging side is associated with Uranus’ lack of predictability and its association with disruption. Technology can free us from limitations, but it can also disrupt the order of our collective lives.

The other planets in our birth charts that align in tension with Uranus show us the ways in which freedom, excitement and innovation may show up in our lives, or may be reflective of the ways in which we represent an agent of those qualities for others. Though when we are young these alignments may show up on the more challenging side of the spectrum, as unexpected disruptive events, situations, interactions, that have jolted us and contributed to our emotional makeup in the way we armor ourselves against the unexpected. Understanding the role of Uranus in our birth charts and in our lives can help us integrate these energies into our lives so that the Uranian energy can manifest more often on the rewarding side of the spectrum vs the challenging side.