Uranus in Pisces and “Ubiquitous Computing”

February 20, 2011 By

Ubiquitous computingI read an article the other day that mentioned  ”ubiquitous computing” which resonates so clearly of the mutual reception between Uranus in Pisces and Neptune in Aquarius that I had to do a little more research.  We call this “mutual reception” because both Uranus and Neptune are in the signs that is ruled by the other – Uranus in Pisces, ruled by Neptune, and Neptune in Aquarius, ruled by Uranus.  Mutual reception intensifies the strength of the astrological influence, which in this case combines the blurring of the boundaries that Neptune/Pisces inspires with the technological detachment of Uranus/Aquarius. (See these links for other articles on the subject.)

Neptune entered Aquarius in 1998, and Uranus entered Pisces in 2002.  Both planets change signs this year, but there’s no disputing the fact that the mutual reception between these two planets have created the sense that computing and living with electronic screens is absolutely ubiquitous.

Although the actual expression “ubiquitous computing” was first coined in 1988, we could argue that the idea became a reality with the release of the Iphone.  In an interesting astrological timing, Steve Jobs announced in 2003, with Uranus having just entered Pisces, that cellphones would become important instruments for computer access, and subsequently announced the Iphone launch in 2007.

The notion of “ubiquitous computing” has become a field of study in itself,  Financial giant Citi’s representative said, ”Ubiquitous computing is about embedding computing into our daily lives, it is social, cross platform, cross device, cross OS by default. Today, email is ubiquitous and social graph-based apps are also ubiquitous. “ According to Wikipedia 27 countries currently host research centers in the field.

Now that Uranus is moving into Aries and Neptune into Pisces, it will be interesting to see what the field of computing will bring us.  Warfare (Aries) through technology (Uranus), certainly, but I suspect we are on a New Frontier (Aries) as well.  Neptune moving into Pisces will offer its own challenges, which we will be discussing this week here at Astrological Musings.

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Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: , , ,

Six teen suicides in September

October 3, 2010 By

The much publicized suicide of Tyler Clementi last week after a roommate posted a streaming web video of him in intimate contact with a male friend was only one of what appears to be an epidemic of suicides by gay teenaged boys.   Asher Brown was 13 when he killed himself after coming out to his stepfather as gay.  Seth Walsh was another 13-year old who hanged himself after being relentlessly taunted and bullied.   Billy Lucas was 15 when he killed himself after what friends call a lifetime of bullying.

It’s not just closeted teens that suffer.  Fifteen-year old Justin Aaberg, who had been out since he was 13, hanged himself after a short lifetime of hidden suffering and the recent end of a relationship. And the most recent victim, Raymond Chase,  19-year old college student who hung himself last Wednesday in his dorm room, was openly gay.  The reason for his self-destruction is not yet known.

And September was just another month.  This summer three young gay men in Utah killed themselves, a fact which drew fire to the Mormon Church which was accused of bigotry.

It’s appalling that in today’s world, when we claim to be so much smarter and more accepting than our forbears, that this kind of bullying is allowed to happen.  It’s certainly nothing new – at a music workshop last week we learned a tune called Hector the Hero.  This tune was penned in tribute to Major General Hector MacDonald, a well-respected Scottish general who killed himself in 1903 after he was outed by rumors of his homosexuality.

It’s difficult to draw astrological conclusions without the birthdates of the individual boys, but it’s noteworthy that this suicidal climax follows the summer of the Cardinal Climax, with its interplanetary conflict and stress.  The suicide of Tyler Clementi is particularly appalling because of the manner in which his intimate life was broadcast in the most public format possible.  We can relate this to the passage of Chiron, with its wounding and hoped-for subsequent healing, passing through the sign of Aquarius ruling technology and the internet.

We have also had the double whammy of Uranus (technology) in Pisces (loss of boundaries) in mutual reception with Neptune (breaking down boundaries) in Aquarius (technology).  Under this influence social interaction has largely become internet-based, with this being particularly and vividly true among the young. Uranus and Aquarius are famously dispassionate and lacking of empathy, and the coldness in which these teenaged roomates streamed the most private of moments in the most public of places is beyond belief.     The Uranus and Aquarius influence is thought to instill acceptance and a desire for social equality, but perhaps this needs to be taught rather than taken for granted.

These are things to keep in mind as we move into the Age of Aquarius, in which technology is worshipped and human weaknesses are denigrated and dismissed.

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Uranus retrogrades back into Pisces, August 2010

August 16, 2010 By

Uranus in PiscesThis was the topic of yesterday’s radio show, which you can listen to here if you like.

Uranus is the planet of autonomy and individuality – the planet that urges us to live as authentic a life as possible.  Pisces is the sign that represents the completion of a spiritual cycle.  Pisces is symbolized by two fish swimming in opposite directions, connected by a cord that represents the higher and lower selves – the struggle to live in a material world as a spiritual being.

Uranus first entered Pisces in March of 2003 and moved into Aries for just one degree from May until August, entering the fray of the Cardinal Drama.  Now with Uranus having left the cardinal signs for the more mutable Pisces, the intensity of the Cardinal Drama will begin to subside and we will be left to pick up the pieces as we seek to find more balance and integration between the individual Self and our spiritual world.

Uranus and Neptune are in what we call “mutual reception” now – Uranus is in Pisces, ruled by Neptune, and Neptune is in Aquarius, ruled by Uranus.  This links the Uranus/Aquarius principle to the Neptune/Pisces principle in a more powerful way.  Here are some of the phenomena we have seen since Uranus entered Pisces in 2003 beginning this “mutual reception” realignment:

  • There has been an awakening (Uranus/Aquarius) of group consciousness (Neptune/Pisces) and an expansion of group meditation and prayer events around the globe, especially since the “harmonic concordance” in November of 2003, building online communities (Uranus/Aquarius) of spirituality (Neptune/Pisces).
  • The rise of the social networking craze, beginning with the launch of Friendster in 2002 which took off in 2003 after Uranus entered Pisces, followed that year by LinkedIn and Myspace and with Facebook in 2004. These social networking sites helped to blur (Neptune) the definition of friendship (Uranus) and facilitate the expansion of the online community idea.
  • The exposure of musicians (Neptune) through internet sites such as YouTube (Uranus) and the rise of the .mp3 downloads (Uranian technology) as the predominant way that music (Neptunian creativity) is purchased.
  • Bizarre weather resulting from the clash of the dry Uranus/Aquarius influence with the watery Neptune/Pisces influence: droughts, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes.
  • Increasing acceptance of psychic phenomena in the mainstream (television shows such as Psychic Kids, Medium, the Ghost Whisperer) and of astrology as well.
  • A growing sense of compassion and fairness (Neptune/Pisces) thanks to the spread of information across the internet (Uranus/Aquarius) that makes it nearly impossible to keep secrets.
  • An increase in “internet addiction” to the point where it was proposed to the American Psychiatric Association in 2007 as a new disorder to be listed in the DSM manual.

How we are affected personally by the retrograde passage of Uranus back into Pisces depends primarily on how our personal chart is affected.  If we are on a spiritual path, we will likely be faced with a dilemma or confrontation between the needs of the individual Self versus the needs of the spiritual realm.  For some of us that will necessitate engaging more completely with a spiritual practice.  For some of us it will be important to find a greater sense of Self in the midst of a blossoming spiritual experience.

Under Uranus in Pisces, we are called to find our own individual experience and authentic expression (Uranus) while exploring the realms of a deeper spiritual connection to the Divine.  This necessitates finding a balance within our own sense of Self that can deepen our connection to the Source that we find within.

Uranus is the revolutionary, and under its influence the status quo is not enough.  We may find that we need to make deep changes in the way we see the world, or in the ways that we express ourselves creatively and spiritually.

Uranus will move completely into Aries in March of 2011 and the world of Spirit will take a back seat until Neptune enters its own sign of Pisces in 2012.  Uranus is the Awakener, and under its influence the doorways of perception are opened wide.  So let’s utilize this time to find new ways of opening up our understanding and awareness to the Source within us that guides all things and grants us the gifts of love and beauty.

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Filed Under: Consciousness, Planetary cycles Tagged With: , , ,

Meditation may boost attention span

July 20, 2010 By

Just what we need for our overworked and internet-addicted minds as Uranus retrogrades back into Pisces and completes its blurring of the boundaries (Pisces) between technology (Uranus) and reality!

Meditation is known to help the mind, body and soul, and new research shows it can also improve attention span.

Researchers at the University of California at Davis conducted a small study testing how Buddhist meditation affects focus and attention to visual detail.

Volunteers attended a three month long meditation retreat where they also took visual computer tests.

As the retreat went on and the medication continued, they did better on the tests.

Months after the retreat, the same people were tested again. Those who continued to meditate every day were able to maintain their level of concentration.

read more here…

I generally recommend a mindfulness type of meditation for my clients over the type of meditation that attempts to block out all thoughts which can cause us to repress and deny aspects of our emotional life that often need a voice.  In mindfulness meditation we sit quietly with deep and measured breath, observing and releasing any thought or distraction while remaining completely present in the moment.

As life becomes ever more complicated, sitting quietly and turning our attention within with our eyes closed can be experienced as a mini-vacation, offering momentary relief from the swirl of activity around us.  It’s encouraging to know that when we open our eyes, that break may also make us more effective as we return to our multitasking.

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Filed Under: Consciousness, Life Tagged With: , ,

Facebook, our wired world, and Uranus at the 29th degree

May 11, 2010 By

virtual worldAn article in Wired online magazine entitled “Facebook’s Gone Rogue” embodies the mystical fog (Pisces) of between the wired and the “real” world of information (Uranus)  that we have seen accelerate since Uranus entered Pisces in 2003.

Uranus is the planet that takes a radical departure from the conventional, but it also rules the higher mind as well as technology.  Under the influence of Uranus in Pisces the presence of the Internet has become more and more ubiquitous as the boundaries between the wired world and our brains become less distinct.  This blurring of boundaries is associated with Pisces, and Uranus is now at the very last degree of that sign, preparing to enter Aries at the end of the month.

The first smartphone was developed in 1992 and released to the public in 1993, just in time for the entry of Uranus into Pisces.  The smartphone enabled the eventual portability of the internet so that smartphone owners could stay connected virtually (no pun intended) 24/7.

Over the past couple of years, Facebook has become the primary means of blurring the distinction between online life and personal life, as well as the distinction between that which is personal and that which is private.  In its purest form, Uranus is completely transpersonal.  It has no sympathy for emotional connections or distress – it seeks a world where everything operates in perfect efficiency and reason. At this writing Facebook has over 400 million members, and claims that these members spend over 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook.  I myself can attest to this!

However, all is not rosy in the Uranian world where everything is equal and life in virtual reality approaches perfection.  The 29th degree of a sign is the degree where the matters of that sign are completed for that cycle, and as Uranus sneaks ever closer to Aries, where it will be focused more on individual rights and less about the uniting of all peoples, personal privacy will become more and more important.

Hence the lawsuit filed this week by 15 privacy and consumer protection organizations against what they are calling Facebook’s “unfair and deceptive trade practices.”  According to Wired magazine”

Uranus is about revolution and personal rights, and concepts of personal rights have blurred over the past seven years of Uranus in Pisces along with other Pisces boundary issues, but I suspect as Uranus dips its toes into Aries over the next couple of months this will change.
Uranus will retrograde back into Pisces in August before moving completely into Aries next year.  During this period I suspect we will begin to see more resistance to the takeover of the natural world by the wired one.  However, the Age of Aquarius (ruled by Uranus) is upon us, and ultimately this connection between man and technology will continue to become more and more important to human survival.
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Addicted to technology

March 18, 2010 By

iphone addictionI’ve written about this before, but we have seen a huge surge of technology addiction since Uranus entered Pisces back in 2002, creating what we call a “mutual reception” with Neptune in Aquarius.  We call this “mutual reception” because Uranus is traveling through Pisces, the sign that is ruled by Neptune, and Neptune is in Aquarius, the sign that is ruled by Uranus.  This is a “double whammy” that connects the principles of Uranus and Neptune.

Uranus rules technology and anything new and unusual, along with radical change and the rational mind.  Neptune rules our experience of spirituality, the imagination and creativity, and the desire to lose the Self in something greater than ourselves.  With Neptune we can become addicted to that experience of losing ourselves, especially if it is pleasurable and helps us to forget (Neptune) our day-to-day life.  Uranus demands a constantly changing experience and becomes easily bored.

And then here comes the Iphone, a fabulous combination of beautiful design (Neptune) with the latest technology (Uranus).  I resisted the lure of the Iphone for over two years because of my dislike for the “evil empire” that Apple has become, but a couple of months ago I fell prey to its siren song of apps for everything and an enhanced experience of Life 2.0.  I carry my Iphone everywhere: I listen to podcasts in the bathroom, I read books on the Kindle app, I piddle around on the piano and the hammered dulcimer.  It really has become an extension of my life!

So I wasn’t surprised to read that Stanford scientists have found that the Iphone really is addictive.  But it’s not just the Iphone that’s addictive – it’s technology of all kinds.  When the line between technology (Uranus/Aquarius) and real life becomes blurry (Neptune/Pisces), we see the mutual reception between those two principles at work.  Technology addiction is a growing medical disorder and some rehab centers are offering technology addiction services along with treatment for gambling and sex addictions.

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The New Army Mind-Meld

September 28, 2008 By

mind-meld

mind-meld

Shall we file this under Chiron conjunct Neptune in Aquarius, where the boundaries between technology (Aquarius) and the human mind/body connection (Chiron) are blurred beyond distinction?  And the mutual reception between Uranus in Pisces and Neptune (ruler of Pischttp://astrodynamics.net/astrologicalmusings/wp-admin/post-new.php?unfoldmenu=1es) in Aquarius (ruled by Uranus)?  The boundaries between technology and humanity continue to dissolve in a very Neptunian/Piscean way.

The Army has given a team of University of California researchers a $4 million grant to

study the foundations of “synthetic telepathy.” But unlike old-school mind-melds, this seemingly psychic communication would be computer-mediated. . . .

All across the military, there’s interest in translating thoughts into computer code, and vice versa. Darpa-funded researchers have taught monkeys how to control robotic limbs with their thoughts. Defense contractor Northrop Grumman is building binoculars that tap the unconscious mind. Honeywell has built a system that monitors pre-conscious nueral firings, to help pick out targets in satellite imagery. The JASONs, the Pentagon’s premiere scientific advisory board, has warned of the dangers of enemies

implanted with brain-computer interfaces. And the Defense Intelligence Agency just released a report, saying the military needs to spend more on neuroscience – up to and including “mak[ing] the enemy obey our commands.”

Ever since Uranus was discovered in the late 1700s, its influence has been transforming our technological development.  As we leave the age of Pisces and move into the Aquarian age, humans and machines are likely to be every more interdependent.

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