Outer planets transform personal psyche and catalyze massive changes in collective psyche as they change sign.  Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto transited through Sagittarius in the 20^th Century. Paradigms of politics, commerce, and religion shifted dramatically.

Uranus passed through Sagittarius from 1981-1988. Gender in politics was shaken up. Sandra D. O’Connor became the first Woman elected to the Supreme Court. Geraldine Ferraro was the first woman nominated by the Democratic Party for Vice President. Benazir Bhutto was the first female prime minister of a Muslim country in Pakistan’s first free election since 1977.

Uranus brings sudden and unexpected upheaval and disaster. The space shuttle Challenger exploded on takeoff in 1986, while millions watched in horror on their TV screens. While Greenpeace was protesting France’s nuclear testing, their flagship Rainbow Warrior was bombed. Ronald Reagan created “Star Wars”, an absurd and overly expensive national defense idea. George Bush Sr. was the first sitting Vice President elected as president since 1836. IBM introduced personal PCs. AT&T’s communication monopoly ended via the Department of Justice in 1974.

Sagittarius rules publishing and religion. In 1989, they darkly merged as Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini sentenced Salman Rushdie to death after he published The Satanic Verses. Even though it was a novel, Rushdie’s tales of good and evil incited riots in India and book burnings in England. Rushdie’s literary success fueled and stirred the cauldron of Islamic hatred.

Neptune transited Sagittarius ~ 1970 to 1984. Idealism of the 60’s transformed to pessimism with a marked lack of trust in national institutions. The war in Vietnam united masses of skeptical protestors, ready for confrontation. The Arab oil embargo of 1973 created a major energy crisis, supposedly teaching US not to take energy for granted, and conveniently catalyzing the opening of the controversial Alaska pipeline.

Neptune can be imaginary, visionary, and illusionary. Neptune also rules false prophets, delusion, deception, and victimization. Richard Nixon was the first US President in history to announce his resignation in 1974. New York was the first city to be bailed out of bankruptcy by the federal government in 1975. A religious paradigm shifted when the Catholic Church elected its first non-Italian pope in four centuries. Mother Theresa accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in the name of the poor. In 1979, Televangelist Jerry Falwell founded the ‘Moral Majority’, which has become the ‘Immoral Majority’.

Neptune rules chemicals and drugs. The first test-tube baby was conceived out of the womb and bathed by the sun in Leo in 1978. Genetic engineering created new horrors for theologians, religious fundamentalists, and extremists. Environmentalists protested industries creating “Acid Rain”. ‘Three Mile Island’ derailed several major nuclear energy projects in 1979. The World Health Organization announced an end to smallpox. Crack cocaine became popular. A deadly epidemic was officially named AIDS in 1981.

Pluto visited Sagittarius from 1995 to 2008 and created a recipe for upheaval and transformation in politics, big business, and religion. Political extremism, corporate greed, religious fanatics, supremacism, fundamentalism, and terrorism flourished and thrived in fertile soil. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing law student. The Middle East peace process was disrupted. Great Britain finally let go of Hong Kong. President Clinton resumed diplomatic relations with communist Vietnam. Hundreds of thousands of Black Men flocked to Washington to march for freedom. It was the first time in 40 years that Republicans controlled congress. Y2K was not end time.

Sex scandals rocked the Catholic Church.  The House of Representatives impeached and later acquitted Bill Clinton for lying about his sexploits. Two students killed themselves after murdering twelve students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton Colorado. The Unabomber was caught and sentenced to life in prison. The Oklahoma City bombing established large-scale terrorism by Americans on our soil. After 9/11, governmental power transformed, giving leaders the ability to supersede human rights and civil liberties. A large political machine preempted war without world consent. Lairs of corporate foxes tended the hen houses while packs of political wolves herded the sheep.

Saturn returned to Sagittarius on December 23, 2014, after nearly thirty years. Astrologers predicted Saturn would wield powerful influence for several years as it transited from Sagittarius to into Capricorn. Saturn rules responsibility, structure, discipline, focus, time, bureaucracy, big business, and many established institutions. Saturn altered energy, transportation, communications, food, housing, healthcare, law, politics, and religion during its transit through Sagittarius, for better and worse. Fossil fuels and fuel guzzlers are no longer sustainable. Their best uses and life cycles must be pre-determined and legislated. Substituting money for values and religion for spirituality is absolutely unsustainable.

Sagittarius rules transportation. Sagittarians enjoy prestige and luxury. They leave racing to Aries and showing off to Leo. The lords of cars must shift their paradigm of profit before people. The whole industry needs to become more spiritual in their outlook and truthful in their actions. Perpetuating the illusion that overly powerful gas guzzling vehicles are glamorous and sexy enforces the delusion that it’s OK to deplete our planet’s natural resources and pollute ourselves. How do chemical companies get away with pretending their products are good when they’re not? Do we really need hundreds of horses galloping under our hoods? Transportation needs to be redesigned like light bulbs, for present and future good health. We all profit by raising social and environmental consciousness. As our globe warms, cools, floods, and droughts, fossil fuel prices are artificially repressed to prevent their sustainably minded competitors to lay a substantial foundation. We need fuel efficient, non-polluting, practical, and economical transportation or we’ll drive ourselves to extinction.

We can go wherever and whenever we choose in the comfort and safety of our cars. The hidden costs are usurious and insidious as we guzzle gas, fight oil wars, and deplete our Mother Earth’s finite natural resources. We pollute her body, circulatory, and respiratory systems. Carbon dioxide and monoxide hover everywhere by degree. Toxic smoke and smog poison our arteries, stick to the walls of our veins, and coagulate like cholesterol on the way to a coronary. Varicose veins link bloated arteries that feed festering sores we call cities. We must shift our false paradigms and steer ourselves from death and destruction toward a more hopeful and helpful future of clear intent and healthy actions.

The human race has become a race against bad shit happening. Greed, prejudice, and avarice are unhealthy symptoms of partisan political philosophies, fundamentalist religious ideologies, and extremist social behaviors. Why do we still wander aimlessly in barren wastelands as we worship golden calves and defend sacred cows? Our global family must see the forest from the trees. We need to become healthier in more sustainable ways. As Uranus journeys through Taurus from May 14, 2018 to Nov 7, 2025, I pray for a rebirth of practical good sense, of accepting responsibility, and choosing nobility, dignity, integrity, ethics, and virtue.

Why do we take for granted what’s truly valuable and then have to lose it to value what we had? Why choose imbalance and impermanence over healthy values and accepting the corresponding responsibilities and fees for having a healthier self, planet, and world? As Jupiter transits Sagittarius over the next year, may we acknowledge the true consequences and real costs of climate change. Our fate truly is in our hands.