Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto

Saturn

When prominent, it describes a medium stature; a cold, dry body; a short, lank belly; a pale, swarthy or muddy complexion; an unpleasant, lumpy countenance; large ears; small, dark, down turned eyes, with lowered, hanging eyebrows; a broad forehead; black or sad-looking, hard or rugged hair, but a sparse beard; an inclination to hold the head forward or stoop; thick lips and nose; large, broad, often crooked shoulders; and lean, spare, short thighs, with ungainly knees and feet. If Saturn rises before the Sun, the stature is shorter but the body is well-composed. If after the Sun, the body is leaner, the complexion is darker, and the hair is sparser. If Saturn is of little declination, the body is leaner; if of great declination, fleshier or fatter, especially if northern, when it is also hairier; if southern, smoother. If Saturn is stationing retrograde, the body is a little fatter; if stationing direct, much fatter, weak, and ill-favored.

Unto character, when well placed, Saturn confers austerity; a profound imagination; patience in work; reserve in speech and giving; seriousness and gravity in disputation and argumentation; a severe manner of acting; and a studious and solicitous approach to acquiring wealth.

When poorly placed, it produces outward concealment of feelings; condemnation of women; covetousness, envy and jealousy; ill-content; secret lying; malice; mistrust of others; murmuring; a repining nature; sluggishness; sordidness; stubbornness; suspicion; and timorousness..

In ancient astrology, Saturn signifies constraint and restriction; degradation; disappointment; ignorance; and necessity; when well-placed, austerity, depth of thought, frugality, hard work, quietness, righteousness, seriousness, and solitariness. As a vocational significator, it produces customs officers; dock and harbor workers; farmers; laborers; tax-collectors; and all working of necessity in areas of little interest to them. In a lost-item horary chart, it indicates a dirty, incomplete or old quality to the item.

SATURN The Roman god of agriculture concerned with the sowing of the seeds. He is regarded as the father of Jupiter, Ceres, Juno and many others. His wife is the goddess Ops. Jupiter supposedly chased him away and he was taken in by the god Janus in Latium where he introduced agriculture and viniculture. This event heralded a period of peace, happiness and prosperity, the Golden Age.

In memory of this Golden Age, each year the Saturnalia was observed on December 17 at his temple on the Forum Romanum. This temple, below the Capitoline Hill, contained the Royal Treasury and is one of the oldest in Rome. The Saturnalia was one of the major events of the year. Originally only one day, it was later extended to seven days. During this festival, business was suspended, the roles of master and slaves were reversed, moral restrictions were loosened and gifts were exchanged. Offerings made in his honor were done with uncovered heads, contrary to the Roman tradition.

In contrast to his festival, Saturn himself was never very popular. From the 3rd century on, he was identified with the Greek Cronus, and his cult became only marginally more popular. That he ruled over the Golden Age is an extension to the Greek myth. Saturday is named after him.

References: Micha F. Lindemans

Uranus

The glyph for Uranus evokes a circle of Spirit beneath a cross of the Soul, with two vertical crescents of the Moon connected one to either side of the cross, veering outwards from it towards their tops and bottoms and closest to it at their centres. It resembles the original glyph for Mars but with the attachment of two crescents of Matter. It is Mars-like in its assertiveness, but much more intensely powerful. However, the glyph originally represented the first letter of the surname of the discoverer of Uranus, William Herschel.

Schulman interprets the glyph as two Crescents of Soul interconnected via a Cross of Matter. He likens the crescents facing in opposite directions from each other to different phases of the waxing and waning Moon, presenting two different perspectives on life, but both of them necessary parts of the whole, and both exposed by Uranus, highlighting its unusual insights. The conventional Cross of Matter is tugged at by the two Crescents of Soul in new, hitherto unmapped directions, as the Soul wishes to discover and experience what is not yet known, risking stability in the quest for possibility and for liberation from Matter.

Seen sometimes as a 'higher octave' of Mercury, Uranus enables communication without the conventional mechanism of speech and physical conduction methods. It is therefore associated with radio waves, electromagnetic radiation and electricity, and nuclear radiation. It evokes originality, which when positively expressed manifests as inventiveness; when negatively expressed, as deviance.

Uranus confers contempt for conventional conceptions of morality; distaste at being controlled and at arbitrary forms of outside authority; executive ability; flashes of intuition; perspicacious and reliable insight into others' personal motivations; interest in the principles of religion and science, and in scientific investigation of material phenomena; an inclination to part with customs; and mechanical ability that favors engineering. It is aloof; altruistic; cool; critical; crushingly assertive; conscious of personal authority and power; directed by inner impulses; eccentric; erratic; firm-opinioned; frequently fatalistic regarding personal destiny; heroic; iconoclastic; illuminating; imaginative; impersonal; impulsive; ingenious; insistent upon independence; innovative; inventive of new ideas, methods, moral codes and occupations; liberating; moved by new circumstances; off-hand; organizing; peculiar; positive; persevering when faced with obstacles to surmount; power-conscious; promoting; prone to sudden changes of mind and view; prophetic; revolutionary; romantic; self-centered; self-reliant; spasmodic; spontaneous; unbendingly willful; unsentimental; variable; and violently reactive against potential privations of freedom of thought and action; but when restricted, potentially anarchistic; bohemian; eccentric; fanatical; and invective and sarcastic without provocation.

Uranus signifies everything anomalous or unconventional; and the sudden smashing and transformation of outdated established Saturnian structures and restrictions. It also signifies bereavements, blind impulses, catastrophes, changes (especially sudden changes), constructive and mechanical ability, enemies, estrangements, exiles, people in power or authority, public affairs, romances, sudden events, sorrows, suicides, tragedies, and uncertain fortunes.

People signified by Uranus include antiquarians, astrologers, aviators, electrical and scientific goods traders, electricians, discoverers, engineers, government or civic officials, inventors, lecturers, mesmerists, metaphysicians, original thinkers, patentees, phrenologists, pioneers, psychologists, public functionaries, radio technicians, spirit mediums, travelers, and all pursuing uncommon forms of work.

Physically, Uranus governs the appendix; aura; brain and stomach membranes; breathing; electromagnetic forces; eyes; heart valves; motor nerves; nerve fluids; and the growth of long bones. When prominent, it confers a pleasing though ascetic or effeminate appearance; slim body; large, light, brilliant, keen eyes; and irregular features. Illnesses include fractures; inflammations caused by mineral deposits; lesions; ruptures; and spasmodic disorders.

Uranus, also known as Ouranos, was the embodiment of the sky or heavens, and known as the god of the sky. He was the first son of Gaia (the earth) and he also became her husband. According to Hesiod, their children included the Titans: six sons (Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus and Cronus) and six daughters (Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe and Tethys). There were other offspring: the Cyclopes, (who were named Brontes, Steropes and Arges and were later known as "one eyed giants"), and also the three monsters known as the Hecatonchires, who each had one hundred hands and fifty heads. Their names were Briareus, Cottus and Gyes. Other offspring of Uranus and Gaia were the Erinyes, who were spirits of punishment and goddesses of vengeance. The Erinyes avenged wrongs which were done to family, especially murder within a family. After Uranus had been castrated, his blood fell to earth (Gaia) and conceived the Giants. These were of monstrous appearance and had great strength. Similiarly, in some versions Aphrodite is believed to have risen from the foam created by the sex organs of Uranus after they were thrown into the sea by his son Cronus.
Uranus was aghast by the sight of his offspring, the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires. (In a differing version Uranus was frightened of their great strength and the fact that they could easily depose him). He hid them away in Tartarus (the bowels of the earth) inside Gaia, causing her intense pain. The discomfort became so great that she asked her youngest son, Cronus, to castrate his father, as this would cease his fertility and put an end to more monstrous offspring. To accomplish this deed Gaia made an adamantine sickle, which she gave to Cronus. That night Uranus came to lay with Gaia. And as the sky god drew close, Cronus struck with the sickle and cut off Uranus's genitals. From the blood that fell from the open wound were born nymphs and giants, and when Cronus threw the severed genitals into the sea a white foam appeared. From this foam Aphrodite the goddess of love and desire was born.

A slightly differing version tells of Uranus being so vast that he could cover Mother Earth (Gaia) and easily take advantage of her fruitfulness, but Gaia tired of her exuberant fertility and begged her sons to free her from the excessive embrace of Uranus. All refused except Cronus. Armed with a sickle he castrated Uranus, and the blood which fell from the mutilation gave birth to the Erinyes (Furies), the Giants and the Meliae (Nymphs of the manna ash trees). And when Cronus threw the sickle into the sea the island of Corfu, home of the Phaeacians, sprang up).

After Uranus (the sky) had been emasculated, the sky separated from Gaia (the earth) and Cronus became king of the gods. Later, Zeus (the son of Cronus) deposed his father and became the supreme god of the Greek Pantheon.

References: Ron Leadbetter

Neptune

The glyph for Neptune is the symbol of a trident, which stands for ruler ship over the sea. Neptune in mythology has a strong connection with the sea; and Neptune the planet in its influence resembles an ocean in its boundlessness, fluctuation and emotional pulls, and its function as a repository for the undifferentiated, anonymous and unknown that becomes a mysterious source of individualized life under certain conditions, only to serve later as an unforgiving void into which what once appeared vital dissipates and dissolves, and thus as an agent of death through release from the confines of matter.

But it also can be interpreted as a cross of the Soul intersected in its upper part by a Crescent of Matter, resembling the glyph for Mercury but without the Circle of Spirit. On this basis, it is perceived as a representation of the Soul of Matter, and the principle of feeling and psychic receptivity, detached from any creative will or ego.

From Schulman's perspective, Neptune's glyph is a crescent of the Soul above a cross of Matter, showing the desires of the Soul as being of greater importance than Matter, and consequently the readiness of the unwanted components of Matter for dissolution, freeing the Soul to exert its dominance, and thus rendering the planet Neptune its mystical nature.

Sometimes considered a 'higher octave' of Venus, Neptune liberates one from intellectual consciousness, bringing extremes of beauty and love to the senses and emotions. It transcends and escapes Saturnian boundaries altogether, elevating consciousness and sensory perception to defy conventional material restrictions and personal separateness, and instead merge with all that there is to be aware of in the world. It challenges the individual to differentiate between subtle and barely conscious essential truth, on the one hand, and tantalizing mirage, on the other - since it presents both. It evokes vision, which when positively expressed manifests as idealism; when negatively expressed, as escapism.

Neptune is aesthetic; amorphous; attuned to the finest nuances of beauty, feeling and mind; blissful; compassionate; diffuse and at times subjectively unclear or confused; dreamy; enthusiastic; ethereal; highly emotional; imitative; impressionable through extra-sensory channels; intuitive; mystery-loving; mystical; peaceful; pulled by powerful motives towards abstract or sentient ends; romantic; self-deceptive; spiritually sensitive; unconsciously socializing; subtle beyond fitting words; unstable; and highly sympathetic; yet when denied a desired outcome, quick to renege on an undertaking. It inclines to finer artistic sensibilities, and responds favorably to dance, harmony, poetry, rhythm, stringed instruments, and symmetry.

Neptune signifies ambushes; the artistic faculty; chaos; covert alliances; deceptions, including deceptive schemes and ventures; democratic and popular movements; desire; disguises; dreamers; emotion; erotic appreciation; exiles; false hope; feeling; frauds; illusion and delusion; imagination; impositions; intangible emotions; intrigues; intuition; many changes; mass movements and emotions; mobs; morbidity of outlook; proneness to succeed or fail through the influence of women; psychics; the psychic faculties; saintliness; the secrets of the life; secret societies; social unrest; sudden death; susceptibility to drugs; uncertain fortunes; visions; and wanderings.

People signified by Neptune include all those engaged in aesthetic, artistic, inspirational, literary, occult and psychic vocations (including mediums and mystics), or those connected with water.

Physically, Neptune governs the cerebral ventricles and pineal gland; cell development and reproduction; glands; intuitive perception of a psychic genesis; poisons; nerve fibers; nutrition; optic nerves; psychic and telepathic functions; respiratory and throat tissues; spinal fluid; tears; and white corpuscle formation. When prominent, it confers a slim, orderly body; a mysterious expression; hypnotic eyes; sharp, almost cruel features; and a long head, bald at the temples. Illnesses include anemia; catalepsy; drug addiction; energy depletion; glandular imbalance; hypochondria sis; neuroses; oxygen deficiency; and wasting diseases.

The god of the sea among the Romans. He was not a very powerful god, and little is known of his origin. When he was first introduced in Rome, he already had all the characteristics of the Greek Poseidon. Despite the fact that his cult grew after his equation with Poseidon, Neptune was far less popular among sailors than Poseidon was among the Greek mariners.
Neptune was held in much higher regard as Neptune Equester, the god and patron of horse-racing and horses. One of temples was located near the Circus Flaminius, one of the larger trace-tracks. Another sanctuary was in the Campus Martius (25 BCE) were the Neptunalia was celebrated on July 23. The trident is Neptune's attribute.

References: Micha F. Lindemans

Pluto

The glyph for Pluto is a cross of the Soul, atop which sits a horizontal bowl-like Crescent of Matter, within which nestles a Circle of Spirit without direct contact, seen by Moore and Douglas as the 'seed of the Sun or Spirit', cradled by the 'chalice of the Moon', a 'husk of the past'. Thus, Pluto's function as an agent of regeneration from the death of the old, and transition between states of existence, is symbolized. Pluto is closely linked to the urge for reproduction to perpetuate life beyond death, and thus to the drive for sex, which operates unconsciously through its influence, and in so doing confuses sex with death in the psyche.

Schulman interprets the glyph for Pluto as the Circle of Spirit 'soaring free' above the crescent of Soul that lies atop the cross of Matter, indicating a journey into the unknown being required before the deepest self-understanding can be achieved. The disconnection of Spirit from the Soul and Matter leaves the individual prone to suffering base energies. The challenge faced is to 'transcend oneself', in rising from lower ways of life to connect to and embody the purity of Spirit and Light that encapsulates goodness. In leaving behind what is of no further value to one's own growth, one is channeling the Plutonian energies in the most constructive way possible on a personal level.

Sometimes considered a 'higher octave' of Mars, Pluto is similarly powerful and penetrating, but on an unconscious and psychological level. It gradually permeates the subconscious with its drives, leaving the conscious unaware until suddenly and explosively it emerges in an instinctive response that brings sweeping and often devastating change in the psyche and way of living. It can thus be a force for great personal good or ill. It evokes the principles of resurrection and determination, which when positively expressed bring resolution; when negatively expressed, coercion.

Pluto governs the conversion of apparent lost causes into successful projects, but at times the receding of objectives when their point of realization seems imminent; cycles of death and rebirth; disregard for vested interests; extremes of good and bad (including luck); the frustration and annihilation of plans; idealistic socially motivated organizations; ideas ahead of their time; the inspiration to put an end to failing conditions; involvement in organized groups and movements desirous of social reconstruction, which may include altruistic interest groups, political parties and think tanks, professional associations and trade unions, and also gangs and underground organizations; the negation and transformation of conditions; non-recognition of the legitimacy or impositions of officially established authorities; righteous indignation on behalf of social causes; and the voluntary relinquishment of worldly interests in order to advance spiritual development, or of home, country or fortune for marriage. It manifests in writers and dramatists who seek to inculcate reformist doctrines into their literary works. It is compulsive, intense, and sometimes manipulative.

People signified by Pluto include aeronauts, anonymous writers, archaeologists, leaders of large organizations and movements, nuclear scientists, sociological writers, space explorers and scientists, television engineers and technicians, those working underground, and weather forecasters.

Physically, Pluto governs metabolic balance, and the nerve centers connecting the solar plexus with the sacral plexus and the top of the spinal column with the pineal gland. When prominent, it confers medium stature; a rugged, sturdy build; delicate skin; and fine, soft head hair but little body hair. Illnesses include ailments resulting from mineral deposition caused by acidosis; arthritis; and arteriosclerosis.

Pluto is the Roman god of the underworld and the judge of the dead. Pluto was the son of Saturn. Pluto's wife was Proserpina (Greek name, Persephone) whom he had kidnapped and dragged into the underworld. His brothers were Jupiter and Neptune. People referred to Pluto as the rich one because he owned all the wealth in the ground. People were afraid to say his real name because they were afraid it might attract his attention. Black sheep were offered to him as sacrifices. Pluto was known as a pitiless god because if a mortal entered his Underworld they could never hope to return. Pluto's Greek name is Hades.

References: Mitchell Mendis, Clarksville Middle School