Two astrological giants, Saturn and Uranus, are in opposition to one another and will continue this back and forth transit through mid 2010. Oppositions create tension between the planets involved and in this case, Saturn, the planet of structure, karma, security and tradition, versus Uranus, the planet of change, new ideas and upheaval, is very symbolic.

It seems as though Saturn, in this case, represents the Republican Party and their staunchly traditional big business-loving, deregulated way of doing things, as evidenced during the past eight years of the Bush administration. Now our country is turning a corner, as represented by Uranus and the Obama administration with its global perspective, technological savvy and new solutions to old problems. It is as though Uranus has awakened our country from a long slumber, or maybe a drunken stupor of spending would be more accurate!

The last two times our country experienced this Saturn/Uranus aspect, were during the Vietnam war era and the Great Depression, which brings us to the realization of just how powerful this force can be.

During the Republican reign of Bush, our economy went from the large surplus established during the Clinton era, to the staggering deficit we are currently experiencing. Deregulation and free trade sounded good to some until many became too greedy and loaned money to people who couldn’t afford to pay it back. Everybody is suffering as a result.

What is taking place now is a jolt (Uranus) to our spendy ways and corporate greed. We have yet to see a bottom to all this, but should within the next year.

Saturnian lessons will be learned – most importantly, how to live within our means and feel blessed for what we have, not all that we desire. This may be karma (Saturn) for being one of the richest and most powerful countries on earth, but not always using that enormous influence to its greatest potential. The tides are turning as countries like China, India, and Russia make a resurgence. We will all be staying tuned to see what happens next as these two planets take us on a rollercoaster ride into the future.

-MJ Dankowski