What’s your familiar ‘go to’ when change or challenge disrupts your life? What brings you a sense of comfort, security, warmth or reassurance at the end of a long day? A hug with a loved one? Chocolate? A chilled glass of wine in the garden? A cup of tea and a chat? Zone out with a movie and ice-cream? We all have our favourite creature comforts. They’re a natural aspect of being human.
What’s the difference between a creature comfort and a habit, a comfort and a false security?
The astrological spotlight is showing us, as it focuses on earth sign Taurus and the retrograde station of Awakener planet Uranus on 15 August. Taurus is the second sign of the zodiac. It’s where the self, archetypically birthed in first sign Aries, discovers it has five senses and a body. It’s where the ego derives stability and security in what it has. It’s where we place value in terms of enjoyment, pleasure and possession. In other words: I have a body and senses; my belly is full; I am comfortable and warm; I have some money and a safe place to be. Taurus is where we seek and find stability in our physical life and circumstances. It values what’s tangible and wants to hang on to it, for therein (according to Taurus) lies security. The Taurean astrological mode of being is fixed earth i.e. pretty immoveable, as long as it’s comfortable. Yet Taurus also represents the lush beauty of nature and gifts of the earth that delights our senses; the enjoyment of the natural pleasures of life such as music, the creative arts. It’s about experience that connects us sensuously to our body and the Earth. It’s about the pure enjoyment and pleasure of being alive here on this beautiful bountiful Earth.
Uranus is the antithesis of Taurus. The awakening planet of the zodiac is a disruptor. Where Taurus is like a cat curled up in the warm sun, Uranus is like a lightning bolt that splits a tree and sears the earth. Uranus entered Taurus in 2019 and travels there until 2026. As the Awakener moves through this fixed earth sign, we’ll be challenged where comfort has become stagnation, where security is a fixation (especially financially), or pleasure falls into excess. This year Uranus is only a major player in that its frequency uplift is working away in the background of our lives. But then this is a year when the foreground change is exceptional. It’s as Uranus changes direction on 15 August (retrograde until January 2021) that our attention is consciously spiked. Then what we see as secure may get a shake up. We’re called to reflect on what security actually is, or to question if our creature comforts really satisfy us.
As Uranus changes direction on 15 August it makes supportive aspects to Sacred Feminine archetypes Wisdom Warrior Pallas Athena in Capricorn, Earth Mother Ceres in Pisces and Goddess of Love Venus in Cancer. These aspects to earth and water placements are akin to lightning rods grounding the high frequency Uranus energy in our lives. They reveal the way of integration of sudden change or challenge through wisdom, maturity, acceptance and emotional intelligence. These aspects invite us to ask ourselves useful questions like:
How may I meet current changes or challenges with more willingness?
In what ways am I being called to mature?
Where am I making life more difficult by holding on?
Where might I be kinder to myself? Soften and allow the process of change?
What am I investing energy, time or money in that no longer has real value?
Uranus long term semi-sextile to Rainbow Bridge Chiron in Aries (2008-2021) has been supporting the uplift of our egoic self in more consciousness. Our responses to this year’s circumstances expand on that exponentially. In that expansion we have the opportunity to discard our old comfort blankets. We are being equipped to discover a sense of security rooted in new values. Our basic needs for food, warmth and shelter have not changed; nor has our need to feel safe. Yet we are being offered the opportunity to discover what really matters.
There’s nothing wrong with having creature comforts. What is being challenged is our attachment to them as having any reality other than a temporary reassurance. Ultimately security cannot lie in anything that can be removed or lost. It always lies within. As Uranus passes through Taurus our investment in our security beliefs is undergoing radical re-evaluation. ‘Normal’ is no longer relevant. Has it ever been really? Our most entrenched values are breaking down to make way for the evolutionary impulse. This is the Uranus energy signature. It was discovered at the time of the Industrial Revolution, the French & American Revolutions and the start of the Enlightenment. Its energy represents both pioneering movements for freedom and democracy, and scientific invention. Uranus is the pioneer energy that will take the current deconstruction of collective culture into a radical reinvention in 2021. It’s not a comfortable ride right now but it promises to be an enlightening one, especially as Blessing-give Jupiter and Wise Elder Saturn move into Uranus’s sign of Aquarius in December. Then the collective crisis begins to open into its new blueprint.
