The Uranus Return of the United States

Hello, friendly neighborhood astrologer here!

It’s been a while, but I’m back to talk about the Uranus Return of the United States as it relates to Fourth Turnings (and what all the other outer planets might tell us about the upcoming iteration).  As always, I will remind you that I look at astrology like weather.  It's not going to tell us exactly what is going to happen, but may give us some clues about the overall atmosphere. And don't read this if it's just going to stress you out more. It actually calms me down to dig into this stuff, I know that's not the case for everyone. With all that said...

What’s a Uranus Return?

Well! Uranus has a 84 year cycle around the zodiac spending approximately 7 years in each sign.  So Uranus RETURNS to exactly the same place where a person, or nation, was born, approximately every 84 years. Humans will be lucky to experience one Uranus return (I’m more than available to consult on vampire astrology for any fictional world!).  Nations have several, and the United States is about to enter its 3rd (so that’s 4 eras counting the original time Uranus spent at those degrees in 1776). 

So we’re going to be discussing four Uranus in Gemini periods, which happen to correspond to the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War II and…The War To Come? 

What’s a Fourth Turning?

Social historians Neil Howe and William Struss called these periods “Fourth Turnings” in their book The Fourth Turning and I will be using some of their terminology going forward. Fourth Turning puts forth the theory that American History can be divided into approximately 80 year cycles with 4 “acts” or “turnings”:

The First Turning is a “High,” a generally prosperous time of maximum collective cultural identity and social responsibility (end of WWII to the Kennedy assassination).  The Second Turning is an “Awakening” a more spiritual time when individuality begins to re-assert itself (the post Kennedy 60s/70s).  A Third Turning is an “Unraveling” when people being to deconstruct society and lose faith in institutions (from Regan’s second election to the 2008 financial crash).  Which leads to the Fourth Turning “Crisis” (which this book published in 1997 literally says “will peak in 2020”).  The Crisis inevitably becomes some sort of “total war” in which the old social order is destroyed and the new one that society will cohere tightly around for the next High is born. (There’s a video linked at the end of this essay that goes into all of this in more depth.)

I came across this book in 2021 and found the potential links to the Uranus Cycle fascinating. But why Uranus?  Well, it’s the planet of Revolution, Surprises, and Innovation. It’s neither benefic nor malefic it simply means CHANGE, very often in surprising or sudden ways.

Previous Uranus Returns for the United States

The USA’s natal Uranus sits at 8 degrees and 55 minutes of Gemini (with Mars the planet of War at 25 degrees).  All of the previous Fourth Turnings have overlapped in some way with Uranus’s return to Gemini, but the pattern shifts a little each time. For astrological purposes, I’m going to define the Uranus transit crisis periods a little more narrowly than the generational definition of a  Fourth Turning (typically 20 years).

If we start the Revolutionary War period (1773-1781) with the Boston Tea Party and end it with the Battle of Yorktown, then Uranus moves from 25 degrees of Taurus, through Gemini, to 2 degrees of Cancer.  The Declaration of Independence was signed at 8 degrees 55 minutes Gemini which is why we set that at as Uranus’s “natal degree” in the US chart. 

If we calculate the Civil War period (1860-1865) from Fort Sumpter to Lincoln’s assassination, then Uranus moves from 9 to 26 degrees of Gemini. So that was Uranus moving pretty much exactly from the USA’s natal Uranus to natal Mars. 

Since we’re looking specifically at American history, we’ll calculate World War II from Pearl Harbor to the founding of Nato, taking Gemini from 27 degrees of Taurus to 26 degrees (54 minutes) of Gemini.  D-Day was at 9 degrees Gemini. 

So what does that tell us about where we are now?

The late Taurus Lead-up Period

From this we can see a pattern of some important precursor events such as The Boston Tea Party  and Pearl Harbor happening at around 25-27 degrees of Taurus.  Slow moving outer planets like Uranus have a large area of effect, 25-27 degrees of Taurus, gives us a window of about August 1856 - April 27, 1858. A lot happened during those years, some of which, like the pro-slavery Dred Scott decision, happened outside of those exact degrees due to retrogrades, but it was an over all contentious time. 

Uranus first hit 25 degrees Taurus for our current era on June 16, 2024 and stayed in that window until retrograding back out on November 22. The most obvious historical watershed from that window is Trump’s re-election, which occurred at 25 degrees of Taurus on November 5.  However, Biden’s stepping aside (July 21) and Harris’s nomination (officially August 5) both also fall within that window, which is a good reminder that we’re looking at events that are links in a chain and give us the flavor of a period of time, not isolated incidents. 

Uranus will return to 25-27 degrees of Taurus from April 5, 2025 to May 2, 2025, but again, the influence of these outer planets is pretty pervasive so it’s safe to say we’ll remain in this “lead-up” period until the “war” starts. Now, in the WWII era, Pearl Harbor, the start of the war for the USA fell during this Lead Up period. As I said, the nature of the events within the cycle varies, but the natal planets that Uranus would have been in conversation with at 27 degrees of Taurus on Pearl Harbor day were Pluto in Capricorn and the Moon in Aquarius.  Thus, I find that these Taurus precursor events are emotional, they’re about power struggles and evolution, yes, but they’re outbursts. The best example of this from the Civil War period is actually a fist fight that happened on the floor of congress in February 1858 (at exactly 25 degrees Taurus) while debating the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution. It doesn’t carry the same historical weight as Dred Scott or the raid on Harper’s Ferry (which happened much later in Gemini than I expected) but it does carry the high emotion “it’s us or them!” energy typical of this time. 

Uranus ingress into Gemini

I was surprised to find that there did not seem to be many easily identifiable specific historical events corresponding with Uranus’s ingress into Gemini, the sign of its nativity in the US chart. You would think that that change of signs might signal the start of the main event but in most cases it seemed to continue the road to the war rather than sparking the war itself.  0 degrees of Gemini gives us events such as Paul Revere’s midnight ride and Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech. Moments that made the history books, but didn’t bring great change.  We’ll enter this period on July 7, 2025 and stay until November 7, 2025 with a brief dip back in April 26, 2026 - August 1, 2026.

The main event: Uranus at 8-9 degrees of Gemini

What’s incredibly consistent across all three previous Crisis periods is a major status quo change for the United States with the exact Uranus return at 8-9 degrees of Gemini.  This includes the Declaration of Independence; the official start of the Civil War with the firing on Fort Sumpter; and the shifting of the identity of the USA in WWII from the surprise victims of Pearl Harbor to the heroes of D-Day. These are the events that make the short list of turning points in American history. They’re active: Declaring Independence! Secession (which is what we call declaring independence when you lose)! Liberation!  And that’s a common theme isn’t it?  Freedom! A very Uranian idea.  And in Gemini even more so. Throwing off an old status quo in such a decisive way that it can never be returned to, or there are consequences for trying.

The Fourth Turning talks quite a bit about how the Civil War Crisis era was an anomaly. What marks a Fourth Turning is a Crisis that inevitably leads some kind of Total War in which one side is decisively destroyed and the Hero generation that emerges victorious sets the direction for the new cohesive society. The Civil War did not end with a cohesive history of heroes and villains written by the winners. The North won the war but not the peace.

We’re still living with the consequences of that attempt to forgive and forget today. I grew up in Richmond, Virginia a city that’s Monument Avenue until recently hosted a series of Confederate statues that my father used to call “the largest collection of second place trophies in the world.” They weren’t erected until 30-60 years after the war, during the rise of the KKK.  But where else are statues built to the losing side? Schools named after folks that a history written by the winners should have termed as traitors? Mercy is a virtue and there certainly would have been impracticalities involved in trying thousands of people for treason, but that doesn’t mean we can’t draw a direct line between that attempt to return to “normal” and the dangers of finding a president innocent of insurrection because Susan Collins promised us “he won’t do it again.”

Uranus won’t make its Return to 8-9 degrees of Gemini (8 degrees and 55 minutes to be exact) until 2027.  Whatever our Declaration of Independence/Fort Sumpter/D-Day is, it’s likely to fall between June 18-July 28, 2027, November 4-December 27, 2027 or April 3-May 12, 2028.  That doesn’t mean there won’t be conflict before then, but by then we should get a definitive idea of what the conflict is, its sides and stakes, what paradigm will have to shift.

So what will the War to Come look Like?

The three examples we’ve been working with give us three different forms that conflict could take.  It could involve casting off an external yoke (unlikely, unless it’s more like the French Revolution than the American one, a revolution against oligarchy/capitalism that fundamentally reworks our society). It could be a civil war in which two factions literally or ideologically fight until one is destroyed and our two party system is reworked out of the stalemate it’s been in. Or there could be an external threat is so decisive that it forces us to band together against a common enemy (could be a World War, or the existential threat of AI or even aliens, but probably not climate change because that, like pandemics, has proven too abstract for most people). Or it could be some combination of those things we haven’t seen before. A World War could make us drop a Civil War or a Civil War could keep us out of a World War. Honestly, maybe it’s just because a CEO was murdered last week, but the war against oligarchs seems like a solid possibility for creating unity if folks finally realize the people they just elected aren’t on their side and that betrayal turns ugly. Gemini is the USA’s 7th house of partnerships, so ultimately these surprising revolutionary times always come down to redefining relationships with allies and enemies.

The nature of Uranus is surprise, so it’s actually a hallmark of these transits that what is going to happen is difficult to predict from within the “fog of war” even if there are some pretty clear indicators for “when”.  To get some more thoughts on the flavor of “what” we need to look at the rest of the sky.

The Pluto Return of the United States

There are a few things that make this Uranus cycle unique.  First and foremost it’s coming on the heels of the USA’s first Pluto return which happens about every 248 years. Pluto is about long term evolution in the same way Uranus is about a paradigm shift.  For reference, since this is the first one for our still relatively young nation, past Pluto returns in Britain included: The Battle of Hastings (as a starting point), the Ordinances of 1311 limiting the monarchy; the first Queen (and questions of national religion) with Mary Tudor; and officially becoming the United Kingdom. The USA’s Pluto Return was at 27 degrees of Capricorn and spanned February - July 2021, December 2021 - March 2023, and July 2023-January 2024. It was exact on February 20, 2022, July 11, 2022, and December 28, 2022. The draft of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v Wade that leaked in May of 2022 was drafted in February 2022. June-July of 2022 featured the public congressional hearings about January 6. In the first few days of January 2023, it took 15 ballots to elect a Speaker of the House. So that’s pretty much the corruption and dysfunction of all three houses of government on display. Pluto’s message being: evolve or die.  

Pluto moves VERY slowly. It first moved into Capricorn in 2008 and made its last retrograde dip back in this year from September 1 to November 19.  I actually think this was one of the biggest things I overlooked in my optimism about Harris and the election. I was looking ahead to the end of the era of Pluto in Capricorn, a sign which might as well be called Capitalism. Capricorn (as a sign, not the people, my partner is a Capricorn after all) is systems, it’s ambition, it’s materialism, it’s power, it’s the individual.  Aquarius is innovation, it’s curiosity, it’s concepts, it’s progressive, it’s humanitarian, it’s the big picture. So in the long run, over the next 20 years we should be heading toward a society that, perhaps because of technology, has to put big picture wellbeing over individual materialism. But that’s the work of the next 20 years…and for just 2.5 months this year, including the election, Pluto dipped back into Capricorn to say “I showed you what was broken and you didn’t fix it yet, so I guess we need to crisis some more before we can evolve”. Which…sucks.  I would much rather have started Pluto in Capricorn with Obama’s election and ended it with Harris’s, but seems there’s more work to do. In the long run though…I’m optimistic about the era of activism and innovation that Pluto in Aquarius may bring and that’s the backdrop against which we’ll be building the cohesive society of our next “High” after Uranus in Gemini is done with us. 

It’s interesting that the three previous Crisis Eras all saw Pluto move from a Cardinal sign into a fixed one. During the WWII Crisis, when Pluto moved from Cancer to Leo in 1937 we saw the rise of leaders who for good or evil became synonymous with the identities of their nations, and those identities of “hero” and “villain” endured into the Post-War high that followed.  During the Civil War Crisis, when Pluto moved from Aries to Taurus in 1853 we saw the crisis itself erupt over the idea of whether people were property and resolve into the materialistic Gilded Age.  During the Revolutionary Crisis, when Pluto moved from Capricorn to Aquarius in 1778 “the most powerful empire in the world was taken down a peg” in part by new ideals of freedom and an Age of Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution followed.  (Read more: https://patrickwatsonastrology.com/a-history-of-pluto-through-the-zodiac/)

That last one is what mirrors our current transits, and as I’ve been writing this piece I’ve been thinking more and more about the role economics is going to play in all of this.  The American Revolution was primarily fought over taxes. And economics seem to be the one thing that might actually unite our deeply idealistically divided nation, particularly if the incoming oligarchy is revealed for what it truly is. Now this time around, the USA is the most powerful empire in the world, so the revolution has to be internal. But an internal revolution feels somehow different from a Civil War. 

Neptune’s 2025 ingress into Aries

Neptune’s 2025 ingress into Aires for the rest of this crisis period suggests more in common with the Civil War than the Revolution or WWII.  I’d interpret this as the “fog of war.” Impulsive actions during confusing times. In the USA chart this falls in the 5th house of Joy and Creation.  So this uncertainty may lead to an impressionistic or surreal period in art, or a time of increased escapism into hobbies. There is likely to be a lack of clarity around the legacy of this period and it will be a confusing time for children who may themselves be prone to dreamy escapism. (The Fourth Turning actually suggests that Crisis Eras always grow their children into an introverted “Artist generation,” the Silent Generation being the previous example. Neptune will magnify that.) 

Saturn’s 2025 ingress into Aries

Saturn will also ingress into Aries around the same time as Neptune in March 2025. The USA’s Saturn is in Libra, so the USA was experiencing a Saturn return during the Civil War, and a Saturn waning square from Cancer on D-Day. The USA will be experiencing a Saturn opposition from Aries in May 12, 2025-September14, 2025 and February 4, 2026 - April 12, 2028. Saturn can temper Aries’s impulsivity as a sign, but it can also create an overall vibe of frustration for slow moving structured Saturn to be stuck in the Cardinal Mars rules sign of Aries, which otherwise encourages planets to just go go go. 

Jupiter’s cycle and the “great man”

Something the Astrology Podcast mentioned on their December 2024 Forecast episode is that in all of these previous Uranus in Gemini periods, a “great man” arose (Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt).  But that always seemed to be tied to Jupiter moving through Gemini and conjoining Uranus at some point. That actually won’t happen this time because Jupiter is making its way through Gemini right now and will have moved on to Cancer by next June just before Uranus moves into Gemini in July.  I don’t know what that will mean for this era. Whether we’ll be at a loss for heroes, or maybe the great man will be a great woman with Jupiter in a Moon ruled sign. Cancer in the USA chart is the 8th house of Consequences and External Resources. It’s also home to Venus, Jupiter, Sun, and Mercury.  So even if it costs us a great man, that’s actually a great place in the chart for Jupiter to be bringing good fortune until 2026. (Previous Jupiter in Cancer years include: June 2013-July 2014, July 2001-August 2002, July 1989-August 1990).

Eclipses in Aquarius and Leo

One last pattern that may shine some light on the exact Uranus Return moment of 2027 is the link between major events in American history and Eclipses across the Aquarius/Leo axis.

This is a rabbit hole I fell way down the last time these eclipses happened in 2016/17.  Past Aquarius/Leo eclipses roughly corresponded to: The Declaration of Independence, D-Day,  The Cuban Missile Crisis, Watergate, the attempted assassination of Reagan, Fall of the Berlin Wall, Clinton’s Impeachment, Obama’s election, and Trump making a little phone call to the Ukraine. These will be in play from February 2026-January 2028 so that corresponds pretty directly with a 2027 for the history books. 

Inner planets 

As for Mars, Venus and Mercury…(what, you want this essay to be LONGER?) their cycles are short enough that they cover the entire Zodiac in a year or two so they’re more useful in looking at patterns by days or months rather than years.  Even their Retrograde cycles did not reveal a related pattern at first glance. But there may be more research for me to do there once we get closer.

Conclusions

So in conclusion (finally!) the recipe for a Fourth Turning, or American Crisis Era, seems to be: Uranus between 25 degrees of Taurus and 27 degrees of Gemini (approximately), with a paradigm shifting/era defining event occurring at 8-9 degrees of Gemini.  At the time of that era defining event, there will almost always be eclipses on the Aquarius-Leo axis.  Neptune will either be in Libra or Aries, and in the case of Aries brings a fog to the war making for times of great artistic expression but also uncertainty. Saturn will be in a Cardinal sign squaring, opposing, or returning to the US Natal Saturn: different versions of trying to bring boundaries and structure to this situation. And Pluto moves from a Cardinal sign into a Fixed Sign telling us what to expect from the new High that follows.  

Looking at all of this, I think that in 2025 we’ll start to see the crisis’s climax take shape as Neptune and Saturn enter Aries in March and Uranus enters Gemini in July.  The co-presence of  Saturn and Neptune in Aries is interesting, we’ll have to see how Saturn brings some order to Neptune’s dreamy confusion or Neptune softens Saturn. But remember to be patient with yourselves if you’re feeling that Aries need to ACT with Saturn holding things back and Neptune obscuring what kind of action would actually be productive. The exact Uranus Return and Aquarius/Leo eclipses will come into play for a climax around 2027, and we should be able to see the next “High” on the horizon by 2030-2032. 

So buckle up for what looks like it may be an economic driven class war that ultimately resolves into a new age of Enlightenment and technology.  It may resemble the American Revolution more than the Civil War, but perhaps by way of the French.  We will likely have to reckon with new economic models in the face of technological advancement as people live longer and jobs disappear. There will be confusion, that will likely take the form of the misinformation and propaganda we’re already seeing, as technology makes it ever harder to tell whats real (and yet potentially increases that desire for “real,” boundaries, and regulation).  There may not be a “great man” whose cult of personality defines this era, but perhaps what we find instead is an expanded capacity for compassion?   

This is not to say there won’t be global conflicts as well. There already are. But it remains to be seen where we will put our focus. The USA did not get as involved as they could have in the French Revolution because they were “too fragile to start another fight” and yet during the WWII it was an external conflict that solved our economic problems. What I’ve learned from writing this though is that WWII is the era our upcoming conflict has the least in common with of the previous three. And I think that’s ultimately bad news for the folks like Steve Bannon who read the Fourth Turning and assumed this was their ticket back to the 1950’s. But it’s worth remembering that having read the same book I have, Bannon in particular has been working to help bring a Crisis about to his own specifications. But Uranus’s realm, ultimately is not just Revolution, but Surprise. 

I don’t have much in the way of practical advice at this point. This is, as always, a weather report. Storms are coming, so prepare what you can, but we won’t know exactly what they’re going to look like until we get closer and the rain starts to fall. 

Thank you for reading my overly long return to mundane astrology! I’ll try to keep up with it a little better as we head into these most interesting of times.