Metaphors
The interplay of imagination and renewal
The timeframes of hard alignments between Uranus and Neptune - conjunctions, oppositions and squares - coincide with profound cultural and geopolitical shifts such as the digital revolution around the time of the conjunction of 1993, or the first generation of mainframe computers at the time of the squares of 1954-56.
In the context of the Uranus-Neptune cycles, Saturn plays a central role as the archetype that brings the sustained focus and perseverance that is indispensable to bring a new vision into reality, or to materialise a new idea. The Saturn-Uranus cycle brings forth the archetypal theme of “the New versus the Old” and often coincides with the disruption of established social, economic and cultural structures/organizations by innovative approaches.
In order to take place, change, renewal, innovation and disruption require visionary social and economic theories, imaginative leaps and new behaviours/practices that create the “fertile soil” for those changes to actually take place in society. The Saturn-Neptune cycle marks years when seminal theories, radically new approaches and breakthrough practices first became tangible. Those imaginative leaps redefine what is possible and enable, during Saturn-Uranus alignments, the emergence of entirely new social movements and organizations that challenge the established players.
In other words, the two cycles that Saturn draws with Uranus and Neptune complement each other and weave a pattern that could be summarised as follows: Saturn-Neptune cycles define the pace of the imaginative leaps that redefine what’s possible via new theories, new forms of organisation and new tools. These, in turn, feed the process of renewal and evolution of society, which moves at the pace of the Saturn-Uranus cycles.
Metaphors: waves, storms and cataclysms
The three synodic cycles formed by Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are relevant to describe the archetypal dynamics of many historical threads in the fields of world history, cultural history, social and political movements, and economic cycles:
🌊💡Waves of vision: the alignments in the 36-year Saturn-Neptune cycle coincide with visionary paradigms, theories and inventions, with radically new approaches and technological breakthroughs. They are imaginative leaps that redefine what is possible.
⚡️🏬 Storms of change: during hard alignments in the 45-year Saturn-Uranus cycle, new players challenge the traditional players, accelerating the renewal of existing structures and organizations, and allowing the emergence of entirely new movements.
🎬🖼 Landscape shifts: the wider context of the 172-year Uranus-Neptune cycle represents long-term cultural, ideological, geopolitical and technological currents. The hard alignments in this cycle mark the end and the beginning of new cultural eras.
The patterns of the alignments between the giant planets highlight one or more of these metaphors.