Uranus Moving to Station

When Uranus, like any othe planetary body, moves to station, it meanss it appears to "stop" moving in one direction and "start" moving in another. The movemenr can be retrograde -- apparently backward -- or direct -- apparently forward -- but in eiahter case, moving to station means seeing to slow down ans stop at a particular degree of a particular sign of the zodiac, then apparently switching direction.

It's an illusion, of course, as I've discussed in posts about Mercury retrograde. Nevertheless, when a celestial body moves to station, it's a period of of time when its operations seem slow enough to come to a halt, just as a car has to come to a stop in neutral before safely changing gears from first to reverse, or vise versa. (Those of you who only drive automatic rather than what was once "standard shift", trust me on this one.)

Today Uranus appears by astrological transit at 22 degrees, 39 minutes Pisces. He'll stay at 22 degrees 39 minutes Pisces for a week, going retrograde in the middle of that time, on June 27th. (It will be late in the evening of the 26th here in North America). Three days is his time most precisely at station: 22 degrees, 39.4 minutes Pisces. But this slow-down to station always has a broader effect than that precision indicates.

In February this year, for example, Uranus zipped through 17 degrees Pisces in just nineteen days. He'll spend a total of eighty-three days -- May 17 to the 17th of September -- at 22 degrees Pisces at this slow moving time in his cycle. That's just the way it is when any planetary body's moving to or from station. In March 2009, Uranus will move through 22 degrees of Pisces again, but galloping through in just 18 days.