The (Surprising) Astrology Of The Coronavirus

Everything seems so hyperreal at the moment; I should just troll you by writing 1000 words on the progressed Part of Fortune or whether we should count black holes in natal astrological readings. But here is my take on the Astrology of the coronavirus. The short version: it’s a Uranus in Taurus scenario and Saturn in Aquarius square Uranus starts in 2021.

Scientists, more specifically, epidemiologists and disease control experts, have been expecting this. But they’ve had their budgets cut by the same kind of character who bought us the U.S.A Water Crisis and Australian Bushfires Crisis. Because clearly the only disaster that lot are concerned about is that sustaining the health of the planet and its inhabitants might impede money for them and their mates. Or, to be fair, the Rapture.

On the bright side, the masks I bought to protect against air particle pollution from the fires should be just as effective against the virus. And, this scenario will hopefully end the use of “viral” to describe rapidly spreading social media posts. It’s also a fantastic excuse for introverts to not go out to crowded places or come to your function.

The Astrology Of The Coronavirus Is Complex

Aside from the obvious risk management and contingency issues it is just a weird, J. G. Ballard style dystopia. The super Uranian Pisces author William Gibson (Pattern Recognition, Neuromancer) has stopped setting his books in the future because the present meets “virtually every criteria of science fiction.” The coronavirus threat will also have multiple flow on consequences. Small business-wise, it’s goodbye to the services that entail proximity between strangers: nail bars, massage parlours and restaurants where the food is of unclear provenance. It will trigger a significant societal and consumption shift. Big business? Aviation and cinema could be less popular and, of course, any business model exposed or overly dependent upon China.

But the question most people have sent me is broadly, is the astrology now the same as it was during the Black Death/Spanish Flu? No, it’s not. In fact, both these two featured Uranus in Aquarius, which we’ve done already. It was the late 90s/early 00s. However, I would like to remind people that the Black Plague got going after a Pope issued a directive that cats were the instruments of Satan and to treat them like witches. Shortly after that atrocity, rats got out of control and an epidemic occurred.

The coronavirus began late last year, well in the orb of Saturn-Pluto and it fits that brief: corrupt/short-sighted management of resources, security and defense holes because nobody wants to impede the flow of business/their kickbacks. Some allege that the W.H.O. and various governments were slow to raise the alert because they didn’t want to upset the economy.

Or, in Australia’s case, tourism. Because a funky ad launched once the smoke dies down (literally) should be able to shift the brand’s publicity dial from a billion animals killed, the forests burnt down and children in gas masks being evacuated from holiday beaches.

Bats Revenge Or Bioengineered?

Did this thing get out from a horrifically unhygienic and cruel ‘live market’ selling animals smuggled in from all over the place? Is this the bats revenge? Or was it an escaped experimental creature/sloppy technician from the bioterrorism lab up the road? Trading partners and people in business with one another should ideally operate with mutual transparency and broadly shared values. Is it cool to give people you think might spy on you access to only some systems in your house?

Really, it’s a big hello from Uranus in Taurus. Recall that Uranus is a Trickster: think Coyote, Cat In The Hat, Loki, Raven, Bugs Bunny or Lilith.

Uranus forces the future. Lewis Hyde writes in Trickster Makes This World, “There is no way to suppress change…not even in heaven; there is only a choice between a way of living which allows constant, if gradual alterations and a way of living that combines great control and cataclysmic upheavals. Those who panic and bind the trickster choose the latter path. It would be better to learn to play with him, better especially to develop skills (cultural, spiritual, artistic) that allow some commerce with accident, and some acceptance of the changes that contingency will always engender.” 

The Trickster angle is darkly hilarious. In this post, I talked about Uranus in Taurus as more localist than globalist. It’s trees, herbs, land spirits and food you grew. It’s governments that govern, rather than selling everything off and trying to spin that as a benefit. Recall any of your Uranus transits: was it subtle? Or more like a humor-edged lightning bolt of illumination zapped into your networking dinner party/make-out-session/booze bender/board presentation?

Reminder: Uranus Is A Trickster

It must have fuqed with this year’s World Economic Forum meeting at Davos. How could you discuss the theme of “stakeholders for a cohesive and sustainable world” with the expected aplomb when you’re wondering if your security guard is sniffing because he has a killer flu plague from boiled bats or because he’s a cokehead? Or was it a botched bioweapon all too easily blamed on the cruelties of a medieval market? Would it breach protocol to quietly text your broker from under the table?

Massive fires all over the world and now a potential pandemic are a gigantic zap. Catalysts that cannot provoke the desirable change don’t just slink off in sullen defeat. They ramp it up. How can you talk about boosting confidence or cutting rates (again) to “inspire more spending” when citizens and now the very planet demand meaningful leadership?

The darkly hilarious Trickster twist of the coronavirus astrology is that it will force a Taurus style of living; the sanitary haven of your couch, your new love of gardening, home cooking and inner sanctum friends/family only. You say ‘grounded’ and Uranus says ‘ quarantined.’

What happens when Saturn in Aquarius, the sign that Uranus rules, squares Uranus in Taurus. It’s potentially super-innovative. Saturn in Aquarius is the miraculous, visionary side of science, harnessed to advance humanity, Gaia and its creatures.

Saturn conjunct Pluto was the end of a particular era for us both personally and collectively. That some paradigms, people and structures are still trying to keep the neo-liberal/privatize the gains/socialize the losses planet-plunder party going doesn’t mean it’s a thing.

So the astrology of the coronavirus is that it’s yet another sign that the style of economic rationalism that began with the Saturn-Pluto conjunction of 1982 is no longer logical. And, it is a call to action from Uranus in Taurus.

I’m trying not to deluge myself in information flow regarding this – there are enough amateur epidemiologists commenting.

But I am upping my nutrition, burning myrrh incense, getting a potent herbal mix and reconnecting with my magical heritage. The latter is partly as Uranus is moving into my 4th house and also because magic is still real. It is a uniquely powerful practice in turbulent times.

Thoughts?