The early 21st century has seen western democracies shift in the direction of authoritarianism. That shift has been accompanied by the advent of the American woke movement, with its disregard for traditional human rights norms such as freedom of speech, and technological progress, which has given governments, institutions, and powerful interest groups the ability to persuade, control, and monitor people to a higher degree. America, as the world’s hegemonic power, has not been immune to these currents. The American culture war has largely hinged on fears and accusations of autocracy from both the left and right. Democrat and liberal critics of Donald Trump believe he wants to subvert democracy and human rights, while conservatives, libertarians, and populists often talk about the undemocratic machinations of the deep state, Fed, and uniparty. Many in the latter group don’t believe there is a free press, which has led to a new conservative media and influencer landscape in recent years. According to polls, trust in congress and the media are at historic lows. At the same time, events characterized by out-of- control government institutions and the wielding of unchecked power by the political classes and bureaucrats, starting with the early 2000s War on Terror and the 2003 illegal invasion of Iraq, the unconstitutional banker bailouts in 2008, the CIA led destabilization of Libya and Syria in the early 2010s, and the attempt at enacting the Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2016-17 hinging on a Clinton presidential victory. Since Trump’s presidency, other events have occurred that pit unaccountable power centers against the rights of the people. These include the Covid-19 restrictions, the BLM color revolution, the unconstitutional detentions of J6 protesters, the use of mail-in ballots, Democrat lawfare, plans for the creation of a digital currency, the crypto clamp down, the Twitter files and the use of NGOs and private companies to bypass constitutional limitations, and social media censorship. All of these events also are on top of others that have incrementally increased since 2001, with the furtherance of the Patriot Act including no fly lists and debanking. Other news events also add to the general climate of fear including technological style tyranny such as digital passports based on biometric data and an impending expansion of the tools of a surveillance state, while big financial groups like BlackRock are credited with pushing ESG and other means for control of the corporate sphere. From an astrological perspective, I would contend that all of these events were related to Pluto in Capricorn and the corruption, debasement, and decline of American institutions and civic life, especially since 1945. Second, it would appear that these events are related to the American Pluto return. Third, the encroachments on freedom are largely due to Pluto in Aquarius, as they set the stage for the revolutionary spirit of a new age. Recent years have seen freedom and human rights lose ground to government led tyranny. For many, the 2024 presidential election was seen as a pivotal moment in this conflict. Elon Musk warned Joe Rogan that the 2024 presidential election would determine the future of American democracy and the two-party system on the JRE in October 2024. “Vote like your life depends on it. Vote like your future depends on it, because it does. This is the last chance.” Musk also said, “I think this is the last election. If Trump doesn’t win, this is the last election.” And throughout the last ten years it has seemed that a world run by a technocratic state where personal autonomy and human rights are absent is inevitable. For many Trump supporters, populists, and even far leftists, the American government hasn’t ruled by consent of the people. The system is rigged, the presidential elections are often between two choices that are approved by the managerial class, rich elites, and powerful institutions, and legislators create policy that is far from addressing real issues or the concerns of large portions of the electorate. The suggestion that all of these events are largely about Pluto ignores the influence and role of all of the other planets. The United States, as astrologer Nick Dagan Best has often pointed out, is a Uranus country. And the current time will also be characterized by Uranus in Gemini. In fact, I would argue that the current period, since summer of 2024, is the Uranus in Gemini moment. In the rest of this article, I will explain what it is, how it differs from other era defining transits, how I came upon realizing it would occur, the philosophy of action and reaction, how it’s likely to play out, and give further predictions.
About the Uranus in Gemini moment
How Uranus in Gemini differs from other era defining transits
How I came upon realizing it would occur
The philosophy of action and reaction
The nature of a crisis era
Thoughts on this moment
How Uranus in Gemini is likely to play out
Further predictions
What to do
Hope
About the Uranus in Gemini moment
Though it has seemed bleak in the early years of the 2020s, things have started to turnaround. The 2024 presidential election marked a peaceful transition of power. Many of those most concerned with government overreach were supporters of Donald Trump and he won the election handily. Though Trump won, little has been achieved yet as far as renewing American democracy. We have yet to see any major headway. I would contend that there will be a major shift in the collective to a revolutionary impulse centered around freedom. A new human rights paradigm will emerge in response to the draconian systems that some elements seek to impose on humanity in the coming decades. The Uranus in Gemini moment will be related to Pluto in Aquarius, which beyond the sign of Aquarius there is also the phenomenon of Pluto being out of bounds in southern declination as well. The anti-tyrannical impulse of Pluto in Aquarius and out of bounds will harmonize with the revolutionary and freedom seeking impulse of Uranus. America will be at the forefront of changes that impact the globe at this stage.
Why is it the Uranus in Gemini moment? The United States is closely aligned with the planet Uranus. The planet was first discovered March 13, 1781 during the American Revolutionary War. Some astrologers have recognized that major events have occurred for the United States when Uranus is in Gemini, such as the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and the Second World War. Uranus will be in Gemini starting in July 2025 until 2033. As of December 2024, Uranus in Gemini is less than seven months away. Uranus is a planet that signifies freedom, change, revolution, innovation, liberation, eccentricity, erraticness, disruption, unpredictability, sudden breakthroughs, science, growth, and evolution. Uranus in Gemini will be a key moment in American history, like previous transits since the 1780s. In this period, given the other contextual factors of a United States Pluto return and Pluto in Aquarius, Uranus in Gemini will hinge on the battle between globalism, burgeoning bureaucracy, and out-of-control government on the one side and personal autonomy, individual freedom, and human rights on the other. Uranus will revitalize American institutions, clean up corruption, and bring the political class in alignment with the views of the people. Most vestiges of bureaucratic overreach and support for freedom eroding laws within the government will be wiped out.
How Uranus in Gemini differs from other era defining transits
Uranus is more emblematic of this current period with its emphasis on revolution, destabilization, and freedom. Pluto out of bounds south would mean an extreme collapse of authority and Pluto in Aquarius would signify rebellion and challenges to existing power structures. One could attribute events to either one of these planets, but Uranus in Gemini has a leading role and will be central to keeping freedom at the forefront.
How I came upon realizing it would occur
I first realized this would occur on July 14th 2024. At the time, I wasn’t all that focused on American politics. It was an election year and by most accounts the 2024 election was going to be a source of division. But something happened. I recall getting the news on social media. There was an attempted assassination on former president Trump. Narrowly, Trump escaped death by turning his head. For some observers, a civil war or massive civil unrest was averted. The astrological signature was Mars applying to Uranus by conjunction at 26 degrees Taurus conjunct the fixed star Algol. Amazingly, Trump has Algol on his midheaven. In the days after the assassination attempt, Elon Musk threw his support behind Trump. It was at this time that I realized this event was a precursor for the major events of the Uranus Gemini transit and its role in American life in the coming years. I realized that there would be a conflict between forces aligned with freedom and individuality, the Uranian principle, and those aligned with control and the collective on an even footing. Though the two sides had seemingly been opposed for years, it always seemed as though the forces of control and tyranny had the upper hand and those aligned with freedom were weak, disorganized, and impotent. I envisioned Trump losing the November election due to cheating or the Dems refusing to concede. I then saw many months of civil unrest and political strife until summer 2025, when all the major planets changed signs. A potential war over Taiwan or the war with Russia, and by extension China, and Iran going hot was likely, I thought. As of December 2024, this prediction was wrong. Trump won and civil unrest hasn’t occurred. But the general gist is correct: that Trump and the populists would win eventually.
As I reflected on things, it was impossible to ignore a major shift. For the first time in years, problems that had seemed insurmountable and unmoving were turning out to not be such a big deal. I felt hope. Change was in the air. Problems that had plagued the last two decades and especially the last eight years since Trump first took office no longer seemed to be intractable. Uranus in Gemini was going to be the Second American Revolution, and the forces aligned with freedom and individual rights would battle those of tyranny and government control until the tyrants were crushed and real democracy was restored.
In mid-July 2024, it was easy to see decades of fear of unchecked power wielded by politicians, bureaucrats, and institutions within the collective consciousness as being necessary. Like a virus, it helped to spurn an antibody and would continue to do so in the coming years.
The philosophy of action and reaction
The collective has to face absolute tyranny for a survival response, I wrote in my notes for this opinion article in the days after the Trump assassination attempt while enjoying July weather in Thailand. The Pluto in Aquarius years in the twenty-first century are likely to center on the response to absolute control and tyranny. Doom and gloom have been ubiquitous as things have seemingly gotten worse in the last three decades. It has been easy to lose hope that things will ever improve and that the middle classes of the West will ever regain their prosperity, political rights, and freedom from the globalist elite. But it is exactly this seeming reality which will lead to its complete opposite being achieved. The action in one direction will create an opposite reaction in the other direction. The dark image of current power mechanisms and the people that run them having absolute power over everyone and no longer needing humans for labor will light a fire in the soul of every person. Totalitarian scientific dictatorships will spawn a movement for universal rights and freedoms. There must be poison for there to be an antidote. Likewise, the threat of absolute control and technologically-aided tyranny has to be widespread and clear for everyone for it to be universally rejected by the vast majority of humankind. The idea that a few people will wield all the power and have unprecedented ability to enforce their will on humanity will be apparent at all levels of society. On a mass scale, it will provoke a response from nearly every individual in the collective. In the same way that democracy became the prevalent political system in the last cycle of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions in earth signs that ended in 2020, it will become normal, commonplace, and fashionable to advocate against the new forms of technocratic tyranny that are starting to appear in the current time. The universal themes of freedom and autonomy will be mainstreamed in a somewhat reactive way but it won’t be confined to merely a response mechanism. It will dominate on the level of mass consciousness. In every soul, there will be a push towards freedom, autonomy, decentralization, and privacy. It will be the fashion and trend of the time. There will be a deep suspicion and delegitimization of any power structure, hierarchy, and mechanism. The revelations about the current power structure that are evident in a major time of crisis might also lead to a complete reorganization of society, including politics, labor, and economics. Once all of the hidden elements of the current system are exposed, people will be against elite groups wielding power.
The nature of a crisis era
The 2020s is a crisis era that surpasses crisis eras of the last two hundred years, like the Second World War and the Civil War. A crisis era has all the characteristics of a transitional time. In ancient near eastern cultures, the transitional times were times of new beginnings and endings, dangerous times where things were unstable. Likewise, in previous crisis eras from either an astrological or cyclical historical perspective, certain nations rose while others fell. There were wars, famines, disease, and hardships. On a civilizational scale, it is the end period. Previous crisis eras have seen institutional failure and rebirth, as well as the fall and rise of new nations, groups, generations, and individuals.
Within a crisis era there is a reaching of the bottom, a place where old realities and current realities are exposed. There is a link to previous eras. The period of decline and renewal often reveals the reality of the underlying structures. It lays bare the foundations. It’s the opening of old problems and the second guessing of old solutions. Everything is examined and questioned by the collective consciousness. There is something very Scorpionic about it, where it is looking to the very bottom, the roots, the foundations. At the same time, the order itself is impacted. All is at stake, all is at risk. It’s a zero sum game between survival and destruction, especially on an individual level. By the end of a crisis, major changes have occurred. Institutional order will be renewed and rebuilt. Certain segments of the population will see their downfall while others will rise to new fortunes.
Thoughts on this moment
In 2025, there should be new solutions to these old problems that will start to appear. There will be huge pivots and about-faces. Revolutions require stagnation, resistance, and stubbornness. When old views are shattered, new patterns will take their place. Expect many people who hated Trump and populism to become ardent supporters, I wrote in July of 2024. Since that time, this trend has seemed to become visible amongst influencers and podcast hosts. It may continue with vast segments of the population, though the recent bombing of Iranian nuclear sites makes that seem unlikely, as Trump will likely be identified as a trojan horse and a tool of the establishment.
One thing to remember in the twenty-first century is that conflict is not exactly the same as it was historically. While wars of revolution may have been fought physically, i.e. with armies and weapons such as the war fought in the American Revolutionary War, in recent times they are fought on the level of collective consciousness. Conflicts are waged in the minds of the people. Something else to remember is that as Uranus leaves Taurus everything is in place for the planet to destabilize. Every American will be open to releasing old patterns and enlightening to new realities.
How it is likely to play out
Many phenomena which have been apparent on the mundane level may come to realization: BTC mass adoption, the end of fiat or a less prominent role for it, a shift to decentralization, resistance to centralized power structures, a focus on local governance, revised universal rights, the dispelling of false beliefs and narratives, new myth making, an end to pernicious ideologies, and ideological rebirth. Likely, America will be revitalized and there will be a technological component.
Further predictions
I predict this era will be like the 1850s and 1860s crisis era as far as global conflict and geopolitics. While there were wars, they were contained. The American Civil War, Taiping Rebellion, Crimean War, and the many colonial wars and other wars that were fought were not on the scale of the Second World War crisis era. Modern society has too much to lose in total war and the stakes are too high. Each country is fully aware of what it can lose in a war, with numerous factors such as economics, energy, supply chains, and logistics. Globalization has created a world that is highly connected. Most nations rely on global trade for resources and some of their technical expertise comes from a global talent supply. Weapons have also been developed that risk the complete destruction of two opposing powers. As a result, total war is too destructive and harmful. Instead, rational actors will fight on limited fronts and try to use other means to vanquish opponents. Besides psychological warfare, opponents will fight via color revolutions, proxy armies, and economic methods. While there may be direct conflict between powers like Nato and Russia, China and the United States, and Israel, Iran, and the United States, it won’t be at the level of World War Two’s use of large land armies due to demographic constraints, the possibility of the war getting out of control, and the possible impact on the interests of any of the war’s major actors. These factors are more in alignment with the last time that Neptune was in Pisces and Aries, the aforementioned 1850s and 1860s Civil War era.
As of June 24th 2025, the world has grappled with the Russia-Ukraine war and potential wars pitting the United States and Nato against Iran and China. The Mideast theatre has been active, with the collapse of the Assad regime, the war in Gaza, and the decline of Hezbollah. The Houthis have been successful in closing down much of the trade in the Red Sea and withstanding Israel and the United States up until now. The United States is another theater, as some believe the American culture war to go hot, as Republicans and Democrats battle each other on immigration, USAID, and other issues. With so many changes occurring in all facets of life the real crisis of this era is collapsing and dysfunctional systems. Ideologies of the last two centuries have lost their relevance.
What to do
In the book Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy by Neil Howe and William Strauss and in later works the authors give many suggestions for surviving a crisis period. Amongst their recommendations is to build a community and social networks. I agree with that suggestion, as being self-reliant and independent might not be possible and counter to the events of a crisis period. While Neil Howe has lots of great advice that can be found in his many podcast appearances online, there are some other things we can do in this period of time. My personal advice is to focus on spirituality. We should do our best not to be dissuaded, depressed, or greatly impacted by the failing institutions, and wreckage of the collapsing order of the last 80 years. Focusing on things that are primal, like spirituality, can be a good way to avoid wasting time or being influenced by external circumstances when things break down or are chaotic. Instead of staying glued to the news or following external events, it could be better to have a routine. Finally, we should always remember that things will likely change once we are through this period.
Hope
There should be an awakening in the consciousness of the masses that will lead to victory over the tyranny of the ruling classes. It might be a minor victory, as evidenced by previous periods of Uranus in Gemini and Pluto in Aquarius. However, there is hope there could be a resounding victory of freedom over tyranny. This is indicated by the fact Pluto will stay out-of-bounds south indefinitely. Another factor is the work by Bibhu Dev Misra, which seems plausible, indicating the Kali Yuga is over. He discusses this in his book Yuga Shift, The End of the Kali Yuga and the Impending Planetary Transformation. On the other hand, it should be noted that his interpretation goes against conventional views on the Kali Yuga.
Conclusion
The revealing of power mechanisms and the dark underbelly of American life will create a collective urge for decentralization. The collective has to face absolute tyranny for a survival response. The American system has lost its utility for most of the populace and new forms are required. There are implications for the rest of the world as the United States is the world’s hegemon. But at a deeper level, it is archetypal. As the ultimate Uranian country, America is a world leader. America has been a Uranian country, a beacon for the rest of the world. The noxious ruling classes, bureaucracy, and institutions that symbolize the current American regime are likely to be replaced and renewed. The real direction of the American revolution seems apparent: the diminishing of power of the current elites and a revitalization of the American democratic project.
Photo Credits
- The glyph for the planet Uranus in front of the glyph for the sign Gemini with a yellow backdrop. Photo by Mad Sage Astrology.
- Interior of Saint Peter’s in Rome, painting by Giovanni Paolo Panini. Photo courtesy of Saint Louis Art Museum.
David has studied traditional astrology since 2014. The Bay Area native completed Chris Brennan’s Introduction to Hellenistic Astrology course in 2015, and attended courses taught by Austin Coppock, Nina Gryphon, and Ryhan Butler. He is interested in exploring the less well known aspects of astrology, divination, and spirituality.