The more I study my late mother’s natal birth chart, bristling with Uranian energy, the more I smile poignantly to myself.
As someone who had Sun, Moon, Mercury (and possibly Ceres also) all closely conjunct in Aquarius, which is of course ruled by Uranus, she was as independent and as free a spirited as you get. Uranian energy is quite electrifying, and my mother was certainly a great example of that!
She used to regale me with stories about how, shortly after I was born, she would put me on the back of her scooter while she breezed around Dublin, with baby me in my Moses basket safely strapped to the back of the scooter.
Or so she would say.
In recent months, as I continue to process the impact that her death last year has had on me, I have gone back to her natal chart for more clues. It is a way of reconnecting with her true essence in a way that brings her close to me again.
Each time I look, I think ‘Ah, there’s another clear image of her!’ My mother was also Jupiter exactly conjunct Uranus at zero degrees Aries, which represents Cardinal Fire. That explained so much about here! Free-spirited isn’t even a big enough word to begin to describe how this aspect played out in her life.
Her rules, her way, and she thrived on that approach to life.
As a child I saw how the rules she set were firmly embedded even when she was welcoming students from all over the world into our home. At the height of “the Troubles” in Northern Ireland, Catholics and Protestants would sit around the dinner table together in our Dublin home. Over the two decades that she took in students as a way of earning a living, blacks, whites, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, gay or straight, male and female, African, American, Canadian, Australian, Northern Irish, British, French German, Swiss…all were welcome and treated equally.
When I was a teenager, although my solitary Sun, Mercury and Venus in the 12th house longed for a bedroom of my own, my Sagittarian descendant was simultaneously excited by the constant stream of foreign students who came into our family space. Would the French students wage war on the German students? Would the Spanish students be boisterous again? Would the Italian students out-dramatize everyone else?
In our family setting, we saw both how people’s approach is shaped by where they come from and by their own unique cosmic identity too. It was an exhilarating experience that helped to give me my love of travel and a curiosity about how people and places relate to each other – that has manifested itself in my passion for astrocartography.
While my mother remained in Dublin, her independent thinking meant that she wasn’t afraid to stick to her own ideas. Most Catholic Irish family homes in the 1960s and 1970s had a picture of the Pope in their entrance halls. Not my Uranian mother’s house! Dear Lord, no! The first thing visitors saw on entering our home was Ireland’s 1916 Proclamation of Independence! When I remember that Uranian energy is all about genius, innovation and radical change, I think of all the different ways my mother’s restless energy made her willing to break from the crowd and pursue life with vigour!
A highly Uranian mother’s legacy
As my mam grew older, astrology taught me so much about her. A highly Uranian mother in turn gave birth to an eldest daughter (me) who has an angular Uranus in Leo on the IC, with Aquarius (ruled by Uranus) also ruling my mid Midheaven. Thirty years later, I in turn gave birth to a daughter who also has an angular Uranus -conjunct her Midheaven.
I remain profoundly grateful for astrology and my mother’s natal chart in particular, which gives me the chance to keep her vividly in mind and reminds me of the strong vein of connection that runs between generations of our family.
One of my mother’s last gifts to me was in the form of money for a new astrology-focused laptop which allowed me bring my astrology practice to the next level. She hadn’t a clue what astrology was all about, but she remained curious and interested in everything I did to the end, often saying she would have one of those “thimgamigigs” (aka a natal chart reading!) done one day.
Way to go, Mam. 18 months after you crossed the Veil, you continue to guide me. You are with me everywhere I go, in ways more profound than I ever imagined.
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