10 Feb Electric Soul ~ February 11th-17th, 2019
It is now the third week of Aquarius season. With the Sun traversing through the final ten degrees of the sign, the days to come will bring the true essence of Aquarius to its climax. Feeling divided from the world by discontent feels like being a stranger in a strange land. But that distance from things also affords a spectacular view, one that perceives time as a loop.
In Aquarius, the wisdom of the ages comes from memories of the past as well as visions of the future. Imagine the ouroboros. The past is the tail that the mouth of the future is always eating.
The culmination of the season of Aquarius occurs right where the past and future come to meet, where the outworn knits together with the new. This convergence will erupt through something raw and volatile this week as the conjunction between Mars and Uranus in Aries incites a radical breakthrough.
People try to put us d-down (talkin’ ’bout my generation)
Just because we get around (talkin’ ’bout my generation)
And with the force of all this fire and lightning, anything that stands in the way of that breakthrough will become obliterated.
Things they do look awful c-c-cold (talkin’ ’bout my generation)
I hope I die before I get old (talkin’ ’bout my generation)
The Aquarian spirit will bear witness to a clash between worlds, some catalyzing rebellion against an obstacle to your freedom. With the fury of an electrical storm, the Mars/Uranus conjunction will inspire a passion for shock and awe. A craving for revolution will emerge, sharpened by an appetite for destruction.
You can hear this quality of breakthrough and rebellion in the 1966 song My Generation by The Who.
In a peripheral study of music history, you’ll typically read that the The Who were an English pop-rock band that was formed in 1964. But The Who actually thought of themselves as an electric-soul band, describing their own sound as: Maximum R&B.
Creating the sound of Maximum R&B, The Who carved out their own innovative and iconoclastic place in music history.
Why don’t you all f-fade away (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
And don’t try to dig what we all s-s-say (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
The song structure of My Generation is “call and response”, a common format in blues music. In the spirit of Uranus, The Who added their own twist to this classic formula.
It was The Who that first smashed their guitars on television, turning destructive revelry into an art. This is what they meant by Maximum R&B.
I’m not trying to cause a big s-s-sensation (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
I’m just talkin’ ’bout my g-g-g-generation (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
Much like the Mars/Uranus conjunction this week will show, The Who’s stage antics were not without consequences. During a television performance of My Generation in September 1966, the band overloaded the kick drum with so many explosives that the drummer, Keith Moon, was injured by the shrapnel. And Pete Townshend’s hearing was permanently damaged.
Remember this story when you feel caught up in this week’s more destructive currents. Hopefully, you can channel any anger or aggression through music and art. 
Look how much of the spirit of Mars conjunct Uranus in Aries is contained in this review of My Generation.
“An explosive debut, and the hardest mod pop recorded by anyone…it also had the most ferociously powerful guitars and drums yet captured on a rock record….Keith Moon attacks the drums with a lightning, ruthless finesse throughout.” (Allmusic.com)
There is no doubt that in 1966 the sound was fresh: a pure distillation of angst and rebellion. And true to the spirit of Aquarius, My Generation exposes the raw nerves of someone rejected by the mainstream, who has to fight the world at every turn.
In a 1987 Rolling Stone interview, the songwriter Pete Townshend explained:
“‘My Generation’ was very much about trying to find a place in society. I was very, very lost…”
The song is made unique by the stutter in Roger Daltrey’s vocal performance. The stutter he usually hid was woven into the recording to tell the story of a sped-up kid with an axe to grind.
In a 2001 interview with Uncut Magazine, Daltrey explained:
“I have got a stutter. I control it much better now but not in those days. When we were in the studio doing ‘My Generation’, Kit Lambert came up to me and said ‘STUTTER!’ I said ‘What?’ He said ‘Stutter the words – it makes it sound like you’re pilled’…And that’s how it happened…“
This week’s conjunction between Mars and Uranus will speed everything up. Too much heat and over-excitement may lead you to become rash or clumsy. Like Daltrey in My Generation, think of this as a challenge to turn your stutters into charming idiosyncrasies.
After all, Uranus is the planet of genius and invention, so your resourceful and creative abilities will be heightened. Remember that the inventor’s mind turns accidents and mistakes into great discoveries.
My Generation is a perfect emblem for this week’s astrological energies because it embodies the raw power of the Mars/Uranus conjunction. But it also reveals how the exiled and experimental genius of the spirit of Aquarius blends cultures together, tying a knot between past and future.
My Generation is a British reinterpretation of R&B, a nod to the history of great American music. But it also became a template for future genres of garage rock and punk. Perfectly poised between past and future, My Generation was born timeless.
The Week Ahead
Electric Soul
Wednesday, February 13th-Mars conjunct Uranus in Aries
This conjunction perfects on February 13th, the day before Valentine’s Day. Though this may be arousing to the wilder side of life, the Mars/Uranus conjunction is not the most supportive transit for harmony between lovers. Prepare for challenges in relationships that can only be solved through enthusiasm and inventiveness.
Rhythm and Blues
Thursday, February 14th-Mars moves into Taurus
On Valentine’s Day, Mars leaves his rulership in Aries and enters into the solid earth realm of Taurus. Though Mars remains conjunct to Uranus at 29 degrees Aries, the shift into fixed earth will begin to stabilize and ground the more destructive qualities of this aspect.
You may feel like things begin to move slower. But this may be a welcome change. In Aries, Mars acted like a flaming arrow. But Mars in Taurus builds more like muscles, requiring contraction and release, activity and rest. Things move more slowly, but are far more sustainable. Listen to the wisdom of the body and get into a comfortable rhythm.
Big S-S-Sensation
Sunday, February 17th-Venus in Capricorn sextile Neptune in Pisces
Throughout the week, Venus has been inching closer to Saturn, creating an increasingly serious mood. But on Sunday, Venus joins Saturn in a sextile with Neptune.
Though you may feel that you have to work extra hard to achieve any sense of accomplishment, Venus in Capricorn will reach for the softening veils of Neptune with open arms. Like a room draped with billowing silk, this sextile to Neptune will enchant the atmosphere. The door will be opened for heart-to-heart conversations and spiritual love. Your fantasies and dreams will begin to shimmer and glow, glinting even from the corners of cold hard reality.
Neptune shares the music of your heart through dreams. And even though Saturn’s presence will dominate your awareness of the work required, with Venus graced by Neptune, you’ll now be inspired to make your dreams come true.
After this transit, you’ll realize that dreams are more than dallying fantasies. Your dreams are the light that you’ll need to guide you through the dark times ahead.
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