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Uranus is the seventh major planet measured from the Sun, discovered by W. Herschel in 1781. The planet’s distance from the Sun amounts to 19.2 A.U. and its period of revolution is 84 years. The axis ot rotation almost angles to the orbital plane. The planet has Uranus has 27 known natural satellites. The five main satellites are: Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon.
In astrology the planet Uranus is the planet of Aquarian age and the coming race for its vibrations will then be more important. Uranus governs all things that are original, eccentric and free to act apart from any conventional groove or accepted custom. It has been found to exercise the greatest influence for good over advanced thinkers, those who act independently and form within more than from without.
In the outer world of human activities Uranus appears now to to be exercising more sway. Electrical and mechanical enterprises and inventions of all kinds, railways, educational, index systems etc. It is a planet associated with change and revolution and it represents rebellion, independence, impatience and new discoveries. Uranus brings with it a new way of looking at things, and its approach is best met with an expanded consciousness: Originality, inventions, computers, cutting-edge technologies and future events are all ruled by this planet. Uranus sees no need for the status quo, preferring instead to break with tradition and create a new mold. While the building blocks (science, electricity) are safe here, this planet would rather focus its gaze on a new world order.
Most Greeks considered Uranus to be primordial, and gave him no parentage, believing him to have been born from Chaos, the primal form of the universe. However, in Theogony, Hesiod claims Uranus to be the offspring of Gaia, the earth goddess. Alcman and Callimachus elaborate that Uranus was fathered by Aether, the god of heavenly light and the upper air. Cicero, in De Natura Deorum ("Concerning the Nature of the Gods"), claims that he was the offspring of the ancient gods Aether and Hemera, Air and Day. According to the Orphic Hymns, Uranus was the son of Nyx, the personification of night.
All the offspring of Uranus are fathered upon Gaia, save Aphrodite and the Erinyes, born when Cronus castrated him and cast his severed genitalia into the sea (Thalassa). According to Hesiod, their children included the Titans: six sons (Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus and Cronus) and six daughters (Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe and Tethys).
There were other offspring: the Cyclopes, (who were named Brontes, Steropes and Arges and were later known as "one eyed giants"), and also the three monsters known as the Hecatonchires, who each had one hundred hands and fifty heads. Their names were Briareus, Cottus and Gyes. Other offspring of Uranus and Gaia were the Erinyes, who were spirits of punishment and goddesses of vengeance. The Erinyes avenged wrongs which were done to family, especially murder within a family.
After Uranus had been castrated, his blood fell to earth (Gaia) and conceived the Giants. These were of monstrous appearance and had great strength. Similarly, in some versions Aphrodite is believed to have risen from the foam created by the sex organs of Uranus after they were thrown into the sea by his son Cronus. Uranus was aghast by the sight of his offspring, the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires.
Uroboros: The Uroboros or Ouroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. The name originates from within Greek language; (oura) meaning "tail" and (boros) meaning "eating", thus "he who eats the tail". It is symbolizes the regeneration and the cycle of time as we observe in the shedding of a snake's skin. The eating of it's own tail declares the statement "The end is the beginning" and reminds us of the eternal nature of energy which cannot be destroyed, only transformed.
The Uroboros makes its appearance in several cultural myths: (1) Egyptian: Symbolic of the sun – it's rising and setting signifying the cycle of the day; (2) Gnostic: Oneness of all life, the constant process of re-recreation and the unity behind all duality; (3) Greece: Death and rebirth as illustrated in the Orphic creation myth – another reference to the cosmic egg symbolism; (4) Roman: Eternity, time and associated with Janus the god of the new year. The Serpent biting its own tail is first seen as early as 1600 years BC in Egypt as a symbol of the sun, and represented the travels of the sun disk. From there it moved to the Phonecians and then to the Greeks, who gave it its name, Ouroboros.
In mythology, the Uroborus is a symbol representing the Milky Way galaxy. Myth refers to a serpent of light residing in the heavens. The Milky Way is this serpent, and viewed at galactic central point near Sagittarius, this serpent eats its own tail. Many ancients used the galaxy to calculate cosmic and earth cycles.
In Gnosticism it represents the cyclical natural life and the fusion of opposites. It also symbolizes the transcendence of duality and was related to the solar God Abraxas, and signified eternity and the soul of the world.
In Alchemy, it represents the spirit of Mercury (the substance that permeates all matter), and symbolizes continuous renewal (a snake is often a symbol of resurrection, as it appears to be continually reborn as it sheds its skin.), the cycle of life and death, and harmony of opposites. As a symbol of the eternal unity of all things, the cycle of birth and death from which the alchemist sought release and liberation. It unites opposites: the conscious and unconscious mind. Alchemically, the Uroboros also represents the process of circulation, in which a substance is distilled , the distillate poured backonto the residue and the process repeated. so it is a purifying glyph. The alchemical textbook, Chrysopoeia (gold making) of Kleopatra contains a drawing of the Uroboros representing the serpent as half light and half dark, echoing symbols such as the Yin Yang, which illustrates the dual nature of all things, but more importantly, that these opposites are not in conflict. The book is mainly centered around the idea of 'one is all,' a concept that is related to hermetic wisdom.
Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, said "the beginning is more than half of the whole and by the beginning many of the intended become apparent". It is also known that in Tibetan Buddhism and especially in the school of Ati Yoga is used the exercise upaya-phala where upaya means method and phala means end, achievement, fruit. In this exercise the terminus is used as a method, that is, the meditator focuses on the fruit, like something that has already been achieved and there is therefore no need for any course, process or pathway. This method is also called "as if." Using this exercise the trainee starts from the end, thus joining the beginning and the end, because both are One in the eternal Present.
