One of the many accusations against astrological prediction is that one creates “self-fulfilling prophecies.”

It’s a valid accusation and I’m positive it happens (and I do it). But because it happens doesn’t mean it always happens that way.

Events occur in our lives and we all try to explain those events through science, religion, philosophy, psychology and mysticism.

If it rains on your wedding day, is it merely the whim of what we call weather or is it God sending a message that your marriage is doomed? Or is there a psychological reason we planned our marriage in November when the likelihood of rain was great? Should we stay centered and see bright sunshine in our mind’s eye negating the rain on the empirical outside?

Uranus in the Fourth House and Falling Light Fixtures

In this thing called a horoscope, Uranus in Aries is transiting my fourth house of personal consciousness, personal emotions and family “home” life.

Here are some excerpts from Robert Hand’s “Planets in Transit” regarding Uranus in the fourth house:

• A common effect of this transit is a sudden change in your home environment or even a complete change of residence.
• Problems and tensions that you haven’t been dealing with in your personal life will probably surface now, and you will be forced to handle them. The problems can range from powerful psychological encounters with the people to whom you are most intimately connect, to repairs that are needed in your home.

In addition to describing changes, Hand points out that Uranus also brings a sense of freedom. Uranus’ association with enlightenment, I believe, stems from this same idea of freedom. As I see it now, it’s not freedom from actual prison bars or oppressive situations but freedom from one’s own restrictive thoughts. Ultimate freedom, I believe, is freedom from your own ego, your own self.

So, I ask, when I was standing in the kitchen the other day and the glass ceiling lamp came crashing down with no warning just a few feet from me, was this event a self-fulfilling prophecy because I happen to know that Uranus is transiting my fourth house? (I’m also on my third move because of circumstances over which I have no control).

It may seem strange, too, to say that while I see this as a Uranus in the fourth house event, I’m also able to see it as a ceiling fixture falling near me as a contained event in itself with no relation to anything other than itself.

The falling light fixture is not about me. On the other hand, the life I live is a representation of the energies I carry which are represented by the horoscope. I’m energy living within larger pools of energy and those energies are symbolized through astrology.

Or I simply have a poltergeist in the house . . .

Uranus as Enlightenment

If you read tales of enlightenment, you may have heard of “sudden enlightenment.” Uranus is sudden and shocking.

The ceiling fixture crash was not caused by Uranus in the fourth house, but it represents that sudden, shocking energy. I was truly stunned and it took some time to recover. That I could have been standing under the fixture when it came crashing down is an image that still disturbs me.

Uranus is a wake-up call. On a spiritual level, it does more than urge you to get out of a broken down apartment. At this stage of my life, I see this current period of moving as teaching me a lot about what I carry around with me (as I blogged about in “What Part of the Horoscope Represents Your Baggage?”).

My fourth-house Uranus transit will be different than yours because of the combination of other planets in my horoscope and my personal development. Maybe your Uranus transit through the fourth house is finally selling that house that’s been on the market for two years.

Or maybe for you it represents changing career to one that is more fulfilling and offers more freedom of schedule.

Uranus transiting the fourth may be as simple as breaking a few habits, partying on Monday nights instead of Friday nights.

Hopefully your fourth house transit of Uranus won’t produce falling light fixtures. If every day or every so often you bring in a little Uranus (change), en-“light”-enment doesn’t have to produce lights falling on your head.