Uranus is sometimes referred to as Herschel, after its discoverer. The glyph for Uranus resembles a television aerial.

It has the energy of fire, the emotional nature of water, and the intellect of air, and is perhaps least allied to earth.

It bestows originality, versatility, ability of many kinds, and good intellectual powers, so that it combines something of Mars and Mercury, but in the pursuit of a chosen end it will manifest the virtues of Saturn as well, and display patience, organising powers, and hard common sense. It is also in some respects like the Sun, for it tends to seek out positions of power and responsibility, and abhors limitations and restriction.

It appears to rule official appointments and officialdom generally and those holding positions of authority and control.

When rising it gives an unconventional but good-natured type, outspoken, forthright and rough-and-ready.

Under affliction it easily manifests eccentricity and produces a gifted but useless crank, always at loggerheads with custom, irrespective of whether this supported by common sense or not, so that it spends its time and energies fighting needless battles with convention and authority. It may also display moodiness, morbid, sensitiveness, and a particularly explosive and at the same time unforgetting temper, with bitter resentments of fancied slights and injuries, in this respect recalling the worse side of Scorpio. It is therefore, a critical influence; and while it may bestow unique powers, it may also produce very undependable and even dangerous characters.

People with Uranus prominent tend to have a peculiar nervous constitution. Its weakness in a map shows lack or originality and independence. It is claimed as peculiarly the astrological planet. The action of Uranus is sudden, unexpected, and drastic.

Uranus is an antidote for many Saturn problems. Unfortunately however, its action is drastic. Whereas Saturn creates a neat and orderly but sometimes oppressive universe in which one feels one knows what is happening, Uranus intrudes with an energy that is unexpected and often disruptive. Uranus energies strive to break one out of patterns that have become too rigid, even though one may wish to stay within them. It seems that Uranus strives to keep the universe flexible by preventing too much order. Uranus represents the random element of mutation that is necessary for creative innovation.

Uranus position on the periphery of awareness symbolises the way its energies tend to peep in and out of the world of normal consciousness. Its energies operate suddenly with and with extreme eccentricity. Whatever it may affect or symbolise takes the form of something unusual, far different from the everyday world. Uranus can therefore be more truly consciousness-expanding than Jupiter. Whereas Jupiter represents expansion into worlds that are at least similar to those with which one is already familiar, Uranus can bring about encounters with totally alien worlds.

Uranus does not care about individual concerns; it is a force of nature that operates outside human culture. Uranus has a ruthless side: Uranian people often have no concern for individuals at all, but only for a process of revolutionary change with which they have identified.

It is best not to worry about or resent the ruthless side of Uranus. It is simply the way nature works. Nature is not completely reliable and predictable, and it does not always conform to our Saturnine expectations.
As with the other outer planets, Neptune and Pluto, the cycles of Uranus have great bearing on the psychological, economic and physical changes that occur on worldwide basis. Uranus, spending seven years in a sign, is often considered to operate as a higher octave of Mercury.

Uranus, like many inventions, cuts through both time and tradition. That Uranus also creates resistance is not surprising for the action of the planet is sudden, drastic, and tends to go too far. Uranus does nothing by half and has no aptitude for co-operation and no respect for tradition or human feeling. Like all the outer planets, Uranus is non-personal in its action.

The Uranian principle challenges anything and everything that is Saturnian; that which is conventional, traditional and orthodox.

When Uranus touches a planet in a chart it urges those planetary principles to express themselves in the most contrary and deviant kind of way. The Uranian principle will always wish to go by a different route. Since Uranus also symbolises rebellion, when it touches a planet in the chart it often creates a situation where the individual wants to rebel against expressing what that planet normally represents. For example those who have Uranus contacting the Moon may challenge the traditional role of mother. Uranus with Venus or Mars may describe those who challenge the traditional boy meets girl equals marriage scenario.

Wherever Uranus goes, so to goes inflexibility, extremism and lack of co-operation. Planets touched by Uranus seek excitement, freedom and independence. Thus Uranus-Moon may seek emotional independence and domestic freedom; Uranus-Venus may seek social excitement and freedom in relationships.

The purpose behind the Uranian impulse for drastic action is often concerned with awakening and liberating. The planet is also concerned with ‘truth’ and more especially with that quick, blinding intuitive flash of realisation which is so liberating because it cuts through everything else.