Astrological Uranus, the modern ruler of Aquarius, represents a shockingly different and unique way of looking at things. Named for the greek god, Ouranos... Ouranos was the first of the Greek sky gods and the grand-daddy of the thundergod Zeus.

He (Ouranos) was created out of his mother Gaea (the great Earth goddess, nowadays known to us as Mother Nature). Ouranos later married his mother, Gaea (try to relax... the gods did a lot of that stuff).

Ouranos and Gaea
The union of Ouranos and Gaea produced the Titans, the Hekatoncheires, and the Kyklopes (must be what happens when you marry your own mother). There were 12 Titans, created in couples (boy meets girl kind of thing). The Titan children didn’t like Ouranos' heavy-handed rule, and so they rose up in a great rebellion. Kids will be kids... but Ouranos easily quashed their youthful rebellion and threw all of them into Tartaros (sort of a Greek hell).

Meanwhile, mother/wife Gaea - unhappy with the harsh treatment of her Titan children - arranged for the death of Ouranos at the hands of their youngest son, Kronus (Kronus was known to the Romans as Saturn). Gaea showed Kronus how to irremediably "wound" (castrate) his father, Ouranos, with a curved knife (or a sickle) that she'd made just for the special occasion.

I’d vote for this being a seriously dysfunctional family! This story also explains why: "it's not nice to fool Mother Nature..."

Richard Tarnas, one of the current "big daddy, big dogs" of archetypal astrology, seemingly long ago abandoned the crotchety, cantankerous Greek god, Ouranos, for the rebellious Greek Titan god, Prometheus, the "bringer of fire" and friend of humanity. Maybe a campaign should be started to officially rename Uranus to Prometheus (it might, at least, get more respect that way).

The Four Fold Face of Aquarius
Anyway, I can't resist taking this concept just a wee bit further. You see... Prometheus (son of the Titan god, Japetos) had three brothers: Epimetheus, Atlas, and Menoitios. And each one of the 4 brothers appears to have a unique and different affinity with the rebellious, independent energies of Uranus, Aquarius, and the 11th house.

Getting Back To Ouranos
Lest you leave thinking that I've been a wee bit too harsh and dismissive in my treatment of the mighty Ouranos and his unique role in Greek mythology... the Greeks did revere the shock and awe power of Ouranos, mythologicially representing the very first lightning bolt creating the universe out of nothing.

And what can I say... as Quantum theory now appears to be backing up the ancient Greeks' story (along with other ancient traditions) as to how our universe came to be created out of nothing.

The Inventor, Creating Out of Nothing
Neptune and Uranus being compensatory to each other, the two "personifying" archetypes of these two outer planets are the Magician (Neptune) and the Inventor (Uranus). The process of Uranus has to do with intuition, freedom and invisible energy - creation out of nothing. The process of Uranus is "electric" and is naturely balanced out by magnetic and trendy Neptune.

Uranus questions every status quo. And cries out, "Why not?" Uranus cries out, "Give me liberty or give me death!" Uranus cries out, "CHANGE!"

The Great Awakener
My best guess is that the archetypal "Great Awakener" associated with this planet is both pleased and amused there’s controversy surrounding its very naming (as well as its pronunciation). This is because Uranus enjoys and absolutely revels in being different and unique!

For instance... had you ever noticed, that of all the major planets in our solar system, only Uranus was given the name of a Greek god (having no Roman counterpart)? Yep, all the other planets were given names of Roman gods.

Change!
Distinguished author and astrologer, Alice O. Howell, reminds us that when Uranus travels through a new sign, the effects of that particular sign will show a marked change:

Uranus - Rebel Without a Clue
(with affinities to Aquarius and the 11th house)
BTW - It's Pronounced: Your -Ran - Us