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This article is part four of what started out as a blog about all of the generational icons who passed away in 2016 evolved into a study on our social and societal generations in general. I began looking not only at those celebrities and their influences upon our lives, but also at the political, societal, and social climates we are facing now and in the years ahead.
The outer planets of our solar system – specifically Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto – determine our generations and our generational influences. They create the larger grouping, subsets of those groupings, and further subsets still.
In most cases, these planets enter a sign, then retrograde out of that sign before turning around and going forward into the sign again for a full run. For this reason, the ending of one generation and the beginning of the next is not always clearly defined – there is some overlap.
Yet what’s fascinating (astrologically speaking) is how the planetary influences affect our roles in the bigger picture of humanity. We can see the influence certain generations had/have on our cultures and societies simply by looking at which planets were in influence at the time. The planetary positions of the outer bodies reflect:
- The time or era in which they were born and raised – what it taught them about the world, how it influenced them.
- The time or era in which they come into power – how they go about changing the world, how they want to make and leave their mark.
For the last few weeks, I’ve been writing about the generations currently alive and active now.
Because I’m going off of my astrological analysis, my dates for these periods may be different from what is popularly agreed upon by most sociologists.
- In part one, we covered the first group – those in what we popularly call “The Greatest Generation” (born approx. 1914-1929) and “The Silent Generation” (born approx. 1928-1943).
- In part two, we covered “The Baby Boomers” (born approx. 1942-1958) and “The Crisis Generation” (born approx. 1956-1970).
- In part three, we covered “Generation X” (born approx. 1970-1984).
- Here in part four, we will cover “Generation Y/The Millennials” (born approx. 1983-1996) and “Generation Z” (born approx. 1995-2010).
- And our last group to be covered in this series, “Generation Alpha” (born approx. 2008-2024).
Let’s start with “Generation Y a.k.a – The Millennials”.
The transition period between Generation X and Generation Y is remarkably tight (only 11 months), yet it’s also remarkably complicated. It’s why so many sociologists have a difficult time distinguishing between the two generations. In fact, many ignore the fact that Generation Y (which would also be the early Millennials) even exists! Yet the Millennials, especially the early “Gen Y” Millennials, play a crucial role in the evolution of society and humanity in this world, and they need to be acknowledged separately.
“Generation Y” a.k.a. – The Millennials (born 1983-1995) is the first generation to be born into a world where technology was becoming more a part of mainstream popular culture. This is the generation which saw the rise of home-based personal computers (PCs), “Walkmans”, video cassette recorders, compact discs, and pagers (both numeric and text). Technology made faster leaps than it did during the course of any generation prior. “Gen Y’ natives were able to delve into these changes, making the most of the new technologies emerging. In fact, their ability to grasp all of these changes so deeply and quickly enabled them to be more industrious much earlier than Generation X, resulting in both social and societal transformations which connected the world in ways only imagined before.
In regard to historical reference, Generation Y was coming into the world at a time when there were some major industrial disasters worldwide and while the political landscape of the world was undergoing its most transformative changes since World War II. This is a period in history where we experienced the murder of Indira Gandhi in India, the UK-China agreement on the eventual transfer of Hong Kong, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union, the explosion of the U.S. Space Shuttle Challenger, the pro-democracy rallies in China’s Tiananmen Square, the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, the unification of Germany, the dissolution of the USSR (Soviet Union), the PLO-Israel agreement, and the Serbian-Bosnian War among other events.
For the generations prior to Generation Y, these historical events may have changed the world in a profound way, yet many of them still hold on to their pre-change world views. Especially within the ranks of the Silents and Boomers, many of them still see the world as it was prior to 1984 and refuse to shift their perspective. They’re still determined to win those old battles which only exist because they insist on carrying them forward as a matter of pride…
…which is how Gen Y serves their greatest purpose. They were being born into a changing world, and they were paying attention as the world changed. They felt the energy shifting, and they immediately recognized what was possible as result of the events of the day. As result, they grew up ready to shine and succeed in this ‘brand new world’.
They honored the benchmarks for success that the previous generations had told them to seek. In fact, they not only pursued them – many of them achieved them at a very early age. Yet in achieving them, they were left feeling rather empty, wondering if obtaining the money and stuff was all there was supposed to be to life. They expected more substance, more depth, a deeper sense of emotional-spiritual fulfillment for their hard work and their achievements. Instead, they felt cheated.
That said, “Y” isn’t just a letter of identification for this generation – it also gives great insight into their role. Generation Y asks the other generations “Why?”
- They rebel against the old ways of the Silents and Boomers challenging them with questions about “why” they are continuing to see the world in ways which are no longer relevant, “why” they still do things in ways which are outdated and inefficient when there is technology available to make things move more quickly and productively, and “why” they refuse to let others make changes in society which reflect the current and constantly-changing world.
- They rebel against the Crisis Gens, challenging their apparent resignation to the Silents and Boomers by asking them “why” they’re so willing to give up their power to those stubborn generations before them, “why” they refuse to stand up to those who are holding them back from fulfilling their fullest service potential to/for others, and “why” they refuse to stand up for the people they want to heal and/or serve in the world to make the world a better, more functional place.
- They also challenge Gen X by asking them “why” they continue to go along with the antiquated processes, procedures, structures, and standards set by previous generations. The Ys wonder why the Xers don’t change the structures themselves. In doing this, Generation Y is the generation that, in many ways, is helping Gen X find its courage to begin (or continue) rebelling against the Boomers to start building the bridges and structures necessary to finally bring humanity into its truly modern era.
Gen Y/Millennial natives have a sense of direction and purpose that most Gen-Xers (collectively) do not have – they are ambitious and determined to get results through their efforts. Millennial natives are blessed with Uranus in Capricorn, bringing innovation to societal and institutional structures through active social rebellion.
Yet the members of Generation Y don’t even rebel like their predecessors. Nope. These folks are different – they actually assert their free will and take initiative to make their points.
They’re going to get results, and they’re going to challenge every single one of the generations before them to acknowledge their initiative and give them what they want.
Let’s look at the astrological influences to see exactly how they’re going to do this.
- Pluto first enters Scorpio in late 1983, and this group born between late 1983 through late 1995 has no interest in the usual surface presentations or façades – they want to get to the substance right away. Pluto is in its home sign here, so this is a VERY intense energy. These natives are here to transform our perceptions of emotional-spiritual intimacy and how that plays into how power and influence are obtained and wielded in the world. They are also instrumental in shifting perceptions of sexual preference. This is the generation in which gender identity and gender reassignment is something addressed with relative ease.
Millennials have no time nor patience for mind games or manipulations. Anything or anyone that does not want to deal with anything below the surface of matters – anyone or anything that does not want to get to the root of the problems and issues at hand or does not want to expose the corrupted and compromised – is immediately discredited and disregarded by individuals in this generation.
A very small few of the Gen-Xers and all of the Millennials have this Pluto position, which is the ultimate in dealing in extremes, especially when emotions are involved. This group feels things deeply, and can be either very trusting or very guarded.
Under this Pluto in Scorpio influence, Generation Y also has…
- Neptune in Capricorn (early 1984-late 1998), which covers about 2% or less of Gen-Xers and all of the Gen-Y natives. These people idealize achievement and accomplishment – they get things done. They do well with goals and objectives, even though very few of them will create their own. They prefer to pursue whatever society or institutions tell them they should pursue – they aren’t exactly self-starting.
To this point, Generation Y also has these rebellion tendencies:
- There is a continuation of Uranus in Sagittarius until late 1988 marks a time when bringing truth out into the open began to be the rebellion du jour. Like the late Gen-X natives, these Gen Y natives are rebelling against manufactured “truth” while advocating for experiential and factual truth. a knack for recognizing which truth is which, and any manufactured truth is recognized immediately as inauthentic and unworthy of trust. This planetary placement reveals that these Gen-Y natives (along with the late Gen-Xers) are truly rebelling against truth and at the same time advocating for it. This energy, combined with Neptune in Capricorn and Pluto in Scorpio, is a major factor in why many Gen-Y natives are now emerging as the new voices and faces of investigative journalism. Particularly due to their Pluto in Scorpio generational marker, this group born between late 1983 through late 1998 has zero interest in the usual surface presentations or façades of preceding generations – they want to get to the bottom of matters right away. Substance rules over fluff every single time. In fact, fluff is usually a beacon for them to seek a deeper, more sinister activity happening elsewhere. They easily recognize certain elements of pop culture being distractions from other more important events.
- Uranus in Capricorn (early 1998-early 1996) brings rebellion against the societal institutions and structures such as governments, multi-national corporations, and other societally authoritative powers-that-be. The traditional ways by which society and/or businesses are structured and the traditional measures of societal success and achievement are being rebelled against as the majority of the Gen-Y natives started out eagerly pursuing what the generations before them told them was important to achieve or accomplish to have a “successful life”. Many of these individuals achieved or are achieving what many of the generations before them took lifetimes to accomplish, only to realize that reaching those goals rings empty and unfulfilling for them. As result, they are rebelling against the powers-that-be – they rebel against anything tradition or “establishment” in business, government/politics, society, and religion. They try to align with it only to become dissenters later on.
Next, we have the “Generation Z” (born 1995-2010), despite popular assumptions, start much later in our timeline. The eldest millennials are just now beginning to enter adulthood as this generation is currently aged 8—22. This generation began entering the world when the playing field began attempting to even itself out, but those balances weren’t happening easily at all.
This is the generation born into the world as we experienced the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing, impeachment of a U.S. President (Clinton), the Northern Ireland peace agreement, the beginnings of corporate super-mergers in banking and telecom/media, the 9/11 attacks, the bankruptcy of Enron, the second Iraq War, the formation of the European Union, the re-entry disintegration of the U.S. Space Shuttle Columbia, Hurricane Katrina, the London 7/7 bombing, and more. It was a time of unification in many ways, but it was also a time of great fear as terrorism emerged as the new global enemy. No longer were the enemies nation-states the primary concern – they were now rogue ideologues championing their religions and/or their cultures and trying to assert power and influence over the unifying world through acts of violence. It was a world they resisted – a world in which they were being expected to conform to western ways rather than maintain their own. Their acts of violence were and are their way of rebelling against a world who doesn’t honor their faiths, their cultures, and/or their existence.
That said, Gen Z grew up in a rather volatile environment yet one which was growing in its awareness of various cultures and world views. The news and events around the world weren’t so local anymore. Thanks to technological advances such as the ever-expanding development of the internet and the increasingly compact size of the computers being built, we entered a dawning information age. Mobile phones were becoming more like hand-held super-computers, and television was becoming edgier with the advent of reality shows and an increase in 24-hour news presences on the screens.
This increase in information access also increased social access. More and more people were connecting online through chat rooms and the early days of social media. They were more inclined to use electronic devices and emerging software applications to connect with others in their communities and around the world. At this point, Generation Z was learning a world in which technology would be a norm for them. In fact, this generation would not know of much of the technology the previous generations had used or known of. They are quick studies if you actually allow them the opportunity to study. The Zs are far more advanced and far more intellectual than their predecessors, and better prepared to face whatever evolutions or introductions to technology are coming.
Let’s take a closer look at the astrology of Generation Z:
- Pluto in Sagittarius – Generation Z a.k.a. “Zoomers” or “Zs” are born with this Pluto position. They are the leading edge of those who will be transforming what our collective perceptions of truth and freedom are all about. They value experience, trusting people who have not only walked the talk, but who have walked with authenticity and integrity. They do not have much if any tolerance for pretense. They can sense a fake almost immediately, and will cut off, cut out, or just plain destroy anything (or anyone) who doesn’t deal truthfully or honestly. Look to these people to be our litmus test for who is trustworthy in the world over the next 60 or so years.
This group is also here to transform our world consciousness. It encourages us to expand our world knowledge and experiences, and it disempowers and/or destroys those who cannot move beyond their comfort zones to experience new activities or new places first hand.
They’ve also been able to experience a world that is much more open and accessible to them that the world has ever been to previous generations. You no longer need to physically travel to another location to find out what’s going on in that part of the world…which is great because you can get all the info you need, but it also hampers the Z’s ability to form quality in-person relationships because social dialogue – meeting, talking in-person, etc. – is not as common as it once was. The computers do much of the connecting now… but they still can’t manage the travel.
Underneath the influence of Pluto in Sagittarius…
- Neptune in Aquarius (early 1998-early 2012) represents the ideals of the majority of Zs. In fact, these are the ones who actually seek to receive more from the world than money and stuff, and who want to contribute something more to the world than money and stuff. These people want to envision, invent, and inspire others to help humanity be great. Yet they strive to do this by celebrating the uniqueness of each of the individuals involved. Rather than encouraging conformation, Generation Z encourages unique contribution to the greater whole. They recognize that everyone and everything has a role to play, and they encourage each other and others to play their roles.
Yet they also encourage the older generations to play elsewhere. Generation Z quickly realized that the progress that could be made in the world isn’t being made in the world because the older generations don’t share the visions of the more recent ones. Generation Z sees it all so clearly – they see that the Crisis Generation is the turning point into the “new world”, Generation X is the server of justice to encourage that new world forward, the Millennials are the (re)setters of societal goals and objectives for the new world, and Generation Z themselves are the innovators and renovators who are growing and expanding the principles of the new world. You’ll notice that Zs are/will be the ones who are eager to progress humanity forward at a very rapid rate…if only they could get rid of those who insist on keeping all of humanity stuck for their own ego gratification(s) or in their determination to leave their legacy behind in some way.
And what is Generation Z rising up from and rebelling against?
- Uranus in Aquarius (mid-1995-late 2003) natives are the first true Zs, rebelling against almost all social and societal norms as determined by the generations before them. They are entering the world as the Crisis Gens are experiencing their frustrations with the Silents and the Boomers for those groups doing their best to deny or ignore their presence and power, and while the Gen-Xers are experiencing their first taste of adulthood in a world they are not prepared to excel in. As the early Zs are just now starting to come into adulthood, these Uranus in Aquarius natives are approaching this rebellion from two different fronts.
- One front is bringing technological innovation to mass communication/broadcasting, which is rendering traditional media and mass communication via radio and television obsolete in favor of the internet and online social media applications.
- The other front is actually rebelling against society itself, emphasizing their unwillingness to assimilate into a generally-accepted social norm. They are changing the way we look at our social circles and our social norms, pushing us to take on a new or unconventional perspective of our individual and cultural differences.
In fact, everything about Uranus in its home sign of Aquarius is demanding that we adopt a new or unconventional perspective and approach to ourselves, our lives, each other, and our places in the world. Some of these changes occur as natural progressions of humanity and technology. However, there are some unexpected if not shocking events which will occur through this generational group. Many of these will arrive in the form of revolution or rebellion against the social and societal status-quo, and they’ll use their technological savvy to unify other for humanitarian causes in surprising and ingenious ways.
- Uranus in Pisces (mid 2003-early 2011) – The rest of the Zs are under the influence of Uranus in Pisces, which shuns anything which seems “too good to be true”. They are very idealistic, but unlike their predecessors, they aren’t so eager to follow ‘the hype’. They use their technological savvy to be of service to others in philanthropic ways and serving the world in environmentally conscious ways, often winning us over with their ingenuity, innovation, and originality.
- They rebel against the old models of philanthropic contribution – of simply putting money into the problems. If given money, they often don’t want it for themselves – they want to put it into projects or people who they believe can make a difference in the world…or they simply want to give it to someone(s) who need a hand-up out of hardship.
- They also rebel against physicially, emotionally, and spiritually painful experiences. They are very adverse to conflict and will be immediately turned off by anger, fear, and/or aggression.
Generation Z actually wants to heal the wounds which are still open from the past and heal the wounds that are now open because of past mindsets in order to make the future brighter and better for everyone. These people don’t see wealth, race, or sexual orientation as an issue other than to overcome the prejudices of the generations before them so they can implement their vision of a world without petty divisions. They see compassion and love for all.
One other interesting note: The last time we saw Uranus in Pisces was during the second half of “the Greatest Generation”. Those folks born 1914-1929 were a generation that saw no limits to the visionary power of humanity. Where “the sky’s the limit” for many, some of them reached the stars as the first astronauts and cosmonauts. Look for Generation Z to make a similar impact.
In my next post, we’ll get to our last group – the kids being born right now. My nickname for this group is “Generation Alpha”, and I look forward to telling you all about them in the coming days.
Thank you for reading and sharing Signs and Numbers. Until next post…
~ Light, Love, and Blessings,
Grace
