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The Uranus-Pluto square is active from at least 2012 through 2015, although most astrologers give a year or two on either side. So, no one story is going to sum up the entire process. But this one is worth following, as the timing is playing out so precisely.

We first heard Edward Snowden’s name in the last week of May 2013, coinciding very exactly with the third in a series of seven exact aspects between the two outer planets over the course of three years.

The NSA’s spying on Americans is just one aspect of government control that is intensify during the square. The final outcome is unknown and unknowable at this point (because we are creating it), but the immediate effect is a strong polarization in the United States. Many people feel Snowden is a hero, many feel he is a traitor.

This past week, Mars, planet of war, got into the act, aspecting Pluto on July 27th and Uranus on July 31st. As the first aspect was building, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly approved continued funding for the NSA program. At the same time, Republican presidential potential-hopefuls Chris Christie and Rand Paul got into a sparring contest about the value of the program. Clearly, this is a polarizing issue.

Mars in Cancer is protective, and tends towards the clannish. Jupiter is also in Cancer and can also be rather clannish (Christie, a big man, could well be the national symbol for Jupiter in Cancer... Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and symbolically indicates expansion). The aspect to Pluto touched off the ideological debate around the power of the government.

Uranus in Aries is the rebel, whether an individual or a group (think Occupy and Tea Party). When Mars aspected Uranus on July 31st, Snowden (the rebel) was granted a year’s asylum in Russia, bringing U.S.-Russian relations to a Cold War-level chill.

At the same time, Bradley Manning, who gave documents to Wikileaks was found guilty on a slew of charges. Chalk one up for the Cancerian side of things. With so many planets in Cancer (and Pluto in Capricorn) aspecting stern Saturn in security-conscious Scorpio, we can’t expect the rebels to win them all... or even very many.

We can see Neptune's Piscean fingerprints (or maybe we can't...) on these issues in the extremes of polarization, as well as the deception, the leaking of information, and the covert nature of the spying.

Throw into the mix the U.S. decision to close Mid East embassies and consulates for an indefinite time this week (an action followed by Great Britain and France), pushing the security concerns to a higher level, and we can see further fuel for polarization.

Not to be U.S.-centric, but we can also read Mars-Uranus-Pluto into the Alex Rodriguez story, and the outbreak of a stomach virus tied to fast food restaurants (Mars in Cancer would be a good image for a food-borne bug, and the Warrior planet was aspecting the U.S. sun this week).