The mystery of Pluto

As many may know Pluto is in the process of transitioning from Capricorn to Aquarius, and there are several posts about what this might mean. I have to admit I have found Pluto a difficult one to understand.

Discovered in 1930 it was credited with representing power and also transformation and assigned to rule over Scorpio. With such credentials I have to admit to having struggled to explain why it seemed so underwhelming in my own chart compared to say Uranus or Saturn. And in 2006 the astronomers demoted Pluto to dwarf planet. I started to wonder if we were wrong about Pluto, maybe it was just a biggish rock that had been seriously overestimated.

My first real step to understanding Pluto better was in Wickenburg’s book Your Hidden Powers when she stated that as Pluto was so far way most of us were not conscious of it’s effect. Things started to fit.

In a desire to understand Pluto better I have started work on Mark Jones book Healing the Soul, which covers Pluto in detail. While the book focusses on Pluto in the chart of the individual representing the deeper parts of the psyche separate from the ego, it has got me thinking more about Pluto in a collective way.

And in thinking about Pluto collectively I also need to think about Neptune. When I first started learning about astrology I learnt that a sextile (60 degree aspect) between Neptune and Pluto appears in so many charts that it is not considered to be significant, so for many years I have ignored this aspect. However, in thinking more deeply about this my view has changed. Perhaps this aspect appears in just about everyone’s chart because it is collectively shared.

For some time, I have been fascinated by the work of Jung and dreams and last year read his book The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Jung explores the fact that many dreams and images are collectively shared by all humans, known as archetypes. Our consciousness is layered. He purports that there is our conscious mind that we are aware of, our personal unconscious mind that we are not so aware of, and then there is the collective unconscious that is shared by everyone.

I have put the above picture to show the different layers and how the planets relate. With the Sun as the ego and centre, Mercury and Venus represent our conscious thoughts and values. Mars on the other side of the Earth represents our energy and what we take into society as it is the planet between Earth and the social planets (Jupiter and Saturn which I haven't pictured).

The Moon represents our more hidden traits and instinctual feelings. We are less conscious of our Moon traits, but they are personal to us.

Once we get past Saturn, the outermost visible planet, we reach the transpersonal planets. They move slowly round the zodiac and generations have them in the same sign. I’ll come back to Uranus, but beyond Uranus lie Neptune and Pluto. Beyond that which is visible to us, I think they represent the collectively shared unconscious. Compared to the logical and clear conscious mind, the unconscious (personal and collective) is fragmented and comes to us as symbols, dreams, feelings. It is far harder to make sense of. We only need to look at our dreams, some of which are personal to us, others are archetypal, the themes dreamed by many.

So what about Uranus and the collective conscious. I have wondered if Uranus is the bridge between that pulls the personal conscious, personal unconscious and collective unconscious together. Mark Jones talks about Uranus being the higher expression of Mercury. While Mercury is very much personal consciousness, Uranus being beyond our outer limits is bigger, and objective. And it is between Saturn, the task master of the zodiac and last visible (with the naked eye) planet and the deeper collectively shared psyche (Neptune and Pluto).

Certainly in my own chart, unlike Pluto, Uranus transits have been very tangible, and have brought me face to face with what has been more buried. When Uranus transited my natal Sun, I realised that I did not want to be a vet, I had been going along with it all, making the desires of others my own. When it transited my natal Venus, I could not ignore that I was about the marry the wrong guy.

What does this mean for Pluto moving into Aquarius? Well it’s hard to say except for many of us, because it represents something far below conscious thought, we probably won’t be aware of it. It will be there for sure, but not on a conscious level. It will be working way below the surface.

I think in understanding this from an astrological view we have to consider the zodiac as a progression. It takes Pluto 248 years to get round the zodiac so one could consider that the collective unconscious goes through 248 year cycles. Aries is the start of a new cycle working through each sign and what it represents until we go back to Source in Pisces, and prepare for the next new cycle starting in Aries.

Capricorn, where Pluto has been since 2008, represents structure, status, achievement, responsibility, authority. I had a look at aspects Saturn (Capricorn’s ruler) made to Pluto during this transit. In 2009/10 it formed a square. We had the bird flu pandemic, and in 2020 it formed a conjunction in Capricorn and we had the corona virus pandemic. Was there something in that?

Each sign builds on the previous sign, so in a healthy progression, the achievement and stability achieved in Capricorn should evolve into a stable society in Aquarius where people work together for a greater good. If the previous sign has not been played to it's highest octave this will affect what happens in the next sign. Everything comes from what went before. How can it be any other way? I think it's fair to say that over the last 15 years we haven't seen great things from those in authority.

Last time Pluto was in Aquarius was in 1780 to 1798, and we had the French revolution and American Wars of Independence bringing social reform. But there have been other revolutions with Pluto in different signs, for the Russian revolution in 2017 Pluto was in Cancer, and the cultural revolution in China it was in Virgo. Though after both of those revolutions power remained with the elite, just a different elite, people were no freer than they were before. As Aquarius is ruled by Uranus perhaps looking to Uranus might give some clues as to what might be more accessible to the conscious mind. In 2025/6, Uranus will move into Gemini and in July 2026 into aspect with Pluto. Being in air signs perhaps we will see a surge in new ideas and people sharing, advances in communication. Then to Cancer, where we will see a square in August 2037. Cancer is our roots, where we come from, where we gain our first sense of who we are. So there may be some challenges with identity and cultural roots, who we believe we are in the bigger picture.

Pluto will leave Aquarius to enter Pisces 2043/4, at which point Uranus will be in Leo, but will not reach an opposition until it is in Virgo.

With the help of Cosmic Mind Tides and Astrodienst I have looked at how it was in the 18th century up above.

There was an opposition between Uranus and Pluto 1791- 1994, which would put Uranus in Leo. This opposition would suggest a pull between power as a birthright, for example a king, and the power of the collective (Aquarius). The French Revolution was in 1789, and Uranus was in the early degrees on Leo, but moving into opposition with Pluto.

The American Wars of Independence came earlier (1775-1783) starting when Pluto was still in Capricorn. Uranus moved from Taurus to Cancer in this period, with the final year of the war having a square between Uranus and Pluto. Cancer represents family, roots and Aquarius independence and a square a challenge. Cancer and Aquarius form a square so there is friction and uncharted territory, so this could represent the breaking free from ancestral roots and chart one's own destiny, something quite new at the time.

Preceding Pluto in Aquarius last time, there had been the colonisation of many parts of the world. Power rested with a few, but dissatisfaction with those in power led the people pushing back. So it will be interesting to see how this next phase plays out, as Pluto is leaving Capricorn without humankind achieving stability and the responsible use of power and authority that could give way to functional and stable societies.

Credits:

Joanna Wickenburg: Your Hidden Powers - Intercepted Sign and Retrograde Planets

Mark Jones: Healing the Soul - Pluto Uranus and the Lunar Nodes.

Carl Jung: Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious

Cosmic Mind Tides - Practical Astrology and Astrology of Current Events

https://cosmicmindtides.wordpress.com/astrohistory/brief-notes-on-astro-history-1770-to-1889/

Astrodienst Swiss Ephemeris for users

https://www.astro.com/swisseph/swepha_e.htm